Eberron Adventure Journal: Voyage of the Golden Dragon (2)

Vult 1 - Vult 5, YK 998

Part Two - Cloak, Dagger and Spell:
The Golden Dragon was scheduled to leave for Xen'drik on Vult 3, so the Wandering Wolves had a few days to relax or work in Sharn before they left. Tworock and Luggoth both spent their time exploring the surrounding wilderness in Breland, sleeping out under the stars and connecting with the wilds. For Tworock, of course, the wilds of Breland still appeared remarkably civilized, but it was good to see a little more of the lands Traega had told him about.

Lysander and Pel both threw themselves back into information-gathering, in both high and low society.

Lysander took a break on Vult 1 to attend the Tain Gala with Arenydee, where the two spent a large amount of time amongst Sharn's social elite. Lysander made important contacts and heard several interesting rumors, including many people talking about a gang war brewing in the depths of Dura between the Boromars, the Tyrants and the Daask, and how such a war might affect those living in the high towers. There was also much talk about the hostage situation on the Golden Dragon, and Lysander received many compliments (and one indecent proposition) from grateful dignitaries.

Pel divided his time amongst his role as a half-elf member of the Wolves, his half-orc beggar in Lower Dura and Malfiore LeQuande. The half-orc bought up Dreamlily on a regular basis, which Pel began storing in Malfiore's apartment. In his role as Pel, he went and visited councilor Sava Kharisa to further talk to her about the corruption of the Watch. All of this was geared towards general information gathering as well as determining who had caused the Watch to raid the Six Stones event.

While neither of the two determined anything conclusive, all the rumors they had gathered pointed toward the Boromar Clan as the guilty party. They also discovered a few relevant details about the situation on the Golden Dragon. They discovered that Telgin Char was a notorious criminal who had up until recently been held in the Lhazaar prison Dreadhold, although they weren't able to determine with any certainty how he got out. They found out that the silver spheres had belonged to a sorcerer noble, also from the Lhazaar area, who had been slaughtered, along with his crew, a few months before.

Early in the morning on Vult 3, with a crisp, cold air holding sway over the city of Sharn, the Wandering Wolves boarded the Golden Dragon. The enormous airship now had both of its elemental rings lit, and any damage done during the scuffles of the past week had been repaired, so that the ship looked magnificent and new. Pel counted 18 House Medani sentries aboard the ship, notably on edge after the near-disaster of the Dragon's first outing.

The ship was considerably less crowded than it had been during its christening, but it was hardly empty. Up on the deck, the captain, first mate and bosun were making final preparations, along with deckhands, for the airship to set sail. Velgram, the half-orc bosun, made a point of cheerily greeting the Wolves, and the half-elven Lieutenant Mazzia also greeted them and thanked them for their bravery in defending the ship. Lysander noticed that Mazzia clearly had a crush on Velgram, but her position probably prevented her from acting on it.

Up on the observation deck, a thin man with a wispy goatee was feeding the birds who settled on the golden rails. Tworock went up and spoke with the man, who introduced himself as Gunter Hegerin, scribe to Karrnath Ambassador Sedge Avadarrn. Gunter told Tworock that Ambassador Avadarrn was onboard, along with a delegation from Thrane, to work out some details on the way to a conference in Xen'drik, as well as hopefully smoothing over some of the tension between the two nations. Gunter was a gentle and pleasant man, and he and Tworock made arrangements to meet, feed the birds and talk the next morning of the journey as well. Little did Tworock know that Gunter would not be making this meeting.

Down in the House of Chance, Pel and Lysander discovered that things were quite busy already. Sea Baron Paldrith Malinko, along with four of his crew, were enjoying games of Three Dragon Ante, while Nicolette, one of the elvish bards, cozied up to them. Lysander joined them for some generally pleasant, but un-enlightening conversation. Pel was engaged in conversation by Kalibar Jenks, the halfling owner of the bar, and they talked about a number of criminal enterprises, including the Boromar Clan, Tyrants and the Daask. Each was clearly holding something back and trying to learn more about the other, and Pel left with the strong impression that Jenks was deep in criminal activity. Also gambling in the House of Chance was legendary adventurer and Xen'drik explorer Halas Martain and Logar Veriscrost, a half-elven House Orien courier who seemed to have a great love for the game of dragonwheel.

Most everyone went to the top of the ship to watch the crowds bid farewell to the Golden Dragon, as it embarked on its first historic voyage. A cheer went up as the massive airship cast off from the Lyrandar docks and took to the skies, sailing away from the cold of a Brelish winter to the tropical warmth of Xen'drik. The first day of travel was cool but pleasant, with clear skies, and the ship would occasionally drop below the clouds so that the travelers could see dolphis frolicking in the Thunder Sea, or witness an exchange of goods between Brelish sailors and sahuagin caravans.

As the first day of travel began to come to a close, those on the upper deck could see storm clouds up ahead, and as Velgram went amongst the passengers announcing dinner, rain drops began to fall on the Golden Dragon's deck.

The Wolves were delighted to discover that the food aboard the Golden Dragon was as delicious in flight as it had been for the specially catered gala. Elaydren's words of praise for the cooking of Jaeden Kovane were clearly not mere flattery, and the guests dined on a meal of Karrnathi blood sausage and cheese, Brelish spiced pork and orange peppers and a Thrane beesh-berry sorbet, all served with a variety of ale and Aundarian wines.

As the Wolves entered the dining hall, they heard a clatter of crockery and witnessed a tense exchange between the Thrane ambassador, Cardinal Menasos Bethenade and Ambassador Avadarrn. Before the tension could erupt into something more between the Cardinal's paladin bodyguards and Avadarrn's skeletal protectors, Tworock walked over and introduced himself, the other Wolves close behind, and defused the tension. The Cardinal and his bodyguards stalked out of the room, bumping roughly into Gunter Hegerin on their way out and scattering his papers on the floor.

Ambassador Avadarrn invited the Wolves to sit with him as he signed a few papers for Gunter and sent him on his way. He introduced the head of his personal skeletal bodyguards as Skarad, and chatted comfortably with the Wolves about the politics between Thrane and Karrnath, which mostly revolved around the Karrnathi use of undead and the Thrane's disdain for the practice, but also included no small amount of bad blood from the Last War. Pel also tried to get some information about the soul blades, and learned that they had been created for the kings of Karrnath during the Last War, but some of them had gone missing from the nation after the war.

After dining for about an hour, with the rain and thunder becoming ever-louder outside, Captain Alastair approached the table and asked if the Wolves would accompany him. He took them back to the room where Ambassador Avadarrn and his entourage were staying, and showed them what he had found... Gunter Hegerin lay dead on the floor, his spilled cup of wine beside him, obviously dead.

Nervous about the House Medani sentries, fearing they might be overly eager to prove themselves in the wake of the attempted bombing of the ship, the captain asked if the Wolves could investigate discreetly. They agreed, just in time for the ambassador and his skeletons to return to the room and discover what had happened. Ambassador Avadarrn was angry and grief-stricken, but he agreed to keep things quiet as long as the Wolves promised a thorough investigation. "He was a good man, a gentle and kind man... find out who murdered him."

Pel suggested that perhaps it was the ambassador, not Gunter, who had been the target. While the ambassador didn't assign blame, it was hard for the Wolves to miss Skarad hissing "Thrane treachery" under his breath. Luggoth, using his enhanced senses and training, discovered that there was dark reaver powder in the wine glass, more than enough to kill a normal man.

In order to smoke out the murderer, Pel decided to adopt the identity of Gunter Hegerin. They hid his changeling nature from the ambassador, instead claiming a mastery of disguise. When the captain announced that he was closing off the upper decks until the storm abated, and serving warm spiced wine in the reception area, the Wolves decided this was the perfect time for "Gunter" to make an appearance.

While Lysander used his dragonmark to create an illusion of conversing with Pel, Luggoth and Tworock moved into the House of Chance to keep an eye on the many people there. "Gunter" came into the room, keeping an eye out for any reactions, but the only one he could see was a slight annoyance on the Cardinal's face, which could easily have been an honest reaction of distaste for the Karrnathi scribe. Realizing that there were many people in the House of Chance, he went there as well, but could see no unusual reactions from anyone there. He did spot that Sea Baron Malinko was gambling with silver spheres very similar to the ones that the Wolves had taken from Telgin Char.

While he was in the room, however, another problem broke out. The House Orien courier, Logar Vericrosst, was gambling when a goblin servant spilled a tray of ale on him. He began brushing the liquid from his waistcoat and then realized that the documents he had been carrying were missing! Angrily, he grabbed the goblin by the throat and accused him of stealing from him. Then he threw him across the room and into the bar.

Tworock, sitting near Sea Baron Malinko, manifested a force screen in preparation as the seamen reached for blades behind their backs. The sentries moved in to subdue the fight before it got started, one of them trying to hit Logar with the pommel of his sword, but then all the goblins piled onto Logar and the brawl was well and truly underway. Logar grabbed a steel mug from the table and smashed the Medani guard who had tried to subdue him in the face, breaking his nose. Luggoth picked up his own tankard and threw it, hitting Logar solidly in the head and dazing him for a moment. Just as he started to recover, Halas Martain, sitting at the table with Luggoth, threw his mug and clocked Logar as well.

Tworock rushed over and grabbed Logar, but the Medani sentry whose face was now pouring out blood wasn't willing to let things go and he punched the Orien half-elf across the face. The goblins, now in the midst of a melee, stumbled around the bar, one of them crashing into the table of Sea Baron Malinko and his men. Sea Baron Malinko knocked the goblin out and his men drew their blades. Luggoth, seeing that things were getting out of hand, shifted forms, leaped onto the bar and roared, cowing the goblins and sentries, at least momentarily. He did not bother Halas Martain, who merely yelled "While you're up there, my furry friend, can you get me another mug?"

Logar threw Logar up onto the stage and quickly followed after him, while the sentries began calling for reinforcements from the reception area. Pel, trying to get out of the line of fire, "stumbled" onto the stage and into Nicolette, bringing them both to the floor. Logar swung a fist at Tworock, but missed the surprisingly agile half-giant, and was rewarded with another mug in the face, thrown by Luggoth. Before Logar could do anything else, Halas Martain stood up, took careful aim and threw another mug, smashing Logar in the face and knocking him out cold.

Captain Alastair arrived a few moments later, and with the help of the sentries, restored order and began demanding to know what happened. Logar, who awakened quickly, apologized and explained that his diplomatic pouch had been stolen, and he assumed it had been the goblin. After Lysander searched the goblin at the captain's request and found no pouch, the Wolves agreed to discreetly investigate this matter as well, and the captain restrained Logar to his quarters for the duration of the journey.

Lysander, alerted to the silver spheres by Pel's use of the circle of communication, climbed onto the stage with the three elven women and asked to perform with them. Using dancing lights and other minor magic, he set the audience up to expect magical enhancements of his act, and then cast a detect magic spell. While neither Lysander nor Pel could spot the spheres from their vantage point, they did see them glow, and saw one of the seamen quickly shove them into a pouch to hide them.

Before the House of Chance was closed down, Kalibar Jenks spoke with Pel, who had left the bar as Gunter and returned in his own half-elf guise. Amongst other topics of conversation, Kalibar suggested that he had seen Jackrin, one of the Sea Baron's men, slip the Orien pouch into his jerkin during the melee.

Shortly thereafter, Luggoth retired to bed. The rest of the Wolves were relaxing in the mostly empty reception chamber when the two paladins of the Silver Flame, Sir Gedavin Brant and Dame Hollia Keln, came in to get food from the table to take back to their room. They brushed off polite attempts at conversation from Lysander, who then headed back toward his room to retire as well. On his way, he was nearly run over by five angry Karrnathi skeletons, on their way into the reception hall to accuse the paladins of murder.

As Lysander rushed to wake the Karrnathi ambassador, the skeletons rushed in and attacked the paladins, who defended themselves with their shields and then drew their own weapons. The House Medani sentries also entered the fray, destroying one of the skeletons before Pel could call upon the Traveler to send them all running. Before they could regroup, Ambassador Avadarrn and Captain Alastair both showed up and calmed things down. Frustrated, Alastair growled that he might be forced to send everyone to their quarters for the duration of the journey if things continued along this way. He confined both the skeletons and the paladins to their quarters for the rest of the journey. Tworock offered that he and Luggoth could serve as bodyguards for the ambassadors if they so desired. Naturally, he suggested that Luggoth guard the Karrnathi ambassador.

Though Luggoth went off to bed, the rest of the Wolves wouldn't be so lucky. Pel was approached by Darius Lightstep, the half-elf who ran the Serenity Above the Clouds massage room, and told not to confront Sea Baron Malinko about the accusations. After they went to Serenity Above the Clouds to talk privately, Pel tried to get Darius to open up, but he wouldn't offer up reasons. After a few moments, Pel realized that Darius was in disguise, a changeling like himself, and flashed a Tyrants sign to him.

Darius paled and started begging Pel not to kill him. It soon became clear that Darius was in fact Zan, the changeling who had defected from Vadis' service, and that he was hiding out from the Tyrants aboard the Golden Dragon, preparing to escape to Xen'drik. The reason he had warned Pel against confronting Malinko was that one of Malinko's men, Azango, was actually a doppleganger and a member of the Tyrants, and Zan had recognized him.

As for why he was on the run, Pel found out that Zan had found some sort of plans in Cord's office planning a coup against the Tyrant council. On that list were several names, most of which Pel didn't know, but the two he did recognize were his own and Xain. Zan wasn't sure who he could trust, was unsure why those names would be on a list of Cord's, unless they were double agents working against Vadis. Unsure who he could trust, Zan fled.

Pel filled Lysander in on this via the circle of sound, just in time for Lysander to notice Manten Dramgrin heading upstairs, against the captain's orders to stay belowdecks. He cast invisibility on himself and followed Manten, watching as he went to the unlocked artificer laboratory. Before Manten could close the door behind him, Lysander dove in.

He watched as Manten assumed his true form, that of the doppleganger Azango, and then set about releasing gas into the air from one of the barrels and setting tindertwigs by the door. Realizing he didn't have much time, Lysander downed a potion of heroism and moved in to attack Azango. The doppleganger heard Lysander trip over some tools on the floor and avoided the attack, and a battle was joined.

The two exchanged sword blows for a few seconds, but Lysander found an opening and stabbed Azango through the chest, critically wounding him. Azango fled out into the storm, running around the bridge just as Pel came running up the stairs on the other side. The storm was bad for visibility, but Lysander spotted a form near the bridge and threw a dagger, striking it and hearing a female voice cry out in pain and surprise.

As Pel and Lysander converged, they saw that the being Lysander had struck was Lieutenant Mazzia, who was furious and confused. When asked, she said that she had seen someone dash down the stairway, and Lysander and Pel both charged that way. Fortunately, Pel realized it was a trick as he reached the stairway and turned around, engaging "Mazzia" who was revealed as Azango. Pel stabbed Azango with his sword, putting him down and then cast a cure minor wounds to stabilize him, unconscious but alive.

After that, the real Mazzia, along with Velgram, came out of the bridge to find out what was going on, and they accompanied Azango, Pel and Lysander back to the lab to get out of the storm. Manten Dramgrin also stopped in, and informed them that the gas and tindertwigs would definitely have done some major damage, possibly even crippling the ship.

Though the interrogation didn't get far at first, Lysander used a charm spell to sway Azango, at which point the newly friendly doppleganger revealed everything. He told them that Sea Baron Malinko had been working on a luxury airship of his own, the Cloud Dancer, and that he had been behind this sabotage attempt as well as the one organized by Telgin Char and the hobgoblin Brimstone Brakker. After setting the trap, he was supposed to rejoin Malinko down in their stateroom, and they were all going to get off the ship in the skiffs. After Lysander convinced his new friend to go to sleep, Pel assumed Azango's form and prepared to lead Malinko and his men into a trap.

Unfortunately, on his way, he ran into a battle outside Ambassador Avadarrn's door. The paladins, apparently on orders from Ambassador Bethenade, had come to attack the skeletons, and a battle was joined in the hallway. As Pel called for help using the circle of sound, the paladins attacked and killed several of the skeletons.

Pel tried to subdue Gedavin, the male paladin, using hold person and fear, but was unable to get through the paladin's defenses, and he instead kept attacking the last remaining skeleton, Skarad. Hollia, the female paladin, covered him from the back.

Tworock and Luggoth, responding to Lysander's calls for help, ran out to try and restrain the paladins. As Lysander tried to sing and persuade both sides to avoid the atrocities of the Last War, Skarad and Gedavin continued attacking each other, and Hollia swung at Luggoth, viewing him as an abomination and an interloper in this fight.

Given Luggoth's animosity toward the Silver Flame, this was all the excuse he needed, and he went into a rage and attacked the paladin. Pel enhanced Tworock's strength with bull's strength to aid him in grabbing Gedavin as Luggoth and Hollia continued to battle. Luggoth swung a vicious blow that nearly killed the female paladin, but Lysander tumbled past the angry Skarad and healed her, keeping her unconscious but alive.

With one paladin down and the other restrained, Pel was able to calm Skarad by threatening him with a cure spell that would surely destroy him. Luggoth went up to get the captain and Medani sentries, and they confined the paladins to their quarters and Skarad into a different set of quarters.

In order to keep out of the way of the trap, as well as making sure everyone stayed in their rooms, Captain Alastair ordered all of the Medani sentries to guard those two rooms, plus the ambassadors.

Tworock, Lysander and Luggoth moved down to the cargo hold to wait in ambush, but when they got there they found that Gunter Hegerin's body was missing. There was little time to puzzle it out, however, as Pel led Baron Malinko, Jackrin, Skrakes and Meldin into a trap.

Jackrin spotted some of the Wolves waiting in hiding, but not quickly enough to escape, and Luggoth charged into action, raging and slashing the pirate with a wicked gash that nearly split his chest open. Sea Baron Malinko tumbled down the stairs and behind Luggoth, but he was unable to hit the nimble and well-armored shifter. Lysander drew his bow and put an arrow into Skrakes, but the pirates still knew the threat was Luggoth, and they all swung at him, doing some damage that the raging Luggoth mostly ignored.

Tworock rushed in, taking a minor scratch from an opportunistic attack by Meldrin, but he paid Sea Baron Malinko back for it with a gash across the chest. As Luggoth killed both Skrakes and Jackrin, the Sea Baron tried to run for one of the skiffs, but he didn't get far before Tworock moved in and cut him down. Before Meldrin could surrender, Luggoth killed him as well, and once again, Pel put his healing magics to use keeping a prisoner alive, stabilizing and awakening Sea Baron Malinko.

Malinko owned up to everything, explaining that his motivation was not merely jealousy at wanting his own Cloud Dancer to be the best in the sky but also anger because his family had held aberrant dragonmarked, and he still held a great deal of anger against the Dragonmarked Houses that ran Golden Dragon and ships like them. He tried to make deals with the Wolves, but found them willing only to throw him in prison.

He vehemently denied having anything to do with the theft of the pouch, even though it was found in Jackrin's vest, and he also denied causing the strife between the ambassadors. Pel, a good judge of when someone was lying, believed him. Pel deciphered the magical code in the documents inside the pouch and found that they were orders for House Orien to essentially "pull up stakes" on all development in Xen'drik.

It had been a long night, but it wasn't quite over yet. The Wolves went up and found out that one of the House Medani sentries had discovered Cardinal Bethenade dead in his room, poisoned by his own hand using dark reaver powder and leaving behind a confession that he had attempted to poison Ambassador Avadarrn. Pel and Lysander both checked for forgeries and confirmed that the confession was in Bethenade's handwriting, but they weren't entirely sure they believed it. What they were sure of was that acts of war between Thrane and Karrnath had taken place aboard the Golden Dragon, and once the news got out, as it surely would, those acts might spark a new conflict in Khorvaire.

After interrogating Zan for any more information, he confessed to Pel that he had overheard Kalibar telling him about the pouch, but that he had seen Kalibar slip the pouch into Jackrin's jerkin during the brawl. The Wolves went to confront the slippery halfling in the now-closed House of Chance. Tarla, Nicolette and Desrida were still there, but they refused Lysander's request to leave.

Jenks offered up a story about stealing the House Orien pouch and replacing it with the forgeries. He claimed that he had been hired to do so by the Boromar Clan, and that he had been making the switch when the goblin alerted Logar to the switch. Jenks had to try a misdirect, and so he slipped the forgery into Jackrin's vest during the brawl. Pel quickly realized that Jenks was mostly telling the truth, but he wasn't working for the Boromar Clan. It was the one part of his story that didn't ring true.

When confronted, Jenks reluctantly admitted that he was an agent of the King's Dark Lanterns, and called upon the loyalty of the Wolves to Breland to keep the secret. He knew that they had worked for the Dark Lanterns in pursuing Lucan, and hoped that they held a loyalty to the Brelish crown. Fortunately for him, they did, and they agreed to keep the secret.

After a long night and a series of exhausting events, the Wolves finally returned to their staterooms for some well-deserved rest.

XP:
Lysander 3000
Luggoth 1500
Pel 3500
Tworock 3500