Wandering Wolves: The Opening of the Wolves' Reward

Vult 27, YK 999 - Zarantyr 2, YK 1000

With only a few days until the opening of the Wolves' Reward, Brand gathered the Wolves in the war room and told them that he had received a communication from his father.

Brand and Traega had done some exploring in the Shadow Marches and found a rich dragonshard field, which they offered to House Orien as a way to buy Traega some favor with the House again. Traega arranged to have the map sent to the Orien enclave in Passage, where one of his contacts would get it to the higher-ups so it could be sold to House Tharashk, who would pay handsomely for another field in the area.

Traega's contact stole the map and passed it off to Aeromus, Brand's uncle, who immediately made plans to sell it directly to House Tharashk, cutting Orien (and Traega) out entirely. This sale was to take place at the gathering of the Houses for the opening of the Wolves' Reward, where no one would think anything of high-ranking scions of the House meeting.

Fortunately, Traega had anticipated something like this, and had sent a false map to his contact. He sent the real map to Brand and instructed him to watch Aeromus's agent during the opening of the Wolves' Reward, and to put the real map into House Tharashk's hands immediately after Aeromus's agent handed over the false map. The result would be Tharashk's anger at nearly being sold a fake map and House Orien's anger at being cut out of a deal, and with Traega heading to Passage as soon as the switch was made, the hope was that Traega would be reinstated and Aeromus arrested.

Counseled by Pel and Lysander, Brand determined that the best thing to do was make sure that the representatives from House Orien and House Tharashk didn't see each other until the gala on opening night, and to make sure they were in the semi-private dining room on that night, more or less assuring the time and place of the hand-off.

On the morning of Vult 27, the Wolves gathered with the ambassadors from Galifar's Hope to greet the Daughters of Sora Kell, making a rare appearance outside Droaam. They came walking up to the casino entrance with an Oni mage, Crezyan Rrac, in tow. The Wolves couldn't say anything about Crezyan Rrac's role in the plot, nor his ties to the Lords of Dust, without implicating themselves, and they weren't happy to hear that Crezyan was being appointed the Droaam ambassador to Galifar's Hope.

They were even less happy when Sora Teraza declared "This place will be baptized in blood." She then stared at Luggoth and said "I would speak with you" before heading inside and up to Galifar's Hope.

With that nerve-rattling meeting over, the Wolves went back inside the casino to deal with various business. Lysander was running all over the casino making sure that the opening night festivities, including performances in the Wolfsong Hall, The Wanderers' Prospect and Rorsa's Den were going according to plan. Brand was coordinating with Chance, the casino manager, and Diarmand, the casino's head of security, on the House Orien/House Tharashk intrigues, and Pel, William and Luggoth went up to visit the Daughters of Sora Kell.

While Pel and William stood in the hallway talking with the beautiful Sora Katra with Sora Maenya and Crezyan Rrac looking on, Luggoth went in to speak with Sora Teraza, the oracle. She told him of her interpretation of the Prophecy, that his murder of Jaela Daran was preordained, but that she believed that it would be done to save the world from plunging into darkness. She also explained that some of the Chamber, and the Lords of Dust, did not believe this, and thought that Luggoth was to be responsible for plunging the world into darkness. In addition, she revealed that the Prophecy indicated that Luggoth was going to kill Ttemmal the Rakshasa, which was why he had sometimes disobeyed his masters' wishes and tried to murder Luggoth instead of corrupting him.

Luggoth insisted that he didn't care what the Prophecy said, that he was going to do what he could for his friends and loved ones, and the Prophecy be damned, but Sora Teraza insisted that the Prophecy would determine what happened to Luggoth and his friends, and that he therefore cared very much. In addition, she told him that his role in the Prophecy made him important, and that many would seek to curry favor with him. Sora Teraza was no different, and she told Luggoth that if she had further information for him in the future, she might send for him.

As Luggoth had a thoroughly uncomfortable meeting with Sora Teraza, William and Pel had an equally, if differently, uncomfortable meeting outside. William did his best to stare down Crezyan Rrac, remembering his attempts to kill the Wolves. Pel engaged in verbal repartee with Sora Katra, and was surprised and discomfited to learn that her skill with diplomatic double-speak and hidden meanings surpassed his. Without directly saying anything, Pel was able to discern that the Hags knew all about the Wolves' involvement in Breland's attempted assassination coup, and that they knew as well that Crezyan Rrac was an agent of the Lords of Dust. He was also able to learn that Sora Katra preferred to know the secret agenda of their ambassador, rather than to have someone whose betrayal might be unpredictable.

Fully convinced that the Daughters of Sora Kell were formidable opponents, the Wolves descended by air skiff back down to the casino, where they were met by Brand, who informed them of what had been going on while they had their meeting.

The House Orien contingent had shown up at midday, and in addition to a dozen Orien representatives, they were led by Aeromus's son, Brand's cousin, the weaselly Breyten d'Orien, with the bestial Url Conaway accompanying him as security. Url had come to Brand and informed him that his scouts had seen a group of fey creatures advancing out of the Whitehorn Wood, moving to rendezvous with a larger army in the Eldeen Reaches, which was almost certainly planning an assault on the Wolves' branch of civilization in what they considered their wild. He counseled sending the most powerful agents the Wolves could manage to deal with these leaders before larger trouble resulted.

Even though they knew it was a distraction, the Wolves couldn't afford to ignore it. They left Lysander and Chance to make sure that the House Tharashk and House Orien groups didn't meet up early and took magebred horses to the south to deal with this enemy force.

The enemy force was made up of a unicorn, a firbolg hounder, a centaur hunter, a shifter representing the Children of Winter and four cyclops.

The unicorn charged and impaled William, who was suddenly forced to take it much more seriously as a foe, as Pel engaged the Firbolg by calling down a flame strike on him and his allies. Brand, in a blur of speed and teleportation, rushed across the river to engage the centaur archer in melee, as Luggoth flew into his frost rage and attacked the other shifter.

None of the Wolves present understood the elven that their foes spoke, but they were able to discern their motives when the centaur barked out a command and the cyclops turned to attack Brand, using the flat of their blades. Clearly, they had been told to capture a House Orien scion at least, quite possibly Brand specifically.

William maintained his reign of steel stance, keeping the Firbolg and Unicorn close to him as Luggoth stayed with and killed the Children of Winter Doomspeaker. Pel used all his deceptive talents and martial talents to cut the Firbolg and leave him bleeding, finishing him off by cutting off one leg and then, when he had fallen to the ground, slicing his throat open.

Brand kept at the centaur with his blades as the centaur responded with arrows, until Whitehearth was able to finish it off, bringing it down and tearing out his throat. The Wolves had hoped to capture one of the attackers, but the unicorn put on a burst of speed and fled down the river.

It was an eight hour trip back to the casino, and it was the middle of the night when they arrived. The Deneith blademark at the door told them that Diarmand had been looking for them, and had a few things to tell them, so they went to wake him up. They found him in his room with a giggling young woman in his bed, which did not amuse William at all.

Fortunately, they also learned that while matters of interest had occurred while they were away, none of them were terribly urgent, at least as far as the Wolves were concerned. A female-identified warforged named Scabbard had arrived, claiming to represent the Lord of Blades and wanting a seat at the table at Galifar's Hope to represent their new nation, formed in the Mournland, which had caused quite a stir with the ambassadors. In addition, Josilian d'Tiarlan of House Sivis and a Blood of Vol priestess named Ermena Dorn had both requested an audience with Pel. He resolved to meet with them in the morning.

Brand went to talk with Lysander, and learned that the House Tharashk contingent had arrived and immediately been taken to Rorsa's Den for some bawdy entertainment that they were now sleeping off, and they hadn't had any interaction with Breyten, whom Chance had plied with booze and whores, or Url, who had spent a fair amount of time "casing" the casino as if looking for weak spots in its security.

The next morning, Pel spoke first with Ermena Dorn, a soft-spoken woman who explained that the Blood of Vol, like worship of the Traveler, was associated with evil because of bad elements, but that the religion itself wasn't wholly evil. She explained that it was about worshiping the divinity within one's self, and choosing life over death, and that some viewed undeath as one way to avoid death, which Seekers of the Blood of Vol considered unwelcome, and even unnatural. She argued that allowing a temple of the Blood of Vol in The Wolves' Reward would go a long way towards showing people that the religion wasn't violent or dangerous, and would help to undercut the damage done (and the influence over many religious adherents) by the Emerald Claw.

Pel wasn't convinced that it was a good idea, nor that the other Wolves would go for it, but he did agree to talk with Ermena again in a few days before she left to go back to Karrnath.

Pel's visit with Josilian, the gnomish barrister for House Sivis, was less difficult, although no less surprising. It turned out that Sava Kharisa, Councilor in Sharn, had willed her art gallery to Pel upon her death, and now that the Pel who had taken possession was revealed to be a fraud, Josilian had papers for Pel to sign so that he could take possession of it.

The Wolves then took a journey up to Galifar's Hope to find out what had happened with Scabbard, and they overheard that she had indeed been granted a seat on the table, non-voting at present, over the strenuous objections of the four remaining Five Nations of Karrnath, Thrane, Aundair and Breland, and over the furious anger of non-voting Cyre. The tie-breaking vote had come from Maechen, on behalf of Argonnessen, which caused no end of discussion and frustration amongst the ambassadors.

The discussion got even more heated when Ambassador Neya ir'Krell of Aundair and Ambassador Valtar ir'Wynarn of Thrane began arguing about the rightful possessor of Thaliost. The city was to have gone back to Aundair when the war with Droaam was over, and in return Thrane was to get a larger chunk of conquered Droaam, but since the war ended in peace rather than conquest, things were still being hashed out, and it didn't sound like the decisions were going to be made easily.

William took some time to talk to Karrnathi ambassador Sedge Avadarn, laying out any number of plans for aggressive military action by Karrnath. Avadarn patiently explained to William that there was more to his home culture than warfare, and that he should experience the art, the food and the other culture of Karrnath, rather than looking for targets which might ignite the Last War again.

The rest of the day was spent in preparation for the gala opening, which was held in The Wanderer's Prospect restaurant, with entertainment provided by House Phiarlan. During the event, the Wolves chatted with several friendly faces, including the very pregnant Lady Elaydren d'Cannith, who expressed worry about her Uncle Merrix and concern for the head of her House, Jorlanna d'Cannith, who was experiencing criticism due to her relationship with Kalen d'Orien.

William was flagged down by Lieutenant Vorik Taggert, a Karrnathi soldier who presented a message from General Gustavus Karlach, whom William knew from his teen years when General Karlach was dating his Aunt Hannah. He asked that William come to see him in Karrlakton as soon as he was able.

Brand, meanwhile, had a chat with a scarred gentleman named Ari Romhaar, an Aundarian lightning mage with a lightning-themed "traveling carnival of wonders." He explained that he had gotten the scars thanks to an attempt to capture a Behir in Xen'drik for his circus, because the adventurers he hired were not up to the task. Once Brand determined that the adventurers he spoke of were not the Young Wolves, he agreed to consider Ari's offer to come down to Xen'drik with him and capture the beast, although Pel expressed that they definitely wanted to do some research on Romhaar before agreeing to anything.

And then it was showtime for Traega d'Orien's plot. Brand watched as Breyten d'Orien exchanged his map for money with the House Tharashk operative, and Brand rushed in to give him the real map. As the House Tharashk contingent was beginning to ask pointed questions, however, a loud, brusque female voice rang out.

The voice belonged to Cavoletta, werewolf servant of the Lords of Dust, who announced that she was there to kill Luggoth. She transformed into her werewolf form, a handful of patrons revealed themselves to be cultists of the Lords of Dust and, to the horror of everyone there (and the intense anger of William) the House Deneith Blademarks drew their weapons and revealed themselves to be working for Cavoletta.

Or so it would seem. In fact, William quickly spotted that they were not fighting in the Deneith style, and given that he knew several of the men to be Deneith, he quickly realized that they were suffering fiendish possession. With a yell to "Take them alive! They're possessed!" he waded into the fray.

Luggoth, for his part, snarled at Cavoletta "I've been waiting for this" and charged into battle. Pel cracked his cousin across the face, activating his dimensional bond and told him to "stay put" before pulling both of his swords and leaping into battle as well.

William, Pel and Brand made short work of the cultists, even though they were emboldened by Cavoletta's bloodcurdling howl. The Blademarks split between supporting Cavoletta in her battle against Luggoth and trying, unsuccessfully, to keep William out of the fight.

While Pel, William and Brand did their best to knock out the Blademarks, Luggoth and Cavoletta tore into each other. Cavoletta began to look unsteady on her feet, and Pel moved into heal Luggoth, giving him just enough strength to land a final blow on Cavoletta, who responded by tearing into Luggoth twice more, but the frost covering his body, combined with the grievous wounds he had dealt her, took its toll, and she collapsed to the ground, mere seconds before Luggoth himself had to stumble to a chair to fight off the moon frenzy coursing through his veins as a result of her bite.

No one ever accused the Wolves of throwing a dull party.