Dravago 26, YK 1000
We are boarding an airship (Lightning's Fury) to Stormhome. We are given 2000 gold for operating expenses, give 19 pp to each member of the party, keep just over 200 in party treasure. Alchemical preparation: (3) Clearsense Powder (Lvl 11), (2) Tracking Dust (Lvl 4), (10) Suppression Crystals (Lvl 4). Magnus returns from an errand and we board an airship. Lightning's Fury is a smaller corsair type airship, armed and fast but without as much passenger room as a standard airship. The journey will take us 12 hours.
Demons materialize on the ship, Torgen spots them and everyone but Alain hears cries of alarm and pain from belowdecks. Xiu comes out and tells Alain what's going on, then heads up to the deck. Chasme demon gores the captain badly. Another one claws and kills a half-elf on the way to attacking Torgen and Xiu. Alain climbs up to the deck, moves in next to Torgen and Xiu and misses the Chasme demon with a staff attack. Magnus gets up, grabs his shield and begins making his way up. Torgen uses Wrath of God to enhance damage for Xiu and Alain. Xau heads belowdecks and finds a fire demon setting fire below. Lyrandar crewmen begin making their way below to regain control of the ship. The Captain draws her rapier and swings at Chasme demon that gored her, it bats it aside dismissively and sneers Abyssal at her.
Xiu does a handspring assault across the deck and stabs the Chasme demon that is attacking the captain. It responds by buzzing its wings and dazing Xiu and the captain. The other one tries to buzz Alain and Torgen, succeeds with Alain. Alain fires Predatory Shards at Chasme demon, and then falls unconscious due to buzzing. Magnus runs up to Shadow Demon, drawing an attack of opportunity which he resists with Unbreakable. Below decks, the Immolith intensifies its flame, making more smoke and fire. Torgen tries to wake up Alain, but is unsuccessful, he attacks Chasme demon. Xau rolls between the Chasme demon's legs to flank with Torgen and attacks with Trickster's Blade, bloodying the Chasme Demon. Captain hits the other Chasme demon, Priest blasts the Chasme demon with lightning ineffectively. Shadow Demon attacks Magnus, who is still vulnerable from running, with void rake.
Shadow Demon comes above decks and attacks Torgen. Xiu charges other Chasme, crits and bloodies it, saves vs. daze. Chasme demon attacks Torgen with a crit, activating the regeneration on his armor. Other Chasme gores the captain again. Alain wakes up. Magnus attacks Shadow Demon twice. Torgen marks Shadow Demon, unleashes arc of vengeance on Chasme demon (miss) and Shadow Demon (hit). causing the Shadow Demon to manifest fully on this plane. Xau moves in to attack the Shadow Demon with Bat Aside, knocking the Shadow Demon and Chasme demon down. Lyrandar priest fires lightning blast and misses Chasme demon.
Shadow Demons attack Torgen and Magnus. Xiu attacks Chasme demon with two katar strikes. Chasme demon buzzes Xiu and Captain and flies off the ship, the other Chasme demon fails to buzz, flies up, taking attack of opportunity from Alain. Alain fires Life-Tapping darts, missing Shadow Demon for half damage and healing Torgen, gives dancing shield to Torgen. Magnus takes second wind, hits the other Shadow Demon. Immolith emerges on deck to attack Magnus with a curse, slowing him. Torgen swings and misses at Shadow Demon, marks the Shadow Demon. Xau leaps into the elemental ring, slingshots up and lands on the Chasme demon, kills it and lands on his feet next to Torgen. Captain uses dragonmark to storm strike the remaining Chasme and drag it back to the ship, crewmen fires an arrow at it and misses.
Shadow Demons attacks Magnus below decks, other one stands and attacks Torgen. Xiu balances on the railing next to the Chasme demon and kills it, is no longer unconscious. Alain misses with magic weapon, uses curative admixture on Torgen. Magnus attacks the Shadow Demon below decks, saves against slow and is now on fire. Immolith crits Magnus, he uses his wyrmshield, but is grabbed by fiery tendril. Xau crits the Shadow Demon and bloodies him, slides him off the ship. Captain goes below decks, dodges past Shadow Demon thanks to Magnus's mark and goes into the cabin, they summon the air elemental to attack the Immolith. Lyrandar priest blasts Shadow Demon with lightning.
Shadow Demon below deck attacks Magnus, Shadow Demon above deck turns into cloud of shadow, dealing damage to Torgen and effectively blinding everyone on the top deck. then flies away. Xiu goes below decks, shifts form into a Shadow Demon, doesn't fool him but attacks him. Alain fires two attacks, doing nothing, and gives regeneration infusion to Magnus. Immolith squeezes past Magnus, taking an attack of opportunity. Torgen attacks the Shadow Demon and misses. Xau runs through lightning, stabs Shadow Demon and bloodies it. Captain shifts back away from fiery aura and takes second wind. The elemental discharges electrical particles to hit Shadow Demon, Immolith, Xau and Magnus. The Captain and helmsmen warn us that there's a big boom coming, and we should get out of the way.
Shadow Demon claws Torgen, one above decks kills the priest. Xiu takes fire damage, takes crit from Immolith when she goes above decks, Immolith takes attack of opportunity from Magnus, then charges the Shadow Demon above decks. Alain uses restorative infusion on Magnus and fires crossbow bolt at Shadow Demon. Magnus uses defensive resurgence, tries to get free of grab but is still grabbed, uses thicket of blades on Shadow Demon and Immolith but misses them. Immolith takes reign of steel damage, bloodying him, attacks the helmsman and takes an attack of opportunity from Magnus, drags the helmsmen into his fire aura. Torgen uses strength from valor on Shadow Demon (crit) and Immolith (hit). Xau hits the Shadow Demon, then runs out of the lightning area. The helmsmen tells the captain how to activate the big boom, and a burst of lightning hits Magnus, the Immolith and the Shadow Demon, nearly killing the two remaining demons. Helmsmen tries to blast the Immolith and misses.
Shadow Demon attacks Torgen, the other one attacks Xiu. Xiu attacks Shadow Demon, moves back and uses action point to use Wild Tumble Cut. Alain heals Torgen, moves above decks and uses lightning sphere on Shadow Demon above decks. Magnus kills the below decks Shadow Demon and the Immolith in a swinging axe kill. Torgen attacks the remaining Shadow Demon after coming up on deck. Xau moves up, flanks with Xiu and attacks for a lot of damage, but doesn't kill him. Crew puts the flaming airship into a dive toward the ocean below.
Shadow Demon hits Torgen, Xiu kills it with Bloodbath. The airship is flown down to put out the fire by dipping into the water. Torgen and Alain know that the demons were summoned through a symbol that Alain recognizes as one commonly employed by the Lords of Dust.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Monday, May 03, 2010
Wandering Wolves: And In the Spring...
Olarune 28 - Eyre 25, YK 1000
Almost two months pass, as winter finally gives way to spring on Eberron. The Wolves' Reward remains busy, although it does lose some of its business to Stormhome, as the nicer weather encourages some of the idle rich to travel there for a bit of resort living.
With the prodding by William, and almost no argument from Diarmand, the security arrangement at the Wolves' Reward is changed. Maresh, healed back almost fully by House Jorasco experts, takes on the role of Head of Security at the casino, with Diarmand serving as his deputy. The result is tighter security overall and a much closer eye on the subversive elements that William might despise, but Pel and Lysander subtly encourage in order to cultivate information trafficking. Maresh's tactical mind and attention to detail results in tight security, but Diarmand takes on more of a wandering rogue role at the bars and tables, keeping his ear out for anything juicy that might require the attention of Maresh or, more often, Pel or Lysander.
Events are hardly quiet on Galifar's Hope, either. Though the Wolves aren't officially involved, they do hear a lot of chatter from diplomats and their aides in the bars, especially with Pel adopting different identities to listen to different people.
The good news is that the treaty that ended the Sigilstar conflict has been extended until the end of the month of Dravago, which will also be the end of spring. Trade routes are being reopened, and most of the ambassadors are optimistic that the treaty will be extended into summer, and then indefinitely, before the end of Dravago. As of the month of Therendor, the Sigilstar Alliance is officially disbanded, and many of those recruited into military service are sent back to civilian life, including the airship Golden Dragon, which is being converted into a grand diplomatic vessel to be berthed at Galifar's Hope as a transport for ambassadors.
There's still some tension in the ambassadorial meetings, however. One of the minor bones of contention is that Scabbard, ambassador for the Lord of Blades, is asking for permission to defend Mournland borders against looters, which they say is a violation of their sovereignty, and prevents them from establishing any kind of stable, non-violent nation for warforged. In exchange, the other nations want the Lord of Blades to dispatch warforged to search for bodies, equipment, information from the war era and ship it back to those nations. However, the sticking point is that they don't trust the Lord of Blades, and they want to send inspectors of their own to lead these missions, which is unacceptable, according to Scabbard. The Lord of Blades views this as nothing more than espionage under a cover of recovering lost national property, and to be fair, he's probably more right than wrong.
More importantly, things are really heating up between Aundair and Thrane, and there are days when their ambassadorial staff aren't even talking to one another. Security has even had to break up a few near-brawls in The Wanderer's Prospect and Rorsa's Den. Aundair assumed that the end of the war with Droaam was going to see Thaliost returned to them, and they insist that regardless of what happened with the war, Thrane owes it to them to return that city back. Thrane, naturally, does not see it that way. Ambassador Neya ir'Krell has made a few remarks about "If we have to take it, we will" that Ambassador Prince ir'Wynarn insists are no less than calls for war. Currently, Brelish Ambassador Kemble is the voice of reason for Neya, and Karrnathi Ambassador Sedge Avadarrn is the voice of reason for Prince ir'Wynarn, but the tensions run higher every day. Both have privately expressed that an Aundarian-Thrane conflict could be the match that re-ignites the Last War, and this is exactly the kind of thing Galifar's Hope was built to avoid.
Perhaps the most notable event for the Wolves, if not for Khorvaire as a whole, is the spring wedding of Lysander Llywellyn d'Phiarlan and Arenydee d'Phiarlan. The lavish ceremony is held in Cloudpool Park in Skyway in Sharn, with a reception at the Azure Gateway Restaurant. There are performances by House Phiarlan, and the ceremony is officiated by Baron Elvinor herself. Many of the Wolves friends and allies from their adventures are in attendance. As for the honeymoon? Only Lysander and Arenydee know, but they return to the Wolves' Reward happy, healthy and with perhaps a few new scrapes indicating an adventure or two along with their vacation in the month of Eyre.
Luggoth:
Though he may not tell the Wolves about it, Luggoth has been making friends, or at least acquaintances, in a variety of places. During his time in Passage, he was approached by a Tiefling who called himself Therin and said that he was a representative of The Order of Q'annhyrde. Therin endeared himself to Luggoth, despite his sinister exterior, by expressing nothing but disdain for the Prophecy, the "arrogant" Dragons who "mostly invented it" and the Demons who "foolishly follow the plans their enemies the Dragons lay out for them." Therin told Luggoth that he represented a group that thought it was the time of Mortals, not Dragons and Demons, and that Luggoth should reject what the Prophecy and its advocates told him, and just live for the moment.
Since then, Therin has visited Luggoth a few times, offering up names of contacts in various places allied with his organization, which some might refer to as a cult, although they deliberately eschew any religious trappings or indeed worship of anything. This includes Kira, a Tiefling Wizard of no small power who makes her home in Stormreach in Xen'drik and throws frequent parties for members of The Order. When Luggoth mentioned that the Wolves might be going to Xen'drik for a job or two, Therin gave him a half-dozen invitations to Kira's party at the beginning of Dravago.
Luggoth knows that Therin is sinister, perhaps even evil, but his nihilistic views fit in nicely with some of Luggoth's, and having someone tell him that he's not destined to do anything horrible (or even great) is something of a relief.
On the other hand, Savannah absolutely despises Therin, and has stopped just short of branding him a heretic, knowing that to do so might drive Luggoth away. However, she has put Luggoth in touch with Father Mizar Talandro, a retired paladin of the Silver Flame who was the priest who brought Savannah and Borgath to Sharn, and is a shifter himself.
Mizar Talandro is a shifter in his early sixties who was once a paladin of the Silver Flame, but has now settled into the role of a traveling priest. Unlike many shifters, he holds no grudge against the Silver Flame, in large part because of what happened to his family during the Inquisition. In 840 YK, about a hundred years before Mizar was born, his family was nearly wiped out by the lycanthropic plague infecting Thrane. Only the intervention of the Inquisition saved Mizar's great-grandmother, who was adopted by the Talandro family. Mizar's branch of the family, though shifters all, were brought up to worship in the faith and to despise the lycanthropes that had nearly killed all of them.
In his youth, Mizar was a fiery crusader against demonic and lycanthropic influences, but time and experience has mellowed him. He still believes in the existence of evil, but rather than fighting with swords, he tries to fight with words and thoughts, as he believes that no one mortal is beyond salvation. He also believes that their salvation is ultimately up to them, and all he can offer is guidance. Though he speaks softly and intelligently as a priest, when talking with other adventurers, who can tell stories with the best of them, and his priestly veneer drops to reveal the former adventurer who raided dungeons and battled monsters across the face of Khorvaire. Lysander actually finds him to be quite entertaining and full of stories, and William can talk to him warrior to warrior with little difficulty.
He talks with Luggoth about the struggles with violence, with destiny and with religion. As a shifter and former adventurer, his approach to the Silver Flame is much more palatable to Luggoth, although the life he offers is one that is more restrained and more guarded than the one that Therin suggests.
William
There is a new addition to the House Deneith complement at the Wolves' Reward. Karola d'Deneith, an 18-year-old dragonmarked heir from an influential bloodline, has come to continue her training as a blademark under the personal guidance of Maresh d'Deneith. Uncle Maresh also tipped off William that Karola is someone that his mother would very much like William to marry, although she knows better than to try and push them together. Instead, she has sent Karola to train under Maresh, where she's likely to see William quite a bit.
Karola, for her part, is as tough as one would expect from a Deneith heir, and very eager to please Maresh, whose tactical brilliance she has studied in school. After meeting William, she has developed an obvious crush on him, thanks in no small part to tales told by Sharri d'Deneith. However, she doesn't try to win William's affections with flirtation of a standard kind... instead, she's constantly challenging him to combats in the training hall. And constantly losing, because while she's a promising young Blademark, she's nowhere near William's skill level.
Early in this month (Eyre), Lalia d'Deneith, one of the twins who serves as the leading Sentinel Marshals in Sharn, reviewed William's application to become a Sentinel Marshl. With recommendations from General Karlach and his work with Vadis and Orlok, he has been accepted into the Sentinel Marshals and made deputy to Resolute. This still grants him plenty of independence, it just means that from time to time, Resolute will check in on him and might request that William accompany him on missions.
The next such mission is one that William, and the Wolves, will probably enjoy. Halas Martain, formerly of the Wayfinder Foundation, is wanted for his part in the slaughter of a Korranberg expedition aboard the Shining Dragonfly. Information has reached the Sentinel Marshals that Martain has been spotted in the jungles of Xen'drik, and given that the Wolves have met Martain, and were there when the massacre happened, Resolute has asked for their help in tracking down Martain and bringing him in to be questioned. The Wolves have hazy memories that Martain was transformed into a frog, but they don't remember why they thought that, and clearly if he's been spotted in Xen'drik, it's not true in any case.
Lysander
Probably the most notable event in Lysander's life is his successful marriage to Arenydee, who is now officially Arenydee Llywellyn d'Phiarlan. It's up to you where the two of them went on their honeymoon, and what adventures they got up to.
Lysander is given a wedding gift from his mother, a Songbow of Vanishment +4 that is a family heirloom, and has a proud history of use by the bards of the Elorrenthi family dating back over twenty thousand years to the days before the Mark of Shadow manifested, when the Phiarlan line were spies and mediators for the court of Aerenal at its height. Rumor has it that there is a songblade with an even more powerful enchantment that was the companion to the bow, but the conflicting stories and gaps in the tales make it hard to determine where it might be now. Smart money is either in Xen'drik, Aerenal or perhaps even Argonnessen.
Pel
Pel has been quite busy in the past two months, spending days in different identities and different cities, and even in different nations. His protectorate of organized crime is mainly in Sharn, but Boromar ties back to the Talenta Plains, the Daask tie back to Droaam and the Tyrants' expansion under the guidance of Vadis has left broken tendrils throughout Khorvaire that Pel has been trying to snip off for good.
The Boromar have been mostly moving in on the Sharn City Council, increasing their political power. They have managed to take the seat that was once Sava Kharisa's, playing on the distrust of "Councilor Pel," and they have discovered the truth about Councilor Kilik, who is an invention of the Tyrants, providing them with blackmail to neutralize one of their most powerful political opponents. There are only two councilors left who effectively oppose Boromar influence on the council: Hruit, the powerful druid from Middle Dura, and Borian Haldorak, an older dwarf who represents Upper Dura. Both of these men have power and secrets of their own, but Pel has been ordered to keep his ears open for potential attempts at blackmailing or eliminating them by the Boromars.
The Daask, though nearly broken by Vadis's machinations, have begun recovering thanks to the weakening of the Tyrants and the restoration of trade routes between Breland and Droaam. Muscle and money is coming in from Droaam once more. In fact, the Daask have a few bookies and enforcers working at the Wolves' Reward, with the protection of Ambassador Crezyan Rrac. Lysander and Pel are able to keep tabs on them fairly easily through their own networks, and the Daask provide some useful information, so their presence is tolerated. For now.
The Tyrants, meanwhile, under the guidance of their new Tyrant One and a mostly new council, are keeping a very low profile. Only their most profitable brothels and information-gathering operations are still running, and nothing that draws the attention of the Watch is operating right now. Pel keeps his eye on them because he knows, better than most, what they're capable of, and how quickly they could become a threat, but mostly he's spending his time eliminating the expansion his father made into other nations that could come back to threaten Brelish interests, rather than focusing on their minimal operations in Sharn.
Pel has a flow of information coming to him at all times. Of particular interest, he has heard that Xain, his half-brother, might be operating with the Bilge Rats in Xen'drik. He has also planted rumors of Brelish agents hunting Vadis across Khorvaire, to keep up the illusion that his father might not be dead.
Pel has an operative at the casino who needs a name and basic information. He also needs to appoint someone to run Sava Kharisa's Gallery in Sharn, which he now owns.
Brand
The trial of Aeromus d'Orien vs. Traega d'Orien has been set for Dravago, the late spring. The Sivis lawyers for both sides have a small army of investigators working across two continents to find information on the case, which ties into events that go back decades across Khorvaire and Xen'drik.
Tworock and Saia Borath both came to Khorvaire to attend the wedding of Lysander and Arenydee, although Saia came in disguise. They informed Brand that Yanesh Hite is operating as The Native for the time being, as well as acting as his diplomat, and they're still using the guidance of Medrea's prophecies, but Yanesh is stretched to the limit, and they really need someone else to take over if the Native's operation is to continue. Saia would like to return to Khorvaire and stay at the Wolves' Reward, despite its proximity to her Ashbound problems in the Eldeen Reaches and potential trouble with her aberrant dragonmark, but Tworock intends to stay in Xen'drik for the time being. They both suggested that Yanesh come to Khorvaire, but he was insistent that he couldn't spare the time. Both of them seem to agree that the Native's operation might have served its purpose, and they might be better off disbanding it before Yanesh really gets himself into trouble.
Speaking of trouble, there are rumors of trouble with a couple of Orien caravans. A couple of incidents have happened where the passengers have turned murderous and cannibalistic, ending with nearly everyone dead, and one mad, dangerous patron having to be put down by security. No one is entirely sure what has caused this.
The sword that Brand recovered from Caela d'Orien turns out to be a long lost blade from the Order of the Eldritch Knights. The Order, formed some 1,800 years ago, was an elite force of swordmages who traveled across Galifar, just as the other scions of House Orien did, but while most of House Orien was concerned with the transference of people, cargo or information, the Eldrich Knights were concerned with the transference of justice. They were freelance protectors who fought for the weak against anyone who would try to oppress them, from wandering monsters and bandits to corrupt lords and even some Dragonmarked Houses. They earned powerful enemies as a result, and eventually political machinations backed by physical force found the knights destroyed.
The last knight fell on the same day in 894 YK that King Jarot died, and some argue that the Kingdom of Galifar died on that day as well. Most of the Eldritch Knights' panoply of magical blades, boots, medallion, bracers, belts and gauntlets had been destroyed when the individual knights died, but the gear of the last knight was given to various noble families in House Orien, and then stolen, lost or hidden over the course of the Last War. It's clear that the blade found its way into the hands of Caela d'Orien's family... where the rest of the gear went will require investigation.
Almost two months pass, as winter finally gives way to spring on Eberron. The Wolves' Reward remains busy, although it does lose some of its business to Stormhome, as the nicer weather encourages some of the idle rich to travel there for a bit of resort living.
With the prodding by William, and almost no argument from Diarmand, the security arrangement at the Wolves' Reward is changed. Maresh, healed back almost fully by House Jorasco experts, takes on the role of Head of Security at the casino, with Diarmand serving as his deputy. The result is tighter security overall and a much closer eye on the subversive elements that William might despise, but Pel and Lysander subtly encourage in order to cultivate information trafficking. Maresh's tactical mind and attention to detail results in tight security, but Diarmand takes on more of a wandering rogue role at the bars and tables, keeping his ear out for anything juicy that might require the attention of Maresh or, more often, Pel or Lysander.
Events are hardly quiet on Galifar's Hope, either. Though the Wolves aren't officially involved, they do hear a lot of chatter from diplomats and their aides in the bars, especially with Pel adopting different identities to listen to different people.
The good news is that the treaty that ended the Sigilstar conflict has been extended until the end of the month of Dravago, which will also be the end of spring. Trade routes are being reopened, and most of the ambassadors are optimistic that the treaty will be extended into summer, and then indefinitely, before the end of Dravago. As of the month of Therendor, the Sigilstar Alliance is officially disbanded, and many of those recruited into military service are sent back to civilian life, including the airship Golden Dragon, which is being converted into a grand diplomatic vessel to be berthed at Galifar's Hope as a transport for ambassadors.
There's still some tension in the ambassadorial meetings, however. One of the minor bones of contention is that Scabbard, ambassador for the Lord of Blades, is asking for permission to defend Mournland borders against looters, which they say is a violation of their sovereignty, and prevents them from establishing any kind of stable, non-violent nation for warforged. In exchange, the other nations want the Lord of Blades to dispatch warforged to search for bodies, equipment, information from the war era and ship it back to those nations. However, the sticking point is that they don't trust the Lord of Blades, and they want to send inspectors of their own to lead these missions, which is unacceptable, according to Scabbard. The Lord of Blades views this as nothing more than espionage under a cover of recovering lost national property, and to be fair, he's probably more right than wrong.
More importantly, things are really heating up between Aundair and Thrane, and there are days when their ambassadorial staff aren't even talking to one another. Security has even had to break up a few near-brawls in The Wanderer's Prospect and Rorsa's Den. Aundair assumed that the end of the war with Droaam was going to see Thaliost returned to them, and they insist that regardless of what happened with the war, Thrane owes it to them to return that city back. Thrane, naturally, does not see it that way. Ambassador Neya ir'Krell has made a few remarks about "If we have to take it, we will" that Ambassador Prince ir'Wynarn insists are no less than calls for war. Currently, Brelish Ambassador Kemble is the voice of reason for Neya, and Karrnathi Ambassador Sedge Avadarrn is the voice of reason for Prince ir'Wynarn, but the tensions run higher every day. Both have privately expressed that an Aundarian-Thrane conflict could be the match that re-ignites the Last War, and this is exactly the kind of thing Galifar's Hope was built to avoid.
Perhaps the most notable event for the Wolves, if not for Khorvaire as a whole, is the spring wedding of Lysander Llywellyn d'Phiarlan and Arenydee d'Phiarlan. The lavish ceremony is held in Cloudpool Park in Skyway in Sharn, with a reception at the Azure Gateway Restaurant. There are performances by House Phiarlan, and the ceremony is officiated by Baron Elvinor herself. Many of the Wolves friends and allies from their adventures are in attendance. As for the honeymoon? Only Lysander and Arenydee know, but they return to the Wolves' Reward happy, healthy and with perhaps a few new scrapes indicating an adventure or two along with their vacation in the month of Eyre.
Luggoth:
Though he may not tell the Wolves about it, Luggoth has been making friends, or at least acquaintances, in a variety of places. During his time in Passage, he was approached by a Tiefling who called himself Therin and said that he was a representative of The Order of Q'annhyrde. Therin endeared himself to Luggoth, despite his sinister exterior, by expressing nothing but disdain for the Prophecy, the "arrogant" Dragons who "mostly invented it" and the Demons who "foolishly follow the plans their enemies the Dragons lay out for them." Therin told Luggoth that he represented a group that thought it was the time of Mortals, not Dragons and Demons, and that Luggoth should reject what the Prophecy and its advocates told him, and just live for the moment.
Since then, Therin has visited Luggoth a few times, offering up names of contacts in various places allied with his organization, which some might refer to as a cult, although they deliberately eschew any religious trappings or indeed worship of anything. This includes Kira, a Tiefling Wizard of no small power who makes her home in Stormreach in Xen'drik and throws frequent parties for members of The Order. When Luggoth mentioned that the Wolves might be going to Xen'drik for a job or two, Therin gave him a half-dozen invitations to Kira's party at the beginning of Dravago.
Luggoth knows that Therin is sinister, perhaps even evil, but his nihilistic views fit in nicely with some of Luggoth's, and having someone tell him that he's not destined to do anything horrible (or even great) is something of a relief.
On the other hand, Savannah absolutely despises Therin, and has stopped just short of branding him a heretic, knowing that to do so might drive Luggoth away. However, she has put Luggoth in touch with Father Mizar Talandro, a retired paladin of the Silver Flame who was the priest who brought Savannah and Borgath to Sharn, and is a shifter himself.
Mizar Talandro is a shifter in his early sixties who was once a paladin of the Silver Flame, but has now settled into the role of a traveling priest. Unlike many shifters, he holds no grudge against the Silver Flame, in large part because of what happened to his family during the Inquisition. In 840 YK, about a hundred years before Mizar was born, his family was nearly wiped out by the lycanthropic plague infecting Thrane. Only the intervention of the Inquisition saved Mizar's great-grandmother, who was adopted by the Talandro family. Mizar's branch of the family, though shifters all, were brought up to worship in the faith and to despise the lycanthropes that had nearly killed all of them.
In his youth, Mizar was a fiery crusader against demonic and lycanthropic influences, but time and experience has mellowed him. He still believes in the existence of evil, but rather than fighting with swords, he tries to fight with words and thoughts, as he believes that no one mortal is beyond salvation. He also believes that their salvation is ultimately up to them, and all he can offer is guidance. Though he speaks softly and intelligently as a priest, when talking with other adventurers, who can tell stories with the best of them, and his priestly veneer drops to reveal the former adventurer who raided dungeons and battled monsters across the face of Khorvaire. Lysander actually finds him to be quite entertaining and full of stories, and William can talk to him warrior to warrior with little difficulty.
He talks with Luggoth about the struggles with violence, with destiny and with religion. As a shifter and former adventurer, his approach to the Silver Flame is much more palatable to Luggoth, although the life he offers is one that is more restrained and more guarded than the one that Therin suggests.
William
There is a new addition to the House Deneith complement at the Wolves' Reward. Karola d'Deneith, an 18-year-old dragonmarked heir from an influential bloodline, has come to continue her training as a blademark under the personal guidance of Maresh d'Deneith. Uncle Maresh also tipped off William that Karola is someone that his mother would very much like William to marry, although she knows better than to try and push them together. Instead, she has sent Karola to train under Maresh, where she's likely to see William quite a bit.
Karola, for her part, is as tough as one would expect from a Deneith heir, and very eager to please Maresh, whose tactical brilliance she has studied in school. After meeting William, she has developed an obvious crush on him, thanks in no small part to tales told by Sharri d'Deneith. However, she doesn't try to win William's affections with flirtation of a standard kind... instead, she's constantly challenging him to combats in the training hall. And constantly losing, because while she's a promising young Blademark, she's nowhere near William's skill level.
Early in this month (Eyre), Lalia d'Deneith, one of the twins who serves as the leading Sentinel Marshals in Sharn, reviewed William's application to become a Sentinel Marshl. With recommendations from General Karlach and his work with Vadis and Orlok, he has been accepted into the Sentinel Marshals and made deputy to Resolute. This still grants him plenty of independence, it just means that from time to time, Resolute will check in on him and might request that William accompany him on missions.
The next such mission is one that William, and the Wolves, will probably enjoy. Halas Martain, formerly of the Wayfinder Foundation, is wanted for his part in the slaughter of a Korranberg expedition aboard the Shining Dragonfly. Information has reached the Sentinel Marshals that Martain has been spotted in the jungles of Xen'drik, and given that the Wolves have met Martain, and were there when the massacre happened, Resolute has asked for their help in tracking down Martain and bringing him in to be questioned. The Wolves have hazy memories that Martain was transformed into a frog, but they don't remember why they thought that, and clearly if he's been spotted in Xen'drik, it's not true in any case.
Lysander
Probably the most notable event in Lysander's life is his successful marriage to Arenydee, who is now officially Arenydee Llywellyn d'Phiarlan. It's up to you where the two of them went on their honeymoon, and what adventures they got up to.
Lysander is given a wedding gift from his mother, a Songbow of Vanishment +4 that is a family heirloom, and has a proud history of use by the bards of the Elorrenthi family dating back over twenty thousand years to the days before the Mark of Shadow manifested, when the Phiarlan line were spies and mediators for the court of Aerenal at its height. Rumor has it that there is a songblade with an even more powerful enchantment that was the companion to the bow, but the conflicting stories and gaps in the tales make it hard to determine where it might be now. Smart money is either in Xen'drik, Aerenal or perhaps even Argonnessen.
Pel
Pel has been quite busy in the past two months, spending days in different identities and different cities, and even in different nations. His protectorate of organized crime is mainly in Sharn, but Boromar ties back to the Talenta Plains, the Daask tie back to Droaam and the Tyrants' expansion under the guidance of Vadis has left broken tendrils throughout Khorvaire that Pel has been trying to snip off for good.
The Boromar have been mostly moving in on the Sharn City Council, increasing their political power. They have managed to take the seat that was once Sava Kharisa's, playing on the distrust of "Councilor Pel," and they have discovered the truth about Councilor Kilik, who is an invention of the Tyrants, providing them with blackmail to neutralize one of their most powerful political opponents. There are only two councilors left who effectively oppose Boromar influence on the council: Hruit, the powerful druid from Middle Dura, and Borian Haldorak, an older dwarf who represents Upper Dura. Both of these men have power and secrets of their own, but Pel has been ordered to keep his ears open for potential attempts at blackmailing or eliminating them by the Boromars.
The Daask, though nearly broken by Vadis's machinations, have begun recovering thanks to the weakening of the Tyrants and the restoration of trade routes between Breland and Droaam. Muscle and money is coming in from Droaam once more. In fact, the Daask have a few bookies and enforcers working at the Wolves' Reward, with the protection of Ambassador Crezyan Rrac. Lysander and Pel are able to keep tabs on them fairly easily through their own networks, and the Daask provide some useful information, so their presence is tolerated. For now.
The Tyrants, meanwhile, under the guidance of their new Tyrant One and a mostly new council, are keeping a very low profile. Only their most profitable brothels and information-gathering operations are still running, and nothing that draws the attention of the Watch is operating right now. Pel keeps his eye on them because he knows, better than most, what they're capable of, and how quickly they could become a threat, but mostly he's spending his time eliminating the expansion his father made into other nations that could come back to threaten Brelish interests, rather than focusing on their minimal operations in Sharn.
Pel has a flow of information coming to him at all times. Of particular interest, he has heard that Xain, his half-brother, might be operating with the Bilge Rats in Xen'drik. He has also planted rumors of Brelish agents hunting Vadis across Khorvaire, to keep up the illusion that his father might not be dead.
Pel has an operative at the casino who needs a name and basic information. He also needs to appoint someone to run Sava Kharisa's Gallery in Sharn, which he now owns.
Brand
The trial of Aeromus d'Orien vs. Traega d'Orien has been set for Dravago, the late spring. The Sivis lawyers for both sides have a small army of investigators working across two continents to find information on the case, which ties into events that go back decades across Khorvaire and Xen'drik.
Tworock and Saia Borath both came to Khorvaire to attend the wedding of Lysander and Arenydee, although Saia came in disguise. They informed Brand that Yanesh Hite is operating as The Native for the time being, as well as acting as his diplomat, and they're still using the guidance of Medrea's prophecies, but Yanesh is stretched to the limit, and they really need someone else to take over if the Native's operation is to continue. Saia would like to return to Khorvaire and stay at the Wolves' Reward, despite its proximity to her Ashbound problems in the Eldeen Reaches and potential trouble with her aberrant dragonmark, but Tworock intends to stay in Xen'drik for the time being. They both suggested that Yanesh come to Khorvaire, but he was insistent that he couldn't spare the time. Both of them seem to agree that the Native's operation might have served its purpose, and they might be better off disbanding it before Yanesh really gets himself into trouble.
Speaking of trouble, there are rumors of trouble with a couple of Orien caravans. A couple of incidents have happened where the passengers have turned murderous and cannibalistic, ending with nearly everyone dead, and one mad, dangerous patron having to be put down by security. No one is entirely sure what has caused this.
The sword that Brand recovered from Caela d'Orien turns out to be a long lost blade from the Order of the Eldritch Knights. The Order, formed some 1,800 years ago, was an elite force of swordmages who traveled across Galifar, just as the other scions of House Orien did, but while most of House Orien was concerned with the transference of people, cargo or information, the Eldrich Knights were concerned with the transference of justice. They were freelance protectors who fought for the weak against anyone who would try to oppress them, from wandering monsters and bandits to corrupt lords and even some Dragonmarked Houses. They earned powerful enemies as a result, and eventually political machinations backed by physical force found the knights destroyed.
The last knight fell on the same day in 894 YK that King Jarot died, and some argue that the Kingdom of Galifar died on that day as well. Most of the Eldritch Knights' panoply of magical blades, boots, medallion, bracers, belts and gauntlets had been destroyed when the individual knights died, but the gear of the last knight was given to various noble families in House Orien, and then stolen, lost or hidden over the course of the Last War. It's clear that the blade found its way into the hands of Caela d'Orien's family... where the rest of the gear went will require investigation.
Wandering Wolves: What Waits in the Dark (2-3)
Olarune 8 - Olarune 27, YK 1000
With the foulspawn and Emerald Claw destroyed, the Wolves decided to look around Grentonn a bit, determining that the people there had known about the Emerald Claw, but had been unable to speak out, since all of the women and children had been held hostage in the apartments. They had decided to descend into the mine when a lone figure, badly mutilated, stumbled up to them. William recognized him by rank, and told them that he was most likely Maresh's second in command. He was missing an eye, an arm and a large amount of skin from his back, and seemed mostly crazed. But he muttered at them with such intensity that they didn't interrupt.
"We came. Grentonn. We came. Jhorash'tar. No match, no trouble, savages against our blades, our discipline, but then we came. Grentonn. Things! Foul things! Even then, the foul things fell. They fell, they fell and did not get up, and we chased. We chased, they fell, we chased, and down, down into the mine."
"Maresh went. Yes, with half our number, he went. Pursuit, he said. Cut the head off, he said. I stayed, my men and I, we stayed to protect. Failed. More foul things. More death. Failure. But not death. Not for us. They took us. Proud blademarks, terrified dwarf miners, they took us. Found Maresh. Found our comrades. All prisoners. All flesh. All brains. All blood."
"Dark. Dark and cold. Slimy. Wet. Screaming. Bones cracking. Flesh tearing. Screaming. One of us gone. Down the gullets. Then the dark."
"Oh, but the light. The light. More terrible. It would come. Pale and gray. Twisted and cruel. Spoke in our minds. Promised us pain. Tore our flesh. Ripped our forms. Called it art. Took my eye. Took my arm. Worse for others. Days? Weeks?"
"Maresh, the others. They live. Some of them. Most of them. They live. Torture. Conversion. The Cult. They live. I tried. I tried. Maresh. Made me go. Ordered me. Blademark, he said. Duty, he said. Reinforcements, he said. Grentonn, he said."
"Wandering. Alone. Dark. Creatures everywhere. Eating the mushroom walls. Drinking foul Khyber piss. Lost. Alone. Found the mine. Found it. Found you. Save them. SAVE THEM!"
And with that, Gunther closed his one remaining eye and dies, his duty fulfilled, despite the madness that threatened to overtake him.
Since the elevator had been sabotaged, the Wolves had to walk down the path, which took a few hours. When they got to the mine, they found it abandoned, but a smaller shaft lead to a secondary mine, which had Khyber dragonshards partially excavated from the walls. This mine was a site of slaughter, with a couple of dwarf miners and a dozen Emerald Claw lying dead on the ground. Bloody but abandoned weapons and torn armor revealed that there were other Emerald Claw here, but they were gone. Bloody footprints and trails of dark blood lead back down into Khyber.
The Wolves found that the caverns of Khyber were disorienting and tricky, even for experienced adventurers like themselves, and after a day of travel, they had doubled back on themselves and found themselves very close to where they had begun. They set out again, marking the walls with chalk, and were able to find their way deeper into Khyber.
The sunless Khyber, filled with distant alien sounds and monstrous civilizations lurking just out of sight, began taking a toll on the Wolves. They were unable to rest for more than a few hours at a time for fear of enormous patrols of monsters. They came face to face with a band of Foulspawn on their second day of travel, and moved stealthily to engage them, as they were unable to go around them. William drew their attention as the rest of the Wolves moved quietly into position.
The Foulspawn Hulks and Berserker moved in to attack William, and the Seer blasted the Deneith with a warp orb, dazing him briefly as the Hulks and Berserker moved in to attack.
Luggoth charged in to engage the Hulks with William, who smashed one of them with an appalling crunch. Brand broke from cover to surprise the Seer, as Pel continued to quietly maneuver for position.
Luggoth swung his storm of blades as William attacked with bodyguard's link, and the two of them were wearing one of the Hulks down, as Brand and Lysander continued to focus their attention on the Seer. None of them paid much attention to the Berserker, who was mostly attacking his allies in his blood rage.
The Hulks, however, were battering William fairly badly, but William killed one of the Hulks, allowing Luggoth to concentrate on the other one. Meanwhile, Brand and Lysander finished off the Seer, and Lysander healed William with a majestic word.
The Wolves turned on the Hulk and Luggoth finally dropped him with a howling strike, at which point they all focused on the Berserker, and Luggoth landed another killing blow.
The next day, they snuck past a city full of Kuo-Toa, but in their passing, they discovered that they were worshiping a familiar looking idol that they called Xulo. They had begun to get the hang of Khyber at this point, and though they were all a bit short-tempered and weary, they traveled uneventfully for two more days, sneaking past a band of Quaggoth slavers on the way.
On their sixth day of travel, they were beginning to realize just how far Maresh's lieutenant had come in his battered condition. They also ran into a Duergar trading party, which looked formidable, and potentially hostile, more so when William tried and failed to intimidate them. Fortunately, Lysander offered arcane words of friendship and convinced them to deal as well. The Wolves bought a map of portions of Khyber for 1,000 gp in gems, one which pointed them toward the lair of the Mind Flayer Neshyk.
The next day brought them face to face with a huge river of magma, with giant chunks of rock floating in it. They guessed that they were probably under or very near the Fist of Onatar, the volcano they had seen on their way in to the Mror Holds. The Wolves were somewhat daunted by the notion of trying to cross it, but using some rope and some athletic skill, they were able to get across without any major burns or serious trouble.
After crossing through Foulspawn territory, guided by Lysander's instincts, they found the cave of madness, which had been marked on the map. The haunting memories of his time as a vampire ate at William, while Lysander's mind was cast back to bad memories and guilt he hadn't thought of in decades, memories from times before many of the Wolves had even been alive. Luggoth, meanwhile, saw himself becoming the very monster the Lords of Dust wanted him to become, murdering not just Jaela Daran but hundreds of worshipers of the Silver Flame. Pel and Brand, though beset by madness of their own, managed to shake it off enough to guide the others through the cave. They were all shaken, but they had survived, and now they had only the final gauntlet to pass, the lair of the Purple Worm that lived just outside of Neshyk's home.
As they walked through the tunnel carved out by the Worm, Brand and Whitehearth nearly made enough noise to wake the beast, but the Wolves were able to cross, untouched, and enter the darkened lair of Neshyk.
They found a cavern outside of his lair and outside of the Worm's hunting ground, and after William used his dragonmark to set a protective ward, the Wolves took their first long rest in ten days before venturing in to rescue Maresh, the other Deneith and the dwarf miners.
Neshyk's lair was completely dark, so the Wolves drew immediate attention when they entered with their lights. They quickly found themselves battling the guards at the entrance, a pair of Hook Horrors and a handful of blind Grimlocks.
Pel opened with a massive flame strike, which blasted one of the Hook Horrors and furiously lit up one of the Grimlocks. Luggoth charged in to attack another Grimlock, and Brand followed up to help him, as did William, who smashed the Grimlock with an appalling crunch before moving into his reign of steel stance, swinging precision blows at the Grimlocks as they gathered around him and began smashing him with their greataxes.
The cave was arranged in such a way that William had managed to bottleneck the opponents, and thus he was the target of all of their attacks. One of the Grimlocks forced its way past William, although not without suffering a punishing blow from Vendetta, but he retaliated with a painful axe swing into Brand.
As Luggoth began his storm of blades, furiously slashing at one of the Grimlocks, Brand used his own luring strike to help, and William drew all the remaining Grimlocks to him. They continued their vicious assault, badly wounding William, as the Hook Horrors grabbed Whitehearth and Pel and tried to drag them over to where they were.
Brand finished off one of the Grimlocks as one of the Hook Horrors picked up Whitehearth and flung him into the back of the cavern, making him a target for the Grimlock guards who had been hanging back, even as the other sunk both of its hooks into Luggoth's shoulders.
Luggoth tore himself free of the rending hooks and went into Oakhammer Rage, knocking the Hook Horror down, and Whitehearth rushed in to begin biting and clawing at the downed Hook Horror.
As Pel and Lysander focused their healing efforts on the bloody William, Luggoth finished off one of the Hook Horrors as Brand continued to focus on the other one, and William continued to attack the Grimlocks surrounding him. As William finished off another Grimlock, Luggoth continued to rage away at the remaining Hook Horror, but it was Lysander who killed it, finishing it off with one his trademark bardic insults so devastating it could stop a monster's heart.
With the Hook Horrors down, the Wolves were free to help William with the remaining Grimlocks, and they made relatively quick work of them. Brand finished one of them, and William cut down the last.
With the battle over, and nothing emerging from the stone slab at the end of the chamber, the Wolves took five minutes to rest before William, Pel and Brand combined their efforts to lift it out of the way.
In the next chamber, they found the Deneiths, the dwarves and the Emerald Claw survivors stuck to the wall with sticky, viscous slime. Lysander recognized it as a Mind Flayer birthing chamber, but saw that they hadn't been implanted, and reasoned that they must not have had any mind flayer tadpoles to use.
There was one Deneith missing amongst the prisoners, and that was William's Uncle Maresh. One of the Deneiths pointed to a tunnel off to the side, which he said led to the Mind Flayer's lair, where it had been tormenting Maresh for some time. With an angry William in the lead, the Wolves headed down into the tunnel.
The tunnel opened into a larger chamber, still dark and covered in slime. At the back of the room, they could see a massive pile of the slime, but they didn't see any Mind Flayer. Instead, they saw more Grimlocks, a pair of Chuul, a Grell and a Destrachan. They recognized some of these creatures, but not all of them.
The Wolves made short work of the Grimlocks, but found the rest of the guards to be a bit tougher. In addition, when they engaged the guards, the Mind Flayer made himself known, dropping the chameleon skin provided by his magic ring to begin attacking.
William got tangled up fighting the Chuuls, while the Grell and the Destrachan moved around the battlefield, blasting with psychic lightning and sonic pulses respectively. Lysander used his taunting decoy on the Mind Flayer, which enraged it, and it closed in on him and grabbed him with its tentacles, beginning to drill towards his brain, intent on devouring it.
Meanwhile, William was suffering from an onslaught by the Chuuls, and the Grell was doing its best to keep others away from its master the Mind Flayer. Fortunately, the tide began to turn as the Wolves focused their attention, and Pel healed William, allowing him to come back and kill both Chuuls with assists from Brand and Luggoth.
Lysander managed to break free of the Mind Flayer, but still found himself its target, as it blasted him and Pel with mind blasts, and the Grell fired psychic lightning at the one it had seen as his master's prey. The Mind Flayer moved in and grabbed the now blinded and dazed Lysander once more, but Pel swept in to heal his friend and attack the Mind Flayer, even as the Destrachan launched a sonic pulse that nearly hit the changeling.
The Grell unleashed a psychic storm, bloodying Whitehearth and William and cutting half of the Wolves off from their allies. However, Pel was able to attack the Mind Flayer again, knocking it off balance, although it managed to maintain its grip on Lysander, drilling into his head even though Lysander turned invisible.
The Wolves were beginning to worry for Lysander's survival, and the Destrachan and Grell were still in the fight. Then William charged the Destrachan, which had been staying out of the fray, and launched a vicious chop at it with Vendetta. The Grell began using his venomous mind attacks on Pel and Brand, who were attempting to free Lysander from the Mind Flayer, and Luggoth was frustrated, stunned by the sonic attacks of the Destrachan and the mental assaults of the Grell and the Mind Flayer.
Brand used his dimensional bond to link himself with the Mind Flayer, who responded with a vicious mind blast that hit Pel particularly hard, but he was forced to release Lysander by the attacks focused on him. His tentacles began flailing as he moved again toward the bard, who announced that "this is not how my story ends!" before firing his bow, launching an arrow directly into the Mind Flayer's brain. The aberration dropped dead to the slimy floor of the cave.
William, meanwhile, managed to hit the Destrachan again, hard enough to daze it, and Brand and Whitehearth moved in to finish it off. The Grell tried to flee, but the Wolves gave chase and relentlessly pounded it with attacks. Finally Lysander, once again displaying his arcane-influenced skill with words, stared malevolently at the aberrant creature and ordered it to die.
William found his Uncle Maresh in the pool of slime at the back of the cave. Maresh was in bad shape, missing portions of his arms, skin from all over his body and one of his eyes. Pel did what he could to heal him, but some of his deformities remained, needing healing beyond Pel's skills.
After taking a long rest in the Mind Flayer's abandoned lair, the Wolves, with the Deneith guarding the Emerald Claw as prisoners, traveled back through Khyber and arrived in Grentonn.
They knew something was wrong when they found that the secondary mine had been cleared of bodies, and there were fresh ones there, the bodies of a dozen or so dwarves, mostly women and children murdered by blade. The Khyber dragonshards were also entirely gone.
When they rushed to the surface, the Wolves found that Grentonn had been the site of slaughter. All of the dwarves were dead, and it appeared they had been poisoned while eating some kind of feast. After investigating, they discovered that Caela d'Orien was missing, not amongst the dead.
They also found Yentil d'Sivis, the gnome, murdered in his office, but he had left a note to foil his murderer. In his hand, the Wolves found a note that read: "Bloody Tyrant - Stormwreck Bay - Olarune 27." Lysander had heard of the Bloody Tyrant, and believed it to be a ship in the Bloodsails fleet out of the Lhazaar Principalities.
Maresh was devastated by what he saw as a failure in his duty, but William was adamant that they get his uncle back to Korth as soon as possible. Brand realized that they could go after Caela and get Maresh and his men (and their prisoners) back to Korth, and he opened a linked portal to send them, along with the body of Maresh's lieutenant, back to General Karlach.
Then they got on the trail of Caela d'Orien. The map they had been given by the Duergar gave them a shortcut through Khyber, and they reluctantly descended into the depths again. The journey took a day and a half, and was no less stressful, but they managed to get out onto the shores of Stormwreck Bay in time to see Caela rowing out to meet the Bloody Tyrant.
The Wolves jumped into the water and swam out to catch the boat before it could weigh anchor and depart. They climbed aboard the deck to find that it was crewed mostly by elven pirates, although a human captain and an ogre bosun were amongst the crew as well. The Captain called "to arms" and the battle was on!
William drew the ogre, many of the pirates and Caela to him before slashing at them with Vendetta and adopting his reign of steel stance. Caela responded by swinging her sword at everyone around her, using her swordmage talent to mark Lysander and then teleporting clear of the fight. Lysander responded by sending disturbing visions to her and the pirates, sliding Caela right to the edge of the ship, where she managed to grab hold before going into the water.
Brand quickly activated his dimensional bond to avoid losing Caela, who was one of the targets of Pel's flame strike, which also hit the ogre, the captain and one of the pirates. The Pirate Captain swung at Brand, nearly killing him after the attacks he had suffered from the other pirates, and the dwarven first mate who had come up on deck joined with the ogre in attacking William. Another dwarf, a dark mage, had come up on the deck as well, and began firing his magic at Pel, although for that he suffered a vicious cut to his neck from Vendetta.
Luggoth moved in to attack the Pirate Captain as Caela dropped into the water, extinguishing the fire on her body. Lysander healed Brand, who teleported into the water to chase down Caela, as Pel moved in to help William with the ogre with blade and healing magic.
Caela and Brand battled in the water, and Brand noticed that she was using an ornate arcane blade. He wasn't sure, but he believed it to have some significance for House Orien. Lysander, meanwhile, leaned over the edge of the boat and used his saga of vengeance to assist Brand, allowing the Orien scion to finish off the murderous renegade from his house.
With Caela dead, and the Wolves doing significant damage, the Captain called for a halt to hostilities. The wary Wolves agreed to let the pirates go in exchange for Caela's body and a ride to the shore.
With the foulspawn and Emerald Claw destroyed, the Wolves decided to look around Grentonn a bit, determining that the people there had known about the Emerald Claw, but had been unable to speak out, since all of the women and children had been held hostage in the apartments. They had decided to descend into the mine when a lone figure, badly mutilated, stumbled up to them. William recognized him by rank, and told them that he was most likely Maresh's second in command. He was missing an eye, an arm and a large amount of skin from his back, and seemed mostly crazed. But he muttered at them with such intensity that they didn't interrupt.
"We came. Grentonn. We came. Jhorash'tar. No match, no trouble, savages against our blades, our discipline, but then we came. Grentonn. Things! Foul things! Even then, the foul things fell. They fell, they fell and did not get up, and we chased. We chased, they fell, we chased, and down, down into the mine."
"Maresh went. Yes, with half our number, he went. Pursuit, he said. Cut the head off, he said. I stayed, my men and I, we stayed to protect. Failed. More foul things. More death. Failure. But not death. Not for us. They took us. Proud blademarks, terrified dwarf miners, they took us. Found Maresh. Found our comrades. All prisoners. All flesh. All brains. All blood."
"Dark. Dark and cold. Slimy. Wet. Screaming. Bones cracking. Flesh tearing. Screaming. One of us gone. Down the gullets. Then the dark."
"Oh, but the light. The light. More terrible. It would come. Pale and gray. Twisted and cruel. Spoke in our minds. Promised us pain. Tore our flesh. Ripped our forms. Called it art. Took my eye. Took my arm. Worse for others. Days? Weeks?"
"Maresh, the others. They live. Some of them. Most of them. They live. Torture. Conversion. The Cult. They live. I tried. I tried. Maresh. Made me go. Ordered me. Blademark, he said. Duty, he said. Reinforcements, he said. Grentonn, he said."
"Wandering. Alone. Dark. Creatures everywhere. Eating the mushroom walls. Drinking foul Khyber piss. Lost. Alone. Found the mine. Found it. Found you. Save them. SAVE THEM!"
And with that, Gunther closed his one remaining eye and dies, his duty fulfilled, despite the madness that threatened to overtake him.
Since the elevator had been sabotaged, the Wolves had to walk down the path, which took a few hours. When they got to the mine, they found it abandoned, but a smaller shaft lead to a secondary mine, which had Khyber dragonshards partially excavated from the walls. This mine was a site of slaughter, with a couple of dwarf miners and a dozen Emerald Claw lying dead on the ground. Bloody but abandoned weapons and torn armor revealed that there were other Emerald Claw here, but they were gone. Bloody footprints and trails of dark blood lead back down into Khyber.
The Wolves found that the caverns of Khyber were disorienting and tricky, even for experienced adventurers like themselves, and after a day of travel, they had doubled back on themselves and found themselves very close to where they had begun. They set out again, marking the walls with chalk, and were able to find their way deeper into Khyber.
The sunless Khyber, filled with distant alien sounds and monstrous civilizations lurking just out of sight, began taking a toll on the Wolves. They were unable to rest for more than a few hours at a time for fear of enormous patrols of monsters. They came face to face with a band of Foulspawn on their second day of travel, and moved stealthily to engage them, as they were unable to go around them. William drew their attention as the rest of the Wolves moved quietly into position.
The Foulspawn Hulks and Berserker moved in to attack William, and the Seer blasted the Deneith with a warp orb, dazing him briefly as the Hulks and Berserker moved in to attack.
Luggoth charged in to engage the Hulks with William, who smashed one of them with an appalling crunch. Brand broke from cover to surprise the Seer, as Pel continued to quietly maneuver for position.
Luggoth swung his storm of blades as William attacked with bodyguard's link, and the two of them were wearing one of the Hulks down, as Brand and Lysander continued to focus their attention on the Seer. None of them paid much attention to the Berserker, who was mostly attacking his allies in his blood rage.
The Hulks, however, were battering William fairly badly, but William killed one of the Hulks, allowing Luggoth to concentrate on the other one. Meanwhile, Brand and Lysander finished off the Seer, and Lysander healed William with a majestic word.
The Wolves turned on the Hulk and Luggoth finally dropped him with a howling strike, at which point they all focused on the Berserker, and Luggoth landed another killing blow.
The next day, they snuck past a city full of Kuo-Toa, but in their passing, they discovered that they were worshiping a familiar looking idol that they called Xulo. They had begun to get the hang of Khyber at this point, and though they were all a bit short-tempered and weary, they traveled uneventfully for two more days, sneaking past a band of Quaggoth slavers on the way.
On their sixth day of travel, they were beginning to realize just how far Maresh's lieutenant had come in his battered condition. They also ran into a Duergar trading party, which looked formidable, and potentially hostile, more so when William tried and failed to intimidate them. Fortunately, Lysander offered arcane words of friendship and convinced them to deal as well. The Wolves bought a map of portions of Khyber for 1,000 gp in gems, one which pointed them toward the lair of the Mind Flayer Neshyk.
The next day brought them face to face with a huge river of magma, with giant chunks of rock floating in it. They guessed that they were probably under or very near the Fist of Onatar, the volcano they had seen on their way in to the Mror Holds. The Wolves were somewhat daunted by the notion of trying to cross it, but using some rope and some athletic skill, they were able to get across without any major burns or serious trouble.
After crossing through Foulspawn territory, guided by Lysander's instincts, they found the cave of madness, which had been marked on the map. The haunting memories of his time as a vampire ate at William, while Lysander's mind was cast back to bad memories and guilt he hadn't thought of in decades, memories from times before many of the Wolves had even been alive. Luggoth, meanwhile, saw himself becoming the very monster the Lords of Dust wanted him to become, murdering not just Jaela Daran but hundreds of worshipers of the Silver Flame. Pel and Brand, though beset by madness of their own, managed to shake it off enough to guide the others through the cave. They were all shaken, but they had survived, and now they had only the final gauntlet to pass, the lair of the Purple Worm that lived just outside of Neshyk's home.
As they walked through the tunnel carved out by the Worm, Brand and Whitehearth nearly made enough noise to wake the beast, but the Wolves were able to cross, untouched, and enter the darkened lair of Neshyk.
They found a cavern outside of his lair and outside of the Worm's hunting ground, and after William used his dragonmark to set a protective ward, the Wolves took their first long rest in ten days before venturing in to rescue Maresh, the other Deneith and the dwarf miners.
Neshyk's lair was completely dark, so the Wolves drew immediate attention when they entered with their lights. They quickly found themselves battling the guards at the entrance, a pair of Hook Horrors and a handful of blind Grimlocks.
Pel opened with a massive flame strike, which blasted one of the Hook Horrors and furiously lit up one of the Grimlocks. Luggoth charged in to attack another Grimlock, and Brand followed up to help him, as did William, who smashed the Grimlock with an appalling crunch before moving into his reign of steel stance, swinging precision blows at the Grimlocks as they gathered around him and began smashing him with their greataxes.
The cave was arranged in such a way that William had managed to bottleneck the opponents, and thus he was the target of all of their attacks. One of the Grimlocks forced its way past William, although not without suffering a punishing blow from Vendetta, but he retaliated with a painful axe swing into Brand.
As Luggoth began his storm of blades, furiously slashing at one of the Grimlocks, Brand used his own luring strike to help, and William drew all the remaining Grimlocks to him. They continued their vicious assault, badly wounding William, as the Hook Horrors grabbed Whitehearth and Pel and tried to drag them over to where they were.
Brand finished off one of the Grimlocks as one of the Hook Horrors picked up Whitehearth and flung him into the back of the cavern, making him a target for the Grimlock guards who had been hanging back, even as the other sunk both of its hooks into Luggoth's shoulders.
Luggoth tore himself free of the rending hooks and went into Oakhammer Rage, knocking the Hook Horror down, and Whitehearth rushed in to begin biting and clawing at the downed Hook Horror.
As Pel and Lysander focused their healing efforts on the bloody William, Luggoth finished off one of the Hook Horrors as Brand continued to focus on the other one, and William continued to attack the Grimlocks surrounding him. As William finished off another Grimlock, Luggoth continued to rage away at the remaining Hook Horror, but it was Lysander who killed it, finishing it off with one his trademark bardic insults so devastating it could stop a monster's heart.
With the Hook Horrors down, the Wolves were free to help William with the remaining Grimlocks, and they made relatively quick work of them. Brand finished one of them, and William cut down the last.
With the battle over, and nothing emerging from the stone slab at the end of the chamber, the Wolves took five minutes to rest before William, Pel and Brand combined their efforts to lift it out of the way.
In the next chamber, they found the Deneiths, the dwarves and the Emerald Claw survivors stuck to the wall with sticky, viscous slime. Lysander recognized it as a Mind Flayer birthing chamber, but saw that they hadn't been implanted, and reasoned that they must not have had any mind flayer tadpoles to use.
There was one Deneith missing amongst the prisoners, and that was William's Uncle Maresh. One of the Deneiths pointed to a tunnel off to the side, which he said led to the Mind Flayer's lair, where it had been tormenting Maresh for some time. With an angry William in the lead, the Wolves headed down into the tunnel.
The tunnel opened into a larger chamber, still dark and covered in slime. At the back of the room, they could see a massive pile of the slime, but they didn't see any Mind Flayer. Instead, they saw more Grimlocks, a pair of Chuul, a Grell and a Destrachan. They recognized some of these creatures, but not all of them.
The Wolves made short work of the Grimlocks, but found the rest of the guards to be a bit tougher. In addition, when they engaged the guards, the Mind Flayer made himself known, dropping the chameleon skin provided by his magic ring to begin attacking.
William got tangled up fighting the Chuuls, while the Grell and the Destrachan moved around the battlefield, blasting with psychic lightning and sonic pulses respectively. Lysander used his taunting decoy on the Mind Flayer, which enraged it, and it closed in on him and grabbed him with its tentacles, beginning to drill towards his brain, intent on devouring it.
Meanwhile, William was suffering from an onslaught by the Chuuls, and the Grell was doing its best to keep others away from its master the Mind Flayer. Fortunately, the tide began to turn as the Wolves focused their attention, and Pel healed William, allowing him to come back and kill both Chuuls with assists from Brand and Luggoth.
Lysander managed to break free of the Mind Flayer, but still found himself its target, as it blasted him and Pel with mind blasts, and the Grell fired psychic lightning at the one it had seen as his master's prey. The Mind Flayer moved in and grabbed the now blinded and dazed Lysander once more, but Pel swept in to heal his friend and attack the Mind Flayer, even as the Destrachan launched a sonic pulse that nearly hit the changeling.
The Grell unleashed a psychic storm, bloodying Whitehearth and William and cutting half of the Wolves off from their allies. However, Pel was able to attack the Mind Flayer again, knocking it off balance, although it managed to maintain its grip on Lysander, drilling into his head even though Lysander turned invisible.
The Wolves were beginning to worry for Lysander's survival, and the Destrachan and Grell were still in the fight. Then William charged the Destrachan, which had been staying out of the fray, and launched a vicious chop at it with Vendetta. The Grell began using his venomous mind attacks on Pel and Brand, who were attempting to free Lysander from the Mind Flayer, and Luggoth was frustrated, stunned by the sonic attacks of the Destrachan and the mental assaults of the Grell and the Mind Flayer.
Brand used his dimensional bond to link himself with the Mind Flayer, who responded with a vicious mind blast that hit Pel particularly hard, but he was forced to release Lysander by the attacks focused on him. His tentacles began flailing as he moved again toward the bard, who announced that "this is not how my story ends!" before firing his bow, launching an arrow directly into the Mind Flayer's brain. The aberration dropped dead to the slimy floor of the cave.
William, meanwhile, managed to hit the Destrachan again, hard enough to daze it, and Brand and Whitehearth moved in to finish it off. The Grell tried to flee, but the Wolves gave chase and relentlessly pounded it with attacks. Finally Lysander, once again displaying his arcane-influenced skill with words, stared malevolently at the aberrant creature and ordered it to die.
William found his Uncle Maresh in the pool of slime at the back of the cave. Maresh was in bad shape, missing portions of his arms, skin from all over his body and one of his eyes. Pel did what he could to heal him, but some of his deformities remained, needing healing beyond Pel's skills.
After taking a long rest in the Mind Flayer's abandoned lair, the Wolves, with the Deneith guarding the Emerald Claw as prisoners, traveled back through Khyber and arrived in Grentonn.
They knew something was wrong when they found that the secondary mine had been cleared of bodies, and there were fresh ones there, the bodies of a dozen or so dwarves, mostly women and children murdered by blade. The Khyber dragonshards were also entirely gone.
When they rushed to the surface, the Wolves found that Grentonn had been the site of slaughter. All of the dwarves were dead, and it appeared they had been poisoned while eating some kind of feast. After investigating, they discovered that Caela d'Orien was missing, not amongst the dead.
They also found Yentil d'Sivis, the gnome, murdered in his office, but he had left a note to foil his murderer. In his hand, the Wolves found a note that read: "Bloody Tyrant - Stormwreck Bay - Olarune 27." Lysander had heard of the Bloody Tyrant, and believed it to be a ship in the Bloodsails fleet out of the Lhazaar Principalities.
Maresh was devastated by what he saw as a failure in his duty, but William was adamant that they get his uncle back to Korth as soon as possible. Brand realized that they could go after Caela and get Maresh and his men (and their prisoners) back to Korth, and he opened a linked portal to send them, along with the body of Maresh's lieutenant, back to General Karlach.
Then they got on the trail of Caela d'Orien. The map they had been given by the Duergar gave them a shortcut through Khyber, and they reluctantly descended into the depths again. The journey took a day and a half, and was no less stressful, but they managed to get out onto the shores of Stormwreck Bay in time to see Caela rowing out to meet the Bloody Tyrant.
The Wolves jumped into the water and swam out to catch the boat before it could weigh anchor and depart. They climbed aboard the deck to find that it was crewed mostly by elven pirates, although a human captain and an ogre bosun were amongst the crew as well. The Captain called "to arms" and the battle was on!
William drew the ogre, many of the pirates and Caela to him before slashing at them with Vendetta and adopting his reign of steel stance. Caela responded by swinging her sword at everyone around her, using her swordmage talent to mark Lysander and then teleporting clear of the fight. Lysander responded by sending disturbing visions to her and the pirates, sliding Caela right to the edge of the ship, where she managed to grab hold before going into the water.
Brand quickly activated his dimensional bond to avoid losing Caela, who was one of the targets of Pel's flame strike, which also hit the ogre, the captain and one of the pirates. The Pirate Captain swung at Brand, nearly killing him after the attacks he had suffered from the other pirates, and the dwarven first mate who had come up on deck joined with the ogre in attacking William. Another dwarf, a dark mage, had come up on the deck as well, and began firing his magic at Pel, although for that he suffered a vicious cut to his neck from Vendetta.
Luggoth moved in to attack the Pirate Captain as Caela dropped into the water, extinguishing the fire on her body. Lysander healed Brand, who teleported into the water to chase down Caela, as Pel moved in to help William with the ogre with blade and healing magic.
Caela and Brand battled in the water, and Brand noticed that she was using an ornate arcane blade. He wasn't sure, but he believed it to have some significance for House Orien. Lysander, meanwhile, leaned over the edge of the boat and used his saga of vengeance to assist Brand, allowing the Orien scion to finish off the murderous renegade from his house.
With Caela dead, and the Wolves doing significant damage, the Captain called for a halt to hostilities. The wary Wolves agreed to let the pirates go in exchange for Caela's body and a ride to the shore.
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