Therendor 11 - Therendor 15, 1001 YK
The Wolves, along with Lady Elaydren d'Cannith, took their airship back to the Wolves' Reward to rest and consider their next move. With the Lord of Blades, and presumably Xulo, aware that the Wolves are on the trail of Zura Dhakaan, time is of the essence.
Thanks to their ranks in several of the Dragonmarked Houses, the Wolves are able to arrange for Koleb d'Tharashk, head of the Twelve's Acquisitions Directorate, and Martain's new boss, to come to the Wolves' Reward to talk about loaning out his services. He will be there on the morning of Therendor 16, giving the Wolves' four days in which to plan, rest and train.
Anything you would like to do in those four days, please post in the comments!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Game Schedule May - July
May 6th - Gaming Off (Free Comic Book Day)
May 13th - Deadlands at Randy's (Jason, Randy, Dan, Chris)
May 20th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
May 27th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
June 3rd - Gaming Off
June 10th - Delta Green (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
June 16th - Delta Green (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
June 23rd - Delta Green (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
May 13th - Deadlands at Randy's (Jason, Randy, Dan, Chris)
May 20th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
May 27th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
June 3rd - Gaming Off
June 10th - Delta Green (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
June 16th - Delta Green (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
June 23rd - Delta Green (Randy, Chris, Ben, Jason, Dan)
Sunday, April 24, 2011
59. The Poetry of Zura Dhakaan (1)
Therendor 10 - Therendor 11, YK 1001
After months of adventuring separately and following their own agendas, each of the Wolves on Khorvaire received an urgent summons from Breyten d'Cannith asking them to come to Fairhaven. They arrived separately, and William, Pel, Lysander and the newest Wolf Delano were reunited for the first time in months.
Breyten invited them to his manor and told them that his wife had been kidnapped. She had been traveling on the Lightning Rail to Sharn, and it was ambushed by warforged when it got near Passage. They killed her entire entourage and bodyguards and spirited her off the train. Research done by House Cannith investigators and the Tharashk inquisitive Breyten had hired lead him to believe they had taken her to the Eldeen Reaches.
He also explained that he was afraid that forces within the House were not so keen on having her back, and that his Tharashk investigator, a half-orc named Telde Velderan, had hit something of a wall in his urban investigation. Growing fearful for his wife's safety, he put out a call to the Wolves, knowing of the long relationship they had with Lady Elaydren.
The Wolves quickly agreed to help, then hit the streets to find out what they could about the House Cannith investigator. William, using his newfound skills of interacting with Dragonmarked nobles and guild members, found out that Berec d'Cannith, the investigator on the case, was generally regarded as a bit old for his job, and rumors were that he was an alcoholic to boot. Many investigations had opened recently, leaving only Berec for Elaydren's disappearance, and all signs pointed to his assignment coming from Baron Jorlanna d'Cannith herself.
Next, the Wolves went to meet with Telde Velderan in a private room to talk about the investigation. Velderan explained that he was more skilled at wilderness tracking, not urban investigation, and that he and Berec had spent some time in Passage but had hit dead ends and returned to Fairhaven to get a fresh start. He expressed frustration with Berec, explaining that they hadn't done much of a search of the Passage docks, which is where Telde expected the warforged would have gone to escape with their prisoner.
They determined to split up, with Lysander and William keeping Berec busy while Pel and Delano broke into his apartment to investigate him. Lysander tried mightily to talk William into playing a woman, but he was having none of it, and finally Lysander used his veil to cloak them as Chantal and Porthos, a sister and brother, and they went to find Berec at an inn called The Dead Fox.
In out-drinking Berec, William got a little over-zealous and became a bit drunk, although he did get Berec so drunk he passed out. However, William had to be convinced to leave the tavern by Lysander. Fortunately, Lysander's charms were up to the case, and the two of them, accompanied by an unconscious Berec, went to a nearby alley. They took his case notebook and his money and left him in the alley and then returned to the Twin Spirits Inn, where they had been operating since arriving in Fairhaven.
At the same time, Pel and Delano snuck into the Aundarian villa that served as the Cannith enclave. They got into Berec's room and looked through his notes. Amongst the other secrets Pel and Delano found, they found the relevant information that Berec had written Elaydren off as dead, most likely at the hand of the Lord of Blades, and that he had been sending copies of his reports to Baron Jorlanna. Perhaps most importantly, they learned that Berec had never investigated the docks in Passage because he had gambling debts to several crime bosses in the area.
With most of their suspicions confirmed, the Wolves hopped on a lightning rail to Passage alongside Telde. While traveling, Pel noticed something "off" about the half-orc, but he couldn't quite place it, and wrote it off to the Tharashk having some sort of secondary motivation relating to Lady Elaydren.
Once they arrived in Passage, they went straight to the docks to investigate. Delano talked to the dockworkers and found out that the crew of a fishing boat, The Little Dwarf, had turned up dead on the shore a few days ago, and that their boat had gone missing.
After calling in their new airship and its pilot, they flew low over Lake Galifar looking for the wreckage. Delano spotted it, and when they set down, Telde easily found the trail of several warforged, heading into the Gloaming in the Eldeen Reaches.
Unfortunately, they soon found out what had struck Pel about Telderan. He was not a half-orc... in fact, he was a Rakshasa assassin, sent by Ttemmal, and he lead them into an ambush made up of a pod demon, Abyssal Hulk and Abyssal Eviscerator.
The assassin didn't live to savor his ambush for long, however, as Pel opened the battle by firing a crossbow bolt into his eye, and was then drawn into battle with William and suffered a withering burst of killing flames from Delano. He tried to flee, but Lysander cut him down with his vicious mockery.
The demons proved more tenacious, in particular the pod demon, whose spawn kept appearing and exploding in acidic and poisonous goo. The Abyssal Hulk, meanwhile, used his gaze of chaos to try and turn the Wolves against one another, and the Abyssal Eviscerator cornered Pel, grabbed hold of him and began raking him mercilessly with his claws.
As Delano moved around the battlefield, aiding William in his battle against the Hulk, Lysander tried to keep the Pod Demon busy with arrows.
William finished off the Abyssal Hulk with his rain of steel and then moved in on the Eviscerator, finishing him off thanks to the damage Pel had inflicted. The group then turned on the Pod Demon and killed it, although by the end of the fight they were somewhat battered and bloodied, and they took a brief rest to recuperate.
They discovered that the warforged tracks were easy enough to follow without their "Tharashk" guide and continued tracing them, and before long, they came upon an abandoned bandit camp that the warforged had clearly appropriated. They could see the bandit camp in the distance, behind a twenty-foot high wooden fence that was guarded by a handful of warforged and... a warforged titan.
The battle against the Titan was a memorable one, with William essentially taking on the monstrous weapon one-on-one, aided by artillery fire from Delano, as the other warforged kept Pel and Lysander busy. Lysander used a song to enchant the Titan, which led to him helping to eliminate several of the other warforged while battling William.
With the other warforged down, the Titan finally managed to inflict enough damage to knock William out, and things began to look a bit grim for the Wolves. Pel moved through the trees using his shadow stride and staying hidden, and Lysander placed one of his sticky clockwork bombs on the Titan's legs before turning invisible, leaving Delano the only obvious target, and he fired off a hellish rebuke and began fleeing into the woods, with the Titan hot on his heels.
The Titan, scarred from William's many blows, on fire from Delano's attack, crashed relentlessly after Delano, but as it raised its hammer for a killing blow, Lysander's bomb went off, blowing it's leg off and sending it tumbling, inoperable, to the ground.
With the advance guard loudly defeated, they knew that the rest of the base would be on alert. Pel woke William and the group took a brief rest to refresh themselves before going in after Lady Elaydren. They decided to try a tried-and-true tactic of posing as prisoners, and Lysander used his veil to make himself and Pel look like the warforged guards, bringing William and Delano in after their "unsuccessful" attempt to defeat the Titan.
Unfortunately, when one of the Warforged guards inside the walled bandit camp called William "the most dangerous" of the Wolves, Lysander was unable to resist pressing the point and in so doing revealed himself and Pel to the surprisingly shrewd warforged guard.
The warforged mages used a variety of spells to keep blasting William away from the walls so that he couldn't climb over, but Delano simply teleported inside and began firing on them, and they couldn't hold off the Wolves forever. Two of the warforged were casting priestly magic using the Lord of Blades' holy symbol, causing Pel to repeatedly yell that "he's not a real God!"
After Pel and Lysander finished off the two mages using ranged attacks, William, Pel and Lysander climbed in to more directly engage the rest of the forces. While the warforged guards were formidable, they were not as dangerous as the advanced guard with the Titan, and when the captain of the warforged realized they were losing, he ordered the others to execute the prisoner.
Lysander leaped across the courtyard and into the pit where Elaydren was being held to defend her, and with the aid of Delano, they managed to destroy the warforged who were attempting to kill her while William and Pel dealt with the rest of the forces.
As William finished off the last Warforged Flamepriest, he saw something he hadn't seen since the very first mission they had undertaken for Lady Elaydren. A small metal ball disengaged from the Flamepriest and flew off, dodging an arrow fired by Lysander and a crossbow bolt from Pel. The Lord of Blades would be getting a report from the dead Warforged, thanks to his final messenger.
The shaken and clearly roughly treated Elaydren was very relieved to see the Wolves. She told them that she had been investigating the theft of the Xulo pattern, and that she had realized that her Uncle Merrix may have had something to do with its theft. She hadn't been able to talk to him since he had disappeared over six months ago. She also revealed that in her research into her ancestor Kedran d'Cannith, who had first discovered the pattern, she found the name Zura Dhakaan, a legendary Duur-kala (Dirge Singer) from the Dhakaani Empire who had broken Xulo after it was infected with the abberant taint of one of the Daelkyr.
She had reason to believe that Zura Dhakaan's tomb might hold a vast amount of information about Xulo, hopefully including the means by which he could be defeated and broken again. Unfortunately, finding the tomb in Darguun was so difficult that only one person had reportedly ever gotten close. And that person was Halas Martain.
Lady Elaydren also confided that she had always been an operative of Merrix, although her surface loyalties were to Baron Jorlanna, and she believed that Jorlanna now suspected the truth. She asked if Pel and Lysander could help her to ingratiate herself back into Jorlanna's good graces, and agreed in exchange to become Pel's operative inside House Cannith.
After months of adventuring separately and following their own agendas, each of the Wolves on Khorvaire received an urgent summons from Breyten d'Cannith asking them to come to Fairhaven. They arrived separately, and William, Pel, Lysander and the newest Wolf Delano were reunited for the first time in months.
Breyten invited them to his manor and told them that his wife had been kidnapped. She had been traveling on the Lightning Rail to Sharn, and it was ambushed by warforged when it got near Passage. They killed her entire entourage and bodyguards and spirited her off the train. Research done by House Cannith investigators and the Tharashk inquisitive Breyten had hired lead him to believe they had taken her to the Eldeen Reaches.
He also explained that he was afraid that forces within the House were not so keen on having her back, and that his Tharashk investigator, a half-orc named Telde Velderan, had hit something of a wall in his urban investigation. Growing fearful for his wife's safety, he put out a call to the Wolves, knowing of the long relationship they had with Lady Elaydren.
The Wolves quickly agreed to help, then hit the streets to find out what they could about the House Cannith investigator. William, using his newfound skills of interacting with Dragonmarked nobles and guild members, found out that Berec d'Cannith, the investigator on the case, was generally regarded as a bit old for his job, and rumors were that he was an alcoholic to boot. Many investigations had opened recently, leaving only Berec for Elaydren's disappearance, and all signs pointed to his assignment coming from Baron Jorlanna d'Cannith herself.
Next, the Wolves went to meet with Telde Velderan in a private room to talk about the investigation. Velderan explained that he was more skilled at wilderness tracking, not urban investigation, and that he and Berec had spent some time in Passage but had hit dead ends and returned to Fairhaven to get a fresh start. He expressed frustration with Berec, explaining that they hadn't done much of a search of the Passage docks, which is where Telde expected the warforged would have gone to escape with their prisoner.
They determined to split up, with Lysander and William keeping Berec busy while Pel and Delano broke into his apartment to investigate him. Lysander tried mightily to talk William into playing a woman, but he was having none of it, and finally Lysander used his veil to cloak them as Chantal and Porthos, a sister and brother, and they went to find Berec at an inn called The Dead Fox.
In out-drinking Berec, William got a little over-zealous and became a bit drunk, although he did get Berec so drunk he passed out. However, William had to be convinced to leave the tavern by Lysander. Fortunately, Lysander's charms were up to the case, and the two of them, accompanied by an unconscious Berec, went to a nearby alley. They took his case notebook and his money and left him in the alley and then returned to the Twin Spirits Inn, where they had been operating since arriving in Fairhaven.
At the same time, Pel and Delano snuck into the Aundarian villa that served as the Cannith enclave. They got into Berec's room and looked through his notes. Amongst the other secrets Pel and Delano found, they found the relevant information that Berec had written Elaydren off as dead, most likely at the hand of the Lord of Blades, and that he had been sending copies of his reports to Baron Jorlanna. Perhaps most importantly, they learned that Berec had never investigated the docks in Passage because he had gambling debts to several crime bosses in the area.
With most of their suspicions confirmed, the Wolves hopped on a lightning rail to Passage alongside Telde. While traveling, Pel noticed something "off" about the half-orc, but he couldn't quite place it, and wrote it off to the Tharashk having some sort of secondary motivation relating to Lady Elaydren.
Once they arrived in Passage, they went straight to the docks to investigate. Delano talked to the dockworkers and found out that the crew of a fishing boat, The Little Dwarf, had turned up dead on the shore a few days ago, and that their boat had gone missing.
After calling in their new airship and its pilot, they flew low over Lake Galifar looking for the wreckage. Delano spotted it, and when they set down, Telde easily found the trail of several warforged, heading into the Gloaming in the Eldeen Reaches.
Unfortunately, they soon found out what had struck Pel about Telderan. He was not a half-orc... in fact, he was a Rakshasa assassin, sent by Ttemmal, and he lead them into an ambush made up of a pod demon, Abyssal Hulk and Abyssal Eviscerator.
The assassin didn't live to savor his ambush for long, however, as Pel opened the battle by firing a crossbow bolt into his eye, and was then drawn into battle with William and suffered a withering burst of killing flames from Delano. He tried to flee, but Lysander cut him down with his vicious mockery.
The demons proved more tenacious, in particular the pod demon, whose spawn kept appearing and exploding in acidic and poisonous goo. The Abyssal Hulk, meanwhile, used his gaze of chaos to try and turn the Wolves against one another, and the Abyssal Eviscerator cornered Pel, grabbed hold of him and began raking him mercilessly with his claws.
As Delano moved around the battlefield, aiding William in his battle against the Hulk, Lysander tried to keep the Pod Demon busy with arrows.
William finished off the Abyssal Hulk with his rain of steel and then moved in on the Eviscerator, finishing him off thanks to the damage Pel had inflicted. The group then turned on the Pod Demon and killed it, although by the end of the fight they were somewhat battered and bloodied, and they took a brief rest to recuperate.
They discovered that the warforged tracks were easy enough to follow without their "Tharashk" guide and continued tracing them, and before long, they came upon an abandoned bandit camp that the warforged had clearly appropriated. They could see the bandit camp in the distance, behind a twenty-foot high wooden fence that was guarded by a handful of warforged and... a warforged titan.
The battle against the Titan was a memorable one, with William essentially taking on the monstrous weapon one-on-one, aided by artillery fire from Delano, as the other warforged kept Pel and Lysander busy. Lysander used a song to enchant the Titan, which led to him helping to eliminate several of the other warforged while battling William.
With the other warforged down, the Titan finally managed to inflict enough damage to knock William out, and things began to look a bit grim for the Wolves. Pel moved through the trees using his shadow stride and staying hidden, and Lysander placed one of his sticky clockwork bombs on the Titan's legs before turning invisible, leaving Delano the only obvious target, and he fired off a hellish rebuke and began fleeing into the woods, with the Titan hot on his heels.
The Titan, scarred from William's many blows, on fire from Delano's attack, crashed relentlessly after Delano, but as it raised its hammer for a killing blow, Lysander's bomb went off, blowing it's leg off and sending it tumbling, inoperable, to the ground.
With the advance guard loudly defeated, they knew that the rest of the base would be on alert. Pel woke William and the group took a brief rest to refresh themselves before going in after Lady Elaydren. They decided to try a tried-and-true tactic of posing as prisoners, and Lysander used his veil to make himself and Pel look like the warforged guards, bringing William and Delano in after their "unsuccessful" attempt to defeat the Titan.
Unfortunately, when one of the Warforged guards inside the walled bandit camp called William "the most dangerous" of the Wolves, Lysander was unable to resist pressing the point and in so doing revealed himself and Pel to the surprisingly shrewd warforged guard.
The warforged mages used a variety of spells to keep blasting William away from the walls so that he couldn't climb over, but Delano simply teleported inside and began firing on them, and they couldn't hold off the Wolves forever. Two of the warforged were casting priestly magic using the Lord of Blades' holy symbol, causing Pel to repeatedly yell that "he's not a real God!"
After Pel and Lysander finished off the two mages using ranged attacks, William, Pel and Lysander climbed in to more directly engage the rest of the forces. While the warforged guards were formidable, they were not as dangerous as the advanced guard with the Titan, and when the captain of the warforged realized they were losing, he ordered the others to execute the prisoner.
Lysander leaped across the courtyard and into the pit where Elaydren was being held to defend her, and with the aid of Delano, they managed to destroy the warforged who were attempting to kill her while William and Pel dealt with the rest of the forces.
As William finished off the last Warforged Flamepriest, he saw something he hadn't seen since the very first mission they had undertaken for Lady Elaydren. A small metal ball disengaged from the Flamepriest and flew off, dodging an arrow fired by Lysander and a crossbow bolt from Pel. The Lord of Blades would be getting a report from the dead Warforged, thanks to his final messenger.
The shaken and clearly roughly treated Elaydren was very relieved to see the Wolves. She told them that she had been investigating the theft of the Xulo pattern, and that she had realized that her Uncle Merrix may have had something to do with its theft. She hadn't been able to talk to him since he had disappeared over six months ago. She also revealed that in her research into her ancestor Kedran d'Cannith, who had first discovered the pattern, she found the name Zura Dhakaan, a legendary Duur-kala (Dirge Singer) from the Dhakaani Empire who had broken Xulo after it was infected with the abberant taint of one of the Daelkyr.
She had reason to believe that Zura Dhakaan's tomb might hold a vast amount of information about Xulo, hopefully including the means by which he could be defeated and broken again. Unfortunately, finding the tomb in Darguun was so difficult that only one person had reportedly ever gotten close. And that person was Halas Martain.
Lady Elaydren also confided that she had always been an operative of Merrix, although her surface loyalties were to Baron Jorlanna, and she believed that Jorlanna now suspected the truth. She asked if Pel and Lysander could help her to ingratiate herself back into Jorlanna's good graces, and agreed in exchange to become Pel's operative inside House Cannith.
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
William's Journal: First Entry
Dear Heart:
I'm not entirely sure why I'm writing this journal, except that I find I miss talking with thee at the end of each day. This journey bears all the marks of becoming another long campaign, and I'm not sure when I'll be able to return to thee. Time was that I thought forming an attachment would weaken me, Boldrei forgive me. Now I know that our marriage has given me new strength. I know I will need it in the weeks to come.
As we suspected, Brayton's summons was sent to all of the Wolves, and so I have him to thank for our reuniting. Would that it were under better circumstances -- Lady Elaydrin has been kidnapped, and he seeks our aid. We will help him, of course, but this is no simple ransom grab. Her own House may be involved. The most obvious signs point to Jorlana, but their very obviousness leads me to mistrust them. As usual, I keep my own counsel. Father's voice speaks in my memory, addressing Pieter and I: "Hear your enemy. He will tell you his name, if only you remain quiet enough to hear it." His counsel has served me well. How I wish you could have met him, and he thee.
Through Passage now, and on via chartered Lyrandar airship towards the Gloaming.
Your devoted husband,
William
Monday, April 04, 2011
Game Schedule April - June
April 1st - Wandering Wolves (Dan, Ben, Randy, Jason, Chris, James?)
April 8th - Wandering Wolves (Dan, Ben, Randy, Jason, Chris, James?)
April 15th - Gaming Off (Randy's birthday)
April 22nd - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
April 29th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, James)
May 6th - Gaming Off (Free Comic Book Day)
May 13th - Gaming Off (Ben out of town)
May 20th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
May 27th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
June 3rd - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
June 10th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, Nate)
June 17th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, Nate)
June 24th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, Nate)
April 8th - Wandering Wolves (Dan, Ben, Randy, Jason, Chris, James?)
April 15th - Gaming Off (Randy's birthday)
April 22nd - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Dan, James)
April 29th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, James)
May 6th - Gaming Off (Free Comic Book Day)
May 13th - Gaming Off (Ben out of town)
May 20th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
May 27th - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
June 3rd - Tomb of Horrors (Randy, Chris, Ben, James, Jason, Dan)
June 10th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, Nate)
June 17th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, Nate)
June 24th - Wandering Wolves (Randy, Jason, Ben, Chris, Dan, Nate)
Friday, April 01, 2011
58b. Transition Part Three
Pel's People: TC agents need to be added in Droaam, Xendrik, and newly acquired ones in House Orien and Cannith.
Feel free to make up details on these folks. Whoever is in Droaam should be a monster of some kind, whoever is in Xen'drik is probably a follower of the Dark Six as a whole as well as the Traveler. Possibly Gorleius, the priest who raised you from the dead? Or is that just too creepy? His loyalties might be a little uncertain, to be fair.
Diarmand nicely fits the profile i was thinking of for someone in Orien. smooth talking, charming, travels a lot - probably a good recruiter/first contact for new members. Would he want the job?
Paul says he wants the job, so he wants the job. But as you note, that makes him your contact in Deneith. And if William ever finds out, I would guess he will be extremely pissed at both of you.
Worth the risk, or will Pel turn down Diarmand's help inside Deneith out of loyalty to his friend?
Meanwhile he'll see if his operative in Cannith can get wind of what is going on. We'll need to decide who this guy is. Might be good if he has some talent as an artificer.
This sounds reasonable to me.
Ttemmal: more research required, obivously
Yep, you've reached the end in this particular interlude. I assumed a trip to Thrane to gather the information you already have about his identities and how he was exposed, and ditto that you've already put The Native's operation and your operative in Xen'drik on researching (discreetly) the weapon that could destroy Ttemmal.
Xulo: almost certainly in the Mournland, complicating things. it is a big (nasty) place, and that will make it hard to track down. Looking into its theft from Cannith (maybe we can get "hired" to investigate?) might lead to some clues. Ditto Merrix's disappearance. pick up where the previous investigation go cold. If we are somehow kept out of this, then see what my agent can glean from the inside.
Because Elaydren's branch of the house is run by Merrix's rival Baron Jorlanna, there has been no official investigation. She is doing everything on the sly, making sure that her loyalty to her uncle doesn't cast doubt on her loyalty to the Baron.
Elaydren had told you that her Uncle Merrix had been acting odd for a while now, and his disappearing act had made her nervous and unsettled as far back as Therendor of 999, when he surprised her by missing her wedding.
(It's true! She mentioned it here)
She has reason to believe that he was following the path of the Self-Forged, adding warforged components to his own body. She couldn't confirm it, but she thinks she saw evidence of a mechanical arm hidden beneath his elaborate clothes the last time she saw him.
That last time, incidentally, was at the tale end of summer last year (1000 YK), when she met up with him at the House Enclave in Sharn. They had scheduled another luncheon a month later, but he didn't show, and inquiries to his entourage led her in circles. They either don't know where he is, or they won't tell her.
And they won't tell your operative in Cannith, either. The best answer you can get is that "Merrix is unavailable, working in secret on a very important project." Scuttlebutt is that he's part of the team devoted to rebuilding the White Arch bridge between Thrane and Karrnath and the resulting expansion of the lightning rail.
Moloch: Pel would never want to do anything to upset his lady-love, so he has decided to re-orient his thinking on this. (really it was just petty revenge, anyway). if he is valuable to her, then perhaps he can be valuable to Pel as well. converted, perhaps?
Perhaps. You've done quite a bit with your nine months, so further interactions with Moloch will have to wait until your next bit of downtime.
I hope to let it slip to an arrogant piece of feculence from my opposing house who fancies himself something of a storyteller. It is quite good and I believe in his ignorance he might, in fact, perform it and draw out some of T’s followers, at least to give us an idea of what region he may have relocated to.
Lysander's conscience remains clear, because his would-be rival doesn't take the bait. Which is in itself somewhat odd, as he's neither smart enough nor restrained enough not to. Which suggests that Ttemmal has pawns operating inside House Thuranni, pawns with their ears to the ground for anything the Wolves might be doing.
And if he has pawns in one House listening for the Wolves... well...
The gods are a great mystery, one worth unraveling as they affect the story we live in, so yes, Pel, ready whatever ritual is necessary if the faith I have spoken of here is enough faith. I leave that in your hands.
Lysander was there for the first contact with the Traveler (if that is in fact who he is) so it seems only fitting he should be there for the second.
In light of that, I have been telling The Tales of Travelin’ Jack. A series of (remarkably fresh) ‘folk tales’ base on the tenets and stories you have already shared with me.
The Tales of Travelin' Jack are spreading like wildfire, especially among the "lower classes" of Sharn and other big cities. The gnomes of Trolanport are particularly taken with them, and Sora Katra has informed Pel that many among her subjects have come to appreciate them as well, although they all wish they were a touch more bloody.
Sora Katra also lets Pel know, without saying it, that she knows full well who the tales come from. But it amuses her to no end.
Already, people ask for our tales and ballads. In five years, we will flow as freely as good beer in every tavern of the Five Nations and beyond. In twenty-five years we will be legends, possibly before.
The Wolves are considered national heroes in Breland and Zilargo, well-regarded adventurers in Aundair, Thrane and Karrnath and dangerous adversaries best avoided among the underworld of Darguun. Their fame may not have quite reached the outer edges of Khorvaire's wilds (Q'barra, The Shadow Marches, Lhazaar Principalities, etc.) but their names have definitely been whispered by some among the dragons of Argonnessen and the fiends of the Demon Waste, and many in the wilds of Xen'drik.
Lysander's prediction of five years is probably conservative.
I should be hearing back from my couriers about X and the S very soon, although the information you already have is probably the most we can get. I will see what kind of deep contacts we have in the appropriate house as soon as may be.
More on this at the next interlude.
I have also been seeking information on the companion artifacts that are linked historically to the Songbow Arenydee and I liberated from the Halls of the Ancestors.
Ditto. Although further clues indicate to you that there's a story linking the artifacts to Taer Lian Doresh, the Fortress of Fading Dreams, otherwise known as the Feyspire located in the Lhazaar Principalities.
Feel free to make up details on these folks. Whoever is in Droaam should be a monster of some kind, whoever is in Xen'drik is probably a follower of the Dark Six as a whole as well as the Traveler. Possibly Gorleius, the priest who raised you from the dead? Or is that just too creepy? His loyalties might be a little uncertain, to be fair.
Diarmand nicely fits the profile i was thinking of for someone in Orien. smooth talking, charming, travels a lot - probably a good recruiter/first contact for new members. Would he want the job?
Paul says he wants the job, so he wants the job. But as you note, that makes him your contact in Deneith. And if William ever finds out, I would guess he will be extremely pissed at both of you.
Worth the risk, or will Pel turn down Diarmand's help inside Deneith out of loyalty to his friend?
Meanwhile he'll see if his operative in Cannith can get wind of what is going on. We'll need to decide who this guy is. Might be good if he has some talent as an artificer.
This sounds reasonable to me.
Ttemmal: more research required, obivously
Yep, you've reached the end in this particular interlude. I assumed a trip to Thrane to gather the information you already have about his identities and how he was exposed, and ditto that you've already put The Native's operation and your operative in Xen'drik on researching (discreetly) the weapon that could destroy Ttemmal.
Xulo: almost certainly in the Mournland, complicating things. it is a big (nasty) place, and that will make it hard to track down. Looking into its theft from Cannith (maybe we can get "hired" to investigate?) might lead to some clues. Ditto Merrix's disappearance. pick up where the previous investigation go cold. If we are somehow kept out of this, then see what my agent can glean from the inside.
Because Elaydren's branch of the house is run by Merrix's rival Baron Jorlanna, there has been no official investigation. She is doing everything on the sly, making sure that her loyalty to her uncle doesn't cast doubt on her loyalty to the Baron.
Elaydren had told you that her Uncle Merrix had been acting odd for a while now, and his disappearing act had made her nervous and unsettled as far back as Therendor of 999, when he surprised her by missing her wedding.
(It's true! She mentioned it here)
She has reason to believe that he was following the path of the Self-Forged, adding warforged components to his own body. She couldn't confirm it, but she thinks she saw evidence of a mechanical arm hidden beneath his elaborate clothes the last time she saw him.
That last time, incidentally, was at the tale end of summer last year (1000 YK), when she met up with him at the House Enclave in Sharn. They had scheduled another luncheon a month later, but he didn't show, and inquiries to his entourage led her in circles. They either don't know where he is, or they won't tell her.
And they won't tell your operative in Cannith, either. The best answer you can get is that "Merrix is unavailable, working in secret on a very important project." Scuttlebutt is that he's part of the team devoted to rebuilding the White Arch bridge between Thrane and Karrnath and the resulting expansion of the lightning rail.
Moloch: Pel would never want to do anything to upset his lady-love, so he has decided to re-orient his thinking on this. (really it was just petty revenge, anyway). if he is valuable to her, then perhaps he can be valuable to Pel as well. converted, perhaps?
Perhaps. You've done quite a bit with your nine months, so further interactions with Moloch will have to wait until your next bit of downtime.
I hope to let it slip to an arrogant piece of feculence from my opposing house who fancies himself something of a storyteller. It is quite good and I believe in his ignorance he might, in fact, perform it and draw out some of T’s followers, at least to give us an idea of what region he may have relocated to.
Lysander's conscience remains clear, because his would-be rival doesn't take the bait. Which is in itself somewhat odd, as he's neither smart enough nor restrained enough not to. Which suggests that Ttemmal has pawns operating inside House Thuranni, pawns with their ears to the ground for anything the Wolves might be doing.
And if he has pawns in one House listening for the Wolves... well...
The gods are a great mystery, one worth unraveling as they affect the story we live in, so yes, Pel, ready whatever ritual is necessary if the faith I have spoken of here is enough faith. I leave that in your hands.
Lysander was there for the first contact with the Traveler (if that is in fact who he is) so it seems only fitting he should be there for the second.
In light of that, I have been telling The Tales of Travelin’ Jack. A series of (remarkably fresh) ‘folk tales’ base on the tenets and stories you have already shared with me.
The Tales of Travelin' Jack are spreading like wildfire, especially among the "lower classes" of Sharn and other big cities. The gnomes of Trolanport are particularly taken with them, and Sora Katra has informed Pel that many among her subjects have come to appreciate them as well, although they all wish they were a touch more bloody.
Sora Katra also lets Pel know, without saying it, that she knows full well who the tales come from. But it amuses her to no end.
Already, people ask for our tales and ballads. In five years, we will flow as freely as good beer in every tavern of the Five Nations and beyond. In twenty-five years we will be legends, possibly before.
The Wolves are considered national heroes in Breland and Zilargo, well-regarded adventurers in Aundair, Thrane and Karrnath and dangerous adversaries best avoided among the underworld of Darguun. Their fame may not have quite reached the outer edges of Khorvaire's wilds (Q'barra, The Shadow Marches, Lhazaar Principalities, etc.) but their names have definitely been whispered by some among the dragons of Argonnessen and the fiends of the Demon Waste, and many in the wilds of Xen'drik.
Lysander's prediction of five years is probably conservative.
I should be hearing back from my couriers about X and the S very soon, although the information you already have is probably the most we can get. I will see what kind of deep contacts we have in the appropriate house as soon as may be.
More on this at the next interlude.
I have also been seeking information on the companion artifacts that are linked historically to the Songbow Arenydee and I liberated from the Halls of the Ancestors.
Ditto. Although further clues indicate to you that there's a story linking the artifacts to Taer Lian Doresh, the Fortress of Fading Dreams, otherwise known as the Feyspire located in the Lhazaar Principalities.
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