Session 19

=August 2nd, 2018 - The Quiet Council=

The Quiet Council
The session began right where it last left off, as most of the group convened at the Come On Inn within Ironbay. It was the seventy ninth day since the raid on Greenest and the parties caravan had just arrived in the major seaside port city late that morning. In the common room of the Come On Inn, Leosin sat with Cadmus, Rufus, Rhogar and Rachen. They discussed going to the meeting with the Ironbay noble Lady Silverhand, when a detachment of guards entered the inn. They came up to the group and said how they were looking for Sergeant Rachen to escort him to his debrief at the main barracks. After a short conversation and display of a note from Leosin, of which at the bottom Rachen saw a silver inlaid symbol of a hand, the guards would now escort their entire group to Silverhand Estate.

The group first used their flashy escort to head back out the South Gate to pick up their companions Lachlan and Thia at the Southton campgrounds. The guards were a little disturbed to find a black dragon wyrmling in their covered wagon, but they did not press the matter. Thia still instructed Elysian to stay in the wagon, as there was much attention on their passing column. The group was escorted through the length of the city down the main boulevard of the Coast Way towards the North Ward. As they walked through the city, Leosin pointed out a few key locations and landmarks, and talked about the noble lady they were to meet.

The Lady Silverhand was greatly worried about the trouble caused by the Cult of the Dragon, and was in a position to do something about it. She was one of the heads of the six most powerful families in the city, and it was these family leaders that made up the ruling Lord Council. In many circles, Lady Silverhand is considered the second most powerful of the six, second only to the current High Lord of Ironbay. This current High Lord is looked at with concern by many of the elite these days, as he effectively controls two cities. It was his family that invested into rebuilding the city of Windhaven to the north almost fifty years ago.

High Lord Vonner continued the work of his father, and has poured their entire fortune into the cause of rebuilding Windhaven. Now as prosperity returns to the revived city, the other Lords of Ironbay worry about his ambitions, as a single individual has not held so much power in the province for hundreds of years. Soon, the group veered off the main Coast Way down a wide avenue into the North Ward. The area was filled with large and expensive mansions, gardens, and was entirely too clean. Around a bend the party found themselves at the walled gates of Silverhand Estate, the largest and most exquisite plot they had seen yet.

Their guards left them at the front door of the multistory columned building, which was opened and they were greeted by the house steward. The steward escorted their group into a large circular meeting room off the main foyer, Ontharr Frume, the dwarven paladin from Elturiel, was already seated around the circular meeting table inside. The room was large and lined with expensive tapestries, while marble columns encircled the room. Tall almost floor to ceiling windows on one wall bathed the room with natural sunlight. In moments, both sets of tall wooden double doors on opposite sides of the room opened and dozens of guards slowly entered and took up station around the chamber.

Lastly, the half-elf Lady herself entered wearing an expensive white dress and flanked behind by two individuals, another female half-elf and a male bronze dragonborn. Lady Silverhand welcomed all in attendance, and said firstly that all the guards and guests here she trusts with her life and can be counted on to not repeat anything spoken. She introduces herself, Leosin and Ontharr the faction representatives the group already knows, and then her guests. The other female half-elf in travelling leathers she introduces as her companion Elia, and the robe wearing male bronze dragonborn as her friend Alburt. Before beginning, she stresses that this is not an official Lord’s Accord meeting, even though there are representatives from multiple members. This is merely a quiet council of advisers to her, a member of the Ironbay Lord Council who is gravely concerned about the Cult of the Dragon threat.

Next, she thanks specifically her official agent Rachen Marsk, and the honored Lord’s Accord guest Lachlan who took up the cause to aid him. Before the Lady tells of events that have transpired during their recent two month journey, she requests a debrief of all that has happened. Leosin and Onthar have told her much, but she wanted to hear it from the group personally. Rachen obliged, and left out no detail when she paused him and asked questions. She was mostly curious about the raider camp and hatchery cave, and thoroughly congratulated them on stealing, and hatching dragon wyrmlings out from under their nose.

It was clear Elysian enjoyed hearing his name spoken and being focused on, and none of the guests seemed to be disturbed by Thia’s black wyrmling. Rachen went on, when he described details of the camp and how Rufus recovered the cult correspondence detailing their connection with the giants, the Lady pulled out the two pages and laid them on the table. She thanked them for their obtaining the first true physical evidence of a much greater problem. Rachen continued, and each time he told of a casualty in their party, Selwyn, Marcus, and then Barlo, the Lady apologized for their loss. Thanking those who made the ultimate sacrifice and thanking those still present again for continuing the cause.

An Uninvited Guest
Lady Silverhand then began to fill the party in on activity throughout the coast during their caravan journey. Not only have raids by the cult increased throughout the countryside, but something even more worrisome to the population has been happening. Giants have been seen in greater numbers than in many centuries, including the more rare and reclusive breeds. There have even been sightings of cloud giant castles! What is worse is they have been up to trouble, raiding and destroying towns and villages.

At hearing this, Cadmus tells of their fallen companion Barlo. How his peaceful orc clan was driven from the Orc Hills by bands of frost giants on a seeming rampage. The half-elf Elia seemed most concerned about all of this talk, but only nodded to Lady Silverhand when the noble said how all of this talk was worrisome. The letters the party recovered prove there is some connection with all of this activity and the Cult of the Dragon, and the timing seems too coincidental. The giant troubles happening as the cult raids ramp up, almost trying to conceal their movements by sowing chaos everywhere.

The Lady then begins to lament that they do not have the resources needed to help everyone, and many large towns are requesting aid, including Rachen’s hometown of Triboar. She doesn’t even have her friendly frost giant Harshnag around to ask anything of, and at that Rachen reveals how he knows the giant. Lady Silverhand tells how the giant was rescued by her family many years ago and he calls the city home. She says Harshnag has been on one of his giant killing expeditions for many months, since before the flare up of giant kind. The army of Ironbay is already spread thin, Windhaven has no troops to speak of, and they do not yet have the evidence needed to call a true Lord’s Accord council against the cult.

A positive development recently has been the discovery of her guest Alburt, and she then goes on to describe how he was once a member of the Cult of the Dragon but fled after he was betrayed and his entire family murdered. Now he seeks revenge, and not only would he be a great asset and addition to their party (to help make up for their tragic losses), but he had given freely some great intelligence. Alburt then introduces himself and fills in details about his story, and what he knows about the cult. Most pertinent is how he knew the name of at least three ancient wyrms who had aligned themselves with the cult, including the ancient blue wyrm Iymrith. The same Iymrith named in the cult letters as their ally responsible for the shattering of the giant Ordning.

Alburt also tells what the various factions of the cult were up to, including the Red Hand building a secret stronghold that he was not privy to the location of. Other factions including his Black Wing were focused on treasure or prisoner gathering operations for their supposed ritual of returning their evil dragon god to the world. Which Lady Silverhand agreed with Cadmus in doubting very much to be the true plot. Notably, the Cobalt Claw were doing something unknown and mysterious, and the Pale Eye were searching for the largest gem possible. He then went on to describe how the cult has been controlling and influencing the dragons, with ancient magic artifacts known as the dragon masks. Rhogar was able to confirm some of the basic cult information, like the ranks and names of the various Wyrmspeakers.

As the discussion turned to what to do next with their limited resources, the knowledge they had to follow the cultists but had likely been discovered was a problem. At this talk, a small person crashed through the tall windows swinging from a rope. As shattered glass sprayed across the room the person let go of the rope into a somersault and landed right on the middle of the meeting table. All the guards moved forward with their spears. The female halfling Jemna Gleamsilver stood upright with her hands in the air and said “Stop!”. She apologized for the intrusion and introduced herself, admitting she was a member of the Black Brotherhood assigned to follow the Night Wizard Azbara Jos.

The Brotherhood is concerned why the Night Wizards would be working with the Cult of the Dragon, it all brewed something bad for business. She agreed that the party cannot keep following the cultists north to Windhaven because they had been recognized, which is why Barlo lost his life and she had to put down the cultist. The party concurred the remaining cultists were seen to be preparing to travel north. But she had the perfect solution to everyone's problem. She and her agents had all the skills needed to continue following the cultists without detection while the party could be used, more bluntly, to look into these giant problems.

When asked what her and the Brotherhood would want in return for working together, she replied with the obvious. A seat at the Lord’s Accord council table when it was eventually called to order. Jemna said they would observe the cultists only, and report back when they found the destination of the treasure. The quiet council in attendance voted, and agreed to let Jemna take over this part of the mission. Lady Silverhand had a servant bring in a small box which contained two small runed stones. She gave one to Jemna, saying it was a sending stone that she would have the matching and to report back to her using it.

After that the halfling was escorted out of the room flanked by guards, and only after she was gone did the meeting continue. Lady Silverhand said she had the perfect mission for them, Rachen’s hometown of Triboar had been requesting aid and she wanted to send the party as her envoys. While there, they could also look into these reports of giants. The Lord Protector of the town said how the Triboar Valley had seen numerous and increasing raids by giants, ogres, and orcs and that she was worried Triboar itself was under imminent danger. The Lady said they could travel their instantly due to her having a teleportation circle here in her estate, and there was one in the guarded dungeon of the Triboar town keep. Before the party all agreed to go, they questioned compensation.

Ontharr kept to his word, and handed over the magnificent ruby he promised them back in Elturiel, and Lady Silverhand sent off another servant. This time they returned with a large wooden box that was laid on the meeting table. From inside, Lady Silverhand handed out some of her magic items that helped her in times past. A Periapt of Wound Closure and a Cloak of Protection that the party discussed who could best use. Then, she pulled out the large item, a scabbard that she drew forth a magical (+1) long sword she named the Blade of Triboar. It was smithed in the town and she was commissioned to enchant it, and so she entrusted it to her agent Rachen to deliver to the Lord Protector upon their arrival. Slightly disappointed it was not for him, Rachen took the blade proudly. She also handed him the second sending stone to report to her.

Lastly, for all those arcane spellcaster types she said she would allow them access to her personal library in the estate, of which Alburt had basically not left in the recent weeks. She would allow them to each copy at least one spell they could cast of their choice, and her library was filled with numerous spell books and scrolls. For the nature and divine spellcasters, while she cannot duplicate scrolls, she had on hand a number she was studying. Allowing each of them one of their choice. Before departing the group wanted to shop, and Rachen asked if she had any influence to help them obtain better suits of armor.

Lady Silverhand said with a letter from her they could receive a twenty five percent discount at the best armory in the city, the Champion’s Armory, on her house. The group took her up on it, and first went to sell the ruby, and then pooled some coin to help Rachen purchase a suit of plate armor. Luckily for him, the Champion’s Armory had a suit already prepared that would fit his relatively standard measurements. The group did not have enough for Cadmus to also get one, but Lachlan put a one hundred gold down payment on a suit to be made for him anyway. The armorer gladly took the payment and the half-orc’s measurements.

And that is where the session ended, as the party makes final preparations in Ironbay to travel on the next leg of their journey, to the town of Triboar. It is the seventy ninth day since the raid on Greenest.

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