Session 25

=November 19th, 2018 - The Tower and the Watch Captain=

Cresting the Hill
The session began as the party and their new companion Harshnag were traveling south on the Long Road towards Cresthill. About twelve days into their horseback journey from the bandit lair, Rachen received a new message from Lady Silverhand’s sending stone. It had been about a month since the group left Ironbay, and Lady Silverhand reported that Jemna Gleamsilver had tracked the cult treasure to its apparent destination. And that appeared to be an old castle in the heart of the Deathmere swamp, which the Coast Way passes through from Ironbay to Windhaven. The caravan had stopped at a roadhouse along the Coast Way, and in the night Jemna and her companions saw lizardmen carry the loot from the cult wagons deep into the swamp.

Jemna tracked the lizardmen to this old castle, that now appeared to be inhabited by a small number of human cultists. Also, around the grounds outside the castle were not only a large number of lizardmen, but a significant number of bullywugs - frogmen. All of these creatures were seemingly working together, or with the cultists. The message ended asking if the group was ready to return. The group decided not to yet mention finding Harshnag and the quest he was chasing, but said they still had things to attend to near Cresthill and the dwarven hold of Khaz Thorum.

The party estimated another three or four tendays until they were ready to return. The next day, Lady Silverhand sent another message confirming she received their reply and that she consulted Jemna to stay and stake out the castle and learn as much as possible until the parties return. The party thus continued along the Long Road another tenday until they reached the small city of Cresthill. Nestled in the middle of a valley surrounded by low lying hills, the city was built surrounding the Long River which ran through the vale. It had a single layer of sturdy stone walls, and two stone bridges across the river.

Before they descended into the valley Thia and Harshnag elected to stay outside of the city, it would just be easier that way. Thus, the party left their horses and the large adamantine plate with Thia, her small dragon, and the frost giant. The group would camp in one of the patches of woods in the hills so as to not attract undue attention from the local farmers and hunters. The remaining six party members continued down the Long Road which ran right into the easternmost Downriver Gate of the city. The road continued through the city as the main thoroughfare across one of the bridges, through the central market, and out west of the city through the Upriver Gate.

At the gate they were met with an unusual number of guards, many more than expected for a city of this size. By comparison Elturiel, a slightly larger city, had less than half the guards than were stationed here. The group was given strange stares, being quite a motley collection of races, but otherwise was allowed entry without issue or toll. The citizenry were on edge, but it was clearly a bustling trade city full of humans and a large proportion of halflings. The party first asked around for directions to Danivarr’s House, and were directed to the single story tavern and restaurant across the river, west of the Central Market.

Upon arriving at Dannivarr’s House, the place was modest and had a few groups of patrons. The party approached the bar and were greeted by the half-orc barkeep with an eyepatch. Assuming this was Dral, Rachen showed him the insignia the Lady Protector of Triboar gave him. Rachen said how they were told if they gave him this he could help them enter Moonglow Tower. The barkeep, who was indeed Dral, asked the group to follow him to the back room before they spoke further.

Once in private, Dral gathered the group around the prep table and pulled out a glass of wine along with a single wooden cup. He poured a drink and offered it to the group. Upon drinking it, each member in turn disappeared and dropped the cup to the table. They appeared on a round stone dias in the antechamber of what they guessed was Moonglow Tower. Stained glass windows were high along the walls which were taken up by bookshelves. Scrolls, books, and other objects adorned the many shelves.

The Tower and the Watch Captain
Just a moment after the last person arrived the single set of double doors to the room opened and an elderly robed man entered. He greeted the group and asked what their business was. Rachen explained what the Lady Protector of Triboar had told them, and the warning about how Triboar was attacked by giants. The wizard chuckled, saying it was clear they were not from here, as they would have known Cresthill itself was attacked about a tenday ago. Raiders plundered the fields surrounding the city as a group of giants attacked the northern walls. The wizard had the party follow in through the doors, past the even larger and more impressive library room, and into a third chamber.

This chamber had something now familiar to the group, a teleportation circle. Alburt and Lachlan started memorizing the rune pattern, but the wizard said to take their time. He handed the group a scroll that contained six rune patterns, and associated names of cities in the Storm Coast. This was the Arcane Alliance’s teleportation network, and it seems that agents of the Alliance want you to have access. Of course, until such a time as the Alliance deems otherwise, the wizard added.

He said there would be an agent wizard at each location capable of casting teleportation circle for them in case they were unable. The wizards in the party realized the rune circle for Ironbay was different than the one they knew as Lady Silverhand’s personal circle. Before the wizard asked them to depart, not allowing them time to linger in his library (although Alburt is an initiate of the Alliance and could…), he gifted them a case containing six scrolls. He said the case was Darathra Shendrel’s, the Lady Protector of Triboar, and she had given instruction to give this case to whomever presented her insignia. The party thanked the wizard and left by returning to the antechamber and standing the stone dais they appeared on when they entered the tower.

They appeared outside the ‘front’ of the door-less tower. The group would look at the scrolls in detail later, first they needed to find Harthal Zymorven and his new giant-slayer greatsword. The party went to one of the seedier bars on the north side of the river and Rufus got to talking to a roguish looking female halfling. After some pleasantries, they got to talking in thieves cant, and Rufus asked about the young Zymorven. The halfling knew of Harthal, as well as Agatha, laughing at what she had done to that poor lad.

It appeared Harthal attempted to join the local Thieves Guild to be with Agatha, and he botched an attempted murder. Not the usual entrance test mind you, she clearly convinced him to do her dirty work. Harthal was caught and thrown into the stockades under the city barracks. Unfortunately, the halfling didn’t know anything about an expensive looking greatsword the fool may have had. Now well into the afternoon, after their round of drinks the party decided to go pay the stockades a visit before they closed to the public at nightfall.

Again passing through the Central Market they first stopped at a shop in the market and purchased cold weather clothing for the group, including Thia. Next, the traveled over the large Knightsbridge and made their way to the walled city barracks complex. After some discussion and perhaps a flashing of a Writ of Authority, the guards escorted the party into the barracks and down into the prison hall. One particularly talkative guard escorted the group down the hall to stand in front of the cell of Harthal Zymorven. The now broken man was lying on the floor, bloody in street rags.

They asked and the guard told of the sad man’s story. The greatsword of his was taken and now belongs to the very unliked watch captain. The guard was very vocal about how the watch captain had many enemies, and seemed corrupt, using his position improperly. The guard even told them due to this the watch captain traveled with a gang of eight guards almost all the time, and he liked to hang out at the Talking Troll tavern near the Downriver Gate. The group thanked the guard and left the stockade.

As they traveled east through the city towards the Talking Troll, Lachlan suggested they could see the local magistrate in the morning to try and somehow free the man for the reward his father had offered. Clearing a man of attempted murder would be quite difficult, and the rest of the party seemed more interested in just obtaining the weapon by force and leaving the city before there was trouble with the law. And so, the party entered the busy and comfortable Talking Troll. It was an inn and tavern complex, with multiple single story buildings and a dedicated stable. The tavern was large with two stone fireplaces and many tables filled with patrons.

The party easily identified the watch captain and his group of guards taking up two tables in the back corner of the tavern. Most of the party with the exception of Lachlan approached the group and tried to join in their card game. Rufus did not play, but skulked around looking at people’s cards and gave signals to help Rachen cheat. They drank and tried to ratchet up bets against the watch captain to the point Rachen offered his magical longsword as a bet. As they had hoped, the watch captain bet his new very expensive greatsword which was worth far more than the longsword he said.

It wouldn’t matter for he would win, but when Rachen laid down the winning hand, the watch captain furiously picked up the weapon and instructed his guards to kill them. The brawl was fast and bloody. With Alburt not wanting to destroy the wooden building with fireball, they took out a lot of the guards instead with Rhogar’s frost breath and Cadmus’ spirit guardians. Patrons screamed and fled as swords clanged, blood sprayed, and orc spirits wailed. When it was over and the party stood over the corpses of town guards, Rachen took the giant slayer greatsword and gave Lachlan the Blade of Triboar.

The group quickly left the tavern before living city guards arrived, and that is where the session ended. On the night of the one hundred and twenty third day since the raid on Greenest.

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