The Dome Chamber, a room found at the peak of the palace Lunas Orberus. Here the party sit, bathed in colour, as the ambience of first light filters through the great dome of stained glass windows. They accompany The Tide in waiting for the ruler of the Shimmer Isles to arrive, and the meeting to begin.
All stand for the entrance of Ulahice, an elf who looks elderly if she were human, suggesting an era of time has passed since her birth. She makes her way slowly up the marble stairs and sits in her branched throne.
The meeting begins, an agenda is laid out, and anticipated desires for both parties made clear. Folas Carna is given permission to continue sharing the history of the Dargean Empire, and the tales of dragons he had started the previous day. As the party have faced a dragon themselves, Folas argues they should understand its relevance.
It is revealed that there has only ever been one of each type of dragon. Noble metallic dragons of Gold, Silver, Bronze, Brass, and Copper. Mighty creatures that defended the world at the height of its peril. Then there were the spiteful chromatic dragons of Red, Green, Blue, White, and Black. Who hid away in their lairs, selfishly hoarding all they could, capitalising on the worlds chaos. When the metallic dragons were defeated by outer planar beings, they became the Dargean. Their god fragmented, and sent its essence to the Material Plane, each fragment then forged a being from the bodies of the slain dragons. Slowly an empire was built by this new race, and slowly they gained power to change the world around them. Great magic was wielded, manipulated, and used to banish the outer planar beings from the world, be they demons, angels, creatures of chaos or of law. But the Dargean did not stop there. For as long as a memory could be drawn, the metallic dragons had their rivalry with the chromatic dragons. But it still burned fiercely within the spirits of the Dargean, more so now that they had cowered away when their world was falling to outsiders. The Dargean set to banish the chromatic dragons from the Material Plane, a great feat indeed as this plane was their home. Through complicated rituals they sought to banish the dragons to parallel planes, the Feywild and the Shadowfell. They attempted to send all of the dragons to the Feywild, where their wild nature would match that of the plane, but one dragon could not be sent there. Karna-Kar, also known as Void Wing, was the black dragon, banished alone to the plane of shadows where time and pressure have changed him into something new, something to be feared. The other four dragons that were successfully sent to the plane of Fey, also were changed by the process and the environment. Their souls and bodies combined, fused into a prism of colour that became the Prismatic Dragon known as Iris Iknar. This history has been lost to all but the Elves, and until this moment is one of the many guarded secrets the elves hold themselves responsible to keep.
The meeting then moves onto the quest at hand, The Element Stones. The Dargean artifacts that must be used to gain access to whatever lies behind The Door Into Horn Peak Mountain. Described by its Ward as the 'Inner Sanctum', they believe that any remaining Dargean that still live must reside within, and only they can help restore the power of the stones and stop invasion from the outer planes. The party explain that there is one stone for each of the four elements and a fifth for death. They have visited Air and Death but there was a mishap, and the death stone was destroyed, effects of which have been felt by certain individuals, Ulahice being one of them. Edward explains that when in the Feywild he saw through his Familiar distant auras that seemed to match up with the stones. Represented as real weather phenomenon in the plane, this gave them rough directions to aim for. They believe the Fire Stone to be in the Desert of Thorns, the Water Stone to be out in the Hourglass Sea, and the Earth Stone to be in the Northern Jungles of Usta.
This leads on to the rumours that Folas and Elauthin Rohorn have heard in recent history. For months now sailors have been navigating wide circles around a mysterious fog in the Hourglass Sea. Reports of ships going missing quickly rippled across nations and changed trade routes. But a recent sighting told of a great iceberg that lies at the center of this fog, assumed to be lies of boastful sailors, perhaps there is truth to this rumour. This climate defying iceberg could be precisely what the party are looking for.
However, to get there the party will need ship and crew, and a large dose of trust from their Elven hosts. Elauthin states this can be arranged should the Tide and Ulahice agree upon it.
Next, the ties with the King of Guradam, Dras Gura, must be addressed. The party have made promises, and were on reconnaissance to the Desecrated Iron Mine for the King when they encountered the death stone, and the Unknown that dwelled there. Not only that, but Eilen and Yourcil from the Servants of the Weave are still with them. They wish to write a letter to King Dras and send the apprentice wizards back to their order with such a message. They respect that the scope of their quest is great indeed, but will not leave the King of a nation thinking they failed or worse abandoned their task.
Mornington wishes to come clean and build some trust with Ulahice and the Tide. Previously agreed with the party, they start to discuss the situation with Edward and his dark patron. They state that they believe it to be an evil entity, likely a Devil, but one that has been paramount in making Edward an instrumental member of the team. If there is anything the Elves can do to advise, help, or prepare, they want them to have the full picture. Ulahice in turn slowly shifts in expression, as she begins to speak she barely hides her outrage, something of this nature is unacceptable in the culture of her people, and they have her trust to gain.
Ulahice declares that the party must partake in the Trials of Halamar, and prove themselves worthy, that this dark source of power is one that can be controlled. Should they be successful, they will have a ship and a crew, with Amarion representing the Shimmer Isles journeying along with them, bringing order and wise judgement to the quest at hand.
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