Loose threads Tower's still home to a bugbear scientist/necromancer called The Commander, weird spirits and orbs and such, and many unexplored floors; also, Gildenwind was sieged by the Pact
Participants Tinkado Mushameri, Vhel, Daggoth, Tamiko Sato of House Miyagawa, Terrible-Fangs-Latching-Upon-and-Bringing-Slow-Death-to-Enemies
Locations Merry's Tower
Short summary:
[Optional. If you feel the full report below is very detailed, you can help readers with a quick tl:dr here]
Full Report
Initially, the tale seemed to begin rather innocuously. We sought sites of significance to the ancient godlike beings that had ravaged this world before, and likely intended to do so again — thus I selected a conspicuous tower on the northern edge of the continent maps which no one seemed to have explored, and we set out for it after some preparations for those of us most unaccustomed to the frigid weather.
The quest truly began before then, however. An imprisoned aberration had made a far-reaching psychic call for freedom, which may have influenced us toward the tower it was chained in, and which only Vhel discerned anything of as she dreamed and her psyche listened:
" Once I dwelt in endless azure abyss
Until I was caught in her creeping calls
Bereft of the unbound shadows I miss
Do I diminish to these choking halls
But with mistress left have I lost endless days
The cru’lty of the march to a soul whom stalls
Am I truly trapped yet, left only to gaze
Beyond this house of imaginary walls "
At
the time, though she (impressively) noted it down as surely as
everything else, she did not know the significance of this odd, silent
poem and only shared it in passing as we drove; 'twas an uneventful and
pleasant ride through the portal and on to Dryhaven. The first of two noteworthy stops, we paused there to carouse in a town we'd seen little of, with Terrible-Fangs-Latching-Upon-and-Bringing-Slow-Death-to-Enemies
learning about the world's intricate system of seasons and Vhel learning of the guards taking preparations for the fallout of possible
naval warfare with the Pact. I spoke with a bartender who related the
tale of a young, newly realized aquakineticist named Kyron who had
quickly left town afterward to travel away by northern vessel...I offered to send
word of his condition to his worried mother if I ran into the impetuous
boy.
The later travel into Gildenwind, too, offered a chance to catch up on the latest rumors. Tinkado met up with an old Coalition contact, Irma, who informed him of several matters: signs of orcs ranging for the Pact, a gnoll shipwright named Blue Buffalo and her twin sister Willow going missing to the north, and a local seer named Farin Foreteller and their apprentice supposedly leaving to New Hezrath...perhaps you can see where this is going, dear reader, but alas, we did not. For my part, I simply learned that Mane Event had been through to boost spirits but left for the same place, and that the locals trended cautiously positive on the Explorer's Guild.