Previously: Chapter 77: The Kraken's Shadow
Chores
Relic and Tome spend the day catching each other up on what has been happening in their respective areas of responsibility, with the maker accompanying his creation to the castle as he returns to continue doing research on the key’s location. While there, Thervan takes him to the side, reminding Relic that he needs to speak with the party in the morning for some sensitive business that he cannot trust anyone else to do. He also remarks that there is an issue with Gleamshroud, of a time sensitive nature. Relic promises to bring them back the next day, as he returns home to the nest.
Thistlethorn, after having spent some time with the horses in the field, returns home and accompanies Relic and Kal to Elvenroth, as the item they requested from Vrendol to bring their beasts along is supposedly completed. Penny decides to stay behind to continue working on her letters and numbers, with Arin’s watchful eye looking over and assisting. The trio gather around each other, as Relic teleports them to the hub in Elvenroth.
It’s a nice day, albeit late, so most shops have begun to close up, so the trio hurriedly make their way to the Sky’s Eye, Vrendol’s magical shop. Outside in the park, people have gathered for an afternoon meal, while several of Vrendol’s children have begun to take in display items for the night. Inside, the Loxodon is looking over his ledger for the day, and greets the party as they enter. They tell him that they are waiting on a delivery, and so he retreats to the back of the shop, returning with a beautiful wooden box. He explains to the party that his creation should be safe enough to use to safeguard and keep their beasts with them.
Vrendol calls it The Pocket Ball, explaining how it works, that it can keep a willing and friendly creature contained in the ball for up to a week, but only one at a time. There are some issues, those being that a hostile or unwilling creature can only be contained in the ball for up to one minute, while also running the risk of being brought out early. There is also a small chance of a wild magic surge whenever the ball is used.
This seems to be perfect for the party’s purposes, and immediately asks for three more balls, in order to bring along all their horses and Berry. Vrendol looks over his notes, saying that as he knows now the intricacies of the creation, a few more balls shouldn’t take too long, especially if they go all hands on deck. He asks the party to give him six days to complete them, and offers to have them delivered to their home if they wish, for an extra charge. The kobolds begin walking into the workshop in the back, knowing they have a busy week ahead of them. Relic, while they are here, pick up a few more spells to add to his spellbook.
Relic draws up a teleportation circle after telling Thervan through a sending that he has to borrow his circle for a moment. As they travel back to Ravenforge, they appear in his private tower. In front of them they see his crystalline chronicle functioning as his spellbook, hovering on its pedestal. As they walk past, they can hear whispering, which Relic recognizes as the vocal components of various spells, those contained within the sphere.
On the walk back from the castle, they notice that another scrying orb is watching them. They try to act casually, and split up in order to find who it is observing, finding that it follows Kal. After a few minutes, it disappears. They wonder among themselves who is watching them, and keep a look out for any ambushes that are waiting, but manage to get home without any more surprises.
Penny and Arin are looking over her work as the trio enters, with Arin pointing out where to improve. Thistlethorn is glad Arin is there, as there is another chance to convince her to go away to safety, but Arin is adamant that she wants to stay. She wants to be close to Jen, and if Jen is to go to the Grove of Eternal Whispers, then she will have to bring her family too, and they can’t just up and leave town on a whim. Arin promises that she and Jen have a plan to get away if shit goes down, hinting that Jen has acquired a tattoo with a teleportation spell.
The party is not satisfied, asking what she is to do if their enemies come in the night? Arin reminds them that she was an adventurer before she faced the gaze of the medusae, and that she is fully capable of escaping from a sticky situation if need be. In either case, the party asks for Arin to at least get a tattoo that can allow her to dimension door out of danger if needed, giving her the gold to fund such a mark. She reluctantly takes the gold, promising to do so in the morning.
With that taken care of, Relic uses his magic to make a cat-door for Rod so that he can escape too if something were to go wrong, telling him to head to the castle, or the “biggest house”, if he can, otherwise stay put, hidden away in the forest. Thistlethorn also tells Oakenward that if the bad people come to their house then he should try to hide as a tree, and only run away if he has no other choice. He says that he has no wish to die, and thanks Thistlethorn once again for giving him life. While they are standing outside, talking, Oakenward sees the mysterious figure watching the house, pointing it out to Thistlethorn. It then disappears in the blink of an eye, as it is prone to do. Before walking inside, Thistlethorn tells the horses what to do if something happens when they are not home, telling them to jump the fence, or walk through the opening if they so wish. But in either case, escape from harm, and wait for their return.
Berry eventually comes wandering down the stairs, looking tired. He asks Thistlethorn where he is supposed to sleep. Wherever he wants to she tells him, but he says that he did, but only got a stern talking to from Kal, or at least he thinks so. He thinks Kal is intriguing, stern, but still cuddles with him. He also is very fond of Penny, and walks over to her, sitting next to her on the couch, leaning onto her. Berry wishes that he could speak to the others like he does with Thistlethorn, and so she promises him that she will do so the next day, when her magic is prepared. He seems overjoyed with this, looking forward to his awakening.
Rotten Apples
The next morning, after eating breakfast and preparing their spells for the day, the party make their way to the castle to speak with the wizard. They are greeted by Armitage, who were told to expect them, leading them to the chambers of Thervan and Bertram. He knocks on the door to Bertram’s study, and is greeted by the elderly halfling who seems happy to see the party. Thervan hurriedly comes to the door as well, thanking Armitage for his service, gesturing to the party to enter.
He makes sure that the door is closed and locked, and when Penny takes out the monocular, he assures her that this is a private sanctum, so they cannot be overheard. He sits down behind his desk, gesturing for the party to take a seat. He explains the reason for asking them to come, saying that he suspects that there is a traitor in the queen's court. After Penny made him think of the discrepancy with the planned time of the execution of Glasstaff, he started asking around who gave the order, but apparently none of the people he have spoken to seems to “remember” the circumstances.
He figures that someone in the court might be either charmed or had their memories changed, and asks the party to investigate, saying that if he were to begin asking these questions, the true mastermind might do something rash. Thervan tells the party that a good place to start would be with the city guard, who is responsible for the arrangements surrounding executions. If they follow the correct leads, they might find the person responsible, and fix the problem before they strike again.
The other pressing matter is that he has been regularly taking Gleamshroud out of the iron flask that contains him, to check on the progression of his curse, finding that the stasis slows down the process, but hasn’t been able to stop it completely. He figures that within the next six months, the changes will be irreversible, and he will be lost. The party agrees that this is important, but Relic tries to say that they still have time, and should focus on the dagger.
Kal asks Thervan if it is possible to emerge from the feywild in a different place than they went in, with him confirming it is like any other planar travel, you can choose where to emerge. She then asks him if it is possible to leave without any time having passed, to which he replies that he has been to the feywild before, and the Summer Queen asked him only for a favor in return of being put back into the same time he left. So ask the right questions, charm the right people, and they can be back before anyone knows they’re even gone.
Penny asks about the rumors they have heard about villages and towns being attacked by the drow, something they find highly concerning, especially since they have only heard rumors about it. Thervan confirms the rumors are true, but they are trying to keep the information secret so as to not cause a panic. The queen has ordered that the garrisons of the various strongholds should be sent out to strengthen the numbers of exposed settlements, in order to help protect. There doesn’t seem to be any pattern to their attacks, only that they seem to happen every night, so they just try to do as best as they can. Thervan says that Gleamshroud would be an excellent sentinel to help with this task, as his sanctuary has been abandoned for now, allowing him to help elsewhere.
They come up with a plan that they are to head to the feywild, after having lured out whoever is a traitor on the court, and then make a deal with the Summer Queen to bring them to the Crags of Despair, where the marker for the blade can be found, heal Gleamshroud, and then go find the blade. Thervan says to let him know when they return, and he can bring Gleamshroud to them. But first, they have to pull the thread they have found, starting with the guard barracks.
Before they leave, Thistle asks if Thervan knows anything about the Mysterious Figure that is watching over them. He has no clue who it might be, but if they were malevolent, they probably would have shown themselves to be by now. They ask if it might be one of the gods, and he confirms that the gods watch over their subjects from time to time, but as to who it is, he does not know. He does however look over at Kal, saying that it might be someone with a personal stake in the party’s best interest, hinting at her lineage as an aasimar. She rebukes the idea, saying it can be anyone. They wonder if it might be Silas Wayfarer, but he has no reason to hide under a cloak, as he appears whenever he wants to. Thervan says that Silas was at the coronation, and that they had a wonderful conversation about wine and other fineries.
In the end, Thervan hurries them out of the office, as he has been away from the research for too long, and the party has to get moving. They are led outside, and begin making their way towards the center of the city, in order to pick up some supplies.
Bribes
Before going to the barracks near the wall, Kal takes the party to Emma’s Sugary Emporium, picking up a very large crate of the finest doughnuts that can be bought. Penny takes one for herself, as does Thistlethorn who is very curious about these pretty looking circles of dough. After taking a bite, she spits it out immediately, finding it much too sugary. Penny accepts the doughnut herself, eating them both.
When they get to the wall, they are met with a large group of guards who are more than happy to take a doughnut when offered. A woman steps forward, introduces herself as Lyra, thanking the party for their generosity. The party says they just wanted to give thanks for all their hard work in the past, considering all the hardships of the city. Lyra agrees that things have been tough, but they persevere. Penny, who has been using detect thoughts, discovers nothing out of the ordinary about the thoughts of the people around them.
Lyra offers to give the party a small tour of the barracks, even though there isn’t that much to see. The wall itself still bears scars from the attacks some months ago, but the work to restore it is going steady. Relic considers helping out, but decides against it, figuring that the people working on the wall are probably paid good money to do so. Inside they find that the sleeping quarters are on the first floor, the second floor contains the kitchen and dining room, with the top floor being reserved for the offices of the captain.
While they speak to her, they begin probing her about Glasstaff. She immediately gets uncomfortable with the topic, seemingly being on her toes when it gets brought up, but shows genuine relief that he is dead by the party’s hands. She says that she lost good friends the day he escaped, so him dying is a small relief to her. but the more insightful of the party senses that there is more she isn’t telling them.
Knowing that he is who they wish to speak to, they strategically convince Lyra that it is a good idea to bring him some doughnuts, allowing them to give their personal thanks to him as well. She goes down to fetch a paper bag with some doughnuts in them, returning to the party, before leading them up the stairs. She carefully knocks on the door, telling the captain that he has some citizens who wish to speak to him. He allows them to enter, and an elderly, gray-haired man sits behind a desk looking over reports. Lyra introduces the party to the captain, Darius, before returning to her duties.
The party extends their thanks to Darius as well for all his hard work, explaining who they are. They carefully bring up the topic of Glasstaff after he opens up by telling them about Bloodrock Prison, which is supposedly the most secure place in the kingdom. They say that it is a shame that Glasstaff managed to escape from his execution, and that they were fortunate enough to find him and finish the execution themselves. Penny remarks that if only the execution was held at another time, maybe he wouldn’t have been saved. Darius looks very uncomfortable with this suggestion, saying that it was his idea to hold it at that time, so as to not allow Glasstaff to see the sun when he perished. The party immediately senses that he is being deceptive, and he in turn abruptly announces that they have taken up too much of his time, that he is a very busy man, and has people to see and places to be. He scuttles them out of the room, but not before Penny drops down Riff on the floor as a spider, giving them eyes and ears within the office.
Penny takes the shoulder of Kal as she is being led out, turning her focus onto Riff, seeing and hearing through his senses. The captain stands there, holding his hand on the door in clear frustration, before walking over to his desk, opening up a drawer, and then speaking. “People are asking questions, we need to meet at the designated place. Are you free now?”
After a short while he arms himself with his sword, puts on a cloak, and prepares to leave. Penny relays this to the party just as Riff is able to climb aboard the captain's cloak. Relic immediately uses the Arachnostaff to cast invisibility on himself, Thistlethorn uses disguise self to make herself appear as an average woman of average height, while both Kal and Penny don their cloaks in order to hide in plain sight. Thistlethorn also casts Pass Without Trace, allowing them to follow without being discovered.
Shortly after, the captain merges from the barracks, and begins walking away from the wall. The party follows him at a distance, and he does not notice that he is being tailed. Eventually, he reaches the docks to the north, and walks into a backstreet. Thistlethorn wild shapes into a spider in order to get a closer look, while Kal, Penny and Relic all walk to a nearby rooftop to get a better view at the exchange.
They wait for about 20 minutes, before a figure eventually make their way through the streets, the hood hiding his face, but is unable to hide the fineries of his outfit. Clearly a noble, he walks to the back alley where Darius is waiting. When he gets close enough, they both pull back their hood, and the party recognizes the man as the patriarch of a noble household here in the city, Gavriel Darrowmere. Penny ventures back inside Riff, overhearing the conversation. Thistlethorn also makes her way down the alley, annoying some local spiders as she ventures through their territory.
Gavriel and Darius speak of the attention that Darius has been getting, calling the party the “Thax’Ning Heroes”. Gavriel seems concerned, as this can ruin their plan. They speak of how important it is that nobody realizes what is happening, otherwise she will kill her. The way he speaks it seems that his daughter, Eliara has been kidnapped by someone, presumably Malice, forcing him to do her bidding, among others, making sure Glasstaff’s execution is held at dusk, allowing the drow attackers no disadvantage when striking.
Gavriel tells Darius to lay low, and he will think about how to solve this, but says that he has no way to reach her, as she just appears when she feels like it, or wants him to do something. They embrace as old friends, Darius promising that he will not let anything happen to his daughter, and that he too will look for a solution. Gavriel departs, with Kal suggesting that Penny should move Riff to his cloak, so they can maybe find out more from him. After a few minutes, Darius also leaves, with Thistlethorn now making her way back out to the alley, but as she has angered the local spiders too much, they attack her, bringing her out of wild shape.
Tracing
The party meet up, discussing what they should do further. Kal decides to ask Udall if he knows more about it by doing a commune. She learns that Eliara is being kept within the city, to the south near the wall, and that they will find her if they use locate creature if they venture south from the Shrine of Elios, located in the center of the city. As they don’t have that spell prepared, they decide to head to Scry me a River, asking Vontara Vishara if she has the spell, which she thankfully have, giving them a discount considering all they have done for her assistant, Lone Candle, who happily greet the party when they arrive.
With the spell in hand, Relic uses his ability of recalling spells to prepare it. They walk south from the shrine, hoping to find the daughters location, and they don’t have to venture far before Relic gets a sense of her. They follow his lead, and are led to a pretty, but imposing mansion at the outskirts of the town, near the wall. On the plaque outside, they see the name “Anton Galvani” in big letters. They have heard the name before, a local art connoisseur who has been implicated, but never charged with being involved with the black market, and other shady business.
Relic gets a sense that she is below ground to the east of the mansion. They walk a bit away, seeing that there are many guards patrolling both the garden and the roof, where Thistlethorn takes a moment to try to scry on the daughter. Even though she only has heard her name, never met her, she manages to get through her defenses, seeing her in a room that at first seems like just a regular room fitting for a noble, but soon she sees that there are no windows, and the smell of sewage and mildew is overwhelming, confirming the location of being underground. Eliara sits on the bed, her clothes in tatters, bruised from her abuse, and her foot chained to the bed.
The door opens after Thistlethorn hears many locks being unlocked, and a man, Anton Galvani, enters, holding a tray with a plate of quite delicious looking lasagne and garlic bread, and a cup of wine. He places it on the table next to the bed, and makes his way out the door again. Before he closes it, the girl asks him how much longer she has to stay, and he only replies “until my superior finds it fitting. He then closes the door, and locks it up once more. Eliara sits on the bed, takes a handful of the food, and reluctantly eats, before the vision ends.
Hearing about Eliaras conditions, she asks Udall what is the easiest way to get to her. She gets a reply. “At night, through the sewers”. The party agrees that time is of the essence, and decides to break in this very evening, giving them time enough to prepare and rest up before venturing below to rescue her. Kal and Penny remain in the city to prepare, Kal picking up a few more tattoos, one of disguise self and a few more feather fall tattoos. Penny tries to think of what they could use, deciding to buy some rope and another set of thieves tools, in case the first one breaks, as Thistlethorn said there were many locks to get through.
Thistlethorn sits down with Berry in the gardens, under her tent, and takes out the agate, explaining to Berry that she will open his eyes, awakening him. Over the next eight hours, they sit and go through with the spell, Thistlethorn in deep concentration, while Berry sits in front of her, looking at the pretty lights the agate gives, while eating… berries!