The Birth Of The Green Scales

The following morning was started off with a hearty breakfast, shared by all of us, Irakin and the children. Nysqwen was the only one missing, her snores were almost audible in the dining room. Spirits were high as we had slept particularly well, for the first time in a while not having to have watches or the constant threat of an undesired encounter. After the meal, Grum muttered something in his beard and disappeared the quickest while the rest of my friends one by one set out to go about their business for the day. I stayed behind the longest, still looking out the porch window over the river. I allowed my mind to wander for a bit, my fingers as if drawn to it fiddling around on Riddlepike’s Lyra and humming a new melody that was taking shape in the subconscious part of my mind. It took me a while to realise that Nysqwen had come down and taken a seat at the table and was listening to the composition in the making. I brought the piece to a conclusion after a few more bars, returning her smile and then asking what she would be up to for the day. In her company, devoid of that of all others, I let all illusions fade away to honour the trust that I had found in her from our conversation at a fireplace in a certain ruin. She responded that she wanted to have a chat with master Zashier and learn more about the Underdark and what might be lurking for us there. Ultimately, with a sly grin she mentioned she wanted to visit Amber again. As my first stop for the day would be with the Harpers, we left for the Protector’s Enclave together.
 
Arriving at the Winged Wyvern we briefly paused to gaze upon the glittering sun light on the river and followed its course towards the clear sea. For a short moment, Nysqwen’s face seemed to be overshadowed by a longing and almost grief for something long lost when she faced the gentle waves that thudded against hulls of tied-up ships. But it was gone as quickly as it had come. I promised her that the sea was there, waiting for her return with the same longing and it would still be there once we emerged again from the bowels of the world. And when we did, we shall set sail together and see where the winds will take us. Furthermore, if she was off to see Amber, she should maybe bring her some of the copper we had come across in the mine as a greeting gift. Nysqwen hugged me impulsively before we parted ways and then set off with a new skipping in her stride towards the Lords’ Alliance. A brief moment of hesitation later, I continued on towards the Harpers.
Again, no guard seemed to be looking over the entry way. I stepped through the familiar large double doors and came into a room with no further doors. Across from me, the same man we had encountered before sat in a comfortable looking armchair at a desk, reading an old-looking book. He looked up and without asking for my cause posed me with a riddle. Cursing internally for not having brought Archie along with me, I did not lose my smile and took a seat on the floor on my side of the table and began contemplating his phrases. I sat there for longer than I would care to admit before I realised that the form of the puzzle was that of a charade, determining the number of words and respective syllables that the answer was comprised of. Finally, I gave my answer. The man looked up from his readings, a smile crept across his lips and then wordlessly returned to his study. Looking around the room, I found that behind me a second door had appeared in the wall, through which I entered into a new chamber.
A comfortably looking room ended in two large corner windows that revealed that I somehow had entered the second floor of the building. A small fire was crackling in a fireplace to my right and on the windowsill slept a badger of all things. A massive wooden desk occupied most of the chamber, covered in papers, scrolls and books, from behind which Nissa greeted me warmly. I explained to her what had occurred over the last week and a bit and explained why I had come alone. She was willing to exchange the two scrolls that I had brought with me from the dragon’s treasure for one that I would be able to use. To my delight, I found one that would allow me to communicate with any being in any language for a limited amount of time and figured that this might come in handy in any diplomacies that we might be faced with going forward. Then Nissa went on to explain to me why she had summoned Archie and myself before the whole Lystramon affair. She told me about their scouts having reported shady dealings of Zentharim agents in the harbour, where they had hired a ship and crew to salvage a number of magical artifacts from an archipelago south of Neverwinter. These artifacts, to her knowledge, possessed strong elemental powers and might wreak havoc in the hands of the dodgy faction. She reassured me that Halia Thornton likely was not even aware of what was going on there and hence not involved but just in case, sister Garaele was having an eye on her. Our task would involve masking as crew members, getting to the archipelago and then beat the Zentharim to the artifacts, take them into our custody and bring them back to the Harpers. The ship was scheduled to set out two days from then, but it was unknown how long the entire operation might take. Unfortunately, I had to admit to Nissa that my friends and I had agreed to run a contract for Lord Neverember soon, likely rendering it impossible to be there for the ship’s departure. She understood that I did not want to break my word towards the Lord Protector and said, she then would offer the job to someone else of the faction. We should report back upon our return though, there might be more to do for us after that point.
Eventually, I bade her goodbye and headed back to the chamber of the old man with the intention to browse through the library for some information on the Underdark. He challenged me to a further riddle. This one brought a small smile on my face as it was not the first time, I had heard that particular phrase. Although it was a long while since I last had thought about Rugnhar, he always had been fond of these types of puzzles. Upon telling the man my answer, he lost interest in me and went back to his readings. I chose to try the door I just closed and could not suppress a small sigh of relief when I indeed entered the library.
 
A few hours later, I was convinced that I had filled my head with all the information it could take in one setting and left the faction building. A warm afternoon’s sun greeted my and was a welcome change to the darker surroundings of the house, especially the library. I strolled down the all-so familiar streets, taking in the smells I had grown so accustomed to and just enjoyed the feeling of being home as I made my way to a small workshop of the most ingenious human I knew.
I entered the shop, instantly greeted by a host of metal contraptions, whirring noises and alchemical smells. Despite the bright summer day, all windows were covered up and hidden behind shelves of wares, raw materials and tools and only the occasional candle was lighting up selected sections of the room. A clanking sound followed by muttered curses announced Archie’s arrival from a second room. Both of us must have been grinning like idiots, delighted to finally see each other again! Excitedly, he showed me Voithos and Ori, both of which he had upgraded and had been helping him with other projects in the shop over the past days. In turn, I recounted our adventures since last we parted ways and invited him to join us for at least as long as we would be in the city. So gladly, he joined me on my way back to Anataea.
 
When we arrived there, Kyla, Teynos and Nysqwen and Amber had already returned. While Kyla and Teynos were sitting in the kitchen, talking about some strong smells they had noticed coming from one of the richer areas of the cities (apparently, they had found the tanners, I am still surprised every time by people not having grown up in a city being phased by what they found in Neverwinter), the other two had taken over the kitchen from where lovely smells of fish and spices emerged. Apparently, they had gone to shop for ingredients from most of the harbours, Nysqwen previously had set foot on and now were preparing a feast for the entire house. Everyone was delighted when they saw Archie and happily continued detailing our journeys to him. Kyla explained that she mainly had spent the day selling off what we had harvested from the dragon. Teynos now insisted to be called ambassador, which none of us adopted, but apparently mainly had been speaking with Mantka Riiba and the Many-Arrows tribe. He declared it was his proclaimed goal now to change the view of the world on orcs and establish them as being at least in part valuable members of society. Additionally, he had received a monetary reward from the orc chieftain who was very pleased with the return of the orogs from the cave we cleansed of the influence of Yurtrus. She had promised further help for future challenges we might face and had told him about a group of orcs that at some point had set out to slay a dragon. Apparently, none of them ever returned, word being that they had been driven to insanity and deserted.
When he had finished his report, Nysqwen and Amber called for our help to set the table as their dinner was ready to be served. And it was indeed amazing! A plethora of fish and other sea food came seared, fried, cooked and in cases raw but marinated, accompanied by potato and salad sides, freshly baked bread, and amazing wine. Soon, the smells filled the entire house and drew in the kids and Irakin as well, joining us for this monstrous feast. During the dinner, Nysqwen said she had learned from the Lord’s Alliance that Lord Neverember would summon us in a few days to give us more details about our quest. Together with Kyla and myself, we then began pooling our gained knowledge about the Underdark once the children had run off to bed and we started bringing out the harsher alcohol. We had learned quite a bit, described from different angles about the inhabitants and civilisations that populated the underground, along with its known flora and fauna. Our conversation however was cut short by a sudden knocking on the door.
When I opened it, a from the starting rain rather wet Grum was standing in the door frame, sullen as I had not seen him in a long time. I bade him enter and quickly poured him a strong beer as he dropped on a stool and dove into some of the scraps of our meal. Upon being questioned by our friends he muttered something incoherent at first about wandering through dirt and rock, something about an apple and getting lost in caves. It took us a while to make some sense of his tale. He had followed a call from the faction that Reidoth had invited him into a forest north of the city. When he arrived, he was faced by a riddle with an apple upon the completion of which he had been teleported onto the elemental plane of earth on whose barren landscape he was searching for a remedy for Quercus. However, after some hardship he had to return empty handed. No one in “the Enclave” seemed to know anything specific about a sure-fire way to deal with whatever had befallen his friend but they gave him a few possible options, one of which apparently had been this other plane and plenty more to explore.
The rest of the evening saw a lot of alcohol for everyone, especially Teynos was completely hammered by the end of it. At some point I snuck off to prepare a more isolated room for Amber and Nysqwen for the night but returned soon after. Eventually, only Grum and I stayed behind, while all others had hit off to bed. We opened a good bottle of whiskey that I had… found with one of the vendors in the Protector’s Enclave. Grum then began to explain in a little more detail where his search might lead him, revealing that one of these destinations turned out to be the nine hells themselves. Shocked by this revelation I turned quiet for a short while. When I spoke up again, as honest as was possible through the haze of alcohol obfuscating most thoughts, I nonetheless promised my old friend that no matter the destination, I would be at his side to help him on his search. And I am inclined to believe that amongst our small group, I was not alone in that notion.
 
Early in the next morning, when we were still at breakfast (Amber and Nysqwen still had not left their new chamber), a messenger arrived in a formal uniform. I had to suppress a laugh when Irakin suddenly seemed to vanish at the sight of the colours of Lord Neverember, but the notion was quickly suppressed by my own uneasiness around people of the law. However, the messenger had only come to inform us that we were expected at a council meeting two days later, where the lord would give us further instructions.
A while later, when the last of us had finally had their breakfast, we headed out to go over some shopping. Our first stop was with Yonove Ironbell. When she saw us, a large smile dug deep laughter lines all across her face as she excitedly greeted us. She seemed slightly disappointed that Archie, our mighty warrior as she referred to him, was not with us at the time but soon was occupied with Teynos who looked like a kid that had been promised all the sweets in a bakery when he looked around her shop. Kyla just briefly got her attention when she asked for a magically enhanced shield, before the woman turned to the half-orc again with a large helmet that was covered in gruesome looking spikes. As Teynos tried it on, his eyes lit up with a burning red, quite an intimidating look considering his burly features. According to Yonove, this however also was the only magical property the helmet possessed. Chuckling slightly at the notion, I turned to the rest of the shop, not paying the situation any further mind. Kyla indeed found a shield that she seemed very pleased with, while Nysqwen acquired a pair of goggles that apparently would help with her relative blindness in dark surroundings. Now picture this, a seven-feet-tall bronze-scaled lizard woman, broad shoulders, legs like tree trunks. Her torso decorated by a large breastplate and wearing a massive glaive on her back most of the time. Sharp teeth are glittering in her snout in the sunlight, and you get the sense that this is a person that can rip you apart with her bare hands if she set her mind to it. Now that you see this image in front of your inner eye, try to add a pair of black, thick-rimmed goggles to the picture that seem like they are at least two sizes to small. I still would definitely not want to cross that woman, but you better be careful not to be caught laughing at least slightly at such a sight! Still, it was of course an important feat that she would be able to see clearly in the dark, especially given our next destination. On top of that, Nysqwen also purchased a cloak that would muffle most of the usual clanking of her armour, making her at least slightly less obvious in most situations. To crown all this, Teynos apparently had found so much joy in that helmet that Yonove had presented him with that he had not only agreed to buy it, but also almost doubled the price that she initially had asked for – willingly! You just had to appreciate the merchant’s sense for business, who was I to judge someone who would use an open opportunity to their advantage. So, after a bit of haggling, we bought that helmet as well. Now, accompanied by a dragonborn that in the evening strapped on black goggles and a half-orc that wore nothing but a loin cloth and a spiked helmet, we truly must have been the most unusual sight that even Neverwinter had seen in a while.
Next, we ventured on to Merrick Proudfoot’s elixir store. Once again, upon entering a small explosion seemed to occur behind the counter and green sparks sprayed through the small room. Huffing and puffing, the halfling came round, explaining he had been working on something that Kyla apparently had left with him the day before. Still, I am getting a little suspicious. These explosions seem so conveniently timed with the opening of the door each time… But maybe, he is just a rather jumpy fella. After browsing through his wares, we predominantly purchased a number of healing potions of different strengths and mentioned we might stop by at another time, once we had figured out if we needed anything more specific for our next adventure.
 
The rest of the day and the majority of the next we spent on our individual little projects, which for most of us meant reading up more on the Underdark. We learned about occasional trading hubs that would connect different underground civilisations and sometimes even were visited by top world traders that brought new wares onto these markets. Other than that, most of their dealings seemed quite removed from any occurrences on the surface.
This evening, we reconvened in the Singing Anvil, the tavern that most of us first had met each other. Kyla this time came a bit later and was burdened by a heavy pack that she set down with a loud thud and some clanking. She pulled back the strings and took out the armour pieces she had asked of us when we first returned to Neverwinter. Each of them was now decorated by a single, large and shining green dragon scale that had been masterfully inlaid and beautifully decorated. Each scale was bearing six individual carvings, all interwoven by an intricate knot-pattern. There was a still mask, framed by raven wings for Kyla, a gnarly, yet beautiful looking staff with wound vines for Grum, a clenched fist for Teynos, an angular spider for Archie, a large, broad-bladed glaive for Nysqwen and an elegant lute for yours truly. The order of the symbols was constant on each item but a different one, dependent on the wearer was sitting at the top of the scale. This extraordinary gift elicited cries of joy between all of us, even in Grum’s eyes I though I caught a slight wet glimmer. We all thanked Kyla extensively for this unifying symbol of our achievements. This was the hour the Green Scales came to their name, birthed long before, forged through many trials and finally it felt like we all had found an intrinsic link that had found expression in these armour pieces. After paying for the next round, I got up, motivated by the overall joy and began claiming the stage. I warmed up the crowd with a few well-known buoyant songs, spreading our mood throughout the rest of the tavern. The initially surprised-looking innkeeper soon waved to urge me to continue the songs as the orders for ale increased. When most of the patrons had risen to their feet and started dancing, I announced it was time to tell them about a new hero that had risen for the city and began plucking the first few chords of the song Nysqwen had heard the beginnings of the day before. Initial hesitation upon the confrontation with something new quickly faded from the audience as they quickly picked up the new melody and joined in for the chorus. A few of the other musicians that were present joined in and the final vocals were almost sung by everyone in the pub in unison. Incoming cheers rewarded me for y gamble, and I waved a hand in the so often trained manner at Teynos who seemed very pleased with himself and the song about him.
I don’t know what it was. The rousing of emotions? The alcohol? The heat? Or something far more primal? A loud roar filled the tavern. Instinctively I raised my hand protectively to cover my head as a sound last hear from a fuming Venomfang echoed through the room. All laughter, in fact all noises fell silent. Only Teynos seemed completely oblivious to it all, still cheering and grinning broadly. Somehow, a strangely grand, almost commanding presence originated from him, and I felt the strange urge to repeat the just performed song. Once again, he seemed completely unaware that he had spoken in draconic and scared everyone in the audience straight. Nysqwen was the first to react as she in common cheered everyone on again to give the song a second go to manifest the lyrics properly. But I clearly heard the hidden tremor in her voice, although she had understood what Teynos had said, she still was quite shocked by the overall manifestation. I followed her call and this inner urge and soon the crowd was cheering again, probably attributing the circumstance to the drunkenness of our friend. Thank the gods that it had been draconic and not infernal that had been imbued into Teynos, else quite literally hell might have broken loose then and there.
 
The rest of the evening went without further incidents and quickly all of us were joyful and talkative again. Nysqwen tried to explain to Teynos what had transpired but he seemed to deep in his cups to really understand what she was saying. We are back at Anataea’s now, although I am yet to see my dear friend again. For tomorrow, I definitely am intrigued what the Lord Protector of Neverwinter would have to tell the Green Scales before their descent into the Underdark. One thing though is for certain, this will not be the last song that shall be sung on behest of their accomplishments!