Jade Herrings, Elven boots, Hidden Ruins, Concealed Silver

We arrived on the other side of the strange door to find ourselves in a small ante chamber, leading into a much larger chamber where we could already make out the silhouettes of a number of humanoids along with a rather large magical portal at the far end.
 
Entering the room proper revealed that we had discovered the five man mercenary band that had been chasing Conrad’s colleagues. They looked to be well equipped, seasoned adventurers, not unlike ourselves. Also in the room were four large monolithic crystals glowing and humming with magical energy.

Someone in the mercenary group, I believe it was the dwarf, recognized us and identified us as The Scalebreakers, noting to his cohorts that we had a rather large bounty on our heads courtesy of the Cult of the Dragon. They soon would discover the truth of things.
 
As the battle commenced we sprung into action. Nuri took the first shot, trying to confuse and addle them. Most of them seemed to shrug off the effects of the spell, but I could tell they all suffered a little from it. Titus then rushed by me, allowing me to grab hold of his waist as we raced up the stairs leading to the portal – and the mage who stood in front of it. Unfortunately she dodged each of Titus’ rapid strikes. I called forth the shroud of Qotl spirits to aid me and I began slicing away at the mage. My first hit was a truly mighty blow and I felt a grim satisfaction as I noted the mage begin to crumple under the weight of this new crystal blade I wielded. My second blow connected, but not nearly as strongly, and though grievously injured, the mage was not yet out of the fight. Behind me Virgil unleashed a deadly cloud of poison, obscuring things and causing our opponents to scatter some.
 
Our foes then struck back with a vengeance. By the time Conrad had even started to move forward he had been knocked unconscious, the mage enveloped herself in a force cage, knocking Titus and I back into the poison cloud. The dwarf began work on healing his cohorts, calling upon some deity for aid. I knew instantly the dwarf must die soon if we were to prevail. Not even bothering to stand fully I transported myself over to my new target and began swinging, Titus already having landed some blows to the dwarf. In the distance I heard cries of anguish that sounded reptilian in nature, followed by rapid chanting from Virgil, a brief silence and then cries of anger and rage from our foes – notably there were no more reptilian tinged cries present in that moment.
 
From out of nowhere I felt the sting of a dagger and then its insidious poison spreading rapidly through my body – I couldn’t move!! As I stood there paralyzed and unable to aid my companions I watched as the Tabaxi began walking off calmly, dropping his gear as he went. Titus slapped me silly, somehow purging the effects of the poison on my body, as he rushed off to engage the mage once again now that she had dropped her force cage. Before he arrived there though the mage and the archer began attacking the crystals! As they cracked or shattered the shaking of the cavern became more violent. Arcs of energy began shooting out of from the crystals.
 
Looking around I confirmed the dragonborn warrior was no where to be seen, the Tabaxi wandering off aimlessly, and with the enemy the mage looking rather rough again I teleported myself across the dais to her position and knocked her out. Conrad and Nuri seemed to be handling the strange shrouded looking fellow with the bow, and then it was quiet, save for the rumbling in the building and the occasional arc from the last remaining crystals.
We knew time would be short. We quickly scoured the room, scooping the mercenary’s pile of loot into our sacks, stripping them of their gear, and then we piled through the magical portal.
 
Here we found ourselves in a strange void. Light glimmering from Ardor and some of our weapons reflected off what seemed to be an intangible floor, and a short distance away was an obelisk, surrounded by Conrad’s colleagues. After what was entirely too much talking from one of them, we all rushed back through the portal we had just come through, being that it appeared to be the only way to go, we then grabbed the unconscious bodies of the mercenaries we’d bested, and we made all haste out of the cavern.
 
Upon returning to Wyverns’ Watch we were pleased to be greeted with news from Gimlet, and we were able to have a fairly civil conversation with the mercenaries we’d bested and then saved from certain death in the cavern. It turned out they hired by the Jade company as an independent group and had no real interest in the plans of the Jade Company, much less the Cult of the Dragon. We let them go free.
 
Gimlet came to with word that his contacts had managed to uncover a rumor about a flying giant’s castle that had crash landed far to south, and that while most translations from the debris indicated otherwise, one translator believed it could, in fact, be from the Kuratas family. Perhaps this is why no one had ever found it, it was no where near where most rumors held it to be.
 
That night I called upon Qotl and bluntly asked if this was the ruined castle I sought: “yes.” I began trying to ask additional questions that could help us narrow down the search area, but after the second question Nuri began pestering me with questions of her own, prattling on about this that and the other, and Qotl vanished back to the plane from whence he came. Well, I had a fairly good idea of where to go. The Giant Run Mountains, on the north edge of those mountains, is where I would need to search. Based on maps I reviewed it seemed that our last chance to stay at an inn and gather information and supplies would be in the trade city of Eversult.
 
I was also pleasantly surprised to see that the craftsmen and craftswomen in my workshop had completed construction of the boots I commissioned that resembled those worn by Rhumor. I too should now be able to move about in complete silence. Before leaving I requested they begin work on some specialized eyewear, designed to give me vision to rival that of the great eagles.
 
After spending just a bit of time in rest and recouperation we headed back to Waterdeep. Conrad, was of course, in his element. He and the others from the University spoke at great length of over findings, happenings, and what might come next. There truly is a great deal to tell here, but I feel as though this tale would be best told by Conrad, rather than one of his companions. We soon received word from Leosin that one of the Council members wished to meet with us privately.
 
This private meeting turned out to be a surprise indeed. The rather mysterious lady who had summoned us turned out to be a silver dragon! She asked us to join her in presenting our cause to the Metallic dragons who, for reasons I cannot even begin to fathom, still were undecided on whether to join the cause against their chromatic foes. Oddly, we were not led to portal, teleportation circle, or anything of the like. Rather, she bade us climb on her back, and away we flew!