Episode 47: Gauntlgrym

General Summary

Quest	fin	What's up with that?
Find the Pathfinder		Head in a Jar
Attend dinner in Ignix on Greenbloom the 25th		Karrundax
Gather the Divine Raiments	5 of 9	Veritas Immortalis
Empower the Raiments	1 of 9	Draconic Celebration

Clocks

Event	Segments
Days until the Emperor's Banquet	18
Valan's card expertise (weeks)	1 of 100
Valan's smithing proficiency (days)	66 of 70
Pharos' Goblin lessons (days)	17 of 63
Pharos' Armor (weeks)	0 of 2
Charles' Cloak	TBD

Recap

Greenbloom 6 to Greenbloom 7, 3033: Year of Darkness

The Flamebringers enjoyed their stay in Charonvein. Before dinner, they did a bit of shopping, picking up items from Nymea at the armory, including an armor of invulnerability. Valan and Aisha had a serious conversation in the hot springs where Aisha revealed that she would be leaving soon because her younger self might be catching up with them soon. Valan asked for more details, but, as she often does when questioned about what is coming, Aisha just shook her head and softly whispered, "Spoilers." Though she did tell Valan to be extra nice to her younger self; in her 33 years seniority over her younger self, she has grown to forgive and hold different opinions than that of her junior self. Her younger half, however, will be less forgiving. She also waved around what appeared to be some sort of wedding or engagement ring to Valan in emphasis.

The sound of Charles shooting Pharos while he wore the armor of invulnerability to test it out shattered the serenity of the moment. The group later found Callisto's journal and broke into it, deciding it a good idea to read his diary. Just a little bit.

The Flamebringers enjoyed a meal with their friend Iravek, catching up on how he has been and filling him in a little about what they have been up to. However, when the topic turned to asking after his Raiment, he became cold. He has no interest in killing the gods, even less on letting them borrow his weapon. He has said that if they get him indisputable evidence that killing the gods is a good thing, he might travel with them, though he said that he would have to consult Karrundax first, as the weapon, while wielded by Iravek, belongs to the greatwyrm. Asking how he got it, he said it was given to one of the goliath traders by halflings near the coast in 2233, and it's been around since then. The group bout some magic items from Iravek to release the tension.

The draconic celebration was fun. It seemed to draw a strangely large number of people, almost double the population of the town, though no one had seen anyone coming up the roads into town, or really many roads into town for that matter. The celebration itself saw an aspect of Karrundax fly forth from the hot spring, evaporating all the water in the process, seize the cart of gold provided by the town, consume it, and dive back into the mountain, causing the evaporated water from the spring to rapidly cool, falling in refreshing rain upon the city. The goliaths laughed and danced through the droplets, enjoying mead and swapping stories since the last celebration.

In the morning, the group noticed that they didn't recognize any of the goliaths that were around; the neighbors of the night before had seemingly been replaced by the newcomers. But Iravek didn't seem to mind, and said he had a secret to share with the Flamebringers. A secret that if it got out, he would kill them himself. He took them to the doorway into the mountain, passing through the massive stone doors and onto a platform, which sank, grating into the belly of the mountain.

Soon, a window opened in the shaft, looking out over a massive city unlike anything the group expected descending into the mountains. What appeared to be a monorail system tracked across tall buildings with rounded, radiant tops. Everything seemed to shine with an inner light, illuminating the entire city in a hauntingly beautiful aura of blue white light. Goliaths, gnomes, Ironborn, and dwarves all walked through the streets below.

"Welcome," said Iravek. "To Gauntlgrym."

Greenbloom 2, 3031,

Something is stirring on the wind, I can feel it in the Call. Andali shudders, as if bracing for something. And I can feel something inside of me stretching, reaching for something just beyond its grasp. The Dark knows something is coming.

My attachment drew the lot for escorting the Vagabond to the Accords in Helorix this year, we're packing up come morning. That isn't what worries me; the journey is trivial, my duties in attendance even more so. Why the Vanguard still goes to hear old has beens jocky over wounds left unsettled by the War after all these years of Peace is beyond me.

What worries me is that the thing inside of me is reaching for the Aurelian capital.
— From the journal of Callisto