Scales in the Dark

General Summary

The group, saddened by Barradock's untimely death, spends the night in the Warmbrew Inn with Mikeah. Mikeah seems shaken after a conversation in private with Craig, and Arviel spends her time learning spells from the wizard's spellbook. Norin simply vanishes that night. They spend the night in relative comfort. The next morning, a breakfast prepared by Mikeah ends with a decision to continue northwards, towards the ruins of Issenkald. Norin is gone, but Mikeah tells them Norin told them not to follow him and to continue northwards. Arviel, Pimwrick and Craig leave the inn and head out, noticing only now the ruined remains of a village surrounding what seemed before like a lonely inn. After a few hours of walking up a road that appears not to have been used recently, they spot a figure trying to hide at the side of the road. Calling out for them to step out and face them, a tall man in dark clothing steps out and asks them what they are doing on this road. Soon after, a smaller black-furred Tabaxi steps out next to him, longbow ready in her hands. A somewhat tense conversation ends up with Arviel seeing a dagger that she recognizes - she agrees for everyone to help the pair out with retrieving their stolen items. The tall black Dragonborn names himself Tarek, while the Tabaxi's name is Snap. Using Arviel's knowledge of Thieves Can't, they get through a well-hidden doorway. Walking down a winding path, they get to a small encampment where they fight a whole group of thieves. Snap fires an enchanted arrow, instantly killing one of them to her own horror. Arviel manages to talk a few of them into surrendering, and through talking they find out their leader left for the nearby town of Kegness to sell the stolen goods. They head out to follow them, sparing the lives of the remaining bandits. In Kegness, things seem well. The villagers seem prosperous amongst the pine trees, and they talk to a half-elf selling items in a caravan, where they retrieve Tarek and Snaps backpacks. They continue onwards to the Odds and Ends, a small store which sells quite a lot of stuff. They each buy various sets of equipment, and Tarek spots his potion there. Annoyance is obvious as the store owner, a human woman called Tezihu, refuses to give them any kind of discount on their own items, and the drow who sold it is long gone. They head over to the Copper Spoon, to relax with something to drink. As they are in there, the mayor Kegness, an energetic dwarf called Glorinduc Coalbender, talks to them and praises their apparent abilities. He explains they have a small issue - wolves seem to have been performing very organized attacks, and he wants the party to go to the cave they seem to have been coming from and deal with the issue. The group agrees to go, but the mayor adds that it's important for the villagers that the party is blessed by Mahira, the lady of the Hearth. As they are talking, a bruised and bloodied Norin walks in, who spent the last 24 hours running madly after the storm. The group heads to the church with mayor Coalbender, where they meet the strange Sulrash. In the church, a strange vision of Tiamat overcomes Tarek, but he is unsure of what to do. After spending a night in the comfortable inn called the Elf in the North, they head out to the cave, supposedly at the base of an anvil. They see now these enormous anvil-like structures, gloomy fires burning atop them. Arriving at the entrance of the cave, Snap sees a bootprint that can only be the same as the one they saw where their stuff was stolen. A plan to set up a trap is quickly abandoned as none seem to be leaving the cave - the group heads in. Half an hour passes in the confusing pathways of the cave before Tarek realizes something strange is going on. The passageways seem to shift and change around them, purposefully misleading them. The rest of the party doesn't seem to notice, and Tarek decides just to continue onwards. They narrowly dodge a trap, and then continue down a hallway that sends them sliding down into a larger chamber, where they hear a cry for help. A drow is trapped under rubble, and an enormous winged wyvern rears its head in anger. The fight is long and hard, Norin taking a disastrous hit in his leg which sent poison coursing through him, but eventually the beast is brough down. The dark elf, who Arviel converses with in Thieves Can't, explains that he was sent here by mayor Coalbender as well, sent to retrieve a treasure of some kind. They never expected a fight like this. Realizing the mayor had lied to them, and this was most likely some kind of trap, the party readies themselves to confront the town leaders and find out how far this conspiracy reaches...