17th of Wealsun, year 595
level 13
As the party gathered on their 5th day back in town in the main room of
The Last Breath, they realize this is the first time they have all been together since they got back into town. Although, Tobias is a little late as he comes downstairs proud and strutting in a newly made tabard with a sincere but not entirely well-crafted symbol of Bahamut embroidered upon it. As
Divone lays a platter of breakfast food before them, they discuss their dreams each had the night before and discuss their next goals.
Varius comes in leading a somnambulant
Valenthe, leads her to a chair and sits, greeting the party. He tells them he has worked out the spell necessary to possibly give Valenthe more long-term mental solace that could possibly bring back some of her core personality, if provided the appropriate components. (And not with too much delay, as he's afraid his temporary measure may not work for much longer and the resulting mental break could be bad.) He and the
Magepriest Myriani, an elder companion of the Arcanist Guild, will need:
- a jeweled object for her to wear at all times which will be the focus of the spell
- a flawless pearl
- and an ornately engraved bar of pure silver (of at least 500sp in value)
- and 2 bottles of especially fine wine (which, as he confessed to, is not actually a spell component but for payment to him and Myriani for services rendered
The party agrees to do so post haste as they are aware of a silversmith in town. Also, while discussing getting other items appraised, they agree it might be a good idea for Wally to write up bill to post on the
Common House (a sort of civil affairs building for the town) advertising some items for sale by the "heroes."
Varius also talks with the party about an offer for Irina and Wally to join the
Arcanist Guild (and Malex and Toby as associate members). He assures them it would be a great advancement to their resources and abilities as well as a great way for them to use their experience and skills to help the Westlands. He assures them that they would receive stipend for missions afield, and gain other benefits. When asked if they could skip whatever dues-paying early stages due to their already advanced experience and abilities, Varius assures them that he will speak with the other
Elder Council on their behalf about that, and will be happy to arrange a meeting to discuss details with them. (As it is, as soon as he has completed the spell for Valenthe, he and the other Guild members will be departing for
Settleton to attempt to help negotiate an end to the military occupation by the Dragonborn forces.)
Their agreeing to hand over the
Cult High Wizard's spellbook to a very impressed (and somewhat concerned) Varius went a long way to convincing him to speak in their favor. (And also for him to part with
5pp he had on his person.)
Presently the door opens again, and
Mayor Felix Timberson and
Adan MacQuelen (the owner of the
Ready Shield Outfitters and serves as town seneschal) come into the tavern. After some bickering banter and mockery between the Mayor and
Divone, the Mayor asks to speak to "Lord Malex" about a proposition: The Mayor clarifies his realization that the Guard is a soverign entity, older than even Portville, and there is no official connection between the two. He expresses concern about recent event regarding Captain Shava's judgment as they have come to light. And expresses his appreciation to Malex for his heroic actions. All that to say, "If you, Lord Malex, were to find yourself in a position to become the Captain of the Guard, I can assure you, you will have the full and enthusiastic backing and support of this town. And I'm sure some benefits of the position might come your way." Malex assures them that while changes with the Guard may be forthcoming, taking over as its leader is not on his list of goals. The Mayor begs him to think on it and takes his leave.
As the party set out to take care of their mercantile needs,
Elma and
Oddo, two of the "urchins" Toby has helped and spent time with mentoring in the past, run up to him excitedly requesting he play "explorers" with them. Trying to persuade him to come with and look for treasure and act out his adventures. He declines, and to help assuage their crushed spirits, promises to spend time with them that night, buy them a meal (and at their urging and Irina's encouragement, possibly a drink of ale!) They run off excited at the prospect.
At
silversmith Zikpem's shop (gnome cousin of
Glowkindle who runs the
Wizard’s Tower tavern), he happily welcome the town's heroes earlier than he's used to doing business, and over the course of the morning, they work out a deal where they are able to trade in all of their miscellaneous jewelry and many various gems and crystals, in exchange for both the
ornate silver bar and
pair of silver girl's hair barrettes (to be ready the following morning) as well as
a flawless diamond of 1000gp value. He also asks a personal favor if the good bard Walrick would mind performing at his cousin's tavern now and again, to which Wally agrees.
That business complete, the party moves on as a group to the
Guard Lodge, having gotten word that
Captain Shava should now be back from
Crescent. As they come up the trail to the lodge, they encounter
Guardsmen Lorentz and Ella (having been last seen at
Thenloduhr and
the leprechaun encounter, respectively). Seeing them, Ella stops, and after a brief word with Lorentz, takes leave of the main trail to head off in another direction, leaving a rather awkward half-orc to shout back and forth with the party. He expresses his regrets at the unfortunate business (making quite clear he tried to talk Ella out of her course of action and then had nothing to do with it). Irina and Malex don't give him much forgiveness for his half-hearted actions and give cold glances as they pass.
When they reach the Lodge, they see a mule being untethered from a cart, and two Guardsmen unloading a canvas-wrapped body from the back. When the party is informed it's the body of
Erilanne, killed by them, in Crescent, brought back to proper rites, the party tries to correct the misinformation, that it was not they that killed her. The Guardsmen are skeptical, but are left to continue their work.
They enter the Lodge and find Captain Shava in the common sitting room having just relaxed, with one of the
sergeant at arms, half-orc Lubash, coming to attention at their entrance. Shava seems unperturbed and with tired resignation says, "Well, let's get this over with." The encounter begins with an argument of facts, getting down to who killed Erilanne, with a reveal that it was
Edefror who was responsible. And not only that, but it was from Edie's arm that the tattoo "message" was excised from. Along with assertions by Wally that the scabbard that Edie gifted Shava was in fact the focus of a mind controlling spell, Captain Shava begins to wrestle with cognitive dissonance before she can get her bearing in the conversation. The party uses this opportunity to also present her with the tome of record from the Guard's own collection, pre-dating currently known civilization in the Westlands, that explains the original intent of the Guard. A tome the cult's High Wizard had on his person, whose description match with
Scribe Anselem.
Shava explains that
Anselem had been a devoted Guard scribe for years, and then started coming to Shava trying to convince her of what he'd found, the Guard's original mandate, and "sealed gates" and gods and killing all tiefling . . . Shava admits that when she first heard this she chided him for trying to spread foolish ideas, but when he disappeared, his behavior concerned her enough that she had even gone to Irina's father, Malek, to warn him of a possible threat. (This was all shortly before Malex joined the Guard.)
Then, strangely, just a couple months before the tiefling sacrifice was found in the boat,
veteran Guardsman Edefror started coming to her with the same stories that Anselem had, trying to get her to make the Guard round up or kill all tiefling in the Westlands. Again, Shava refused, and Edie disappeared as well. Until she arrived suddenly about a week or so before Hasturton was fire-bombed, gave Shava the gift of the scabbard, collected new volunteer
Erilanne to take care of "some Guard business in Crescent."
With all this new information and pieces clicking together, Shava seems sincere in her admission that her Order was misguided and misinformed, and possibly manipulated from her. And promised to try to make it up to Irina and the family of the three tiefling that she is aware the Guard is responsible for killing. This does not sit well as enough for Malex, and he demands that the Guard be utterly dismantled and rebuilt with a mandate and goal not just denouncing the genocide of its origins but with equality of protection for all. And chagrined, quickly puts out the smoldering embers his speech ignited in the curtains.
Shava finds this far too much and unnecessary, as this "secret origins" of the Guard were never known by anyone of this age until Anselem uncovered it, that for her tenure as Captain and all the way back for the centuries the Guard has been in operation in known history, the purpose of the Guard HAS been to protect all, and it is only her recent unfortunate and manipulated decree that had taken the Guard away from that goal. She asks instead, that Malex help her make up for that failure, and find a way to denounce the ancient past while focusing on a renewed path for the Guard without interrupting the continued work it does protecting the regions' peoples (especially with the remaining abominations roaming the wilderness). With seeming agreement from the rest of the party, including squire Tobias, he agrees to this, acknowledging that it would tke a vote of the general Guard membership to make any significant changes -- a vote that would have to happen in 6 weeks at the earliest (as the 2 weeks to the next
full Selune would be too soon).
With that business seemingly resolved, Irina asks Wally and Toby out of the room so he can have a private word with Shava with Malex as witness. Shava agrees (and both Irina and Malex miss that when she casually folds her arms she readies throwing knives), and listens as Irina expresses her personal grievances, and promise that she is giving Shava's "forfeited life" back to her in order to give her the opportunity to make a significant change in the Guard, and herself, with Malex, or else by the blood of her hands now drawn on her [
Greater Silver Sword which has a name but can't seem to be found], she vows to take back that life forfeit.
Shava looks Irina in the eye and boldly steps up to her, pulling one of the readied blades, and slices her own hand and offers it to Irina saying, " You have my pledge forsworn." Confirming Malex's witnessing of this, Irina shakes in bond.
At that moment the running of a child can be heard through the main door and yelling for Toby. Toby intercepts the breathless lad who tells him, "They've been taken!
Elma and Oddo have been grabbed by creatures from the water and taken!" The party urges
Luther to show the way, and he runs back to town with the party in his wake. Running nearly the entire way back, Luther leads them to a patch of rocky beach just beyond the town. He tells them that they had found some treasure and were playing "adventurers" with it, when some fish-people came up out of the water, slapped some goo over Elma and Oddo's faces, and carried them into the water. They discover the bodies of two Sahuagin among the rocks, evidently washed up with the tidal wave, and another of the kids still wearing oversized iridescent scaled shoulder pads from the body. But the creatures the kids described who stole their friends, they describe as being Kuo-Toa (which the party first discovered months ago on the oceanside beach when they found the enchanted boat and sacrificed tiefling).
They examine the ground and Toby confirms that creatures matching the Kuo-Toa did indeed struggle with the kids and re-enter the water with a couple of them. As soon as he relates this, they notice they are being watched from the water. A pair of what looks like Sahuagin are floating a couple hundred feet out, watching the party. Toby makes a move to run after them, and Irina stops him long enough to cast Water Breathing on the party, and they all chase after. But when they do, the Sahuagin immediately turn and swim directly away as fast as they can, quickly losing the party in the deepening waters.
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