Escorting the envoy

As expected, the fight was neither long nor easy. I am not ashamed to admit that had this been a one-on-one battle, none of us would have stood a chance. This became clear quite quickly when poor Allistan took a vicious counterattack when he led the charge. And if not for some quick healing spells, he would have died right then and there. In his defence however, he was rather underequipped at the time. As when the alarms went off and we were given the pledge, we did not really have time to go and reclaim our gear. So we only had on us what we took with us to the party and as you can imagine, a full plate armour does not really allow for a comfortable dining experience.
 
Fueled by rage at the sight of her brother being struck down, Liliana launched a vicious attack empowered with holy power, leaving Dren with a deep wound. Unfortunately, this did not slow him down. On the contrary, it made him even more dangerous. Something we realized as we watched in horrors the blood dripping down from his wounds ignited into flame. With unseen speed, he lunged forward, engulfing each of us, including Ergoll and Norgar, in the inferno. Things were not looking good, as every wound we inflicted only made him more powerful. And that last attack had taken a lot out of us, but it also created an opportunity. Alistan was able to use Dren’s momentum against him in order to create an opportunity for me to hit him square between the eyes with a blunted arrow, knocking him out with a critical hit.
 
In celebration of our acceptance into the clan, a small feast was held in our honour. Which we graciously accepted as it allowed us to not only dress our wounds, but also send word to Keralon. For while we were still on a covert mission, we could hardly smuggle a diplomatic envoy into the city. So, we send over Fiachna with a request to allow us entry into the city through the main gate. I swear that bird has solved more of our problems then I would dare to count. I guess we should all just be thankful that Hayley doesn’t charge us a mileage cost.
 
While we waited for a response, Norgar decided to join us and opened up a bit. It quickly became obvious that he was rather nervous about being send over as an envoy, considering that this was his first campaign and all. So we tried our best to put him at ease. Eventually Liliana and Allistan both pulled out their violins and started playing a few tunes, quickly drawing in the other dragonkin of the army to pull out their own instruments and join them. It was a bit of a shame that I had forgotten to bring my lyre to the party. But on the other hand it was good to hear the twins playing together once more.
 
After a while, we had to make our way back to Keralon. Which wasn’t too much of an issue, just a gentle walk towards the city on a sunny afternoon. That was until Dadroz shouted an alarm. Before we knew it, a shadow descended from the sky, its claws tearing into me. I only barely managed to survive thanks to some magical interference from Luke that gave me enough time to dodge that final attack. In total, two skeletal dragonlings, the size of housecats, and one dragonlike creature, the size of a bear, had dropped from the sky. We tried to fight back, but to our shock, most of our weapons proved ineffective against the giant creature. We would later learn that it was in fact a golem of some sort. Which meant that it was impervious to non-magical attacks. Only Hayley, Luke and Liliana with her magic blade stood any real change against it. So in order to allow them to focus, the rest of us turn our attention to keeping the little creatures of them, as well as keep Norgar safe.
 
I must say however that Liliana surprised me in this fight and the one from earlier that day. Don’t get me wrong, she was always a capable warrior in her own right. But had you asked me compare her skills along with those of her brother five years ago I would have said that Allistan was the better swordsman amongst the two. However it seems that her time spend in service to lady Vivienne had allowed to overcome that gap. And now she was his equal when it came to handling the blade. This was made perfectly very clear as she gracefully dodged an attack, only to bring her sword down on the neck of the creature, severing its head after a hard-fought battle.
 
After the battle, we decided to inspect the remains of the creatures we had fought. It was then that we learned that the giant one was some sort of construct. But that was not to only thing we learned. What was even worse were the materials that were used in its construction. There is no easy way of saying this, so I will just say it outright. It was made from the remains of children. Or to be more precise, children of dragonkin. Dozens of them must have been used in its construction. I still to this day cannot comprehend the brand of evil that one must posses in order to be capable of doing something like this. And as you can imagine, this was especially hard for Norgar to take in. But to his credit, he managed to steel his resolve and eventually we continued on our way to Keralon.
 
When we arrived, a knight was already waiting for us. He instructed us to escort Norgar to Palace Hill, where a delegation would be waiting for our arrival. He even lent us some horses in order to speed up our journey. Not that Norgar was that keen on the idea of riding a horse, as he had never done so before. So he had to ride alongside Allistan, who was the best rider amongst us. As we rode towards the palace, Norgar’s head swivelled from one side to the other as he took in the sights of what was most likely his first time in a human city. It actually made me remember my own feelings when I entered Keralon for the first time. But I digress.
 
When we reached the gate to the palace district, we were surprised to see that there was actually no one waiting on us. In fact the guard on duty was most surprised to see us there and even more so when we told him that we were escorting an official envoy to see the king. Confused, he told us to wait in the barracks cafeteria as he attempted to sort things out with his superior. As we waited, our suspicions only started to rise. There was no way that the news that the envoy of an army sitting right outside of the gates had arrived in order to speak with the king would simple have gotten misplaced after all. But there was little more that we could do then wait for the guard to return with news.
 
Upon hearing a door close in the other room, Allistan assumed we would finally get some news and opened the door on our end. Only to be met by guards in red robes brandishing blades with clear hostile intent. The leader, a sergeant if I recall correctly, immediately ordered his men to kill Norgar. Of course we leaped to his defence and demanded an explanation, but our assailants were not inclined to provide one. The chaos got even worse when another group of guards, not wearing robes, joined in only for the sergeant to order them to attack us as well. Pure madness I say.
 
After a brief fight, we managed to subdue all of the guards, taking great care not to kill any of them. Just as we had a bit of time to catch our breath, another group of guards entered, accompanied by a knight. This was Sir Donovan, Knight of the Octagon. He demanded an explanation as to what had happened and since we had nothing to hide, I recounted the events that had transpired in earnest. He was understandably stunned but quickly recovered and ordered his men to arrest the guards who had instigated the attack. He then offered to escort Norgar and us to the palace. Where he would be able to address the council of nobles, as the king was unfortunately not in Keralon at the time.
 
Setting foot in the palace was rather breathtaking. But I must hand it to Norgar, he held himself quite well. He addressed the council quite well and explained that he was indeed here because his mistress Velora wished for a closer relationship with Keralon. This included deciding on proper borders and hopefully a more permanent peace agreement between the two. An idea that most of the nobles were interested in. It was thus decided that in order for the negotiations to continue, they will provide lodgings in the city for a handful of Velora’s negotiators to live in as they discuss terms.
 
With our mission completed, we said our goodbyes to Norgar and went to inform Herald Skald of our success. He had told us earlier that we would be able to find him in The dull blade, the tavern that also serves as the headquarters of the circle of the Long Table. Upon hearing about our mission, he was very pleased to hear about our success. But I had the sneaking suspicion that he already knew most of what we had come to say. However nothing could have prepared us for what Hayley had to say next.
 
While we were at General Ergoll’s camp, she had managed to figure out the true reason as to why they wanted to suddenly open up peace negotiations with Keralon. It seemed that some force had been raiding their homes and stealing both their eggs and children. They even managed to go so far as stealing the egg of Velora herself. This is why they came to Keralon. They were hoping that we might be able to assist them in tracking down the culprit.
Which also explained the creatures that had attacked us earlier that day and even worse, the fate that had most likely befallen all of those children. They wished to stop us from joining forces and turning our combined might against them. Which brought the uncomfortable idea that the attack by the guards earlier was also most likely orchestrated by the same force. Meaning that that they had already managed to infiltrate the guards and perhaps even worse. And while I was deeply enraged at the thought of what those children might have gone through, another thought kept creeping up to me. What kind of group or being was confident enough in its ability that it would risk making an enemy of both an ancient dragon and Keralon at the same time?
 
While we could not provide answers to these questions, Herald Skald still congratulates us on a job well done. And as promised, presented both Hayley, Allistan and Dadroz with proof of their mettle. A larger silver coin that they could present at any one of the knight orders of the lower circle in order to serve as proof of their worth to join them. A great honour indeed and I was very happy for all three of them that they had finally made it this far. Admittedly I was perhaps a little bit jealous that they had managed to earn their knighthood before me, but again it was an honour well deserved. And there were few others that I could imagine as being as worthy as them.
And with that Hayley and Allistan disappeared into the basement of the Dull Blade in order to pledge for the circle of the Long Table. Whereas Dadroz made his way to the Mausoleum of Dead Gods in order to join the circle of the Moon Blossom.