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A New Line of Questioning

by Steel Claw

We have been invited to sit on the war council of Bezia

The Current Situation

Vechti and Arcadia are no longer at war.

3 curtical junctures (Bezia vs.)

The Bladelands

Destabliize the BLadelands via assassinating General Henryk
or
head to the Hallowfen

There has been a 50/50 split
which Steel (and Sapphire) will tiebreak

the boys have broken their fast and are headed to the castle, to see Steel
On cooking eggs, Izol: "Salt those eggs like they'd never sprout crops again"

Admin Connor greets the Vanguard and takes them to the war chambers

Council members staring daggers at Steel and Sapphire

Sapphire:
Counselors, trusted friends, I have discussed with my Lord Brother

"It is not in our interest to lay the subtle knife into our enemies abroad. We will seek help from the elves in Hallowfen
It is the decision of the Royal Family.

Councilman: "then go post-haste"
Sapphire: the elves are not known to be welcoming. You may face culture shock. And you may need to take on customs that are not your own

Theo: I have contacted the giants, who have agreed to send an attachment of giants.

Angery councilman: Do. Not. Attack a sovereign citizen in Hallowfen

Murg asked about Bezian knowledge on the elves; it will be provided to the Vanguard from the royal libraries.

Izol *insists* that his homunculus stay with Sapphire. Steel intervenes, and is barely able to keep the peace between Izol, the council, and his sister.
Homunculus: "Show me where the library!"

Steel had to exchange notes with Sapphire before he caught up with the rest of the Vanguard (riding Dawn to the caravansory)

Yrna, working: "Even the beasts of the land understand debt and lending..."

"This is the first time we have all sat in the same room, together, since Veradin"

Brendyrion is called for, arrives reading Chicken Soup for the Dragonsoul

Leadership of Hallowfen

The elves are ruled by a traditional monarch, currently King Neriduel and his wife Queen Ramai. Their only child and only heir is Princess Osirion. They, and therefore Hallowfen, are politically cold: they refuse all interactions and participation save the barest of trading. King Neriduel has absolute authority though with the assistance of a cabinet. Sapphire has passed on the rumor that there are powers above the king's head, but that's nonesense.

Currying the king's favor will involve gaining favor from a chancellor or ambassador. The Vanguard has met Chancellor Gladwell and his son, when they were last in Bezia before the Ibrithil Incident. Gladwell was a charasmatic figure who accompanied us to confront Argyl and also calmed the other nobility during the Bezian crisis. He had the knowledge of sending bombs and their existence, which is also a dark curiosity.

Notably, the crown has heavy control over their own trade. There is news that something belonging to the elves -- magic, technology, or otherwise -- is in the hands of the Bladelands' leadership. Therefore, there is this curious question: are the elves in league with the Bladelands? Is there a secret pact or trade deal? Was it stolen, or leaked, or lost?

Murg's idea is to use the Grand Caravan Company as a cover, to establish an elvish branch. Theo and Steel countered; it was agreed that we would approach the elves openly and with little pretense.

Dannerick's Account

It had long weighed on the prince's mind to explain what had happened to the other parts of his party. Now was the time to lift that burden.

Dannerick's group was ultimately responsible for selling out the information that started the current Bezian War (via the Whitecliffs).

The party traveled as much as the Vanguard did, thought instead to Baldur's Gate and then onto Chuult. There was a curse near Chuult that Dannerick and his friends were tasked with removing. Their employer had paid others too, and with help they found a magical item housed in Chuult that threatened many lives. Some died, people close to Dannerick ("whom you will never met, it seems"). When they reached that tomb of annihilating horrors the group returned to cosmopolitan Chuult as heroes. Dannerick chose to leave his friends then, and return to his extraplanar home of Aarden. It took traveling through the feywilds, and a dangerous misstep onto the Abyssal plane. There, a dark madness overtook Dannerick and those with him:

"May you never have to thrust your sword through a friend."

He survived, and made a friend out of that hellhole. They found the Aarden plane and Dannerick found his family once more.

In another cruel twist of fate, the evil that Dannerick and his friends had defeated back in Chuult was tied to the prince's home in Aarden. And due to the problems in his family, it was put upon him to finish what he and his allies had tried to do on the material plane.

"In the ensuing fight Ashur, Jotos, and Hofren died. And not just died, but rent from the plane in a way that is beyond simply dying. Nord and M'Crush were lost in the ordeal -- the opposite: neither dead nor alive."

"And then there was a calamity. It sent me here, back to this plane. The one I have been wandering on for so long. I am afraid, at least for the time being, that Brendyrion and I are the only ones left [of my previous warband]."

Everyone was silent. One by one the Vanguard consoled Dannerick. The newest member of the Vanguard voiced his concerns, that he did not know his new friends as he did the old ones. But he, along with everyone else, agreed that time would heal that wound.

It was then the Vanguard's turn to fill in Dannerick on all he had missed:

Seteth's Crossing, to Bezia
Where Steel restored his honor and rejoin his family

From Bezia, then onto the Arca

Help the civil unrest in Bezia
Visit Hallowfen
Voyage to Ibrithil and find an archeological mystery

In Bezia, Argyl was rooted out and defeated before he could poison the cistern, denotative explosives, or work further evil for his mysterious hidden allies.

They were met in Excellion, on their return, by a terrorist attack carried out by those wearing the faces of the dead. Unsure of what else to do the group chose to move on once more, to Ibrithil.

There, in the land of the giants, the group rescued four artifacts belonging to Kreethi's siblings. In that process, Hrothamari's prophesies as well as Theo's arcane abilities were discovered. The Living Gate was opened, Narathaii rose, and there the group slew the necromancer forefather of Theo, Lawrence Hornraven. He had founded a secret organization that had operated for centuries in Excellion, the White Tree, which the Vanguard took for themselves once Lawrence was lain to rest.

They returned to Bezia, just for Steel and Dannerick to take a road trip back west to Chuult. Now, months later, the entire tale could finally be laid out in full.

Dannerick asked Steel about an admirer of sorts: Bag of Nails, a famous tabaxi warrior who fought alongside Steel's grandfather -- and knew Steel -- though he died in the chaos that went down at Chuult.

Leaving

The Bezia royal guard arrived at the Caravansory to

Steel gives the gifts:
Theo

Programmed Illusion
Theo decorates Steel's room with images (like specters or a living tapestry) of his memories with Steel when the first met. In particular, the highest moments of their adventures appear around the room:

Orvid Hornrimm - Asmodean cult leader in devil-infested & bloodied fort, had to chase down in the woods, Steel's execute
Ovidiun - met in Darrett, scary werewolf; Theo nat 20'd Persuasion to have Ovidiun break down over brother Venomheart
Ecbrithee - Battle for Veradin (SPEET+IRL), tiefling sorc that made brother Dominus an evil giant pallie; Theo's mom shows up
Venomheart - On his dragon in the hell-tower (Forgotten Keep?), Steel almost dies
Sapphire - Steel's duel, outside of Bezia
Argyll - Bezian cistern, elder brain, Theo OHKOs brain
Freya - Riddle in her temple/tomb near Indrada
Bone claw - Varunmund, first in approaching forest then in mythicite tower (unknown)
Lawrence Hornraven - Sorcerer turned alhoon who used Chillmoon Tower/Narathai to unsuccessfully open the Living Gate in Ibrithil

One image came to the forefront out from the rest: a simple campfire, surrounded by the shimmering wall of Theo's tiny hut, with books piled around them: Steel and Theo teaching and learning tseyvi and the tabaxi language.

Izol decided, with tears in his eyes, to leave his homunculus with Steel then [instead of with Sapphire].

Continue reading...

To Bezia: Dangerous & Familiar
10.22.19

To Waylay Arcadia
10.29.19

As the Gods Watch
11.12.19

Recap: Riding the River to Bezia
12.03.19

Honor Returns to the Redtails
12.03.19

Honor and Innocence
12.10.19

What Ends & What Begins
01.07.20

Night Before the Report
01.14.20

Adrenaline
01.28.20

Fairytale's End
02.11.20

CSI: Abominable Charges
02.25.20

Stones in the Basement
03.03.20

Saviors
03.17.20

A Night To Remember
03.24.20

The End Draws Near
03.31.20

Black Reckoning
04.07.20

Argyle's End
04.10.20

Two and Two
04.14.20

Concentration
04.21.20

The Magic in Winter
04.28.20

Real, Under, Dark: Indrada
05.12.20

Puzzling the Way Forward
05.19.20

The Cold Cases
05.26.20

Band through the Woods
06.02.20

Cold Claws of Death
06.09.20

Another Shot in the Dark
06.16.20

More To Learn
06.30.20

The Heart of Varunmund
07.10.20

Arcane Mishap
07.14.20

The Treasure of Weave-Steel
07.21.20

Rolling Bones
07.28.20

A New Land
08.04.20

Ice and Storm
08.11.20

Up Rocks
08.18.20

At the Top of the World
09.01.20

Beware the Depths
09.08.20

Granting Repose
09.15.20

Trial by Crystal
09.22.20

Cries of the Pained
09.29.20

Old Friends
10.06.20

Watch and Tower
10.13.20

The Death of a Gate and an Alhoon
10.20.20

Joy in Many a Reunion
10.27.20

A New Line of Questioning
01.05.20

Renewing the Offense
6th of February, 2022

The Last Vanguard
02.13.22

Portals
02.20.22

Heed the Changing Winds
03.13.22

Champions of the Winds
03.27.22

The Epicenter of Truth
04.03.22

It Begins Again
04.10.22

Stratagem to the Winds
04.24.22

Wet Cat
05.01.22

Another Hot Time
05.15.22

The Aegon Assault
07.31.22

Unfavorably Familiar
08.07.22

Cloaked in Red
09.11.22

Forged After War
09.18.22

Truthseeking
10.02.22

Two-Parters
11.12.22

Blade & Bow, Hammer & Axe
11.20.22

Faith, Truth, and Peace
11.27.22

Act as you know, and you will never shame me
12.04.22

The Stringing of the Bow
01.08.23

A Clashing of Fangs
01.15.23

Nleyke [v. To Wish]
01.29.23

A New Line of Questioning

The Bladelands

"This is the first time we have all sat in the same room, together, since Veradin"

Leadership of Hallowfen

Dannerick's Account

Continue reading...

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