There Wolf, There Castle

General Secrets

Following Theliana, the party was escorted deeper into the monastery. Ferdinand told Lethe that he had only agreed to take them to Castle Turney, and headed back to Here-and-Gone. They passed through a high-ceilinged antechamber which appeared to have taken a direct hit from one of the fragments of Elar. A beam of moonlight shone down through a hole in the roof, and through a shattered segment of floor the party could see a faintly glowing stone buried in the rubble floors below. Erevan noticed that the inhabitants of the temple seemed to be actively avoiding the moonlight.
The party was brought to a segment of the temple which had been rearranged into a war room where they were introduced to General Syldara Bardonne, a Déonian dragonguard and commander of the city's defense forces. Theliana whispered some information to the general, who ordered the room cleared so she could question the party in private. The party told her that they had arrived in the Faerie by accident, and that they were searching for a way back. They also told her that it had been 120 years in the Material Plane since Teldyrn's disappearance.
While clearly taken aback by this information, Syldara kept her composure. She told the party she had been a high-ranking dragonguard, and Erolith's second-in-command, and had been sent to Teldyrn during the Ajokai invasion to lead the defenses. Before the Moonshattering, the fighting in the city had devolved into street-to-street warfare and the defenders had been pushed back into an area of the city around the Monastery of the Ascendant Dragon. Once Syldara saw Elar break apart, she knew that it had to be Erolith's doing as a last-ditch effort and realized that the city would soon be destroyed. In an attempt to save themselves, the city had transported to the Feywild through a powerful ritual that took every monk in the monastery working together to achieve; unfortunately the stress had killed them all.
The party asked if she knew of a way to return to the Material Plane, and Syldara said that she did not. However there was a possibility that Virren Lunamir, a wizard that lived in the city, might be able to help as he was known to be an expert on lost arcana. However, Syldara had not heard from him since the city had shifted into Faerie. His tower, known as the Cerulean Summit, was located in a section of the city that had been overrun by Ajokai and she did not have the forces to spare to investigate it. She welcomed the party to attempt to make contact with him, and asked that while they were on their way if they could keep an eye out for what was happening among the Ajokai forces; soon after the city shifted most of the attacks from the enemy had ceased, and scouts reported hearing sounds of fighting from behind enemy lines.
Through this, Lethe kept a close eye on Syldara and could tell that she clearly was not telling the party everything. He attempted to persuade her to tell more by revealing Erevan as Erolith's grandson, and while the general believed him she remained guarded. She asked the party not to tell anyone else about how much time had passed back home, at least not until the situation in the city could be stabilized as morale was incredibly low already. She then bid the party leave the war room as she had defenses to plan.

Illicit Research

The party attempted to ask around in the monastery but found most inhabitants very closed-off and unwilling to speak. At Lethe's behest, the party sought out the temple's library to see if they could find information about this ritual that transported the city. In the library, they found two individuals dressed in monastic garb looking through books, while a Dragonguard soldier stood on guard. Lethe attempted to learn information from one of them, a young female elven acolyte named Trinn, but found her to be as closed-off as the rest. Strangely, when he attempted to cast Detect Thoughts on her he waws unable to probe into her mind. Aberchak also noticed that the books the acolytes were looking through seemed to be mostly about the removal of curses.
The party retired to an unoccupied house outside the temple that had been put aside for them to rest in. They decided to attempt to make contact with Trinn again and see if they could learn more from her. Erevan cast fly on both Lethe and Aberchak, who flew up to the outside of the library where Trinn was still researching. Aberchak cast pass without trace to help Lethe remain undetected as he misty stepped inside. He remained hidden in the library until Trinn was the only individual remaining; in the meantime he pocketed a few books of ancient Déonian rituals.
Once alone, he made contact with Trinn who was at first startled but collected herself. Through Lethe's persuading she nervously revealed that General Bardonne had been telling the truth about the ritual, but not about how the monks had died. As she explained, the fragments of Elar that had crashed into the city turned out to give off some mysterious energy. Those who spent time in proximity to the stones soon found themselves transforming into beasts when exposed to moonlight. Several in the temple, including Syldara and Trinn herself, had found themselves thus cursed and in their feral state had slaughtered the monks. Trinn and the other acolytes were searching for a way to lift the curse.
Trinn begged Lethe not to let Syldara know that he had learned this information. She said the general was good-hearted but the stress of the situation was getting to her, and she had been making questionable choices. Lethe agreed to keep this information secret for the time being, and on the way out of the library subtly stole a number of scrolls. The party then returned to the unoccupied house and rested.

Chapter Thirty-Five

"There Wolf, There Castle"

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Previous Chapter: Lonely is the Night

Next Chapter: Here Kitty, Kitty

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Ingame Date: Indeterminate
Real-Life Date: August 8, 2021
Protagonists:

• Lethe Argie
• Erevan
• Aberchak Haverdak

Featured NPCs:

• Syldara Bardonne
• Trinn

Locations:

• Teldyrn