Episode Fifty-nine - Traitor's Truth

General Summary

Seldra had collapsed on the cobblestone square, breathing heavily. The light of her spellscar had subsided. Around her head, the flesh was raw from the crown of Neverwinter, which was smoldering a few feet away in Varis' Mage Hand. Inky shadows writhed menacingly around the object. Nearby, stone continued to flake off of the Plaguechanged white dragon. Aldrich, Arion, Calaeriel, Thorum, Tokin, and Varis knew they only had only a few minutes before they would have to face the beast and defend Neverwinter from its wrath.
Arion crossed the square away from Seldra's side and pushed his sword into the stone but it would not sink, He pushed harder and harder as Seldra casted a dejected look around the square and then met Calaeriel's gaze; tears glimmered in her eyes as she wept, "I can’t believe what I’ve done. I’ve been a fool.”
"You have been, you but can make it right." Calaeriel agreed.
Seldra paused and looked at the dragon statue before she offered, "we don’t have long, but I’ll tell you what I can. What do you want to know that will help?"
It was then, however, that Arion's sword sank deep into the statue and it roared to life snapping the stone away from it in an instant. Stood up on hind legs, Aldrich came upon it in an instant as Arion pulled his sword away. With quick wit, Aldrich used the blessings of his divine and drew forth spectral vines from beneath the cobblestone market square and wrapped them around the mighty foe. Calaeriel then rushed to his side, leaving Thorum and Tokin at Seldra's, and scorched the ice dragon in three rays. Quick to act Aldrich cracked his whip thrice upon the dragon as Varis burned the dragon with his flame cannon contraption. As Arion flung blood from his sword he swallowed down an entire potion of healing just before he threw up his shield to defended himself from the bite and claw of the dragon.
Calaeriel ran around the beast and grabbed onto his neck to try and calm it but could not as Aldrich blessed her with divine healing. Then, like a savior from the sky,Varis' owl swooped down and sank its mechanical claws into the dragon. With a massive charge of electricity, the owl delived the beast a near complete neuromuscular incapacitation and continued to surge the beast full of electricity. The Plaguechanged dragon exploded in a burst of blue flame, scouring its flesh to the bones. The creature’s bulk shuddered and then collapsed to the streets. For a moment, the square was silent. Then, from the edge of the battlefield, people began to cheer and chant.
"The heroes of Neverwinter" they cried.
"Huzzah!" The crowd roared but they soon fled in disgust.
As Aldrich and Calaeriel began to savagely harvest the beast, members of the crowd took off in every direction. Arion then approached Varis' position near Seldra where he asked her where she found the crown. Seldra spoke truthfully then and told him that she got it in Waterdeep.
She continued, "when I first learned of it in Waterdeep, I was so sure it was authentic. Now, I believe it must have been a ploy by someone in Waterdeep to stir up trouble here, not the one I got it from, but perhaps someone who would want to upset Lord Neverember’s power. It would have at least been made to do so for if it were the real crown, I could not have worn it. I am not an heir of the Alagondar line."
As they questioned her, she told them that she had received the crown from a man called the Cloak of Sauron who doubted its utility to his master, she'd traded him for information. As for her reason she told them, "I had hoped to redeem the Tylmarande name. I wanted to give the crown to worthy champion, who could rally the people against the foreign invaders. In a moment of weakness, I put on the crown and after that, everything is hazy and so terrible."
"You must have been mad at first to even try the crown," Arion quipped.
"The madness came," she affirmed, "The crown’s effects were insidious. At first, I regarded you as potential allies. When I learned you had spoken to Lord Neverember, though, my growing paranoia caused me to regard you as threats. I heard a voice, which whispered of your treachery."
"Tell us about the voice," Varis desired aloud.
"Perhaps some devious creation from the Red Wizard Tolivast. He stole the crown when I first arrived with it in Neverwinter. He must have cursed the crown to drive its wearer mad.”
In discussing Red Wizards with Varis she informed Arion that "The Red Wizards of Thay are a group of foul spellcasters controlled by the necromancer Szass Tam. In this region, the organization is led by Valindra Shadowmantle. If the Red Wizards are behind this plot, then perhaps they are planning something more sinister for Neverwinter."
Satisfied, Varis cleaned the arms of his companions with his innate Prestidigitate and then they took Seldra to the Hall of Justice to be arrested. All the while they had floated the crown on Varis' Mage Hand with a sack over it. Casting the sack aside, the group delivered the crown to Neverember's wizards and Seldra to him as they met him in the main hall.
In other business, they spoke with him about meeting the city's factions and he told them that the meeting had already been arranged thanks to them. Finally, the group retired once more to the relative safety of the Moonstone Mask and enjoyed free meals, drink, and rooms.
Come the morning of the 6th of Ches the party learned that Dagult's meeting was successful and that the Greycloaks were going to use their knowledge to source information about Castle Never. They learned that the Sons had agreed to help combat the Dead Rat Gang and get rid of them in the Blacklake sewers. Satisfied, the party set out on their own business and returned to the sewers that had killed them before. Inside they found that the sewers had already been cleared and that a wererat was attempting to start an army down there, Neotomas was his name. The party then delived this information to the Shining Knight and the owner was nothing but pleased, not for the sewers, but because everyone and his brother wanted arms and armor like the new heroes of Neverwinter.
Outside the shop,they discussed their plans for the future and Thorum asked if the company's purpose was to do good where it could be found, to which Arion largely affirmed. Calaeriel then mentioned that she had been sent to Faerûn on a mission. She told them that the mission had been given to her by the All-Father, Odin. She told them that she had been sent to find Than. Arion mentioned knowing the Than but offered little more. He told her that she would have the best chance to meet him at his company's side.
As the moved on, the group passed into the River District bound for another of Dagult's worries, the orcs. by chance they met an old woman offered to tell the group their fortunes. Aldrich was then given divine clairvoyance and allowed to see her pure soul. Trusting her implicitly, he strolled up with Calaeriel at his side, as he bid, and she named them vampire and paladin. The mystic told Aldrich that he would have glory in battle and be invited on a grand quest and that he would one day meet his deity before his end. Though the question was on everyone's lips about Calaeriel, Arion cast it aside for a moment and was told he would do battle with his greatest foe. He was told that he would battle the one whom his people had, but this time he would do so alone; he knew that person to be Sauron. She told him that his fate in that battle was unknown but that he should see the sword he seeks in the north. She told him that as he sought the sword he would find aid. Varis then had his fortune read and he was told that he would go north to help the people of his lands and that he would learn from a dracolich how to aid Arion in his great battle. Tokin was named and called Dragon Marked by Azgenerath. She told Tokin that he would find Dragon Knights and on one path he would join a dark master and on another he would die young but good hearted.
A worried conversation carried on about Calaeriel's vampirism but she swore to them that her intentions were good. Thorum was the only person among them that wouldn't be sated, he practically forced, socially, Calaeriel to have her future told at the chance encounter with old lady. Weird Maggie read her future and told Calaeriel that to survive she could remain a vampire and help her sire save the city or cure her curse and be doomed to the hells. As Calaeriel turned, she saw Thorum was sharpening the end of his spear into a stake. Thorum then asked Calaeriel to only drink the blood of the evil and Calaeriel told him that such a requirement was already put on her by her sire. Varis took the time to argue the finer points of vampirism as Aldrich slipped Thorum a vial of holy water.
The group continued on to the Cloak Tower to face the orc leader. Outside, Varis recognized the banners as those belonging to the Many Arrows. At the gate Arion confused the orcs into letting the group in before Aldrich encouraged a meeting by the grog kegs at the tower. At some tables, by the kegs, Arion drank the 'vile' grog to be prepared for a test but after Vansi approached, he would accept another test. Arion spoke with her and she called herself commander and he confused her until Stiply, her interpreter, arrived. he spoke to the group in Elven and together they decided that Arion she duel Vansi to upset the orc hierarchy.
Arion agreed to duel the orc leader and told Varis that he had a ring in his possession that, if he died, would hold his soul. Once this was understood the duel commenced.
Off to the side Varis remarked, as he saw her doubt, "Calaeriel, I doubt their intelligence but I do not believe that these orcs would violate their own customs. They seem to place great stock in their personal honor and any interference might be seen as an admission of weakness and dishonor."
Arion made the first move and charged in to meet Vansi. He began with an overhand stab that she blocked with her flail's handle but his blade slid forward and glanced off of her cheek. He then pulled his blade back and sank it into her lower stomach. As Vansi cried out, Arion whipped his blade around and slashed her lower ribs, exposing them. With the horror of her pain present in the tears flowing from her eyes, Vansi lifted her flail and swung it wildly several times before it impacted Arion's chest armor. After two steps back Arion lunged as he swipped his blade across Vansi's arm. Ducking the flail he stabbed Vansi and his blade ran across her jaw, exposing her teeth and but gums. With a new target, Arion cleaved his blade cleanly through Vansi's head, severing it at the jaw.
Arion brought his sword up before him and saluted with it as the group jumped up to run away. Together they took flight and made an exit. In the treeline beyond, Varis sent his owl up into the air with a ball bearing and a spell upon it to announce to the fall of Vansi, in the hope of disheartening the orcs. Then, the group fled the district and delivered the translator to Neverember.
After the party returned to the Moonstone Mask, they had a long conversation with Liset, Calaeriel's sire. Eventually Aldrich left accepting the situation so long as Calaeriel agreed to be truthful going forward. Calaeriel herself eventually stormed out the closer Arion and Liset got to violence. Eventually, Varis tamed and separated his large companion and the vampire but Thorum wanted only death to the creature he deemed unworthy of unlife.
As the group separated, an agreement was struck to meet at the Hall of Justice the following morning.

Part Two

Calaeriel flew far away from the Moonstone Mask in her anger and as she drifted the saw a beam of light crash down beyond the wall of Neverwinter. Calaeriel hid and transformed into a human again and approached her gods, Loki, Thor, and Odin. As he asked Calaeriel about her quest, she told him she'd joined a group that had relation to Than. As they told her that their power was weak on Toril, she told them it could be the Spellplague. She told them about her vampiric contract and Loki suggested there could be a solution but wanted to research the mystic's omen. Thor then offered to help with her group's Spellplague problem and Odin bid him to remain. He and Calaeriel drank at the Moonstone Mask until the morning.

Rewards Granted

583xp

Missions/Quests Completed

Sidequest Forever War in Neverwinter Continued, Subquest Lost Heir Completed, Encounter Plagued Dragon Completed, Encounter Vansi's Fate Completed

Character(s) interacted with

Met and killed Commander Vansi

Notes

Notable Party Damage:

• Aldrich has a scrape on the right arm of his armor from a javelin. He has claw marks across the left breast of his armor from a manticore. He has a horrible burn scar on the left side of his neck in front of the ear from a azure fire elemental summoned by Seldra Tylmarande.
  Noted Effects: Horrible Scar. You are disfigured to the extent that the wound can't be easily concealed. You have disadvantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks and advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) checks. Magical healing of 6th level or higher, such as heal and regenerate, removes the scar.
• Arion came from Arda with a scar that won't seem to heal. He has several faint scuffs on his shield from the tail of a horned devil. He also has a small hole from from an arrow on his forward facing, left pauldron. He has three puncture marks on his right bracer from the teeth of a drake. He has an impressive dent in the armor on his left breast from an orc commander's flail.
  Noted Effects: Minor Scar (Head). The scar doesn't have any adverse effect. Magical healing of 6th level or higher, such as heal and regenerate, removes the scar.
• Calaeriel's clothes are tattered from a near complete bite from a manticore, it has holes for several teeth but has all three rows of tear, on her left side just at her lower ribcage.
  Noted Effects: None
• Varis has a bite mark from a warped Plaguechanged monster on his left shoulder.
  Noted Effects: None

Report Date

29 Nov 2020

Primary Location

Faerûn

Related Historical Events

• 1065 CE
  Lost Heir of Neverwinter