Session 18a, Shopping in Skyway, 13 Eyre, 998 YK

General Summary

Welcome Back to Eberron...

You finish regailing each other with your stories of the past three days' adventures (see side panel), the remnants of your breakfast piled on the corner of the table long forgotten. The dark sky and bitter cold of the winds blowing through the doorway are the precursors of a coming storm, likely a rogue snow storm in this early spring.
As you prepare to depart for your next day's tasks, the front door of the tavern opens and four halflings enter. Two are Boromar guards carrying muskets. The third is Gorric Bowleg, holding a crossbow aloft and scanning the room before nodding to a hooded Ilyra Boromar. In that moment, she bears a striking resemblance to her younger sister, but the similarities fade as she draws her hood back- revealing a woman whose shrewdness and brutality are carefully hidden behind kind gestures and genteel conversation.
Gesturing to her guards to move the plates, Ilyra invites you to sit back down. Gorric, moving quickly to secure her a seat, stands behind her silently as she starts to speak.

Ilyra Boromar informs the party that:

-Zaeron, one of Cavallah's lieutenants, has infiltrated the Skyway. He has butchered a member of the aristocracy, one Evix ir'Marasha (female human, owner of the "Celestial Vista Resturant", and representative to the Sharn Council).

-The council has fought to keep the nature of the attack a secret, not wanting to incite further panic, but it is only a matter of time before Zaeron strikes again. -No one knows what the werewolf looks like in his "other" form. Ilyra is not convinced that the party is capable of deducing the werewolf's true form, given their abyssmal showing at the Boromar Ball, but has been convinced by their recent actions at Morgrave University that they are the best option available to her. -Skyway has a strict "no weapons or armor" rule for guests that even the Sharn Alliance can't supercede. Tourists visiting the Skyway are strictly forbidden from entering the district wearing armor, even leathers, and may be turned away for appearing to be adventurers. Weapons stowed in magical bags are allowed, but guests found in the streets are heavily fined and immediately imprisoned. -The Sharn Council refuses to deputize the Sharn Dragons, feeling that the measure is too drastic for "gang warfare" and has refused to adjust its stance regardless of the attack on Evix ir'Marasha.
The party uses the Boromar Crime Family's skycoach to travel to Skyway, the district that floats above the city of Sharn:

As you ascend it i like the scene from a storybook. The Skyway is a series of towers built upon literal clouds given substance floating above the city. Though the storm clouds around the city are dark and foreboding, the white clouds the Skyway is built upon are white and volumous. Gazing up in awe, you believe you even see a bit of warm sunlight showing along the narrow gap between the magical clouds and the storm around them.
You continue to approach the miracle slowly, as the skycoach liesurely flies to a position slightly above the cloud cover the city is built upon. Each of the towers are architectual marvels in and of themselves, tall elegant spires with large parapets and lavish balconies that overlook wide city streets below. At equal intervals around the perimeter of the district you see small towers, but otherwise there are large gaps where the district ends and the sky begins.

As the Sharn Dragons continued thier approach, they saw that most of the district's inhabitants were congregating near the park in the center of the floating paradise, near Cloudpool Park. The eponymous clouds of the park have been shaped into trees and other fantastic designs to the delight of the tourists that visit. They also noticed the strict security that protects the people of Skyway against unwanted incursion from the lower city, a series of King's Wands that keep a watchful eyes on flying creatures and craft at this altitude. Finally, they noticed that the row of golden tiles that have been placed along the perimeter of the district have been tampered with.
Landing in the skyport, the party learned a bit of the district from the infromational posters displayed throughout the terminal. They were intrigued by "Manrick's Magical Wares" and, since they were posing as tourists anyway, decided to make the shop their first stop. They discovered the shop to be a curiosity, the gnome proprietor choosing to sell his wares by placing origami creatures throughout the shop with the title and price of each item. Perusing the selection, the Sharn Dragons chose to buy a [url:https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/acheron-blade]Archeon Blade[=url] (Greatsword) for Erisna and a [url:https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/glamoured-studded-leather]Glamoured Studded Leather[=url] for Therin.
Departing Manrick's. the Sharn Dragons decided to case the Celestial Vista, a restaurant that Evix ir'Marshala owned and operated, for clues. Upon the approach, Therin felt the psychic resonanace of Maximillian ir'Valant, the Inquisitive that has been trying to discover the facts in the murder of Meshindi Vargas. Posing as the "ir'Valant" party at the Celestial Vista, the party was able to be seated at the exclusive restaurant without a reservation of their own. Erisna left soon after arriving, not having the appetite to eat cooked meat, and then made their way to the back of the building to find a service entrance. There she found Maximillian questioning a member of the Celestial Vista's cooking staff.
Recognizing Erisna, Maximillian deduced that Therin was likely present, and took a hostile stance against both the paladin and his suspect. He refused to share any information on his quarry, except to say that he too was searching for the werewolf and that the party was redundant. He expressed his distrust of Therin, detailing how he shot his fleeing victim in the back with an explosive arrow before brutally murdering him - likely the first time that Erisna had heard the details of the crime. Leaving in a huff, Maximillian continued to persue his own leads to find the werewolf lieutenant.
Therin, learning from the prep cook that some raw meat went missing from the Celestial Vista, descended into the larder of the restaurant to look for clues. Picking through the large room, Therin discovered a smear of sauce that had dried on the side of one of the racks of meat. It had a distinct smell of paprika, but Therin couldn't determine anything more nuanced than that. Rejoining the party outside the building, the Sharn Dragons stopped to discuss their next steps.

Down Time Activities:

11th of Eyre:

Erisna: Side Quest #2 "Initiation Day"

Glittergem: Rested, read about "The War of the Mark", and ate dinner with Keth

Rare: Visited her wife Ea

Therin: Studied the mysteries of the Manifest Zones with Professor Whisper Pines, gaining the kenku professor's friendship

12th of Eyre:

Erisna: Spent the day in Little Xen'drik with Rare, bought herself some giant's earings that had been fashioned into bracers

Glittergem: Studied the War of the Mark

Rare: Spent the day in Little Xen'drik with Erisna, bought herself a glyphed stone in the style of the giants

Therin: Studied the Manifest Zones with Professor Pines and learned that the Mysterious Black Flame Lantern is somehow extraplanar

13th of Eyre:

Erisna: Asked Glittergem to cast Identify on the giant's earings she bought the day before and learned they were [url:https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/bracers-of-defense]Bracers of Defense[=url], bought "semi-formal" clothes

Glittergem: Buys a fashionable blue dress, and learns that only Archbishop Eingelmann of the Church of the Silver Flame is able to remove curses or perform complicated restoration magic.

Rare: Studies the glyphed stone from the giants and discovered that it contains mysterious knowledge that requires a power source to unlock

Therin: Studied Manifest Zones with Professor Pines, learning that the Manifest Zone below Sharn has been lost for almost 2,000 years; inspected the Black Flame Lantern with Professor Pine's assistance, discovering Elven script in the Sylvan language.

Loose Ends:

Archbishop Deterich Eingelmann is the only being in Sharn powerful enough to address Glittergem's ancient curse and Erisna's lycanthropy. He is also a man that haunts Therin's memory, and the man that bound a demon to the elf when he was a boy.

The Mysterious Black Flame Lantern has been revealed to be an extraplanar object of some kind. Could Bodhrán Moor help the party decipher the meaning of the Sylvian text etched into it?

Rare has found an ancient glyph stone that holds knowledge of some kind. Is it carefully guarded information from the technologically advanced giant civilization that predates the Age of Humanity? Or, is it an ancient takeout menu from the continent of Xen'drik? The only way to find out is to discover a viable energy source to activate the artifact.

The goblin population of Lower Sharn and The Cogs has diminished to nearly nothing. Where did they go?

Harash is hiding somewhere in Sharn, likely advancing toward the Daask endgame.

Cavallah continues to elude capture, despite being one of the most sought-after criminals in Sharn's history. Where is she, and what is she planning?

Campaign

Flight of the Sharn Dragons

Protagonists

Glittergem Boondiggles

NG Rock Gnome (Guild Member (Fabricator's Guild))
Artificer 5

38 / 38 HP

STR
10

DEX
11

CON
14

INT
17

WIS
12

CHA
12

Rare Mavari

Report Date

13 Mar 2021