26 Erathisway 4520: Verdant Isle Attacked

Arkomir writes...
I wake Esabel Chantry and Luna of Mirellion as Dharra Boulderfoot sends a message back to Thicoul Stormwalker. I grab my armour and start to put it on as we make our way downstairs to travel. It’s all a bit rushed and we try to get as much of our armour on as we can as we move. Luna casts transport via plants and we travel back to Verdant Isle. We land outside the Steelfist Settlement whilst it is still pre-dawn. The front door of the settlement is open so we head toward that. Dharra gets there first and sees Krael and Durgash on th floor near the double doors at the other end of the hall in the process of getting up. Aleesia Dawnseeker is on the ground as well. Antonio of Mirellion is holding the door to the rest of the mine and fighting an undead something. Thrain Stoneforge is down and Devlin Helmbreaker is trying to keep him alive. Durgash gets back up but he looks quite unwell. He heads forward to help Antonio whilst Devlin continues working on Thrain, and we see him take a breath at last. Krael gets up and runs to Alessia. I move up and we enter into a fight to keep our friends alive. We kill off the undead in the first chamber and leave the healers to help the wounded as we rush off down the hallway to find more of these undead. Antonio follows me down the hallway looking for more things to hit. As we leave the main chamber we hear Luna cast revivify on Alessia. Thrain gets up and says he will stay in the main hall to stand guard. Dharra heads down the hallway following Antonio and I. As we head into the chapel we find it deserted so we instead head down into the reliquary. In here, a stone golem is fighting another undead creature. The stone plinth on the centre display area has been damaged. I notice electricity arcing off the golem to a point on the other side of the room. We dispatch the first undead and turn our attention to the invisible force in the room. We manage to kill them off and as we do, the form changes and turns to snow. In the remains of this entity are left behind a ring and a scroll. We pocket these and then ask the golem to seal up the plinth which it does. Looking at the ring and the scroll before we place them in the bag we see that it is an almost plain bronze ring with a beveled line around the outside and the scroll looks like a spell scroll. We get back to the main chamber and check on the folks there and everyone appears to have at least stabilised. We quiz Alessia on what we saw when we dispatched the hooded figure and she posits that it may be a duplicate sent to search for magic items.
Dharra sends a message to Thiccoul and he lets us know Isadora Giordano is on her way to us. Thicoul will now head home, but thanks us for the information. We gather everyone in the reliquary and take a short rest whilst we repair ourselves. We hear the tale of the battle that raged before we arrived. A number of folks ended up in death saves and Alessia summoned what looked like a celestial at one point. The insible force we encountered then said, Die, and she did.
Whilst we are here in the reliquary, we take a short rest As we are recovering and taking stock of things, Isadora Giordano arrives with her entourage, walking down the hallway toward us. With her are a half-elf, a human, a Tiefling, a Dragonborn (Giarvi), a halfling and a gnome. She also has a dwarf named Dante travelling with her dressed in a long coat with many many pockets. Dante is skilled in the art of architecture. She greets Aleesia asking whether she has put some protections in place around the tower. We show her the armour we have found, as well as the ring. She also looks at the scroll and confirms it is a scroll of stone shape. Isadora and her entourage will stay in residence in the tower for the time being. Aleesia, Antonio and Luna are also invited to stay (by order of the eternal duchess).
We ask Isadora about Pozohr The Flame and we have a walk and talk with her. In the main hall, she draws the outline of an ornate oak door. Opening the door, we see a fountain with a staircase leading upstairs. It is an ornate and well appointed space, with a bar and a numerous spectral attendants. We appear to be inside Isadora’s Marvellous Mansion. Whilst she is inside here, she feels more inclined to speak freely. In her opinion, we are not wrong about Pozohr. Her feeling is that he is a very, very smart and very, very likeable person, who also happens to be very ambitious. She will make arrangements, as best she can, to keep abreast of things in Confluence.
We then turen our attention as to how best to make sure the key to Glade's hidden room at the top of the tower. We devise that in order to keep the key safe, six people look will after the key; Devlin, Krael & Durgash from Belhaim and Aleesia, Antonio & Luna from Mirellia. A random dice roll will determine who holds the key and for the duration of the day they will remain in the tower.
Isadora also informs us that Katya Shadowash is safe in Mirellion and receiving treatment and training. Without mentioning names we ask about the messages to Lukas and why they would be failing. She does not really have much more to offer on that front, so we will keep trying. We ask that Isadora to set up a message system that alerts us if and when the tower or island is attacked again. She also informs us of Dante and his abilities to design their embassy. It will be placed apart from the tower at the point where two paths meet. After this discussion, we leave her mansion and head back out to speak to Dante. We give people the general tour of things and brief the people we need to about the key.
We walk down to the site for the embassy and Dante creates an illusory image of the proposed embassy. We show him some images of the other things Brak and Glade collaborated on and he changes the design slightly to reflect their style. Overall it is beautiful, and defenseable place that will be a welcome addition to Verdant Isle.
During the afternoon, Dharra and I find a moment to identify the scroll left behind by the caster. We dont get much, other than flashes of images of hands in a dark cloak. The scroll was made in a place that is physically off kilter. Two scrolls were made and this is one of them (one was already used to affect the plinth in the reliquary). We spend the rest of the afternoon showing folks around the island and sorting out inventory. We send a message to Moulten and invite him to dinner in the great hall of the Settlement. Isadora speaks to us about the spell books in the tower and we are happy for her to look at those in concert with Kezahr. A discussion will need to take place with Kezahr once she turns up from Confluence. We ask Isadora to have a look at the book of Golems though in the meantime.
That evening, a dinner is held. Thrain, Kaelin, Devlin, Krael and Durgash have done some work on cleaning up the main hall of the settlement and a large table has been sourced and is set ready for a meal. Dharra sends a message to Kezahr. She messages back that she is heading back now in time for dinner. She has plans to start the next phase of her life on Verdant Isle. Esward Moulton, Kugulex, Holly Branchwind, Gunnhild Helmbreaker, Zephyrion Darkflame turn up for dinner. The lanterns around the hall and the main fireplace is lit. Holly lets us know that she has acquired some warehouse space at the docks for the storage of materials as required for the repairs on Verdant Isle. She has been in conversation with Thrain to coordinate works as well.
Isadora arrives for dinner with Kezahr. Kezahr seems happy to see me, but she is clearly nervous about something.