29 Meloragift 4520: The Belhaim Vote and a Coin is Cleansed

Arkomir writes...

The Belhaim Vote

Dharra gets up and heads out to get some breakfast supplies. Kade is up early and is heading out to work but will come back and collect June and move back to their house today. Dharra and I head out for a spot of shopping (supplies for the house, arrows, quivers, feed for horses etc). We head to the Triways and see Cartwright milling about, on the hustings. Whilst trying to get a sense of him, I sense some hallowed ground beneath me and at the tower. Dharra investigates the paving here and it is Dwarven made.
Back at the Chandlerveil, Iago turns up and we give him a quick tour. We have an informal brunch in the kitchen and discuss goings on and he tells us that Oxenhalt continues to get better after recent events. A delegation of eight have come to vote on the Lord Advocate. Iago is aware of Moulton, but not enough to have a firm opinion. He knows more about Cartwright saying that he is a savvy operator and is definitely a canny businessman. Iago says that the Elector (Phillip Schiller) will be absent for the vote. The Elector is quite young and became the elector at about age 9 and then received some tutelage. The Elector needs to ratify the vote once it has occurred. After our chat, we head down to the Triways for the vote.
We catch Moulten and wish him luck in the vote. Cartwright & Moulten step up us candidates - along with Elsa Valtervold Landry. She is standing with her faction from Dunkelgrund East. She is the cousin of the previous Lord Advocate. We move across to stand near Moulten to show our support. Each candidate makes their pitch for the job and Dharra gives Moulten some bardic inspiration to help with his speech. We then cast oure vote.
We have a quick chat to Alden about the area under the triways. He tells us there are some blocked tunnels under the centre of the Triways and a large stone door down there. We leave the Triways as Dharra has a date with Devlin. I find Kezahr and spend some time with her and discuss the history of Hermit Island. We head to the library.

A Double Date and A Coin is Cleansed

Kezahr and I head back to the Chandlerveil and run into Dharra and Devlin. Kezahr tells us that the vote for the Lord Advocate should be counted and a result confirmed by about dusk today. The result will be announced in the triways. Before we all head off I Dharra cleans up some of the coins we found on Hermit Isle. This brings on a whole new conversation and thread of inquiry. The coins turn up some interesting information.

on one side of one of the silver coins is an almost complete circle with five hands

on the other side depicts a cluster of trees and Bel Haim 2 (another says Bel Haim 4)

the numbers could be a reference to years from the founding of Belhaim

the stamping seems quite consistent and is possibly elvin, dwarvish or gnomish

'Bel' can mean beautiful or well formed

'Haim' can mean home of or place.

On one of the gold pieces has a stamping of Khurabil 2700

'Middenwald' means Middle Forest

'Dunkelgrund' could mean Dark Green

Kezahr seems to recognise the five hands symbol as thebottom part of the tower has something similar.

The symbol has reference to a group called The Cleansing Wave.

They were a group that were important to the history of Khurabil and Dunkelgrund

There were five of them: a human or two, a dwarf, an elf, and a halfling or gnome.

Devlin pipes up and says they freed this place.

They drove off the bad stuff - dragons, giants, orcs, goblins and other nasty things.

The most learned in the town would know most about the cleansing wave - maybe a bard or two.

Hermit Island used to be called Verdant Isle and was once part of Belhaim

There was a settlement there and they used to alsdo vote for the Lord Adevocate

I recall that the hallowed ground I sensed in the tower section could be where the symbol Kezahr mentioned.

We investigate the pavers in the triways as well and it seems similar to the Verdant Isle stone.

The darkish stone has some 'give' to it and feels slightly more brittle - possibly volcanic.

Any replacement pavers have not been replaced with the same stone.

Devlin mentions volcanic stone being in the area and that reminds me some training I had.

Most of Dunkelgrund, or at least the area around Belhaim and the lake is an ancient dormant caldera (or volcano).

Red Dragons like volcanoes - but prefer them to be a bit more active...

Devlin remembers a dragon named Silvan Plague mentioned in the stories of the Cleansing Wave.

Dharra and Devlin decide to go to the top of the tower to get a bird's eye view of the town.

Kezahr and I head back to the tower and the library.

On our way we stop at the area of the tower that Kezahr remembers seeing the five hands symbol. We find ourselves at the large area at the base of the tower in the area where the statues of the gods are. I recognise very quickly the statue of Corellon (in female form) with what looks like a magical effect in her right hand. The gods here are; Erathis. Corellon, Bahamut, Melora, Moradin and Ioun. The five hands symbol is in front of the statues of the gods, roughly two or three feet wide and is quite worn down. The statues and the symbol all appear to be the same age. The whole forecourt area has been sanctified and is hallowed ground.

We head upstairs to the library, Kezahr grabs some books that relate to the Cleansing Wave. She also shows me what she has already found out about Verdant Isle. After some time, Dharra and Devlin join us in the library and Kezahr comes back with some legal and religious documents relating to the Cleansing Wave. This leads her to other books - more like fables and childrens stories. She finds some names for the Cleansing Wave.

- Bella the Light (human) - Lok the Sentinel (human) - Glade the Arcane (elven) - Melody the Fury (gnomish) - Brak Steelfist the Stone (dwarven)

It is said that the Cleansing Wave came to the land of Khurabil and drove off the foul things that had infested the land. Orcs, Gnolls, Giantkin and the great Black Dragon Night Terror and the Green Dragon Mevryg, The Sylvan Plague

She also pulls out a book that is quite thin and square and quite old. It appears to be a collection of childrens stories that relate how the Cleansing Wave formed.

The other books she has found relate to the history of thus area a bit more. The elves of ForestHome have oft fought the Dwarves of EarthSpine. There are people in ForestHome and Mol Gentra that see those who are not Elvish as somewhat lesser. There is a bit of friction between the races if you look hard enough. It would seem that the lessons of the Cleansing Wave have been lost to childrens stories. We leave Kezahr in the library and make our way back down to the Triways for the vote.

We stand on the old part of the triways. We see Alden making his way into the throng - looking worried. Aleif, Holly, Cade & June join us as we wait for the announcement. We see Westley move past as well, making his way to where the candidates are gathered. Lord Welling confers with Westley and a couple of the Cavalliers as well as Gunnhild. Lord Welling steps forward onto the platform and says - the vote has been counted. - Cartwright = 52 votes - Elsa = 81 votes - Moulten = 87 votes
Esward moves forward and as he does Elsa steps forward and addresses the crowd. She is questioning the vote and brings up the poisonings again. She also throws shade at Moulten and the ending of the siege. Lord Welling steps back up and addresses the crowd again. He will request investigators from Battervold. He turns back to the candidates and announces that the stewardship of Belhaim will be under Moulten's rule.

The Path of The Cleansing Wave

We make our way over to congratulate Moulten. He is a bit surrounded so we talk to Alden. We discuss the hobgoblin & orc threat and possible links to the current political intrigues. He mentions the poisonings and we may investigate that as well. Alden also mentions that the Hobgoblins are organised (militarily) and they do make deals. He observed the leader of the siege ‘enacting’ a plan.
We catch up with Kezahr on our way out of the Triways. Fafnir (her pseudodragon) seemed upset or melancholy about what we were talking about in the library. We arrange to meet her at the tower in the morning to come along with the investigation under the Triways. Dharra heads over to invite Devlin along tomorrow as well. He agrees and will meet us at our place in the morning. We head home but stop on the way to buy Dharra a new book to write in. We head home and have a quiet dinner with Holly before taking a long rest.