Songs & Swords

Summary

Harpers fight for truth and justice. Songs & Swords is a tale of Harpers who learn to embrace the truth and use both the dark and light within themselves for good.

Chapter 1: Danger at Blire Manor

Dragon bones were stolen from the Museum of Breantis, and it was up to Harpers Arilyn, Danilo, Shirley, Art, Kashew and Kelin to find them. The bones had been taken to Blire Manor- a manor house outside of Cinderburgh. There, Laughing Jon and his Merrymen were hiding the entrance to a secret dungeon known as Quabus, where the dragon bones were to be used to resurrect an evil dragon.

Chapter 2: Into Quabus

The Harpers entered the first layer of Quabus and watched Skuvan the Firesoul resurrect the long dead dragon Defroksanz.

Chapter 3: Assault on Quabus

The Harpers fled down to the second layer of Quabus and uncovered secret experiments done by a strange dragonborn scientist. In Quabus was a plane to the Plane of Dragons, a plane abandoned when the dragons were made extinct. The ghost of the architect of Quabus informed the Harpers that only one who could wield silver flames could truly destroy the soul of a dragon. It was a good thing, then, that Danilo knew just someone who had this ability.

Interlude XI: Silver Flames and Silver Tongues

The Harpers travelled to Anthor, where Dani's uncle Khelben Arunsun was going to be marrying Lady Mage Laeral Silverhand. Laeral was the person he knew who had mastery over silver flames, so they went to her.

Chapter 4: Blood Moon Wedding

Laeral Silverhand held the wedding early so that she could quickly respond to the threat of dragons attacking settlements. The murders of Ser Cassalanter and Anastra Silverhand occurred at Elrevien Mansion during the rehearsal dinner, and Arilyn and Dani were being framed for it. Art pulled from Diamond's Green Deck and got the Throne card, as well as a powerful magic weapon. He received a maul named Hellraiser (which was renamed to Thornraiser to suit his aesthetic) as well as his own castle, Art's Castle.

Chapter 5: Taking the Castle

To claim Art's Castle, first the Harpers had to clear it of all enemies. Holed up in the castle were the Black Rose Clan agents, Orion and Fortunata, who were ready to make life a living hell for these Harpers. It was in Art's Castle that Orion revealed Arilyn was not fully who she said she was, and that she had once been an assassin of Black Rose herself. She had framed her former instructor and gotten away with it. This horrified Dani, potentially shattering their relationship. Instead of taking him in alive, Arilyn let Orion die, horrifically impaling him on a sharp spire. That night as well, when Laeral was going to give a blessing to her unborn child, the blood moon actually cursed it, making it officially Laeral's worst night ever.

Interlude XII: Storm Brewing

Laeral, wanting the Harpers to get help, sent them to Hero's Point to get help from her sister, a fellow Chosen of Mystra Storm Silverhand.

Chapter 6: Those Who Harp

After the arrival of all factions, the final battle had come. The Battle for Hero’s Point was the climactic battle between the Harpers and the forces of Defroksanz and his master.
The battle began with the Harpers encountering Marceli Greatwell and Duskthorn Poppy at the Statue of the Titan. While they fought, Storm Silverhand and the The Unchained were fighting off the incoming dragons, trying to minimise the damage done to the village.
After defeating Greatwell and Poppy, the Harpers were told by Storm to head to the Hanging Tower to gain vampire sorceresses' help to help repair the clocktower’s magical anti-dragon wards. Along the way they encountered Rock, who was under the command of Defroksanz once more.
After defeating Rock, the Harpers were already down a few spell slots. Once they approached the Hanging Tower, they also alerted the vampires of their presence.
The Hanging Tower battle was set in a circular room 40 ft. in radius, therefore 80 ft. in diameter. Radia and Lorelei Chachki appeared across from each other at two ends of the room, forcing some Harpers out of Art's protective aura of courage. During the battle, Arielle was killed and the deceitful sorceress Rose Chachki pretended to be happy to help kill her abusive step-relatives. Arilyn Moonblade returned to the party during this fight, showing off the power of her new Primordial Fusionblade. However Arilyn seemed cocky and task-oriented, ignoring how problematic her behaviour was, and Dani Thann and her appeared to be actively hostile to one another, not healing or supporting one another.
After Rose acquired the Wand of Whispers andCal'li took Radia’s runic battleaxe, every character had improved weapons. Rose tried to betray the group but they easily disposed of her.
Storm resurrected Kelin easily using the magic of the Cobalt Temple to give him cybernetic enhancements. He rejoined the party of Harpers, now accompanied by Arvan and Stefan of the Unchained, and headed to the Cobalt Clocktower.
The Cobalt Clocktower is an imposing 60 foot wide, 320-foot tall circular clock tower. It was built with the simplicity and precision of monks with the expertise of artificers and inventors. There are nine main floors to the tower, with the top-level containing a massive bell and the arcane core of the dragonwards. To activate the dragonwards, multiple other cores must be activated simultaneously across the tower, in floors three, four, six, and eight.
Defroksanz had already wrapped himself around the roof of the clocktower and was able to climb or fly down to take potshots at the Harpers if he so desired. His breath weapon attack could reach those at the bottom of the tower while the Harpers were outside.
After a long, continuous battle through the tower, the Harpers defeated Defroksanz. They beat him repeatedly until Storm, who was emotionally fragile after realising she was a weaveghost, used her silver flames to eliminate Defroksanz's soul.
The Harpers repaired the dragonwards, and the Battle for Hero's Point was over.

Cast

The following is the cast of players and their characters, in order of appearance.

Kashew Knut

Kashew is a level 14 kalashtar cleric played by Ally. Kashew is an artist who received inspiration for his art pieces in visions gifted to him by the god of dreams, Morpheus. His abstract art is magical, and he uses the magic of his god to create masterworks. He is a member of the Harpers, and a good friend to Dani Thann and Cal'li. Kashew has tattoos of the wings of Morpheus all down his back.

Artemis Calsinious

Art is a level 14 satyr paladin played by Eoghan. Art was a simple artist who took the Oath of the Ancients and became a paladin. He fought in the Satyr Siren War and afterwards aligned himself with the Harpers, becoming a Harper Agent. During the course of the campaign, he broke his oath when he killed Poppy, so that he could achieve new levels of power. He also received his own castle in the heart of Anthor thanks to a Deck of Many Things.

Kelin

Kelin is a level 14 drow monk played by Rin. Before he joined the Harpers, Kelin was an experienced tattooist. While he still works in a tattoo studio in Breantis, he trains and meditates in the Way of the Open Hand to purify his body and optimise himself for being a Harper agent. He worked closely with other Harpers to find a way to stop dragons from resurrecting for evil purposed before he was encased in a crystalline void thanks to a Deck of Many Things. After escaping his crystal prison, Storm Silverhand gave him enhancements gifted by Mystra herself, making him a cybernetic monk.

Shirley

Shirley is a level 14 drow blood hunter played by Ciara. She was once part of a travelling circus, but now works for the Harpers. In the Vigilants campaign, she had travelled with the party on board of the Cassiopeia. During the course of this campaign, she forged a strong bond with Arilyn akin to sisterhood.

Cal'li

Cal'li is a level 14 tiefling cleric-barbarian played by Rin. She was first introduced in Tales from the Vault: Tether. She had travelled to Camor on the hunt for Roundabout Jen with Arielle and Asuki. She later found herself befriending Kashew Knut and the group who were involved in the investigation of the murder of Caladorn Cassalanter. She is easily swayed by power and to the end of the campaign we can see she may be tempted to the side of Tiamat when she returns.