- Midwinter, 12th - 18th May 1022TA - Bloody Gifts and Disappearances.
- Midwinter, 19th - 26th May 1022TA - Pirates, Leo's Return and the Grey Wind Assault.
- Midwinter, 27th May - 5th June 1022TA - Frobisher and the Dragon, Civil War.
- Midwinter, 6th June - Present, 1022TA - Reward.
- Freeport, 30th - 31st June, 1022TA - The Streets of Freeport.
- Dar'Vaer, 1st July - Present, 1022TA - Betrayals and Reunions.
Midwinter, 12th – 18th May 1022TA - Bloody Gifts and Disappearances.
The party return to their house and plot their next actions. Ash realises that Esla has not been seen for two days. Katie Lawson, Aaron’s favourite courtesan at Castaways, has also not turned up at work for two days. Her room-mate Mary Watts last saw her when she went shopping. Ash and Aaron begin to search the city for their lost friends. Back at the house, Luther gets a letter from Commander Jeremy Blackridge, inviting him to a meeting on the 13th. A few hours later, a package is delivered. Inside is a note and four bloody, severed fingers. The not is from Athamar Greenwood, a member of the Grey Wind. He informs the party that he has captured hostages and no harm will come to them as long as the party ceases hostilities.
The next day, the party send a letter to the Grey Wind, asking for a meeting to discuss the situation. This is a ruse to cover up the party's investigations into Greenwood and the location of the hostages. Ash and Rowley discover that Greenwood is a Lich and has been for several hundred years. They think that he is located in his old family keep near a village called Ossdale. Luther also visits Commander Blackridge. There have been a spate of strange murders across the city and Luther offers to help in the investigations. Blackridge asks him to visit the most recent crime scenes. All the murders follow a similar pattern and are attributed to the same group. Blackridge tells Luther that he believes the murders are politically orientated, though the dead represent several political factions.
Leaving various illusions and decoys in their home, the party secretly leave the city and head for Greenwood Manor. After a days travel they get to the keep. Luther detects the location of Esla beneath the earth, probably in tunnels. They enter the ruined manor house. They kill some guards and enter the subterranean caverns below. After searching the natural tunnels they find a series of underground rooms. Inside they find Esla and Katie, along with Luther's sister Lauren and a gypsy friend of Rowley. They have been bound with enchanted manacles to stop them casting spells.
They free the women and, taking the manacles, prepare to confront Greenwood. They follow the tunnels through the earth until they come to the crypts beneath the Church in Ossdale. There they find Greenwood dealing with some smugglers. The PCs wade in, killing the lich and the smugglers. Searching the room they are unable to find the Lich's phylactery and flee to the tunnels before more smugglers arrive.
Back in the tunnels, Luther casts divination spells and discerns that the Phylactery is somewhere in the underground complex of tunnels. The party head off, fight off an attack by Greenwood's goons and discover the phylactery. Luther calls down Holy Fire to destroy phylactery ending the Lich's existence. Victorious they return to Midwinter.
Midwinter, 19th – 26th May 1022TA - Pirates, Leo's Return and the Grey Wind Assault.
Awaiting their return is an invitation from the Grey Wind to meet at the Hammerwind Palace in 3 days time. To pass the time they investigate Ladron's pirate enemies. The captain, Reboran Swiftblade, is at sea on the White Whale and not due back until mid June. The surgeon, Mordock Entwistle, is the family doctor and tutor for a Zalian mage. Luther, who repeatedly divines for the location of their old companion Leo, is surprised to find him in the city. They set off to the Harbour district. Aaron breaks into a warehouse to look for Leo. Inside is the headquarters of a group of assassins who have been committing the murders in the city. Leo is a high up member of the organisation. Armed with this information, Luther returns to Jeremy Blackridge telling him of their findings. That night, the Watch attack the warehouse capturing the assassins. They learn later that Leo escapes.
After a day of further investigation, they meet the remaining Grey Wind at the Hammerwind Palace. The meeting goes badly. Paola Odinos and Agnyr Fairwind try to reconcile the situation, but Heslor Radizar, Reithal Torduum and Sylnar Relinaer are aggressive from the start and refuse to bargain. The problems are further compounded by Ash and Rowley who try their best to encourage Radizar to fight. The meeting ends and Rowley assumes a gaseous form and follows Radizar. He returns to his house with Torduum and Relinaer. Rowley overhears them plotting a series of attacks on the party's holding and their house. They return home and begin to plan their defences. Bruce visits the Freeblade's Guild and hires troops to guard their shops and businesses while they inform the local Watch what they have discovered. Together with the Watch, the PCs wait in their house for Radizar's attack.
As expected, the attack happens. Just after midnight a group of thugs break in to the house and are repulsed by the Watchmen. Just after the thugs break in, Radizar, his compatriots and several dwarves break into the rear of the house from the basement. A titanic fight ensues, leaving the players battered and bloodied and the attackers dead - right in front of the Watchmen's eyes. The following day, the crimes are reported to the authorities and the remaining Grey Wind flee the city.
On the 24th of May, they plan their kidnap of Mordock Entwistle. The magical enter the house he lives in, subdue him and take him to their old Norn Hill home. Under interrogation he reveals that Captain Swiftblade ignored the orders given him by the Grey Wind. Instead of killing all the passengers, he only killed the men and took the women to the pirate haven Freeport to be sold into slavery. The party immediately begin to plan a journey to Freeport. Rowley and Esla explore the netowrk of obelisks and gates to find a quick way there while Ash speaks to his own contact. When they all gather back at home a few days later, Ash lays before them a bold plan.
Midwinter, 27th May - 5th June 1022TA - Frobisher and the Dragon, Civil War.
One of Ash's contacts, a man named William Frobisher, wants to make a deal with the players. Frobisher works for Donal Hawkwind, one of the most powerful men in the city. In recent weeks, following the war with Zale, the city's government has been in chaos with a group of them fomenting rebellion and openly questioning the current government. Hawkwind is leading these rebels. Somehow Frobisher and Hawkwind have summoned the dragon living in Zale, Hadrazar, to attack Midwinter. Frobisher want's the party to 'defeat' the dragon and save Midwinter from the evil dragon. In reality the dragon's attack is for show and is expecting only a visual fight with someone.
Luther, Bruce and Rowley are not prepared to leave the dragon alive, and want favours from Frobisher in return. Ash and Aaron are prepared to 'defeat' the dragon for glory and gold. After a period of negotiation, the players agree to kill the dragon in return for information and support from Hawkwind to defeat the Grey Wind. Frobisher agrees and supplies them with magical items aimed at harming the dragon and protections from the dragon's flames. He makes only one condition - that the dragon is seen to be defeated by magic not arms.
A few days later, the players are ready to fight the dragon. They know they need to hit it hard and fast while it still thinks they are pretending to fight. They sail out into the Dukeswater on Aaron's pleasure barge and wait. When the dragon appears they cast their protections and fly up. Another mighty battle ensues. Magical bolts, balls, arrows and sword blows are directed at the dragon. After minutes of fighting, Bruce and Ash are knocked unconscious and fall into the sea, Luther calls on the power of Phaedra and paralyses the dragon and Aaron fires a slaying arrow into the beasts head, killing it.
After rescuing their fallen companions, they return, triumphant, to Midwinter. They are met at the docks by the acting head of the Council of Lords. An argument ensues over the fate of the dragon's carcass. The government wants to take the head of the dragon as a trophy to place in the Palace. Ash, feeling that they are trying to steal their thunder, refuses to hand over the dragon's carcass.
The following day Hawkwind openly declares his intent to rebel against the current government. Luther attends a meeting at the Phaedran church where they are warned against any involvement in the coming unrest. They also discover that the remaining Grey Wind have fled the city. Over the next few days, word reaches the city of the first battles of the civil war.
Midwinter, 6th - 29th June, 1022TA - Reward.
The party plan their next move. After discarding several plans, they decide to travel to Port Newland to speak to Hawkwind and Frobisher. Ash makes a deal with a fellow mage from the Academical Society to create a gate to the ruins of Zale and from there they can fly the two miles across the sea to Port Newland. As they arrive, they are met by Hawkwind's troops and escorted to him. As agreed he gives them control of a ship, the Rainbow, and it's crew. He tells them that they need to break into the vaults beneath the Merchant's Guild where they will find the official accounts for the guild. They should contain enough information to convict the Guildmaster of treason.
They leave Hawkwind and visit their ship. They notice that Port Newland's harbour is full of merchant ships that are being captured by Hawkwind's warships. They decide to search for 'The White Whale', the ship captained by Reboran Swiftblade. To their surprise the ship is in port. They use their ship to approach the White Whale. Rowley assumes a gaseous form and enter's the ships cabins. He casts a sleep spell on Swiftblade, summons Esla to the ship who then transports the sleeping Swiftblade back to the Rainbow. The Rainbow's captain sails to Zale and drops them off. In the ruins, they interrogate the captain, discovering that he sold their mothers to an elven slaver called Baeron Eddriel.
The party return to Midwinter and plan their assault on the Merchant's Guild. Aaron and Luther enter the sewers and using Rowley as a beacon in the Guild to help find the closest location to the vaults. With a little explroation they are able to roughly locate the vaults beneath the guild. That night they enter the sewers. Esla tunnels through the bedrock to the vaults. Rowley is first to enter, dispelling the wards and signs protecting the vaults. The rest of the party then enter. Aaron jams the vault door while Esla begins teleporting the strongboxes back to their house. After moving the boxes they think contain the information, they depart back to the sewers and back to their house.
Back at the house, Aaron picks the locks on the chests and they begin to sift through the information. While they are able to track down some suspicious evidence, they find no 'smoking gun'. Deciding they don't have the time to perform a full investigation, they deliver the evidence to the Orlothian Judges. They make an agreement with mages from the Academical Society, in return for a gate to return for a gate to Zale they will allow the mages to use their home as a staging point for gates in and out of the city. They then leave the city, head to Port Newland and then set sail for Freeport in the Rainbow.
Freeport, 30th - 31st June, 1022TA - The Streets of Freeport.
The players arrive in Freeport after a three week voyage. They scour the town looking for the elven slaver, Baeron Eddriel, who bought their parents from Reboran Swiftblade. They eventually find him begging on the dock front. He lost all his possessions twelve years ago when his property and business was destroyed by Quarthen mercenaries. Luther realises that Baeron is suffering from ten years of cheap drink, poor diet and exposure so decides to fix him up a bit. After clearing his head, they interrogate him again.
He remembers that the entire party of eleven women were sold to a man named Athario Sountar, a Quarthen slaver from Dar'Vaer. Leaving Ash to deal with the slaver, they ask the captain of the Rainbow for any information on Quarthen. He tells them that it is a matriarchal society, currently ruled by the Sountar family. Quarthen is a dangerous place where dark magic, dark gods and slavery go hand in hand. The party decide to buy some trade goods in the port and then travel to Dar'Vaer posing as Merchants.
Dar'Vaer, 1st July - Present, 1022TA - Betrayals and Reunions.
As they approach Dar'Vaer, Rowley begins to become sullen and introverted, getting worse as they approach the city. He even advocates abandoning the search and returning to Midwinter. Ash fears the worst, Rowley's use of the magical obelisks is driving him mad. Ash's fears are confirmed when Rowley disappears shortly after arriving in Dar'Vaer. Luther attempts to magically locate Rowley and successfully finds him thirteen miles to the east. While Esla attempts a risky teleport to look for him, Luther continues to search for his mother - and he finds her, deep inside the Royal Compound. Overjoyed by the knowledge that at least one of their mothers is alive they await the return of Esla.
She returns half an hour later. She has returned from the countryside where she believes Rowley is inside a wealthy looking villa. There don't seem to be many guards around but there are farm hands and slaves. Later that night they teleport out to the villa. Aaron scouts ahead invisible and discovers Rowley in one of the ground floor rooms having an argument with a beautiful woman. He returns to the rest of the party and reports his findings. Luther and Aaron return to the villa using spells to make them invisible and silenced. They enter the house and find Rowley still in conversation with the mysterious woman. When they burst into the room , she seems unsurprised that they are there. Rowley just looks confused.
She introduces herself as Sharn Sountar, youngest daughter of the Exarch of Dar'VAer, son of the slaver Athario Sountar and Rowley's ex-lover. She met him ten years ago when the party arrived in the Vale of Erryn as young adults and children. Over the next few years she slowly became aware of the link between the party and a group of slaves bought by her father in 1010. She decides to set the party go off alone, looking for their parents hoping that in several years time they will turn up in Dar'Vaer more experienced, tougher and stronger. She can then use them in her attempts to increase her position in the royal family. She offers the party a deal - help her dispose of her three elder sisters and she will deliver to them the eleven women they have been looking for.
On to Part 5 of the Chronicle.
