The Shackled City

6 Flocktime, 592 CY (Continued)

Bransen broke the dominate affecting the two Watchmen, and everyone went back to town. The party explained the situation to Hetagg who, while relieved at the return of the statue, was downtrodden at the news of Kalina’s demise. He promised he would find a way to pay the adventurers for their efforts on the town’s behalf. They spent the night at the Village Tap again, planning to leave again the next morning.

7 Flocktime, 592 CY

The Silver Phoenixes plus two left Pearlglen.

8 Flocktime, 592 CY

In the afternoon of their second day of travel out of Pearlglen, the party spotted a trio of hill giants accosting a woman on the road before them. Spells and powers led the assault, with Kan’ti’s black tentacles rising up on all sides of the giants and grappling one. Ashton rendered himself invisible and then launched a weakening fireball their way, judiciously avoiding the woman, who was unfortunately caught by the tentacle spell. Then Greyjek manifested a massive opaque mist that burned the giants. As the giants did not come forward through the mist, the erudite realized a potential tactical error in that he was preventing the party from seeing the foe. As such, he began to move it off of the road and into the woods.

Kan’ti, realizing he’d inadvertently caught the woman with his tentacles concentrated on dismissing the spell, while moving forward to keep up with the fighters. When the mist cleared, Kort saw that the giants had apparently entered the jungle. He began his pursuit. Greyjek opened his senses to a manifestation of telekinesis, to get a bead on the giants through the cover of the trees. He called out to the others that two had gone right of the road, while the third had cut left instead. The party then heard yelling in a language they didn’t understand, although it had the unmistakable cadence of an order. Immediately after, Greyjek could no longer sense the giants. He boldly decided to pursue them and stepped through a dimension door. Seeing this, Kort likewise strode into the jungle on the right.

Ashton, in the meantime had taken flight and begun to pursue the lone giant using his ears to detect the creature crashing through the jungle, since the foliage thwarted his efforts to spot it. He quickly homed in on it and harried it with spells from the safety of invisibility, until he grew bored of the sport and returned to the others.

Greyjek and Kort found the two giants and engaged them. Evenly matched numbers proved to be a dangerous enterprise, especially considering that Greyjek accidentally caught the dwarf in an electrical burst intended only for the giants. He hadn’t seen Kort through the dense foliage. Kort brought out his wand and began healing some of his more serious wounds before introducing the giants to the business end of Greywhisker’s Razor. They were, unfortunately more than up to the task, and though Greyjek struck out at the giant leader’s mind time and again, he was forced to quit the fight, leaving Kort outnumbered and heavily wounded. Fortunately, the judicious application of healing and his own quick feet helped him outpace the giants in the thick undergrowth, and they did not pursue, apparently unwilling to face the party as a whole.

When Ashton returned to the road, he discovered Jarvyk, Kan’ti, and Karamus lounging while Bransen spoke with a young woman that bore the “sorcerer” a remarkable resemblance. It was revealed that they had been dreaming of one another and now had met. The woman mentioned a man by the name of Viggor Fehr, of whom Bransen reminded her. She claimed not to have heard of Migos, whom Bransen had met in Sasserine. She was on business for her employer in Cauldron, a dwarf by the name of Adrick Garthûn. She was bound for Sasserine, so she turned down their offer to escort her back to Cauldron, but she promised to ask for guards in Pearlglen.

The party decided it best to put some distance between themselves and the giants before resting the night.

10 Flocktime, 592 CY

The party arrived at the Lucky Monkey, which was apparently in the final stages of reconstruction, having been purchased by Zachary Aslaxin I. They stayed the night, and proceeded on to Cauldron the next day.

11 Flocktime, 592 CY

The Silver Phoenixes finally arrived back home to Cauldron. They were hassled by the half-orc mercenaries guarding the gate until Sergeant Skylar Krewis intervened and welcomed them back. He assured them that the house had gone unmolested in their absence (due, in part, to his volunteering to patrol their neighborhood personally) and promised to stop by when he was off duty and time allowed. After everyone came into the house briefly and sat down for a minute, everyone went in different directions to see to their personal affairs.

Kan’ti identified the unknown magical items, and then Karamus sold Lerrius’ accoutrement, including the ring of mind shielding (which he had said he would hold) before replacing it on his hand with a duplicate. He also noted that she’d resupplied her shop with an assortment of new magic items. He met with Tygot Mispas and sold the gems and art items the party had recovered. He learned from the halfling that taxes had been raised again, this time on businesses, so that the majority of the populace was mollified enough for the time being. Bransen hit the streets and reconnected with a lot of his local contacts. He verified many of the rumors he’d first heard in Sasserine, including the disappearance of the mayor and the temporary ascendancy of Lord Vhalantru. Of particular interest was the fact that Maavu Arlintal had been pardoned and was in the process of rebuilding his warehouses, which had been destroyed by an umber hulk some months before.

Maavu invited Bransen in to speak with him about the Alek Tercival story. Apparently, after they’d received his sending following Alek’s death, the Chisel had pulled off an elaborate ruse. Honest Minstrel magically disguised himself as the paladin and announced the retraction of his claim to Terseon Skellerang in public with all of the soldiers and citizens watching. During this stirring speech, the bard had vouched for the people of the village as innocents and apologized profusely for his slander. He’d done such a compelling job that Skellerang could only accept the apology and pull out of Redgorge, leaving it unscathed. Maavu counseled that his was a secret best kept, as Skellerang’s rage at being duped would surely re-escalate the conflict between the two cities.

Kort and Jarvyk met with Fario Ellegoth and Fellian Shard of the Striders of Fharlanghn in the Drunken Morkoth. They told the half-elves of Alek Tercival’s demise, which the Striders found to be very interesting. They didn’t know many details of the event, but they echoed Maavu’s warning to Bransen about keeping that knowledge to themselves. Fellian looked over to Tyro Amberhelm, who was sitting at a nearby table and the dwarf nodded back before returning to his conversation.

Ashton went to the Bluecrater Academy accompanied by Greyjek, who had joined the magus at Sage’s urging. They spent a couple of hours researching places of necromantic power in the hopes of finding some clue as to where Ashton’s father could have gone with Evane’s captured soul. There wasn’t much to find, and the only mention of any such place he could find made oblique references to something called a “Kurral.” Frustrated, the necromancer told Greyjek to head back to the Silver Phoenix house, then went to visit the Cathedral of Wee Jas. He noticed as he approached that there was a great deal of scaffolding around the structure, and he was told at the door that the cathedral was closed for remodeling.

Jarvyk returned to the Silver Phoenix house to be harassed by Tedryk’s Grace into returning to his home as soon as possible, emphasizing that now was one such time. Kort, meanwhile went to see Jenya Urikas, where he learned what Bransen had regarding the Chisel’s ruse. She expressed her interest in recovering Alek’s body, but Kort informed her of how difficult such a task would be and she relented. She clenched her jaw with the steely resolve Kort had grown used to and thanked him for coming to see her and welcomed him back to Cauldron.

Karamus had a meeting with some business associates, and they discussed their business. Afterward, he asked the others if someone still had Tercival’s signet ring. It was determined to be among the company’s current possessions.

With no other pressing activities, the party slept well that night and recovered from their trip over the next couple of days.

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