The Gamers Arms

Sly Boots wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 07, 2019 9:45 pm

I feel like we're destined to leave Neverwinter in a session or two in much the same manner Jeff was leaving whichever village we saw him leave burning in his wake

The Unmentionables decided to go see what was occurring at the docks with the master of trade, Beatrix du Bolbec, receiving a shipment from what appeared to be a pirate ship, but as they were about to leave several things happened at once. Sage, keeping an eye on Brior Felhim in the Shard of Night via Raven, noted that Brior had disappeared and was nowhere to be found in the Shard. Sage and Charr also overheard an argument from the top floor of the Cloak Tower, including mention of a certain runestone. Meanwhile, Slythe received a message in his head from Lorekeeper Amarr of the House of Knowledge to say that two of the monks had been murdered, and while the Unmentionables were not suspects, the Lorekeeper did have some questions regarding their earlier trip to the temple.

The party headed upstairs to eavesdrop on the argument between Archmage Gorvenal and Grandmagister Tharellium. Gorvenal had apparently been searching for the stolen runestone and believed it would not be safe in the Tower once recovered, whereas Tharellium insisted that it must be kept under the Tower's protection. As Gorvenal stormed out, he spoke with the party regarding his concerns and suggested that the theft of the runestone may have been an inside job.

It was at this point that the entirely trustworthy, reliable, level-headed gnome, Brior Felhim, appeared on the stairs and announced solemnly that he knew the party had the runestone and that it must be returned to the Tower immediately. Brior explained that the runestone was a device that could summon one of the eight demon lords - vastly powerful demons, each ruling over a different brand of chaos in the Abyss. After much debate about whether the runestone would be safe in the Tower given that it was previously stolen from there, and musings about how Brior had tricked the party into entering the Tower so he could ensure the runestone's retrieval, not to mention borderline threats of reprisal from the Grandmagister and pleas from Gorvenal for the party not to hand over the runestone for the sake and safety of all Faerun, the Unmentionables concluded it was probably fine. Sage handed over the runestone of impending doom and desolation to Brior, who visibly shook with delight and scuttled off with Gorvenal to hide it away in the vault.

Hindsight, dear reader, is a terrible burden.

The Unmentionables proceeded to the docks, calm and composed having discarded the harrowing responsibility of preventing the End Times to their deranged but charming prime suspect. A cordial conversation arose between Slythe and Beatrix, establishing that while she had paid for a shipment of food from the pirates of Luskan, she had done so to prevent starvation in the city. The party agreed to aid this underhanded but noble cause by taking a barrel of grain to the Dolphin pub, where they found the beleaguered druid, Reidoth, in an enraged, drunken rant. It seemed he had not taken kindly to the party tricking him into thinking the dragon in his village had left, nor was he best pleased about the dragon razing his house to the ground upon its return. He swore certain death to the Unmentionables, who further riled him by faking the sound of a roaring dragon and magically putting him to sleep for his own good. Mercifully, they paid for a room for him, but not before watching the snoring, drooling druid empty his bladder and then - as the killing blow of dignity - water-shaping his urine into a dragon head. Pleased with their work as representatives of the Council, they left and departed for bed.

The next morning, the party woke to a bit of a disaster: the Shard of Night was gone. Rushing over to the Cloak Tower, they discovered that Brior Felhim and Grandmagister Tharellium had also gone, along with the runestone, and Archmage Gorvenal was dead. It seemed that after the party had left, Brior and Gorvenal went down to the vault, Brior then returned to the top floor to speak to the Grandmagister, and from there they disappeared (possibly using a teleportation circle). Gorvenal was then found dead in the vault. Archmage Eria Kross admitted that she felt as though she and the other mages had been under Brior's control or influence for some time, and only now could she tell the difference.

It could be said that the warning signs were there from the start; that perhaps freely handing over the means of summoning a demon lord to the crazed gnome who had seemingly tried to kill them on several occasions and was under suspicion for framing the city guard with the sending stones, was not in the best interests of Neverwinter, or life itself. Providing him access to the soul-powered planar transportation tower, thereby giving him the potential to wreak havoc on a multiversal scale, was also arguably material for the Neverwinter bloopers puppet show. Where Brior had gone, whether he had used the runestone, what had happened to the catatonic Truss and his soul and precisely how incandescent with rage Lord Neverember would be at their report were all yet to be determined...