#55 - Recreation and Royalty (Part 2)

The special dinner event with Three and Princess Haydith continued.

Soon some of the PCs were approached by a hobgoblin woman who introduced herself as Irakas. She was part of the Darguun delegation, whose presence the PCs were not informed of. Her attire was vaguely shamanistic, but clearly Dhakaani in design. She called herself a dirgesinger—an oral storyteller and historian of the Dhakaani culutre—and expressed an interested in hearing more about their involvement with Governor Trazzen.

Through this conversation, Cypher and Rendar provided a fairly thorough, if incomplete, account of their involvement with Trazzen. Irakas said she couldn't believe this was the Governor Trazzen—the traitorous ruler of Paluur Draal from thousands of years ago—for he was defeated and presumed dead, sealed in the mountain behind gates "that only the Emperor himself could open."

The warforged and half-orc exchanged glances, and finally Rendar revealed the presence of the Emperor's Key. This conversation occurred mostly in the Goblin tongue, with Aleae present—it is one of the few languages she didn't know. She glimpsed the medallion that he wore around his neck but didn't properly understand all that was said in front of her. To her deep consternation.

Lesh Haruuc, hobgoblin
ruler of Darguun

With the Emperor's Key revealed—and the manner of their acquiring it kept vague—Irakas became politely insistent that the artifact be returned to the heirs of Dhakaani. More specifically, to Lesh Haruuc, the chief warlord and nominal ruler of Darguun itself. She said she and her three companions would be able to escort the PCs to Darguun and to the capital city of Rhukaan Draal safely, so they could return the Emperor's Key to the lesh. Irakas was clear about this: that the Key did not belong to them, but rather to Darguun, and it should be given back. She said she would not try to take it from them. Their choice was: give it to them or carry it directly to Darguun's ruler.

The coveted
Emperor's Key

Once this was imparted to the others, both Magnus and Aleae distrusted the Darguun delegates the most. They said they expected the hobgoblins would inevitably try to take the Emperor's Key by force. Perhaps killing them would be the solution. But the others, especially Cypher and Rendar, disagreed that that was a wise option. Then again, they all liked the idea of being rid of the Emperor's Key, for it had brought—and perhaps still would bring—many enemies after them. In the end, it was decided that they needed more time to figure this out, especially now that they had a new quest—seeking the green dragon Sorethyress, on behalf of Three and the Brelish crown. Toward that end, Cypher spoke to Three directly about the situation, keeping specifics vague. The King's Protector agreed to talk to the Darguun hobgoblins and request that they allow the PCs to carry out their errand for him before they pursued other inquiries.

Soon after, the dinner was concluded and the PCs went and watched the performance of "Boranel's Triumph," a dramatic play performed by House Phiarlan and a local actor's guild in Galethspyre. This was the production's debut, which they intended to bring to Wroat next, then Sharn, if all went well. The show depicted the events up to and including the Battle of Brey's Crossing in 976 YK, often considered a seminel event in the history of the warforged, wherein King Boranel's was so impressed with the loyalty and stamina of his warforged guards, it inspired him to declare the Warforged Decree several years later. At the battle, King Boranel and only a handful of his warforged bodyguards managed to hold the bridge that spanned the Brey River against overwhelming Thrane forces. It was acknowledged, by Three himself and by this production—if not official historians—that that numbers were manageable due to the efforts (and numerous traps) laid down by a unit from the Brelish Engineers Brigade.

Of which Cypher had been a part.

Since returning to Galethspyre from their Seren islander sojourn and dalliance with bulettes and a purple worm, Kard was no where to be seen. But the Carnival Master, Mussfinch, did remark to them that their cleric companion had returned earlier that evening to Davenn's Arbor of Abominations, where the PCs had previously visited. Kard had agreed to return to "The Mourning Twins," one of (or a couple of) his former countrymen to speak in private. That is the last they'd heard of him.

The next morning the PCs returned to speak with Three and with Princess Haydith. Three gave them a map of sorts, a gleaming ruby, and some instructions for their secret mission:

• They are not to touch the tribute left in front of Sorethyress's cave, once found. In addition to incurring her wrath, Brelish mages always ward the offering with spells to protect it. It would be unwise.
• Once Soretheyress is found, show her the ruby—which cames from Queen Wroann's very scepter—as proof that they are the crown's emissaries.
• They are not to provoke Sorethyress, merely determine the reason for her silence. She is a very old and very cantankerous green wyrm but has always been true to her word. 

Aleae spoke in private with Haydith, for the eladrin had seen the girl looking troubled the night before, had seen her reading and rereading a letter in her possession. They had an agreement: Aleae would allow her to look into the crystal orb she carred—an Eye of Thelanis, which could pierce the veil between Eberron and her home plane—if Haydith would tell her what troubled her. There was girl talk, and Haydith did seem deeply fascinated with what she saw in the eladrin's orb. Their meeting included with Aleae giving the girl some curious and risky advice on how to deal with her brother, whose letter it had been. Haydith's older brother being King Kaius III, the ruler of Karrnath.

The PCs had been given a choice of transportation methods for their journey to the Dragonwood. They could either take horses provided by the King's Citadel and follow the river to its source, or they could take a journey by riverboat upstream. They opted for the latter, and so that morning they went down to the docks to board the vessel in question.

There they found a curious river craft, aptly named the Sweet Scrag, for it was a gnomish elemental steamboat from Trolanport (Zilargo) with a carved, grinning, bow-and-ribboned female sea-troll as its figurehead. Its captain was a white-haired, topknotted matronly gnome woman who introduced herself as Deelera Dela Raladaran. She worked often with the Carnival of Shadows, had ferried them on the water before, and knew both the Master and Mistress of the Carnival. She came highly recommended.