#62: A Farewell to Half-Orcs

As told by Magnus of the Island of Seren.

I woke up like I had been asleep for a week.

No dreams, no visions, just a memory of drawing a card that said “The Void” on it and then Clarion’s shiny (very shiny) face hovering over mine. I felt fine, a bit confused, and then Rendar let out with “We are under observation,” pointing at the sky.

Wyverns.  And Rendar confirmed that his old friend Drazul (d'Tharashk) was leading them. I could make out a large blue wyvern among the four. All had riders. It wasn’t long before they disappeared into the little hamlet below and a few miles to the south, not a good sign. We talked for a minute about what to do, deciding that if they wanted to attack, they could have attacked us there on the exposed cliff. Clarion stepped up and started down the stairs. We followed a bit and then the stair dropped out from beneath the group. Most managed to grab the cliff, but I was still sort of out of it I guess, I dropped like a stone.

In an instant, Cypher cast a Feather Fall (from a feather he'd won at the Carnival) spell  and I floated down to the ground below, followed by the rest of the party. Cypher himself climbed down. I guess the spell wasn’t for him, but he is a good climber for a warforged.

At the bottom was a small ravine and in one wall there was a cave with prints and smells that told me “bear.” Clarion told me that the stairs had been a trap, and that he had heard someone chuckling as we fell. We decided to stay on our mission and get out of there when suddenly a noise from the cave turned us all back around.

Just as the noise reached its peak, a little winged humanoid zipped out of the cave and disappeared into thin air.  A quasit Sorethyress called it, based on the description. Little gray demon like those pestering us in her lair. It was immediately followed by an enraged owlbear who turned and saw us.

Aleae cast a new ice spell that frosted the owlbear and his entire dooryard (a powerful spell indeed). We all saw the quasit freeze and drop dead out of the sky. We tore into the owlbear with great intensity and in a few seconds, it was dead. I did get beaked but hardly noticed.

Owlbears want you to get
the hell off their lawns.

Rendar went into the cave seeking some treasure and Clarion scanned the area for the other quasit.  He told me that it was nearby.

I had been working on a new use for my dragon fury, something that takes a lot of focus and anger to master.  Using heavy breathing I can channel my inner dragon and crack open the door to the rage and enhance my senses. As with the dragons, all of my senses reached out into the world around me. It was like being very hungover, every chirp of a cricket was thunder and my skin prickled with the faintest breeze. But I could sense the invisible quasit, hovering  nearby. I moved around the dead owlbear and then sprung at the floating beastie. Though invisible, I knew exactly where he was and smacked him out of the sky. Clarion confirmed that we were now clear of demon spies. Good.

We regrouped. Rendar (with some new armor and gathered up weapons from the cave) was looking formidable again, though still in need of some pants. We turned south towards the village. Soon enough, a wyvern flew into view and dropped a still-living halfling from a great height. We ran over to see what happened.

The halfling, an elder of his kind, was dead, and there was a note tied to him, as I knew there would be.

Lord Rendar, meet me in the tavern. Let us talk business and the future of our esteemed house. I have information  about the Triumvirate which may interest you. If you're not here by nightfall, the establishment will be torched along with everyone else in it. A shame that would be, as this sleepy little hamlet did nothing to deserve the consequence of your cowardice. There sure are a lot of children here.

There were only a handful of buildings in the distance. A tavern would have to be one of them. We decided to go. On the way, Aleae asked Cypher to identify a wand that had come to her from her Deck of Many Things card. He said it was a Wand of Wonder and was powerful but extremely unpredictable. Perfect for her.

The town was just a couple of low-slung thatch-roofed stone buildings, with wyverns perched on all of them. One, two, three. Where was the fourth wyvern? Concerning.

Without much fooling around we agreed to kill Drazul after we let him say his piece. Rendar opened the door and we all walked in. It was a typical-looking pub inhabited by Drazul, a witch, a fat half-orc, and two orcs who were holding weapons over a couple of bound halflings. An adult male halfling was serving ale. I ordered one while Drazul blabbered on about how he was going to kill everyone and take over the world. But he needed the Emperor’s key. He wanted Rendar to join him. He threatened everyone with death.

Enough. He must die.

We all attack as one.

Cypher, Rungo, and Clarion managed to save the bound halflings despite some bloodshed. The fat half-orc turned out to be a wereboar and changed into a giant beast.

The witch summons an air elemental and Drazul fought like a fiend. Drazul seemed to have some magic vitality as we chopped away at him.
His wyvern swooped through the place twice and I got poisoned pretty badly. Cypher managed to gain some control of the air elemental and sent it back at Drazul’s friends. Aleae had her hasty hands full containing the witch for a few minutes.

Under our onslaught, Drazul finally dropped when Rendar pushed some found swords through him. With him dead, the hired witch jumped out the window and ran away—you just can’t find good help these days. With her gone, the air elemental wandered out the front door. The wyvern, with no one to command it, also left the area, we could hear some wyvern roars outside.

Drazul had some giant leech stuck to his chest and wrapped around him. This was disgusting, but I think it was the source of his great vitality. I called for fire.

Rendar picked up a jeweled rod that Drazul had on his belt. It was a "channeling rod" according to Rendar, and when he grasped it, he was given a message somehow, or some saw kind of vision through it. Maybe because of his fancier new dragonmark. Through his recounting, we learned some things. I summarize them here:

• Drazul was working for Avashad. Not surprising. 
• Avashad sent him directly to find us, and he knew we were in the Dragonwood. The quasit spies probably helped. 
• Avashad said something about "his Awakening" and said that if House Tharashk wished to benefit from it, then he needed the Emperor's Key.
• Drazul was to recruit Rendar if he wished, but the rest of us were to be killed—except for "the high elf female they call Aleae." He said she serves "an Eldeen queen in whose court I have no influence." He wished to capture alive, learn from her, and then replace her.
• Avashad said he has two agents among the feyspires already (but not the one Aleae is from).
• Avashad also has one agent in King Boranel's court. He knew a meeting was soon taking place among Aleae's people to discuss their "confinement on this plane." Avashad wants eyes at this meeting.

What bothered Rendar most was Drazul's talk about the Triumvirate, which seems to be some sort of ruling council for his house. Evidently it has been targeted for assassination and usurpation. The half-orcs of Drazul's side of the house wishes to eliminate opposition. I believe Rendar must go, and quickly, and try to stop this. Rendar has great honor and he must go to do what he can to bring honor to his house. I believe his new enhanced dragonmark will make his homecoming a good one.


Meanwhile, we must get back to Three, and maybe to the Brelish king, and then maybe Glyphstone Keep, where Rendar said the vampire Governor Trazzen was.

One of us must bear the Key.

I am sad to learn that Rendar must go. I wonder if the card he pulled was the reason for this, or if this was going to happen anyway. The Draconic Prophecy is strange. I am certain Lucerix would understand it better.

Rendar has been a great companion on these adventures. I deeply hope that our paths will cross again.

*          *          *

DM's Interlude

Rendar's farewell was cryptic, ominous, and brief. Not seeming to be entirely present anymore—he looked to the floor. "There are corpses down there," he said sadly, indicating the trap door leading to the basement. He shook his head, said his goodbyes, and simply walked out of the tavern.

Looking after him, the others could see him striding across the plain toward the northwest. Soon after, a winged shape appeared and descended to meet him. It was clearly not a wyvern. Though it was far away, they could see it was feathered, tawny, and vaguely dragonlike, but it bore the majestic features of a lion.

While the others recognized the creature from the crest of House Tharashk, Aleae knew its kind from various stories told in Thelanis: it was dragonne, a predatory beast of draconic origin but not quite as intelligence or magic-using as a dragon. Nevertheless, they are mighty creatures classified as fantastically as griffons, chimeras, or sphinxes.

The half-orc seemed to speak or parley with the creature in some way, then climbed on its unsaddled back. The dragonna launched itself into the air and flew overhead, heading south and west.

Another strange development! Was this the Deck of Many Things at work? Rendar seemed to have become a living embodiment of his house. In the last couple of months, he had taken many wounds for his companions, nearly died a dozen times, served as the focus for several of Xoma's spells, crossed swords with countless foes, inexplicably earned the affection of medusas and dryads alike, and saved many innocents.

Then Rendar d'Tharashk, Wyvernslayer clad only in some salvaged armor and a Cloak of Elvenkind, departed.

The Cake of Finding