#68 - Entering Wroat

It was a handful of gargoyles that had been perching on boulders nearby, watching. How long they'd been there even Kard was unsure. An attempt to see and engage them sent the flying into the air. Previously, Cypher and Magnus had battled gargoyles in the Seawall Mountains and the warforged had even had a tangle with one on the streets of Graywall. They were known to be aggressive predators—not unintelligent but hardly diplomatic.

They're also known for lairing in high, rocky places or vast cave networks. So what were they doing out on an open plain?

The druid who'd first introduced herself as Dar, now revealed to be a changeling named Loh, offered a means of hiding from the gargoyles' surveillance with her earthly magic. Using a Pass Without Trace spell, the group moved with greater stealth back to where the Brelish couple awaited on the road, then moved further down the road and made camp in a copse of trees.

Kard had now rejoined the group. His quest was vague but one thing he made clear: he wanted the rest of the party to join him in entering Glyphstone Keep, a place about which they'd all heard only rumors. He would join them in their local errand in the city, but before long, insisted on returning to his quest—a quest which had something to do with his knowing where to find them in the first place.

"Changelings, bah! You can't
trust a people who can
change their faces on a
whim." —Racists, or
anyone who's been
wronged by a changeling

Meanwhile, the Jorasco halfling Lord Szen suggested that upon reaching Wroat, the party join him in investigating the "forger" address that the ir'Valish mage had on her person. It was a Brelish matter of state, in fact, and had something to do with his reason for going to the ir'Valish estate in the first place. Szen explained that recently, there had been a high profile theft at the Wroat Exchequer (the government's treasury). Someone had withdrawn a valuable sum of gold using illegal yet impeccable documents constructed for that sole purpose. Then a body had turned up in the river, and agents of the Citadel had asked Lord Szen to examine the body. Having detected trace of the necromancy-conducive plant covadish, he had been sent to investigate the abandoned ir'Valish estate, since the ir'Valish family were known for having cultivated the rare plant before.

All of these things, he believed, were related. Perhaps more answers would come if they could find the location of the forger in question! Thus far, Wroat's law enforcement had not been able to find him.

The last remaining days in traveling to Wroat were uneventful. Cypher examined and identified some of the magic items they'd procured in the basement of the ir'Valish estate. The gauntlets imparted supernatural agility to their wearer, the helm greater protection, and the sword was a "dancing weapon"—allegedly able to fight on its own if tossed into the air during a fight. Each of these would require some attunement, however.

The PCs reached Wroat and after some antics at the gate, all made it inside. Clarion and Aleae were slightly detained at the gate—for the eladrin possessed no identification papers—but they agreed to meet up with the others later the Royal Bear Inn, a place Szen knew well enough.

Loh also had no identification papers, but she used her druidic talents to transform into an animal, became a rat, and simply scurried underfoot past the guards. Only after assisting her to pass unseen did Cypher, First Sergeant of the Brelish Engineers Brigade, realize he'd been complicit in deceiving Brelish authorities.

Wroat is Brelish's capital city, a metropolis dwarfed only by Sharn. Spread onto two sides of the Howling River, a central island houses Brokenplade Castle (the palace-fortress of King Boranel's court) and the buildings of the Citadel. It was a bright day, and the city's many thousands of citizens and visitors flowed through the streets. Most were human, but a surprising number of gnomes and half-elves comprised the population, with a smaller amount of elves, dwarves, and halflings. Even warforged were plentiful, relatively speaking.

After crossing a massive bridge into the south side of the city, settling in at the Royal Bear, stabling their horses, and paying for rooms for three days, the PCs set out for the "forger" location. The street address led to a dark, closed little glassware shop. After Szen banged loudly on the front door and Dafrena, his dwarf bodyguard, winced at the racket, the old halfling finally broke out of thieves tools and popped it open with a bit of luck. The PCs went inside, found a tight little spiral stairwell winding down into the dark, and proceeded down.

They arrived in what seemed to be a small receiving room, with green-tiled floors, and uncomfortably low ceilings clearly intended for smaller folk like halflings and gnomes. Magnus had to stoop, and could not stand upright.

On one wall was a door, on the other a vivid painting of a moonlit meadow. A big warforged with a curious contraption on one arm answered the door, and told them, "It is advisable that you leave." When they did not, it closed the door again. When they pressed the point, they discovered that a sitting room lay beyond, as did a handful of kobolds armed with blades. The warforged warned them that if they passed through the door, they would come to harm.

They passed through the door.