Excerpt from the Cypher's Codex: The Scrawlings of a Warforged Scholar
After meticulously planning out the rest of our stay in
Wroat, we headed to the Citadel to report in with Three. Our mission to
the Dragonwood was a success and he needed to be made aware of our findings.
Three was not in attendance at court, however. Captain Ellanar,
commander of the King's Swords (an elite warrior force trained to operate far
and wide on behalf of the crown), was charged with debriefing us. I
reported on all that transpired in the Dragonwood, as well as our interlude at
the ir’Valish mansion. Captain Ellanar brusquely handed us a reward of 1,000
galifars. She did not seem pleased for us to be rewarded in this way—or by this
amount—so I promptly refused payment. I was quickly overruled by my
companions.
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| Absent: Three, the King's Protector |
There was some tension at the Citadel and Three’s absence
was making my companions nervous. I did not tell the Captain about the
dragon’s gift to us, the Deck of Many Things. That information could wait
until Three returned.
Before I had a chance to talk about our battle against
the forger Sylvander, Magnus asked the King’s Sword about the recent theft at
the Wroat Exchequer. She insisted that it was being handled capably, but
Magnus persisted and was told that in addition to the Agents of the Citadel,
House Medani had been hired to find the culprit. She mentioned the Blue
Wraith by name, confirming the rumors from recent broadsheets, and Magnus and I
offered our services to the crown. Somewhat dismissively, Captain Ellanar
said that if we were able to find the Blue Wraith, Breland would be grateful. I
vowed to not disappoint our glorious nation, although the captain did not seem
to care much for my words.
Glyphstone Keep was mentioned. It will be the next stop
on our journey. Kard, as well, seemed to have his own reasons for going to that
ancient Dhakaani fortress, and he had already asked us to assist him. Captain Ellanar
was very tight with any information about the keep. We asked if Three was
there and she still refused to share her intelligence. Finally, Magnus
declared that we were heading there next, and I quickly used some military
diplomacy to ask permission for our trespassing on the king’s lands.
Captain Ellanar said we would not be stopped, but subtly reminded us that
Glyphstone Keep would be considered property of Breland as it rested on Brelish
soil.
I also inquired about my final messenger. It had
not reached Three, and since he was not within the vicinity when I released the
messenger, it passed instead to another warforged under Brelish authority, a
guard at the Citadel. I asked for the messenger to be returned but I was
refused. They said that since the messenger was meant for Three, it would
be kept safe until such time as the King's Protector could receive it. I
requested it be returned to me at the next possible opportunity. The Citadel
noted my request in triplicate.
Next, we returned to the House Phiarlan Carnival, which
was still setting up outside the city proper. We found our captive, the
Sivis excoriate forger Sylvander, bound and shivering in a small tent. Lady
Amaryllis, the Mistress of the Carnival, was looming over him and he was much
more talkative than even before. Apparently while we were in the city, Amaryllis
had further interrogated the forger. Between her interrogations and our
further questioning, we were able to learn of a new character, a shifter named Tyken
Roslof.
Roslof was a member of the Dark Lanterns, Breland's
covert intelligence agency, but he was a defector who betrayed his king. Using
the forged documents made by Sylvander, Roslof stole the gold from the
Exchequer and was promptly murdered by his cohorts after giving the stolen gold
to the Blue Wraith. This was the body that Lord Szen d’Jorasco performed
an autopsy on, which led to his investigations at the ir'Valish estate.
Sylvander didn’t know the significance of it, but he knew
that Glyphstone Keep was involved in this crime somehow. Alain ir’Valesh, the
true identity of the Blue Wraith, had recently received an invitation from an
unknown party—someone, Sylvander theorized, from Droaam—to go to Glyphstone
Keep and meet with others "who would see King Boranel extracted from his
throne." Some of the others invited were agents of the Order of the Emerald Claw
as well as "a dark druid of the Gloaming."
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| Symbol of the Order of the Emerald Claw |
I had heard of the Gloaming, a place of deep darkness in
the woods of the Eldeen Reaches. It is a manifest zone to Mabar, the Plane
of Endless Night and Dar told us that it is also the home of the Children of
Winter, a particularly militant sect of druids with a markedly nihilistic
outlook on the world. Dar asked about the Order of the Emerald Claw and we
explained that they are Karnnathi terrorists, formerly a knightly orded that
Karrnath's own king disbanded and outlawed. They are believed to be associated
with the cult Blood of Vol. From our adventures, Magnus and I know that they
are also willing to ally with other outlaw-minded groups. We crossed bladeswith the Emerald Claw back in the ruins of Paluur Draal, which implies they may
be allied with Avashad as well. I remember that day well, as it might have been when I first decided that I wanted to craft an iron defender of my own (we were attacked by some).
Sylvander demanded his freedom, for he wanted nothing
more to do with his former associates—only his safety. In exchange, he promised
to draw a map of a secret entrance to Glyphstone Keep, which he claims to have
seen in Alain ir'Valish's company. The party agreed to his demands despite his
traitorous acts against the Crown.
Aleae also spoke briefly with Lady Amaryllis, for the two
high elves had made some arrangement at our last meeting concerning the mutual fate of their race. Aleae comes from the feyspire in the Eldeen Reaches, and Amaryllis comes from the feyspire in Karrnath. It seemed there would be a meeting of their kind in two weeks' time with representatives from two other feyspires.
Speaking of the feyspire in Karrnath, Lady Amaryllis had Magnus's dragonbone maul to return to him. She had sent it to her cousin, the eladrin ruler of Taer Syraen (this means "Winter Citadel" in elven), to analyze it. I had never seen Magnus read words as enthusiastically as the letter that Lord Syraen had sent back with the maul.
He read it to us.
Magnus of Seren,
My fair cousin, the Lady Amaryllis, explained to me that you had agreed to my terms: Namely, that if I examined the curious weapon placed temporarily in my care, you would perform a service on my behalf without question. I shall call on you again to meet your side of the bargain.
Here is what I have discovered. You have come into possession of a most fascinating artifact. Its name is Haurach, which means “fate” in Draconic, but it is also called the Defiler’s Bane. The weapon was crafted from the bones of the firstborn of the venerable white dragon Vensharatryx, and it was wrought in vengeance with the aid of a frost giant jarl whom she held in confidence. During the Age of Demons, the white dragon was slain by the servants of Katashka, the Gatekeeper Rajah who carried the grandiose epithet of “the Lord of Undeath.”
Vensharatryx intended the maul to be wielded by a warrior of her newly-founded Winter Coalition. The Draconic runes further suggest that its bearer, at least for a time, would become the leader of that order and would rally others to the cause.
The maul’s power is accessible to you, provided you have the strength and courage to reveal it. My cousin tells me that you and your friends have already traversed the paths of prophecy and that it is likely not by chance that you came to possess this weapon. If that is so, and you are aligned in purpose with Vensharatryx—who ever opposed the terrible rakshasa rajah—then I encourage you to claim this weapon as your own.
Yet doing so will be dangerous. You must carry it out into the elements under an open sky, ideally during snowfall. Cast the maul to the earth and speak the name of the spirit bound to it: Storrgrim. You will need to submit to whatever trial he presents. I strongly suggest you do this somewhere remote and where innocent casualties will be few. If you succeed, take caution: the Defiler’s Bane is intelligent, driven by the spirit inhabiting it, who is both irascible and violent. Yet his cause is the same as that of Vensharatryx, for his own tribe was slaughtered by the Gatekeeper’s servants.
As a final note, you should know that the Winter Coalition interests me considerably. I possess some lore on the subject in my personal library. You and your friends are welcome to visit me and discuss the subject. Otherwise, I will call on you when I have need.
Lord Syraen
When he finished, Lady Amaryllis looked out the window of her tent and remarked that it would snow tomorrow.
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