#86 - Parleys and Partings

Excerpt from the Cypher's Codex: The Scrawlings of a Warforged Scholar

Dar and I were standing in the Glyphstone Keep room staring at Magnus through what used to be the door. He had clearly broken it down, although I never locked it. Clarion asked if we were ok and I responded by asking how long we were in there. I had the impression that we had been under some powerful magical influences and I had no idea for how long we were trapped in that room.

I remember getting up from the drawing table in order to join the impending battle when the door closed and a humanoid figure appeared, from where and how I knew not. He interrogated Dar and me but anything more was but a fuzzy memory. Clarion said it had been only minutes. I tried to explain to them all I could but it was clear they had not fully dispatched with our latest enemies, so I ordered the party to move onwards.

I infused Rungo's wood and metal armor with a powerful enhancement to strengthen her‡ and increase her resolve and then sent Rungo ahead to scout the far room, where the lingering enemy combatants retreated. No one was there but Magnus found an open trap door in the room leading down. According to our map, this was the secret way to the stairs down to the deeper levels.

While the others were contemplating further action in that room, I noticed that Kard was in possession of the magical chalice from the fountain. What an exquisite artifact! I was compelled to learn more. He told me that there was a magical force with which he had been fighting since taking hold of the gigantic ten pound chalice. I steeled my resolve and picked up the cup in order to investigate its magical matrix. Immediately I felt the scrying mind of an unknown force but I fought it away and continued to peer into the artifacts matrix. I determined that there was powerful enchantment magic at play. Unfortunately by the time I was done, nary a minute later, the being on the other side of the magical tendrils leading out from this cup was able to divine from me my name and physical location. I had specifically tried not to keep any important information on the top layer of my thoughts, however I could not fight it completely.

I told Kard that we shouldn't touch the chalice any longer so he rolled it up in a carpet and we went in search of a safe location to stash it.  I disabled the lock in the door to the next room first.  It was a fortuitous move because the room turned out to be a storage area of some manner. Kard stashed the chalice behind several mattresses which were stacked vertically and I extinguished my infusion of light to ensure that the chalice magical light was completely hidden by the coverings. Using my tools I was able to lock the door again, but for added security of our prize I very carefully jammed the lock mechanism with some sealing wax and lint. It wouldn't stop a dedicated being from getting through that door, but it would slow them down and an indifferent creature might be prone to give up on any attempt.

While we were stashing the magical chalice, Magnus, Aleae, and Clarion had entered into a parlay down the stairs with Alain ir'Valish, the Blue Wraith, whom we had been seeking by order of Three. When Kard and I returned, the entire party moved further down the stairs to a small room where we spoke with Alain face to facel he who was there with an animated suit of armor as a guard. The Blue Wraith did not seem troubled by our presence, or our constant threats to his life (and Magnus issued many of these), as one might expect. Instead, he remained calm and maintained that our situation was hopeless and he offered us a diplomatic option forward. He demanded that we hand over our weapons and be safely escorted deeper into the Keep where those who were in charge would speak with us and potentially consider an alliance. Alain also insisted that he himself was a visitor, who had been invited by Governor Trazzen to Glyphstone Keep, and therefore his was a position of legitimacy. We, according to him, were the intruders. Trazzen, he said, was currently preoccupied by a project of some importance.

We already knew from Sylvander, the gnome forger, and from Three that there was reason to suspect a growing threat to Breland. Emperical evidence suggested this project was at least related to it. I threatened Alain ir'Valish one more time, stating that as an agent of the Brelish Crown I would have his head, attached or otherwise. It was then that he smiled at me and said that he would "see King Boranel cold and dead" before he would submit to incarceration. These words did not alleviate my growing anger, but he was offering us the means of a diplomatic meeting with the other members of his criminal cohorts.

This might have been our own only chance. I immediately handed over my melee weapons, dagger and rapier—which the animate suit of armor accepted—and I instructed my companions to do the same. However no one else seemed to understand the opportunity or gravity intrinsic to this situation and I was alone in my surrender. In fact, Alain was uninterested in continuing discussions after that. When another threat was made against him, he gestured for his guard to open the door at the other end of the room and this somehow sprang a trap on us, unleashing razor sharp bronze spears from the wall, damaging most members of the party including myself and Rungo.

Magnus waded into the wizard, swinging his maul in a fury, but the weapon passed harmlessly through him. Alain's appearance seemed to be illusionary. The animate armor was not, however, and Magnus switched his rage against it to devastating effect. Dar quickly set a wall of pure elemental wind upon Alain, in case magic would avail us, but he was neither affected by the wall nor damaged in any way. It was clear to me that he was simply not present but had projected himself by illusion. We quickly dispatched the animate suit of armor with a coordinated attack.

As we pressed further down the next set of stairs, Magnus intercepted a human female only a little younger than Alain, but Dar quickly realized this was Lorsanna ir'Valesh, a woman she had fought with during the war. Magnus wanted to kill her, and Aleae didn't trust her, but Clarion and Kard told him to hold back whilst Dar communicated with her. As a sign of her unwillingness to fight, Lorsanna offered Simel her wand, but I took hold of it before he could touch it in case it was cursed. It was clear to me that this woman, like Alain, was an arcanist of some kind.

Lorsanna was insistent that we needed to leave Glyphstone Keep, lest we be slain by enemies too numerous and powerful to overcome. She herself wished to be free of this place and she told Dar that she teleport them to relative safey, and to Dar's brother, Sah, who was allegedly trapped in a prism as she was. Dar was clearly enticed, though not at first immediately sure she should abandon our mission. We pushed Lorsanna to reveal more of what she knew of this place. She cited several important facts, each of which I would have preferred to record in greater depth. However, they are summarized here.

• Governor Trazzen had been set up by Avashad as the commander of Glyphstone Keep. He is overseeing one of Avashad’s projects in the bowels of the dungeon involving the construction of what Lorsanna has heard referred to as a “plague machine.”
• Previously, only the oni, Hiraz, had been dwelling in the dungeons of Glyphstone. With the arrival of Avashad, an alliance was made between them.
• Hiraz had installed a teleportation circle somewhere on the level below this one, allowing the transport of creatures from Droaam such as gnolls.
• Harpies, also, had come from Droaam. We knew this already from Sorrel, Hiraz's brother.
• Knights of the Order of the Emerald Claw had come. We knew this because we'd seen some, and Sylvander had also said this.
• The Children of Winter, which from Dar we had learned was a hostile group of druids, were also represented here, and led by an "archdruid" named Frost. Lorsanna was particularly afraid of this human.
• Alain ir'Valish, although he had accepted the invitation to come and meet with Trazzen, was here primarily because he is interested in discovering the fate of the Brelish wizard Elidac. We had heard this name before from Three, and Kard is also eager to seek out this man for reasons of his own.
• Alain believes he has found where Elidac is: He discovered a hidden stairwell that leads back up to the ground level of Glyphstone Keep, where a new "floating tower" is situated amidst the ruins of this ancient fortress. He believes that is where Elidac resides. According to Three, four like-minded wizards from the other of the Five Nations went with him.

All of these facts—especially the one threat of of a machine to be used against Breland—confirmed for us that we were in the right place and definitely were not going to leave, as Lorsanna had advised. Simel had come with us because there was a bounty on the head of the Blue Wraith and because the Order of the Emerald Claw was involved in these goings-on. He would not be leaving anytime soon.

Lorsanna had suggest, during the course of this hurried discussion, that she and her entire family were dominated by someone or something, and it was not Avashad and his allies. She was hesitant to say who. This was reminiscent of the nature of Hiraz's slave, but I suspected something even greater. Dar, who Lorsannah referred to solely as "Loh" (her changeling name?) insisted on knowing just who it was that governed the ir'Valish family and was the reason behind her actions. Whatever their history together, Dar—Loh—obviously believed Lorsanna owed her more explanations. I do like explanations. They are productive.


Lorsanna grew quiet, then finally said "Azohirr" owned them.

"Who is that?" Dar pressed.

"A devil," Lorsanna admitted, which certainly gives credence to the rumors we'd heard that the ir'Valish family was involved with devil worship.

Dar and Lorsanna exchanged further, emotional information, relating to past events, including the prismatic prison where we first encountered, and freed, Dar. Dar believed her prison to be betrayal, but Lorsanna claimed it was for her own protection. They did not explain this to my satisfaction, but I realized there wasn't time. Lorsanna was pressed for time. She said that if she remained, her life was forfeit, and that if she died, the devil would "claim" her. I assume she was referring to her soul, which is of course a difficult point to quantify. Nevertheless, I am now curious about the nature of diabolic acquisition, but that can be worked out another time.

Finally, Dar accepted her offer to go to her brother Sar. Lorsanna asked for her wand back and I asked her why should would have a need of it. She asked me, with great interest in my answer, if I cared about Dar's future safety. I looked at Dar, a bit perplexed by the question stated so bluntly. I handed the wand back to Lorsanna ir'Valesh, as the situation has made her an ally.

After a brief exchange of salutations between Dar and the other party members, Lorsanna cast a spell of teleportation—that is no simple spell—and she and Dar vanished together.



‡ In previous entries in this codex I referred to Rungo using gender indifferent language.  I have always considered Rungo to be a neutral entity.  I do not believe she has the same level of sentience that I or Clarion possess; I created her using my own lifeforce and she would never disobey my needs over her own.  In contrast to a humunculus, I would give my life for King Boranel and the great nation of Breland, but this is a decision I have made for myself in the years since the King Boranel's Warforged Decree gave me freedom as a Brelish citizen whereas Rungo defends me according to our arcane connection.

My party members have always referred to Rungo using masculine pronouns, despite my repeated us of gender neutral terms.  In the brief time since the changeling druid Dar has been traveling with us, she has remained quiet and reserved.  However, I have taken every opportunity to listen to her conversations and study her magics and I have learned of her fascination with animals, especially in the way that many creatures seem to view animals as pets with which they can take limited ownership.


Dar, however subtly, always spoke of the animals as if they were creatures like she or
me. Even her first interactions with Rungo were quite awkward, and not because she feared Rungo's sharp spines or powerful bite, which is what causes most people discomfort. After careful analysis of a conjecture, I determined that Dar was trying to reconcile her experience with animals with her interactions with my humunculus. Over the past few days I was aware of how she treated Rungo in a different manner than our other companions did. Dar, however subtly, looked upon Rungo as a companion, perhaps even as a friend of our party and not just a tool for war.

Rungo noticed this as well as I did, to the point where I don't even know who of us is more aware of these subtle clues. But the effect of this knowledge has been deep, as I, or perhaps Rungo, have taken to feeling a strange, mainly indescribable, connection with the druid. As Rungo and I watched her vanish from my life, some of the ancient Draconic phrases I used when creating Rungo came across our collective consciousness, this time however with Rungo being referred to in the feminine.  And thus it will be.