Session4


 * note* Dave, Chas, and Alan missed this session


 * 1-12-13 **
 * Recovering in Lyrabar and The Celebrational Hunt**

Erevin returns from a meeting at The Hidden Bounty. Sharing a room with Kale, Kale asks him for dating advice regarding Wren. Erevin points him in the direction of an elven cuisine restaurant on a terrace overlooking the sea. He waits while Kale goes to Wren’s room and asks her to breakfast. She accepts and goes to get ready. Kale gives him the “Yes!” cheer and his thanks. Erevin runs into Annaisaru Lionspaw on his way out of the embassy. She tells him about a local tradition of mid-winter, and invites him to the hunt to honor the elven moon goddess, Sehanine. After some sibling banter about their skill with a bow, he agrees to go on the hunt, but tells her there is only one Goddess of the moon… Walking through town he sees where statues have been put near a wall. One looks like Annaisaru, and after seeing the play about the War in Lyrabar he can guess that the others are the heroes who stood with her here by the wall in the war. He makes his way to the Dulsaer estate to see Lady Vivian. It’s a beautiful home with display cases and wine racks. She is dressed in a less than modest morning silk robe. A family of wine merchants, she offers him wine… something they’ve made recently as a hybrid of elven wine. She is very grateful to her hero and inquires if any of the beautiful women in his company are dear to him… he replies they are all dear to him. She laughs and tells him that is a very good political response. He asks her if she believes that her role as The Scarlet Mask is what drew her attackers or if she possibly knew them or had any previous contact with them. She says no, she had never seen them before… it was a most traumatic moment for her and fans herself… she hopes that the local constabulary will handle things and post guards to prevent anything like that in the future. Erevin smiles and tells her Lyrabar should protect its treasures. She invites him to an evening with her, but he tells her he has a prior engagement. Remembering the tradition of the hunt, she offers him a red scarf to on his bow for good luck. She says with him in the hunt, she will be sure to attend the audience this year. As Erevin turns to leave, he accidentally bumps his wine glass off the table… but Vivian catches it deftly in the air and returns it to the table and smiles.

At the temple of Sune, Yuki is worked to the bone… with her hands red and raw from scrubbing, Axton finally tells her she may go, but has one final task to fetch special incense candles from town. She runs off quickly before he can change his mind. She goes to the water’s edge where a handsome gondolier cuts off another to meet her and offer her a ride across the way. He is most charming. She is beautiful and graceful. Men fawn over her as she walks down the street, presenting her with gifts and adoration. She is sure obtain the necessary candles and then sees a strange couple in the crowd… A young barmaid, left holding a basket stares off in the distance after the man who was near her disappears into the crowd. She’s oddly “absent”… very pretty, but doll-like. A thin red line is around her neck and wrists. Her skin too flawless, missing natural imperfections. She introduces herself as Dorothy, a barmaid at The Hidden Bounty. She has a list of stuff she has been instructed to buy for her owner, Mr. Archer. Owner?! She tells Yuki that she has a dilemma… Mr. Archer’s day of birth is approaching and she feels it is appropriate to get him a gift. Yuki agrees at once to help her, hopeful that even this strange woman might find love.

Mally wakes up in The Unexpected Monkey to breakfast brought up to her. After breakfast, she wanders into town and over to the Refuge. Melloran is resting under a big tree and a grizzly bear is attempting to make friends with the large lion. Melloran is very happy to see Mally. She brings him special treats of sausages and bacon leftover from breakfast. She gives some of the fruit to the bear who happily snatches it up. A gruff, burly human man wearing furs comes up the hill and exclaims that that is the largest cat he’s ever seen. Mally explains that he is a lion. He introduces himself as Ursus Fellhammer from the Glacial Mountains, and his bear is named Whitefang. He tells her they’ve travelled quite a distance. Their shaman, Bjorn Farstrider, had a vision and told them that the smallest bear would be found here and lead their tribe… but the shaman is heavy into the spirits and pipe of late. Mally tells him that perhaps the shaman didn’t mean it literally and that the “littlest bear” might just be someone of greatness. Ursus hopes that Whitefang and Melloran can be friends and wrestle. She is happy with this and says Melloran is great at wrestling.

Kale has shed the armor of the other world, but still wears a simple medallion with a Parthian symbol. The magic sword she once gifted him is secured in its sheath at his hip. Wren comes out in a simple silken, floor-length dress with long flowing sleeves and accepts Kale’s arm to escort her. She shows him a little bit of the town and they go to the restaurant in the noble district with the terrace overlooking the sea. He tells her that the three years he spent in Parthia were hard on him… they are always at war there. It has left him more alert and edgy. He apologizes if he over-reacts toward anyone who may look a threat to her. She takes his hand in hers. She agrees that he is a different person than he used to be. She apologizes that he had to endure so much alone… while 3 years isn’t that much time to their people, he seems to have aged much more than 3 years. She asks if there is anything she can do to help, and he tells her just her presence helps and is calming to him. He acts a little bit more like the Kale she once knew. He asks how she is doing without Loch… she tells him she misses her daily and can’t rest until she finds her. He tells her that he will help. She is worried that Kale came back so different after only a short time, and time keeps on turning. She hopes that Loch isn’t faced with the same suffering Kale had been given. Perhaps time is turning slower for Loch and its only been a couple of days to her. They talk about the hunt and she suggests that if they were not a part of it, that she would like to attend the audience with him. He seems pleased.

Yuki brings Dorothy back to The Hidden Bounty in a new pink dress, perfumed, and wearing flowers in her hair. They have the stuff on her list as well as some very nice arrows as a gift for Mr. Archer’s birthday. He smiles in surprise at Dorothy, “how nice! you shouldn’t have.” One of the unshaven bounty hunters approaches Yuki, introduces himself as Polk, and asks what she’s doing here among dangerous men… She laughes and says she’s not worried about dangerous men. He tries to get her to go to dinner with him, but she gives him soap and a razor instead and advises him to use them. She says goodbye to Dorothy, who tells her Mr. Archer seems pleased with his gift. Archer glances back and forth at the two of them with a skeptical look that says this likely spells trouble for him.

Everyone gathers for dinner and exchanges stories of the day. Yuki gives out gifts to everyone that she got free in town. Wren talks about Shandra Rossi and the House of Tomes library that monks used to be in charge of… likely the same library that the Guardians of the Tome once protected. She also talks about a sorceress named Samira who said she once visited the Plane of Air. She described it as a beautiful blue sky with clouds above and below… much like one of the places they had seen when the ship was tumbling. Samira had invited her to her husband’s bakery to come hear the tale.

We receive a list of books to search for from Ars Salience…

“Here’s a list of the books that I need. I’ve searched the Arcane University for everything and have come up with a start. I’m not sure where you might find these books other than the Library of Candlekeep or possibly the House of Many Tomes. Some of the authors are still alive though, so there’s a potential source… if they don’t turn you into a frog. List: The Boundaries Between Worlds, A Tome on the Planes, and Portals by Ilmara, Queen of Impiltur Delving into the Unknown, and A Tome on Powerful Artifacts by The Stormmaster of Bloodstone Etymologies Astral, and A Tome on the Astral Plane by The Blackstaff of Waterdeep The Fragile Thread of Life, and A Tome on the Bonds Formed Between Living Creators by Zulkir Lauzoril of Thay

-Ars Salience”

Yuki, coming from Waterdeep, recognizes The Blackstaff as someone also known as Arunsen, though she doesn’t know much about him.

Ilmara was Queen of Impiltur 2-300 years ago. She was also a powerful sorceress or wizard.

The House of Many Tomes used to be the Library of Impiltur until the undead invasion came through and left it ruined and ransacked. Some of the books were moved to The Arcane University, but due to its remote location has not been reclaimed, and all of the books were never recovered.

Bloodstone is a country to the north… west of the elven lands. It was once ruled by an evil Lich King, who was eventually overthrown by a group of adventurers. It is so named because the country is rich in bloodstone, a green gem with red speckles. The Stormmaster there is a powerful wizard with his own school of magic. It’s near an uninhabited mountain range that likely dragons have taken up residence in. Attalicus, the wizard from Myth Coramanth, married a woman from Bloodstone.

There is also an offshoot school of magic from Bloodstone located in Sanctuary. Erevin recalls stories from his mother about Silvermane in Sanctuary also having a home in Waterdeep, with a portal in a tower that he uses to go back and forth. The magic school there is in the middle of the lake where the Destiny once crashed.

Wren recalls stories from her mother about Thay. Monsters rule there… A mageocracy of liches who keep slaves. They are especially fond of having elven slaves because they are long lived. Each “mage” is a different school of magic. Lauzoril specialized in enchantment and charm, aka Lies and Deceit. Another of the Zulkir, Szass Tam, specializes in necromancy. He’s a human who’s been around for centuries. Rumored to be calm, and collected, but kills anyone who gets in his way. The Undead Invasion was instigated by Szass Tam. Both Lauzoril and Szass Tam are rumored to have not been seen in the last 4-5 years.

Yuki tells us that Quill… the person she’s never met, who writes to her in her magic book… says to watch out for Lady Vivian, she has her hands in a lot of pies. When she shows us the writings, it appears that Quill intentionally writes as though to hide feminine or masculine hand-writing… and Yuki has never asked, though she’s always assumed it’s a man.

We gather for the hunt. Vivian and Rhianna are there, and introduce Erevin to their younger brother, Simon, who will be joining the hunt. Mikkal Rein, a military man and the older brother to The Violet Mask, is also there. A younger man, dressed in black leathers with a dark trenchcoat, introduces himself proudly as Jerrandis Mercer, witch-hunter. He’s just gotten back from training and is eager to try out his skill… Wren stands behind Erevin and purrs “Aww… he’s adorable… he might not make it back.” Erevin grins and nods. Jerrandis goes on to explain that it was the Medici event that inspired his Order of training. They burnt down the Medici estate, but supposedly one escaped and has come back to Lyrabar to rebuild the family… Erevin tells him he hopes he wields his new skill more wisely than some of his predecessors. He also invites to come out to Myth Coramanth where they can show him how a hunt is really done.

John Winterrowd welcomes us and gives the rules… No harming the other hunters. We have until dawn. The one to bring back the buck with the most weight wins. He invites Vivian to do the honors and she shoots a flare into the sky with a wand to signal the start. The younger men charge into the woods. Kale goes with Wren as she moves quietly through the woods. Anna also goes in with her own bow. Mally and Melloran go in together. Erevin takes his time to prepare his bow with water and a prayer to Ellistrae. The hunt goes well. Erevin runs across one of the “chimaera”, seems to be a female elf transformed by Crucible’s magic. She attacks him and he tries to catch her and give her an antidote, but she gets away. Erevin wins the contest and Jerrandis comes back empty handed. Erevin and Anna jest at one another and agree to spar with moonblades the next day. The nobles reward us generously for our participation.

We make preparations to take horses and head out the following day to The House of Tomes. We estimate to be gone nearly 3 weeks. With almost a week’s travel each way.