|
12 Flamerule, 1371
Dear Master Zorthaster,
We have begun our battle against the Cult of the Dragon but were
too late to stop the “ascension” of Tarminnamprez and the escape
of Khemed. Vinnemar is still here and we are bent on destroying
him.
After Master Kareel destroyed the Shadow Gate, Kymel and Roakshane
arrived, exhausted and out of breath. They had fought hundreds
of varguille across the gate. There the Sharans had created a gruesome
garden to grow the monsters. It sounded like an unholy nightmare.
They succeeded in destroying the garden and closing the gate however.
Oskar then revealed that the Sharan Priestess, transformed into
a minnow by my polymorph spell, had been collected by his
riding cat and popped into a water skin. Master Kareel took her
and left us, waving us off to find some rooms in which to rest.
There were plenty of small chambers, complete with stone sleeping
shelves and basins flowing with warm water. We were happy to finally
have a moment to clean up and rest a while. In a common room connected
to the sleeping chambers we gathered for discussion and camaraderie.
Kerith played soft music that seemed to both relax and revitalize
us.
Even Kilsek and Roakshane joined us. From them we learned a little
about the Sword Lords. They said that when Mystra died and was
reborn, parts of her fragmented and dispersed to later manifest
across the Realms. One fragment was sorrow at the abuse of magic.
Some fragments contained more anger, some more revenge. One fragment
manifests in the creation of Sword Lords who train until such time
as Mystra’s reign is threatened. The return of the City of Shade
is seen as a threat to the Lady of Magic herself.
Much later we were summoned to Master Kareel’s scrying chamber.
It was a beautiful place with trees carved of stone and stone branches
supporting a large black crystal font. Master Kareel was chanting
over the water and beckoned us to come look. The vision revealed
a portion of the Scimitar Spires. The thick gloom was receding
and we could see, away in the distance, a fortress of gray stone
abutting a spire. All around the fortifications a pitched battle
was occurring. The Shadovar were fighting the Cult of the Dragon
and hundreds of dragon kin and varguilles were already dead. We
watched for a while until the darkness of evening closed in. It
looked as though the battle would rage for some time. Master Kareel
told us that he would send for us if anything changed.
Returning to our common room, Kerith began playing again and Oskar
wrestled with his cat, I studied for a while and then returned to
the scrying chamber. The Shadovar were casting inky black spells
and destroying the outer walls of the fortress. Dead varguille
were everywhere and there must have been several hundred dead dragon
kin at this point.
The following morning when we had gathered to discuss our plans,
the Sharan Priestess arrived. It was immediately clear that she
was no longer living. Kareel spoke to us using her voice and called
us to attend him. When we arrived, Kareel was still in the scrying
chamber, solidly fixed in the same place where we had left him last
night. He informed us that the priestess would pay for her transgressions
for a long time to come, but that for now, she would answer any
questions we might have for her. None of us were trained interrogators,
but we did discover a few bits of information that were terrifying
and need to be passed on to Lord Morn and the Steel Regent. The
Shadovar and the Shades of Netheril are planning to shift their
entire floating city back to this plane and restore the lost Kingdom
of Netheril. We also learned that the man Xan has hit with his
arrow was Leevoth, Captain of the city’s forces. The priestess
who escaped from us is named Kyrazar. The dead priestess vowed that
Kyrazar would return and bring the vengeance of Shar upon us. She
screamed horribly then as Kareel clamped down on her spirit. It
was a horrible thing to participate in. I was not ever comfortable
aiding Kareel and staying in his lair, but this whole affair with
the undead priestess created a powerful revulsion in me. I want
to be done with this lich and away from this vile place.
Kareel sent the priestess’s corpse away and moved his skeletal
claw over the surface of the scrying pool. We could see the huge
scaled form of Tarminnamprez, claws outstretched, unmoving, pierced
through the body, impaled on the top of a black spire.
Kareel waved again and the view wavered. When it cleared we saw
a 10-foot tall dragon kin beast with points of light where his eyes
should be. He was stalking the Shadovar, killing them with a breath
of noxious green fumes. The Dragon Cult rallied behind Vinnamar,
the half dragon, half dragon kin, dracolich.
The view shifted again and we saw Khemed aboard a small flying
carpet. A little beholder like creature levitated at this shoulder.
They flew up to the body of Tarminnamprez where Khemed began speaking
to the dead dragon in a loud voice. He claimed to be the “Keeper
of the Book of Sammaster” and that Tarminnamprez should awaken.
The dragon did come awake at this and he snapped off the tip of
the spire with a sudden surge of undead strength. His now tattered
wings lifted him from the spire and he hovered in the air before
Khemed looking ready to devour the wizard. The two spoke briefly
as Khemed fawned over the dracolich and lured him away with the
promise of an unguarded dragon lair of the recently deceased Flaministacles.
They flew off, leaving Vinnamar to deal with the Shadovar.
The remaining dracolich was having no difficulty in dispatching
the last of the Sharans and varguille. Even so, his forces had
also been badly decimated. He was down to perhaps four-dozen dragon
kin and a handful of human troops.
Kareel turned to us at this point and expressed his great displeasure
of having to bother with us, the Sharans, the Shadovar, Cult of
the Dragon and everything. He seems to have conveniently forgotten
that he asked us to come help him escape from the Shadovar. Instead
of asking for our continued help or offering to reward us, he suddenly
teleported Kilsek and Raokshane away. He imprisoned them until
we destroyed Vinnamar and his forces.
I was tempted to leave Kilsek in Kareel’s clutches for the drow
made me terribly uneasy, but I kind of like Roakshane and did not
want to see her end up like the priestess of Shar. We agreed to
destroy Vinnamar, but I told Kareel that we would have done that
anyway.
Our war against Vinnamar began with tactics of stealth and deception.
The Cult had deployed squads of dragon kin to scour the battlefield
and dispatch the wounded. They may have also been on the lookout
for any looting opportunities as well. We disguised ourselves as
fallen shadovar and placed ourselves in the path of the Cult patrol.
When they swooped in to complete their task, we attacked. It was
a successful ambush and we took them by surprise. A fireball
I cast attracted attention from the inner wall of the fortress and
another wing of dragon kin took to the air. We waited until they
got close before attacking them with spells and arrows. I hoped
that we could space out the waves of attackers a bit and this tactic
proved reasonably successful.
As the last of the second wing was being dealt with, Mina, Xan’s
familiar alerted us that two humans were sneaking through the ruins
towards us. I was under the effects of a fly spell (as well as
improved invisibility) so I swooped down and gathered up Phareimm
Finder from Kerith. I used the weapon’s power to see invisible
creatures to locate two invisible wizards that accompanied the fighters.
A lightning bolt killed one and injured the other. He kept
moving and hid in a battered clump of bushes where I laid down a
flaming sphere. Unfortunately Shane was hiding in this bush
as well and I singed him with the sphere. The invisible wizard
made enough noise for the halfling to detect him though. The small
monk targeted the wizard with a flurry of kicks and punches, quickly
killing the unfortunate mage.
My friends had dispatched the fighters while I was focused on the
wizards. Since it appeared that another wave of troops would not
be arriving soon, we took the opportunity to retreat a ways and
conjure up a rope trick. This is where we are now, resting, praying,
and healing our wounds. We have set a light watch to keep an eye
out for trouble. Half of Vinnamar’s forces were sent out to deal
with us. Our guess is that the remainder will be kept close to
guard Vinnamar. Tomorrow we shall see.
One last note before I close. I think I finally understand the
splitting principles that have given me difficulty with the Firebrand
spell. It makes perfect sense today after seeing the conjunction
of elemental energies in the Fireball spell. I am going to try
to make use of it tomorrow if I can. As ever, I remain
Your Faithful Student
Cedar
|