Chapter 13 – Saving Sharantir in Anathar’s Dell
Kythorn 13-21, 1371 D.R.
We arrived back in Dagger Falls and had been voted into
the Merrydale Delvers Guild.
That night we had also learned, amongst
our relaxing and socializing, that a body
had been found at the Red Rock Tavern.
The body had a Zhentarim badge stuffed
in its mouth.
According to Tellerus, he was an
agent of the Zhentarim. We followed a lead to Tethyamarside and found
an additional five bodies all with the Zhentarim
badge stuffed in the mouth. There was also a building burnt there – a warehouse.
We questioned one of the dead men
via Primula’s spell and he confirmed they
were working for the Zhents. He said a man with the gray shadow had been
their killer.
There was also a note left that said,
“Here’s one for the Raven.”
Arriving back in Dagger Falls we found the Paladin’s Guild
Hall busy as could be with Holly working
with a man they called Wolverston the Broken
from Yulash.
Apparently, he used to be stationed
at the Citadel of the Raven, prior to Zhentarim
occupation, and something or someone set
him over the edge recently.
The paladins are trying to help him
out. All
of this after a third delayed blast fireball
went off at the Paladin’s Guild Hall about
a ride ago.
Speaking of the most recent fireball, it is now the 26th
and the attack hit about a ride ago making
that the 16th of Kythorn.
On the 20th of Kythorn
we encountered Welcar on his way back from
Dagger Falls after supposedly being rebuffed.
It makes for a very good cover to
place one and leave town.
That would have given him five days
to get to the Shadow Gap Inn, which is about
how long it takes to get there from Dagger
Falls. We had excluded him as a suspect due to his
distance and the timeline when it is the
timeline that makes him a suspect in the
end. It’s
amazing how Cedar may have been right about
him for the wrong reasons after all.
On a happier note, I have been talking to the Temple of
Lathander about the possibility of them
opening a shelter for youth who lost their
parents during the freeing of Dagger Falls. I funded them 200 gold to investigate the idea with hopes it would
be a strong possibility.
I wanted it to be open to any youth,
any race, and background just to go and
have somewhere to belong.
I have run into many of these youth
as I share my stories and songs on the street. I have even picked up a bunch of Thelarrs to
teach them how to play.
Who knows if any of these youth will
grow up to be a Dalelands hero someday?
On the 12th of Kythorn, Oskar had found out about
an attack on Anathar’s Dell.
Anathar’s Dell is a well-hidden community
of Dwarves, Humans, and Elves a little south
of the Serpent’s Bridge.
He said the priests of Lathander
and Chantea had been killed. Oskar had been asked to look into this immediately
as it would take some time for Lord Morn
and the Temple to assemble aid for the town.
Cedar was the only one of us unable
to attend as he was making great use of
his time writing spells into his spell books
that he had learned. He, and his skills, will be missed but we will have to do without
him for now.
It would be a three-day ride to get
there and we’d be leaving in the morning. Oskar knew how to find Anathar’s Dell as rumors said that magical
misdirection and invisibility protected
the dell from invasion. If that were the case, how and why was it now
attacked?
Who were the attackers?
What was their purpose?
We left the next day for Anathar’s Dell. The travel to get there seemed to last forever.
Maybe it was because we knew they
needed help and couldn’t move there any
faster. As we got south of the Serpents Bridge, we rode for a ways farther
and then Oskar lead us off the trail.
No signs, no roads, just turned to
seemingly head towards nothing but plains.
Maybe he knew a short cut. At one point as we were moving, we were flanked
by some rather impressive hunting cats at
a distance. We approached cautiously on our path and Oskar
waved at them.
Waving at hunting cats that looked
like they wanted to eat us?
They followed us along the ridgeline they were on until
they sloped down far enough that they approached. Instead of attacking, however, they became guides. One remained behind returning to its position
up on the crest of the hill.
The cats guided us to Anathar’s Dell
going in what seemed to be the wrong direction
to me at times but, apparently, they had
followed the direct course into town.
No I understood how people never
could find this place.
We arrived at a town that had been hit hard by its attackers.
No one was moving around the streets.
There wasn’t any major damage to
the farming community we saw but, with no
one moving, the casualties must have been
high. We
were led to a large barn where everyone
had gathered the wounded.
We found many who needed our help.
While Oskar made our introductions,
Primula and I set out to do what healing
we could.
We also ran across the Rangers three.
One had been seriously injured but
was hanging in there.
A second was in charge of the aid
station and informed us that Sharantir had
left with some people to help them but hadn’t
returned yet which worried him.
We volunteered to check it out.
Between Xan and the cat still traveling with us, we picked
up the trail of Sharantir.
We followed it a ways out from the
barn. Then,
we crested a hill to see that two Malaugrym,
shadow beasts with tentacles for arms, were
with Sharantir and she appeared to be charmed
by them.
We decided that maybe being upfront
in our approach would get us close enough
to be able to separate the threats from
Sharantir.
A group approached hailing her when
they would have been heard moving. Xan stayed back as his arrows would be accurate
and deadly.
As we got close enough to attack,
we briefly alerted Sharantir and ran to
interpose. The Malaugrym didn’t stand a chance against
us. Once
they were dead, their charm effect on Sharantir
wore off and we got ready to return to the
barn. However, we weren’t to return just yet.
As we turned to leave, the large cat that had accompanied
us charged Oskar knocking him to the ground.
The two began wrestling around.
This hunting cat stood almost as
tall as Oskar but it wasn’t trying to rip
him to shreds.
Instead, the two bonded as Oskar
had found his Paladin’s Mount.
The cat stayed at Oskar’s side the
whole way back to the barn. It was a very smart creature. It seemed to know what Oskar was saying and
was incredible at reading situations and
reacting appropriately.
As we started investigating what had occurred, we found
out that Kir-lanan, gargoyle-like creatures
with a black glow and red eyes, had come
and attacked all the priests.
The priests had been killed and many
who stood to defend them. These were the injured at the barn that we
had been helping.
One of hem had dropped a symbol of
a spider with a crossed sword and mace on
it – just like at the desecrated shrine.
Sharantir though it was odd that
the godless ones would have had holy symbols. She thought they might also be more like drow
house symbols.
Both Anathar’s Dell and the Four
Gods Shrine were somewhat close to the Spiderhaunt
Woods. Were the drow now allied in the woods or were
the inhabitants becoming organized in the
woods - both scary thoughts indeed.
We decided to stay the night in Anathar’s Dell. I sang and played music to raise spirits and
brighten thoughts.
Primula and I attended to those needing
aid as best as we could. After staying the night, and passing out more healing in the morning,
we parted ways and began our trek back north
to Dagger Falls. We arrived back in Dagger Falls on the 21st
of Kythorn and found Cedar still at work.
I had hoped he had gotten over to
see Marilee at least once while we were
away but, knowing how focused Cedar can
become, he most likely tended to his studies
to make sure he was ready upon our return.
The
Songs and Stories of My Life,
Kerith
of the Dalelands