Characters: Julian, Balin, Tulgar, Lord Thond, Nomin.
NPCs: Kynwras Firsul, Caladnei: Royal Magician of Cormyr, Townsfolk of Dhedluk, Purple Dragon Knights (Dhedluk), Lord Dier Emmarsk, Lord Filfar "Trollkiller" Woodbrand (Waymoot).
L 6 Mirtul 1374 - E 7 Mirtul 1374
6200 XP
Kynwras Firsul and Caladnei had returned with a huge reinforcement of War Wizards to find that the party had already battled off the Eye-Rippers. The people still in attendance thanked the party with all their gratitude, however celebrations were not an order yet. Caladnei and the others began to search for the point of entry outside the castle. The Eye-Ripper swath of destruction had stopped there however, and with nearly all the Dimensional Archor stones still functioning in the gardens, the War Wizards seemed to be stuck. Balin meanwhile, had been tracking their movements through listening to the garden fauna, and gathering what visual cues he could from his skill as a tracker. In no time he had tracked the presence to a small star-shaped grove of trees covered in thick ivy. In the center of this grove stood a modest Blueleaf tree and Balin notified Caladnei and the War Wizards. Caladnei had not had time to investigate all of Cormyr's many portals and after some magical analysis with Julian's help it was clear this tree possessed a Teleportation link to another location. They would however, require the necessary keys to open the portal. Caladnei gave Julian a Passagestone and with some quick wits, the Tethyrian rouge managed to solve a Cormyrian riddle and gain access to the portal. One-by-one the party stepped in and found themselves in an identical grove somewhere far away.
Leaving the ivy covered grove, the party found themselves in the recently sacked village of Dhedluk. Some burning buildings were still being put out by the local townsfolk. More disturbing however, was that just outside the grove, the party found the corpse of Lord Thiombur, the mayor of Dhedluk. Through Balin's observations it was clear, Thiombur had suffered through a quick and intense torture which culminated in his eyes being excised from his skull. As the party interrogated the townsfolk they discovered that the town had been hit suddenly with blasts of fire and magic during the night. Some had reported movements of large shadows toward the east end of town near the grove. Thiombur's moothouse, though untouched by the flames, looked as though a whirlwind had struck inside. Julian figured out that this had been the work of someone other than the Eye-Rippers and that they were searching exclusively through Thiombur's large collection of personal poetry. What the thief had taken would remain unclear, portal words perhaps, but this seemed like the work of someone who knew exactly what they had wanted. During his searched Julian did find a very recent letter addressed to Thiombur from Lord Filfar Woodbrand. The letter seemed to concern the recent Parliamentarian uprising, although its side was torn and there were large portions of the message that appeared to be missing.
After the search of Thiombur's moothouse, the party was allowed by the Purple Dragon Knights on duty to examine his body. During a magical search the party found a strange symbol among a number of tattoos. The tattoo glowed only in the moonlight and depicted a Cormyrian stylized dragon curled into a circle, eating its own tail; the spikes on its backside resembled that of a crown. Julian attempted to replicate this image on paper but found great resistance in doing it. Those the party spoke to concerning this seemed to have little idea what the symbol could have meant. The party had finished their investigation of Dhedluk and decided to return to Suzail through the Blueleaf tree's portal. Back in the gardens a very extensive magical security effort was underway to ensure that something of the sort never happened again. The party informed Kynwras Firsul, and Caladnei about the Dhedluk investigation and Lord Thiombur's assassination. The two were greatly troubled and recommended that the party seek out Alaphondar the Sage of Cormyr about the magical tattoo they had found. Julian left a copy to Alaphondar's apprentice and son Dier Emmarsk. The party also sought out Woodbrand in Suzail but were told that after the attacks by the Eye Rippers, he had Teleported home to ensure that Waymoot was safe. So without as much as a pause to catch their breath, the party Teleported to Lord Woodbrand's hometown.
Waymoot was much like Dhedluk in that both were small King's Forest communities. However, Waymoot had not undergone any attack, although most of the residents were awake upon hearing the news the royal court was attacked by orcs. The party was cordially invited into Woodbrand's moothouse where his beautiful wife prepared Roast Gammon Pie. The party spoke with Woodbrand about the earlier attacks by the Eye-Rippers, his good friend Lord Thiombur's death, the attack on Dhedluk, and the magical dragon circle they found on his body. Thiombur shared many stories concerning his friendship with Thiombur, the dismal state of Parliamentarian politics, and seemed greatly shattered by all of the recent news. He also recommended the party seek out Alaphondar for guidance on the symbol's meaning. Woodbrand made an unusually poor attempt to fill in some of the holes in the message he had written to Thiombur. However, it was late, much mead had been drank, and many things weighed heavily on the old Trollkiller's mind. The party stayed with Woodbrand in his moothouse that night.
