Characters: Julian, Tulgar, Balin, Nomin, Cael.
NPCs: James Cormaeril, Alusair Obarskyr, Cormyrian Nobles, Lord Alaphondar Emmarsk: Royal Sage of Cormyr.
E 7 Mirtul 1374 - M 7 Mirtul 1374
4200 XP
The morning sun rose quickly and the party drowsily pulled themselves from Woodbrand's comfortable moothouse to return to Suzail once more. They Teleported to the outer edge of the royal gardens finding that the court was meeting with Parliamentarian leaders to discuss a possible solution before Cormyr split apart into war. Upon entering the royal court building the party saw a large group of politicians and nobles boldly displaying red colors to signify their allegiance to the newly proposed Parliamentarian state of Cormyr. Both the royal and parliamentarian sides were under the fierce watch of their elite troops. This time the Parliamentarian majority leader James Cormaeril was present and speaking out against the Regent for her inaptitude in handling the massive pirating problems, orcs, barbarian raiders, declining economics, poor relations with Sembia, and other current issues. Nomin flew into a rage upon hearing this and shouted against the Cormaeril asking for the Regent to behead the Parliamentarian leaders now. Royalists and moderates alike quickly opposed this as a rash decision that may have lead to their martydom, and an instant bloody revolution. The parliamentarians began to attempt to gain the support of the undecided lords and faltering royalists. However, when this did not succeed they announced the news that the Regent and her staff had also just become aware of. Castle Crag, the largest concentrated force of Royalist Purple Dragon Knights to the north had just joined the rebellion under the leadership of Lord Vorik Aris. This change greatly brought down the military strength Alusair had been hoping to retain, and furthermore it left the royalist town of Arabel sandwiched between two very large Parliamentarian forces.Still worse was the fact that Lord Vorik Aris' troops would be nearly invincible with their current commander Isidar Fianche, "the victor". Ornrion Fianche was both a Flankmaster in the prestigious church of the Red Knight and an experienced Purple Dragon Knight. After recently volunteering for the Cormyrian military he quickly rose to the rank of Ornrion and has never been defeated in battle. Julian and Tulgar gave powerful speeches to the lords attempting to gain their favor back to the royalist side, stopping many from filtering out in dismay. After the meeting, the Parliamentarian lords had Teleported away and Alusair called for the party to meet her again. During the meeting the party explained to Alusair what they had discovered in Dhedluk and Waymoot. Alusair asked that they again go and demand a council with Alaphondar for help in decipheringng the mysterious symbol found on Thiombur. Furthermore, she asked that the party venture up to Castle Crag; figure out if what the Parliamentarians said was correct, and finally attempt to hunt down and destroy the Eye Rippers once and for all. With Castle Crag now a Parliamentarian fortress the threat of orc and barbarian raiding parties in the northern lands had just increased greatly.
After the meeting with the Alusair, the party Teleported to a rocky cliffside which looked out to Castle Crag to the east. They then traveled to the mountain fortress and found that it was clearly flying the red parliamentarian colors. Balin easily noticed that there were many heavy tracks in the ground leading southwest and away from Castle Crag. Castle Crag had obviously moved a significant amount of troops southward within the past day. In speaking with the current guards of Castle Crag the party learned the locations of a number of the local mountain range's most dangerous points. A tour of service through it was often considered the "death hike" by the Castle Crag knights. The party decided to set up a false merchant caravan to draw in a heavy attack from orc or barbarian tribesman and then follow their trail to find the Eye Rippers. As such, the party purchased 4 wagons and 8 horses from the guards (at a much inflated rate), and magically disguised them with illusions and leftover Purple flags that the guards no longer wanted. The party then began the march through the "death hike" trail with the newly made rich merchant caravan complete with illusionary guards.
