Staf has a brief conversation with the Chief. He wants all dragonborn in the city to be officially registered. The Chief disagrees with his reasoning.
We follow the yellow canary with our carriage, heading once more toward Cloudwood. We eventually have to leave the carriage behind when the trail leads into the forest paths. We climb higher and higher, and for a while it looks like we’re headed to an idyllic waterfall—a known spot for lovers. When we reach the top, where the water plunges down, the bird flies across the stream. The current is strong. Sarïa spots someone emerging from the trees on the far side. It’s a woman. The canary lands on her hand and then vanishes. The woman then floats across the water toward us.
Her eyes glow faintly—a telltale sign of an eladrin. She holds a book in her hands. She had sent Nilasa out to find incriminating material. But she wants to start the story from the beginning.
At the Unseen Court, she has a contact: Ellik, a creepy figure who dwells in shadows. But he's loyal, and he cares for our world. A month ago, the moon aligned with Nem, and Ellik gave Gale access to the Bleak Gate. It was a perilous journey. They spent a few hours in that dark realm. There, she saw signs of activity in the shadow-side of Flint. The buildings were empty, silent—nothing but darkness and shadows. But she saw light: torches and lanterns moving along the canal, heading toward Parity Lake and on to the Nettles. She also heard the sounds of labor. Something is being built there—a thing that should not be, in the realm of the dead.
Nilasa had discovered a lead on this, and it got her killed. She claimed to have information pointing to the construction taking place in the Bleak Gate. We ask if it’s related to the black oil. Gale believes it could very well originate from that realm. She wants to teach us how to detect whether those vials came from the Bleak Gate.
Gale was enraged by Nilasa’s death. She wanted revenge, but Nevard told her the matter was much bigger than just Nilasa, and thus prevented her from acting on her rage.
The book she holds is a copy of several rituals. One of them detects various energies—but you must first be exposed to that energy yourself to sense it. Using the ritual, she detected that Nevard, too, “reeked” of the Bleak Gate yesterday, after our passage on Cauldron Hill. There are places in the city where this stench is more prominent. At the embassy, for example, she found a strong source. It moved—she followed it through three districts. The same energy was detected in factories and among some wealthy industrialists. Gale gives the book to Felix, but he can’t quite decipher it. Kane notices that it’s full of spells and rituals. Ayleen would definitely be able to work with this.
With
Detect Planar Energy, you can track a trail for an hour, up to a mile away. Gale followed the trail toward Parity Lake and the Nettles. Since we were on Cauldron Hill, we too can track this dark energy. Stronger sources can drown out the fainter ones.
Gale believes there’s a much larger conspiracy than it first appears. When we ask her about the planned transaction tonight, she confirms it. About 150 wands, each with various spells, are meant to be used by the activists to make the capitalists “listen”—as they only respond to violence. We argue there are other ways to reach them. Staf advises her to speak with Grimsley.
Gale considers contacting the Governor, but he’s currently unreachable. She asks what to do with the wands. Staf suggests turning them over to us. Gale agrees, but she doesn’t know where the exchange is taking place—it’s all handled via intermediaries. In this case: Morgan Cippiano of la Familia. Nilasa arranged the deal. A gnome was also involved—Danisca W..., maybe Warrie or Wawwie—some kind of alchemist working at a pharmacy. Probably the “DW” from the invoice we found.
Gale agrees to hand over the wands. She gives us a way to stay in touch: five feathers and floating orbs—a
messenger wind ritual. With a feather, we can contact anyone holding one of the orbs once per day.
She asks us to keep an eye on Nevard. Tomorrow afternoon, he plans to share a series of visions publicly at Dawn Square. She wants us to protect him.
We agree to meet her tomorrow morning at Pine Island, across the bay, near a pharmacy next to a magician’s shop.
We return to the RHC around 9 PM. We write up some reports before going to bed.
Spring 13th, 500 AOV
Early morning, we head to Pine Island. We find the pharmacy in the north—it's part of a double-building: one side is a pharmacy, the other called “The House Elf.”
Around twenty people are gathered in and around the building. Gale is there with some allies, facing some rough-looking folks near a cart. They seem surprised to see us, but Gale reassures them. She also says someone inside the pharmacy wants to speak to us.
Behind the counter is a female gnome speaking to a well-dressed man. He has an invitation for us. Our names are written in elegant script on a sealed envelope—an invite from Cippiano to have coffee with him. The man introduces himself as Dozi Meccini. The meeting is set for tomorrow morning at 10 AM in a café in the Central District, at the corner of Yearling and Healer Street.
The gnome is Danisca Weary-Eye. We ask what she sold to Nilasa. Fey Pepper, she says—prescription only. Also an invisibility potion, allegedly with the proper papers. We suspect she’s not telling the full truth.
We escort Gale’s cart with the wands to the RHC. Her followers are disappointed but comply. We part ways, promising to stay in contact.
We examine the wands and inform the Chief. Opening the crates, we find they are full—one is made of gold. All are magical, most with two schools. The golden wand feels warm and has an engraving of an old man’s face. It also has text in magical runes. It contains
dominate person, and counts as a somatic component for other spells. It also prevents teleportation of the bearer and one chosen target—for one round.
Most wands have enchantment as one of their schools. We identify a
wand of burning hands, whose enchantment allows use without a command word. Kaea, our colleague, handles the identifications—but it’s expensive. The fastest and cheapest way is simply to think of the spell to activate it.
We head to Dawn Square. Kars and Lobke are there too. They say Nevard will speak in about an hour. Yesterday, they hauled something into a nearby warehouse—and anyone who gets close now gets sick: nausea and stomach cramps. Something like big cats were brought in.
The front of the warehouse has three doors—two blocked by crates. The middle door is accessible but locked. There are small windows above, some broken. Sarïa turns into a spider and slips inside. It’s a vast space with crates and boxes. Toward the back, she hears voices and sneaks along the rafters.
She returns to report: in the back, a group is talking—half-transparent, shadowy figures. Three cages stand open and empty. An iron ring lies rusting on the ground. And there’s a steel golem.
We ourselves are not affected by the illness. We ask Ayleen to perform the ritual to detect bad energy. She confirms it’s present in the warehouse.
We stack crates to reach one of the broken windows. Meanwhile, Staf finally gets a hammer from the RHC and smashes the lock. We rush inside.
The steel golem steps into a magic circle and fades into shadow—vanishing. Staf leaps in after him—but nothing happens. The figures are gone. All that remains are traces of oil.
that character is dealing half of the battlefield damage.
