Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="kenobi65" data-source="post: 124577" data-attributes="member: 1515">Session #15 -- 2/22/02 9/1After the Telende makes port, Captain Alcirion asks that the party remain on board while he goes to speak with his superiors. The Wraiths wait on ship for about 90 minutes, until Alcirion returns.  He tells them that several senior members of Talassar's government wish to speak with the party.  Alcirion then discharges the rest of his crew, but warns them that they are on call to leave port again at a moment's notice. Alcirion and Arathrel lead the party through the streets of Talassar.  The population of the city is largely elven, but the party occasionally sees humans and dwarves, as well.  Most of the buildings in the city are stone or brick, and are frequently several stories tall. Eventually, the party finds itself at the Civic House, a large building overlooking the harbor.   They are brought into a meeting room, and several elven servents take orders for food and drink.  After a few minutes, three more elves enter the room, and introduce themselves: - Geledh, First Speaker of the city of Talassar, and head of the Council of Speakers of Irmion, is a middle-aged male elf, with very pale green eyes and white hair - Tirion, the lead priestess of Corellon in Talassar, is a middle-aged female elf, with amber eyes and blonde hair - Athenir, the chief historian of the city, is an older male elf, with grey eyes and silver hair Tirion begins by asking each member of the Wraiths to introduce themselves.  As the party then sits down to a light meal, Geledh confirms what Alcirion had alread stated: that the Irmian navy has had several encounters with rafts of Dracos.  Geledh then asks the party to give him details of the history of the conflict. Through all of this, Athenir has stayed silent, apparently deep in thought.  Suddenly, his eyes grow bright, and he begins to look at the members of the party, apparently counting them on his fingers.  His eyes widen more, and he runs from the room, saying, "Please do not leave before I return!" Geledh apologizes for the interruption, but assures the party that the historian must have had some reason for his sudden departure.  The party then tells the elves about the war with the Dracos, as well as the situation with the Northern elves and their gods.  Tirion tells the party that the Irmian elves were contacted last year, when the "sundering" occurred; although they offered assistance, it seems that the Northern elves did not really wish it.  Tirion confirms that the Irmion elves have remained in touch with their deities, but that they have been able to learn little as to what has afflicted their northern cousins. About an hour after his sudden departure, Athenir returns to the room, accompanied by two younger elves - one carrying a huge tome; the other carrying several scrolls.   Athenir tells the group that he now suspects that recent events have been foretold in prophecy.  He opens the tome, saying that it is a copy of The Book of Celeval, a set of obscure prophecies, written 3000 years earlier by an elven mystic.  The Book of Celeval has proven to be tremendously challenging for scholars: it has frequently proven to be prophetic, but the writing is so difficult to comprehend that it is only after the fact that the prophecies are recognized.  Athenir flips through several pages, then begins to read: "The proud swan will not bend its neck.  It will not look behind, to see where it had lost its way. It will not look to the east, to see the dawn of the day of reckoning.  It will not even look down, to guard its own cygnets." Then, he reads another nearby passage: "Lo, though it is warm, I sense the approach of winter.  I see a bird-of-prey wheeling in the heavens, and from it, weapons (or 'instruments') come down from the sky itself.  There is a thorny spear, and a fist that beguiles.  There is a mighty sword from the hills, and a venegeful axe from deep in the mountains.  There is an open palm that strikes with blinding speed, and ever-shifting image.  There is a blade that strikes from the shadow, and the power of the blood of wyrms." Athenir then turns away from the tome.  He tells the party that "the swan" is the name that the elves have for a constellation in the northern sky - because of this, many scholars believe that Celeval used the Swan in reference to the northern elven nation of Caradhir. Athenir then turns his attention to the second passage.  He points out that there are eight "weapons" in the text, and believes that those refer to the Wraiths themselves: Zeebee: "a mighty sword from the hills" Ulfgar: "a vengeful axe from deep in the mountains" Whitefire: "a thorny spear" Phadian: "An ever-shifting image" Magnus: "the power of the blood of wyrms" Nivek: "a blade that strikes from the shadow"Ian: "a fist that beguiles" Ming-Jeh: "an open palm that strikes with blinding speed" He also believes that the references to "winter" and "bird-of-prey" may refer to Winterhawk, and "come down from the sky itself" may refer to the Gateway. Athenir says that he believes that the war with the Dracos is the result of some ancient history.  He then begins to unroll the old scrolls, and paraphrases what they say: About 4000 years ago, there was a mighty human kingdom in the land that is now Dorlomin.  It was called Cardena, and was centered in the rich farmlands and offshore fisheries of what later became Avila. Cardena was, at first, friendly to the elves (at that time, all of the land from Caradhir to Irmion was elven land, and much of it was wooded (the northern lands were primarily dwarven, but the dwarves were allied with the elves).  However, Cardena slowly became corrupt, and the elves suspected that they had taken to worshipping dark gods.  A series of minor wars between the elves and Cardena occurred. While the elves and humans were focusing on each other, tribes of reptilians, led by dragons, began to invade the region, from the southwest.  With the humans and elves distracted, the reptilians gained an early advantage.  For several decades, the reptilians continued to slowly expand their territory. Finally, the elves and humans managed to put aside their differences and form an alliance.  By co-ordinating their efforts, the two races were able to repulse the reptilians from the region, but at a great cost of lives on both sides. The elves were willing to stop the war at that point, but the humans insisted on driving forward, intent on moving into the reptilian's original lands and wiping them out.  Fearing their own extinction (particularly of their slow-breeding dragon rulers), the reptilians sued for peace.  The elves immediately agreed; they had to drag the humans to the treaty table. The reptilian leaders (and perhaps their gods) decided that they could not trust the humans to keep the peace; that their bloodlust was too strong.  The reptilians announced that they would be relocating their entire civilized population to a distant continent.  They promised to never again move against the humans or elves of this continent, as long as they were themselves left alone by those same humans and elves.  After the reptilians departed, the humans of Cardena moved into many of their lands.  However, this overextension of their attention, coupled with a series of weak leaders, led to the collapsse of Cardena only a few hundred years later. Athenir says that he believes that that the Avilan ship that wrecked in the Draconic States a few years ago unwittingly broke the terms of the truce.  Geledh, Tirion, and Athenir then move to a smaller room for a brief conference.  They return, and Geledh tells the party that he is calling for a meeting of the Council of Speakers.  He estimates that it will take three or four days for the Council to assemble. The party is requested to remain in Talassar until the Council can meet, and they are put up in a very nice manor house.  However, they are asked to limit their wanderings in the city - Geledh says that he believes that Irmion may well be on the verge of entering the war, but he does not want to raise too many alarms among his populace until it becomes official. The party does receive permission to use the Gateway to go back and report to Winterhawk.  She is pleased to hear that the Irmion elves are considering entering the war, and that she and King Kenton would be willing to address the Council of Speakers when it convenes. 9/2 The party passes the day in their manor house.  The elves are willing to bring the party anything they request (within reason), and Phadian dispatches several of them to fetch him equipment for creating a new magical item. As evening falls, a large group of elves can be seen approaching the manor house - it is the crew of the Telende, bearing food and drink.  It turns out that they have been ordered to remain in port until the Council meeting; because this extended shore leave is directly the result of the Wraiths, the crew decided to bring the shore leave party directly to their benefactors. A pleasant evening is had by all.  As midnight approaches, most of the crew have wandered back home, but Arathrel and Gwithalos remain, speaking with Ming-Jeh and Zeebee, respectively.  From the balconies of the manor house, several party members notice fires beginning to erupt in the harbor, and dark winged shapes.   Alarms begin to sound throughout the city, as a large group of the winged shapes make a beeline for the manor house.  The party can now see that the group is mostly draconians, but it is led by a dragon.  They have a few moments to prepare for battle, but no more, before the flying Dracos are upon them. The fight largely takes place in the manor house's front courtyard.  One of the draconians is carrying a glowing blue crystal, and is pointing towards the manor house as the Dracos approach.  This draconian is among the first struck down, and when he drops the blue crystal, it shatters. The lead dragon is a young green dragon; it does substantial damage to the Wraiths before it is slain.  Ian, Magnus, and Arathrel are all nearly felled during the fight, but the party emerges triumphantly.  As the Wraiths wrap up the combat, the spectral head of a green dragon appears, floating before them.  In Draconic, it shouts, "You wretches are now responsible for the deaths of three of the children of Tanalkazir.  She will not rest until she sees you all destroyed!" The party investigates the broken crystal.  Although its magic is now departed, it still holds a strong Divination aura, and the party reasons that this was some sort of homing device that the Dracos used to track them down. The elves of Talassar have managed to defeat the rest of the attackers (all draconians), but not before significant damage was done to the harbor, as well as many buildings. 9/5 The Council of Speakers convenes.  Between the Dracos' attack on Talassar, and the words of Winterhawk and Kenton, the elven leaders quickly decide to enter the war. Winterhawk tells the party that they will now be needed back in Dorlomin.  There have been numerous attacks by orcs in western Saervik, and she will be sending the Wraiths to investigate.</blockquote>

Verification