Date: 1/12/05

XP Awarded: 1,200 (to 4th level characters), 1,075 (to 5th level characters)

Start: The town of Beorunna’s Well

After returning to Beorunna’s Well from the troglodyte warrens, the party spent a few days of well-needed downtime resting and discussing the next course of action. It was decided to visit the cave outside of town to investigate the rumors they’d heard of Aelthas’ devious plans.

A couple hours’ ride on a warm, windy day brought the adventurers to a nearby valley where they found two barbarians guarding the mouth of a large cave in the hillside. Riding around the valley to quietly approach from behind a forested ridge, the party was able to get within range for Fei to disable one of the guards with sleep magic. As Theodar spurred his mount down the steep hillside into a charge, the other guard ran for cover from Celowin’s hail of arrows, calling for help from Marrag. Kai was dispatching the fallen barbarian and the others were taking out the remaining one when a monstrous voice roared from the cave mouth. A manticore (Marrag) leapt out and launched a deadly volley of iron tail spikes into Kai and Whisper. Theodar wheeled his horse around and charged the beast, wounding it badly with his lance. It spread its wings and flew to continue its assault on Kai, but the party’s combined attacks brought it down before it could deal much more damage.

Inside the cavern was a wooden crate marked with a strange rune that Theodar seemed to recognize as fairly old. Inside the crate was a collection of 24 carefully packed iron spikes engraved with an unusual rune. Fei divined that the spikes held fairly powerful magic, so Theodar closed up the crate and carefully put it on the back of his horse.

Returning to Beorunna’s Well in the afternoon, the crate was brought to Alina’s tower, hidden by cloaks and blankets. She investigated the contents, but could not tell the party anything more about the runes or the items. Alina refused to use magic to learn more, explaining that investigating powerful, unknown magic with divination spells can be hazardous. Kai and Celowin left the crate under guard in Alina’s tower and returned to the Rising Star, hoping to find Amafrey in case she had more information on the crate’s contents.

While in the Rising Star looking for Amafrey, a well-dressed gnome with a finely curled beard introduced himself as Glandar Steelskin and invited the adventurers for drinks. Celowin politely declined, explaining that they were looking for someone else, but that perhaps they could dine later, to which the gnome agreed.

Later that night, Fei, Kai, and Celowin dined with Glandar and his silent but beautiful companion Navarra Dumein. Glandar revealed that he was a representative of the Silver Marches from Silverymoon and that he and Navarra were in Beorunna’s Well on official business, but declined to talk about it further. When Glandar mentioned that he had been an emissary to Citadel Felbarr for several years, Fei asked him if he’d seen the mysterious symbol engraved on the iron spikes the party had found. Glandar grew serious, and said that the items sounded like they might be dwarven blast-spikes, powerful magic used for opening new veins of ore. He asked the party where they’d seen the rune, mentioning that the dwarves had lost a number of them recently in a raid on one of their caravans.

After dinner, the party returned to Alina’s tower and informed Theodar of what they had learned from Glandar. Feeling that this information was the proof needed to convince Hask Bloodaxe to confront Aelthas, Theodar sends a messenger to ask to speak with him later.

The next morning, Hask visits the Rising Star and confers with Theodar. After hearing about what happened at Aelthas’ cave and what was found there, Hask agrees that he’s got enough evidence to confront Aelthas, but that he expects Aelthas to start a battle before he can go through the traditional challenges. He asks for the party’s support in case this happens, and the group is only too happy to agree. During a meeting with the rest of the party at Alina’s tower, Alina uses magic to scry Aelthas’ encampment on a rocky hill. She informs the group that the frontal approach is very heavily defended, but that there is another approach that is blocked off with thick vegetation. Kai volunteers to use magic to get a small group through the vegetation to be ready for a surprise attack if a battle begins. The party begins planning an assault.