Date: 3/2/05

XP Awarded: 1,350 (to 6th level characters)

Start: The Golden Oak Inn inside Silverymoon, six days after Midsummer

Having been woken up at the break of dawn by armed members of the High Guard, the party takes a few minutes to dress in fine clothes before being escorted through the already half-full streets of Silverymoon to the High Palace.

Entering through a tall, broad gate underneath an elaborate carving of a unicorn’s head, the adventurers are escorted through halls with lofty ceilings and shiny marble floors. Hanging plants and tapestries give the palace a lush, warm feel. Ascending a wide, curving stair of what seems to be polished silver, the party reaches the Steward, who directs them through a mighty door into the Great Hall and through a grand arch at the other end into the Moon Seat, where High Mage Taern Hornblade rules the city.

The High Mage is a stern-looking man with a full white beard. After inviting the party members to take a seat below his ornate darkwood desk, he gives a short, well-rehearsed speech about the importance of defending Silverymoon before questioning the party about the events of the previous evening. After listening to the party’s description of events, he says that someone important has vouched for the party and that they are free to go, after giving one last stern warning against causing trouble. On the way out, the party sees High Lady Alustriel holding court from the Silver Throne across the hall from the Moon Seat.

While Iax and Celowin return to Everdusk Hall to continue Celowin’s archery classes, Fei and Theodar return to the Vault of Sages to research the wards that protect Silverymoon. Meeting up for lunch, Fei explains what he has learned about the mythal that protects the city.

Spells with the death, evil, or teleportation descriptors are blocked by the mythal, as well as Conjuration (summoning) and Evocation (fire) spells. The effects of detect scrying, invisibility purge, negative energy protection, and protection from evil are in continuous effect inside the mythal, as well as antipathy towards all evil-aligned demons, devils, dragons, drow, duergar, giants, goblinoids, mind flayers, orcs, and trolls.

Certain tokens allow some of these effects to be overcome. Adrath tokens (shaped like a unicorn’s head) allow the bearer to cast Conjuration (summoning) and Evocation (fire) spells as well as spells with the teleportation descriptor. Duraph tokens (shaped like a diamond) negate the antipathy and detect scrying effects. A Lauthaul token (shaped like a shield) acts as an Adrath token, but its effects extend within the inner wards (inside the High Palace, the Vault of Sages, and a few other locations). Other, more powerful tokens are rumored to exist as well.

Given the new information, the party speculates that the note they intercepted was intended for a demon, devil, or drow, and make plans for investigating the area mentioned in the intercepted note as a meeting area. Celowin talks to several of his friends and arranges a party at the Bright Blade Brandished, which is near the meeting place.

That evening, the group goes to the Bright Blade Brandished and meets up with Celowin’s friends, ostensibly celebrating a birthday. Many of the attendees seem very enthused to be a part of the intrigue and skullduggery afoot, and keep asking Celowin about the ‘secret plan.’ Some of Celowin’s other friends send them off across town on ‘secret missions’ to keep them from the area. Iax, caught up in the celebration, drinks too and becomes too inebriated to help. Before midnight, Celowin and Fei go outside and hide nearby to keep and eye on the area. At midnight, Theodar leaves the Bright Blade Brandished and appears to be drunk. As he staggers around, the sounds of someone being attacked are heard from a nearby ally. Theodar summons his warhorse and Celowin runs to investigate, only to be ambushed by shadowy, cloaked figures. Fei remains hidden as Celowin and Theodar quickly dispatch the would-be assassins, and spies a shadowy figure atop a nearby building turn to flee. Celowin captures one of the creatures, which proves to be a bird-like kenku, as one of his friends (Teshura) comes running to answer his calls for help. The party quickly leaves the area with their prisoner as Knights in Silver and gawking onlookers rush in.

Traveling to Teshura’s house overlooking the River Rauvin, the kenku is interrogated. It reveals that it is a mercenary who works for a sorceress and her celestial ally. They were instructed to find the party and retrieve some items from them. It also reveals it’s ability to exactly imitate sounds and voices, which it used to lure the party into the ambush. It promises to lead the party to a meeting location where it met the sorceress if the party promises to let it go, to which the party agrees. The creature is taken to a safehouse in Silverymoon’s Southbank, where the party spends the night guarding it.

The next day the creature leads the adventurers out of Silverymoon and its protective wards into the forested hills surrounding the city. Iax does not accompany the party, feeling very sick from the previous night’s activities. As the kenku leading the party nears the meeting location, the group notices something large attempting to hide ahead. Theodar tosses the kenku a bag of silver and rides forward to investigate as the kenku flees. He finds a large, inky-black panther-like creature with two sinuous tentacles covered with razor-sharp ridges. The creature’s image shifts and flows, making it difficult to see its location. The creature growls something at the party in a language that no one understands, but it sounds malefic. A bearded devil wielding a wicked glaive comes out of hiding and leers at the party as the larger creature summons a shadowy globe of darkness over the area. Theodar charges into combat and impales the fiend with a lance, wounding it badly enough to cause it to miss with its glaive. As Fei and Celowin maneuver through the forest to line up a shot, the other creature uses some kind of ability to summon a cloud of darkness that wounds Theodar and his mount. Fei’s magic missiles wound the bearded devil badly enough for Theodar to take it down, but the panther-like beast advances and deals several heavy blows with its claws and its barbed tentacles. Celowin gets into range and starts hitting it with arrows, but the shifting appearance of the creature cause many of his shots and Theodar’s blows to miss. Fei uses a spell to magically slow the creature, and its powerful attacks quickly drop off. Celowin and Theodar’s arrows and blows weaken the creature badly enough for Fei’s magic to kill it off.

After the combat, the group searches the area and finds a note to the mysterious Stefar, as well as the body of a recently-killed dwarf bearing an intricate tattoo of the Steel Serpent Smithy in Silverymoon.