Date: 3/23/05

XP Awarded: 1,312 (to 7th level characters)

Start: A private prayer chamber in the Halls of Inspiration, nine days after Midsummer

As Theodar sleeps, Celowin, Iax, and another priest of Milil kept careful watch as Fei studies the Grimoire of Shadows. After reading all night with a priest of Oghma looking over his shoulder, Fei is exhausted but overcome with excitement about the magical discoveries he has made.

When dawn breaks, Lorelord Ormast and Songmaster Beldor escort the adventurers to the High Palace, where they again enter High Mage Taern Hornblade’s office. In a much gentler manner, Taern asks the group to recount their adventures and probes Fei on what he has discovered from the book. He goes on to explain how the secrets contained within the book represent a potentially explosive shift in power and cautions Fei against delving into the knowledge further. Theodar assures Taern that he will not. Celowin gives Taern the Duraph token he found from Stefar’s body, and Taern gifts Fei with an Adrath token in thanks. Celowin also pulls out the brass key he had found, which he recognizes as belonging to the Melody Inn & Tavern, a shady hotel in Silverymoon’s Southbank. Taern suggests that the party take care of any business there before the Daughters of Mystra arrive and things start blowing up.

After leaving the High Palace, the party discusses going directly to the Melody Inn & Tavern, but it is decided that everyone is too tired and Fei is out of spells, so the adventurers return to the Golden Oak inn to rest. Iax disappears, saying that he’s got business to take care of. That evening, the adventurers regroup and walk to the Melody Inn & Tavern in Southbank. As they arrive, they hear shouts and the sound of breaking wood inside.

Rushing in, they find an owlbear tearing apart the common room with terrorized patrons huddled in the corner. As Theodar engages the beast in combat to allow the others to escape, Fei turns invisible and flies forward to find where the beast came from. He finds a large, bristle-covered dire boar inside a back hallway, chasing a cook who just slammed the door behind him. As it breaks through the door into the alley outside, Celowin hears the scream of a terrified woman and runs to the alley mouth to see the dire boar readying a charge. Firing a quick succession of arrows, he distracts the boar so the woman can flee. The dire boar charges Celowin, but the archer stands his ground and confidently sinks arrow after arrow into the beast’s head, finally dropping it and causing it to skid along the ground for several yards before it comes to rest. Meanwhile, Fei has explored the back passages of the inn and found a large minotaur solidly blocking the passage, beyond which he can hear the sound of something heavy being dragged across the floor. Summoning Theodar to deal with the brute, Fei flies over his head and out of the inn to see a dusky-skinned sorceress dragging a large, sheet-covered object down the street. A large winter wolf is with her. Fei makes his presence known by conjuring a sphere of force to entrap her, but she dodges aside at the last minute. The large covered object is within the force globe, and the sorceress shrieks in fury as she throws a ball of fire that badly damages Fei, just before her imp becomes visible as it tries to jab Fei with its poisoned tail. Celowin arrives around the corner and pierces the spellcaster’s skull to the forceglobe with an arrow just as she’s about to let another spell fly at the badly singed Fei. Theodar comes charging out of the inn, having dispatched the minotaur, and is blasted by the winter wolf’s frosty breath, but the party makes short work of the beast with the sorceress dead.

The city guard shows up shortly and start crowd control. Recognizing the heroes, they allow the party to take the sheet-covered object to the House Invincible, a grim keep of solid grey stone overlooking the Market. Once there, Theodar asks for a secure location, and they are led to a small private meditation chamber deep below the keep. Vigilant Master Baerim Coraddor is summoned and the adventurers explain that the item could potentially be used to summon demons, and that a circle of spellcasters is after it. Baerim agrees that the item must be kept safe until it is decided what will happen to the item, and that he will consult with High Mage Taern on the matter. The party asks if they can stay with the item, but Baerim explains that he’s got another, more secure location for the item to be stored in, and the party agrees to leave it in his possession.