Date: 4/7/05

XP Awarded: 1,960 (to 6th level characters), 1,540 (to 7th level characters)

Start: A hilltop overlooking the city of Everlund, mid-Eleasis

The adventurers ride down the tree-stump covered hillside to the gates of the walled city of Everlund. Overlooking the city is a stout keep of black stone with a large, moon-shaped mirror mounted on the top. Even outside the gates, the party can hear the cries of vendors and merchants inside. A group of merchants and their wagons are lined up along the road in front of several shoddy-looking inns outside the thick city walls. As the party waits for entrance, they notice the guards at the gate accepting bribes to speed the entry of the merchants. When they reach the front of the line, the guards wearing the insignia of the Army of the Vale explain that there is a 2gp tax on adventurers to enter the city. They also warn the party that the city gates are open from dawn until dusk, and that there are job postings for adventurers on the stone walls of the barracks down by the river.

Inside Everlund, the streets are busy with merchants from all over Faerun. The party follows Celowin to the manor of Zosker Anthalar, a large, friendly man in ostentatious clothing and jewelry. Over tea, he explains to the party about a ‘commerce safety’ tax proposed by the nobles to be levied on all merchants and transactions in the city. The tax will be used to fund an armed force that will protect the area against the increasing number of trolls and giants that have moved into the area. Though the tax is very unpopular with the merchants and guilds of the city, it will probably be passed because of public fear of a band of well-armed giants seen in the area. Zosker and his supporters need more information about these giants so that an elite task force can eliminate this threat, reducing public fear and preventing the new tax from being made into law. In return, the merchants will support the party’s wishes that Nesmé be admitted to the Silver Marches. Zosker offers the party 5,000 gold pieces to carry out a scouting mission to find out more about the giants in the area. Theodar negotiates the offer to be raised to 8,000 gold pieces, a quarter of which will be paid up front. Zosker also offers to pay for the party’s lodging at Danivarr’s House (he says it has good ale), and provides the group with a nice map of a section of the Evermoors covered in notations of ruins, dungeons, and burial chambers from Netheril, Eaerlann, and Delzoun. Theodar asks about Jerrin Winterbite, and Zosker suggests speaking with the Harpers in Moongleam tower.

After leaving Zosker’s manor house, the party gets rooms at Danivarr’s House and Theodar and Iax drink watery ale and weak wine in the common room. Meanwhile, Celowin and Fei go to Moongleam tower, where they meet Ristan, a young human Harper. He tells them that he does not know of the Jerrin they seek, but will pass the word around and gather whatever information he can before the next evening. Ristan also suggests the Dreaming Dragon as a tavern they might like. The elves return to Danivarr’s House to gather Iax and Theodar before heading over to the Dreaming Dragon. There they find an elven bard singing an old, haunting ballad about the elven kingdoms of Siluvanede, Sharrven, and Eaerlann. Though it is very beautiful, the mood is somber and the atmosphere subdued. The adventurers move on to The Old Sword Sheathed, a ramshackle building that looks unsafe, but inside they find warmth and cheer. Town elders tell stories of the old days, the young men trade jokes, and there are always games of darts and dice going on. As soon as the party enters, a burly man pushed foaming mugs of butternut beer into their hands and slaps them on the back heartily. The party stays long into the night.

The next day the party spends putting together supplies for their expedition into the Evermoors. Celowin visits the Bent Bow Bowyer, one of the finest archery shops in the land. While walking through the city’s main plaza, the Bell Market, Iax sees a shady-looking character flash him an unholy symbol of Cyric. The man seems to be expecting a reaction from Iax, but when Iax lunges forward to tackle him, he takes off running (evidently it wasn’t the reaction he was looking for). Iax quickly runs him down and subdues him, and the rest of the party shows up just as officers of the Army of the Vale show up to take him into custody. Iax is questioned and released.

That evening, Ristan returns to Danivarr’s House to meet with the party. He relates the information he’s found on Jerren Winterbite. A powerful mage matching that description was in town earlier, but left a few days ago after hiring a band of mercenaries to accompany him into the Evermoors. He had some type of map with him that he was going to follow to a specific location in the troll- and giant-infested uplands. After hearing this, the group quickly gathers their equipment and make it out of town just as the gates are closing for the night. Theodar talks to the guards and after a generous tip, learns that a group of mercenaries with a mage left on foot two days ago down Evermoor Way.

The party rides late into the night at a fast pace, trusting in the elves’ keen vision to guide them. After several hours of travel, the party encounters a group of trolls prowling along the Evermoor Way looking for encamped travelers. Iax charges into the group, seriously wounding one, but the two others claw and rend him badly. Theodar charges forward and impales one with his lance, then swings his horse around to drop it with a solid sword-blow before heading over to help out Iax. The third troll charges the elves in the back, but Fei’s fire magic and Celowin’s deadly arrows take their toll before Celowin dispatches it with Oromieva. The other trolls keep getting back up after regenerating their wounds, but eventually they are all brought down and the party rests nearby.

The next morning, the adventurers reach Olostin’s Trail and turn off the Evermoor Way, heading up into the highlands of the Evermoors. With the shadowy depths of the Silverwood on their right, the party reaches a high plateau split by steep-sided gullies. Sucking bogs lie in the hollows, surrounded by a rich profusion of plants. Rocky tors and long ridges of sharp rock cut through the gently rolling hills.

As the group rides past one swampy pond, the vegetation on the muddy shores suddenly lunges at Iax. Two tangled masses of rotting vegetation try to entangle Iax and Theodar with their ropy vines. Fei blasts one with fire, but finds that the water-logged creature is resistant. After much chopping and slicing, the creatures are brought down. Fei uses his mooncloak to walk across the surface of the swamp, investigating the mostly-submerged ruins of a stone structure. In the muddy waters he finds a muck-encrusted longbow that is in amazingly good shape.