Session 5: Of Merchants and Men

General Summary

In the last session;  The party in the pouring rain and thunder, spoke to Keeper Marek about the Harbinger.

He had a fairy tale book that mentions them briefly, but had a larger tome regarding the ancient history of Cormye, a History of the Forest Lands, the old name for Cormyr.

Lucky regaled the party with the fairy tale to Mareks delight, but the conversation turned sour as they pushed for information on the in depth tome of history penned by a Vallis Vallinthar, a war wizard based in the town of Waymoot.

Marek eventually was pressured into admitting he sold his book, although it was unclear why he was embarassed, to Tallisen Mordren, the Senior Envoy Absolute of the Seven Suns.

The party visited a slightly harassed and stressed Lord Humbolt, whom gladly paid for services due thus far, 30 lions each.

Guest rooms were requested and granted for the evening, but first the party became aware that a child by the name of Little Emmerich was looking for them.

The party stopped by the stores, stopping by Borin Oakfists Tannery and Fabulous Outfits to pick up the ordered cloak of many pockets, and a bear hat with twitchable ears for Colmir.

At Firefront Outfitters, supplies were bargained for, including an absolute steal on a cloud giant strength potion.

Emmerich was tracked down at the cross roads, and they were taken to meet the Baroness Glanend, Felicia Glanend, who spoke brusquely and honestly about her wish to employ the party as assassins of Tallisen Mordren. 

Wary of this deal, the party left, and ran into the possessed body of a Glanend guard, possessed by the Harbinger of Madness, unnerved, the party slept the night.

The party pieced together some of vision of Solas, identifying themselves as the animals Solas saw, surrounded by corrupted thorns and buds hiding a deeper evil, with this on their mind they approached the seven suns camp in the morning.

Colmir suggested taking the risk of taking animal form to scout, and potentially steal the history of the forest lands from the Seven Suns, however the bard quickly overtook the plan, and pushed forward confident in his abilities to trick the guards with his obtained uniform.

With some highly suspicious behaviour, Lucky brought attention to themselves, and his identity checked.

Lucky pushed through with his plan, and obtained the ire of the camp as they identified him as an imposter, and struggled to pull his uniform off an eject him.  This causes a distraction for Dofaroc and Shadow to slide into the central tent.. a large ramp leading down to a large chamber.

On the outside, revelling in the chaos also attracted a new menace. Claiming to be an ally, the harbinger of madness proceeded to aid the party into moving through the camp, as the harbinger of madness proceeded to jump from body to body causing chaos.

In the chamber below, Shadow and Dofaroc made their way further into the chamber.

This huge room, with caravans on the right, and supplies and crates to the left, the light of a bonfire behind the boxes visible. 

A balcony rose to the left, steeped in darkness and inaccessible due to crumbled stairs, but the stairs to the right were intact and led up to a balcony where at the far end of the room, light could be seen. 

Shadow confirmed with Am, that the book lay ahead behind the light.

The final guard, under the influence of Madness, revealed the names of four of the seven harbingers, Destruction, Pestilence, Madness and Entropy, but would not be drawn on the names of the others.

Warning the party not to wake Pestilence, the possessed man eviscerated himself, leaving the party between a dead body and a confused and angry camp above.