Knightly Letters: Ileas 26 pt 5

Our efforts to reach the portal were surprisingly efficient. Whitewail, a snowy city built against a mountain that contain Vivienne's keep and many tunnels connecting the harbor and main city, looked hard to pierce but my sister's knowledge of a back entrance and her powers of persuasion combined with Hayley's illusion magic got us past most defences that led to this portal with little trouble. Some fog got us past a guard tower to the back entrance of Vivienne's keep and a bluff of Liliana, claiming we were emissaries, dealt with the Yeti's in the back. The biggest trouble were Icy golems that, according to Liliana, were a new addition to Vivienne's defenses. But with a silencing spell of Gael we took care of them without alerting anyone and even mask a stone collapsing trap triggered by accident. The last barrier to the portal revealed itself when we opened the door to the portal room: Vivienne herself blasted out a torrent of strong wind that caught me off guard and I fell back a few metres, but despite that set back one would expect stronger magic or more resistance from a fey as powerful as Vivienne. Clearly she was holding back, so the only right thing to do was thank her for going easy on us and pass through after Hayley moved her away from the portal with magic. She is quite the enigma, Vivienne, she might have a soft spot for my sister (then again, who doesn't) and wants to keep her safe but her goals must reach a bit further than that. But the answer to that question must wait for another day as we all stepped through the portal.
 
Our first sight of Nimmerburg's castle was the portal room, where we met with another visitor: Elanna, the ruler of the city of Raven on Irminsul, a fey noble that was very kind to us. She gave us protection against the chaotic time stream (for now) and told us two months had already passed and we were on the 29th of Gobu. So much time that could've been spent on chasing a cure for Galiene, time we could've spent in Wolf's Rest, even our birthday, now taken from us at the whims of this realm. But little good would come from wallowing in what is lost, we'll have to work with what we have and deal with this diplomatic situation first. Some ogre guards took us through the castle towards the main hall and the grandness of this place was hard to miss: the Silver keep could fit three times over into this castle and from the view outside the Silver City could fit twice into this one. The castle itself was almost maze-like in how the twists and turns confuse anyone trusting a normal sense of direction to navigate them. But we did get to the main hall where a giant gate showing the high king hunting led to the throne room which was once again grander than the one in Keralon, almost big enough that you had issues seeing the other end of it, but someone the size of Davozan would be hard to miss even at that distance, directing servants to prepare the feast.
 
Davozan himself seemed to hold no real grudge as we approached him, saying it is all the High King's idea that we should apologize to him. He was even happy we made it early, as there was a betting pool on that among the Fey that he ended up getting on the right side of. He arranged some rooms for us close to the gate to prevent us from getting lost and mentioned a tournament would be held as part of the feast in two days. One of the downsides of our busy schedule since we became knights is that there was very little time for tournaments, my experience with them being watching the jousts in Keralon. The friendly competition of a tournament could be a good way to connect with the knights of the Neverhold, and a good way to measure ourselves.
 
We decided to freshen up in our rooms, which were decorated with our heraldry and even had tailored clothing. I was surprised they got my measurements right but even more that they got my 'more recent' heraldry right "Per pale argent and copper in dexter flank a dragon rampant reversed copper in sinister flank a wolf rampant argent with below a motto Honore per Aspera on a scroll argent" as they say in Blazon. Though, maybe not that surprised.
 
We were free to head out into the city in the two days we had left so we went and got a taste of the already started festivities that were taking place in the central parc, though a 'central small forest' might be more apt a description as a rather large festival was already taking place there with many attractions and food stands. We all kind of drifted apart as we wandered about the fair, I had a particular thing in mind: as my sister's birthday had cruelly passed already due to the chaotic timestream of the Feywild I needed a gift and my eyes were set on a cart with a doll in the shape of a Faerie Dragon. Knowing how fond she was of Waffles I decided to play the game the cart provided: throwing balls at targets. Sadly enough my throwing arm failed me and I couldn't get the required score for the doll, but I did get a colorful fish to gift her. When we all joined up later I learned Lil won a birthday gift of her own to give me: a tiny rod that could magically extend to a full size fishing rod (guess I'll have to ask Tommel and Farrik about that fishing spot). She immediately decided to name the fish Lute and got herself a bowl to put him in as a pixie appeared next to her, asking her to be her champion in some contest of insults that was taking place in a nearby tent which she won in record time. But she barely tied the reward: a pendant made up of moons, around Hayley's neck as we saw people running from the direction of the menagerie.
 
We immediately ran towards the sound and saw the cause of the commotion: some of the largest Owlbears I've ever seen and Chimearas broke free from their cages and were fighting, cursing my habit of leaving my armor I joined the others and in the end we knocked out all but two of them and all of the trapped civilians could run out. As the fight calmed down and we checked on the animals we noticed two masked people observing us from afar: one wearing a wolf mask and one wearing a deer mask. Immediately my thoughts drifted to those mercenaries that attacked our keep and killed two of our guards, how they were hired by a man in a fox mask... But after a wave to them and a nod back they left and we focussed our attention on finding the owners of this menagerie who thanks us and offered a boon of fey magic. The second she touched me I heard the whispering of thousands of voices as I realized the grass was talking to me, and so for the next month I would be followed by the voices of every plant I encountered, imagine the busiest marketplace you've been to and that would be what I'd be hearing for the next month as I'd soon come to appreciate how many plants are around us. But as we left Dadroz remarked that the cages we found were not opened through the force of the animals but were rigged to open, maybe the people with masks (I'll call them Wolf and Deer) were behind it and thought to test us? A bit far fetched but in the Feywild who really knows.
 
As the day wound down we went back to our chambers, apparently the Palace didn't host any dinners so we ate the food provided in our chambers and headed for bed, in my case I'd be trying to drown out the voices of every chamberplant.
 
Next day started with my realization that the Sun behaved normally now, at least for what we expect it to do in the Material Plane. Either this is some quirky randomness and the regular irregularities would continue or Ulther's influence over his land is strong enough that he controls the Sun itself.
 
After breakfast we looked up Davozan to ask about things to do in Nimmerburg as we had one more day before the feast. He pointed out the library for Hayley, Luke and Gael who were extremely interested in the High King's collection of books. The rest of us, he advised a few sites we could visit: The border stones outside the city, a fortune teller named Malinda and The First Gate which the first gate between the Neverhold and the Material plane. Luckily Lil caught Davozan's deception because he wanted to bring us to the First Gate himself, by teleporting us two days from the city... So we ended up going to the border stones first. But first we had to sign up for the tournament, there was a joust, a melee, an archery contest and a mystical 'battle of wits'. Luke, of course, signed up for the battle of wits, eager to compare his wits with those of the Fey Knights and nobles. Gael joined the archery, together with Lil. And I was joined in the Joust by Gael and in the Melee by Lil. I do not look forward to meeting either of them in these contests, while I might be a shade better with the lance than Gael jousting is still mostly horsemanship and Gael is a great rider, and my sister is probably the best live swordfighter I know. Luckily we could band together at the first stage until we could knock out all the others in the melee. So my mind was running through the little jousting I picked up seeing tournaments in Keralon and thinking of strategies for the melee when we headed out of the castle to watch the border stones and see the fortune teller.
 
On the way to the border stones a strange reality of Nimmerburg set in, while the buildings around the palace look like they came straight out of Keralon the city transformed into a more 'traditional' fey city closer to its edge with vines and plants. The population became more varied too as the elves and eladrins gave way to the likes of dryads and pixie beetle farmers (who managed to sell a beetle farm kit to my sister). The border stones themselves marked the edges of Nimmerburg and at first looked like they have been there since time immemorial, but interestingly they were identical to the menhirs we saw around Hillfield all those years ago. And even more fascinating was that we found signs on the Menhirs that they were recently altered, we would need the likes of Luke to get a better look to make sure but the magic on the stones looked to be reversed a few years ago, going from a border that wards things away and keeps things in to the locus of something that is going outward. Maybe Nimmerburg is looking to expand its power?
 
Our next stop was the fortune teller Melinda, her... shop for a lack of a better word had a door adorned with snakes and arcane runes, with her husband Alastar receiving us as we went in. He explained Melinda would tell our fortunes for the price of us whispering our fears into his ears. Liliana went first, whispering something in Alaster's ear and going into a back room and coming out a bit later. Then Dadroz did the same, leaving me for last. I was, at first, hesitant but Lil and Dadroz going first gave me some time to mull it over and I doubt my fear is that hard to figure out for anyone interested in abusing that information. So I whispered it into Alaster's ear and made my way to Melinda's room, the room was lit with candles and on her table stood a big crystal ball and a deck of cards. She kindly greeted me and asked to take a card from her deck and based on that she would tell my fortune. I drew a card with a man on a cart pulled by animals: The Chariot. Melinda took the card and waved it around the crystal ball and an image appeared: I was running through a nondescript city along roads of cobblestone, clearly running after something. Melinda told me this represents some big problem or enemy that I will face and every solution would slip from my fingers as long as I trusted only in the means I currently have. She advised me to be open to solutions from unexpected fields to overcome the challenges ahead. It reminded me of the conversation I had with Galiene when flying around, that it's not bad to trust in your allies...
 
Mulling things over we made our way back to the keep and met up with the others, who had quite a trove of news to share:
 
Gael investigated the enigma of Vincent and the Mask: he found that Vincent as a figure showed up a few decades before until a few decades after the Leper Revolt, he also seemed to switch between being referred to as a Human and an Elf. He also learned Vincent was loathed by the Fey because he killed an elven wizard named Gordival who was sent to Keralon as an advisor by the High King as a diplomatic gift. The mask is mentioned as owned by Vincent and being used to hide wounds.
 
Hayley researched a connection between the High King Ulther and the Kings of Keralon: strangely enough it's a very recent thing. Because while there was always a Fey influence in Keralon the Neverhold only became connected to Keralon around the time of Irminsul's birth. And Keralon being damaged by the release of Ourborros and dealing with refugees meant Neverhold's trade helped Keralon through these times, but these closer ties were also a source of concern for the guilds and this was part of what lead to the Leper Revolt. Hayley also found small book in common theorizing that the Leper Revolt must have had strong consequences in the Neverhold since the Kingscleft, the giant canyon around Nimmerburg appeared around that time, first a small crack but widening and growing over the years.
 
She also looked into the Last Tournament, this apparently predates the Neverhold even and dates to the earliest days of Keralon where the King made several overlapping and incompatible deals to maintain their independence over the Crownhold Empire. The Final Tournament was supposed to resolve these contradictions in the deals but the way it was written it seems to have already happened. The last lead was the name Akkar, the name of a Fey Knight that took part in the final tournament. Something to follow up on in Keralon for sure. And once again the Leper's revolt came into focus, I wonder if my ancestor kept notes of what happened then, as he earned our family's place in the nobility around that time with his deal with the High King. It could be worth a trip to Hillfield.
 
But the more shocking thing that happened to them was that, through a hidden door, they were visited by Deer who we saw the day before around the Menagerie. She came with a warning: leave our holdings in Keralon and move away because her accomplices think we are growing too fast in power and want to destroy us for that. She couldn't tell them who the others were as the animal mask hide this but they are probably high placed nobles with Wolf having connections with the Neverhold's court since he knew we would get invited even before Gallaron made his way to Keralon. Deer even had a warning specifically for Luke, that he's on a dangerous road and could lose a lot. Now Luke learned something about the Elemental towers he was chasing and their ability to curtail the Feywild's energies and makes it likely these nobles with animal masks are all connected to the Fey.
 
Since we had quite some time left in the day the others returned to the library, joined by Lil this time, as Dadroz and I headed for the courtyard for some training. A few hours in a message came through our tarn stones, the people in the library were under attack and by the time we ran over the fight was already over and an assassin was unconscious on the floor after a failed ambush. He wasn't much of a talker but Hayley's mind reading taught us he was hired in the material plane through Wolf who contacted the Moonblossom Circle. Knights being hired to kill other knights for someone's power obsession... It's clear there's something deeply wrong with these knights and I made a note to raise this to Ser Donovan when we got back.
 
In the end we handed over the assassin to the palace guards and went back to research. Liliana learned that Vivienne and Whitewail used to be loyal to the Immerglade and at the start of the war she committed treason and switched sides, which is the reason she is so high up in the Neverhold's ranks. Gael researched Sylvesse and learned he wasn't always a Stag but used to be described as a Moonshadow, a black horse with silver manes and he received a boon from the Queen of Immergalde once. Since I was there now I thought it could do well to see if our family is mentioned here, it could be a good spot to learn about my family's deal with the High King and maybe teach us more about the Leper revolt. But quickly I got lost in all the books and when my sister asked if we could have a quick sparring session before bed I was happy to hear it.
 
After all: some last minute practice before a tournament couldn't hurt.
 
TO BE CONTINUED