Session 88

About a year after the events of their investigation of Seryndor and Calantha's attack on Caphanos, the party finds themselves in the Messy Cushion in Eldham, where as they are sharing drinks and talking to Reginard, a young boy comes in and is excitedly trying to get Reginard to purchase a "Chronicle", an initiative he says the magistrates undertook to keep the citizens of the Synodical Republic informed of what's going on in the world. There are a few headlines, including rising prices of Dunesilver due to a shortage in the Yzerid, a group of adventurers causing a raucous for traveling to the restricted Dreaming Wastes region in search of Skiantine, a rare metal that is near impossible to find these days, news of Nenthafiaran's magistrate being caught laundering money after banning alcohol in the city so they could hike up the price, and the small mining town of Avanfiaran going on strike due to Mythwell's poor oversight and Mythwell responding by sending a large contingent of Enforcers towards the small town. While talking to Reginard, the party learns that magistrate Eldar recently stepped down from his position, no longer able to handle his duties following the deaths of his family, and a woman from Carran named Shael was stepping up to replace him, causing some controversy since she would be the first female magistrate in the region. Reginard also told them that she had commissioned a statue in the rebuilt city square of the heroes responsible for destroying the undead in the city -- Dain, Summer, Eskall, Grim, and Icarus. She also included a statue of Garrett Kincade, who lost his life trying to defend the Statehouse. Dain seems preoccupied, with his thoughts lingering on the Forgeborn which made their debut in Eldham during the trade festival months earlier. He hears that Eldar purchased some before he stepped down and decides to pay the Statehouse a visit to see if he can learn more.

On his way to the Statehouse, Dain finds an isolated city street where he witnesses what appears to be a Dwarf sneaking up on a Forgeborn standing guard in front of a building in the Aristocratic district, placing a small device on its back, causing a large electrical charge to disable it. Dain shouted at the Dwarf, giving chase, as the Dwarf dragged the Forgeborn's body around a corner into an alleyway. As he rounded the corner and saw the Dwarf attempting to break open its chest cavity, the Dwarf looked up, and seemed to recognize Dain. He greeted him and introduced himself as Gardain Redfist.

He claimed to be investigating the surge of Forgeborn being sent all over the world despite Reshyk's xenophobic policies and closed borders, as well as their strict policies regarding Runetech not leaving Reshyk. Gardain believed that King Rangrim was up to no good and mentioned that several of Dain's relatives appeared complicit, although he was unsure of Dain's father's position. Dain helped Gardain haul the Forgeborn's body back to the Dead Goose Inn, dealing with an irritated Icarus, who told Dain to keep its oils away from his flour, and commenting on a "creepy" pale Elf in the inn. Dain hauled the Forgeborn to his room upstairs and after Gardain haphazardly attempted to open its chest again, Dain waved a glowing hand over its chest and pressed a hidden button which opened it. Gardain clearly was no Artificer, and asked Dain what he thought of the thing. Dain took a look, noticing designs which were clearly not his idiot cousin Gloin's ideas, as there were some novel designs inside, though he could still see his cousin's influence in there. As he investigated further, he found several submodules not present in his own Steel Defender which seemed to imply that the unit could be remotely controlled and communicated with using Runetech applying magic similar to a Sending Stone. This seemed to explain why non-Dwarves were able to "give them orders", as Dain believed that they were being controlled, not ordered. More alarmingly, he found a submodule with a large buildup of Flow energy that Dain was worried could potentially explode if tampered with. He told Gardain of his findings, and Gardain seemed to think they would need to go to the capital city of Shimmerwind in Reshyk to learn more, as he did not know where they were being produced, but the research and development was done there. He suggested they go charter a ship in Nolaviath and head there. Meanwhile, Merrick recognized the insignias on the armor of the "creepy" pale Elf in the dining area as being those of Orick, and approached the Elf, greeting him and even communing with Orick there, seeing him as a kindred spirit. He invited the man to accompany them, believing they were meant to meet. The Elf introduced himself as Godfrey.

The next day, the party set out to Nolaviath, and shortly before arriving at the city, they encountered a group of Enforcers, with one of them shouting at the others, seemingly irate that they were too cowardly to follow him into the forest. Dain questioned the man and learned that due to the "damned Dwarven metal contraptions" assuming their duties in the cities, many of the Enforcers were being put on Goblin hunting duty because the local Emerald Company mercenaries had migrated north to deal with an increasing problem of Goblin activity in the Anduskian Grasslands. After a comment from the Enforcers about the "damned yellow things", Dain mentioned that the yellow ones are incredibly stupid and told them they should be fine -- but then ruined the moment by terrifying several new Enforcers by mentioning the other variants that may be waiting for them out there. Not seeing it as urgent, he decided to contact Tamas remotely with Sending, and asked him to send some of his men to deal with the Goblins here. He received a reply of "Oh great, I'm hearing things now? Well… better do it just in case."

After arriving in Nolaviath, the players went to the harbor to search for a ship to charter, and after speaking with the harbormaster and being pointed in the direction of a ship called "The Wavebreaker", they walked along the docks until they heard some deckhands carrying cargo talking about the ship. They asked and the deckhands pointed the ship out. Dain asked for permission to come aboard, which the deckhand confirmed, before he heard the man's companion whispering as he walked away "You can't just give anyone permission to come aboard! You're not the Captain!" Walking up onto the deck, they knocked on the door of the Captain's quarters and met with Captain Cilia of The Wavebreaker, and asked for passage. She said that normally it would be a fee of 100 gp per person, but that due to increasing activity of Corsairs in the Gulf of Liborius, she asked if they would mind defending them in case of attack in exchange for a discount, which they accepted. Afterwards, the party brought their belongings aboard, stabling their horses in Nolaviath, prepaying for four months. They then set sail, and getting used to the swaying of the ship.

As they approached the area where two peninsulas reach toward each other at the exit of the Gulf of Liborius, Godfrey, on alert due to information from the harbormaster, was flying his Gryphon high in the sky above and spotted a burning ship in the distance. He reported this back to Captain Cilia and she said they should check in case the crew needs help. They diverted after Merrick used his familiar to check for threats, and found several bodies on the deck. Examining the deck for the origin of the fire, they found the Captain's quarters' door heavily charred and went to open it. On the other side, they found upturned furniture blocking the entrance, and after clearing some of it, a shirtless man in trousers charged Godfrey with a board, and Dorin tripped him. After talking with the terrified man and convincing him they were indeed not Corsairs, they learned several of the crew were alive and had been barricaded in the Captain's quarters, including the Captain himself, Captain Crunch. After rescuing some more crew in the hold, they decided to tow the ship back to Caphanos, which cost them an additional week on their journey. As they passed outside the Gulf of Liborius one night, Summer noticed a dark form approaching out of the darkness during a cloudy night. She readied her bow, unsure whether this was a hostile ship, or simply another passing merchant vessel. However, their intentions were made clear enough as they passed by the ship and opened fire, sending cannonballs careening through the hold, hitting Dorin and Godfrey. The unequipped party ran to the deck, where a fog rolled in obscuring the deck and their vision just as several Corsairs jumped over to their deck and began to attack them. Godfrey escaped the hold by teleporting through a hole in the hold to the enemy ship's deck and immediately demolished a Corsair Sharpshooter and then the Corsair Sea Witch. Meanwhile, the Corsair Duelists began attacking Dorin and Merrick as Dain tried to find his way through the thick fog. Summer tried to attack from above, but could not see through the fog and instead decided to take out the Corsair Sharpshooters in the crow's nests.