The Construct Conundrum

21 Jum - 21 Jove, Year 301 DR

The Book Club met by chance in a forest clearing outside Adenagend; each had heard the sound of Odallaron Val'Thallis, Court Wizard of Adenagend, being attacked by magical constructs. They came to Val'Thallis' aid and learned that the constructs bore the mark of a famous gnome who hadn't been seen in the Realms for 100 years.

The Realms' capital, Adenagend, is surrounded by magical fog which has encroached on the city ever-further as time has passed. Large rune-powered fans line the city walls to keep the fog at bay, but a permanent solution has not been discovered.

Gee invited her new friends to stay at her large manor, Dusk's Hearth. Her home is staffed chiefly by her butler, Desmond.

A festival in the city was attacked by a larger construct. The party defeated it and realised that it, too, bore the same mark as the gauntlets from the forest. Acting Guard-Captain Anthron offered the Book Club a reward for finding the source of the constructs and ending their attacks on the city for good.

Gee's old friend Ceres welcomed her back to the city, and the two discussed a group called "The Cats". The next day, Ceres left Gee a note: "The next place is Northmount."

In their search for information, the party entered the apparently haunted Argentine Library, a half-burnt spire. They befriended Book, a mysterious silver dragonborn who acts as caretaker of the library. He gave the party a map to reach the gnome’s old tower, which he believed would be the source of the constructs.

Terra formally swore her paladin oath to Queen Kata Angenvir, promising to put an end to the construct attacks.

On their way to the tower, the party accosted Grankus Feldspurn, a half-orc they caught rifling through their camp. He'd left behind a symbol on one of their bags, which Gee recognised as belonging to a group called "The Ravens". Grankus insisted he didn't know what the symbol meant; he'd been instructed by a magical artefact in his employer's possession.

With Grankus in tow, the party met his employer, the halfling Garrin Ashcopse. They met his other employees and his teenage daughter. Garrin offered the party a contract to help him claim the extensive library rumoured to remain in the old tower, but the Book Club refused.

They fled, taking Grankus with them, and discovered that Garrin did indeed have a magical artefact: an orb that seemed to speak into Garrin's mind. Friend turned and revealed their "true form" to Garrin, causing he, his employees, and his daughter to collapse screaming, holding their heads in incredible pain. Friend promptly vanished into thin air, leaving no trace of where they'd gone.

Gee, Terra, and Oturan fled to Butterhill, where they met Fell Isity, a human sorcerer. She said she was searching for a blue phoenix in the northern part of the Realms. She aided the party when more constructs emerged to attack from the forest surrounding the small village.

Friend soon returned unaware of where they'd been and the party, along with Grankus, entered the tower. They fought off constructs and a subsequent violent encounter with Garrin; he fled, leaving the Book Club to form an uneasy temporary alliance with those he left behind, including his daughter.

The party defeated the lich-construct hybrid of the gnome. They destroyed his means of returning to life, and the gnomish workers who had been imprisoned by his experiments were freed. Grankus and the others said their goodbyes; they wished to chase down Garrin and relieve him of the orb he still carried.

Book arrived at the tower in style - he revealed himself to be a silver dragon of significant age.

Now officially without an owner, the Book Club claimed the tower for themselves, using the extensive library to learn new languages and tool proficiencies. Book found runes of a teleportation circle, and believed it linked to a circle in the now-unused Verthedge Outpost not far from Adenagend.

Returning to the city, the group encountered a red fairy dragon who seemed intent on staying with them. Oturan named him 'Ohana'.

The Book Club returned with Adenagend to prepare for Gee's impending birthday masquerade ball. Gee invited Terra, Friend, and Oturan to stay with her once again, and invited Book to attend the birthday ball.