Session 44: Family Ties

The party reconvened at the tavern with Daihl MacGregor and his half-orc daughter, Dhowgok. Plans were discussed on how to proceed as well as the party gathering information on their various goals. Tertius also approached Levi and told him that he trusted him and tried to pull apart the Drow Slave Collar around his neck, but was unsuccessful, but then asked Bolvaic to unlock the collar and removed it from Levi.   Daihl’s orcish wife passed away, leaving behind his daughter who, now 13, is having some coming of age issues including a barbarian like rage. Levi and Bolvaic discussed anger and rage with Dhowgok, helping her to channel it. Daihl wishes to take Dhowgok to her mother’s village to introduce her to her mother’s sisters and orcish culture, feeling that he is not fully able to fulfill her potential curiosities of her heritage.   The village that he wants to take her to is the orcish village of Bar Rorkred, north of the Gallymoore Mountains and south of Winterglen, where Illevaere hails from. Illevaere was somewhat familiar with the village, knowing that though there are racial animosity between orcs and elves, there is an unspoken alliance between the orcs of Bar Rorkred and the elves of Winterglen, as the orcs supposedly keep an evil in the mountains at bay. However, Illevaere had no other recollection of information about the orcs village. Some of the Northlanders in the tavern stated that the orcs of Bar Rorkred openly trade with them and they often drop anchor to visit and trade with the orcs.   Tertius decided to visit his father, with Levi and Tiarjead joining him. They arrived at the manor which he was being held under house arrest and met with Hueck Greyhall. They discovered that he was somewhat resigned to his fate, admitting that Queen Finnea has accurate charges against him. When he was informed that Tertius was aware that he bargained with the hags of Boora Bog when he was having difficulty siring an heir and asked for “a son who could one day take his place”. The letter delivered by the hag’s version of Levi provoked his arrest and therefore allowed Tertius to take his place as Duke. Hueck chuckled at that and said that he had always known that there would be a “catch” to the bargain with the hags, but he had always assumed that the catch was Tertius “being like he was”.   Despite the consideration of punching Hueck urged on by his companions, Tertius did not. Instead Hueck warned him of the political ramifications, stating that Hueck’s brother and sister would likely make a play for his seat and that Queen Finnea would likely turn a blind eye to the attempt as it would void Hueck’s title and therefore make her resolution with him easier.   The group left and rejoined the others back at the tavern. They had been looking for more information about the frost giant Fulskorri that Bolvaic’s grandfather’s maul had stored a “grudge” in it from years past. They discovered a bit more about Fulskorri, knowing now that he resided with a white dragon known as Blindglide, whose presence caused the rolling mist that the Northlander ships would use to evade capture after raids.   Bolvaic questioned if this could be the white dragon that slew his clan and he revealed his past and the “white dragon that breathed fire” that destroyed his kin. In revealing this, he showed the white dragon scale that he had found at the location afterward. While no one recognized what kind of scale it was, Ilbryen realized that the scale was white because it was missing pigment, informing Bolvaic that the White Dragon That Breathes Fire could very likely be an albino red dragon.   Ilbryen also came across a story of Bolvaic’s grandfather and his maul, Grudgetaker, that Bolvaic now possessed while investigating Fulskorri. Brourgrath Boradrak cleaved the hand from the frost giant during a raid, but the frost giant slew his brother. Brourgrath swore vengeance on the giant and began to hunt him down. However, when his wife Handilin said that she was with child, he knew that it was too dangerous to continue his hunt, but his grudge was too strong to go away. Brourgrath crafted a weapon, Grudgetaker, to place his grudge and enmity toward Fulskorri within so that the grudge could live on, but Brourgrath could move on.   The party also discovered that their backpack of holding was missing several objects and some gold. Ilbryen cast identify on the backpack, discovering that it was, in fact, a Shared Backpack, which has all of the qualities of a bag of holding, but its interdimensional space is connected to several different backpacks which share the location. The party took three potions that were in the bag and the rest of the gold and left a threatening letter to those on the other side of the backpack.   The party determined that it would be best to hire a ship to sail to Bar Rorkred to reunite Dhowgok with her aunts, then continue to Askel to find Fulskorri. They could pick up Dhowgok on their return. They interviewed several ships’ captains, but ultimately chose to hire Spuit Ljotsson and his longship the Wolfhound to take them to Bar Rorkred and then Port Raven in Askel.   The party set sail in the morning, and Levi overheard the first mate telling the captain that they are readying the “toll” to pay to Fulskorri, as the Northlanders on the ship obviously support his mist and protection of the Northland raiders.