Years End at Heroes Garden

   The mood at Heroes Garden was resplendent. All of the faithful were aglow with the excitement of their lord, The Charging Knight, home at Waterdeep for the celestial holiday. By Friday morning at First service, one day before Years End, all their plans and preparations were complete. They were ready, one and all, to defend their Grounds, and follow Their Gypsy Lord when the dragons came again to wreak havoc upon the peoples of Waterdeep.

Teldicia has been in a state of enervated bliss. Serving her lords needs has replaced her need for sleep, achieving the same calmness of mind to prepare her daily rituals through lustful ministrations to her Lord. Overseeing the church, and by default the efforts of all its followers, she has kept up with the growing need to cure spoiled food and water, and has stockpiled/created 50 cure light wound potions.She also issued the command to prepare spells but not cast any, as previous holidays had shown there would be no rest this night.

Captain Arina and Fallon have worked closely together with the lieutenants to come up with a battle plan for saving as many lives as possible through careful placement of the troops and resources in Heroes Garden

Candace, stable master, oversaw the moving of all stock to other barns. Some barns are located at the edge of the gardens, while some are at other nobles' villas. The only horses within Heroes Garden are those serving as mounts. She has stayed at the temple with her three packs of hounds to help with guarding against unseen intruders.

Alegan of Waterdeep will guard the grounds immediately surrounding the tower. His platoon stands guard on horseback in groups of three, never closer than 80 feet apart.

Vataan Harpell and his platoon of cavaliers would break into groups of four and spread far out to the edges of the garden. Their job was to help followers and citizens that fell to the panic of the dragon flight and get them to safety.

Erradus Ilzimmer and his platoon of cavaliers oversaw the locations of the Tarm stables, and would stand ready to ride, whether it be to transfer messages at the request of their Lord, or to buttress troops somewhere in the north wards. Because of his influence, the Ilzimmer  had offered to shelter a large number of Tarm mounts.

Finally, Galoban had his own contribution. He had written an official church battle hymn, and taught it to every bard and musical student he had access to. Every group of warriors and priests called to service tonight would have with them and a bard to sound the battle hymn in glory to Tarm, and stave off the fear that the dragons relied upon so much.

When the first alarms sounded at 1:00 in the morning, no one in the heroes garden was shocked. When the Horselord appeared, and flushed out a dragon for the Samular god of thunder to sunder, no one was surprised. It was different this time. They were prepared. The Samulars were Home.

Review (6/22/2011)

 

Friday morning Vercel and Durg confer that they had shared a dream. A connection with mother then images of death and destruction; a sated feeling after battle, not one but many battles; it was the green dragon of wrath; she was reaching out to us. In addition that morning it is noticed the lair is taking on some of our traits becoming warmer and accommodating.

Jaren and Vercel take the two mind flayer remains to the Black Crown, delivering them to Adalwin Joscelin who accepted them quickly, anxious to complete his studies, the meeting is brief. Jaren then went about his daily preparations while noticing that he has been elevated in both rank and reputation in the Black Crown. Two servants of Jamilia arrive just before a magical message, supplying Jaren with a new badge for his Watermark and showing him to his new office along with a title: The Magister of Draconic Relations. Meanwhile Durg and Auge begin assessing the damage at the Edana Estate- now known as the Red Keep- and how to begin clean up. Several nobles send word of aid, but these offers were politely refused, and by polite we mean a reply was sent, “No”. Before rendezvousing with Durg and Auge, Versel and Jaren fly to the Sunbow Mansion where they were given one-thousand gold pieces from recent business, which was down due to all of the battles that took place upside along with the disappearance of half of the staff (cousins). The manager feared the reaction to the lack of profits and news of the loss of staff. He was prepared with a solution to the current endeavors and suggested an investment in potions of disguise until new “cousins” were brought in and trained. From there they caught up with their brothers at Red Keep. By 1 pm one-eighth of the debris around the Red Keep had been cleared away. Flying back to the Cinder Block, Vercel wanted to take a longer scenic route. While en-route we exercise our aura and witness its effects. That leads to talk of the flyers club and employing the tiefling bard Elcorn to seek out any surviving flyers club members. At the Cinder Block, last minute arrangements are made allowing for bar area to serve the Neutral Grounds. Vercel reads and Auge looks into removing taints and then it’s time to prepare for dinner.

6 pm we come to Stormhold home to the Rockhammer Dwarves, several other noble families arrive by carriage, most notably the elven Seawillows. We observe the dwarves as arrogant, proud, and possessed of deep lineages. We are received as victors and tenants of the newly named Red Keep. Dinner of the finest foods and drink was served; we were attended to by experts, servants as well as expert servants in any way we wanted. The opulence was quite amazing. During this time we are treated with a tour of the globe by some ancient and powerful magic, the walls, floors, and ceiling of the elegant dining room became a series of rolling images, scenes from around the world. Elias Seawillow (the 23rd), our host, maintains that politics ends at the worthy gate; he was quite engaging. Recognizing our defined territory he supports our means for peace and stability in Stormhaven. Which brought up Socordia; was she displaced? Would she return to her previous domain? Jaren stresses the greatness and might that is dragon-kind and Auge concludes simply that the face and power structure of Stormhaven has changed.

Then a messenger, the White Spider has returned and has came calling. She relays information to Auge that Tamros went into The Rock (prison) by his own will this past Wednesday. He had found a way in and went looking for Cathlan who knew about a tome called Maleficus Arcanum. Back at the dinner, Seawillow and Rockhammer believe there will be no peace with Socordia in the Staircase Keep. Agreed, but like Vercel says- no one would willingly choose to return to the driftdowns, not after being elevated to the Upside. Nevertheless Elias Seawillow officially- in front of all attendees- calls upon the office of Draconic Affairs to assess and address the situation. The drunken and drugged conversation carried on for hours. In come the casks: Double-dark Dwarven Stout and that’s all she wrote for that night. Waking up we realize that they did in fact received our pledge to deal with the abloleth, but they had to get us drunk to do it.

Saturday morning was spent with an eye for increased security. Contests with the long sword, light blades, archery, strength contests and unarmed combat brackets were drawn up and prizes were decided upon: master work weapon for the appropriate contest and 500 gp to the strength and unarmed contests. In addition six priests of strength and combat were enlisted to act as judges while Endera handled Neutral Ground registrations. A wand of light was given to the bards to liven up the grand opening.

7pm is when the carriages began to arrive bringing the Rockhammer clan, paparazzi, as well as more food and more drink. They came bearing a gift to Sons Commodities in the form of a 5,000 gp jewel and a special event to add to the festivities: the stone and hammer. Huzza! Before the end of the night Auge made contact with a merchant named Vesper who would agree to arrange a discount on armor in return for access to the fighters and presenting them with quality armors.

We begin next session late Saturday night or if it pleases the DM… Sunday morning.