45. February 9, 2019

Avengers, Assemble!

We travel out from under the smoky eye. We write to the spymaster Genard, asking for information. We wait for the druids to find us again. They do; we tell Druij what happened; tell him we want to travel south to rally humanoids to fight the monsters emerging from the Heart Lake. A druid named Calith is appointed to travel with us [us = Illial, Ghard, Jessa, Bel, Odette, Aishling, Aoife, Calith], and communicate with the druids while we are moving. The druids agree to convey our horses south.

We decide to go to Sirtegaard, to speak to the dwarven king Kaerg and get messages via him to the elves and to Kirenweld (via Baronet Holstgaren). We spot a Sirtegaard pennant on a mountain, and realize it'll be an outpost with access to their rollercoaster-like rail lines. It takes about 8 days to get there. But on about the 6th day, we get intelligence from Genard.

Hullaballo around the Lake

Genard confirms that monsters and beasts thought extinct are loose. Merchant ships are sunk in the Heart. In Kelsun (the breadbasket duchy), all villages along the lake have been torched and are on fire. The Emperor is returning to the Capital, the Imperial City, to deal with the problems. The elves have closed their borders; they have abandoned their capital city for the woods, and have magicked the woods to form a barrier.

Also, Duke Eogeis of the duchy Ioceojan, who is rumored to be a green dragon, reached out to Sylarith to ask to meet directly. Syliarith's ruler (who is half-man, half-snake), met with the mysterious duke Eogeis—who REALLY IS a giant green dragon! Duke Eogeis told Sylarith's duke this is their chance to seize power. The dragon used to have a fortress in the middle of the Heart Lake, and he knows that an ancient Emperor and an Otherworldly Entity made a deal: Emperor wanted the Aerden deity gone, and the Entity wanted to lock up all the beasts and monsters to make the realm safe. The Emperor got the green dragon (who was around back then), to round up the dragons.

The dragon duke says obviously the deal has been broken as the double-headed eagle is back and the monsters are loose. The dragon duke Eogeis asks if the Sylarith duke is interested in an alliance to take power. (Sylarith duke says he'd get back to him, and started asking agents for information so he can decide whether it'd be best to say yes or no.)

Sirtegaard

We reach the dwarven outpost. They saw the “concussive wave” that came northwards from the Heart Lake. The outpost is manned by three living dwarves, and five ghost-dwarves. They agree to transport us to Kaerg, the dwarven king, and put us on rail carts to send us off. It takes 7 hours by rail to travel a few hundred miles to see the king.

Dwarven Alliance to the Thelduin (“Star Elves”)

The dwarven city is ginormous. It is terraced down There are thousands of ghost-dwarves laboring with smelting equipment and are mining. We go to the palace and introduce everyone. Ghard explains about the concussive wave; Illial, Aoefe, and Aishling, and Calith tell of the peril of the Thelduin.

Kaerg, king of Sirtegaard, realizes that Illial is a princess, and the highest ranking “star elf” alive, asks for an alliance. Illial accepts! Kaerg and his Spirit Talker say they may be able to help the Theduin; they might be able to bond Thelduin spirits to animals (the way they bond spirits to armor), to free the Thelduin's minds for now, until their bodies can be freed. Kaerg wants a strong, powerful alliance with the Thelduin against the current threats. Illial agrees. The dwarves draft a treaty and she signs it the next day.

We decide we'll go west to the eastern border of the elven lands, after having Aishling try to reach Vethandra, to tell her we're coming for her and Shock then heading to the Imperial City. Odette says she is returning to the Imperial City now to resume her work there as the Emperor is returning to the city.

Attacked!

Aishling tries to reach Vethandra in a dream with our message. We are awake, watching. We see a face appear in the wall opposite us. And then its torso, and legs. About 15 feet tall and 12 feet wide. And then it starts pushing itself out of the wall. Egad! It has hostile intentions. It hits sleeping Aishling. A fight ensues; the dwarves and everyone take out the rock creature, which they think was an elemental. They say it's unusual for an elemental to pursue people like this one did (Jessa scooped up sleeping Aishling and ran with her, and the elemental pursued them.)

Contact with Vethandra

Aishling successfully contacted Vethandra, who said she has information about other sisters. But then a dark fog rolled in between them, and she woke because the elemental hit her. Aishling didn't have time to say “meet us,” they were interrupted.

Terrible Idea Guys, Don't Do It

Jessa and the dwarves speculate about putting Thelduin minds into monster bodies. Illial prefers that they not do that to her people. But we'll see, it could be a solution.

West to the Elven Woods

We ride down a few more rails, to a dwarven outpost bordering the elven woods.