Knights of the Armored Pig

Love an inspiring shop! 

As you enter the town of Daggerford, you’re nearly struck in the head as a book comes plummeting out of the sky and lands beside you. Before you even have a chance to question the oddity of the occurrence, two children come running up to you, eager to take the book off your hands. They inform you that about two weeks ago Kryptgarden Scrolls, the small but exclusive library in town, lifted off the ground and started to float away. As townsfolk struggled to tether the building down before it drifted off on the breeze, it’s doors burst open and books came flying out like birds! Over the past two weeks people have been capturing the wayward texts and returning them for two coppers a piece. They appear to be slowly losing their magical nature and are known to drop out of the sky as they swoop about. The library has sunk back down to earth and is now only about three feet off the ground. The two boys greedily take the book from you and rush off, already arguing about what they’ll do with their newfound wealth. A little caught off guard by the flying books, the group heads into Daggerford, looking for anyone who might have known Mawrbryn, including his friend Durvim.

The group’s first stop is the home of Delfen “Yellowknife” Ondabarl, a mage who lives in a small tower on Daggerford’s wall. Yellowknife isn’t home at the moment, but his apprentices are. The oldest of his students, a young girl around fifteen years old, invites you in and courteously offers you tea. She hasn’t seen or heard of Mawrbryn since she spends most of her time studying in the tower with the other apprentices, but she does tell you that in addition to the flying library, all the water in the town’s cisterns turned to wine several weeks ago. It caused a nightmare of a logistics problem for the water guild to deal with, but the townsfolk threw a big festival in celebration when it happened. Her studies haven’t included anything regarding artifacts in the area, and she advises you to head towards the keep if you’d like to speak to her master or either of the other two well-known mages in town. She promises to tell Yellowknife that you stopped by in case you don’t meet up with him first.

Taking the young apprentice’s advice, you make your way to Daggerford Keep, a small castle by most standards, but it’s built of solid stone and was clearly done by dwarven hands along with the town’s wall. A quick charm spell later and you are meeting with Duke Pwyll Daggerford himself, having displaced a rather upset teatotaler dwarf named Nantevil to be next in line for the Duke’s attention. Lord Pwyll appears to be another dead end in the search for Mawrbryn and Durvim, having not heard of them himself, but he seems genuinely pleased that a new band of adventurers have found their way into his town. Since you’re looking for a dwarf, he suggests asking Derval Ironeater for news. Derval is the patriarch of the Ironeater family who make up the vast majority of the dwarven population of Daggerford. They’re mostly a family of stonemasons (though Derval himself is a blacksmith) and built the very keep you stand in. The Duke isn’t aware of any real artifact trade in town but he, like many others you will talk to today, points out that the jewelers trade in exotic stones and probably have the best chance of running into something old. There’s been some chatter about the new weaponsmith as well, the half-orc named Oleg, but the Duke isn’t sure if he’ll be any help. With a pleasant smile and a gesture the Duke dismisses you and grants you permission to go speak to his sister Bronwyn, the second of the three mages you sought.

Lady Bronwyn entertains you in the entrance room of her tower and seems quite relieved that you are not another band of suitors. She recalls hearing Mawrbryn and Durvim drunkenly boasting about some big discovery they were about to make when she was at the Lucky Lady several weeks ago. With a wary look she begs you not to tell anyone that she sometimes slips away from the court life to rub elbows at the adventurer’s tavern. She dearly misses life on the road but feels trapped by her duties to her brother, the newly-risen Duke. When asked about the strange magical things that have been occurring in town, she has no solution to offer, but does recall that there was a band of travelling performers that came through town right around when these incidents started. After finishing up with Lady Bronwyn, you knock on the door of Gwydion, the court wizard. He cares little for your artifact quest since he is so wrapped up in his own search for immortality. While he claims to not wish to pursue lichdom, you get the overwhelming sense that he is running out of options. He routinely sends adventurers out to collect rare magical components for his experiments and extends the offer to the lot of you should you ever wish to make some extra coin. Other than a heaping pile of desperation, Gwydion has little else to offer. With no sign of Yellowknife, you depart the keep and head back into town, following up on the several leads you’ve gained from your magemoot.

The Lucky Lady proves to be every bit as impressive as you’d expect, adorned with all kinds of weapons, shields, and trophies from its many adventuring patrons. A golden chalice filled to the brim with wine sits prominently on the bar as an offering to Tymora herself and you are warned in no uncertain terms that touching her cup would be bad news. The barkeep, a swarthy man named Owenden Orcslayer, recalls the drunken elf and dwarf who were here a few weeks back, but remembers little else. If he kept track of every drunken boast issued within these walls, he’d be mad within a month. He vaguely recalls them mentioning something about Illefarn ruins or something like that, but he shrugs. Mount Illefarn is nearby, and that’s where Derval and his kin are from, so he suggests asking the old dwarf. While investigating the tavern, Maren casts detect magic and eyes up the great stone column in the center of the bar. Several of the items on it are magical, though she’s wise enough not to try and grab one. As she looks about she is jeered by several other patrons, all of which assure her that she’ll never find “it,” though they never specify what “it” is.

Growing frustrated on your lack of leads so far, the group decides to take a short trek south of town to investigate the clearing where Mawrbryn stepped through the portal. The walk only takes an hour once you cross the great drawbridge over the Delimbiyr River and soon you are standing in front of a stone arch in the middle of a grassy field. The arch appears to be a perfect circle that is stuck about a quarter of the way into the ground, forming a convenient doorway. There are no real signs in the field of any recent activity, but Thunder is able to read between the lines on the portal’s glyphs and determine the melody Mawrbryn used to open it. While playing it has no effect, the bard does commit it to memory for later use. At this point, the group decides to split up! Maren and Klarh remain behind in the field to parlay with some woodland creatures while the others head back into town. As dusk approaches an owl finally arrives on scene. It doesn’t know where the elf and dwarf are, but it does know who might. It advises you to seek out the “goat man” who inhabits the area as he often interacts with the travellers who rest in this field. Klarh and Maren take off into the woods and try to track down what they presume is a satyr. Though they find some goat tracks in the woods, they’re unable to find a solid trail before it grows too dark to continue.

Back in town the three other party members split up to cover more ground. Cookie seamlessly infiltrates a dinner party at the River Shining Tavern, easily the nicest restaurant within two hundred miles of Waterdeep and attached to the Chateau Elite Inn, a spa with such outrageous prices that guests don’t even have to touch the floor while they stay (a servant will carry you from place to place). As Cookie rubs elbows with some of the mercantile elite in town, she hears about a number of rumors and concerns. First and foremost on the minds of the women present is the currently marital state of Lady Bronwyn. Her most recent suitor, Baron Agwain, was seen leaving Daggerford in a fit of rage, vowing all kinds of ruin on the House of Daggerford and whatnot. The women found it quite silly, but are still concerned for the poor girl’s safety, though she’s a competent enough mage that she can probably take care of herself. The men at the table spend most of the evening talking about bandits harrying the roads to the south, both orc and human alike, though they also briefly mention something about a necromancer rallying lizardfolk in the nearby marsh.

While Cookie listens in on the nobles, Thunder goes back to the Lucky Lady to try and win over some of the more blue-collar crowd. Unfortunately, his performance is less than spectacular, partly due to him recruiting the local drunk and self-proclaimed bard Janssen. It’s not the first time Thunder’s been booed off stage, but it still hurts just as bad. Meanwhile, Briel does some serious sleuthing regarding elves and artefacts. She stops by Kelson Darktreader’s house, grandson of the sun elf Elorfindar Floshin. Kelson is the game master for the Duke and knows his way around the nearby lands quite well, but knows little of artifacts. He suggests taking a two day trip north of Daggerford to his grandfather’s compound if you are truly interested in the past. Sir Elorfindar is well over eight hundred years old and knows a great many things that most people around these parts have forgotten. Finally, Briel decides to check out the jewelers in town. It is getting late and the stores are technically closed, but she sees a light on inside Farrel’s Fine Jewelry and gets an audience with the man. He’s the town’s well known fence for goods you can’t get rid of anywhere else, and while he doesn’t know anything about any magic flutes, he does know that some people were looking around for Mawrbryn and Durvim. He won’t say anything else besides advising that you get a room at the Black Stone Inn.

Continuing deeper into the wererat lair, the group avoids falling prey to another collapsing bridge trap. Rather than plunging you into the murky sewage that courses through this underground labyrinth, this fake bridge was intended to drop you into a sea of living rats. The side passageway of the sewer systems seems to have collapsed entirely at one point, possibly due to the same event that blew out the holes in the walls you use to move from one sub-basement to another in this strange lair. Much of the debris has been cleared away, leaving the sewage-free tunnel to serve as a basin for the massive swarm roiling below you. Using a bridge that doesn’t look like it’s set to give out, you bypass the rat carpet entirely and enter the basement of another building. Immediately, you are greeted by a pair of solid metal doors and an almost overwhelming odor of rat feces. The dilapidated pile of crates and barrels in this chamber are clearly serving as a rat’s nest and judging by the size of the burrow’s holes, these rats are considerably bigger than those out in the passageway.  Beneath the stairs that lead up and out of this room you find several new barrels of lantern oil. Deciding that one of these might come in handy, the group deposits it in their bag of holding before sending Klarh up the stairs to scout.

The gone-to-seed ranger sneaks up the stairs and finds himself in the basement of a building that is furnished more like a genuine house than the spartan accommodations he experienced below. During his recon he determines that there is a barracks-style room with someone snoring loudly, a room with a barred door that appears to be full of children, and some type of office where the shuffling of papers can be heard. Finding another set of stairs at the far end of the building, Klarh peeks down and is able to see what lies on the opposite side of the metal doors. It is a large chamber with six pits set at intervals in the floor. Two young lads are standing at one, holding onto the top of a ladder and yelling down into it. It’s unclear exactly what they are doing, but Klarh does notice that several of the other pits have small rings of fire around them, fueled by barrels of oil. Returning to the lower level to relay this information, Klarh recruits Cookie and Briel to help him deal with the snoring threat before proceeding further. After the three have knocked out and bound the brutish man sleeping in one of the bunk beds, they move to investigate the office. Bursting through the doors, they find a man dressed in black robes sitting behind a desk while a young wererat lad lies in a feverish sleep on the couch. Cookie’s charm spell washes harmlessly over the cleric of Cyric as he stands and begins to weave his own spells. A quick fight ensues, but in the end the group walks away with the cleric of murder’s holy symbol and a sick wererat hostage. Curiously, you also find some dust of disappearance, a small vial of a drug called Shiver, and a mysterious note from the drug’s producer. Not quite sure what to make of all this information, the group beats a stealthy escape through the house above, appearing back on the streets of the Docks Ward and leaving the room full of children and strange fire-ringed pits for someone else to sort out.

Returning to the House of the Moon, you deliver your wererat captive to Feluna and fill her in on the details of your raid. She seems disturbed by the fact that you did not fully eliminate the wererat lair and rushes off towards the Docks Ward with several of her fellow clergy in tow. Cookie’s granddaughter returns Korrigan’s cursed armor to Maren but seems quite sullen that she wasn’t brought along on the impromptu raid the church is executing. Weary from your foray into the seedy underbelly of Waterdeep, you retire to the Armored Pig for the night. Maren returns to her Aurilite contact but learns very little. It appears that the Plague Rats have been growing more industrious and mercantile across the city on multiple illicit fronts, but Cassandra has no solid leads for Maren to act on. Morning brings another message from Mawrbryn and the realization that Thunder has caught some kind of disease while down in the sewers. While he and Cookie return to the Temple of the Moon to be healed, the rest of the group heads to Curious Past to deliver the bones of the deceased Harper. After returning the bones and purchasing a potion of enlarge person, Maren accidentally reveals the group’s relationship to Heyla Brightwater and are quickly asked to leave. Reuniting with Cookie and Thunder, you hit the road, headed back to Daggerford.

Tanna Pegason Backstory (aka Cookie)

I am the half-elf daughter of a noble human and an elf who I know very little about. My parents affair barely outlasted my first months of life. I grew up in the house of Pegason in my father's family's care. I had a very normal life and liked very normal things. I did know a peculiar boy in my childhood by the name of Mawrbyrn.  He liked to play around with magic, and I, like everyone else in town, wasn't interested in that. While he was a sweet boy we were acquaintances at best. I grew up to marry a noble human named Darren Stormweather. We had children and our children had children.

Darren and I had a wonderful life, but he was aging faster than I. I had already lost my father and was not ready to part with the love of my life at merely 80 years old. I reached out to Mawrbryn for help.  He was the only person I knew that could help me intervene. He told me that it was Darren's time and there's nothing we or any power could do to change that. Unwilling to accept that, I asked him of whispers I'd heard of the Great Old Ones. I had heard the name Hastor mentioned in some noble circles in hushed tones, but I knew nothing of him or of the other Great Old Ones except for notions their great power. Mawrbryn cautioned that this line of inquiry would only end in tragedy. It was very unlikely they would hear the pleas of a mortal or care for my plight. I was desperate and he realized I would not be dissuaded, so he hesitantly told me to look in the great family libraries. He warned me it was important to stay focused, as many who walked these roads were led astray into madness. Since I saw this as my last chance to save Darren. I buried myself in the the legends and writings of the great old ones, trying to find any means to contact them and plead my case. As I delved deeper and deeper into the chaos of the great old ones, I found Yog-Sothoth and I was drawn to him.  Darren was slipping away and so was I as I continued to pursue my new god. I began to take on powers, yet nothing that could help Darren. I lost him, and perhaps myself as well. I was distraught and my once familiar town who held our family in high esteem now seemed foreign to me. I became withdrawn and obsessed.

My old friends and even family would talk of me as some kooky old widow. I didn't understand what was happening, I was pent up and felt cursed. I reached out to Mawrbryn once more. He comforted me for my loss, but pointed out that maybe I had gotten a warped version of what I sought. I had the powers to help other people. I could extend other peoples lives by seeking out evil and combating it. I flew into a rant about the nature of power and chaos and eveyrthing I had found in my search of Yog-Sothoth; I felt my mind beginning to tear itself apart.  Mawrbryn shook me and shouted that this being cares nothing of me and nothing of this plane. "This is your power, you use it how you see fit. You have a gift and it is not bound by the rantings of an ancient god that doesn't know you exist." That pulled me back, but I still struggle to remember that I am in control.  I embrace my new life, leaving nobility and family behind.  No one questioned the wandering off of their kooky old grandmother, now affectionately referred to as Cookie.

I abandoned Tanna, and as Cookie, I took to adventuring. I was starting over, trying desperately to find a straight path within my increasingly non-euclidian world.

No one seemed interested in adventuring with an old, inexperienced, slightly off her rocker Warlock.  Then I hear Mawrbryn.  I was so relieved to just hear the voice of an old friend, but for the first time he needed my help. “Cookie! It’s Mawrbryn!  I’ve gotten myself trapped in some kind of pocket plane and can’t get out of here. Please help! If you can, say…” "Mawrbyrn, I'm happy for the chance to help you for once.  What can I do?" "Great! Head to the Armored Pig in Waterdeep. Ask the cook to introduce you to the man smoking two pipes at once. She happens to..."

"Sounds like my kinda guy.  I'm just down the road... let me finish up brunch with Yog, you know how he is about maple syrup" I smash an egg on my forehead, throw the pancakes against the wall, tell Yog I'll see him later, tipping a bewildered barmaid.  I head towards the main road to Waterdeep with a skip in my step, excited to put my new talents to good use and help out an old friend.  I get some stern looks.  People don't appreciate skipping like they should.

-Cookie

One of the ⚡ HOPEFULLY MANY ⚡ magic items that Thunder Grungle wields.

Returning to the Helmstar Warehouse, our intrepid adventurers once again prepare to ambush the louts inside. Again Klarh scales the adjacent building and makes a horrible racket, clearly much more adept at climbing trees than drain pipes. Fortunately, nobody seems to be inside either warehouse and the door latch is still broken from your forceful entry yesterday. Other than the door, however, there is no evidence of yesterday’s clandestine activities. The dead body has been removed from the office and the paperwork has been tidied up. There are still several stacks of crates throughout the warehouse but they are considerably smaller in size. Cracking a few open with a spare crowbar, you discover that they contain common trade goods and not the strange cannisters of ochre jelly that you saw previously. Even the sewer grate has been replaced and the rat population has diminished considerably. Seeing nowhere to go but down, Thunder and Klarh heft up the sewer grate to reveal the ladder underneath. As they do so, they hear a sound like the snapping of a guitar string. Their quick reflexes save them a crushing blow to the head as a crate plummets from up in the rafters, smashing to bits and sending shards of glass flying in all directions. Fortunately, the exploding glass container contained no jellies of any sort of color. After inspecting the ladder for any additional traps, the group descends into the briney darkness of Waterdeep’s sewers.

Immediately your senses are overwhelmed by the roaring of waves and the smell of ocean spray. This close to Deepwater Bay, the tide flows into the lower sewers and mixes with the city’s filth, lessing the smell considerably. Glancing around at the stone tunnel, you can see by the tide lines that the water comes up high enough to sweep over the ledge you are currently standing on. Though she’s no expert on the sea, Briel can still tell that the tide is on its way out, so you have no immediate concerns about being trapped by the rising water. The tunnels down here all feature a main channel of sewer water ten feet across. Major passages feature a walkway on either side while smaller ones (like the one you entered into) have a walkway on only the southern or eastern side. Briel recalls seeing tracks yesterday headed westward down the passage, though they seem to have been washed away by the tide. With Maren leading the way, you set off through the sewer in search of a wererat den.

The next few hours are a strange mixture of tedious marching and bizarre scenery. The dark and damp sewer corridors stretch on and on, sometimes for up to two hundred yards before coming to an intersection with another side passage. In between these junctures, random pipes and grates occasionally belch sewage into the slow-moving water that flows through this underground labyrinth. Rats scurry just out of sight here and there, but not in any considerable numbers like back in the warehouse. While navigating this foul-smelling maze, the group encounters several local denizens as well as those that are just passing through. One corridor full of giant crabs looks like a promising way through, but the crabs are too stupid to be adequately fooled by the illusions you create to distract them. You also come across a wooden door barred from the outside marked with a sign that reads “Do Not Open by Order of the Cellarer’s & Plumbers’ Guild.” Some creature begins to scratch expectantly at the door as you investigate, though it doesn’t respond to your greetings in any of the languages you try. While venturing through the confusing grid of passageways you come across a large collection chamber with a great fig tree growing inside of it. Though you’re tempted to take a closer look, Klarh notices a huge snake nestled among the roots when he ventures to collect a fig, so the group presses on in haste.

While these encounters seemed harmless enough, you have several other occurrences that seem less so. A passageway filled with a purple haze and giant fungi seems more trouble than it’s worth, despite its lack of obvious enemies. Following a passageway full of fish baits and other chum, you discover a pair of ghouls feasting on the castoffs of a topside fish market. Maren resists the urge to charge in and turn them, opting instead to backtrack to a safer passageway. Perhaps the most bizarre side passage contains large strands of kelp hanging from the ceiling and growing up out of the sewage, all of it adorned with skulls and other bones, some obviously humanoid. Further along in the sewers, the group manages to duck out of sight behind Cookie’s magical illusion of a wall before being discovered by a small band of merfolk heading out of the sewer. They are wounded and dragging the body of a merrow, a larger, demonic version of the fair underwater people. Maren reveals herself and heals one of the wounded merfolk, gaining a pearl for her services and a large fish “to feed the octopus up ahead.” This advice seems confusing at first, but as the group approaches a large intersection Briel spots a massive octopus the size of a grizzly bear trying to press itself up against the waterway to hide. The skewered fish buys you safe passage as you quickly swing across to an adjacent walkway, but you worry about returning this way. Just before reaching the lair of the wererats, you come across the dessicated corpse of a man near a collapsed section of the sewer. The magical cloak his body is wrapped in is a Cloak of the Manta Ray and is clasped with a Harper pin. It is difficult to tell if the man died from losing his lower legs or if they were removed later, but you don’t find any other clues around the body.

Maren tells everyone she's going to the temple of Selune to see about having her curse lifted.  

Cookie had just gotten one of the warm buns and began licking the side of it while staring around absentmindedly.  She does seem more presentable this morning.  Suddenly she straightens up and say, "Ok, I'll come too"  Only Maren seemed to hear.

This isn't the first time Cookie has spoken in Maren's mind and while she wasn't fond of it, neither was she surprised.

"This is a delicate matter, I don't have time for your particular brand of help." "No, you need help, I'll come."  

Maren walks out the door assuming that Cookie will get distracted by something shiny in the street before they arrive.  Maren moves with a purpose but Cookie keeps up.  While Maren isn't brandishing her symbol of Auril, she isn't hiding it either.  Looks ranging from angry to frightened follow them through the city.  Cookie is unfazed.  Maren realizes that Cookie most likely spends a lot of time getting similar looks.  

Cookie sees Maren leaving and pops up to tag along.  Things seem easier today with the crown on.  There is a clarity that comes with wearing it, but it does little to change the creeping darkness.  Skipping helps to shake the tentacles away.  Maren needs money, but why didn't we bring gold.  Gold is useful.  We should get gold, but all we have are...

"Gems!" screams Maren's head.  Thank goodness, thinks Maren, Cookie must gotten distracted.  Maren moves to speed away, but Cookie grabs her by the arm leading her off the large street down several alleys, stopping in front of a shop.  Cookie points to the sign of Halazar's Fine Gems.

Maren, "How did you know this was here?"

Cookie, "Most of my finest gems came from Halazar's, now they're just rocks.  But Halazar still likes rocks."

Halazar bought their rocks for a hefty sum.  Maren followed Cookie through the twisting side streets.  Maren is relieved to have all the eyes off of her, she only likes to be the center of attention when she's caught in the throws of her religious fervor.  And then sooner than she expected, they had arrived.  

While Maren noticed that Cookie has been more put together today than any previous day, she still doesn't trust her to hold her tongue while she pleads her case.  She needed her out of the way.

Maren: "Cookie, stay here.  I'll be back"

Cookie: "Soon probably" in sing-songy voice.

When Maren was taking too long to exit the temple, a worried Cookie went in after her. Cookie saw Maren in a heated argument with a group of priestesses and was worried that the proud dwarven woman would get herself beaten with one of those ornate silver maces. She knew her granddaughter Daria was an acolyte in this temple and that the fool girl was drawn to drama like a tentacle moth to an eldritch flame. A brief scan of the room proved her assessment correct as she saw Daria watching the argument intently from afar. Cookie strode over to her granddaughter and roughly turned her around.

Daria: "Grandmother! What are you doing here? Please don't do anything weird, I have to work with these people!"

Cookie: "Hush child, I've no time for your nonsense! That odd dwarven woman over there is an associate of mine and I need you to vouch for her to your superior before she gets herself imprisoned here."

Daria looks over at Maren in dread, thinking about what her superior, Feluna, would say if she tried to vouch for an Aurilite.

Daria: "Grandmother, I can't! She's an Aurilite! She's evil! She wants to see the world sunken into an endless night of darkness and winter! Better that she gets dragged before the High Priestess in chains before she causes any trouble."

Cookie: "That dwarf is no more evil than I, she's simply misunderstood. And you will vouch for her or I'll have a long talk with your parents about who exactly it was that burned down the kennel 2 summers back and lost them their prized hounds!"

Daria looks at her Grandmother in terror. They both knew that if her parents ever found out about that night she and her boyfriend had a secret candlelit interlude in the kennels that she would be disowned. Daria stammered a few more pleas but Cookie was resolute and Daria quickly ran to get Feluna. She was very convincing considering what was on the line, and Feluna was even a little interested in meeting this supposed non Evil Cleric of Auril.

Maren saw this exchange out of the corner of her eye while she was arguing with the Priestesses, but couldn't make out what was being said. Shortly after she was approached by Cookie and two Priestesses. She couldn't be sure, but it seemed like Cookie had somehow arranged a meeting with a higher ranking Priestess, and Maren was confused as to how this was possible. 

The new Priestess, Feluna, was willing to be much more reasonable and a deal for the armor and a cure was struck. During the discourse Cookie was deft and diplomatic, eloquently convincing the priestess that Maren had done no wrong and incurred this curse while helping a small town deal with an undead uprising. With that work finished, Cookie and Maren left the temple together, unburdened with the physical and and metaphysical weight of Korrigan's armor.

Cookie hopped down the stairs of the Temple with Maren following somewhat bewildered.

Maren: "Cookie, how did you know that young priestess and why did she help us?"

Cookie: "Granddaughters are not always respectful, certainly not mine, but they'll listen when properly motivated."

Maren: "It's good to have family." (Especially one that doesn't want to kill you, Maren thought)

Cookie: "It's good to have love, family is OK." (Minds are not the only things that are bent and broken by Old Ones, Cookie mused to herself)

Maren: "Aye. (A long awkward pause) Why would you leave your family to take on a life of adventuring?"  

Cookie: "I sought to save my family and my love, but I got lost along the way. I will not burden them with the evil that I found in the darkness between the stars. I will find a way to weave it into a prettier picture."

Maren knew well the cost of sacrificing for love. Cookie's sacrifices were just of a different variety.

Maren: "You seemed normal enough back there, if you can hold it together like that, why don't you do it all of the time?"

Cookie: "I could be a fish too if I could hold my breath indefinitely"  

Maren: "Well, thank you for your help today."  

Cookie: "We two old wolves must look out for our pack"

There was a strange understanding between the two. Maren didn't even roll her eyes when Cookie skipped down the street beside her.

Over a delicious breakfast of hot crossed buns our noble adventurers chat with Heyla and plan their day. It is agreed upon that everyone will take the day to see to private matters before getting back on the road to Daggerford. Heyla does not seem overly concerned that you aren’t racing off to save her son, but then again he will live to be nearly two hundred years old and “can learn to be a little more patient.” With some helpful advice from the motherly innkeep, Maren decides to head towards the House of the Moon to beseech the priestesses of Selûne for aid. Welcome or not, Cookie decides to tag along. Briel and Klarh take the party’s well-earned coin and head towards Essimuth's Equipment to upgrade their armor and procure a proper bow for the druid. Meanwhile, Thunder wakes up in a stable somewhere, groggy from the revelry of the night before.

Cookie proves to be an invaluable guide through the bustling streets of Waterdeep, taking a short detour to Halazar’s Fine Gems to convert Korrigan’s prized gemstones into cold hard gold pieces. Once at the House of the Moon, she waits patiently in a side alley while Maren enters the temple, hoping to pay for her cure quickly and be on her way. When the cursed dwarven woman doesn’t return to the meeting point, Cookie grows concerned and heads into the temple to investigate. The House of the Moon is stylized after Selûne’s holy symbol, that of two mysterious eyes wreathed by seven dazzling stars. A courtyard with two large altars stands open to the sky with seven proud towers ringing it. Cookie finds Maren arguing with a priestess while two of the temple’s guards stand nearby, maces in hand. It seems that the priestess is unwilling to let Maren leave with the armor, cured or otherwise, and is demanding that she hand the cursed item over. While she takes in the scene Cookie notices that one of the younger acolytes watching the scene from afar happens to be her granddaughter, Daria Stormweather. A short tug on that familial string lands Maren and Cookie in a private meeting with Feluna Moonstar.

The youngest daughter of House Moonstar’s patriarch, Feluna Moonstar is a fiercely independent and aggressive woman that commands any room she walks into. During the meeting, Feluna gives Maren a piercing stare down before deciding to give the Aurilite a chance. If the dwarf can prove that her heart hasn’t been completely frozen by the Frostmaiden and is willing to perform a service for the Moonmaiden, Feluna will give her Korrigan’s cursed armor back. As the Selûnite removes Maren’s curse, she tells the two women of a recent development in the Docks Ward. The Plague Rats, a gang of thugs and thieves run by wererats, has recently become more active in the City of Splendors. While in the past they have mostly kept to the sewers and back alleys engaged in petty thievery, they’ve recently begun expanding their influence across the city. One site of particular interest is the Helmstar Warehouse down on the waterfront. Feluna’s contacts have reported wererat activity there and she needs to learn more. Your mission is to find out what the Plague Rats are up to in the warehouse and to capture a live wererat for Feluna to question. Maren and Cookie leave the temple both curse and armor free, returning to the Armored Pig shortly after Klarh, Briel, and Thunder come back from their shopping at Essimuth’s. After considering the options, the group flips a coin and decides to investigate the wererat infestation.

The Docks Ward is on the opposite side of the city from the Armored Pig, so it takes you nearly two hours to navigate your way down to the waterfront. Klarh heads to the back alley of the warehouse with Briel hiding in his pocket, wildshaped as a rat. Once she’s snuck inside the warehouse, Briel sees four burly men moving boxes while a fifth supervises. Compared to the four strapping dockworkers, the man in charge almost looks like a wiry halfling. A pulley system has been rigged over an open sewer entrance in the middle of the warehouse. Though she’s no expert on public waterworks, Briel is surprised to find such an entrance in the warehouse. The men appear to be loading or unloading crates packed with large jugs of thick glass that contain a mysterious mustard-colored liquid. Unfortunately she’s unable to discover anything more in her current state, though she does glance inside the warehouse’s office and finds a portly human man slumped in a chair with his throat slit. Returning to Klarh outside, Briel regains her natural elven form and the two head over to the Salty Sea Dog Tavern to rejoin the others and formulate a plan. Ambush it is!

Before heading back to the docks in the morning, Klarh heads to the Fellowship of Bowers and Fletchers in the Trade Ward and introduces himself. Though the old men who run the guild know almost nothing about the Plague Rats or any strange orange liquids they might trade in, they are pleased to know that a Shadowbow is in town. Klarh is welcome any time and is free to use the guild’s workshop for anything he needs. Meanwhile, on the more clandestine side of things, Maren slips out of the Armored Pig late at night and makes her way back to the South Ward. After breaking a window pane of a somewhat rundown house in the district, she is admitted to the secret House of Winter, run by a human woman named Cassandra Whitemane. There is no love lost between the two Aurilite priestesses, but Cassandra nevertheless is willing to reach out to her contacts for more information on the Plague Rats. She claims to know a priestess of Shar (the Mistress of Night, Selûne’s sworn enemy/twin sister) who may have a better idea of what the wererats are up to. Maren pays tribute at the altar in the attic before returning to the relative warmth of the Armored Pig.

Returning to the Docks Ward as a group the next morning, Briel once again becomes a rat and sneaks into the warehouse’s office before becoming a wolf. Klarh goes to scale an adjacent warehouse but makes too much noise climbing the drainpipe. When a foreman comes to investigate, Cookie’s quick thinking has the man under her Charm spell before he can raise the alarm. Turning the tables, Cookie convinces her new best friend to get the whole warehouse singing as a diversion. When Briel bursts forth from the office and goes right for the skeevy supervisor of the warehouse, she lets out a howl to signal the rest of the group. Maren and Thunder break down the back door as Klarh rains silver arrows from a hole in the roof. The thugs are quickly dispatched, though the leader reveals himself to be a wererat as he escapes from Briel’s gnashing jaws and disappears into the sewers. Upon reflection, Briel realizes that her bites didn’t seem to do the wererat any harm.

Before setting out from Cleverest, the group takes some time to attend to personal projects. Cookie paints a mural on the church wall using a mixture of mud and feces (though not her own) that depicts a sun radiating down upon a field of wheat. Any resemblance to tentacles is purely coincidental. Klarh sets to repairing the furniture cannibalized for Thunder’s weapons while the dwarf drinks heartily with the local farmers. Meanwhile, Maren receives permission to build a small shrine to Auril in a clearing near the church. The dwarven woman spends a few hours gathering choice stones from the area to construct a small fire pit in an area of perpetual shade. Before departing Cleverest, she instructs the farmers to pile firewood here and leave it ready to light. On the night of the winter solstice they should light some kindling from a hearth fire and bring it here to ignite this sacrificial flame. Once the blaze is roaring they are to douse it with handfuls of snow, using their bare hands while offering the warmth of blaze and blood alike to the Frostmaiden. While the quicker races busy themselves with the locals, Briel sits in quiet contemplation in the nearby woods, studying woodland creatures and contemplating her growing connection to the land.

The first day’s travels go by with little more than a passing rain shower and a particularly short message from Mawrbryn. As our intrepid heroes draw closer and closer to Waterdeep’s southern gate, they come upon a curious scene on the road ahead. A small wagon has tipped over, trapping the hind leg of one of the large dogs that were pulling it. One halfling tries to keep the other draft dog calm while another futilely tries to free the pinned canine. A third halfling is straddling the torso of an unconscious teenage human and is wailing on his face over and over again with bloodied fists. As the group rushes in to intervene, they see that a number of the wagon’s crates have broken open in the fall, spilling a hefty amount of pungent spices onto the muddy trail. The group learns that these halflings are spice traders from distant Calimshan, though with the silly attire they are wearing and their odd accents, this point is fairly obvious. They also discover that the boy was part of a mischievous trio of young men who attempted to distract and rob the small folk as they made their way towards Waterdeep. While his brothers Theodoor and Symion managed to escape into the woods, Alveen was caught by the halflings and “got what he deserved.”

Cool heads, helpful magic, and strong backs see the cart righted and both the boy and dog healed without any more punches thrown. Unfortunately, Alveen makes a break for the woods as soon as he is awake. Though Maren and Cookie try to keep him from running, he evades their grasp and a crossbow quarrel as he dashes into the underbrush. Thunder imbues Klarh with magical speed and the ranger takes off into the woods in pursuit of the young thief. While Briel repairs wheels and boxes with her Mending spell, Maren and Thunder help reload the cart as Cookie plays in the spilled spices, making angel patterns. Klarh overtakes the boy so quickly that he catches Alveen completely off guard. After a stern talking to, Klarh brings the would-be thief back to the halflings and pays for the damages, sending Alveen on his way towards Cleverest with two gold coins and a chance at starting over. The remainder of the trip back to Waterdeep passes without incident.

After paying an “unwelcome tax” at the gate for her faith, Maren and the rest of the gang enter Waterdeep’s South Ward. With darkness and a day’s travel weighing upon their shoulders, our heroes take The Way of the Dragon, one of the two main avenues of the South Ward headed towards the Armored Pig in the North Ward. While passing one of the slightly-dilapidated two-story buildings along the way, the party is knocked off their feet as the upper half of the buildings explodes in a huge gout of flame. A limp body comes soaring out of the inferno, slamming into a building across the street and falling to the ground. Klarh and Thunder move in to assist, finding a woman with burned off clothing and intact magical warding. As the fire rages a griffon-mounted guard high above blows a horn to alert the fire guards. Within moments two members of the Watchful Order arrive and begin to douse the flames. The woman comes to and shouts in protest, mumbling something about “her wards.” The flames begin to sputter and hiss as steam and smoke billow from the building, followed quickly by mischievous laughter!

Like a cloud of locusts descending on a field, a cluster of small creatures come flying from the conflagration, their laughter filling the air as they begin to swoop and dive after the fire guard. They are mephits, impish creatures formed from the combination of two of the primordial elements. Following closely behind the steam, smoke, and magma mephits is a raging fire elemental that erupts from the building and heads right for the two Waterdhavian magicians. Fighting the instinct to run, Maren bravely turns around to mete out Aurilian justice to creatures born of elemental fire, followed closely behind by her companions. An epic fight ensues, culminating with Thunder unleashing Thundercracker on three mephits simultaneously. As the dust settles and the City Watch moves in to secure the scene, the naked woman is revived and apprehended to pay for her crimes. The members of the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors thank the group for their assistance and take down their names. Though the fight takes only moments, it drains the group of what little energy they have left. By some miracle they arrive at the Armored Pig without further interruption, ready for a well-deserved rest.