#kotap7

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.