The adventurers begin searching for clues as to who may have framed them for the murder in Skyway when they are approached by an agent working for House Orien. They are asked to recover the package taken from the dead House Orien courier which is being kept by a member of the power criminal organization, the Boromar Clan.
Player Characters: Balkris, Fie, R. Sativus, Reckoner
I.
In the district of Middle Menthis, the Lonely Mountain Inn and Tavern was a gathering placed for the Kalashtar living in Sharn and students of Morgrave University. The Kalashtar came here to find one another and commiserate, being far away from their mountainous homeland in the distant continent of Sarlona where their people, followers of the Path of Light, were persecuted by the Inspired leaders, followers of the Path of Inspiration, and the totalitarian Empire of Riedra.
Unlike most other taverns, the Lonely Mountain was quiet even when it was crowded. The students came here to exchange quiet conversations, and the Kalashar spoke not in words but through the power of telepathy, granted to them by the mystic bond forged by their ancestors with beings from another realm – the Quori who came from the Region of Dreams.
A single majestic voice interrupted the quiet of the tavern hall. An elderly Kalashtar storyteller sang a song of lamentation for the home that he had long ago departed. His voice was low and solemn, reverberating with the weight of his sorrow.
Farewell, oh lands that homeward lie,
The mountains and their crowns of snow,
The valleys spread beneath the sky,
The rivers where my memories flow.
Farewell, my friends in sunlit halls.
No more your hearth shall I come near.
To distant lands my journey calls.
No more your laughter shall I hear.
Balkris, Fie (in the form of Renaldo), R. Sativus, and Reckoner listened to the song in respectful silence. Only when the song had ended did they begin to speak.
Balkris had called his companions together to this place. He had heard of it from his connections to the Kalashtar community. The adventurers had gathered two weeks after the “incident” in Skyway. Someone, it seemed, had set up Balkris, R. Sativus and Reckoner to take the fall for the murder of a House Orien courier. They had proven their innocence, but they also made enemies of a mob boss named Big Mondo from the Boromar clan, a powerful criminal organization.
Now, they tried to retrace their steps to the last thing everyone could remember before waking up in Skyway.
They were in the office of Professor Cinderveil in Morgrave University. With them were Renaldo, the hobgoblin Highly, and a goblin acolyte named Stab. Everyone had been served some tea while Stab related his story about the mysterious holy symbol of the Traveler, made of scorpion chitin, that came from distant Xendrik. Then a strange gas had filled the room and everyone had lost consciousness.
Curiously, only Balkris, R. Sativus, and Reckoner had woken up on the bridge in Skyway. The others were nowhere to be seen.
Now Renaldo (the half elf entertainer persona of the changeling Fie) related his tale of the events that occurred to him.
II.
When she woke up, Fie had found herself in a dark alley in Lower Dura. As far as she could tell, it was a secluded location. Whomever had brought her there had ensured her safety. Fie tried to investigate the situation, but she could not make any further guesses about who had brought her there or what their motives might be.
This story made R. Sativus very curious. She suspected Professor Cinderveil to be involved with the incident in Skyway. She tried to ask the Morgrave students about the professor and his whereabouts. She learned that he had begun a sabbatical two weeks ago (right after the party’s meeting with him), and none of the students knew where he had gone or when he might return.
Reckoner, too, was curious about the vanished professor. The gas that had knocked him unconscious may have been some kind of poison. During the Last War, the Warforged had a great advantage over human soldiers thanks their immunities to all kinds of poisons used on the front lines. A poison that had the power to deactivate a warforged temporarily was a potent weapon, and one that was a threat to all warforged.
For his part, Balkris had tried to learn more about Cinderveil as well, but he had struck up a conversation with an elderly Kalashtar whom he mistook for a post-doctoral fellow at Morgrave University. The Kalashtar went to great lengths trying to convince Balkris to join him in the Path of Light to resist the Path of Inspiration espoused by the authoritarian Empire of Riedra, and so forth, but his words made little sense to Balkris who merely nodded politely.
III.
At last, Balkris was rescued from the conversation by a mysterious hooded elf who invited the adventurers to his table. Fie noticed the dragonmark hidden beneath the elf’s cowl.
The elf introduced himself.
“Greetings, Balkris d’Vadalis. I am Tamior of House Phiarlan.”
“Good evening to you, Sir Elf. And what brings you to this establishment? You are not a Kalashtar, and you don’t look like a student of Morgrave either.”
“I came to listen to the songs of the Kalashtar storyteller. His forlorn tale of a long lost home mirrors the experiences of my own people. The elves left their home upon the continent of Xendrik before settling upon the lands of Aerenal and Khorvaire. That was millennia ago, but in the long lives of the immortal elves, centuries seems as mere weeks compared to a people whose lives and memories are more brief…
But I digress. I am also on an errand on behalf of House Orien regarding a certain package that was recently lost. And I have been expecting you and your companions, Reckoner, R. Sativus, and… Renaldo is it now?”
Fie was taken aback, not because the elf recognized her Renaldo persona, who enjoyed some renown as a celebrity in the upper city. It was because the tone in his voice sent off alarm bells in her mind. Somehow, she felt as if he recognized her true identity as a changeling.
To test her theory, Fie made a bold decision. She had an instinct for noticing when people were watching her. She picked the moments when no one else was looking and changed shape in front of the elf, turning into Serinna the half elf bounty hunter and Bouncer the lizardfolk warrior.
Her companions were taken aback by the display. Now they knew the truth. That was an unavoidable consequence of this test, but Fie was surprised to find that she also felt somewhat relieved. She had come to trust these companions, despite her caution, paranoia and suspicion. Perhaps, amidst the shifting alliances in the City of Towers, these unlikely allies were the only true constants in the changeling’s life.
More importantly, it seemed to Fie that her suspicions about the elf were true. Tamior did not flinch when he witnessed her shapechanging ability. However, he did something strange when Fie prepared to shift back into the form of Renaldo. He stayed her for an instant, and began to count.
“Please, wait a moment. Four, three, two, one… Okay, now.”
Fie realized with alarm that had she changed shape a second sooner, someone beyond their table might have noticed her. Was this elf actually a changeling as well or someone who had a changeling’s intuition?
Among the adventurers, only R. Sativus realized that the elf’s ability was not one of intuition but rather precognition. He had timed the moment for Fie’s shapechange down to the precise instant.
Sativus had been studying the teachings of the arcane school of Divination. But even the most precise foretellings came only in the form of omens and premonitions. Tamior’s power showed a precision exceeding that of even the most powerful diviners of the Arcane Congress of Aundair. Who or what was he?
“Perhaps you are wondering how I know you all, or how I know the things that I do,” said Tamior, as if reading the thoughts of the adventurers.
“You could say that I am a keen listener. I listen to the songs of bards and storytellers, and many others besides. I know a great many things that you may not expect. For instance, I know that you are curious about a certain professor of Morgrave University.”
Tamior offered the adventurers a deal. He needed help retrieving the package stolen from the House Orien courier murdered in Skyway. Tamior revealed that the package contained an encrypted letter. His client, a representative of House Orien, simply wanted to get the package away from the people who had stolen it. After all, if a courier service begins to lose packages to a gang of criminals, it does not bode well for their reputation. In exchange for the party’s help, Tamior offered to give them some information about Professor Cinderveil.
R. Sativus had wondered if there might not be a contact among the Tyrants at Morgrave University whom she could reach out to for a lead on the missing professor, but something told her that the information being offered by this elf of House Phiarlan would be far more valuable than that which might be provided by her own contacts.
The adventurers agreed to Tamior’s terms.
“Very good,” said the elf. “I have been informed that city counsel member Ilyra Boromar is in possession of the letter. She is a member of the Sharn city council and a higy ranking member of the Boromar Clan. It is up to you how you retrieve the letter. Bring the letter back to me, and I will tell you all that I know about Professor Cinderveil.”
Tamior gave the adventurers the name of a halfling proprietor of another tavern in Little Plains who had no love for the Boromars. He suggested that the party visit him to gather some intelligence before setting out on their mission.
IV.
Little Plains was a district of Middle Menthis made for halflings, gnomes, and other small folk. Here the towers were less tall and the streets were more narrow. The residences of its inhabitants were shaped like cozy little caves and burrows.
One of the burrows was the Zephyr, a small tavern owned by Timbal Grasstooth. Timbal was not fond of the Boromars who extorted protection money from small business owners like himself. He was more than happy to offer assistance to adventurers if it was a chance to stick it to the Boromars.
“A big ball is going to be held at Far Hearth, a large villa owned by Counselor Boromar in Little Plains. It’s a cultural gala held in honor of the counselor’s esteemed guests from the Talenta Plains. Word on the street is that the counselor will move the package she acquired from a dead House Orien Courier after the gala is over. Tomorrow night will be your last chance to get that package of yours before it disappears. I’ll tell you what, I like you fellas. I can give you a map of the counselor’s estate for just 50 galifars. It may help you in your search.”
The adventurers paid the halfling for the map. It had the layout of the estate with Xs marking the counselor’s master bedroom and an entrance to a secret passage leading to the hidden basement beneath the villa. The adventurers guessed that the package must be in one of these two locations.
Timbal also informed them that agents of Daask, a criminal organization made of monstrous immigrants from the nation of Droaam, was planning a terrorist attack at the counselor’s gala. If the party arrived during the gala, they ran the risk of running into these terrorists.
They decided to strike the villa that very evening before the gala took place.
V.
Far Hearth was a large estate in the upper reaches of Little Plains walled off by a well-tended of exotic plants from the Talenta Plains. A bridge passed overhead, and it was from here that Balkris, Fie, R. Sativus and Reckoner spied upon the estate on the night before the gala.
R. Sativus thought about the first time she had ever seen a mangled corpse on the streets of Sharn, the victim of an unlucky fall. She had vowed never to fall to the same fate. The experience of drifting down from Skyway to the Middle City, and from the Middle City to the Lower City was still fresh in her memory. She felt like an owl descending through air as thick as honey in pursuit of her prey. In the Eldeen Reaches where her family had lived for generations, she had preferred the low places. While her siblings scampered up the branches of tall oaks, she stayed in the shadows of the undergrowth. But here, in the City of Towers where the buildings were taller than the tallest oak, she felt no fear of falling. Because R. Sativus knew that she could fly.
The adventurers, enchanted by the gnome wizard’s spell, leaped from the bridge and drifted down to Far Hearth.
On their way down, they spotted a pair of halfling riders mounted upon vicious looking raptors patrolling the grounds. One of them looked up as the adventurers landed on the roof of the villa.
The party entered the master bedroom. In Counselor Boromar’s lush quarters, there was a locked desk. Fie managed to open it with her thieves tools. Inside they found a book which appeared to be the counselor’s personal diary, but there was no House Orien package.
Outside, they heard the footsteps of three halfling guards pacing through the hallway. Soon they were joined by a fourth and the voices of the halflings could be heard. The newcomer was the raptor rider whom they had seen outside the villa.
“I think I saw something up on the roof. One of you, come with me to take a look.”
Fortuitously, the rider had taken one of the guards with him, leaving only two remaining guards outside the bedroom. The adventurers lured the guards into the master bedroom by making cat noises. When the guards entered, they easily overcame them and snuck into a nearby chamber.
The room they discovered was a study, but it was not empty. Inside were Counselor Boromar herself and one of her guests who had arrived ahead of the gala.
“What is the meaning of this? Who are you? Guards!”
The adventurers quickly subdued the counselor and her guest, knocking them unconscious. On the counselor’s person, they found a keycharm, a device used to unlock a vault like those built by the dwarves of House Kundarak who specialized in magical wards.
They now scoured the library in the study in search of the Orien package. All they found apart from a large collection of books on the history and politics of the Five Nations was a large crystal sphere.
Balkris recognized the sphere as a listening stone, a magical device that allowed the user to tune into state sponsored radio broadcasts providing information similar to the Korranberg Chronicle and Sharn Inquisitive, along with radio dramas and musical programs. Having no love for the Boromars and knowing the value of such a device, the adventurers quickly pocketed the stone.
Something began to move in the corner room. It was a small clockwork automaton built in the shape of a halfling servant. It began speak an automated message.
“Unauthorized guests are not permitted in this chamber. Please state the key phrase.”
When none of the adventurers were able to provide the proper key phrase, the automaton raised the alarm
“ALERT! ALERT! INTRUDERS IN THE COUNSELOR’S STUDY! INTRUDERS!”
Reckoner brought his hammer down upon the automaton and crushed it with a series of blows, but it was too late. The villa had already been alerted to their presence.
Thinking quickly, R. Sativus cast an illusion upon the counselor and her guest to make them appear as a pair of large stones. As thd adventurers climbed out the window, the gnome wizard set the books in the library on fire with a magical bolt of flame, hoping to delay the guards who came to search for them.
Outside the villa, the adventurers were accosted by the remaining raptor rider whom they easily subdued. When the rider was knocked unconscious, the beast seemed strangely drawn to R. Sativus and did not attack her. Instead, it followed the gnome as the adventurers reentered the villa, for they had yet to find the package.
R. Sativus’s distraction had worked! All the household guards were busy searching for the counselor and trying to put out the flames in the study. The adventurers quickly passed down the hallway to the point marked on Timbal’s map and found the secret entrance. They passed through the door and descended to the basement beneath the villa. It was a dark and terrible place that smelled of fear and death. In one of the basement chambers, there was what appeared to be a torture chamber. In another room, they found a House Kundarak vault built into the floor. Using the keycharm taken from the counselor, they opened the vault and found the House Orien package, containing the encrypted letter, along with a gem encrusted circlet that belonged to the counselor.
The adventurers grabbed all the contents of the vault and made their escape, finding a secret passage further inside the basement that led through the sewers beneath Little Plains. Despite Balkris’ loud protests that this was a dead end, the party dragged the nobleman through the sewers of Sharn until they safely arrived at a hidden alley somewhere else in Middle Menthis, far from the villa of Far Hearth.
IV.
Having recovered the stolen House Orien package, the party met once more with Tamior d’Phiarlan in the Lonely Mountain.
“Ah, my client is most pleased to hear that you have been successful. In fact, they would like you to hold onto the letter for the time being, for safekeeping. You adventurers seem quite capable of handling yourselves. I suspect you will be quite able to keep the letter from falling into the wrong hands again. But… What name shall I call you by?”
“Call us… The Rabble,” said Reckoner.
“I beg your pardon?” said Tamior.
“That is what Balkris’ father called us when we stayed with him on the estate of House Vadalis. He said, ‘Balkris, what are you doing bringing the rabble into our home!’ If a man of such high station called us so, that must be our name.”
“Very well. I will give the Rabble what is due. You wanted to know more about Professor Cinderveil? Well, the truth is that the good professor is actually a changeling, an agent of the Tyrants, and a follower of the Traveler.”
“How can that be?” wondered R. Sativus? “Then why would he put us in harms way? Especially me, when I am a member of the same faction?”
“Surely you must know that the Tyrants are not a monolithic entity. They have as varied natures and interests as a changeling has faces. Or perhaps he is on your side and did not intend to harm you at all. He may have wanted to put you in the right place at the right time to test your abilities, trusting that you three would not simply allow yourselves to be caught and framed for murder. Perhaps he was simply trying to stir the pot in this great city. For that is what the Traveler and her worshippers do. They believe that change is the only true constant in the world, and they are agents of change.”
Later that evening, the adventurers heard a broadcast on the listening stone informing the public of arson at the estate of Far Hearth. As a result, the scheduled cultural gala was canceled, and there were no reports of a Daask terrorist attack upon the villa. The heroes thought that by setting the counselor’s study on fire, they may have inadvertently foiled the planned terrorist plot.
After solving a murder and clearing their names, the Rabble had now ruined a ball but saved many lives in the process. They were certainly stirring the pot in the City of Towers.
Boromar Ball
Rewards
4 Achievement Points
4 Treasure Points
10 Downtime Days
1 Renown Point
Magic Item Unlock
You have unlocked the following magic item, which can be purchased for 16 treasure checkpoints.
Circlet of Blasting
Wondrous item, uncommon, Tier 1
Crafted of beaten silver, this circlet holds a brilliant sapphire in its center that emanates a pleasant warmth when used. While wearing this circlet, you can use an action to cast the scorching ray spell with it. When you make the spell’s attacks, you do so with an attack bonus of +5. The circlet can’t be used this way again until the next dawn.