- summary by Wendi & Aron - Kratz awoke in a room at the Bright Blade Brandished -- a room that had been rented for him, after he was cured and cleared of his curse and disease at the temple of Selune, all courtesy of the Lady Alustriel. Having planned his day before he rested, he rolled over and pulled together enough clothing to wear outside, as well as his arms and armour. First on the agenda was to visit Optum's Blade, a weapons shop in Silverymoon that was known to have some magical weapons and armors. After purchasing horses, new weapons, and selling off what he had obtained from the Aurilite preistess and the elemental savant, Kratz headed back to the inn. While having a drink, Durlan appeared out of the shadows adjacent to the fire place. Tajcha had transported Durlan into Silverymoon so he wouldn't get molested by Aurilites like Kratz did the day before, having scryed the entire event. Mugs of ale passed through the air as wizards used mage hand spells to transport them to the customers. In the smoky, dimly lit bar, Kratz and Durlan discussed possibilities for their next foray as pipeweed drifted about them. Kratz was quite eager to pay a visit to the barbarians of the upper Moonwood and the Spine because of rumors of giant ravens. He wants one for a pet. Across the bar a drunken mage could be heard reciting the words of a song just recently formulated, in part by his own genius, and in part due to the extra lyrical talent imbued by the 20 beers consumed just prior... "OH DON'T GO IN THE BUSHES! THAT'S MY WORNING TA YU DER RGH BETTA PLASSES TIN BUSHAS TA DOOH WHA YU WANTA DO" (burp)... The bartender grabbed the drunken mage by the collar, and the he pointed at Kratz and Durlan. "Higgada giggada goo... He hid it in a shoo... he ate too much... jam and such... and had to takke... a POOH! HAHAHHAHAHA" The wizard took a teetering ale in each hand and passed them magically, sloshing, over to Kratz and Durlan. A third started on its way over, fell a little bit, but continued smoothly on its course after another burp from the wizard. The fourth made its way over too, but the fifth one smacked into someone walking across the bar and it spilled all over the patron's head. The bartender poured another two (one for Durlan, and one for the guy who got drenched) and personally delivered Durlan's beer. The bartender attempted to apologize for the mage, but Durlan and Kratz's attention was suddenly drawn toward the ceiling to find the source of a chirping and flapping noise from up in the rafters. They didn't even notice the drunken mage approaching them... "HEY HEY YOU GUYS! ...WOULD THE 5 OF YOU LIKE TO SEA A TRIK..." the mage said, wobbling... "I KNOW THIS TRICK... HEHEHE... IS KINNA FUANNY... I SHOWED IT A A KISDS PARY ONCE... HAHAHHAHAHAHA, AND NOW THA KIS BALLED! HAHAHHAHA" Durlan started sweating and looking nervously at Kratz, who muttered some obscenities directed towards the wizard. "HIMBLY JIMBLY JEW! THE HOBGOBLIN THOUGHTS HE COO! GAA GIRL HAD A TIRL TOL DA MAGE FOOK YU HAHAHHAHAHA" Kratz and Durlan, beginning to tire of the wizard's antics, contemplated using force on him -- "HEY HEY... WATCH THIS" The mage, with a pitiful look of effort on his face, waved his arms wildly and tried to get a series of words to come out of his mouth correctly. He started sucking in air as if he were going to burp again... As he belched, fire rushed out of his mouth, engulfing the table in front of him in flames. A series of explosions went off as potent alcohol in the immediate area spontaneously combusted. Durlan and Kratz dove from behind the table, bowling the mage over, attempting to avoid the small series of explosions. As they left the inn, the mage wobbled after them into the winter night, and a small thrush flew out, making its distinctive chirping noise. The mage trailed right along side them, his songs could still be heard as they made their way to the weapons shop again. The bird also appeared to be following them flittering allong and perching on random houses to sing its chirpy little song. On the way to the store, the two were assaulted by a very disgusting little boy that begged them for money. The boy was easily and instantly recognized by Kratz (due to the huge protruding cyst on his forehead) as the boy he had given 26 gold to earlier. As Durlan and Kratz discussed giving the kid more money, the kid muttered something about crawling into their heads if they didn't pay him. Durlan was already reaching down to pay the kid when the kid mentioned this, however, and the kid grabbed the money and took off before he could be asked about his statement. At the sight of the hideously deformed boy, the drunken mage had lost all control of his stomach and peristaltic waves overcame him, forcing the contents of his stomach against the nearest town home wall. After this the mage asked Kratz and Durlan if they'd ever seen a mage shoot a fireball from his arse while struggling to raise his robes. As a look of concentration overcame the face of the mage, Kratz connected his foot to the bare ass of the man, only to have his boot catch on fire as a small tuft of flame erupted from regions previously unknown. The mage was sent sprawling into the snow, but was up again in a few moments. The mage reared back importantly, and a gust of air sent all loose snow and the two adventurers back, surprising them with the power summoned so quickly. The impressive facade was somewhat shattered when, after belting out "My name is Tobias", the mage followed up with, "and I have come for your daughters", only to tip over and pass out in the snow, mere feet from his still steaming vomit. Soon after that a misshapen head attatched to a normal child's body crawled out of the shadows... It was the boy again, muttering something about crawling into someones head, the boy shrank and crawl towards the head of the passed-out mage. Durlan successfully prevented the kid from entering the mage's head by smashing his morning star on the location of the shrunken child multiple times. When examining the location of where the child was, there was nothing to be found, not even a tell tale blood stain. As Kratz looked around he found the child hanging onto one of the spikes of the morning star. Kratz tried to smash him again, but noticed it hadn't any effect when the child was seen hovering before him, outlined in magical energy. Slowly, the child uttered, "YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE EATEN THE TURKEYS!!!" With that Kratz instantly recognized the kid for the prank pulling mage he had met earlier that day after encounter this deformed child, another legless girl, 1 large green dragon, and a balor of the lower planes who said he was the soul of a turkey Kratz had killed and eaten while in the Moonwoods. Noting what very well might be a wet spot in his trousers, Kratz uttered a sentence that left no ambiguity as to what he thought of Dominic's pranks. The tiny boy's form shifted into that of a laughing, normal-sized, older, balding mage, leaning on a runic staff. Dom played innocent as Kratz and Durlan tried to get their money back from him. They finally gave up, and Dom accompanied them to the weapons store. After a lot of bartering with Helios, the owner of Optym's Blade, Durlan exchanges a fancy +3 icy blast pick he had (+6000gp) for a defender longsword +3. Durlan quite shrewdly gave Helios a large tip in exchange for looking out for items he might be interested in. Almost immediately, Helios rushed into his back rooms and came out with a couple of intricate looking items for Durlan. One, that Durlan took away with him, was a pair of dexterity-boosting gloves. Aluvial, also transported magically via Tajcha, entered the store and greeted Durlan, Kratz, and Dom. After conversing in private with Dom for a little bit outside the store, they reentered and Aluvial purchased 50 arrows of dispelling and a +2 longsword of warning in exchange for a spear of wounding she got off of one of the corpses in the Quaervaar battle. The group headed back to the Bright Blade Brandished only to be greeted by a contingent of soldiers and the Lady Alustriel herself. All bowed before her except Kratz, of course. She bowed in return but gave Kratz a look while saying, "It is good to see so many of the city's finest all in one room." Dom seemed to be on quite personal terms with the Lady as they bantered back and forth. The tone turned more serious, however, when Alustriel confronted us, asking us to tell her all we knew of recent events in the area. Aluvial, taking cues from her companions, proceeded to give Alustriel as short and concise a summary as possible of the company's experiences in the past few weeks, with a few interjections from Durlan and one or two from Kratz. Kratz, after being his usual hobgoblin self and not positively contributing to anything non-battle that was going on, told off the Lady Alustriel of Silverymoon and proceeded to leave town. Alustriel had some soldiers follow Kratz to escort him out of the city. Alustriel's countenance grew concerned as Aluvial spoke. She had to interrupt as Aluvial described a lone man she had seen in very harsh conditions in the forest. She asked quite specific questions about the man, alluding that she might know him... Dom seemed to understand her direction and transformed himself into a purple clad man, and every detail about him struck Aluvial as being the man she saw in the forest. Dom transformed into his normal form, and he and Alustriel began to fervently discuss names and agendas unknown to us... Alexander, Nazelth, problems with the stability of the union... It was all very cryptic until Durlan and Aluvial started asking questions. Alexander was the name of the man that Aluvial saw in the woods. Apparently, he came to speak with Nazelth, who is known as "the destroyer" in lore, as a representative of "the Cult", most likely referring to the Cult of the Dead Dragon. Nazelth is a White Wyrm whose lair resides under a cliff face in the Moonwood... He finds humankind disturbing and repulsive and overly moral, and used to actively hunt them. Alustriel expressed her desire to end any activity that this group might be involved in. She wondered how many of the Cult's members were currently in the area, and if they had become aligned with any outside, or worse, local influences... Hoping to add more intrigue to the situation, Aluvial describes her encounter with the hunter from the Whistling Stag Inn, Saernuss. Alustriel was quite surprised to learn of his participation with the evil lycanthrope clans of the Black Blood. Aluvial also threw in what she knew about the Thayan Minderaser that the group had witnessed being peddled in the streets of Quaervaar. This also surpised Alustriel, but she doubted that Saernuss could have been under the influence of the drug. She believed that he was probably under a magical spell such as dire charm. Dom concurred and noted that such a spell would only have a limited duration however. He then posed the idea that perhaps the spell had been made triggerable and permenant by laying it upon an amulet or bracelet or some focus, allowing the man to act normal when not being controlled, but not remembering what he had done when being manipulated. He postulated that a spell of that kind may have also been used on the messenger from Quaervaar that attempted to relay a call for aid from Silverymoon in the upcoming lycanthrope battle. Dom and Alustriel spoke their thoughts aloud, trying to discern what higher motives were at work, and who might be behind them. They emphasized the importance of the breaking of the allegiance of the Silver Marches with Quaervaar. Durlan wondered why on Toril someone would be so interested in a little lumber town such as Quaervaar... He seemed to think that Alustriel and Dom were overestimating the level of intrigue discussed over so seemingly small a thing. Aluvial mentioned Gaerrn's travels to Sundabar in the hopes of sparking a new lead. Sundabar, however, had much to loose and little to gain, but Luskan may be a different story. Dom and Alustriel launched into a lengthy discussion of the goals of Luskan, and eventually decided that Luskan may be a key player in the events that are to come. With that, Alustriel planned to keep to the normal dialogue of trade with Luskan, but to find whether their eyes had shifted from Waterdeep and Neverwinter... With that the Lady abruptly excused herself to attend to other matters and asked the council to reconvene in 1 day, to further discuss local matters and gain the input of her trusted military and magical advisors.