Events+of+Zarantyr+3-Zarantyr+4+998+YK

Events of 2-3 Zarantyr, 998 YK
A pack of travelers, each headed to New Cyre for their own reasons, took up in the Ghallanda inn in Sterngate, terminus of the lightning rail in Zilargo, the border with Darguun, and the 'fork in the road' that goes North into Breland. They looked little at each other and more towards the journey on an Orien Land Cart the following day.

Appearing to be a Hobgoblin, !ranek introduced himself passably in the language of Galifar. He was notably fluent and gave them all an earful about the possibility of a goblinoid ambush. Faye was notably suspicious of his good intentions; the veterans were notably aghast at !ranek's tribal understanding of the conventions of war. The Landcart pulled into Diamond Gulch and readied to pick up two wagons carrying refugee families bound for New Cyre; !ranek disappeared into the houses and among the people.

Later, a couple hours out from Diamond Gulch, the impromptu caravan is attacked by a small wolf pack. Three normal-seeming wolves attack Draco (Rob's Ranger), and Corwin and Colden move to help. But then, two somewhat larger wolves with white fur attack from the left. The earthsled stops, the two wagons are driven off the road...and then the white wolves breathe cones of frigid cold at Argent, Faye and !ranek. The fight goes back and forth, but inside of a minute the five wolves are dead and several party members are hurt (some badly).

Mere seconds later (it seems), a hunting horn sounds from up ahead, and soon three horsemen thunder up to the caravan. They came from a House Vadalis enclave, and claim that a breeding pair of wolves had escaped -- the two with the breath weapons, obviously. The Vadalis leader and the Orien driver exchange words, but the horsemen's haughty attitude changes when they realize they're not just crossing House Orien, but also a priest of the Silver Flame and a "reporter" for the Korranberg Chronicle.

As the two Vadalis underlings worked to sling the two whitefurred wolf carcasses behind their saddles, the leader handed a scroll to the Athos d'Orien, driver of the earthsled. The four potion vials, each marked with the House Jorasco seal on the stopper, were given to Rob's Ranger and the Warforged priest, Argent.

With that, the three House Vadalis riders rode off on their sleek and powerful horses, almost as fast as they had arrived.

Opening the scroll, Athos reveals it to be a House Kundarak letter of credit, valued at 250 gold galifars, redeemable at any Kundarak Bank.

Shaken by the fight and thankful that the party had been able to prevent loss of life (which would reflect poorly on House Orien), offers to share the wealth equally.

Aside from the five party members, there is Argent, Athos, the Half-Elf with the bardic training (called Del Ambariol) and the Human who used the scroll on !ranek (named Kebbo Manistee). Both Del and Kebbo had their familes in the back of their respective wagons, which explains their reluctance to immediately engage...but they could certainly use any money to help set up their households in New Cyre. Same with Argent, who would put the money towards building the Silver Flame community there.

Athos suggests each of the nine receive 25 gp, with the final 25 gp to go to the main combatants in the encounter as they see fit. "There's a bank branch in New Cyre," he says, "we can split it up there."

Events of 4-6 Zarantyr, 998 YK
The small caravan had camped for the night at a cleared rest area set up by House Orien for the purpose. Heavy cloud cover and near-freezing drizzle kept most inside the earthsled when they weren't on watch. Just past midnight on Zarantyr 4, the group was awakened by the sound of approaching hoofbeats. Turns out it was a Half-Orc wearing leathers and a jaunty bowler hat, riding a skeletal horse. Between his childish insults of Faye and his reminder that he would "find the Slayer of Cyre's Children first!", it was clear that this was Tanar d'Tharashk, a self-described inquisitive and bounty hunter Faye had seen in Diamond Gulch. Kebbo, one of the homesteaders who had served in Karrnath, recognized the mount as a Karrn creation, similar to the undead soldiers that nation had sent to the battlefiled during hte Last War.

The rest of the trip to New Cyre passed uneventfully, save for a bit of tomfoolery !ranek and Faye did to the master of a southbound salt caravan coming from New Cyre. The value of the cargo was such that several members of a House Deneith Blademarks company had been hired as guards.

Arriving in New Cyre on the evening of 5 Zarantyr, the group went their separate ways. Argent went to the Silver Flame temple, which abuts the town's main square; Coldren and Athos d'Orien went to the Orien enclave, where Coldren dropped off his sacks of post; Kebbo and Del took their families to meet friends who were expecting their arrival; and the rests attempted to find lodging. The local Golden Dragon Inn was full, so they were forced to stay at the Gem, a far seedier establishment with girls and gambling in plain view.

Coldren rejoined the group jusst in time for them to engage in a friendly game of Three Dragon Ante...with Tanar d'Tharashk. !ranek and Tanar were the big winners, Faye about broke even, the others lost money (and Corwin lost big). Tanar revealed two things: 1) his Least Mark of Finding, and 2) that a fourth Cyran had been murdered, this time in Diamond Gulch. He either couldn't or wouldn't divulge whether this victim was found with words carved into him, like the others.

On the morning of 6 Zarantyr, the group met with Athos at the House Kundarak branch, where the letter of credit was cashed and the proceeds split as agreed. !ranek went missing, but a noble from the Eldeen Reaches called "Von Eldeenstein" ably took his place and tried to get the team looking presentable for their audience with Prince Oargev. Right down to the matching tabards depicting his "noble" coat of arms. Coldren, an Aundairian, was suspicious, but didn't raise a fuss. The two rangers loved the look.

At the Town Hall, on the main square, the party found lines at two separate entrances. The front was for teams planning excursions into the Mournland; the second, off to the side, was for those seeking the bounty for stopping the Slayer of Cyre's Children. In that second line was their rival Tanar, but before they could start arguing, a Warforged trotted up to the group. In his flat tones, he said "//The dead-gray mist rose and killed my village//."