Quiet+Storm

Ever since the Valaes Tairn mercenaries hired by the Queen of Cyre rebelled and took the Blade Desert and other nearby areas from Cyre to form their "nation" called Valenar, the Valaes Tairn have increasingly relied upon House Lyrandar for assistance with governing this vast, mostly-arid land. The Lyrandars were only too happy to provide services, with a dramatic uptick in their presence in the final years of the Last War, as the House tested and launched its new elemental-powered airships far away from prying eyes. One such airship was the "Quiet Storm," designed to be stealthy and powered by a bound air elemental. Through various undisclosed channels, Aundair's intelligence service hired the Quiet Storm with the using her for clandestine missions in support of Aundairian nationals (mainly Elves and Khoravar) trapped inside the rebellious Eldeen Reaches. Kaela and Phi both belonged to the same Valenar warband; they neither had horses nor an ancestral link to that nomadic, cavalry-driven culture. Both were combat-trained, however, so when House Lyrandar recruited Marines to serve aboard the Quiet Storm on its mission to the Reaches, both Kaela and Phi were chosen. The mission began well enough in 988 YK -- a combination of magic, speed and luck enabled the Quiet Storm to cross Cyre and Breland without incident, and the Aundarian agents aboard successfully made contact with several resistance bands battling the newly-independent Reachers and their leaders from the Wardens of the Wood. The Lyrandar crew and Valenar Marines were both welcomed by the mostly Elven and Khoravar fighters. There were skirmishes, both on the ground and in the air, and by mid-989 YK the Quiet Storm had become fairly notorious. [As a side note, one of the Storm's hit-and-run raids in late 988 killed the human parents of a 12-year-old girl named Nina; she was taken in by the Wardens and soon was training as a Druid, eventually taking the name "Moondown"]. It was probably about this time that the Daughters of Sora Kell got involved. Perhaps they reached a deal with Archdruid Oalian, or perhaps it was all done by their underlings -- but either way, a large airborne force of Droaam monsters entered the Eldeen Reaches and tracked down the Quiet Storm to an area of firest just north of the Byeshk Mountains. Scores of Harpies and Gargoyles, led by a powerful Ogre Mage, fought the Storm and her crew at the end of Nymm, 989 YK. The Ogre Mage slew the Lyrandar captain and first officer with a cone of cold, leaving no one with the Mark of Storm able to control the ship. There was a crash, after which the air elemental broke free and went on a rampage. By the time it was banished, few of the Quiet Storm's complement remained -- the Aundairian agents and all but three of the House Lyrandar crew were dead, and just eight of the Valenar Marines were left (including Kaela and Phi). Rather than return to Droaam with their captives, the Ogre Mage set up camp in the forest next to the wreck. A House Tharashk Half-Orc named Tanar was there the next day, serving as the Droaamite's go-between. The captives were put to work repairing the vessel as best they could; they were soon joined by locals with carpentry and crafting experience. Some were hired by the Half-Orc, while others were entranced by the Harpies into doing their bidding. The work went slowly, but after about two weeks a wooden dock of sorts had been built, and with great effort the airship had been lifted and set upright in the dock. Then another group appeared, flying in from the south on whatever could hold them -- Manticores, carpets of flying or their own magics. Two dozen Artificers from all over Khorvaire, including a Duergar and at least one House Cannith excoriate. As they set to work on the airship, eight of the nine remaining Quiet Storm captives (two of the Marines had been killed in an escape attempt) were repatriated to Valenar. The senior living Lyrandar crewman refused, choosing to join his captors in excahnge for a promised officer's slot when the airship was relaunched. A mounted Eldeen force took Kaela, Phi and the others around Lake Galifar along its west and north shores to the Aundair border, where they were handed to an Aundarian cavalry unit. There was no debriefing; no attempt to interrogate or punish the Valenar and Lyrandar survivors. They were taken to Pasage, loaded on a Lightning Rail and transported to Korranberg in Zilargo (passing Starilaskur and Sterngate along the way). From there they were hustled to a Lyrandar-flagged oceangoing vessel for the final leg of their journey to Taer Valaestas (capital of Valenar). The trip took more than two months; at no time did anyone ask what they were doing in the Eldeen Reaches or what their mission had been. Once home the eight went their separate ways -- and a few years later both Kaela and Phi would find themselves back in the action: Kaela hired by none other than the Ogre Mage, now a leader in an underworld gang called Daask, and Phi getting in a fight inside a Sharn tower with the Duergar artificer who'd been part of the group rebuilding the Quiet Storm.