Session Log 2024-04-25

Heiras, not yet steady on her feet, flew the Stormjumper west at the head of the remaining Keep fleet. Though few had been evacuated, and some had been lost, all were relieved to be leaving behind the Umbra-choked skies of Golarth. Ignis, Oze-Oze, and Torrix were all left to rest in the hold belowdecks. Between them, bags stuffed full of the treasure from Lord Arva's tower clanked to and fro.

Ahead of the fleet, a lone crimson flare streaked into the clear sky. Heiras, Robin, Ekkels, Klaitos, and Angitt watched it burst into the crest of House Fireheart. Ekkels clambered to the fore of the ship to find the source of the flare through his magnifying glass. He spied a small but regal ship, comically fisheyed in his spyglass, waving white flags for parlay. On its deck stood Lord Fireheart alone.

The party debated the risk of engaging him, but saw little chance of a trap. Their main concern lay belowdecks - Ignis, his son and former heir, was recovering from a near-fatal self-detonation, healing liquor on an empty stomach, and the exertion of burglary. They had little hope of rousing him to deal with his father. Robin suggested that she could impersonate the missing Fireheart and make up the difference, but Klaitos objected, pointing out that they had no reason to cover for Ignis's current state.

So decided, Heiras flew the Stormjumper ahead of the fleet to hover near Lord Fireheart's vessel. He addressed the group, complimenting their feats of undead dragonslaying in Golarth, and commending their survival beyond. He claimed to have gotten word of their deeds from a wave of escaping militia - those that had evacuated before the Keep had landed. Belatedly, as though he hadn't noticed Ignis's absence, he asked Ekkels, Ignis, and Robin if his son had fallen under the Umbra to join the undead hordes. Before anyone could lie for no reason, Klaitos volunteered his present location and state. Lord Fireheart sneered but was unsurprised.

He declared that he would like to invite the Gale Queen - and them, if she liked - to a clandestine moot in three days time. When pressed for a reason, he claimed that, from his vantage as a military commander, the Torch was losing its wars. The dragons of the Council of Flame had all but abandoned the empire, and were simply waiting for the rest of them to perish. The Torch Empire, he reasoned, was falling apart, and he wished to speak with the Gale Queen - and other invested parties - about combining their efforts towards survival and even victory.

He swore that they would be safe at the moot, and told them that the location would be his private villa in the southern mountains. Robin was deeply suspicious of his offer, and noticed what it omitted - any promise to work for the Gale Queen. Though his readiness to betray the Torch and ally with the Windwatcher's Keep seemed genuine, his ultimate aim was to rule, not just to win. Finally, he asked the party pass along an earnest request to Ignis - that he keep away from the bottle, should he attend the moot - and flew off into the horizon.

The remainder of the journey was without incident. The exhausted party, remaining Gale Knights, and recruited Torch militia made for a dense crowd as they disembarked in the hangar of the Windwatcher's Keep. Ekkels slipped away from the group to head to the infirmary wing, while Robin and Klaitos were brought before the Gale Queen and her councilors for a debrief.

The Queen had already learned some of what had happened, by the time they came before her, and was primarily interested in what they had encountered and noticed in Golarth and with Lord Fireheart. However, the conversation was derailed by Robin's boasting of having slain Lord Arva. Klaitos argued that he had done most of the damage, but she maintained that her final crossbow bolt had sealed his fate, and brandished her necklace to show off the rings she had claimed as a trophy.

An intrusive halfling suddenly leapt down from the council to grab the necklace. He claimed that the rings were artifacts of powerful necromancy - a foul, forbidden, and dangerous art - and expressed horror that Robin had kept them so close to her skin. Under Klaitos's Lantern Eye, the rings and the Obsidian Eye in her pack glowed brightly, and the room took a collective step back. The halfling demanded to know what she intended to do with her terrible treasures, but Robin had only a loose plan to sell them. He asked if she would surrender them to the Keep's study and containment, but she demanded a fair trade or unique treasure in return. The Queen granted the request, telling her to speak to a nervous man at the end of the council after the meeting, and returned to the debrief.

Klaitos explained what they had seen at Golarth and described the dire state they had left the city in, but noted that Lord Fireheart had passed along a positive impression of the Keep's efforts, from those who had been able to evacuate. Robin submitted that Fireheart seemed motivated to use the moot to better position himself and his bloodline to rule, but that motivation meant that he was likely telling the truth about safely meeting and allying with her. The Gale Queen accepted this, and considered the offer worth deliberation. Klaitos and Robin were subsequently dismissed as the Queen and her council discussed their intelligence.

Ekkels followed some Keep soldiers carrying the gore-covered Torrix to the infirmary. Many beds were filled - some had been injured at Golarth, others on various scouting missions and skirmishes. Millie, druid of the Petalbearer and healer for the Keep, seemed to have her hands full, but was happy to see him. The Tireless Knight was also present, wandering the beds and assisting Millie. Ekkels came over to apologize for throwing him off a ship, a while ago. The Knight's expressionless helmet conveyed no emotion, but Ekkels sensed his sincere appreciation all the same.

Ekkels used his chaos magic to borrow some of Millie's healing and help reduce the workload. Though the Petalbearer's power flowed easily through him, and sealed the grievous wounds of the recovering soldiers, his irregular spellwork produced a messy bubbling effect on the bodies he healed. The Tireless Knight cleaned up behind him, and the two nonverbal medical assistants exchanged a thumbs-up. After a while, Ekkels tired out and fell asleep between the infirmary beds.

Klaitos followed the mages carrying the obsidian rings and eye that Robin had brought back from Golarth. It bothered him to leave the Umbra-smothered city to become another necropolis of the Gray Steps, and he wanted to lend aid to the Keep's efforts to study and undo the conquest of the Regalia Eternal. However, once he reached the arcanic laboratory, he found the discussion over his head. While the more-studied mages discussed and researched, he helped with the tedium of transcribing the minuscule runework of the rings. As he labored, he found the full name of Lord Arva Sirroon within the spellwork.

Robin bartered with the nervous treasurer for her recompense. He warned her that the Keep was not a nation of significant wealth, and that their stores were not likely to meet her standards of opulence. She assured him that she just wanted something unique and useful - particularly something to augment her ranged combat. He offered her a strange artifact he called the Pilferwhip, which was able to teleport objects struck with its lash-tip to her free hand. He claimed it to be an experimental undertaking by a now-deceased Keep craftsdwarf, not considered useful enough to produce more.