Session Date: 07/28/2025
The Endless Stairs
We emerge from the passage through the mountain after the sun has fallen past the horizon. There is an airship that is approaching the Warhawk stronghold with no flags being flown - we assume they did not see the newly built city. The airship does eventually land within the keep. We look up at the air ship and Mary can tell that it looks like some kind of a supply ship, but it’s more of a luxury type supply: wine, nice cheeses, and the like, if she had to guess.
We do know that the keep was not built by the Warhawks, but rather adapted by them. There are plenty of people in the lower levels that are not affiliated with the Warhawks themselves but just live there.
Mary speaks with the animals here and they are scared: there are giant hawks that are potentially hunting them pretty often. We know that if we are caught we will be arrested and taken to prison: the concern is that they would find our piece of the Seal of Infinity. We see that the walls are rather craggy and it’d be possible to climb up the walls, though we will certainly be seen if we opt for this.
We all sneak closer. Mary notices that there are symbols on an old wall that seem to form a sentence, but she doesn’t recognize it - there is some meaning behind it. Mary asks if Faylen recognizes this and he looks at it and eventually recognizes it as Draconic but in a different script. It’s a mess of a sentence, but I realize that if we touch the symbols in a certain order and you spell the word open. The wall opens and gives way to a spiral staircase. We begin the climb.
Faylen is incredibly bad at this and we take forever trying to get up the staircase. The entire day goes by before we emerge. Faylen reflects on the way up and he realizes how little magic was used to create this place: the doors were magic, yes, but there was no magic for the rest of the castle. Faylen can tell that this was created by claws rather than hands, and he realizes some kind of dragonkin created this place, and that they could fly, which explains the positioning of this place. The script for the door was dwarven, which is incredibly interesting.
Storage Room
We make it to the top of the stairs and there’s a door. Tabby pushes the door open and peeks out to check on things. He can tell this appears to be a storage room. Tabby can recognize that there’s some very good wine in this cellar - not an idea place to hold it, but good enough given the circumstances. Tabby gets caught up on the wonderful smelling wine and Faylen suggests we save it for after we’re done dealing with the War Hawks so that we can celebrate.
There is relative safety here: nobody seems to be approaching this area right now, and it is night time.
As we leave this area we can see that this part of the keep is arranged haphazardly. There sems to be a full dungeon cell next to the storage, and further down there is a barrack-type situation - people are laughing, possibly playing cards. It’s clear that this “wine cellar” was once a cell that was adapted. There is someone sleeping on the ground in the cell.
Faylen can see that this is a halfling that is laying there sleeping. It’s a very restless sleep. We discuss amongst ourselves for a second and Faylen casts telekinetic hand to shake the halfling awake. We shush him so he knows to stay quiet, and he asks who we are. We just explain that we’re here to help and he is quite excited. Bosch breaks the lock and frees him and lets him out. We retreat to the fake wine cellar to talk. The halfling explains he came in on an air ship, got curious, got caught, got a few broken ribs, and then was forgotten about in prisoner.
The leader of the Warhawks wanted to speak with Zeth Seegmiller, but something happened. We explain that Zeth was killed and we read about it in the news. He explains that there are others she has petitioned and she’s lately been wining and dining guests to try to get her aims.
Tabby suggests that the people who are passing in and out will give us great cover to move around. Mary suggests we can pretend to be a servant of one of the rich guests. We decide that Tabby and Bosch can pretend to be guards, and Mary and Faylen will pretend to be servants.
The Party
Our new friend procures some guard uniforms and we all meld into the party easily. There is an Orcish woman sitting at the head of the hall and we know she’s Lady Ikbur. While everyone seems to be in various stages of drunkness, but Lady Ikbur is very sharp.
Bosch overhears what Lady Ikbur is saying to the others and it comes down to the following:
The Dark Demesne is an issue that they will have to deal with sooner or later. The only thing that has been consistently shown as the whetstone of civilization to create excellence is war: we need conflict and to fight with each other so the best of them can fight the enemies outside. The system now is weak: sages accumulate power, people like Zeth Seegmiller can flaunt their wealth (they admit that he’s an evil man who should not have been allowed to fester, but because we value peace and were too permissive, he was allowed to hurt people).
It’s clear that her words are getting to some of them. She’s very calm for a zealot. Tabby comments that it’s scary how sane she seems saying such unhinged items, and Mary comments that it’s because she believes it.
Lady Ikbur’s Office
The halfling introduces himself as Ron. We all introduce ourselves and Faylen gives Bosch’s name. We walk past and some guards awkwardly greet us and we respond in kind. The interaction is short but definitely puts Ron on edge.
We make it to the door and try it and it’s locked - we don’t have a way in, and so Ron goes to get Bosch since he’s so good at opening doors and locks. Bosch complains a little and once he arrives he asks if we did the string trick. We ask what that is and he climbs up onto Faylen’s shoulders and then uses a piece of string to loop the door knob and pulls it up so that the door opens and we can walk inside.
Mary starts to sift through Lady Ikbur’s desk and finds some documents - not many, Faylen recognizes that they are letters and she has been writing plenty to dignitaries and others to meet her here to discuss the future of the Commonwealth. The letter contents are the same but adjusted to the specific person it’s being sent to. There isn’t really anything important here.
Bosch is writing a note in blue paint. The note is addressed to Lady Ikbur and saying that there is a place where war almost broke out recently, and he describes the events from the nearby town.
Tabby feels energy from a small chest. We grab the chest and decide simply leave with it. Bosch, outside of the room, notices that our halfling friend is gone, and the guard uniforms for Bosch and Tabby transforms into chains. The box falls and lands on the floor and pops open, a piece of glass falling out with the
Ron transforms into a draconic like creature: snakelike and wyvern like, a medium sized creature. Mary recognizes as a wooddrake: a fey creature that can turn into halflings or elves. He comments that we did well and should try to recruit us. He works with Lady Ikbur and was there to basically get us trapped. She comments we’re the unknown element and she tries to get the piece of the Seal from Tabby - Mary steps between them to stop her.
Lady Ikbur essentially says that she recognizes our power and she would rather team up together rather than fight with us. She would love to team up with us and work together to defeat Kincaid and then deal with the Dark Demense and everything. We obviously reject this.
Bosch manages to break his bonds and Ron casts paralyze on him, and then Lady Ikbur knocks him out. We learn Ron’s real name is Melronnon. He takes us to our holding area.