Intermission (Arodus [VIII] 10th-Lamashan [X] 1st 4707 AR)

Returning the barely living body of Junia to Lady Dacilane had several repercussions: she was naturally overwhelmed with joy and sent for the best clerics of Asmodeus at once to see to her daughter’s recovery. Lady Dacilane promised to assist the heroes in the future if they ever have any need of information about the aristocrats of Absalom—a small gesture, to be sure. The other parents, upon hearing that there was a miraculous survivor after all these years, mobbed the Tri-Towers Yard in an attempt to gain access to the necropolis. Absalom’s city watch was called in to quiet the disturbance and sent in a team to search for additional survivors. Of course, there were none.

Marlinchen's interaction with the mob of parents had sent him into a rage before the city watch arrived. The heroes tried to reason with him, but Marlinchen cast a vivid cone of splashing colors from his hand, hitting half of them, and then attempted to touch Zemurin with another spell. While enraged, Marlinchen fought with no concern for his well-being, but the heroes stabilized him and handed him over to the city watch.

A rubbing of the relief on the south wall of the room that housed the children's spirits fulfilled the remaining Taldor faction’s mission.

After Junia recovered, she told the heroes her story. Two weeks before the earthquake, Junia and her friends (including Cassiel and Grishan) discovered the necropolis. They kept it a secret and treated it like a clubhouse, a place to tell ghost stories and dare each other to explore by candlelight. On one such dare, Junia found a trophy—a ruby salamander ring on the finger of a crowned corpse. Unbeknownst to Junia, the ruby salamander ring functioned as a ring of sustenance.

When the earthquake hit, Junia and her friends were already in the necropolis. When her friends began to starve, Junia did not. As her friends became weaker and less able to continue their search for a way out, Junia snuck away from them and hid in an empty sarcophagus that was unsealed by the great quake, desperately seeking an escape from the misery of her friends. Confused, increasingly frightened of the darkness beyond, and lacking hunger or thirst, Junia stayed in her hiding spot until she was found by a roaming cloud of shadows. Its merciless attacks drained her willpower and Junia laid there in a nightmare sleep, her body preserved for 10 years. Only the ruby salamander ring kept her alive.

Perils of the Pirate Pact

The River Kingdoms are a constantly shifting patchwork of unruly states and territories where borders, like governments, change too fast for any chronicler to keep track. There a motley gang of bandits and ruffians called the Pirate Pact managed to carve out for itself a little domain: a strip of land along the Sellen River, north of Daggermark, near the Numerian border. Pilgrims bound for Mendev and merchants on their way to or from Starfall frequent the waterway the Pirate Pact controls, and the band makes a living out of lucrative protection racket schemes. This business might be in jeopardy as rumors spread that sailing the river isn’t safe anymore, and that monstrous giant spiders are preying on travelers. This bodes particularly ill for the Pirate Pact’s current leader, the self-appointed Black Marquis, Urdul Bazzak. Behind the pompous name lies a porcine little man who, on the best of days, barely manages to survive the attempts on his life, much less command his rowdy troops. Unless he finds a solution to this crisis soon, Bazzak stands to lose everything—including his life.

Venture-Captain Adril Hestram in Absalom gave the heroes an assignment, to teleport across the Inner Sea and up the lengthy Sellen River, all the way to Dryblade House in Daggermark. When they arrived, they barely had an hour to adjust to Daggermark’s sights and sounds.

“I have a mission for you,” said Istivil Bosk, the Venture-Captain of Daggermark in the River Kingdoms. He paced back and forth across cramped quarters crammed full of maps, books, and adventuring gear. “Your timing is perfect, friends,” explained Bosk, an elderly man with graying hair and a pinched, weathered face. He waved a parchment in his hand. “I received another letter just yesterday.” He held up another stack of letters. “It’s from the Black Marquis—I believe his real name is Bazzak—the leader of a band of brigands surreptitiously known as the Pirate Pact. In all of these letters, he claims to need our help and offers us The Memoirs of the Silver Brotherhood, a rare text—maybe the rarest—in exchange. The Society tried for years to track it down and now Bazzak claims to be ready to give it to us. I’m sending you north to Deadbridge near the Echo Wood to meet this Black Marquis and offer him your help with whatever it is he needs. I want this book, and you’ll get it for me.”

And so the mission traveled north along the Sellen River, to the aptly named village of Deadbridge, a rundown hamlet partially built on wharves. It was there, in a rundown antique manor house where stood Urdul Bazzak, the Black Marquis.

“I rule the Pirate Pact and with it the stretch of the Sellen River between here and Numeria,” proudly stated the portly little man. “The waterways are the lifeblood of the River Kingdoms, so you must understand that any menace to the river is a menace to the balance of power.” The Black Marquis stopped and quickly looked to his left and right before leaning in and continuing in hushed tones. “Unless someone deals with this threat soon, I could lose everything. Normally I would rely on my most trusted lieutenants, but …” Bazzak sat up, regained some composure, and resumed. “The book I’m willing to trade for your service—The Memoirs of the Silver Brotherhood—contains information about an Azlanti treasure vault deep within the Echo Wood. That’s where I sent my most trusted lieutenants. Only, on their way they were waylaid by spiders and abominations and only one returned alive. Lady Riverbane sent out another ship upon her return, the Hanspur’s Luck, to search for my men. The Luck hasn’t returned either.” Bazzak pointed to the only other person in the room, a raven-haired beauty standing in a corner. “Lady Riverbane is my most trusted second, and she will take one of my best ships and guide you back to the Azlanti vault. Rid the river of these monstrous spiders and their abominations, find the Hanspur’s Luck, and uncover the whereabouts of my men, and the book is yours. Do it quickly, do it quietly, and do it before the rest of the Pact realize I’ve sent my best men on fools’ errands that may have killed them all.”

Following the audience with the Black Marquis, the heroes roamed the streets of Deadbridge before heading for the docks; however, there was little they could learn about Bazzak from the suspicious townsfolk. The heroes eventually rendezvoused with the Black Marquis’s ship: the Scrag Fisher, a 50-foot long, single-masted vessel rigged with a lugsail. When the heroes arrived, Lady Riverbane and several able-bodied sailors were already on board preparing for departure.

Lady Riverbane: Bazzak’s second in command will serve as captain and guide to the heroes on this trip. This dashing young woman was gifted with undeniable magnetism and an aura of proud confidence and resolve. Being a friendly pirate, she tried not to antagonize the heroes. At the same time, she made it clear that she was the sole captain on board her ship and that the heroes would be well advised to act as per their assignment if they wished to get the Memoirs.

The Crew: The six sailors manning the Scrag Fisher were all members of the Pirate Pact. These buccaneers followed Riverbane’s orders without question. Their names were Andrezi, Esmerelda, Fox, Thorpe, Tormer, and Viorel.