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Once we're all back in Ashinbinford and the snows have fallen (certainly slowing the approaching army down) we determine with Sir Thomas that someone needs to go to Shadowdale for reinforcements. Well, naturally, our group volunteers itself to go (oh, and as far as what the other members of the group were doing in the meantime, I have written down: "Lord Arbol rode into Ashenbinford as the vanguard for the Zhent army, was killed by paladin of Tier"). During that adventure, they picked up a tiefling named Phae. Apparently, during the fight with Lord Arbol, the other members of our party (i.e., not the elves) were put on some kind of stay-awake spell which kept them going, but at the end of the spell they would fall asleep for like eighteen hours. We manage to make it all the way to Shadowdale before they crash. Gwaihir gets some sleep too while Landroval goes to the common room and finds an entire group of Corbins! No, wait... There is a group there, of about 15-20 half elves, all decked out to their finest, swapping stories and singing and playing their lutes. There's also a group of what appear to be the leaders at a table in the back: one rather large minotaur, one thrikrien (giant bug), and one important-looking half elf. Landroval talks to them enough to learn that the half elf in the naval uniform is Captain Phillippe of Marseilles, of the vessel Ravenwind. He's got the end of a couple of pistols showing beneath his coat, just like Landroval does. The minotaur is the first officer of the Ravenwind. He is Kord, a priest of Dragos (god of strength and dragon-killers, worshiped by orcs, minotaurs, and giants), originally from Maldor Keep. The big bug is the second officer, named Daray or Dodar (I have both written down) but his mental image of himself is that of a Sandwalker. Anyhow, the group eventually wakes up and chats with these folks, which is also how I know so much. Here's what I wrote down. Next to Thrikrien it says "telepathic communication, Lady Nubius, Eldritch in his past." Next to the captain's name it says "Lorenzo? Queen's Guard of Farkeep. Ship is in service of Ravenloft, Lady Shrike. Mission in Hillsfar; ship docked in Tassledorf. Lady Alowana and Eldritch run the ship. Eldritch = mage and the lady is student. Their tower is next to Elminster's tower." What that means is, we asked the captain if he and his men could help us in our fight against the Zhent army. He said it wasn't up to him, we should talk to Lady Alowana and/or Eldritch. When we asked where to find them, he told us they were in the tower next to Elminster's Tower. Now, for anyone who had been to Shadowdale (and we all had), it would be immediately obvious that there is no tower next to Elminster's. But that's okay. Landroval, Gwaihir, Corbin, Beren, and Phae all decided they would go check it out. Miranda and Dorn stayed around to flirt with Kord the minotaur. Short version of the tower story: Eldritch has a portable tower that he takes with him. We tell him all about the army coming in and he says if nothing else, he'll help us. So, back at the common room, a quite noticeable group of five walk in. They are: Vladimir, the head guy in ruby mail; Celeste, a blue scaly chick with red eyes--ranger type--looks like Cambian but not; Ellen, a priestess of Tiemora; Robar, a foppish type; and Kazay, wearing Darth Maul robes, with maybe a bit of elvish blood in him (monk type). Celeste and Ellen wear holy symbols of Tiemora, and we also meet Katib, who is the shinesaugh of Eldritch: short black hair, thin, good looking, arabic looking, from Thay or somewhere way down south. Anyway, it looks like they'll help us, and there's quite a group starting to gather at the Red Phoenix (knights of Myth Drannor, 100 harpers, etc). Our group flies back to Ashenbinford (courtesy of Eldritch, who uses his cloack to turn into a big owl) and discovers a group of 5 or 600 gathered there. We decide (after Miranda volunteers without consultation) to go on a recon mission to locate and size up the enemy. |