Before the Day of the UnderDark at the Briston Estate

The small courtyard you all have stepped into is full and overcrowded with humanoids of all shapes in sizes. The one thing they have in common is their state of dress looks familiar: rugged, clean and serviceable, shades of varying grey and battle-hardened. Every single one of them also has the symbol of two blades crossed, visible somewhere on their person. You all recognize that you’ve stepped into a contingent of the GreyBlade faction, and they have you completely surrounded. There are easily 50 - 70 GreyBlades in this courtyard that you can see. Krusk would be able to identify the number here as being at least a third of the GreyBlade contingent that works and travels the Trade Way. He hasn’t seen this many together in one area - for one job - ever.

The faces of these people are reserved, but all are openly staring at you. A murmur runs through the crowd as the children step through the gate after you and hide behind various party members. Someone takes the horses around the back of the crowd and you are left standing in the middle of the courtyard as they close a circle around you.

A human female steps forward, her dress indistinguishable from the rest, but the way people part for her it is obvious she has authority here. Krusk will only just recognize her as being one of the GreyBlade commanders, though not the one he reports to. She has barely-starting to heal burns that run up and down her arms, neck and face. Her head is bare, her scalp covered in patches of healing skin, scorched hair and freshly formed scars.

“Krusk,” she says in a husky, smoke-scarred voice, “it is good to see you have made your way to us. When we heard the rumors of what was occurring, that Duke Klineton is using the Moaskins to take over the Trade Way, we wondered if you would fall to them somewhere. We sent out runners and scouts, to find and warn our group leaders, but very few have returned.”

She looks around at your group, noting your dress and appearance after several days of traveling and the recent battle. “Thank you, all of you, for conquering the threat that was outside this Keep. The magma ettin killed several good men, I myself was badly wounded during the last battle with it. We owe you all a debt for that act.”

"Klineton is either dead or --" Krusk starts, but the commander interrupts him.

"Dead? Dead!. so our fight is over!"

"Dead," continues Krusk, "or under some sort of mind control. We must see Briston as soon as possible."

"Mind controlled? I don't understand."

"Ready four teams if you can - two escort teams and two posing as clients."

The commander pauses and looks at your faces, weighing the seriousness and purpose you put forth with the orders, and then nods curtly and turns. She speaks quietly and several members go rushing off, the rest of the crowd falling back to make room for the movement. She turns back, "I have sent a messenger to the Duke to prepare him for your arrival. We have had to be very careful in whom we let in to see him, as that is part of our role here. I can lead you to see him in just a minute. Do you..." she looks over at the children. "Do you want us to find a place for the younger ones?"

"No," Krusk says, "they don't leave our sight for now." He turns to the others. "Agreed?" Turning back, he adds, "I'll explain as much as I can after we have spoken with the Duke."

Tren speaks up. "Agreed. We really can't say much more until we have some privacy. I am Tren Vale," he continues, turning his attention to the commander, "a traveling companion of Krusk. You appear to be some sort of leader among these GreyBlades. Can I ask your name? And also, do you know if Stec Aviancrester is at this estate currently?"

She nods. "I am Commander Greel, of the southeast GreyBlade contingent. We were hired by Duke Briston almost a fortnight ago. We routed out all of the Moaskin faction camped in his estate, and as a result most of the staff and other occupants that lived here left. We escorted dozens of people, including the Duke's family, to Baldur's Gate, as it's the safest route at this point. I do not know if your companion went with them, but I can look at our roster to see. I know that he's not here currently. Beyond the Duke and a couple of his loyal servants, everyone here is a GreyBlade."

"Thank you," Tren says. "If you or your men need healing then I would be glad to offer my assistance, though it must wait until after we have met with the Duke."

"Thank you, but we have our own healers. They save their abilities for those who need serious help. This..." she gestures to her scars, "is not worth the draw. I'm sure that you know from traveling with GreyBlades, if our bodies can heal naturally then we do so. This does not prevent me from doing my job. That is all that is required."

Kilana speaks, as Rila nervously steps forward to her side. "Commander Greel, if I may, we need to see the Duke as quickly as possible. Preferably in a," she adds, softening her tone, "less public area."

Before Greel can respond, Tren continues. "What news is there of the Moaskans? And what happened to cause all of your injuries?"

Another soldier steps up. "Duke Klineton and the Moaskin Faction have taken over the Trade Way. We've been holding them out of the keep here for over a week now...these men are injured from the original roust, and from the daily battles with that monster you just destroyed."

"Come," says Greel, in answer to Kilana's request. She leads the party back through the far corner of the courtyard, through several doorways towards what you feel would be the inner area of the estate. She stops in front of a solidly built stone door and raps on it with her armored first. She pauses, and a deep voice says, "Enter."

You find yourself in a simple but clean, spacious, solidly built throne room. Upon the throne sits a man who looks to be only in his late thirties, but whose hair is streaked with white and whose face is lined with more cares than he has years. He wears plain clothes rather than armor, but has a staff in hand. A handful of GreyBlades surround the throne, with what appear to be a couple of servants beside him.

As you enter the room the duke stands and beckons you forward. "Welcome. As Commander Greel has already vouched for all of you, you will not be asked to disarm yourselves. But I will fairly warn you now, if we find that any of you are in league with Duke Klineton or his witch, we will kill you, without hesitation." He peers at your group closer, seeming to take note of the variety of people standing in front of him. "Why...are there children...in your party?" His voice seems to crack in the middle of that sentence. "War is no place to have them out..."

"There are many unfortunate reasons these children must travel during these times," Tren says. "By Tymora's luck, one of those reasons stands before us, and one of these children can be turned to their home. Duke Briston... is this your child?"

Duke Briston freezes on the steps, his face growing pale with shock. "This...this cannot be. We lost him. I....I lost him..." his voice trails off in a hoarse voice. He takes a step forward, and then another, looking at the toddler in Tren's arms. "Arthur?" he whispers.

The boy turns and, at seeing the trembling man standing in front of him, says the first word you've heard from him since you rescued him from the dark. "Father!!" He stretches out his arms and with the innocence of a child, pitches himself forward to be caught up in strong arms that had already started reaching for him.

The duke gives rough sobs as he buries his face in Arthur's hair and holds him tight, sinking to his knees on the floor. "Oh, my child, my son. I am so sorry. So sorry. I will never let anything happen to you again."

A moment or two passes as the duke collects himself, and then Tren resumes. "I am Tren Vale, a cleric of the order of Tymora in Waterdeep. My companions are the sorcerer Hethurin, the ranger Kilana, and Krusk, a prominent member of the Greyblades. Duke Briston, we have much to discuss. Is this room secure from prying ears?"

The Duke rises and, clasping his son to his chest, walks back up to sit on the throne. He looks at the commander and nods. "Please excuse us, Commander Greel. I believe I need some time to thank these who brought my son home to me, and to exchange information. Please take your men out."

Greel nods, then pauses. "Sir, wouldn't you prefer some sort of guard to stay....?

The Duke shakes his head. "I am well protected and not alone. Thank you Commander." He then turns to the two people standing beside his chair. "Prepare food and rooms for everyone here. Bring something warmer for my son to wear." He pauses and looks around. "As well as the other children." He then waves them off and sits deeper into the chair, as his son snuggles closer and the GreyBlades and servants file out of the room.

"Everyone whose ears you are concerned with are gone," the duke says at last. "I am at a loss, I admit. The Moaskins have been taken from me. My family has fled to safety. I am trapped here. ...or rather I was. ..in my own estate. Yet there is hope. The son I thought I had sacrificed is now returned to me. But I look at your faces and I feel that hope fading...I feel that perhaps I know only part of this story. I think it is time to hear the rest."

Kilana slightly bows her head. "Duke Briston, we believe that Duke Klineton is being blackmailed by the moon witch Aradel Kisires; whether he intentionally took control of the Moaskin mercenaries, we do not know. We do know Aradel had kidnapped his daughter, Sasha, to make him do as she said, and Klineton had hired our group to go rescue her. Where we found her we also found little Briston and the other children. But by the time we retrieved her and the others, more time had passed than we realized and Aradel had control of the Trade Way and the Moaskins.

"Currently her base of operations is Dragonspear Castle where she is controlling orcs along the Trade Way through dark magic -- and attempting to resurrect the god of abominations, Ghaunadaur.

"We believe her next step is to take control of Baldur's Gate. Those there do not know that all of this has occurred because she is keeping this info from reaching them."

The Duke frowns and passes a hand over his face. "I knew the witch had a part...but I believed her to be used by Duke Klineton, not the other way around. I should have guessed...this move is not truly in his character. But when Mistress Rebrigh..I mean, Aradel Kisires, came those many weeks ago, she bore a letter with his seal. And when I refused...and my son disappeared, it was again a letter that came by messenger with his seal, describing what would happen to my child if I didn't relent and give him control over my half of the Moaskins. I was devastated...I thought it was a power play... as soon as I received that letter, I ....I was forced to make the hardest decision I've ever been faced with. If the Trade Way is controlled by one master of the Moaskins, that would forever change the way travel and trade moved on the whole Sword Coast. It would become a monopoly that would affect so many lives, and for the worse. So I...refused. I told them they couldn't have my half or the control...and I sacrificed my son."

The Duke pauses and sighs heavily. "I sent an...associate, to look into what was going on as soon as I received the first letter. He was following the Rebrightons, updating me as he could. We discovered that the witch was not who she appeared to be, and that she was using Simon as a guise to travel the Sword Coast. She was controlling him with some sort of mind control potion. When I learned of this, I had my associate try to rescue him, but he wasn't able to get Simon out of her grasp.

"We found evidence that she was using sorcery to take control of different groups, and was somehow bringing creatures and monsters to attack and upset the lands around the Trade Way, we believed to create an illusion that the Trade Way needed to be policed, and that it would be an easy way to establish the Moaskin's as a protective force to be put into place. But again, we believed it to be controlled by Duke Klineton. I never thought this all might be an elaborate ruse that served a different purpose."

There is a knock at the door, and a woman from earlier quietly walks in with a clean blanket that she hands to the duke. She tells him there are rooms being prepared and there is food ready to be brought in as soon as he wishes. He nods respectfully to her and she leaves. As she walks out you all get the impression that a servant would be the last thing she would be considered. Her clothing consists of tight wrappings all around her body, her feet and upper arms are leather-strapped. Her hair is close cropped, her skin a darker, almost violet shade. She has no visible weapons and from the way she walks you'd almost think there are springs on her feet.

The duke gently takes the dirty, travel-stained clothing off of his son and wraps the blanket around him before settling back down and continuing his thoughts. "When the Moaskins were taken from me, they kept a contingent of them here, in my estate, to keep my family and I under control and intimidated. That is when I hired the GreyBlades. One of the owners is a friend, and obviously they have a lot of stake and interest in what is going on. Unfortunately...they simply don't have the manpower and political interest to get involved in this fight.

"I have never heard of this Ghaunadaur. But I know that if this Kisires witch wants him back, then she needs to be stopped. I don't understand how they think they could take on Baldur's Gate...that is such a large city, with a large armed force." He looks at the group. "We need to find out more. We need to warn them. Tell me...it seems you have been through much to find these things out, so you must have some sort of plan."

Krusk steps forward. "I do have a plan -- to both find out what we can and to warn Baldur's Gate. I have Commander Greel putting together teams to move to both the north and the south. I'm hoping that the north team can find one of the children that went missing, as well as a missing member of my team -- in addition to scouting what the situation is around Dragonspear and Klineton's estate. The southern team will be tasked with scouting the route down to Baldur's Gate and also warning them once they get there."

A familiar figure steps out of the shadows from behind one of the pillars he had been leaning against. "I believe, Duke Briston, that I can assist with that," he says, as Tren nearly jumps out of his skin.

"Ghujov!" exclaims Kilana. "I was not expecting to see you again." She pauses, unsure what to say next.

"We also face the issue of the impending sacrifice," Tren adds after recovering his nerves. "Kisires intends to sacrifice people to the god of abominations, presumably to bring his presence back into this world. She has taken people dear to us and we intend to get them back. Kisires also seeks one more sacrifice." Tren indicates Rila, "This girl with us is the daughter of a noble family in [insert elven city here] and was en route to marry the son of a noble in Baldur's Gate. We also have with us Duke Klineton's daughter, the boy Galen of Luiren, and another boy who ran off during a fight, who we believe has been captured by the Moaskans. We believe all or most of them are children of nobles. We don't have the resources needed in order to take care of these children and see them where they safely belong. We were hoping that you might be willing to help, in that aspect."

The duke stands up and walks down the stairs to stand in front of your group. He nods to the familiar figure that stepped out of the shadows. "This is the associate I was speaking of earlier, Ghujov. I welcome his council, as well as his protection." He turns back to the drow. "Please, lend us your thoughts."

Ghujov turns to your group and nods, meeting each of your eyes in turn. "I'm glad to make your aquaintence on more hospitable terms. I freely travel the countryside and can get in and around most places without trouble. I would be able to infiltrate Dragonskeep and the surrounding area and come back with information on that. I'd need a full day and night to accomplish this."

"Your help in this would be very welcome, Ghujov," says Tren. "I would also greatly appreciate it if you were able to find information on Simon's whereabouts -- though this matter is much bigger than a single person now. Allow me to apologize again for the misunderstanding we experienced a few months ago."

Ghujov holds up his hand. "We were all acting under difficult circumstances. And I doubt your...barbarian companion is the least bit contrite." He smirks at Krusk. "It is very rare that someone gets the drop on me quite like that. Whatever the power is you have, that changes your appearance, it is very impressive." He turns back to the Duke. "I will set out immediately, and return in one full day."

Duke Briston nods to Ghujov. "Travel swiftly. Come back with as much as you can gather." He turns to the group. "They told me you've told some GreyBlades to get prepared to move, dressed as regular travelers. I would send them now, if I were you, as it will take a couple of days until they can return. This will give us some time to plan, before Baldur's Gate hopefully returns with their army. I am hopeful that they will listen."

As Ghujov passes by to leave, he quietly turns to Kilana. "I did not think I would see you again either, my lady. I knew you had gone into the Trollbark forest, but once you entered the land that belongs to the Woman with Many Faces, I lost word of you...your group. I listened, but nothing was heard for many weeks. Those who enter that place, rarely come back out. And when they do..." he shakes his head. "...I was concerned." He suddenly grabs a clutch of arrows from his quiver and passes it to her. "Kilana...you will need these to fight the evil ahead. Use them true, use them well, and keep them close." Ghujov bows, then as all of you are watching, it appears as if he shimmers once, then twice, then disappears before your eyes.

Krusk turns to the group. "We need to return Rila to Baldur's Gate. Quinric, Nyfyx and Muradin: Take Rila and get disguised. The four of you will be travelling with the escort team to Baldur's Gate. Tell them everything you know about the situation at Dragonspear. Let them know we need troops."

There is a flurry of movement as the three GreyBlades standing behind Krusk move out of the room without further word, Nyfyx taking Rila by the hand and gently leading her out. As the door swings back, Duke Briston calls out for Commander Greel and waves her in, asking her to help show everyone to their rooms and then, take the remaining party members to the dining hall.

Kilana takes a closer look at the arrows Ghujov handed her. They are a stark white, with brilliant blue and black feathered shafts that catch the light and reflect it back. As you hold them, an inner voice chuckles....one that you just barely recognize as belonging to your deity.

"Well, my child...those are some beautiful weapons you were handed. When you aim them, clear your head, concentrate on me, and I will help hold it true. And when it hits, it will be spectacular."

-*****-

The next day passes by uneventfully. You rest, eat, and prepare yourselves for whatever may come. The duke is available and present for any conversations, but he is consumed with his son, Arthur, who is finally starting to sound like a little boy should. The next day, shortly before midday meal, you are all gathered once more in the dining hall, when Ghujov walks in the main door, looking exhausted. He pauses once inside, looking around the room and noticing that it is just your group and the Duke. He moves up closer to the table and starts without an introduction.

"It is worse than I feared. There are hundreds of creatures gathered in the mists surrounding DragonSpear. Orcs...goblins...oozes and lizard-kind, troglodytes, dire wolves, ogres and other beasts that I only normally see in the UnderDark." He takes a breath and drinks from the closest goblet on the table. It is filled with the home-brew goblin ale that I picked up from a goblin back at the Scarecrow Inn, but Ghujov chugs it like water. Tren looks at him with a newfound respect, and just a hint of revulsion.

"The good news is," Ghujov continues, "I can move you past all that. Underneath DragonSpear there are tunnels that crisscross around that land. I cannot lead you through them from here to there, for many go into the UnderDark. But I can take you from just off the Trade Way, to the outer ring of the ruins, and bypass the hordes that await outside. That however, will simply lead you to your largest task at hand.

"The witch is there. I have seen her. I was not able to go into the inner ruins, but what I saw sitting outside was enough to deter even myself from getting closer. She has somehow summoned a many-headed beast as a mount, and it guards her. I have never seen one of these monsters defeated." He bows his head. "Even though I have studied the tactics of how to fight it, as with most other things that live in the Underdark.

"Of those you search for, I did not see. But I imagine she keeps them close, likely in the inner keep where I was not able to go. There were no actual guards within the outer circle, likely because...well, there didn't need to be with that creature there.

"One last thing...before I left, I saw Simon." Ghujav pauses. "He...he appeared to be back under her spell." Ghujov stops, coming to the end of his report, and sits beside Krusk.