Our heroes, along with their traveling companions the Kaern-folk, reach the city of Tymirr just as the sun is setting. The castle’s four signature gray towers shimmer in the sunlight. As they near the citadel, they see that on either side the outlying town has been burned to a smoking ruin and appears abandoned. As they come to the great bridge, they see that it has been raised at the mid-point to form a giant drawbridge and twelve soldiers are stationed at the fore portion. The river is unnaturally high due to the recent storms. Helmets of soldiers can be seen at the wall 100 feet above where they stand; a call goes out that strangers approach the castle.
The two soldiers closest to the party approach, one of them short and fat and the other tall and skinny. “What be your business here?” says the short one. Elowisyl explains their situation, and the soldiers check the party and their belongings with scrutiny. But before they can move forward, a tall man, previously unseen, approaches them. He is wearing a green cloak and is completely bald except for a substantial black beard protruding from his chin. His lazy eye is most definitely fake (probably made of wood) and he carries a large staff. “I am Yeador, High Magician of Tymirr. You must be Elves from the Western Guild. Your King awaits you at the castle.”
The party begins to explain who they are, but Yeador waves them off. “This is better discussed in the comfort of the castle. You must be weary from your travels,” he says. He then gazes at each person in turn, seemingly taking special note of those with magical ability and items. He then makes a signal to the men on the wall to lower the drawbridge and let the party in.
Once inside, the party sees that what was once a bustling city with many shops and markets has become a mass refugee camp. Hundreds of tents can be seen set up in every possible spot, surrounding the buildings. People of all races and cultures are here, and though the hour is late and many are eating their supper, many more are milling around. Some look worried, as they seem to be trying to find someone, and others are obviously looking for food for themselves or their families. Babies can be heard crying. Farm animals are wandering around as well. The mood here is obviously depressed, but everyone appears to be working peaceably together. Groups of different cultures can be seen huddled in their tents. A party of ten Dark Tribes men are around a campfire doing a murmuring chant. As the party passes they nod to Meran, and he returns the gesture. A woman in courtly dress and her two daughters are handing out loaves of bread and fish to grateful people nearby. The horses literally have to push their way through the crowd to make any progress, so it is slow going through the city.
After walking for more than a half hour, the party sees a large tent with the Western Elf Guild’s signature symbol of a tree with a sun symbol inside it. Their family members greet them with tears and hugs all around. They begin asking questions, but Elowisyl tells them that he must assist the farmer and his family with finding a place to stay. The group leaves again and rides further around the city. After a while the farmer points to a group of people, saying that they are also farmers from the area. He descends from the wagon and begins speaking with some of the men. After a moment he turns around, nodding, and says “They have some room here, we will stay with them.”
Elowisyl disconnects his horses from the wagon and everyone says their goodbyes. Just before they leave, Elowisyl gives the man’s wife several silver. She says that she cannot accept it, but Elowisyl insists and says that it is not actually his money. “You are thieves?!” she says loudly. He explains that they have helped people and have come across money in the past, so they are not out any by giving her a few silver. She finally agrees to take the money and thanks everyone profusely.
The party continues on with the Kaern men, and after a while find a group of Kaern that they seem to know. Some of the men Elowisyl recognizes from the tavern in Ransburgh. “Hard drinkin’ Elf!” they call at him, and he laughs, greeting them. Bogder, Gorn and Erag bid everyone farewell. Erag thanks the party and says that without them, all three of them would have perished, and if they need anything to just let them know. He also turns to Galandil and says that he should return to see them in a few days’ time. Elowisyl gives Gorn some silver to spend for food.
Presently they reach the castle at the center of the citadel, and they see that the front gate is guarded by eight soldiers. The two at the fore are elite guards, with shiny pauldrons on their armor and large helmets. On their breastplates and shields is the blue “T” symbol that they have come to recognize as Tymirr’s insignia. They ask the party what their business is here, and Elowisyl tells them that they seek an audience with King Arayen and King Erillas. The guard nods and sends a servant up the stairs. A few moments later the servant returns and whispers into the guard’s ear. The guard says to them, “You are to return in the morning for an audience with the King.” The party agrees and departs.
After returning to the Western Elf Guild tent, the Elf-brothers talk to their mother and sister for a while. Their mother comments that she has seen the Queen out giving bread to the hungry. Elowisyl says that they saw her when they came into the city, and is surprised that the Queen would be doing such a thing. Soon everyone turns in for the night. They are not long on sleep, however, before they are rudely awakened by the sound of a tolling bell. A voice from one of the walls is heard saying “Six at the north wall!” Immediately the party grabs up their gear and rushes out of the tent, ready for battle.
Two guards with lanterns stop them a few feet from the tent, asking them where they are going. The party explains that they are on their way to help fight against whatever is attacking the citadel. The guards tell them that they need not worry, since these attacks happen almost every night and the perimiter guards always take care of the threat before it can get into the castle.
Elowisyl tells the night watchmen that they would like to assist the guard if they can, and the watchmen say that they appreciate any help that can be given, but they should only be worried if they hear more than one bell toll at a time. Elowisyl comments to his brothers that it has never crossed his mind to be “worried” since their own city was destroyed.
Our heroes return to bed, but are awakened again a few hours later when a call goes out that four more Terrors are at the east wall. The party is again startled, but decide to let the guards take care of the problem. There are no more disturbances that night.
The next morning during prayers, Orunn arrives. He congratulates them on completing their journey and is eager to hear what they have found. He says that the specifics will have to wait until the summit with the King, which will occur in an hour or so.
Meanwhile Meran seeks out the Nomad group that he saw when they entered the city. He finds them at their campsite and recognizes that four of them are the miners from Ransburgh that he previously met. He asks them about which route they took to the city, and what dangers they faced. They explain that they took on several Terrors and were triumphant each time. Meran gets the feeling that they are embellishing a bit too much, and therefore thanks them and leaves rather quickly.
Neith also wanders from the tent for a while, looking around the area. Suddenly out of the corner of her eye she sees someone turn to stare at her. She wheels and sees that it is her brother, Lionel. He rushes towards her, but she turns away. He grabs her by the shoulder and says “Wait!” She brushes him off and begins to flee towards the tent, but he calls out “Espere!” loudly. She turns again and glares at him. “What do you want?” she says.
“Are you okay? Mother, father, all of us thought that you might be dead! We found out that you had been kidnapped…but I suspected, correctly it seems, that you had faked it to shirk your duties as possible future Duchess of Merrill. Please, take me with you, whatever your reason for being here, I need to make sure that you stay safe.”
“Fine,” she says curtly, and allows him to follow her into the tent, after telling him to hide the insignia of Merrill on his jacket and to make sure and call her “Neith.” When he enters, the Elves within all stare at him. He is a finely dressed man, a few years Neith’s elder, with a red waistcoat and long dark hair. Meran (who had just returned) immediately thinks that they look alike.
“Who is your friend?” asks Elowisyl. Neith introduces him as Lionel, a friend of hers from Southernton, the farming town that they found her in. She says that he is the one who taught her most of her fencing. “Hanging around with a bunch of Elves?” he says incredulously, but she silences him. The party seems a bit put off by his cheeky manner.
Orunn announces that it is time to go and see the king, and everyone packs up to leave. “Oh, am I not invited to your secret meeting?” Lionel says, without a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Neith tells him that he’d better stick around here.
The party leaves for the castle, and the Elite Guard lets them in. Once inside they see a huge room ahead with pillars reaching fifty feet into the air. In here there are over a hundred dignitaries (Galandil, using his “count” cantrip, sees that there are 103) talking excitedly and arguing. They all seem to be talking about the problems in the area with the Terrors. Elowisyl talks loudly about the beasts that they have killed as they walk by. Some of the dignitaries gasp and one exclaims to one of the others, “Who are these ruffians?!”
They are led up several flights of stairs and through several corridors to the King’s chambers. Once inside they see that this is another immense room, filled with plush pillows and ornate decorations. Several low columns line the walls, each with some sort of rare piece of art atop them. At the center of the room is a large circle of chairs, with a larger one at the rear upon which sits the king. He is a man in his late 50’s, with shoulder-length silver hair and a braided gold circlet upon his head. His pale blue eyes study the party. He rises and approaches them, shaking everyone’s hand. He says “Ah yes, here are our brave Elves. And a member of the Dark Tribes, as well, a Water-Elf and a Human? Quite an eclectic group you have here. Congratulations on completing your task successfully, you must have faced many dangers. Please sit and we will talk.”
As they sit they see Erillas and Combellon around the table, as well as the Cleric of Irina, Eleiana (from Ransburgh) and the High Magician Yeador who they had met the day before. Also there are two older men that the King introduces as his advisors, Peratus and Verak; a young dark-haired man in a blue waistcoat is introduced as Duke Rontus of East Tymirr; a balding overweight man in blue robes is Biran, the Duke of North Tymirr; and a well-dressed man in his early twenties is the King’s son, Prince Cortus. The party takes in all of the new faces, but none of them particularly like the look of the King’s advisors, who seem rather shifty.
The King announces to the group, “Now that we have all gathered here, we must all share our information. This is what we know. A large force, made up mostly of insectoid beasts, has been ravaging our countryside for months. They come from the direction of the Erstland Wastes, which seems to be creeping closer every day. In daylight and darkness they come, and attack our towns, kidnap our children. In the past three months the attacks have become so frequent as to overwhelm our outer defenses, forcing us to evacuate and abandon the city and to cower in our citadel as the beasts endlessly thrash against our walls.
“The towns and farmlands near here have been largely evacuated and we have upwards of 25,000 refugees camped in our city whose towns have been destroyed. Apparently Duke Perius of South Tymirr was either in league or being controlled by whomever commands these beasts. He took our friend King Erillas as his prisoner, and was defeated by our brave party here. He had constructed a sort of “gate”, to communicate with the one who commands these beasts. When he was defeated an army of the Terrors emerged from the gate and swarmed the castle, where they are still. We just received word that Ransburgh, the city to our south, has been burned. Allusions to Jerech are unavoidable — as most of you know, our sister city to the west was “swallowed” by the desert eight years ago. As King Erillas traveled here he tasked his brave group of Elves to discover what Perius was doing in his mines. They have succeeded and are before us today.”
The King then asks the party to explain what they found in the caves to the group before them. After hearing the story the assembled group is fairly stunned, with the King’s advisors whispering excitedly. The King interrupts the din by saying “That is quite a story, and something I am sure you will tell your children. You have given us much information and much to think about. Take a rest for a few days while we discuss this, and spend time with your families. But do not wander too far, we have need of skilled men…and women (giving a nod to Neith)…to help us in our continued battle for survival. People like yourselves may be the last hope we have against the Terrors, since our army has been decimated in the continued attacks.”
After a few more moments of discussion and questions, Galandil approaches the King and offers to help with creating more defenses against the Terrors. The King thanks him for his offer and says that he should speak with his Warmaster, Verak. Galandil speaks briefly with Verak but it seems that the oily man doesn’t respect the Elves very much. “If you need our assistance you know where to find us,” Galandil says. The man nods and snickers something to his companion, Peratus. Soon after the party leaves the castle.
That night at supper, Lionel joins them and the party seems curious about him. “You are from Merrill?” says Elowisyl coyly, obviously aware of Neith’s secret past. “Uh, I’m from Southernton,” Lionel says. “And what is it that you do there,” says Galandil. “I’m a…grain farmer,” he says, slightly annoyed and glaring at Neith. Neith begins to explain that she met him in Southernton, but the lie is obviously fooling no-one. The truth comes out that Lionel is actually her brother, and Neith is actually Lady Espere of Merrill, a duchy of Aten in the south. Meran and Elowisyl seem to know what is going on, but Galandil is totally confused. Apparently Meran and Elowisyl surmised from the MISSING poster they found that it was indeed Neith to which it was referring.
Lionel asks if he may accompany them on their “secret mission,” to make sure that Espere is safe. The party agrees, but tells him that Espere has been able to protect herself just fine. Lionel takes note of the impressive rapier that she carries, and asks where she got it from. She says that she defeated Sir Diego de Lunagalia, and he is very impressed. “He was swordfighting and swindling people out of their money when we were only children,” he says. “Most impressive indeed.” He asks her if they could have a sparring match sometime, and she agrees.
After supper that evening, Meran approaches some of the guards and asks if he can assist them in evening watch. They say that he may, but he must pass the test before he can become part of the watch. He agrees, and three men accompany him to a clear area in the couryard. All three men strip to the waist and throw down their swords, and Meran is instructed to do the same. The men attack him, and Meran punches the first in the stomach, sending him immediately to the ground. The second man kicks Meran in the chest, but Meran retaliates quickly and delivers a devastating blow to his face. He, too, slumps earthward. Meran and the third man fight for several moments, but Meran finally defeats him as well. They agree that he may help them with the watch, and ask if he can swing a sword or fire a bow. “I can swing an axe,” he replies.
That night Galandil stops by the Kaern tent — they greet and give him some lichen beer to drink, and he nearly vomits but manages to choke some down. It tastes somewhat like gorgonzola cheese. Later Erag talks with him for a while. He tells him that he has learned much about the ways of the Arc-miner, and though he is certainly still an apprentice (as full Arc-miners usually study for years before they may take the Oath), it has been decided by him and one of the elders that is also in this town that due to his progress and extenuating circumstances, he will be temporarily inducted into the Order and given his own amulet. After he has completed his adventures, he is to return to Tymirr and take the Oath if he feels that he is worthy. Galandil can hardly contain his glee at this statement, but still manages to remain silent. He nods and thanks Erag.
Concurrently Elowisyl seeks out Eleiana, the high priestess of Irina they met in Ransburgh. Along the way he sees several sick and hurt people, and stops to help them. Eleiana is at another tent in the city, and is tending to several ill people herself. He asks her how the journey was from Ransburgh to Tymirr, and she says that amazingly they only lost 6 people due to Terrors attacks. He offers to help her with healing the wounded, and she gratefully accepts, saying that her clerics are exhausted from working many hours a day. Elowisyl stays the night in Eleiana’s tent.
Later that evening Meran is assigned to watch on the south wall, and there are no creatures encountered that night. A group of four Terrors attacks the east wall, however, and Meran sees that three of them are spider-like, and one of them is a large ogre-ish beast like the one they fought in the caves. The other guardsmen take care of the problem, and Meran remains at his post.
The next evening after supper Erag stops by and tells Galandil, “It is time.” Galandil tells his brothers and the others, “I have to go.” A while later he reaches the Kaern’s tent, and waiting inside are all the other Kaern, lined up on either side of the tent. They are wearing dress robes, and there is a wizened old man, obviously the Elder that Erag was speaking about, in the middle. The Elder speaks a long incantation, the rites for transferring the responsibility of an Arc-miner to Galandil. Afterwards a pint of lichen beer is thrust into Galandil’s hand and he drinks, again nearly choking. The Elder removes the amulet from around his neck and puts it around Galandil’s, still incanting the sacred words. Galandil notices that the amulet is very worn and has marks from years of use. As the Elder finishes his incantation, he instructs Galandil to summon the elemental within the amulet. “NUR-AM-HARAS,” Galandil speaks, and the earth elemental springs from the jewel. It gives its old master a low bow, and then returns to the jewel with a crackle of magical energy.
A celebration follows, and all of the Kaern congratulate Galandil on his provisional ascension. They give him some more of the lichen beer, and soon he feels very sick. He does manage to ask them if they have any extra for Elowisyl, and they respond by having the Brewmaster bring out a quarter barrel of the stuff for Galandil to take back. He returns to the Guild’s tent after a few hours, and on the way gets sick to his stomach. Elowisyl is delighted to see the quarter barrel of beer, and heals Galandil of his wounds while concealing a smile.
The next morning at 6am, much to Galandil’s dismay, a page comes by the tent and announces loudly that the King requests their presence. They comply, and at the King’s chambers they see all of the men from the last meeting, as well as several other people in attendance. The group of Nomads that Meran previously met (Afshar, Farrokh, Kayvan, and Javad) plus four additional men are there, as well as the Kaern men (Bogder Shale, Gorn Rockfist and Erag Stonecutter), who seem none the worse for wear after their night of heavy drinking. Also there is a group of individuals they have not seen before, consisting of a Tall One (a warrior in armor), two Humans (a cleric and another warrior), a Savage (rogue, from the looks of him) and a Water-Elf (mage) make up this group.
King Arayen announces, “Since Tymirr’s guard is short quite a few men, we are recruiting all of you in small teams to accomplish the first debilitating strikes against the Dark One, as we have begun to call him. We have found that the Dark One controls his army of Terrors by using some sort of mind control magic, which is strengthened by the existence of the “gates” he is building at magical nexus points. Study of the existence of these ley lines and nexus points is only in the beginning stages, but a rough estimate of where the nexus points are has been established.” The King shows them the map of the nexus points, and several appear in the area. One goes through South Tymirr, another through the nearby mountains, one exists northwest of Calese, one goes through the Erstland Mountains to the north, and there are three in the Wastelands: one goes through Jerech, and two are in the deeper wastelands.
The King says that it should be assumed that these nexus points are already under the Dark One’s control, especially in the deep desert where no one can oppose him. The Tall One’s group must travel to Calese to disable the gate there; the Kaern men must go north to discover if there is a gate constructed in those mountains; the Elves (plus Meran and Neith) must travel to nearby Jerech to see if there is a gate constructed there; and the Nomads must travel into the deep desert to scout the area. Elowisyl looks to Erillas for his approval on this tact, and the Elf-king nods his head.
The King says that they must leave within the next few days, and asks if they have any questions. Meran asks if they have maps of this city or any further information. The King says that they will be provided with maps of the city before they leave, but no one has set foot there since the disaster so there have been no personal accounts of what it looks like now.
Before they leave the castle, the party members are given special cloaks that protect against the heat of the desert, as well as specially designed waterskins. They return to their tent for breakfast and morning prayers, and to speak about their mission.