Bronard, a capable and newly reformed protector of the innocent, smashes his stone mask in every sense and departs the company to safely shepherd the Sacred Stone Monastery prisoners to their individual destinations.
Bruldenthar remains with the party for the journey to Summit Hall. When his delegation was ambushed, cultists separated his co-diplomats Rhundorth the shield dwarf, Teresiel the moon elf, and Deseyna Majarra from Waterdeep. They were transporting twelve books of great value to Summit Hall but also the remains of Sir Benefast, a Knight of Samular who perished fighting orcs at the Spine of the World.
Bruldenthar recognizes the apparent pouch of sand Haerelben retrieved from one of the encased wasp complex victims as seeds that Deseyna intended to take to the Abbey of Goldenfields.
As the adventurers break down their camp for the continued journey to Summit Hall, the sounds of explosions and fighting interrupt their get-to-know-ya chit chat. Allana dashes toward the ruckus. Through the trees and brush she sees several fire cultists and hellhounds led by a fire-casting priest assailing a dragonborn rider. The dragonborn seems a capable defender but will be no match for the gang of cultists who pull her horse horse down beneath her and slaughter it.
Haerelben blesses the imminently violent actions of the party, provisionally including the dragonborn defender. Allana and Theren quickly engage and defeat the priest at range. Theridan shifts to rhinoceros form and charges around in circles knocking cultists off their feet. Meega dashes to the dragonborn’s defense and they fight back-to-back.
Rhino Theridan finishes off his charging victim and Meega demonstrates her martial superiority by knocking down a cultist just before killing him instead of just after. Haerelben sustains the badly injured dragonborn as the cultists are thinned out.
Recognizing the trouble they have invited, the cultists ignite their swords and engage the adventurers. The two hellhounds arrange themselves and simultaneously firebreath Meega, Haerelben, and the dragonborn. Although the dragonborn is especially resistant to the heat, not so Meega and Haerelben.
Allana explodes a cultist with a perfect eldritch blast and turns her attention to a cultist backing out of the scrum. Theren chases him with a couple of crossbow bolts and Allana drops him as he tries to flee.
The dragonborn, Rhino Theridan, Haerelben, and Meega, not wishing to endure any more firebreath, team up on the hellhounds.
The only surviving cultist gets conked in the noggin by the flat of Theren’s shortsword and Rhino Theridan tramples him down with just enough force to avoid killing him. Subsequent questioning by mad duo Theren and Quinzella Drachedandion, the rescued dragonborn, reveal nothing profound; the cultists, praise Imix, have been attacking passers-by to avenge Vanifer’s humiliation at the Scarlet Moon Hall. Theren suggests Quinzella give the cultist a little scratch but it gets away from her and he is slain.
Quinzella reluctantly reveals she has been dispatched to Summit Hall with two envelopes, the first addressed to “Lord of the Mattress & Friends” and the other to Meega. It takes some convincing but eventually the party authenticates itself to Quinzella as the serendipitous object of her mission.
The first missive from Ardak indicates his unavailability for the rendezvous at Summit Hall. The rescheduled meeting shall be in the Vale of Dancing Waters three days hence.
Meega’s letter from her parents, Cherry-Zo and Wayvoran-Chero, bestow birthday greetings as Meega turns 15 this day. They enclosed a heart pendant which makes Meega appear far more robust.
Quinzella joins the party for the journey and several hours later Summit Hall becomes visible, rising upon a hill above the landscape.
The party enters the walled city and makes its way to Pilphit’s General where Pilphit Phog answers a hundred questions while the adventurers rummage through his wares. Theren acquires several items from his worrisome list of mayhem. Rations and ammunition are easy to find and Haerelben acquires a couple of healing potions and a scroll of mass healing for which he trades some gemstones. Among some preowned clothing is a grey long coat that a couple of party members recognize as an R&S issued greycoat [bag of holding, sans +1 AC]. Although Pilphit clearly has no idea the value of the item, Haerelben offers him the valuable box of turquoise animal figurines found within King Solomon Petrikov’s royal tomb in exchange. Allana trades the remaining deck of illusions for a bronze griffon [becomes a griffon for 6 hours]. Still under consideration before departure is an elven chain shirt for 1kgp, three marvelous pigments, and a dream scroll.
The last curio to examine in Pilphit’s General is, of all things, an abandoned corpse. A quick medical examination by Theridan reveals a hole through the skull through which, presumably, the poor fellow’s brains were removed.
A quick visit to the stables replaces Quinzella’s horse, a paint like its misfortunate predecessor. A sign on the stable door indicates no elephants for sale so Theren doesn’t even bother going in. Having accomplished her quest, Quinzella departs for bed.
The party arrives at the keep where Theren requests access to the quartermaster’s armory. Denied by the guards on the basis of commerce not being the militia’s business, so to say, the party requests an audience with Lady Ushien Stormbanner, commander of the Knights of Samular, and that gets them right into a guest suite.
While awaiting Lady Stormbanner’s availability, Theren departs to meet his old acquaintance, the quartermaster Jeffry. “SIR Jeffry to you, Theren.” Sir Jeffry denies Theren’s persistent request for caltrops and strenuously denies his request for oil flasks on the merits of a previous, unelaborated incident. As Theren negotiates with Sir Jeffry they hear the keep’s portcullis slam down. Theren is disarmed and taken to a holding room.
Guards arrive back in the suite to detain the rest of the party. Haerelben sarcastically asks the guard to extend their regrets to Lady Ushien Stormbanner, that they would be unable to meet her now. The name drop falls flat when the guard reveals that Lady Stormbanner’s murder is precisely the crisis in progress, and their arrival is precisely the reason they are adventurers of interest. The guards usher the compliant party to Theren’s holding room.
Captain Noble Hashard, second in command, arrives to sort the situation right out. He examines all the crossbows and determines none are the murder weapon. Haerelben eyes all the crossbows carried by the Samular guards and searches for any betrayal of expressions in the room but finds none; everyone present is above reproach. Absolutely above reproach.
The captain declares they shall perform a room search while the keep remains locked down. The adventurers are instructed to remain in the room and all the Samulars depart.
A short time later, the twang of crossbow fighting can be heard. Theridan peeks out into the hallway and, losing his cool, casts entangle at a cricket. A shuffling sound approaches from the opposite direction and the party braces for conflict and weirdness.
A grievously wounded Captain Hashard drags himself into the room, declaring the rest of his retinue remains trapped upstairs by a foul beast. He suggests dividing the party, half to address the beast upstairs and half to raise the portcullis for the admittance of reinforcements.
Haerelben calls up a heal for the captain who does not regain his feet the way healed fighters ordinarily would. Haerelben holds the moonbow up a little longer than would be considered polite and the moonbow reveals a glamour over the captain. He is, in fact, a doppelganger.
Haerelben ponders the revelation to himself but Theren and Theridan detect his puzzlement. Theren exchanges some hand signals and Haerelben assures him everything is fine. Maybe. Theridan studies the captain’s expressions and suspects a hint of shady deception. Theren moves to “help” the captain up but applies a subtle joint lock in doing so.
Captain Doppelganger exhales deeply and his melty arm escapes Theren’s hold. His difficult to hit emergent gnome form slams past Theren and he sticks himself to the ceiling. Meega knocks him from ceiling to floor like a piñata and beats on him mercilessly. The tricksy naked gnome dashes into Bruldenthar and suddenly Allana and Theren are staring at two identical Bruldenthars, uncertain which to attack.
Before the conversation inevitably degrades into swapping facts only Bruldenthar would know, Haerelben hoists the moonbow and points his finger at the imposter. Eldritch blasts and crossbow bolts fly and Meega knocks Captain Doppelganger down again.
All out of good ideas, the doppelganger foolishly tries to escape out the door next to Theridan who sentries his feet to the floor. A proper scolding from Theren accompanied by unflaming longsword slashes him. A squish on the dome from Haerelben’s quarterstaff lays the creature out.
This otherwise typical doppelganger is mono-eyed. Disturbingly, the single eye is far from unconscious unlike the rest of its host and continues looking around, really soaking in the identity of its assailants. No one needs the Opeth to tell them this unnatural thing is a representative of the elemental evil eye. The Opeth tells them this unnatural thing is a representative of the elemental evil eye.
Theren plunges a dagger into the paranormal peeper but it’s the dagger that loses cohesion instead of the eye. Haerelben sheds a little radiant damage on the eye and it shrivels up disgustingly.
Many knights were slain including the real Captain Noble Hashard. Lady Ushien’s brain went missing through a hole in her head just like the specimen at Pilphit’s. Lieutenant Poet Silverthorn, commanding, summons help from the Purple Dragon Knights and the Harpers to help secure the keep back into order.
Allana reports a warning from the Opeth that the Knights of Samular are friends, and always the eye will hunt down their friends. Theren sets about remedying the former issue by resuming his harassment of Sir Jeffry over oils flasks. Sir Jeffry ultimately agrees to leave some oil outside the gates for Theren’s departure.