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Book 4
Chapter 4 - The Purple Dragon (1359DR, 8th-9th Uktar)
I was in a forest and I was lost.
I staggered form tree to tree desperate to make some sense of the maddening
maze I found myself in. Somewhere I heard people calling my name. I tried
to orientate myself by the voices but they seemed to swirl around me first
leading me one way and then another. And with each desperate, futile attempt
to find my way I got more and more lost…
That dream ran through my mind that first, long night in Suzail. As I
lay awake in a richly appointed room in the Royal Courts I could hear
a harsh wind blowing outside. It was a mournful noise but it was better
then the nightmare that haunted me during the brief moments I actually
managed to sleep.
When the sun finally dawned I felt even more tired then I had before I
went to bed. Discreet servants had visited our rooms before dawn and left
fresh water and new clothing. The cloths, like everything in the courts,
were fit for a King, or at the very least a visiting dignitary. Mine were
red and gold in colour. Baynar had invited us to have breakfast in the
dining room set aside for the Truesilver family. The dinning room was
a grand affair and was decorated by family portraits; there was Acamane
Truesilver, the famous mage and Arren Truesilver (fighting a red dragon)
whose sword Baynar now carried. There was even a portrait of Baynar as
a young man. Rather irritatingly my companions looked well rested and
I did my best to put on a brave face.
As we eat, I wasn’t overly hungry but there is no such thing as a half-finished breakfast when Bazil’s around, we made our plans for the day. Vangerdahast had told us that he would arrange an audience with the King but we had no idea when that would be. Baynar had asked a servant to look into the matter but hadn’t heard anything yet. I told my companions that I would pay a visit to the royal stables to check on the horses that had carried us from Essembra to Suzail and that they could find me there if there was news. Bazil and Primrose stated that they would go to see Mrs. Stringfellow. This got Baldric’s attention and he offered to go too. Faergil announced that he was fed up with not looking “wizardy” enough and would accompany the three into the city in an attempt to find a good tailor. Baynar was going to visit his family. Only Colatto seemed to have nothing planned and was content to stay in The Courts to await news.
Leaving breakfast I took the short journey to the stables, the cold northern wind doing a little to clear the cobwebs a broken night and a that unpleasant dream had spun in my head. Did the dream have a meaning? Though they had little in common it reminded me in some way of the dream I had had in The Vale of Lost Voices and there was also the Darkwatch. It seemed that it would only be a matter of days before I would use the lens the Elminster had entrusted me with to guide my friends into it’s grasp. I caught myself thinking that it was perhaps for the best that The Simbul had transported us here, at least it would delay the inevitable. All too soon my feet guided me to the stables. They were an impressive complex with room for well over a hundred horses. People bustled this way and that, leading horses or carrying loads of straw, food or buckets of water. And everywhere rung with the constant, sharp note of iron being beaten into horseshoes. A stable-hand led me to where the horses were stabled. Greymane and the others all looked in excellent shape but one, Amber’s mount Fleetfoot, was gone. A quick enquiry revealed that he had been removed about a Tenday ago. While no one I asked could describe who had collected him I was sure that it was Amber, and that she had returned safely on The Undying Gaze. After checking the remaining horses myself I made arrangements that they should be made ready to leave in the next few days and began a leisurely walk back to the dining room. Colatto was still there and told me that, shortly after we had all gone our separate ways Vangerdahast had paid us a visit. A little put out that we hadn’t deemed it important enough to wait for news of our King he had announced that we had an audience tonight after evenfeast. I took the opportunity to experiment with some of the herbs I had acquired in the last few Rides. From some rosemary stems I concocted an ointment that, if I had got it right (and I was sure that for once I had), would posses an interesting property.
Primrose, Bazil, Faergil and Baldric returned about lunch-time as did Baynar. Baynar told us that he had been informed by a servant that the king had granted him an audience that afternoon. He didn’t tell us what had happened upon his return to the Truesilver residence, presumably private family matters.
The others had had a busy morning. They had headed straight for The Halls
of Luck; the invisible Bazil dodging traffic on the crowded streets of
Suzail as they went. Life in the Halls of Luck was in full swing when
they arrived; from Primrose’s account the temple was part place
of worship, part market and part meeting hall. As they had entered they
had noticed that a cloth warehouse stood right beside it and Faergil announced
that he would pay it a visit later. Once inside Primrose went off to pray
before the great silver disk while Baldric volunteered to find Millicent
Stringfellow whom, as a lay member of the church could usually b found
there. Faergil and, more importantly, Bazil stayed out of the way. They
saw Baldric talking to an acolyte, apparently asking after Mrs. Stringfellow
but before the acolyte returned another priest walked purposefully over
to Baldric and, after a quick discussion the pair headed off, deeper into
the temple. After a few minutes Mrs. Stringfellow appeared, apparently
responding to Baldric’s summons. At Bazil’s request Faergil
headed over, with Bazil following in his wake, and prepared her for the
worst. From Faergil’s grim tone of voice Mrs. Stringfellow initially
thought the very worst but her expression soon changed from grief to exasperation
when she learnt about what had befallen her son. Somehow she managed to
get a grip of Bazil and, with a worried Primrose and bemused Faergil in
tow, lead him off to a private room where she could give him the benefit
of her opinion. It’s fair to say that Mrs. Stringfellow was not
at all amused at or even sympathetic towards her son’s plight and
blamed him almost exclusively. She was insistent that he not leave Suzail
until he was “cured” and put forward the notion that Bazil
should cut off his finger, thereby separating him from the ring, and have
a priest re-grow it by miraculous means. Bazil wasn’t having any
of it and had to fall back on reason, patients and the powers of The Scouts’
Blade (much to Primrose’s annoyance) to soften her views. At last,
with all Bazil’s bits intact, they took their leave with Bazil and
Primrose promising to come for dinner that afternoon. Back in the main
hall they bumped into Baldric and, after he did his best to reassure Millicent,
they left. Primrose asked where Baldric had got to but all he would say
was that he had received some very troubling news but would wait until
we were all back together before he said anything else.
At the cloth warehouse they had been directed to the owner’s shop,
“Ossper’s Fine Silks and Cloths”. Following the directions
they had been given they found themselves at an opulent looking tailor’s
shop where a wealthy looking and rather full figured patroness was trying
to convince Ossper, a gnome, that the dress he had made for her “looked
fat”. After great length Ossper relented and agreed to take in the
dress rather then upset his customer with the truth. Once she had gone
Faergil got down to business. What he wanted was a set of robes that had
a magical quality, a swirling blue and green pattern. The others didn’t
have to be master tailors to realise that Faergil was out of luck but
Ossper did offer to create a set of robes form a fine silk that had a
shimmering hue. Faergil was satisfied but was disappointed to learn it
would take the gnome a Tenday to create the garments. Faergil paid an
advance and asked for them to be sent to the Royal Court, though there
seemed little chance to return for them.
Their business concluded the four returned to the courts and it was there,
over lunch, that Baldric told his tale.
The priest who had come over to him was Brother Winniefiddle. The priest
has happy to see Baldric and insisted that he come with him. He took Baldric
into a secluded part of the temple and a small room where an inflicted
person might recover. Inside where two women. One was little more then
a girl and was reading passages from the Holy Scriptures of Tymora in
an attempt to soothe the second woman. This second women was lying in
bed looking drawn and ill, her unnaturally pale skin in stark contrast
to her long raven hair and a broad bandage on the side of her neck. Baldric
recognised her almost at once as Pelinae, a bard from Waterdeep. She had
been a member of his war band who had defended Espar during the Wolf-Lord
War. With a weak and faltering voice she told Baldric that she and a few
other of his war band had been in Espar, near the site of his new temple,
a few days ago when they had been attacked by another former member of
the group called Tassin. Tassin had been a mercenary form the north, hot
tempered but a good tactician and deadly with a crossbow. One night he
had disappeared and they had assumed that the enemy had killed him. To
a degree it looked like they had been right; Tassin was now a vampire!
Pelinae had been the only one to survive the attack and had fled to the
capital. Now Baldric had a request for us; he wanted to go to Espar to
find and destroy Tassin but at the same time he understood that The Legacy
of Srinshe was a more pressing matter. It was not an easy choice to make
and I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for Baldric’s plight.
Less then a week previously I had to choose between stopping to put out
the fires in Yuirwood and the quest. I had no love for vampires and their
ilk but Espar was to the west and the Darkwatch to the east. We simply
couldn’t let ourselves be side tracked any further. Solemnly we
discussed the problem but there seemed one inescapable conclusion; time
was not on our side. Baldric took the discussion philosophically but it
was clear that he felt a great responsibility for the congregation at
his temple.
Lunch over, Baynar went to have his audience with the king. The rest of
us crowded around Bazil’s maps to try to determine what to do next.
We needed to get back into The Dalelands. We quickly ruled out going through
Thunder Gap, the weather would soon make it impassable and it was far
too close to Highmoon. Instead we set our sight on going north and east
via Tilverton and Tilvers Gap and from there deep into the heart of ancient
Cormanthor.
Over lunch I had mentioned that Fleetfoot was gone and we wondered if
The Undying Gaze was still in port. Primrose and I went to find out. We
headed down for the docks. Even the dock fronts of Suzail, capital of
Cormyr had that dangerous, lawless edge that characterised every dock-front
I had ever been to. It was, of course, a noisy mess of sound and motion
but we found our way to the harbour authorities area without any trouble.
We quickly learnt The Undying Gaze had arrived in port only yesterday.
I found this a little confusing until further questioning revealed that
she had been gone only a few days having returned from her long voyage
south a Ride before that. All this talk of The Undying Gaze and Amber
had put Primrose in a melancholy mood. She wished to know what had become
of Amber after her return to Cormyr and suggested we try to find some
of the Undying Gaze’s crew. With that thought in mind we headed
for The Selibers Ship. The Ship hadn’t changed at all in the three
months since we had first set eyes on it. It was still docked in the most
disreputable part of the port, an area where press-ganging, kidnapping
and murder were an every day fact of life. Once we were aboard and below
decks it was clear that the clientele, as far as we could see through
the blue haze of fragrant tobacco, hadn’t changed much either. It
didn’t take us long to find Captain Tanner, he was entertaining
four local beauties who hung on his every word. He soon recognised us
and we got into conversation. It appeared that The Undying Gaze had run
into Sea Devils (my tact had to reign in my curiosity at the mention of
these beings of the ocean) on the return journey, it had been a hard fight
and several crewmen were lost but they had been victorious. Amber, Tanner
said, had fought as hard as anyone had. When I enquired about how Amber
had been he described her as withdrawn, she had done her bit but never
connected with the crew. When The Undying Gaze had returned to port she
had left at once and they hadn’t heard from her since. “Purposeful”
was how he had summed her up. As for Tanner and his crew, they would probably
not set sail again until the spring but had had good hunting over the
year and plenty of money to keep them in wine, woman and song. Tanner
asked me to tell Colatto there was a place for him in his crew if he cared
to accept it but, when he learnt that Colatto was now Lord of Nimpeth,
Tanner admitted that our companion would probably be too busy.
Our curiosity satisfied we headed back to the courts, stopping briefly
so I could pick up a couple of changes of travelling cloths and a few
odds and ends. As soon as we returned Bazil and Primrose headed off to
have evenfeast with Mrs. Stringfellow, which turned out to be a rather
strained affair.
None too soon (fatigue was starting to catch up with me) it was time
for our audience with the king. We were escorted from The Royal Courts
to the palace and into the audience chamber. The mighty warrior-king Azoun
IV sat upon his throne in kingly attire and Vangerdahast stood at his
right hand. I outlined briefly what had befallen the company since we
had departed for The Vilhon Reach, what we knew of the drow’s plans
and how we planned to go to the Darkwatch to thwart them. We also asked
if there was anything Azoun and the kingdom of Suzail could do to help
us. Azoun told us that all the ways through the Thunder Peaks were overrun
with “creatures of chaos” and highly perilous. He had given
Baynar leave to come with us and that the Lionar was going to bring his
personal guard of knights to supplement our strength. The king was also
going to send a company of Purple Dragons to reinforce the garrison at
Castle Crag in Tilvers Gap; if we would travel with them they could act
as an escort. We thanked the king and, pressing our luck, asked if one
or two of the War Wizards could accompany id into the Darkwatch and a
potential clash with “The Eight”. King Azoun promised to consider
the request. Baldric also took the opportunity to inform the king about
the vampire threat to Espar and ask if some Purple Dragons could be sent
to protect the populace. Our audience over and thoughts of an early departure
in our heads we were about to leave the audience chamber when King Azoun
called Captain Stringfellow back. The rest of us waited outside for ten
minutes or so until Bazil was finally dismissed. Apparently Azoun had
begun, after Vangerdahast had cast a spell allowing the king to see the
halfling, by demanding an explanation as to why a captain in his army
was invisible. On learning about the ring he had, as Mrs. Stringfellow
had that morning, suggested amputation as a means of solving the problem.
Luckily for Bazil Vangerdahast pointed out that it was probably not that
easy to thwart a god and even if it were no good would come of it. Azoun
went on to suggest that Bazil, invisibility aside, might not have been
acting in a manner befitting a Sword Captain of the Purple Dragons. After
sternly reminding Bazil of his responsibility to maintain the kingdom
and the king’ s good name and to act with honour in all things he
sent the halfling on his way.
As we headed back to the courts Faergil was able to strike a deal with
Vangerdahast, trading the salamander spears for an expensive spell component,
a chest built of the most valuable (though like his robes it would be
a while before it would be available).
The next morning we made ready to depart. Baldric saw to the last of our injuries. I felt it was my duty to bring the news I had to the Druids of The King’s Forest, and perhaps petition them for aid to do this I would have to briefly split from The Company and meet up with them again on the road to Arabel. Before I left however I went with the others to meet our escort. For those of a martial bent they were a stirring sight. Baynar’s personal guard consisted of twenty light cavalrymen in ring-mail and ten knights clad in field plate riding atop mighty warhorses. All were wearing the silver and black emblem of the Truesilver House and the knights carried lances from which flew his family pendent, snapping in the strong northerly wind. A man Baynar introduced as Sword Captain Peramilus led the thirty strong guards. It seemed clear that there was a strong bond between the two warriors.
A Company of Purple Dragons turned out to consist of one hundred warriors.
Unfortunately for us it was one hundred foot soldiers. It was Bazil who
pointed out what we all felt, we simply didn’t have time crawl along
at their pace if we wanted to get to the Darkwatch in time. As Baynar
and Bazil begun to hammer out a compromise Faergil suggested a radical
new plan. If Baldric once again used ‘Easy March’ on our horse
The Company could get to first Espar and then Tilveton in the time it
took the Purple Dragons, escorted by Baynar’s knights to get from
Suzail to Tilverton.
Though I couldn’t help but think that it might be a costly and time
consuming detour that we could ill afford it looked like Baldric’s
prayers would be answered and we were going to Espar…
Chapter 5
DM's Notes
I used the following references:
Volos Guide to Cormyr - Info on Cormyr and Suzail
Cormyr Sourcebook - Info on The Truesilver Family, The Purple Dragons
and Suzail.
After last week I wanted to remind the PCs that Suzail is a safe place and a chance to rest, if only for a day. It also proved an opportunity to meet up with old contacts, and of course the irrescrasible Millicent Stringfellow, mother to Bazil. She was not happy with her son's current state of invisibility and ordered that he stay with her. Of course, it took quite a lot of convincing (and the use of Evaethathil!) to convince her otherwise.
Pelinae was an original member of a band led by Baldric during the Wolf Lord War (see The Tale for more information) Baldric has a Temple to Tymora being built in Espar - his home, and a number of people from the Temple in Arabel have followed him there (see book 2, chapter 4)
I winged most of the evening as it was all roleplaying (I dont recall rolling more than one dice all night) and only had a few notes on what was happening around Cormyr, and beyond.