Having barely escaped from the abolethic cyst with their lives, The Knights of Goldenhawk tower took a short rest and bandaged their wounds. Dukar Elisia did what she could to help the freed citizens shake off the poisonous ichor of the aboleth and she summoned 5 dolphins to help carry everyone home. The dukar had a terrible vision of her temple – the seat of Deep Sashelas‘s power under attack. The Kuo Toans and their genasi allies had fought their way past the temple’s defenders and were corrupting the holy shrine with the black power of their goddess Blibdoolpoolp.

The Dukar was extremely alramed. Not only becuase her temple was under attack but becuase the shrine of Deep Shashlelas that was being couurpted was tied closely to the Myth Nantar Mythal. If the corruption were complete, it could possibly bring down the mythal. Quill immediately assured the Dukar that they would see to the altars restoration. The Dukar bid one of her dolphin friends to lead the Knights of Goldenhawk Tower to the Deep Sashelas temple. Sir Praxis mounted Tyberious and everyone else got into Baba Yaga’s Mortar and Pestle and followed the dolphin to the temple.

There they found many bodies of the temple’s defenders floating in the water at the bottom of the sea. The magnificent dolphin statue -the altar of Deep Sahselas had a visible taint about it. A Kuo Toan Shaman and Genasi sorceress were pouring the black magic of Blidoploop into the holy relic and corrupting it. Between the party and the statue stood many enemy defenders. Kuo Toans, Genasi, and a huge water elemental.

Trapped in magical fields on top of pillars were some priests and priestess of Deep Seashelas, clearly being sacrificed slowly in some sort of horrific ceremony to Blibdoolpoolp.

The party fought their way closer to the altar when Quill noticed that the taint could be cleansed with skillful use of arcana and religious knowledge if one was close enough to the altar. Quagmire invisibly got close enough as the rest of the party engaged the temple raiders. With each cleansing attempt his skill use was able to remove some corruption or create a terrible feedback of negative energy that hurt him if he failed.

With Shan Val being dominated by The Eldest and blasting away at his fellow party members, things went from bad to worse. The Chuul Juggernaut had everyone pinned down in the tunnels outside the main room. The grells were floating into range and blasting off lightning storms or floating in and trying to entangle party members in their deadly tentacles. Shan Val was unable to shake off the domination when Dorian fell pray to it as well. Dorian viscously mocked Praxis Morgrave and knocked him down to the ground – unconscious and bleeding to death. The grells blindsight prevented them from being fooled by Quagmire’s invisibility. The grell strangler wrapped its nasty tentacles around Quagmire, knocking him unconscious. The grell then dragged him away from his friends deeper into the large open area and the writhing tentacles of The Eldest.

So Praxis was down, Shan Val and Dorian were dominated, and Quagmire was being hauled away as a snack for The Eldest. Quill teleported into action using his thrown sight to see around the corner. He could see the grell dragging something so he teleported there and engaged the grell, cutting Quagmire free. Dorian finally saved against the domination, healed Shan Val giving him another save and bringing Praxis back up.

Praxis stood up and cut down the Chuul Juggernaut. The entire party moved into the larger room to engage the grells and The Eldest. Turning the tide of the battle they closed with the grells and eventually wore them down. The Eldest managed to use its mental powers to slide Quill into range of its tentacles where he proceeded to get throttled.

Meanwhile Dukar Elisia freed the rest of the Myth Nantar citizens and destroyed the hallucinatory mushrooms with a fire spell. There were some additional dominations and lots of damage dished out, but with the full might of the party focused on The Eldest, they whittled away at his 500 HP and finally laid him low. As his tentacles quivered and then finally went still, the entire complex started to fall apart as if it were being sucked inside itself. Water gushed in, ceilings collapsed. Each party member moved at top speed to the exit, helping Dukar Elisia get the freed Myth Nantar citizens out. It was close but everyone made it out alive. The entire cyst shrunk until it was but a speck and then winked out of existence. So was the passing of the oldest aboleth to ever dwell in Faerun – The Eldest.

After twice succumbing to the haunting music and being compelled to eat the poisonous mushrooms, Sir Praxis had had enough. He drew forth Inferno, his flame tongue longsword, and uttered a command word. Flames leaped from the enchanted blade engulfing the mushrooms and burning them to blackened ashes. The dance like music emitted from the mushrooms faded away to a sad tune before fading away to silence. Black smoke filled the passageway and the lungs of some of the Knights of Goldenhawk Tower, but they were able to press on.

Further ahead they found that the interior of the aboleth cyst was like a nightmarish torture chamber. Screams of terror came from a pit filled with mucus and bodies. Pillars of jelly with humanoid shapes trapped within were scattered around according to some alien logic. Sea elf women and men as well as merfolk were trapped inside the hideous gelatinous matrix. Among them Quill spied an unconscious Dukar Elisia.

Guarding the area was a lone enslaved citizen – a sea elf horribly changed by some terrible aberrant processing by Xxiphu and the Abolethic Sovereignty. Quagmire dispatched the lone guardian with a well placed spell only to have another similar creature lurking around the corner run forward to investigate his companion and raise an alarm. A giant crab like Chuul scuttled out of the shadows to also attack. The enemies were put down in short order and the slime prisons were inspected more closely. Quill and Shan Val agreed that the mucous was keeping the prisoners in an unconscious state and slowly changing them over time into aberrant creatures like the enslaved citizens they had just battled. They decided that since the process took many hours to complete, they could risk a short rest. It seemed the rest of the complex was not alerted to their presence yet.

After completing the short rest, Quill used a spell to reach phantom arms into the mucous and pull out Dukar Elisia while keeping the nasty substance off of his own body. Dorian saw to the Dukar quickly using magic to clean her body of the foul slime and neutralizing the poison in her system. She jolted awake and was brought up to speed with what had happened.

The Dukar quickly assessed the situation and urged Dorian and his compatriots to press on while she pulled the other citizens of Myth Nantar free. She used her own holy magics granted by Deep Sashelas to protect herself from the foul mucous and began pulling the trapped prisoners out with her bare arms.

The party quickly moved forward to attack the remaining guardians of the ruins of Xxiphu and the Abolethic Sovereignty. They began to battle more chuuls including a massive chuul juggernaut. Hideous floating brains with sharp beaks and dangling tentacles hovered out of the shadows to attack. These grells proved deadly as they created zones of arcing lightning and psychic attacks. And much to everyone’s dismay at the far corner of the cave apparently awakened was the head of the abolethic sovereignty itself – The Eldest. It had survived the catastrophic fall of the Xxiphu obelisk out of the sky. Its icy encasement had cracked and melted, awakening The Eldest to wreak havoc on those responsible for the destruction of the seat of its power. Despite being hidden well back and out of sight from The Eldest, Shan Val felt it enter his mind ripping and tearing at his insanity and wresting control of his body from him. The dominated Shan Val waits for his turn to strike at his allies and the battle for the cyst rages on…

With the Skykraken and its horde of Abolethic Sovereignty creatures defeated, Dorian channeled the power of the Mythal through him to heal all the wounds that the mighty brass dragon Khuralosothantar “The Protector” had sustained during the battle. Dorian then completed the ritual of awakening to wake the mighty dragon from its slumber. Before the dragon awoke Quagmire stole a ritual scroll from the Dragon’s Horde escaping detection from anyone. He then thought better of the idea and immediately returned the magic item to the huge pile of treasure with none the wiser. The huge and ancient dragon did indeed awaken and Dorian began to parlay with him. He beseeched the dragon to aid in the battle for the City of Destinies. It was a difficult negotiation but Dorian’s skill with diplomacy and fluency in the Draconic Tongue won the day.

The Protector flew off to join the battle and The Knights of Goldenhawk Tower left the kobolds behind to guard the huge treasure horde. On their way back to speak with Aravae Daudil – The Coronal, they came across Dukar Elisia in the Dukar Quarter of Myth Nantar. They had met her once before when she came to their aid by using the power of the Mythal to restore The Cormyrean Delegation to life after their brains were put back in their proper bodies.

The Dukar Peacekeeper was surrounded by pleading citizens of Myth Nantar. They are clamoring for her assistance for their brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters. From what little you can discern through the babble of voices, it seems that citizens have been disappearing off the streets even as the battle rages at the edges of the city.

“Please, please, good people,” says the exasperated Dukar Elisia. “I understand that you are all worried, and I promise you that the Coronal is concerned for the safety of all her people during these dangerous times. But you must understand, we cannot spare our fighting forces in the middle of a battle for our very survival! As soon as there is a lull in the fighting, I will do everything in my power to see that someone is sent to check up on your loved ones. But until then, I must ask that you please return to your homes and barricade the doors and windows. This is for your own safety!”
“Our homes aren’t any safer than the streets!” shouts an angry sea elf. “People are being dragged from their beds! You have to do something about this, and you have to do it NOW!”
The Peacekeeper looks hopefully to The Knights of Goldenhawk Tower as the mood of the crowd grows ever more dangerous. “Perhaps… perhaps there is a way to get help sooner?”

Dorian immediately swam over and replied, “Yes or course my good Dukar. We will certainly lend our aid. What seems to be the problem?” Shan Val used his streetwise skill to canvas the neighborhood gathering information about the disappearing sea elf citizens. They found a commonality amongst most of the stories that indicated Bleat Street adjacent to the kelp forests was where most of the disappearances were occurring. Most often single individual sea elves were taken when they were alone. From the eyewitness descriptions Shan Val was sure that the creatures were Chuul – crab like sea creatures with tentacles that were servitors of Xxiphu and the Abolethic Sovereignty.

The Knights of Goldenhawk Tower hatched a plan to offer up some bait and see if they could see an abduction happen and follow the chuul and their captors to wherever they were taking the myth nantar folk. Dukar Elisia volunteered to be the bait and try to lure the Chuul into taking her. The plan worked perfectly. With the party hiding invisibly at the edge of the kelp forest, Dukar Elisia walked along Bleat Street by herself. After no more than 20 minutes or so, a chuul emerged from the kelp forest and attacked her – grabbing her with a large claw and injecting her with some poisonous venom. Quagmire had used two rituals beforehand. One to communicate telepathically between Elisia and the party and another to enable him to monitor the health of The Dukar. He instantly knew that Elisia had fallen unconscious but was still alive.

Using Quagmire’s Crystal Ball, Shan Val kept a fix on the creature and the unconscious sea elf. The party was able to use it to track them from a distance as they made their way through the kelp forest to a strange location.

They saw before them the remains of a large section of the Xxiphu Obelisk that they had blasted out of the sky. It no rested in ruins on the sea floor hidden amongst the kelp forests. But the black obsidian of the obelisk was unmistakable. The Chuul swam up to the ruins with Dukar Elisia in tow. A large sphincter opened and the chuul entered.

The party followed quickly and managed to get in before the sphincter shut finding dry air within. But as the sphincter closed it caught Shan Val crushing him badly before he teleported through. The party began to explore the ruins of Xxiphu dealing with thrashing tentacles, pits, aberrant sea elf thralls, and deadly traps.

They found a strange section of hallway with eerie mushrooms growing in it and dancing illusory humanoid creatures. An otherworldly tune hung in the air that when heard compelled the listener forward towards the mushrooms with a desire to eat them. Quill was first to fall prey to the tune and moved in to eat a mushroom. He was overcome with poison and fell unconscious. Quagmire ran forward and dragged the unconscious Quill past the mushrooms and further down the hall right into a huge bear trap which crushed both Quill and Quagmire between its metal jaws. It was a challenge to resist the lure of the music and the mushrooms…

Exploring the entrance to the lair of the Ancient Brass Dragon Khuralosothantar “The Protector” revealed a group of 3 kobolds with shiny metallic scales peering at the party from behind makeshift barricades made of the bones of centuries of dragon-snacks. Their leader, a female kobold who has wings sprouting from her back, holds up a clawed hand in warning. She grins at you with a mouth full of broken teeth.
“You no look like devil-fish-men, so Three-Teeth not tell Wyrmguard to attack. But great dragon lord say no visitors, and that mean no visitors. You turn around, go home. Maybe come back hundred years or so, if you lucky great dragon lord talk to you then.”

Dorian stepped forward and parlayed with the kobolds in the Draconic tongue. He spoke of the great war which had begun and was raging all around them. He described the terrible plight of Myth Nantar being attacked from all sides. The kobold leader replied, ""Okay, okay, Three-Teeth understand. Situation in Myth Nantar bad, very bad. Great dragon lord always friendly to swimmy-elfs. And he love eating devil-fish, devil-rays, even devil-devils. Mmmmmm so tasty! But great dragon lord sleeping. Been sleeping long time. Actually Three-Teeth never seen great dragon lord awake. But Four-Teeth tell Three-Teeth, just like Five- Teeth tell Four-Teeth. Great dragon lord be very angry if we wake him up!"

The kobolds were convinced with the diplomacy to let the group enter and they led them to the huge cave filled with treasure and upon it the mighty wyrm. A massive pile of gold, gems, and metal objects fills the center of this vast cave. Lying atop this glittering horde is a gargantuan dragon with scales of pure brass. Thunderous, rumbling echoes shake the very ground beneath your feet. It takes a moment to realize that this is the sound of a dragon snoring.

Dorian took out his harp and began to sing, the kobolds were enthralled and really enjoyed it but the dragon did not stir. He raised the volume higher and higher but to no avail. Finally after talking to the kobolds again the small humanoids offered a ritual scroll which has the power to wake the dragon. So the party got into position close to the great beast and began the 30 minute long ritual.

8 minutes into the ritual, there was a huge explosion as the far wall of the cave came crashing down. A hideous screech heralds the arrival of a huge, flying creature with squid-like eyes, a vicious beak, and massive, thirty-foot-long tentacles. The stories of Xxiphu, seat of the Abolethic Sovereignty, speak of such aberrations as the guardians of the writhing obelisk. The kraken is accompanied by a number of creatures that look like jellyfish, but they float on air instead of in the water. It looks like these aberrations have come to remove any possibility that the dragon will join the fight on behalf of Myth Nantar.

In addition to the flying Kraken, a floating mantle, bluesting, and some 40 odd polyps were fought before the battle was won. The creatures burst into the room. The Kraken and the large bluesting and mantle focused on the party members while the polyps swarmed the sleeping dragon, poisoning him with wound after wound. Dorian lept into the fray and sent The Kraken on a Timeless Trek to Mithrendain. Quagmire did a great job with area of effect spells at taking out the minion polyps. Praxis flew around the room on Tyberious and Shan Val and Dorian flew in the Mortar and Pestle. All the enemies were flying in the room, so it was a challenging fight.

The Blue Sting fell first but it exploded on its death and gave rise to more polyps. More Polyps also streamed through the cave opening as reinforcements. The Dragon was bloodied by all the attacks but Dorian managed to heal it somewhat with his magic. When the Kraken returned from Mithrendain, Quill managed to stun it and Dorian managed to Daze it. It was actually locked down pretty well. The kobolds who had run off leaving the large cave in apparent terror, actually surprised everyone by returning with a huge ballista from the adjacent cave and fired it at the Kraken tearing a gaping hole in the side of the creature. Quill then managed to execute a perfect 4 Corners attack on the beast doing a lot of damage by adding the extra damage from the Goldenhawk Banner and the power of Torm from a spell Praxis had cast.

Shan Val was able to teleport about the battlefield taking out the Polyp minions with his cutting teleportation wake and exploding form. Quagmire also cast some blasting spells to clean them up. Praxis charged and took out the Mantle and finally with one last blast of a magic missile, Quagmire laid the Kraken low as it came crashing down into the pile of gold.

The kobolds cheered in victory and the Knights of Goldenhawk Tower looked at the severely wounded and bloodied brass dragon – still asleep – and their own beat up bodies and wondered what to do next…

The battle in the forgotten library raged on. The noble was still locked down by Quagmire’s Bigby’s Icy Hand spell and the party was doing well squishing the tentacled Tsochar as they emerged from the bodies of the fallen Cormyreans. Twice one of the small parasitic tentacled Tsochar managed to wrap around the head of Praxis much to his consternation but luckily Shan Val was able to use his curse to kill the thing before it could burrow into the head of Praxis. The parasite would have had full control of Praxis at that point. But luckily that did not come to pass.

Once the battle was won and all enemies were down, Quagmire snatched up the book that Phariel Alsevir had tucked away into his cloak. Quagmire found that it was a book of great power containing a ritual that was too powerful for him to make sense of. The party then began to try and figure out how to get the brains back into the correct bodies. Using his insight, Praxis knelt down and tried to discern which brain was which. Everyone helped by reviewing the information gleaned from the Cormyrean Noble’s journal found at his villa. Praxis was able to suss out some personality traits by listening each brain’s babbling from inside the broken armored jar. Then like a puzzle, the party had to sift through the personality traits to match up the correct ones.

Quagmire then used his skill with arcana and religion (bolstered by Dorian’s bard song) to remove each brain and put it back into the the correct skull. Dorian also had Quagmire drink a potion of luck which was key to the success because Phil rolled a 1 on one of the checks. Luckily the potion allowed him to re-roll that and he got 8 sets of success.

Sauriel Silverkelp by this time had returned and brought help in the form of Dukar Elisia. The powerful priestess of Deep Sashelas could harness the power of the Myth Nantar Mythal to raise the Cormyrean delegation from the dead. However, the brains had to be in the correct bodies for it to work. Luckily the party chose wisely and matched the personalities perfectly.

Sauriel and Dukar Elisia then led the party and the Cormyreans back to Aravae Daudil, the Coronal. During the journey to the Coronal’s keep, Dukar Elisia spoke often and rather intently with Dorian. It was quite clear that she felt some sort of connection with him.

Using her magic, The Coronal put the Cormyrean noble in contact with their naval forces and got them to lend their aid to the battle for Myth Nantar. Now with the full force of the Cormyrean Navy at their side, the city of destinies is further bolstered against the onslaught of forces arrayed against them. In addition she examined the book that Quagmire recovered from the library. The real Phariel Alsevir had no idea what the book was, but the Coronal identified it as a ritual of high magic that had the power to turn the tide of the war. If it had fallen into the hands of The Eldest or Dagon, it would have a terrible blow to the defenders of Myth Nantar. The Coronal kept the book and hoped to use it against those enemies. She promised to return the book to you after the war.

The Coronal also asked the party to go on another mission…

“Although we are beset on all sides, I believe Myth Nantar may have allies who have not yet realized our plight. I would ask you to find and return with one such, if you are willing.”

Khuralosothantar, the brass dragon was once a great friend to our city. There was a time when he was known simply as ‘The Protector’ for his many brave and glorious deeds on behalf of the goodly races of Seros. Alas, he has not been seen or heard from in several hundred years, but I have an ancient map showing the location of his lair. It is in a cave on the side of Mount Halaath. Before the Spellplague lowered the Sea of Fallen Stars, the entrance to that cave was underwater, as indeed was the entire mountain; now it is exposed to the air and the cave should be dry. Of course, such matters are trivial to a dragon, but I thought you might want to know.

“I am certain that if Khuralos knew of our plight, he would come to the defense of Myth Nantar. All of the legends and stories of him tell of his generous heart and his great hatred of evil. We can only hope that he still lives. Please, go to the cave and see if you can find the dragon or a way to contact him. Even if the dragon himself is gone, I am sure that he would not object to your taking any items from his hoard that you believe would help us win this battle.

If ever Myth Nantar had need of The Protector, now is the time!"

Sauriel Silverkelp used the map to lead the party to the entrance of the dragon’s lair…

Highly suspicious of the Cormyreans but cautious, the party opted to Parlay. After a few quick ritual spells to bolster their insight and perception, they entered the main library. Shan Val acted a bit drunk and asked for some help in finding a particular book he was looking for. Dorian noted that all of the Corymreans appeared to be dressed properly as per their station. Quill noticed no blood on their bodies or clothes. Phariel Alsevir asked what they were doing in his library and demanded that they leave immediately. As Shan Val tried to walk forward one of the purple dragon knights stepped in front of him with a hand on his sword and shook his head, blocking his path. During the commotion Quagmire’s enhanced perception noticed Phariel looking down in surprise at one of the books and surreptitiously tucking it under his cloak. He then quickly said, “Enough of this. It would be a shame for any of this to descend into senseless violence. We are leaving, you are welcome to stay here and look through the books if you desire.”

“Indeed,” said Shan Val, “you can have your violence, I will just meander over this way.” Shan Val then moved away from the front line just before the war mage dropped a spell of Unhinging Visions at Dorian. At that point all hell broke loose as a fight ensued. The Knights of Goldenhawk Tower pulled their hits, trying to knock down and subdue while the Cormyreans were clearly striking to kill.

The Knights charged into the fray, keeping the party away from the noble and the war mage who were in the back of the room. After the first round of combat, the noble Phariel Alsevir pulled out a small metal cube from his pocket and hurled it onto the ground. To everyone’s terror, it expanded and grew into a hideous construct of metal and glass – an armored brain in a jar. Four pulsing brains sloshing around inside a vat of liquid and encased in heavy metal armor floated forward to attack. An eruption of negative energy from the brain in a jar caused Praxis to lose a healing surge.

The battle continued with Phariel unleashing an insanity vortex which caused Shan Val and Dorian to both attack and severely injure Praxis. Praxis went down shortly thereafter and failed one death saving throw before Dorian was able to get him upright once more. Quill used a spell to teleport the brain in a jar directly adjacent to him and then unleashed a wicked 4 corners attack. He hit on every attack and critically on one of them. Having already taken a licking from Shan Val and Quagmire, the jar was laid low.

As the horrifying construct clatters to the ground, the smell of formaldehyde filled the room. Through cracks in the glass Quill could see preserving fluid leaking slowly out of the vessel. Four moist brains were crammed inside. A cacophony of voices erupted in Quill’s head, gibbering in terror. But he did note they sounded human.

Quill, having the grim realization that the party was fighting 4 Cormyreans and that the brains in the jar looked human, chose not to destroy the brains but left them lying unconscious in the cracked jar.

Quagmire did an excellent job staying invisible and out of harms way and managed to catch Phariel, the noble, in a Bigby’s Icy Grasp Spell. Then he surrounded him in a swirling zone of light and acid. Shan Val surrounded him with a hopping mad swarm of brownies. All of the zones did an excellent job of damaging the noble Phariel and one of the purple dragon knights who was also caught in the zone and unable to escape.

Eventually the purple dragon knight went down. And despite only inflicting subdual damage against him, something horrible happened…

As the Cormyrean fell to the ground, a sickening sound of tearing flesh issued from the back of his head. With a spray of blood and bone, a small, thin, worm-like creature burrowed its way out of the victim’s skull and plopped down onto the ground with a wet squish. Bits of brain matter dripped from the worm’s teeth and tentacles. The interior of the victim’s skull is hollowed out like a breakfast melon. The now-lifeless body, bereft of its animating parasite, collapsed like a marionette with the strings cut.

As the worm like creature emerged it was caught up in Quagmire’s acid and stabbed by Shan Val’s rampaging brownies. The minion creature was destroyed but the brainless corpse of the Cormyrean Purple Dragon Knight was left behind.

The battle of Sharksbane Wall raged on with the fate of Myth Nantar in the balance. The Knights of Goldenhawk Tower continued to battle the Sahuagin and their reinforcements trying to push them back through the breach in the wall of coral. At long last the Fleshtearer Shark, raised from a pup by The Sahugain Baron, made its save and forced Quagmire out of its body and regained control over itself. Unfortunately both Quagmire and Shan Val used their magic to damage the shark and force it to bite and tear at its master the Baron continually. At last the creature had enough and swam like a demon around Praxis and Quill and dove straight for its chief tormentor Quagmire. Just before the huge rows of teeth clamped down on Quagmire’s tender flesh, Shan Val used his Corellon’s Boon to cast a Dimensional Vortex, teleporting the shark away from Quagmire and right in line with The Baron, whom he tore into yet again.

Praxis was holding the line but taking incredible punishment from the Baron’s unrelenting trident and claw attacks. He almost went down but luckily Dorian used some healing magic just in time. Likewise Quill too felt the brunt of The Baron’s attacks when the onslaught turned to him churning blood into the water. Quill fell before the attacks and his body floated unconsciously in the water bleeding profusely. Dorian again saved the day, healing Quill and bringing him back into the fight.

Finally the Baron and the shark were defeated. The sahuagin now leaderless, lost their direction and leadership and in their blood frenzy were confused and chaotic. They were beaten back beyond the wall. With the battlefield under their control, the Knights moved in to secure the breach allowing the sea elves time to heal the damaged coral. Denari the sea elf druid used her magic to heal the coral and restore the Sharksbane Wall.

Aravae Daudil, the coronal, contacted the party through message magics and complimented them on their victory. She then asked them to turn their attention to a sea elf noble who needed some help. The Coronoal’s handmaiden, Sauriel Silverkelp led the party to the estate of Delgaunt, a sea elf noble. The noble asked them to investigate the Cormyrean Trade Delegation. The messengers Delgaunt had sent to the Cormyreans have not returned and he grows worried. Cormyr could be a valuable ally in the war for Myth Nantar and the sea elves need their help.

Sauriel led the party to the trade district and to the manor house in which the Cormyreans were staying. After searching the estate, they found no one home but did find some nasty clues. Blood and broken furniture indicating a fight, bloody tracks leading to particular areas, dead sea elf bodies hidden away beneath a trap door,and no sign of the humans.

The party found a journal belonging to Phariel, the Corymrean Noble. It had some interesting clues:

A Cormyrean Noble’s Journal

You have discovered the personal journal of Phariel Alsevir, a young nobleman of Suzail. Phariel was sent to open trade negotiations with Myth Nantar on behalf of the Forest Kingdom, bringing with him two Purple Dragon Knights, Agror and Rathien, and a War Mage, Duwyn.

Phariel is a meticulous chronicler, detailing each day what he and his companions ate, where they went, who they spoke to, and other details. You get the sense from reading his thoughts that Phariel is both curious and quite perceptive.

Phariel has a great deal to say about his companions as well. Of the two Knights, Agror is consistently described with words like “courageous” and “the bravest man I ever met.” Rathien, on the other hand, is described as “friendly and talkative.” Reading through their exploits, Agros seems like the one who usually gets into trouble, while Rathien seems to favor diplomacy, only resorting to the sword when necessary.

As for the War Wizard, Phariel is reticent in his descriptions of her. There is a sense that perhaps the two of them were romantically involved at one point, but the relationship may be over. Phariel perhaps feels some guilt over this; although details are scarce, he regularly mentions that Duwyn is “generous” and “forgiving.”

Phariel’s diary also reveals that he had a personal reason for coming to Myth Nantar. He believes that he is a descendant of an ancient Royal Mage of Cormyr named Jorunhast who was exiled from his homeland and eventually settled in Myth Nantar. Though Jorunhast’s name was cleared, he chose not to return to Cormyr and instead lived out the rest of his days in the City of Destinies, even serving on the Nantarn Council.

According to Phariel’s research, Jorunhast had a personal research library and alchemical lab elsewhere in the city. Perhaps you are not the first to read this journal…

Using dead man’s site ritual, the party discovered that the sea elf guards left by Delgaunt and the the couriers sent by him had been killed by the Cormyreans. It also showed images of the Cormyreans fighting each other. A trail of slime leading from the privy in the guardrobe also created some suspicions. Quagmire examined it and was convinced it was of aberrant nature. Another ritual allowed the party to ask questions of the privy room itself. They found that a small tentacled creature had entered through the toilet, and left out the door to the room. Along with the journal the party found an enchanted bridle that Quagmire swiped from the manorhouse and later gave to Praxis.

Having exhausted their search of the manorhouse, the party followed their only concrete lead to a next step by asking Sauriel Silverkelp if she knew of the Jorunhust library that was referenced in the journal. She confirmed that she did and took the party there. Quill told her then to report back to The Noble Delgaunt and explain what they had found at the manorhouse and that there might be trouble at the library. She left and the party entered.

By having Sulee fly up through the library and investigate with stealth, they found the Cormyreans rifling through books, scanning them and casting them aside. They were essentially trashing the library clearly looking for something…

As The Goldenhawk Skyship sails above the Waves of The Sea of Fallen Stars, everyone aboard seems to be in excellent spirits after the daring assault on Xxiphu and the rescue of all the prisoners. However, Captain Aslerion seems as if something is weighing heavily on his mind. He calls The Knights of Goldenhawk Tower to a meeting in his private quarters. He bids everyone take a seat at the table in his state room and then he gets right to the point. “My LadyAravae Daudil, Coronal of Myth Nantar, has requested my return to The City of Destinies immediately. There is grave news. Myth Nantar, the capital city of the sea elf people, is under attack. An unholy alliance between the Sahugain, Abolethic Sovereignty, and the Cult of Dagon is attacking the city. I knew there would be reprisals for our attack of Xxiphuu, but I did not think it would come so fast and with such incredible force. War has broken out and we are desperately needed. to return home. The Coronal has invoked the terms of the treaty that you brokered between The Coronal and his holiness The Archbishop of Torm in Westgate, Sir Praxis. She requests you honor the treaty and accompany me to the city. Although she has no legal framework upon which to draw, she also requests that the rest of The Knights of Goldenhawk Tower accompany you and join us in Myth Nantar. The city is in dire peril. Will you agree to come with us? I am in contact with my vessel and can have it surface nearby. We can then leave The Goldenhawk for my ship and travel directly to Myth Nantar. Your crew can sail The Goldenhawk on to Westgate, bring the prisoners to safety, and warn The Archbishop and other Westgate community leaders to prepare for war. What say you?”

“This is dire news indeed, Aslerion,” Praxis responds. “As before, I cannot bind or speak for the Knights but as a Tormtar I will honor this request in your people’s time of need.”

Turning to the others Praxis smiling says, “shall we, brothers, once more into fray? If you cannot accompany me, I understand and the Briar Rose can give you safe passage to Westgate but I must defend Myth Nantar.”

Each in turn agreed to join the fight for Myth Nantar. Shortly after arriving in the sea elf city, the party met with the Coronal and after being attuned to the Mythal as defenders of the city, were immediately dispatched to a key section of Sharksbane Wall where the Sahuagin had managed to breach the wall. There they found the Nantari forces in disarray and retreat. After a quick discussion with the unit commander, the party tried to push the Sahuagin back and kill their leaders in order to give the sea elf druid time use her magic to heal the coral wall.

Dorian attempted to use a fire based spell but quickly realized fire spells were useless underwater. Quagmire tried an area of effect spell that left a zone of acid eating away at those caught within it. He took out a few of the sahuagin minions to thin the ranks out a bit. Praxis charged forward into the fray paying no head to the acid that ate away at his skin. Now in the breach of the Sharksbane wall, Praxis saw a huge Baron leading a large host of Sahuagin including a priestess and a fleshtearer shark that the baron had raised from a pup to its enormous current size.

The sahuagin surged forward surrounding Praxis and attacking him with tridents and claws. The fleshtearer shark swam quickly throug hthe breach to charge into Praxis grabbing hold of him in his mighty jaws and ripping and tearing. Quagmire cast a spell that filled the blasted tunnel in the coral with ice, killing many Sahuagin and slowing all of them down as they tried to get through. He then cast a new spell which allowed him to turn into a ghost of sorts and move right into the shark’s body, dominating him. Much to the Sahuagin’s dismay. The Shark began biting and tearing through their ranks. Quill and Praxis were holding the line with Shan Val blasting volley after volley into the Sahuagin. The priest was casting a spectral jaws spell that would bite at Praxis from afar. Finally the priest managed to burst out through the breach only to be snared by Quill and subjected to his 4 corners attack upon which he hit with all 4 attacks. The Sahuagin Priestess did not have much life left, when Shan Vall followed up with the killing eldritch blast. At this point the Sahuagin Baron had had enough. He burst through the ranks intending to charge past the defneders and into Shan Val. Quill stopped him in his tracks with a slowing attack. His fury not abated after his attack was spoiled, the Baron used an action point to thrust his huge trident at Quill and claw him twice. The claws missed but the trident scored a critical hit.

Just then Sahuagin reinforcements surged through the breech and into the fray. Praxis and Quill managed to thin their ranks but The Baron has been pounding on Praxis terribly for many hundreds of HP of damage.

As Quagmire worked furiously at the second control panel, Dorian tried to provide some cover for him but his attention was drawn the huge pulsating brain of The Eldest. Its psychic energy was too much for him to bear overcoming him with tremendous ongoing psychic damage. But Quagmire’s skills proved true. He was able to use his thievery, arcana, and insight to completely disable the second control panel sending Xxiphu lurching off kilter. Everyone had to make a saving throw or be knocked prone. Quill moved into position to try to disable the third control panel. However, now the Aboleth seemed to have figured out the party’s plan. All three remaining huge Aboleth and all the hatchlings surrounded Quill and unleashed everything they had to try and stop him. Quill’s defenses protected him but the Aboleth Overseer was able to get his mind past Quill’s guard and dominate him. He forced Quill to move away from the control panel and subjected him to multiple opportunity attacks.

The battle raged on with Quill shaking off the domination and moving into position to work the control panel and again getting surrounded by Aboleth and attacked by them all. All the while the rest of the party tried to get closer to help, blasting away at the remaining Aboleth. Quill was dominated for a second time to similar effect being forced to move away and provoke attacks against him.

Finally Shan Val and Dorian were able to finish off some of the huge Aboleth and Quagmire was able to invisibly slip into position. Dorian also managed to lure some of the Aboleth away and force them into attacking him with his incredible taunting and intimidation skills. One chance was all Quagmire needed. He manipulated the controls and caused a feedback loop destroying them.

As Xxiphu began to crumble around them, everyone ran, flew, and teleported towards the exit. Quill was the last to leave and the one remaining Aboleth Overseer was determined to prevent his escape. Three times he was able to attempt to dominate him but was unable to get past Quill’s defenses. Shan Val and Quagmire were injured as everyone ran hastily to the entrance that they had originally used to get into Xxiphu. There they found Captain Aslerion waiting for them. He urged them to jump through the portal he had created using Shalay Marel. The other end of the portal brought them to the deck of The Goldenhawk Skyship.

As the Skyship peeled away from The Flying Obelisk everyone saw it begin to lurch and list in the sky. Then suddenly it dropped out of the sky hurtling to the hungry waves below. The ancient Obelisk smashed into the water scattering rocks and debris everywhere in a maelstrom of a huge mushroom cloud like spout of water. As the remains of the broken city sunk beneath the waves, the mighty storm that had been raging slowly dissipated and the sun began to break through the clouds.

With the prisoners and both strike teams safely back on board the Goldenhawk Skyship and Xxiphu destroyed, everyone cheered and began to sail away when suddenly a soul piercing cry shattered the happiness and joy everyone felt. Everyone covered their ears to try and keep the madness out of their heads. Dorian gritted his teeth, his smile replaced by a a fierce visage of pure malice. ‘That was the scream of Dagon. It was burned into my memory in Ashenport. Dagon has returned…’