Last session, the heroes had just entered the strange and mysterious keep at Caer-Dineval hoping to find shelter there. However, they would soon find that it was not a place of shelter for them, but instead a shelter for many mysteries and secrets.
Upon being invited into the Caer, they were instructed by Huarwar and Fel, the gatewardens who had on their face continuous smiles, to ascend into the Caer and await the summons of the mistress. Continuing regardless of their strange visage, they did just that. They needed a place to rest, after all. Upon entering they found it even stranger, as a young tiefling boy scuttled off away from their presence when they first entered the room. Furthermore, the whole Caer seemed to be... on edge, tense, perhaps was another word.
Regardless, they were quickly guided to their room. Once there, however, they decided it might be prudent to engage in a quick search of the Caer, after all, nearly the entire party was distrustful of their hosts. Upon entering one of the rooms across from them, they uncovered a rather strange sight: an old shield dwarf merely staring off into the distance blankly.
She did not appear to respond when the players entered her room, only to instead spout off several cryptic phrases. She informed them that: "For all the darkness we wield, we are not the slayers of Icewind Dale, but it's liberators. Look south. Like a tumor, Xardorok's fortress hangs on the Spine of the World. He is the threat you must vanquish, for he forges doom." However, when asked, she would not elaborate further. Instead she continued: "Within his frigid fortress beats a ferocious heart—a forge of fury capable of untold devastation." At this point she commanded the heroes to: "Search Xardorok's fortress to answer the mysteries that yet haunt the dale." Finally, she concluded with a single statement: "The fortress lies far but his agents—the sons of Xardorok, are close at hand." Then she simply stared at the wall, expressionless as before.
It did not take long for the heroes to recognize that she had, in fact, expired. Toh-Toh noticed the amulet around Hethyl's neck and took it, feeling that she didn't need it anymore, and instead offered it up to Malaggar. Meanwhile, Thrax decided to investigate one of the other rooms on the other side of the Caer, finding it to contain a man dressed in elegant finery along with another Knight of the Black Sword with a cheery smile on his face. After asking what was going on, the knight informed them cheerily that "You are not allowed to be here. Please leave!" Thrax tried to say that the mistress wanted the prisoner, but the knight did not believe him one bit, instead challenging him, after all, they he was not a prisoner, asking if they even knew his name (among other things). Foiled, he left and returned to their room.
After that experience, though, Huarwar and Fel arrived at their room to inform them that the mistress was waiting for them in the northwest tower, all with smiles on their faces. Wanting to figure out who exactly this "mistress" was. When they entered, they found the watchtower occupied by several other Knights of the Black Sword along with an albino tiefling wielding a staff of ice. She introduced herself as Avarice, although Malaggar seemed to know her as Vicarae. A discussion ensued where she informed the heroes that she was here for the betterment of the Ten Towns; the previous speaker of Caer-Dineval (the man Thrax found in the upper level) was someone who despised unity and believed solely in unilateral action. However, her new instruction, under the tutelage of "the master," Avarice proposed a new organization of the Ten Towns, one where everyone worked together. That's what the adventurers were after, no? Even willing to illegally interfere in the democratic process to do so. What was the difference between the two? If anything, Avarice was of a higher moral standing than these adventurers.
Avarice, another member of the Arcane Brotherhood and Leader of the Knights of the Black Sword
Thrax had had enough, and departed from the Caer, willing, given his goliath resilience to the cold, to await out the night on the floor of the Uphill Climb. Malaggar and Toh-Toh returned to their quarters. Gildas arrived as well, but he seemed to eagerly be looking over several designs that had been given to him by Avarice. Shimo, however, asked Avarice if she could help him, and the two of them descended into the bottom of the Caer.
Time passed and inevitably Shimo returned, only saying that he had been "fixed." However, he missed Thrax, and thus left in order to meet back up with him. Thrax, for his part, had been trying to rouse the townsfolk in order to save the speaker, but it seemed like the majority of people either didn't believe him or (for most of them) just didn't care. The general animosity they felt towards him was quite evident.
Night passed once more, and with dawn the heroes considered their excursion over, departing from Caer-Dineval. Although Avarice did offer lodgings whenever they happened to be near the Caer.
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