Session 54

The King and his allies were ready for a fight, but with most of the druids tense towards each other and not the King's entourage, the Shroud kept their cool.

Mardus & Wasyli started with asking questions and soon it became clear.  The druids council had ordered, by virtue of Emmerick fulfilling the prophesy, that all druids of their order were to stand down & back the King's reign.  And Brunhild, with great reluctance agreed.

But, the Shroud was still worried and that fear was confirmed with Quell pointed out a magical sensor on Brunhild.  The druid calmly explained her friends didn't trust the King & feared for her safety.  Yvainne was quick to retort that they would not talk to her until it was gone.  Brunhild seemed indifferent to that.  But the Druid leadership was quick to intercede & offered to dispel magic it and ended the effect.

The Shroud tensed waiting for an attack, but with none present they resumed questioning Brunhild.

She offered little new information.  Save two important details.  One being that the great worm silver dragon mother of the Princess was saying with her daughter.  And that the Princess was likely to prepare for war in a few months.

The Shroud considered their next move.  Reluctant to anger the druids but also fearful of Brunhild sowing descent in the ranks of their new allies, the Shroud contemplated the options.  The majority of the Shroud urged to leave her be & great relief was felt when the brash King agreed.  So long as she was watched.  Mardus & Yvainne pointed out a "protection" detail could be assigned to protect her from her former allies.  Though they would likely never attack her, it would a palpable excuse.

So, the King and his allies prepared to leave the druids.  But still were a bit reluctant of their hold on them.  So the King decided to do one more grand hunt.  This time the King & his party would capture & kill the legendary Black Unicorn of the Caer Bryr.  And they managed to do it.  Relaying on tracking, divination and abjuration magic.

The feat was considerable, but having already vanquished the terror of the Caer Bryr & fulfilling the prophecy, it wasn't as grand.  Still, it seemed to please the druid leaders, even if it antagonized a minority group of good druids.

With the confirmation on the absence of the great silver matriarch the Shroud decided to mount a raid on her lair.  It took a bit to find the location, but the powerful Shroud managed to locate her sanctum none-the-less.

Arriving in the barren peaks of the frozen North the Shroud used powerful magics to sneak into the lair.  And there, they used the greatest rogue in Talengarde, Quell, and walked through every trap, found every secret door and thoroughly explored the area.  Unfortunately, the lair was abandoned and aside from a bed of a ton of copper coins they found little of any real value.  Though, the diviners in the group did collect a scale from the dragon, in case it was needed for scrying.

The King and his allies returned to the capital to consider their next step.  Research into the dragon dug up some information about the Dwarves and their rivalry with the duergar.  If the crown could pick one, they might have a strong tool.  Mardus had his ally in the duergar and urged them to consider the value of the dark dwarves.  But others in the Shroud and in the Court urged the King to back the dwarves.  They were lawful, merchants and traders.  They would make good, taxable, loyal, subjects.

The King choose the dwarves.  He met with a prominent thane, Thane Turin.  Turin was quite surprised when the King offered him the opportunity of a life-time.  Bend a knee to the High King and become a King of his own.  The King of Dwarves.

Over the next month many titles and honors were handed out to the dwarves as a new mini-kingdom was formed under the watchful eye of High King Emmerick.

With the Dwarves organized, King Emmerick and an army of humans led the dwarves to their soon to be home.  The mountain city fortress of the duergar.  Mardus grumbled at the loss of the Duergar, but did the best he could.  He used his contact with the duergar to manipulate the dark dwarves & cause a coup.  By the time the dwarves arrived, the duergar defenses were in ruins and they easily stormed the city.  While a handful of duergar loyal to Mardus & the Crown were secretly evacuated and housed in the mountains in the savage north.

And the dwarven king was true to his word.  Soon the Crown was flowing with tax money & a unit of dwarves was available to be called on by the King.

The Shroud was ready.  They needed to finish off the Princess and her forces.  They were ready to end the threat to the throne and finally put an end to the doubts about their reign.

Then they came up with an idea.  They quickly contacted their frost giant allies.  The giants began raiding the borderlands and the Crown started raising the levies.  As exaggerated reports of attacks spread like wildfire.

All around the island the King's representatives rallied and started marching North.  But as soon as the soldiers got away from major population centers a portal would open to Mardus' ever expanding pocket plane.  And off the soldiers would go.  Ireans, Dwarves, Humans.  All the forces of the Crown.  Slowly disappearing as if they were all going far to the North.  With an added bonus that any sleeper resistance members would be stuck in another plane.  Unable to tell their allies what was happening.

While their forces appearing to head north, the Shroud left the capital lightly defended.  Yet, using chucks of the dragon's island, they made teleportation dead zones around the capital.  To force the Princesses forces to either sail to the island or teleport & rally farther away and march in the open to the capital.  The Shroud just needed enough time to assemble their army from their pocket plane.

And then the reports came in from the Sixth Vale hiding in Andoran.  The Princesses army was marshaling.  It was working.  Yet, there was a slight wrinkle.  No ships were being called.  The army would likely use teleportation magic.  So the shroud would not know the exact time of her arrival and their truce deal with the Kraken was useless.

Still, the King's army would be ready.  It's numbers swelling as Mardus continued to push to make the plane a massive luscious garden paradise for their forces.

Soon the final battle would be at hand.  The last chapter in the Shrouds road to be the undisputed rulers of Talengarde.