Company of the Gryphon

The Company of the Gryphon (also seen as the Company of the Griffon) was an adventuring company active for a few hundred years and later a mercenary company active in the mid–14 century DR. They were credited with discovering the lost dwarven city of Gauntlgrym.
The original write-ups of Namarra cover events "Within the last five hundred years…" but key events were later dated to centuries earlier. As a result, the subsequent events seem spread out more than intended. This is evident with the Company of the Gryphon potentially being active for several centuries, rather than the original one century. Moreover, the story of Namarra calls the Company of the Gryphon "a band of adventurers", while Forgotten Realms Campaign Set declares them "a large... party of mercenaries". Thus, these may represent the same long-running adventuring/mercenary company or different companies operating under the same name in different eras. Nevertheless, the two are included here for completeness and ease of use.
==History==
===Early History===
At some point, the Company of the Gryphon killed a goblin wielding an enchanted sword named Ghaur. The company's then leader, the warrior named Flar, claimed the sword and found it was the legendary Namarra, the Sword that Never Sleeps, which the goblins of the Valley of Khedrun had looted in the plundering of Mirabar during the Goblin Wars in .It is unclear when this occurred. The sources say the goblins had the sword "for almost two hundred seasons", but it is unknown if this is meant to be 200 years (e.g., 200 winters) or only 50 years (four seasons per year). Moreover, Namarra's timeline has been stretched by later dating, so it can only be some time between c. 800 DR or c. 950 DR and the 1270s DR. As the timeline is stretched, both presumed dates are difficult to fit—Flar may have the sword for up to ~470 or ~320 years and seems very long-lived.
Later, to pay for training in the combat arts, Flar gave Namarra to Thulmar One-Eye of Port Llast around the 1270s DR.
===Gauntlgrym===
In the mid-1300s DR, an unidentified person in Waterdeep had discovered the location of the lost dwarven city of Gauntlgrym, reputed to contain much magic and wealth. To explore it on his behalf, he hired the Company of the Gryphon, then a mercenary company numbering thirty members. On their expedition, they found a decaying entrance to the dwarf hold in a high hidden valley. However, only three members returned, having fled the company soon after..
These three made it back to Waterdeep early in the . They triumphantly announced their discovery at the Copper Cup festhall, and the Company of the Gryphon were credited with discovering Gauntlgrym that year. They began spending prodigiously on new weapons and armor for another expedition. Meanwhile, several Waterdeep-based adventurers began investigating, not only the location of the entrance to Gauntlgrym but also the fates of the rest of the Company of the Gryphon and the identity of the one who'd sent them to their dooms. Answers, however, remained unknown as of Ches of that year.
Nevertheless, either a week or a season later, the survivors returned to Gauntlgrym to retrieve its treasures, and did not return, not that year nor the next, nor a decade since.
The Knights of Myth Drannor would later re-discover Gauntlgrym by 1358 DR, and survived.
==Known Members==
* Flar, a warrior and leader of the early company
==Appendix==
===Background===
As reported in correspondence with The Hooded One, the Company of the Gryphon originated in a library-group campaign run by Ed Greenwood in the 1980s while working as a librarian in Toronto. The discovery of Gauntlgrym/Gauntulgrym was an event he ran for the Company of the Gryphon and previously for his home-game group the Knights of Myth Drannor around 1982, hence both groups finding the city in the lore.
===Notes===
===References===
Category:Adventuring companies
Category:Mercenary companies
Category:Organizations in Northwest Faerûn
Category:Organizations in Faerûn
Category:Organizations on Toril
Category:Year of Machinations