Session 81 "The Meeting of the Lord's Alliance"

Session 81: The Meeting of The Lord’s Alliance

Following the heist of Castle di Maschera, three thieves who had also been intent on stealing The Wheel of Stars decided they’d be better off letting The Lucky Seven steal the magic item and then later steal from the adventures as they slept. You were able to foil their plans, and in the process learned that one of the thieves was Lady Esvele, the woman Gram had been flirting with throughout the ball. Another was the halfling who you had witnessed perform with the elf during the festivities. The third’s identity was never revealed, and he almost escaped ridding off on a large flightless bird, but Dorn’s incredible speed allowed him to overtake the bird and recover Gram’s axe.

Fearing that the loose ends with Tashlyn would come back to haunt you,  Muffy and Bip traveled to Balistar’s citadel on the plane of air to keep The Wheel of Stars with him. While there, Balistar revealed to Muffy that the assault from the Devils was taking more of a toll than he anticipated. His defenses were wearing down and it would be weeks if not days before the Devils made their way though his defenses. To add to this problem, they were in the process of rebuilding the tower. Although he had no real relationship with the guardians you had not yet encountered, and in fact some animosity with the Guardian of the Plane of Earth, he did admit that her disciples were some of the most powerful warriors on the material plane. Likewise, although it was a longshot, if The Sleeper in the Tides, guardian of the plane of water could be awoken, it might give them a serious edge, enough to drive out the devils. The issue there is that the Sleeper only wakes once every few centuries and Balistar did not know how to awaken the most powerful of The Guardians or if it was even possible. Muffy who had come to the Citadel to hide the Wheel of Stars decided its power might be better left in the hands of The Lucky Seven for now, and so left with the artifact and the updates from Balistar.

Although several members of the group had discussed trying to investigate Hlam and The Order of the Even hand, by the time Muffy and Bip made it back to Trollskull Manor, there wasn’t much time left before the big meeting with The Lord’s Alliance. So the group departed with Remalia Haventree to Castle Waterdeep. Gram did the majority of the speaking in describing the situation, and all but one of the assembled parties at the meeting seemed to have some level of interest in helping, however the major concern was that no one truly knew what they were up against. They did not want to send their people to their deaths for nothing. More elite strike forces such as Force Grey, The Silent Rain, and various monk orders including The Order of The Even Hand were discussed.

In the end Lady Laeral Silverhand, Open Lord of Waterdeep met with you in private and said The Lord’s Alliance would more than likely commit to helping, but she would in return have you bring either Hazim Albikar or another member of The Council of Five to speak with her in order to use this as an opportunity to strengthen diplomatic relations with Amn. She also mentioned that time would be needed to gather forces and in that time she suggested devising a best use for what forces could be mustered, to strategize and potentially try to figure out ways around some of the logistical hurdles and tactical disadvantages as no one would commit to sending in troops unless there was a chance they could actually do some good.

One of the main hurdles appears to be that to move any sizable group with the resources currently available would take more time than you feel you have. The flip side of that is that time may be an opportunity to strategize a plan of attack, and likewise to potentially do research on how one might move larger forces. Should the larger forces be too hard to muster in a timely fashion, there are still smaller and extremely skilled strike teams, that if they could be convinced, could potentially intervene earlier. Sir Isteval has already said he will head to Cormyr immediately and petition his queen to send Purple Knights and War Wizards from his home nation to bolster the Ranks of The Order of the Dawn. Ontharr Frume & High Radiance Ghentilara who have connections to the backing organizations that support the Order of the Dawn will likely do the same sending reinforcements from The Order of the Gauntlet and Church of Lathander respectively. Laeral Silvehand also said she felt this may be a situation that warranted calling in Force Grey. If the young twins Zartan and Greth are to be believed, this could be another very serious boon in your efforts to liberate Athkatmon.