Thanes

The Thanes are the party of PCQ prime, consisting of Oren, Salai, Isla, Ae, Percy and Skelli.

# The adventure so far

This page summarizes their adventure very briefly.

## Before the events of the Podcast

### Becoming the Thanes

The party met and connected at Isil's funeral. In the following days, they ran afoul of the local guild in Truceport and were sent to assist in repelling an Orc incursion - led, as they found out, by Salai's half-siblings - at a northern Ardish outpost. After the Orcs were repelled and their leaders slain by an Army led by Lord Kuretsnov, the party returned to Truceport, and from there to Rygel.

Upon arrival, they found the city in a fit of civil unrest. A number of recent disappearances spawning paranoia and confusion had mobs engulfing the streets. Through a set of mysterious encounters, they found themselves at the behest of the prime minister, Emmeryn LaVoe. She had hoped they would be willing to investigate the disappearances, as her administration had come up empty-handed. They were sent to an abandoned asylum where they encountered a malicious hag who spent her days experimenting on those who were captured. In her strange laboratory, they learned of her involvement with an organization known as the Court of the Fisher King and an individual calling himself the Dread Lord. Here they also discovered that Isil had somehow learned of this clandestine operation just before his death. We knew not what this meant or what bearing it would have on our group. With the crisis in the capital coming to a close, they were named Thanes of the Land.

### Thanes in Ardon

After being named Thanes, the party traveled to the Citadel at Oren's wish to return. They found out that the Runewardens had been infiltrated by the Court of the Fisher King, and a battle ensued in the citadel that left nearly all Runewardens dead. Their sickly leader, Oloren, had been involved unknowingly, and Oren killed him in secret. After the slaughter of the Runewardens, Percy left quietly to go West to his family. There, he was captured by an organized crime company called the Contigo family, and his hand was cut off. The party rescued him, with the help of an ally named Sprig. They found out that the Contigo family was connected to the Court and the Dread Lord, and found out the location of the Dread Lord in a tower in the east of the continent. They also found out that the Court was experimenting with the creation of a substance called *Aether*. Deciding to try and defeat him, they stormed the Dread Tower and - after a hard battle at the tower's summit - defeated the Dread Lord and bound his essence to a magical mirror, through which they could communicate with him.

After defeating the Dread Lord, the party returned to Rygel to rest and recuperate. There, they were gifted a house in the city as thanks for their deed in service of Ardon. During their stay in the city, a festival took place to celebrate the life of Oloren. This festival included a tournament, which Oren won, being named Champion of the City. During the tournament, they also came into contact with a scion of the Al'Muhalim family, a fire-wielding Kineticist. During the award ceremony, the Court attempted to assassinate the Prime Minister, which the Thanes prevented. They found out that the assassin was not only tied to the Court of the fisher King, but also to the Qarthene organization known as the Stygian Dirge. At the tournament, they also encountered Thalacos, and learned that while he looked exactly like Isil (apart from the golden eyes that Aetarvatra have), he had never even heard that name. He asked them to accompany him to his homeland of Qarthar, which they agreed to, because they wanted to investigate the Dirge.

### Journey to Qarthar

On the journey to Qarthar, they were attacked by pirates who boarded them and killed their captain. Then, Isla found out that the pirate captain was her former lover, Petros, whom she had believed dead for years. Isla convinced the party to help Petros retrieve some artifacts he needed. They discovered that he was under the influence of an Aboleth and freed him by killing the Aboleth. After fighting off rival pirates, the party then continued their journey to Qarthar.

## In Qarthar

**The podcast starts here.**

After arriving in Qarthar, the Thanes had an audience with the country's religious and political leader, the Hierarch of the Immutable Flame. He told them what they knew about the Dirge and that the cult had recently become involved in slave trading (which is illegal in Qarthar and Ardon). He introduced them to his spymaster, the Gloomkeeper, who gave them a note they had found during a raid, which mentioned (among other things) a place named "the Rookery" and a "Bishop", which is a name of Kilgaeren Igo, the man who had enslaved Ae in the past. The note was written in a local thieves' cant. To translate it, the group sought the help of drug baron Lambert Kerslake, the owner of the Rookery, a local drug den. Lambert sent them to raid the warehouse of a competitor of his, a halfling named Doug, in payment for translating the note. In the warehouse, the party encountered not Doug, but Kilgaren Igo, who escaped after a hard fight. They also discovered a map of Aramazdar's sewers and other documents written in a dialect of Elvish spoken by the local Olivani Elves. After returning to Lambert, he told them that the note had information about a slave deal, which was going to happen in one week in the Rookery. He planned to ambush and kill the slave traders. The party also discovered that he hadn't known about Kilgaren's presence in the warehouse.

The Thanes then decided to search the sewers and found that the Rookery and two other locations were marked with a symbol of three stars. One of these locations was the Ptolemizar residence. The party tried to infiltrate the last marked location, but were ambushed and had to retreat. After this defeat, they sought out the Tabernacle, where they wanted to speak to the Gloomkeeper. The Hierarch received them and heard their report. He then revealed to them that he didn't fully trust the Gloomkeeper anymore, and thus could not offer them the support of the Eclipsian league.