A MOMENTARY RESPITE
After the scrying vision, a weary Sorsha and Bario retired to their room, while Ari stayed to chat with Mayor Torik, Gima Truesilver, and the other thankful green dwarves of Righlir, finally free of the kobold threat plaguing the foothills. The air is somber but celebratory. The Mayor asks if they will be following the vision that showed the city of Dol Flungren, and offers rations for the journey. Ari asks the Mayor for a map, which he says he recently commissioned from one of the best mapmakers in the area. The map is of the entire continent of Batala, and the Mayor highlights the path north, which heads under the mountains, through the capital city of The Three Thrones. He states that, although there is a war taking place, the entrance to the city and its main road north are still neutral and under protection of all kingdoms, so it should be a safe journey. Ari asks about The War Under The Mountain.
The Mayor explains that the united kingdom of Maghunrigh brought together the three frequently warring dwarven clans of the Tildhold Mountains - the Magmir of the gray mountains, the Hundir of the white mountains, and the Righlir of the green hills. Since then, all have shared in the bounty of their collective mining and crafting efforts, especially when it came to whatever happened to be in high demand at a given time. Currently, it is the lava glass of the Magmir, a valuable commodity fueling the Malnovan alchemical revolution. However, for some reason, the kingdom of Magmir has recently decided they want to separate from the union and profit exclusively from the trade. A bloody civil war erupted, and since it is mostly fought in The Three Thrones - the capital city carved into the mountains themselves - it has become known as The War Under the Mountain.
While talking, a rowdy bunch by the fireplace kept overpowering the Mayor. Ari saw that It was a trio - a human, a tiefling, and a gnome - drunkenly requesting pub songs from a dwarven bard. Ari recognized them as fellow travellers on the last few legs of the Subterranean Caravan. During their requests, the human kicks the gnome under the table as she begins speaking about a university. She tries to kick him back, but her legs are unable to reach. Eventually, the bard begins playing a crowd favorite, but over the singing and playing, a commotion is heard outside. Some of the green dwarves, the gnome, and Ari go to investigate.
A CART FROM MAGMIR
A transport of obsidian rolled through the main square of downtown Dol Durum. It was guarded by a half dozen gray dwarves. The cart had a banner - three gray triangles on a black field - that Sorsha recognized as being one of the three flags of the dwarven united kingdom of Maghunrigh, specifically Magmir, of the gray dwarves.
Some of the green dwarves berated the transport, saying things such as "stop the blood trade" and "you are killing us all", among other strong words and expletives in Common and Dwarven. The gnome cast mage hand, using it to scoop up and fling a clump of horse manure at the driver.
The cart rolls to a stop in front of The Truesilver Arms Inn. Five of the six dwarves leave the cart and enter; the driver stays behind. The group take a table near the fireplace. Bario comes down from his rest, noticing the air is more tense. Soon, a green dwarf pours a drink over a gray dwarf, who reacts with a punch - a brawl erupts.
While Bario is flipping over dwarves and sweeping them off their feet with his quarterstaff, and Ari is grabbing beards and smashing heads, Sorsha awakens due to the ruckus. Stepping out of her room, she narrowly dodges a thrown tray before a gray dwarf, running upstairs trying to escape the fray, plows into her.
The dwarven bard is heard laughing, relishing the chaos. He climbed onto the bar and started inciting the brawl further with vicious mockery. His performance encouraged those knocked out of the brawl to rejoin. Recognizing that this is only going to get worse if he is allowed to continue, Sorsha drops from the bannister above, landing on top of the bard, and Bario uses a thorn whip to destroy his lute.
In the confusion, only Ari notices a scaly hand opening the door and throwing a small pouch of white powder inside. The white plume of blissroot powder soon knocks out all the brawlers in its intoxicating effect.
THE BLISSFUL DREAMS
One of the peculiar effects of the blissroot is the shared hallucinations. Each being impacted soon sees a vision, a positive version of a situation or event of someone in the room; the owner of that vision then is forced to speak the truth, sharing the reality with the rest.
First, the gray dwarves are shown alongside the white dwarves, working the silver mines and enjoying life in The Three Thrones. One of the gray dwarves speaks their truth, "The bloodshed in our homeland. Brothers and sisters fighting one another. The Three Thrones is doomed."
Next, the green dwarves are shown with their mines full of emeralds, happily mining, trading, and crafting. One of the green dwarves speaks their truth, "Now the kingdom is cracked and torn. The hills are empty and our lives are worn. How can some shards of glass swallow so many lives?"
Next, Sorsha's mother was shown carrying a young Sorsha, and leaving the house of her father. They enter an awaiting stage coach and regally dressed Crown Prince. It then shows Sorsha and her mother moving into the castle, followed by a lavish marriage ceremony, with Sorsha as a flower girl. The scene moves to Sorsha, fully grown, enjoying a joyous royal life in the palace. Sorsha speaks her truth - that she is the illegitimate child of royalty, and instead of being taken in by the prince, her mother stayed with her husband and their son, Sorsha's half brother, living a difficult life of poverty.
Next, Bario was shown living in a druidic utopia of sorts, where animals and plants lived in harmony with other other intelligent beings, and they all respected one another, are more attuned to their mutual needs, and could communicate with one another easily. Bario speaks his truth - that, ever since he was young, he has suffered living in a world where plants and animals are seen as inferior to other intelligent life, and that the thought of ever achieving the druid ideal of his clan's teachings are all but impossible.
Next, Ari is shown walking confidently into the prison of a large city, a shackled female in tow. Some of the patrols are clearly taken aback by the identity of the individual she has apprehended. They call for one of the marshals, who thank her profusely and hand her a fair sum of gold. Ari speaks her truth - that she actually brought back the wrong person for that bounty, and that it was such a ludicrious error that she was laughed out of town.
Finally, Gima is shown crying in a large stone room; suddenly, she looks up, and three dwarves, an adult male and female and a young dwarfling, are before her. She hugs them all, laughing and crying. Gima speaks her truth, bluntly, "They're gone."
The blissroot wears off, and everyone feels the bittersweet bliss of just waking up from a wonderful dream, but realizing it was all just a dream. Quickly, one of the gray dwarves looks out the window and informs the other members that kobolds are attacking the transport, trying to take as much obsidian as they can. Bario notes that this is must be a desperate attack, since kobolds are nocturnal.
The party helps the gray dwarves defeat the kobolds, stopping all but one from getting away with a bushel. Thankful for the assistance, the dwarves give the players 100 gold as compensation. They also decide to resume their transport first thing tomorrow, tired from the brawl, the blissroot, and the kobolds.
Everyone retires for the evening, and enjoy a long rest.
A RUDE AWAKENING
Breaking the calm of the early morning hours are the heavy, syncopated stomps of several Vedalken obsidian powered constructs stomping through the main square of town. Bario and Sorsha watch from their windows upstairs, while others in the Inn head downstairs to look out through the large windows looking out into the square, as a scene unfolds.
The constructs are at the control of Kuya, a marshal with the Malnovic Pezakoro, a famous branch of specialists that execute tasks directly for King Kovelan of Malnova. She is the overseer of border relations with the Kingdom of Maghunrigh, particularly the important trade of obsidian.
The Mayor knows Kuya as a familiar presence in the area, due to this royal relationship, and emerges in his night gown and cap to first address her. Unable to provide the answers she seeks, and powerless to do anything more, he makes haste to the relative safety of Town Hall. Kuya then begins to speak, as if directly addressing The Truesilver Arms Inn.
She states that she had just informed the Major that she is looking for "three dangerous baseborn fugitives", and she has evidence that they fled via the Subterranean Caravan. In fact, the more she speaks, the more the party realize her knowledge of the Caravan is significant.
Hearing the threatening words of the Vedalken, Bario transforms into a bird and flies away through a window in a room on the other side of the inn, where the group of gray dwarves were sleeping. He perches on a nearby rooftop to get a better view, and sees that the Inn is surrounded by constructs.
As a cruel motivation to emerge from the Inn without resistance, and to demonstrate the serious threat the fugitives represent to Malnova, one by one, Kuya describes each Caravansary in Barvisa, explaining how those who helped them escape - the blacksmith, the widow tailor, and the market farmer - have either been killed or spared, based on whether they provided information about the baseborn they helped escape.
Kuya then produces the amulet worn by the market farmer and the first Caravansary in Barvisa, a crucial piece of evidence in her investigation. She compares its two interlocking silver ring symbol to that of the arms of the Inn, confirming her suspicions.
It is when Kuya speaks of Professor Tarrien Hubmet, who singlehandedly saved hundreds of baseborn lives, that the trio of the human, tiefling, and gnome begin to break emotionally. Reacting to this, Gima Truesilver steps up to the fireplace and places her hand on one of the bricks. It glows with a soft blue light exactly like the ones Bario and Sorsha encountered in the Baseborn Hold of Barvisa, which eventually revealed that the prison was once a temple to Berronar Truesilver.
The brick dissolved away. She reached inside, pulling out a crown. With a faint blue light, the brick reappears. Gima puts the crown on and asks Ari where her friends are. Ari goes upstairs to wake Sorsha, but both find Bario missing. Sorsha lets loose her raven, who starts circling the sky above the Inn searching for the druid. Bario the bird sees the raven and rejoins the party, explaining that the inn is surrounded.
Gima reveals who she truly is. "I am Queen Rasbora Gemcutter, one of the Three Thrones of Maghunrigh and ruler of the foothills of the green dwarves of Righlir. With our best fighters up north struggling to keep our united kingdom alive, we lay vulnerable. But through luck or fate or simple circumstance, you are here, the only ones strong enough to help us with the undead awakening in the ancient graveyard and the kobold pirate raids. I must implore for your help once more. While I cannot explain everything quite yet - and I shall, I promise you - I must dispatch of this Vedalken marshal. Will you lend your aid?"
The party agree to help. They plan to fight within the Inn itself, to hopefully funnel the constructs and prevent getting overwhelmed.
Gima steps out of the Inn, and Kuya recognizes her, accusing The Three Thrones of illegally harboring the fugitives. Gima corrects her, stating that she only speaks and acts for herself and Righlir, not the whole of the united kingdom, and ordes Kuya to leave the city and kingdom. Kuya insists that she will use force if necessary to make her arrest.
Bario, Lelu Dallas, and the Queen fight off the constructs at the front door. Several times, the Queen is almost defeated, but the druid is able to save her.
With the pinch point serving effective at the front of the Inn, Kuya decides to make her way to the back door. Finding it unguarded, she easily enters the Inn, finds the trio of fugitives, and throws shackles on them. With a length of chain interlocking them all, she attaches the chain to her armor and begins dragging them out.
Ari and Sorsha, aware of the situation, engage the marshal. Sorsha starts hurling chromatic orbs and fire bolts at the marshal, and through two Wild Magic Surges, gains regeneration and grows a size larger. Ari starts to wail on the marshal and give chase.
Critically wounded, Kuya removes the chain from her armor and tries to escape; however, Ari deftly defeats her before she can even get out of the alley.
EPILOGUE
The green dwarf known as Gima Truesilver, known as the proprietor of The Truesilver Arms Inn, the location of The Last Caravansary of the Subterranean Caravan, has revealed herself to the party to actually be Queen Rasbora Gemcutter of The Three Thrones. While her purposes and intentions are not fully understood just yet, the party assists her in defeating Marshal Kuya and helping save the three professors, which appear to be under the protection of the Queen.
Why has a member of Maghunrighan royalty become involved in the escape of "baseborn" from Malnova, risking the validity of several treaties and a formal alliance with their powerful neighbor to the south? Why is the Queen away from The Three Thrones during this tumultuous time of civil war?
