Omnis tuus castra sunt inesse nos.
Born on Aerenal, K’ehleyr worships the memory of M’lara Karlassa, an artifact-hunter during the elven rebellion against the Giants of Xen’drik. M’lara searched for magical weapons and other artifacts to help her people fight, and was a fine warrior herself. K’ehleyr migrated with other Valaes Tairn to battle in Cyre during the Great War. Now that the immediate War is over, she wishes to follow in her ancestor’s footsteps by finding magical weapons and other artifacts to help defend her new realm of Valenar. Therefore, she plans to travel throughout Khorvaire, and has begun in Sharn. If Khorvaire’s forgotten places and ravaged battlegrounds turn up little of note, she would not mind trying her luck in Xen’drik as her ancestor did.
K’ehleyr rides a fine Valenar steed, the mare Huerga.
Character sheets: K’ehleyr Tavanna [Elf Fighter]
Huerga [K’ehleyr’s Mount]
Don’t be fooled because you put it in your coin pouch.
It is mine.
It does not matter if you hid it in a secret pocket.
It is mine.
If you hid it under your floorboards.
It is mine.
In a locked chest.
It is mine.
In a trapped box behind a painting.
It is mine.
With the best guards money can buy.
It is mine.
You swallowed it to sneak it into town.
It is mine.
Oh, mess with my friends. Revenge?
It is mine.
Character sheet: Gib [Goblin Rogue]
Sharn, Therendor 15, 998 YK
Dear Morghan—
Sorry I have not written in almost a month! I received your last letter just before boarding the Celestial Sylph to head back to Sharn. I see you finally got to travel on an airship— the Cerulean Sky? That one has an air elemental, doesn’t it? The Sylph does.
I actually had a chance to pilot it. I fear that I have developed one of those marks— I was sure I’d be lashed to the first ship leaving the harbor once word got out, but the Sylph’s captain told me to take a few weeks to adjust to it. And yes, my crewmates did start treating me a bit differently. Not badly, but I felt like valuable cargo the rest of the round trip to Valenar.
And speaking of Valenar, remember K’ehleyr from our last visit to Taer Valaestas? She finally took me up on that offer to travel on a ship, and came back all the way to Sharn with me! She brought a huge horse along. I had meant to learn to properly ride one while visiting, but with the mark showing up and all, I spent my time buying some clothing that covered more before heading back west. I assured her she could stay in our compound, as the Valenar we’ve met have always been so hospitable to us.
We arrived pretty late in the day yesterday, and were immediately met by Gib and Jin. It’s odd; Jin can look like pretty much anything so that he can fit in, but Gib somehow manages to blend in better. Perhaps that would be different in a different town. I’d told K’ehleyr about them, maybe too much, as she recognized them immediately and was soon attempting to instruct them on proper etiquette. This lesson was abruptly halted as we found a body while crossing a bridge in Upper Dura.
I quickly blew a whistle for the Watch as Gib winced and went through the body’s belongings, producing the ID of a provost at Morgrave University, identifying the elderly human’s remains as those of Bonal Geldam, professor of pre-Galifar history. Apparently there was more on the corpse, but at that moment I heard a scrape behind me and turned to see a cloaked form climbing over the side of the bridge. Yelling at it to identify itself produced an undesirable response, and we soon found ourselves fighting an axe-wielding warforged. I was knocked off my feet in time to see windows opening in the towers around us, and called again for someone to get the Watch.
I waved for the approaching Watch members as I heard a loud “clonk” sound behind me—K’ehleyr had finished off our assailant. A dwarf and two humans approached and asked us to drop our weapons and produce ID. We’d not yet registered K’ehleyr and I feared there would be trouble, but thankfully there were so many eye-witnesses to our stand against the professor’s killer that soon the dwarf, Sergeant Dolum, was congratulating us on a job well done and actually gave us a few gold coins as a reward. K’ehleyr, of course, promised to use her portion for purchasing ID first thing in the morning.
As we left the scene, another cloaked figure came towards us. I was about to call for the Watch again, fearing another warforged attacker, but the figure, a human, wore a signet ring of House Cannith, and asked only that we be at the Broken Anvil Inn at dawn.
We continued on towards the first tavern we found, and had a simple meal while we discussed the earlier events. Turns out that Gib had found more on the professor than he’d shown, the most interesting of which was a strange, mithril and leather bound book. The book’s pages appeared blank, but radiated strong magic.
Gib tucked the book away and we headed out into the rain. Did I mention it was raining again? I don’t understand why they don’t let the Raincallers fix that. Jin kept trying to get us to stay at his house, and Gib took him up on the offer, but I had no desire to go anywhere but our compound (not to mention, where would Jin have stowed K’ehleyr’s horse?).
We left the Valenar horse in the compound in the morning and went to meet at the Broken Anvil. We were seated by a halfling at a table with a human woman dressed in dark clothes— Elaydren d’Vown of House Cannith, with an offer to have a bit of adventure looking for one of their house artifacts left behind in the old city. A decent amount of coin was offered for what sounded like an easy bit of work. Of course, she needed a journal that had been in the possession of the Provost Geldam— luckily we still had that.
Lady d’Vown said the mark on the front was the old House symbol, and once she passed her signet ring over the book, words became visible on the pages. She looked through it while we ate breakfast, and then gave us a map and information on how to find the House Cannith’s lost foundry. Fifty-seven levels below the sewers, under Dorasharn Tower, we’d find an adamantine plate in the shape of a seven-pointed star. She also gave us a good portion of the promised coin to buy any supplies we might need. I have to confess, I’m not entirely sure what one would need to buy to go into the lower wards, so I just bought some rations.
We headed down into Lower Dura; it is definitely not a place to go dull-bladed or dull-witted! We were surrounded on all sides by poor goblins and shifters, and unwashed humans. I pulled my cloak around me so that my expensive clothing was not visible, and we made our way along the path marked on the map, until we came to a large gathering area. Our map was just marked “E213.” While we were sizing up a place called the “Rat’s Market,” trying to figure out who we could discreetly ask for directions, Jin walked up to a goblin peddling his wares to a large crowd and threatened him with bodily harm, and flashed gold at him! As all the eyes in the place became fixed on his location, Gib disappeared into the crowd in one direction, while K’ehleyr and I quickly turned and walked back the way we came.
Jin made matters worse by calling after us by name, telling us it was safe to come back, that he had the information we needed! I said something to the effect that he must have us confused with people who might know him and continued on.
He eventually caught up with us outside of that particular market, and I thought K’ehleyr was going to strangle him! While he was insisting that he had everything under control, Gib came back to tell us he had spotted two shifty looking shifters going down into the tunnel Jin had been told to use, no doubt waiting to ambush us. We had just suggested that Jin try to look like a shifter before Gib found us, figuring that in order to play the part, Jin would not have to converse with anyone down here. We headed back into the goblin’s market, through the indicated doorway, and down into the sewers where we had to trudge through water and the Host knows what else.
Of course, something was waiting for us! I used my whip dagger, thinking I’d surprise a shifter, but my blade hit metal— another warforged! As promised, there were two shifters there as well, but luck was with us and they were soon all lying at our feet, though Jin did not want to participate much lest he get his equipment wet. Gib handed me a crossbow and bolts found on one shifter’s corpse. We saw something detach from the warforged’s chest and flutter off— I was told the previous one had a similar thing happen when it was dispatched on the bridge last night.
We noticed that beyond us was a blue glow— it was a hatch on the ancient sewer wall, with the same symbol as had been on the Cannith journal. Unfortunately, it seems that it would be dangerous to pass without the proper signet; we should have asked to keep the journal as I suspect that symbol would allow us passage. As it was, we got blasted by an acid spell, resulting in our needing to take Jin back to the surface for healing and track down our Cannith patron.
Here’s hoping your current voyage is much less exciting (and dangerous!).
—Jak
It was late and I had met with up Jin to empty a few tankards at our local tavern. We were trading a few bad lies back and forth and enjoying the evening. Jin, a shapechanger, is one of my favorite story tellers. He actually changes his face and appearance to each person in his story. It makes the most boring story fun to hear.
After a few hours we were going to another bar when we where joined by Jak and a friend of hers named K’ehleyr. Jak or Captain Jak as she prefers, is some sort of pilot or what not for them flying ships. You won’t catch me on one of those though, I don’t care what people say about how safe they are. If goblins were meant to fly, they would have been born with wings.
K’ehleyr seems a decent sort. She appears to be a fighter, yet she keeps telling me about what things are proper for what. Ahh, humans always make me laugh.
Other than that it was a normal day. Well, one of those days when you don’t have time to finish looting a body before the Watch shows up. But other than that, boring. The day ended when Jak and her friend K’ehleyr went back to Jak’s house to sleep. Jin and I went to his house to sleep. Now don’t be crazy, we stopped off for a few more ales on the way.
The next day we all met up and had some breakfast. Jak made me give some crazy old lady the book that I found. It was mine. The dead guy wasn’t going to use it anymore. She gets so picky when some ‘upperclass’ people die.
We went for a bit of a stroll and got a chance for a little exercise. Have to go see crazy lady again though. K’ehleyr seems alright, I think she will be ok. Jin, he is unconscious again. And dirty, he is going to whine about that.
I bumped into Captain Jak late yesterday evening and thankfully enough I was already in my natural form. Jak, like so many others, is a little unsettled with my ability to be anyone. She had another friend with her, an elf by the name K’ehleyr. She seems an interesting type. Gib and I were on our way to get a drink and somehow Jak just seemed to already know this. It’s a good thing too; Gib was starting to eye up some purses as we stood there and talked so we decided to be off. I can tell she’s attempting to hide something; she’s wearing her clothes a bit differently. I was about to ask her if she got a tattoo or something while she was out. My question was interrupted by a dead man on the bridge. Jak immediately started blowing her whistle. Honestly, sometimes I wish she didn’t follow the law so much. Gib and I started to examine the corpse and K’ehleyr was watching when Gib suddenly pulled a blade and jumped up.
“Damn it, I need a dagger or something.” I muttered having left my rapier at home.
Gib dropped a dagger for me and suddenly we were all attacking this warforged. It’s strange but I thought they would be very difficult to hurt, but it fell rather quickly under our combined steel. As the creature fell, I dropped the dagger Gib had allowed me to borrow, and stepped away from the now dead creature. Nearby residents were yelling and seconds later the night patrols had arrived. We explained ourselves and I believe we are going to have a friend in the town guard, which is always a good thing. After allowing us to be on our way I couldn’t wait to see what Gib had snagged off the now two dead bodies. I know Jak hadn’t caught him doing it or she would have told the guards. And I’m pretty sure K’ehleyr would have done the same, she’s a decent enough elf. On the way we were stopped by a cloaked figure who told us to be at the Cracked Anvil at dawn, to hear the truth about this guy’s death. So after a few drinks and some examining of the dead human’s possessions, we talked about where everyone will sleep. K’ehleyr went with Jak, being new to town that seemed like a good idea. Gib surprised me by taking me up on the offer to crash in an empty room at my place. Well technically it’s my brother’s now, but it’s home to me. He normally refuses and I never understand why. We made a quick stop for some more ale on the way home. I noticed again Gib’s eyes on someone’s purse, so I half carried him to my house and put him to bed.
It always surprises me how early he gets up. I was struggling to get around early enough to be at the Cracked Anvil on time and Gib was up and ready well before I got out of bed. I was thankful the Inn was in a lower side of town; I carried my rapier with me and we met the ladies there. Lady Elaydren d’Vown met us with breakfast and a job. She said the man who was killed had discovered the location of an object that we need to recover. So we went shopping for a few supplies and I got a weapons permit to carry my rapier anywhere in the city. We then went down into the depths of the city to find this entrance that’s located on the map. We got a little turned around and Gib went to ask another goblin merchant for directions, but was rudely ignored, so I got his attention and used a little intimidation to get the right answer. Apparently the ladies thought I was doing something wrong and refused to go any further at that time. As usual Gib had vanished, probably doing his thing. The ladies seam to think I made us a target for some lowlife. I told them that the wealth of our clothes while walking through this filth had already made us a target and that we really stood out among these unfortunate souls. K’ehleyr then had the notion to soil my garments. Utterly disgusting. At Jak’s request I turned to look like a shifter and after Gib had reappeared we all went down into the sewers below this already filthy area.
Suddenly Gib tossed his dagger at something and seemingly out of nowhere a warforged jumped down to attack us. Then we were in a rather small stairwell, but the ladies decided to push past me and attack the thing. It fell with surprising ease, but only a few feet later two shifters came at us. During the fight some water valves opened and knocked our attackers to the ground. I was able to dispatch the one, and the other was dead before I turned around. We walked up a little ways and found the entrance we were looking for. It was glowing red. As Gib was examining it a trap went off. I mentioned that it was beyond my abilities to disable, so Gib tried and I was hit hard with some kind of spell. I’m barely conscious, so if we are going to go get healed, someone will have to help me out of this filthy sewer and to a temple.
We carried our soiled shape changer to the market area to get a couple of flasks of what I call ‘feel good’. When we discovered that we had to pay his share for his pouch strings had been cut. I was nice enough not to laugh in his face, much.
Then we went for another stroll, to the hole. There we descended to a big room. Now here is where it got good. I don’t know if you remember having any red and green grubs as a child, but wow, I found hundreds of them. Jak and the others won’t eat them, snobs.
Found some bugs that wanted to eat me, never good. Rats are big down here too.
Oh, we found the object thing for the crazy old lady. I wonder what good this thing is for. It seems to have been used to make those Warforged monsters. I hate those things. Found some gold, always good.
Someone is shooting at us, claiming to be a follower of the Lord of Blades, the Warforged b*%#@$d.