Poison

Nymm 26, 998 YK
Varna

For some reason, I had assumed that whoever was following us was primary after Alayi or Tomas. Alayi, because she is a Gatekeeper druid, and Tomas, because he’s Tomas. Defender was worried about our pursuer as well, though I am uncertain he has thought through just who that pursuer might be. On the third night of our journey to Varna, our warforged friend was delighted that we had stopped under a tree, as he had some plan to “trap” it to thwart the one that might be following us. We are unsure exactly how the trap would work or even who would make it. Ravanquar snorted at the thought, pointing out that if the attacker was a druid, it was quite unlikely that we could trap him ourselves with just the aid of a tree. With that, he disappeared for the night, and Alayi and I climbed up in the tree to rest. Tomas and Fang were happier on the ground below, and Defender spent the night pacing around the outside. The night was peaceful. In fact, it was peaceful for the next two nights as well, right up till we reached Varna.

Varna is much bigger than Mossmantle. Neither Tomas nor Alayi had been to a city that size (and if Defender had, he was likely oblivious to it). We went to the marketplace to attempt to sell some of our “finds” such as the golden dragon statue, but Tomas couldn’t find a dealer willing to pay what it is worth. I felt eyes on us and realized that even in this somewhat larger town, Ravanquar and I were not “blending in” well (I will have to remember this feeling for when and if we make it to Thrane, as my friends will likely feel as conspicuous and I would spare them that). I started to worry that perhaps we were standing out too much in this crowd of merchants and traders and quietly suggested that we let Ravanquar take our most valued items with him to his celestial home plane, as it would be as safe as any Kundarak bank. Ironically, we found the Kundarak bank to be the best place to exchange our coins and gems for something easier to carry. We also made sure to get identification and travel papers for those that had not traveled through Khorvaire before, and dropped Professor Bramble’s message off at a House Sivis message station. We even found a representative of House Lyrandar to report about the disaster near Mossmantle and learned that they had dispatched a salvage team. Tomas believes that this is proof that they are “crashing and burning” ships all the time.

We obtained rooms at the High Saddle Inn; Alayi and I in one and Tomas next door. Defender opted to pace around the outside of the inn. Alayi took the bed and I pulled a rather comfortable chair over to near the window to meditate.

I’m not sure how long we had rested when I felt a sting of a small dart in the back of my neck. I shook it off and turned in time to see a tube being pulled out of our cracked-open door— a door that had been locked when we retired. “Assassin!” I cried to Alayi as I raced across the room and yanked the door open the rest of the way. I saw an open window at one and of the hall and ran towards it while Alayi banged on Tomas’ door and ran down the hall the other way. Neither of us found the attacker, but Tomas had not emerged from his room either. I yelled out the window, hoping Defender would be nearby and ran back towards our doors to help Alayi kick Tomas’ down, praying we weren’t too late to save him. He was fine, but had hidden when he heard the commotion until he woke up enough to realize it was us.

By now the innkeeper had arrived and moments later, some town guards were there as well. I had to sit down— I suddenly could not, even by force of will, stay upright any longer. I was able to weakly tell the guard what had happened and to please go find Defender while Alayi checked our room and discovered it had been ransacked, and now our room window was open as well! Nothing had been stolen, though the leader of the guard was mortified that Alayi had “tampered with a crime scene.” I am uncertain if I was the target, or if it was just a very dim-witted thief after the dragon statue (I say dim-witted because Tomas had been the one carrying it in the marketplace, not Alayi or I).

Defender was found and brought back to us, and was quick to tell me that my color was all wrong. In fact, he had never seen me with color! I assured him I’d be okay in the morning. We stayed all in one (new) room after that, with Defender standing by the door the rest of the night. Thankfully, we got adequate rest, and Alayi restored enough of my health with spells that I am able to travel today. We plan to leave for Fairhaven as soon as Ravanquar makes an appearance.