Love is in the air

Calistril 1, 4712

It's a beautiful winter day in Fort Inevitable. Snow fell last night, and the entire town is covered by about six inches. Children are outside playing, and Hellknights patrol the streets with a smile on their faces.

For the last few days, Gerald has been feeling sick. He finally decides to talk to Doctor Mordel about the scar on the chest. Mordel examines him and advises him that whomever did this to him was very skilled, and either took something out of him or put something in. Unfortunately, the good doctor has no way of telling which of the two happened. Gerald asks him if using a gem of true seeing would reveal what had happened to him. Mordel looks pleased at the idea. He tells Gerald that this is brilliant and may lead to a novel way of treating patients. The doctor does not have such a gem on hand. Mordel tells Gerald that if he brings in this gem, he will gladly examine the sorcerer, and he will then write a paper about it for the Daggermark's Medical Treatises.

Gerald thinks that the Hellknights may have such a gem, so he heads to the citadel to talk with Léonche de Moustiers, Chamberlain of the Citadel. de Moustiers informs Gerald that the Hellknights have such a gem, but Gerald would need to leave behind enough valuable collateral. The sorcerer tells him that he has such an item, and he presents one of the funeral masks he discovered on the 7th level of the Emerald Spire. de Moustiers appraises the mask, and tells Gerald that it would be more than adequate. However, he flips through a large ledger book and advises Gerald that this item had not been declared at the last tax payment. Gerald is thus assessed 130 crowns for the underpayment of taxes, as well as 140 crowns more in penalties for non-payment of taxes. Furthermore, he says, this is a first offense and thus he is being fined. On a second offense, the penalties will be doubled, and on a third offense the penalty is death. Gerald states that if he finds the masks he will surrender them to the Hellknights in case they are dangerous. de Moustiers thanks Gerald and will take him up on that offer. Gerald makes an appointment to get the gem on Calistril 9.

Meanwhile, Darelle decides she will investigate the vial of dark blue crystal powder she collected on the 7th level of the Emerald Spire. She asks Mordel if he knows what it is, and he replies that he doesn't, but that there are a few people in town who might: Abernard, and Falandra Nolm, Gerald's employer. Darelle knows that Abernard is out of town, so she decides to talk to Falandra Nolm. Falandra agrees to look at the material, but her fee is a quarter of the item, in kind preferably, but she will take the value in gold if she must. Darelle agrees, and she takes out the vial. Falandra is stumped, but after some research she discovers a tome with information on this type of powder. She tells Darelle that when mixed with horse manure, it will create a small ball. When the ball is flattened and then thrown on the ground, it will transform into a crystal pegasus in various shades of blue. Darelle has enough to make six pegasus.

At the same time, Daryle drops off some of her skins to Karlyle the Butcher, then walks in the Juliver Arms to get the scuttlebutt on the Millers family. Word on the street is that they are preparing to head out to the Emerald Spire. Unlike the Coopers, they claim they should be able to clear the tower in no time.

Finally, in the late afternoon, the three siblings meet again in the street on their way to Darelle's house for dinner. Suddenly Gerald gets hit in the head by a large snowball, and he falls face first in the snow covering the ground. Laughter can be heard from behind the Coopers. Daryle turns around quickly, and sees a bunch of kids a few houses back. One the children moves forward and taunts Gerald. The Coopers recognize Nissa, Abernard's niece, whom they encountered a few months ago. When Gerald refuses to get up, she casts a spell and a giant snowbank falls on him, burying him under a gigantic pile of snow. The children laugh louder. Gerald grumbles from his snow pile that he is a Hellknight officer and he could arrest Nissa for violating the anti-spellcasting provisions, but Nissa only throws another snow ball at the pile of snow. When Daryle and Darelle begin to chase them, they all scatter, and Nissa runs to her uncle's house and closes the door.

The sisters wait for Gerald to pull himself out of the snow pile, and when he catches up with them Daryle knocks on the door to Abernard's residence. After a few seconds the door opens and a tall and beautiful woman appears. Daryle explains why they are here, and the woman invites them inside. She tells them her name is Cassandra, and she is Nissa's mother and Abernard's niece. She calls Nissa down to apologize to Gerald, but the child instead taunts him again before running upstairs. Cassandra tells them that Nissa's innate magical abilities have been hard to control, and that she's getting herself in quite a bit of trouble.

As they discuss the situation in town and recent events, it becomes clear to Daryle and Darelle that Cassandra has more than a passing interest in Gerald. The house has resumed its actual proportions, and a loud crash can be heard from upstairs. Daryle decides to investigates, and she ascends to the third floor, where she finds the door to the library closed. Nissa is on the other side and she seems to be searching something. The child has wizard locked the doors and Daryle can't get in. She runs downstairs and tells Cassandra. She runs up the stairs and returns with a chastised Nissa, who does give Gerald a heartfelt apology before going to her room.

Gerald then tells Cassandra that he is feeling sick. Cassandra examines his scar and tells him that she concurs with Dr. Mordel's opinion. She herself dabbles in healing and has some experience in the matter. Gerald invites her to participate in Dr. Mordel's examination on the 9th. She agrees.

After a few more moments, the Coopers leave Abernard's house and return to Darelle's house. Cassandra invites Gerald over any time. The sorcerer politely declines. The Coopers have dinner, then they retire by the fireplace and spend the evening in quiet contemplation.

A few hours after midnight, they are awakened by the sound of wolf howls in the distance. There are no wolves in the area, having been hunted down decades ago. As the rangers listen, they can hear at leas three wolves, maybe four. Daryle wonders if it is due to a green storm. They dress quickly, then head out of Darelle's house and to the wall. Daryle tells the others she suspects that the wolves may be none other than the Millers, which would explain a few things.

The Coopers find Walter and Rainulf on guard duty on that particular section of the wall.They report that they haven't seen the wolves, but they definitely heard them in the northeast fields. That's in the direction of the Emerald Spire. The Coopers resolve to go hunting the next day.


Calistril 2, 4712

As soon as the gates open the Coopers race out of Fort Inevitable and head towards the Emerald Spire. Darelle is worried about her dry blue crystals, while Daryle and Gerald are eager to catch up to the wolves. They quickly locate tracks, which indicate that there are three wolves. But the tracks are huge, half as big as the biggest wolves. Darelle spots some loose fur, so Daryle collects a few samples to bring back to Dr. Mordel.


Eventually the tracks indicate that the wolves took off very quickly. The Coopers pick up the pace, and come upon a bloody scene. The wolf tracks merge with the tracks of a human, and a bloody scene shows that human came to a brutal end. Gerald examines the boot tracks and discovers that they are Hellknight booths. The body seems to have been pulled away by the wolves.

A few clearings away, they discover a badly chewed up body, with the head missing. The body is still garbed in a Hellknight uniform. Daryle collects personnel effects from the pockets, and they bury the body under a cairn.

Following the wolf tracks, they then discover that the wolves themselves fell into a goblin trap. Two were captured in nets, while one fought but was eventually subdued. All three wolves were dragged back to the Emerald Spire.

The Coopers enter the Emerald Spire through the secret tunnel and then descend to the 7th level, where they collect the barrel of dark blue crystal. They then head home again. Returning to Fort Inevitable, Daryle hands the pouch back to Maralictor Wirt. She tells them that these effects belonged to Armand, a Hellknight who was posted in Dimsdale. The closest farm was that of the Redwoods. What was Armand doing out there?

As they head home, the Coopers come upon a commotion outside of the Juliver Arms. The crowd is cheering loudly. Taking a closer look, they see that the Millers are showing off their sled and their equipment, claiming that they will storm the Spire tomorrow and will do a better job than the Coopers. If the Millers are here, who are the wolves?