The evening opened in the familiar bustle of the Scarlet Shield Tavern, then a quick sweep of the shopping district—lots of browsing but no buying. Lirielle’s attempt to offload an expensive potion of flying drew curious looks but no takers.
Talk turned to what’s next. The options on the table were to go North to Vel Seryn, ride to Southaven to face the goblin raids, head into the Ember Halls to check on the dwarves, seek the First Shrine in Solaris, or head east of the Witchwood in search of Khasim’s Crown. The party ultimately dispatched Tilly and Finn to Fadrín to assemble a guide to Vel Seryn, while the rest went to visit the Queen, hoping to convince her to send reinforcements with them to Southaven.
At court, they checked on the Queen and pressed a key question: Will troops be sent to aid Southaven? She promised a decision by week’s end.
In the meantime, the party arranged an interrogation of Talan Windfern. Lirielle cast disguise self to appear as Serelion Vael, the cultist imposter, pretending to be there to break Talan out, while the Queen observed invisibly. Talan just panicked, though, and claimed he didn’t know what was going on. Dravencoles, visibly frustrated, suggested killing him, shocking both party and Queen; for a paladin, this clashed with the tenet of compassion, hinting he may have further repentance ahead before he can wield the Hammer of Elandria.
Another night, back at the Scarlet Shield Tavern, terror struck: a revenant crashed into the tavern, killing citizens before the party identified it as Melissa Vaelrin. Investigation uncovered a tragic truth: Garrin Dace had accidentally caused the Vaelrin family’s deaths at a wedding. He went to turn himself in and was nearly slain, but the party put the revenant down when it became clear it could not be reasoned with.
Soon after came the grand celebration at the Queen’s Palace in the party’s honor. Nobles mingled and the Queen lauded the heroes, committing 200 elven troops to the defense of Southaven. Then Archdruid Thalwen Myr arrived, denouncing the Queen for violating the laws of nature with her Ring of Verdant Stillness. Tempers flared as druids and guards clashed. The party worked to de-escalate and in the end, Ferinthria won a fragile pause: stand down now, and hold a formal trial in one week’s time end to decide the Queen’s fate.
Amid the commotion, Momeline slipped into a restricted chamber and discovered the Twin Orbs of Passage, paired artifacts enabling teleportation between them.