Session 29: Calamis, 4th Tanyth

 Just after sunset and dropping off the blood collected from the buffalo to the Hopeful Dawn vampires, the group headed to the town square to get churro swords. Sylvie came up with the idea of elephant ears after a kid insisted on a deep fried shield to go with his sword.

Soon after, the party headed to Cat Cradle Farm to meet with the Bahamut Brigade officer. Golemmoth was waiting just outside the farm house accompanied by an elf with a half shaved hair style, very golden sleek hair, pearlescent skin, and golden eyes with a vertical pupil. He identified himself as the Gold dragon Garth once the party approached them.

The party then headed inside Yiri and Maldara’s house, who were happy to have visitors and offered them tea and cookies, as well as a bedroom that offered them enough privacy for discussions about their plans.

The party discussed the following items:

-     Need a nearby place to gather troops and march, ideally somewhere less than 4 hours away from destination. Because of the high altitude of the location, each hour spent travelling feels like 2 hours, so there’s a risk of exhaustion. A safe place to mobilize prior to battle is the Hopeful Dawn cave– should be about 4 hours away – including the accounting for inclined terrain.

-     Golemmoth mentioned Vinarth, their cousin who works at Menell Dilth’s book store (Tome Raider), who is a history buff and has done much research on areas surrounding Menell Dilth. They may know additional information about Dragon Hold.

-     The extreme cold in the mountains will require some appropriate gear, but the party already covered that with Faith’s offer.

-     The party also mentioned they have enough rations for the army.

-     There will need to be ground troops and sky troops to deal with the horde of enemies. It’s currently unknown where exactly the actual dragon’s lair is located, or where the entrance to it is. Once that is figured out, the troops should remain on the battle ground, and an elite team could go fight Ugoa and take her by surprise. She will likely not leave her hoard, and will wait for the battle to come to her.

-     The party expressed some reservations with the plan of fighting Ugoa in her lair, and would like to explore the idea of drawing her out from the lair first.

-     The party also mentioned a mole, and Golemmoth and Garth agreed that it has to be dealt with immediately, prior to disclosing the plans of taking Dragon Hold with their troops. So far, nobody outside of the players circle is aware that they plan on attacking Dragon’s Hold. We want to keep it that way. Golemmoth suggested a canary trap (tactic in which you spread a rumor to disseminate false information or draw out the mole).\

-     The party then told Golemmoth he can direct the Bahamut Brigade troops towards the abandoned cabin at Hermit’s Pass for now, which is located an hour south of Menell Dilth. The party will let him know when it’s safe to mobilize towards Menell Dilth proper. Garth joined Golemmoth.

The party then headed back to the Orphanage, Lennie disappointed that she didn’t have time to get a churro for Garth.

They spoke to Halaema, Olena, and Faith in a private room at the orphanage to disclose their plans. Olena and Halaema insisted in joining the party when they go against Ugoa, because of their family ties.

They also set up a trap of “zone of truth” to figure out what the suspected mole (the half orc vampire male) had to say. During their interrogation it was revealed that:

-     His name is Sarod Waleye, brother of Merek and Krea Waleye.

-     Merek Waleye is the Captain of the Sanguine Raider, which was the last known location of Ascal Olovalur’s impersonator.

-     Krea Waleye is the little sister, who is currently a Drow captive.

-     Sarod has been ordered to deliver dead drops to Drow spies in return for proof of life from his sister. He has been acting as a mole for the past week because that’s the only way he can keep his sister alive. If he misses the dead drop tomorrow, he fears for her fate.

-     The last information he divulged to the drow was regarding the location of the Hopeful Dawn headquarters. He hasn’t told them that the group moved to Menell Dilth.

-     Lennie also asked for something that belongs or has been used by Merek Waleye. Sarod gave her a card from a deck that him and Merek used to play lots.