The Coaltion - Uktar 6th - 8th

The ship was landed, and scuttled, since the githzerai despised anything githyanki. From here the refuges of Akma’ad entered the city of Sayre on foot.

A messenger intercepted the heroes, asking if they were in fact the Heroes of Overlook and the Defenders of the Silver Marches. The messenger wanted to introduce his master to the heroes and moments later they were surprised to see that this Lord Telicanthus is actually a high-standing githyanki!

Telicanthus seemed sincere in his welcoming the heroes to Sayre, saying that it was a treat and an honor to have such people here. He got his assistant, Pennel, to book them rooms at the ultra-fancy River Jewel Inn for them, all compliments of Lord Telicanthus. Last he asked that the heroes join him for tea the following day, saying that the elite of the city would be doubtlessly honored to meet them.

While this was going, the githzerai were encountering some problems getting admitted to the city. As Umberto vouched for the githzerai, telling the guards that they their kind don’t just “steal and cause trouble”. The guards reluctantly let them in, and while this was happening Bastion saw a glimpse of satisfaction on Telicanthus’s face as to the predicament the githzerai were enduring as his carriage pulled away.

The heroes passed on going to the River Jewel for now, and instead went with the githzerai to look for the place where the others of their kind lived. Odos was furious to see that the githzerai were holed up in an abandoned warehouse in a terrible part of town. As they entered the premise, the heroes overheard arguments from the two factions of githzerai already living in Sayre.

Aziff – She has lived in Sayre for many years and she urges patience and caution. She is convinced that the locals feeling are temporary, but doesn’t know why the city has turned on the githzerai lately.

Gal’ott – He is a recent refuge, along with many others, from a nearby town who was also attacked by githyanki forces. He is young and angry and wants to take this fight to the streets, adding that they are appalled that nothing is being done. They wear red armbands and never travel alone.

As Odos, and the githzerai from Akma’ad entered, the squabbling ended as introductions were made. Odos vouched for the heroes and they were allowed to stay. Here is what everyone learned of the githzerai have had to endure here in Sayre recently:

Guards harass them and limit their movements, beggars attack them and spy on them, and any robbery or attack that occurs in the city is being blamed on the githzerai. Even more worrisome, four githzerai out on their own at night have been brutally slain by someone using knives. The other githzerai have been unable to locate the killer, and the city guard seems disinterested in helping, claiming that other githzerai are committing the crimes as they “turn on one another like a pack of rabid dogs.” The racism and hatred is growing. They blame the githyanki Telicanthus for this, although they have no solid proof and he publicly urges moderation against the githzerai.

Shortly after this the heroes were pleasantly surprised by the arrival of an old friend. Amyria, who was rescued from the ceremonial platinum longsword back in the Rescue at Rivenroar adventure, and later met in person during the Den of the Destroyer adventure when the heroes traveled to the temple high in the mountains to stop the Wicked Fang gnolls.

She was overjoyed to see the heroes, and quickly the heroes learned of her resolve to save the region and her inner strength to propels her forward in desperate times. She trusts the heroes implicitly for reasons she can’t quite communicate. She relates the following:

✦ She has spent a great deal of time in the weeks since she parted with the adventurers traveling outside the Silver Marches, seeking out the extent of the githyanki invasion. In the process, she has established connections in most of the cities nearby. She has also learned that githyanki attacks have come at the worst times for the defenses of every region. Only the Silver Marches has been spared—at least thus far—thanks to the PCs’ actions in defeating General Zithiruun. She knows it is only a matter of time until the githyanki try again.

✦ Amyria has an agent in the household of Lord Torrance and is suspicious of his connection (as well as that of other prominent citizens) to Lord Telicanthus. The githyanki, whom she went out of her way to meet at a social event the week before, seems genuine, but a githyanki operating so openly just seems wrong to Amyria. A DC 18 Insight check also reveals that Amyria is ashamed of her feelings about Telicanthus. She wants to believe that not all githyanki are evil ravagers intent on conquest, but she is suspicious nonetheless. She is too quick to deflect questions about Telicanthus, his motives, and his possible operations. Her own self doubt gets in the way of her instincts about the githyanki, which is why she cautions the githzerai of acting too hastily.

✦ Amyria learned that two leaders in other nearby cities are seeking out allies. She feels that forming a more concrete alliance—she calls this group the Coalition—between all the besieged communities, city-states, and regions will help them all, so she has been spending a great deal of time fostering this idea. She has been marginally successful in putting together the war council, which holds its first meeting in Sayre in the morning. But Amyria herself has little more than a voice in the proceedings. She has no home community and represents only herself and her god, Bahamut. She is being allowed in the
proceedings because she organized the event and chose Sayre as the site of the meeting. She can tell the adventurers the names of the members of the Coalition

✦ Amyria chose for the council to meet in Sayre because, like Odos, who grunts and nods when she mentions this, she suspects that the githyanki have some means of communication that surpasses any sort of magic that she is aware of. They seem able to react almost instantaneously to threats that marshal to meet them, and they strike when their enemies are at their most vulnerable. Only regions such as the Silver Marches (on a state of perpetual heightened alert), are having luck defending against the attacks. She also tells the PCs that she tried to
get to the island nation of Nefelus, off the distant coast, but there’s some sort of blockade preventing any ships from sailing there (serious foreshadowing here). The knowledge of magic possessed by the sages of Nefelus is said to be nearly unsurpassed, but the University of Sayre is a worthy rival. She hopes to convince the war council that they should ask the scholars of the university to turn all their efforts toward uncovering the nature of the githyanki’s communication network.

✦ Finally, Amyria has one other reason for coming to Sayre. She had a dream recently that had the weight of significance behind it. She won’t use words like “prophetic,” but when she recounts the dream, her eyes grow distant and her voice soft as she relates what she saw.

The heroes asked about the dream and Amyria revealed what she saw:

“In my dream I was standing in the midst of raw elements. Waves crashed around me and fires flared, and I was looking down through clouds onto a dark blue night’s sky. Stretching across the sky was a giant spider’s web that was
woven between planes. It was silver and sparkled with stars, and at the end of each web line was a githyanki. As each githyanki spoke, the web sparkled, and a fat spider in the middle listened to everything that anyone said. The spider
was beautiful, but you could tell it was evil, just like the people talking through it. It scuttled around, fixing frayed lines and tossing out new lines to new people. Most were githyanki, but some were not. One of the lines went to
githzerai.” She looks troubled. “I looked harder at the spider, and I knew it was here in Sayre. I could see the city around it. So I came here. I think someone in Sayre is helping the githyanki, but we don’t know for sure who it is, although we have our suspicions. And we don’t have an easy answer about what to do about it.”

Amyria next brought in Odos along with the other the rest of the githzerai to hopefully convince Odos to be patient, remain in this world, and investigate Telicanthus.

The skill challenge was successful and Odos asked if the heroes knew the Consult Mystic Sages ritual. Of course, Umberto and Merthuvial knew it. Odos wanted more information on this dream that Amyria related earlier. Umberto learned this cryptic answer:

There are a number of spice houses in town, but only one location is nearby; a ruined warehouse that held rare spices years ago.

The heroes ventured forth into the city and were ambushed just outside of the githzerai compound. One of the Laughing Shadow thugs held a gem that was temporarily imbued with magic by followers of Tiamat. These thugs all smelled strongly of spice.

It took little time for the heroes to find the spice house, whose faded sign on the front still read” Ridolfi and Sons, Spice Merchants”. But as they were about to enter, Bastion noticed that the little girl who just asked them for money, look suspicious. Lozigee quickly followed here and busted her before she was about to pull on a cleverly hidden rope, no doubt to warn those ahead.

With the element of surprise on the side of the heroes, they were able to quietly enter the building, but it was empty. Althalus notice a faint trail from the door to the trapdoor, the one that Umberto had just set off. The daggerspring trap wasn’t too hurtful in the end, even when it criticaled the president, inflicting him his Cackle Fever, and Merthuvial was able to negate that.

The trapdoor led to a small crawlspace which led to another trapdoor, that once the coin was deposited (“Give and you will be given to”) opening in the ceiling of another room with several ledges around the perimeter, and another door on one of them.

As the heroes jumped across them, everyone but one person had an easy time with it. One person, with short legs, good for sprinting, very short distances, and not good for 5’ jumps. That person, ladies and gentlemen, is your favorite dwarf, Kregnok!!!

Kregnok fell off the ledge and into a Gluttonous Cube which immediately engulfed the rune priest. Kregnok managed to get out, and was nearly engulfed twice more, until the heroes killed it for good.

The next room was an old street from the former city of Auger, now underground. This section had been cleared out and used as sleeping quarters for the Laughing Shadows.

The heroes proceeded into the next room.

Quote :

“You open the doors into an old temple. You can tell it was once sacred to Ioun, but those days are long past. The pews are filled with beggars, all with their backs to you, and a filthy and bedraggled priest across the room stands before an altar.

The Heroes quickly attacked the worshipers in the temple, and the Filth King proved to be a little difficult as his festering scratches were poisonous. But he was able to pull Grognak across the room and dropped him into the pit. Grognak survived and climbed up on the opposite side where the mound of gold was.

Sure enough, the coins swirled together and formed into the image of a five-headed dragon, which promptly knocked the barbarian back into the pit several times over the next few rounds. Also dropping during this two-encounter merger was Kregnok and Umberto. Althalus, Lozigee, and Bastion continued to fire away from the far side of the pit (the dragon wouldn’t cross the pit) and eventually, after 740 hit points of damage was rung up on the beast, it finally fell dead.

The heroes, remembering the cryptic answer from the Consult Mystic Sages ritual, found a secret door behind the statue of Tiamat that led to a secret library where former scribes had become imprisoned long ago and had madly covered the walls in script.

After Althalus dropped the three non-minions the heroes got a chance to read some of the writings. Two in particular stood out:

Quote :

Writing on the Walls

“A matrix of blown glass can be formed into a mathematically
perfect sounding chamber, then used to amplify
magical resonance. In theory, disconnected sheets of
a similar substance can be attuned to the master. This
would allow communication at unlimited distance. The
question is: How can one handle the planar boundary?
When I began this research in Nefelus,
I never expected that this would be a concern…”

“A problem has developed. I need some method for
shunting away the psychic residue cast off during communication.
This seems to be quite toxic. I believe that
I can redirect it into the Astral Sea, where it should do
no harm to anyone…”

“The final Glass is more beautiful than I could have hoped.
My apprentices have outdone themselves. A full 30 feet in
diameter, it has anchored itself into the very nature of our
plane, and hangs in space. Our ritual went flawlessly and
it has taken on a life of its own; as thoughts travel from
one external pane to another, the Glass shimmers like the
night sky. It is quite beautiful. It seems to be invulnerable
from the outside, as I intended, but the same protections
have not transferred into the interior. This worries me.”

“The interior of the Glass becomes a psychic maelstrom
if the information flow is not redirected. I have succeeded
in rerouting the rogue energies to the Astral Sea.
So long as no one is bothered by them, I see no risk; and
in such a plane, what are the chances that they will be
discovered? So small as to be infinitesimal...”

“I am making only a few select panes linked to the glass,
but it would be just as simple to make many. I expect
that selling these to far-flung allies could make me a rich
man indeed. I will need to consider it.”

—from the diaries of Auglos of Nefelus

Quote :

Message from the Past

“You’re watching me. I can see you, but you don’t know
that. You’re listening to my words even though I’m long
dead. No, not you! Idiot. You’re just writing down my
words because you were told to by the old man with a
beard and a magic glass. I’m talking to the other people,
the ones reading this on the wall. They know I’m dead.
Oh yes, dead, mud in my mouth, river arisen! I sing of a
ship that sails the air, that brings swords and fire. You’ve
fought it, too, but it’s worse for you. We’re just going to
die. They’ll kill us all because of what the bearded man
does, talking through the mirror. They’ll just flood the
room, and that will solve their problem until he finds it
again. He’s been looking for it a long time. You think he
likes you but it’s a lie. There was digging, you see, and
cleaning, and many false leads. He’ll use it to conquer you
all, but no one will believe you. You’ll have to prove him a
liar. They can talk through it, you see. They’ve managed
to do it, and the armies whisper through the blue darkness
in a way that no one else can hear. You’re dead if you
don’t stop it. Even now they are discussing you. “Distract
them,” he is told, “this is too important to ruin.” But you
can. Boy! Boy, I demand a goose! Pluck it and ruin it and
save yourself if you find the right spot. Look for the old
tower when no one expects you. It isn’t where they think
it is. Ask the dwarves if you like, the brothers who dream
of maps. Because in the days to come SHE will spread
herself, and none will be safe from HER reach, so you may
wish to trust the speech of the Bladed Girl. Trust, trust her
if no one else. If her people do not come together, they
will certainly be ripped apart. Like my goose? I am so very
hungry. I could use some tea. Boy!”

—verbatim account from the recorded visions of
Graiden Brackenhaus, oracular guest of Seer Auglos of
Auger, as scribed by Brother Pinnot from the Church
of Ioun.

From here the heroes returned to the githzerai compound to rest for the night.

The following morning Amyria greeted them and took them to the Coalition meeting. She had five items on the agenda that she hoped to get passed:

• Transfer Control of military units under command of Coalition members to the Coalition Council
  
  
• Vote on a Coalition Leader
  
  
• Vote on the relevance and importance of Amyria’s dream, and whether it warrents investigation
  
  
• Name the Coalition
  
  
• Investigate Telicanthus and find the githyanki communication hub

Here is a list of who was attending this meeting:

• Kalad – The heavily muscled dwarven paladin no longer looks quite as haunted as he did in the tunnels of Bordrin’s Watch. He is gruff but friendly, and a staunch ally of the Heroes. Kalad also has spoken to Amyria several times, and he backs her unflinchingly.
  
  
• Fariex – This human is a powerful merchant with interests in various cities, and while he doesn’t represent a city or other political body, he was invited because of his connections to many far-reaching settlements, townships, and ports, and the wealth and military might they represent.
  
  
• Caliandra of the Stagrunners – This ancient elf not only leads her own tribe, but has also been named the voice of all the elf tribes that live in the Silver Marches.
  
  
• Lord Divian Torrance – The ruler of Sayre, elected by a fellowship of scholars and merchants, is a potent and skilled politician.
  
  
• Quelenna Entromiel – This female elf rules over the mercantile settlement of Dornaithos, and has many dealings with leagues of merchants across the Silver Marches.
  
  
• Inogo Dravitch – A priest of Erathis, Inogo hails from the distant city of Sherrbyr. He is the current leader of this city of temples.
  
  
• Odos – The githzerai leader you helped rescue in Akma’ad.
  
  
• Amyria – Not a member of the Coalition, the extremely passionate and charismatic deva paladin has rallied these leaders to meet in Sayre to discuss the invasion. While she doesn’t have a vote on a course of action, she has the right to speak freely.

Here is how everything broke down:

Transfer Control of Military: The Coalition votes 5-2 in favor of this motion, led by Kalad and seconded by Fariex. Inogo and Lord Torrance are the only two who hold out against this prospect. On Amyria’s suggestion, however, Kalad is named the Coalition’s general, which soothes Inogo a great deal. (Had you failed, the Coalition would have voted against it and in weeks’ time three more towns would have been razed by githyanki invaders, totally 11,000 dead)

Coalition Leader: Lord Torrance immediately moved that only a sitting member of the Coalition can be considered, seconded by Quelenna. The motion passed 6-1, with Kalad being the only dissenter as he grumbled loudly that the clear choice for leadership is Amyria. The heroes and Amyria were asked to leave the room and after an hour-long debate, the new leader of the Coalition is announced as Lord Torrance. (Had you failed, no leader would have been elected and Kalad would have stormed back to Overlook essentially giving up. A week later, a sister city to Sayre would have been razed and 5,000 would have been killed)

Amyria’s Dream: The Coalition votes unanimously to take Amyria’s dream, and the threat that it represents, seriously. The Coalition agrees to let Amyria lead the way on this issue, giving her the ability to coordinate efforts to root out the “spider” of Syre.

Name the Coalition: The Coalition unanimously agrees to give the group an actual name. The heroes took some hints from Amyria and came up with “The Platinum Shield of the Silver Marches”

Investigate Telicanthus: Amyria is asked with overseeing the investigation.


During the lunch break several of the heroes had chances to interact with some of the other members and gained influences over them during the rest of the meeting. Kregnok drank “fekk” with Odos, Althalus listened in to a conversation with Quelenna and Lord Torrance, Umberto talked religion with Inogo, Lozigee won a game of Three-Dragon Ante with Fariex, and Bastion helped Caliandra with some illness advice.

Amyria was ecstatic with the results of the meeting as all five of her goals were accomplished. She told them that she had given their findings in the secret library some thought, and two things stand out. Mention that Auglos’s Tower (the man who created the Bitter Glass used to communicate through planes) and mention to “ask the dwarves, that brothers who dream of maps”.

Quote :

“There is a place in Low Mountain called ‘Deep Cartography’, you might want to check with them.”

Right...find the cartographer, retreive the monitor, fight the flood. Got it boss. And for the record, at least I'm not the only to fall into something bad.

At least the pit i fell in to didnt have lava or the gluttonous cube in it... and yes i now i knocked you into the lava but whatever dwarfs are supposed to be more balanced and stable...

Kregnok will look around at the others, and dismayed, shakes his head.

"Hey, clowns... we gots dwarves to meet at the cartographer. Sooooo.... let's get going."

While most races have integrated nicely in Sayre, the dwarven inhabitants tend to keep to themselves. Low Mountain is a neighborhood of high stone walls and twisting streets. Non-dwarves have trouble finding places in Low Mountain, as none of the streets are labeled, and none of the buildings are numbered or named. As they say, “If you need to know where you are in Low Mountain, your probably shouldn’t be there.” The area is safe, with squads formed exclusively of dwarven guards patrolling the streets after nightfall, but it’s not particularly exciting to non-dwarves.

This changes since Kregnok is around. Wonderful restaurants, clever sages, and master craftsmen hide within the featureless buildings.

The small shop known as Deep Cartography contains two dwarven brothers (which fits the description found in the deep library above), Andor and Toris Scrollstone, sages who specialize in maps and locations. Commonly consulted by explorers into the Underdark and merchants who have long journeys ahead of them.

Although they know nothing of Bitter Glass, they can talk about Auger and its destruction at unknown hands hundreds of years ago (Auger is the city that Sayre was built on top of). They have old maps showing what buildings used to be where.

Kregnok studies one of the maps for a bit, “I thought I saw a plaque on Prospect Hill that be saying that this be the place where Auglos’s tower be, but this don’t look right?”

Andor scoffs, “Rubbish! Don’t know who be putting that plaque up or why, but it is complete rubbish!”

Toris digs through the pile of maps and pulls another one out. “Here be the location of Auglos’s Tower, right under this area.”

You are dismayed, although not shocked, to see the dwarf pointing to Telicanthus’s Mansion.

You thank the dwarves for their time, and head back to….where? You can go back to where the githzerai are hanging out (but there is nothing to do there), or you can go to the fancy inn (The River Jewel) and wait for the carriage to pick you up to take you to Telicanthus’s Tea Party.

Grognak wants to go to the tea party!!! this involves throwing boxes into the Sayre harbor right?... I mean seriously who drinks tea anymore?

A magnificent carriage arrives at the River Jewel and you are quickly whisked away to Telicanthus's mansion. You've just walked into one of the most magnificent homes you've ever seen. Ornate stained glass fills almost every window, and expensive furnishings decorate the space. The lord of the house - the githyanki Telicanthus - is there to greet you, hands outstretched. "Welcome to my humble home! Please, feel free to enjoy the house and meet my other guests."

This is the start of a skill challenge as you meet the other guests and learn a little more about what is going on. With a success, you'll be pointed in the right direction.

Primary Skills: Bluff, Diplomacy, Dungeoneering, Stealth
Secondary Skills: Heal, Insight, Thievery

Let's go ahead and get started! When you make an attempt, be sure to post your bonus to that skill so I can make the rolls.

Telicanthus warmly greeted the heroes as they arrived at his mansion for the team party. The githyanki gave them a curious look when he saw them decked out in armor and weapons, but said nothing.

The heroes mingled in the most magnificent home they had ever seen. At one point, Lozigee managed to slip into Pennel’s office and found some paperwork indicating that the mansion burns through a tremendous amount of money, more than would be expected. Had they searched Pennel’s bedroom, they would have found some blood-stained clothes that the bodyguard wore when he would go out at night and attack githzerai.

More mingling lead to more clues, something is going on at the mansion. Some people mentioned an earthquake nearby, and the back of the mansion is very creaky, indicating something below.

Having acquired a key to Telicanthus’s office, the heroes snuck into the corner room and were bummed to find no clues at all. However, Bastion noted that the room seems a little narrow. Lozigee investigated and found that the full-length mirror on the south wall was some sort of secret door and that touching one of the pieces of stained glass to it would open it, revealing a secret set of stairs descending into the earth.

The heroes entered an excavation area and nearly snuck up to some slumbering githyanki, but the barbarian made too much noise. Umberto made a great tactical maneuver, when he accepted attacks of opportunity to get in behind two githyanki to prevent them from moving on to the next room to warn the others. The various tunnels here where made when the githyanki were trying to find where below Telicanthus’ mansion was the Bitter Glass. This particular group of githyanki were sleeping as the Bitter Glass required constant supervision from within it to keep it working. Thus, the githyanki work in three shifts.

The next shift of githyankis were in the next room near the broken remains of Auglos’s Tower. They were led by Kle’th, who was an older githyanki mindslicer sage who first learned of the existence of the Bitter Glass and led the team in reconstructing it from ancient notes.

The heroes dealt with them and entered the tower remains, and descended further under the broken floor, across a chasm, and stood in front of the Bitter Glass. Preparations were made and the heroes split up into two groups to attack from both sides.


The combination of githyanki inside and the fact that they were interrupted in their chanting, which caused the Bitter Glass to lash out at everyone with waves of psychic damage, proved to be difficult but not overwhelming. Once the githyanki were dealt with, the heroes concentrated their efforts on breaking the Bitter Glass from the inside.

One final pulse of psychic energy surges through the chamber. The pulse doesn’t deal any damage, but each character can feel some portion of his or her thoughts carried away by the energy. Each PC feels that he had some portion of his thoughts ripped into the Astral Sea, where some creature or another might find it.

Once that was done, the group was in for one last battle. Telicanthus, Pennel, and six other githyanki found the heroes and, having seen his efforts ruined, Telicanthus dropped the guise of the nice-guy, and attack. All the while, professing their luck and fortune to face such a great adversary such as himself in battle.

This was rough! Grognak was dominated for about 80% of the fight, and for shorter times so were Umberto, Althalus, and Lozigee. Heroes that dropped in this fight included Kregnok (by the forge), Umberto (out for several rounds), and Althalus. I think at one point the heroes only had three PCs that were up and acting under their own control. Once Telicanthus’s bodyguard Pennel was downed, the fight against Telicanthus went smoother.

With Telicanthus dead and Lord Torrance shown the ruins of the Bitter Glass, the heroes concluded the Haven of the Bitter Glass adventure. They received mixed responses in Sayre for the death of Telicanthus, but when word spreads that he was actually a spy, the locals become more accepting.

Torrance seizes ownership of Telicanthus’s mansion and everything in it for the city and offers to let the PCs stay here while they rest. Being gracious, the heroes get the githzerai to move in and Lord Torrance is happy to have them nearby after what happened. Lord Torrance isn’t sure how long it will be until Sayre is attacked by githyanki, but he immediately increases the city guard and plans for various contingencies.

In addition, with the githyanki invaders reeling from the loss of their communication web, The Platinum Shield of the Silver Marches acts quickly and turns to Amyria and the Lords of Rock Hammer for input on the next course of action.