Rumours of Sshamath

[BraveLittleCrayfish]

Usually barren, the Mist Lake outskirts are more colorful this cycle. It seems people begin gathering for the fabled

PHYRA OLOREL TOURNAMENT.

[BraveLittleCrayfish]

The Phyra Olorel tournament ended the same way it began - with a lonely raving host. Not a drop of blood was spilled that cycle. The host spoke many words later, wandering through the bazaar, and all of them revolved around the same theme.


She hasn't been seen at Sshamath since.

[Tanlaus]

The spymaster of Bregan D’aerthe arrived at Darkhold with little fanfare. I’m truth he would have been shocked in anyone had noticed him at all. He moved unseen past the guards and waited by the main entrance until it creaked opened just far enough to slip inside where Tarina, the current steward was waiting. She escorted him to a meeting room where Lord Harkonis and Lord Blackrose waited. Blackrose he knew well and Harkonis he had met recently.

Apparently the rumblings he had heard from his agents in the surface were true and it looked like war was coming to Darkhold… a war Bregan may have more than a passing role in, provided the contract was acceptable. But even his usually unreadable face showed a hint of surprise by the surfacers’ request.

“This game,” he thought to himself, “just got interesting.” It was the first time in a century he’d felt there was this much to gain, or lose.

He left Darkhold as quietly as he came, at least in the outside. His mind, however, was spinning as it turned over various combinations and permutations of future events and how they might unfold. There was much to be set in motion, and quickly if he was to maintain Bregan’s reputation for always being on the winning side.

[Rhifox]

An assembly of the Conclave of Sshamath met to discuss ongoing events.

[GholaMan]

A large number of house Sshamath's troops both drow and slave are seen in mistlake securing transport to the upperdark, among them is the known house weaponmaster and custodian Qualn'riia Sshamath. The large transport of troops and supplies move from mistlake to the Zhentarim controlled territories of the upperdark and up into Darkhold.

[Tanlaus]

While having the Bregan troops properly trained and supplied for a journey to the surface he met with a few of his agents to get a better, more direct accounting of the Alliance's movements.

He primarily spoke with Grey, a tiefling who was both a powerful arcanist and master spy. "I really need more non drow agents," he thought to himself as he sent Grey to the surface to get eyes on the Alliance's supply lines, with a nod towards any river crossings or bottle necks in terrain that would make them easy targets.

Once he had his marching orders Grey literally disappeared via teleportation spell, heading- Jyn presumed- into the night above. He'd tried teleporting to Soubar once himself with the use of scrolls. It was an experience he vowed never to repeat.

Next he headed into the city to recruit more sell swords, of which there were plenty to be found. His first stop was the Nau'klar in the Darkwoods district...



Next he stopped in the Glorus wings where he spoke to a pair of sellswords, a drow master of dra'velve know as Valtrin and his efreet blooded companion, a bounty hunter know as Nyr'ysr. Both expressed interest when he outlined how much they would be paid by the day.

He then made his way to Rockrun where this new 'army' was said to have taken hold of the city. In his mind this was a positive development, mostly because he detested gnomes. So really, any change was an improvement. He was hoping some of the soldiers would be for hire, but it seemed not to be the case. He wasted a little time trying to recruit a hardly looking half orc...



But once that was clearly not going to happen he dropped it, and left.

Lastly he returned to headquarters to meet with his most talented tracker. He knew of one more mercenary who would gladly raid as many supply lines as there were supplies. But for that he would need someone to find out where the bodies were buried...

And so Dro set out for the surface, following a long cold trail until it led him to a shallow grave. And too much digging under the harsh light of the sun...



//OOC Dro has gone to the spot by Candlekeep where Urfindir is buried.

[DaloLorn]

The chaos of the Weave doesn't seem to be the only form of chaos in the Darkwoods of late. Sources are scattered and fragmented, and few are likely to have a clear picture of exactly what has been happening, but it seems to have left many new corpses outside the walls of the ghetto:

• A heated argument after a fight at the Nau'klar - one of the local fighters is accused of cheating, a tallish, wiry drow woman favoring a rapier
• A rapier-armed warrior slays bandits and creepers along the route to the Ha'rol gang's den
• A wounded woman brings a sack of items to the ghetto by boat; two strange outsiders follow her to her apartment
• The Ha'rols suffer casualties in several raids over the past few cycles
• The inhabitants of the gladiator's apartment now include as many as three other drow recently arrived in Sshamath, along with a newly purchased bugbear slave
• A badly wounded drow woman is later seen returning from the Bazaar, badly wounded and barely clinging to consciousness; inquiries with local guards indicate she returned from a slave-hunting expedition into the tunnels to the south

[DaloLorn]

The recent conflicts in the Darkwoods seem to have slowly wound down over the past cycles. The gladiator's apparent allies have vanished, but an ominous masked figure seems to have taken their place: As she starts to turn her attention outward and agree to run various errands for the denizens of the richer districts, the masked man is often seen following her back to her apartment... even if he did not initially leave the city with her.

Whatever his purpose, she does seem to return to the city in much better condition whenever he is by her side, and his visits when she returns from her more injurious trips alone seem to correspond to a rapid recovery from her wounds...

[darthnothing]

Stories of the return of the Selmiyeritar begin circulating more and more throughout the city. One rumor stands out over the rest however, the one calling herself Yira is on a recruitment drive and she wants you.

[Pajutek]

Recently lots of people have been seen coming in and out the School of Necromancy. Some leave with visible excitation written all over their face, while others may look a little bit more disgusted. Whatever is happening inside the building is only a subject of rumors, but something is definitely stirring.

[Shadowspinner70]

Yestereve, a young priestess spent the remainder of the cycle inviting the Web's yath'abban to the Elixir for a drink. Ever at her flank is a one-eyed, heavily armed warrior, relatively silent and somber among the priestesses.

Giggling emerges from the woman as the enters a mock-protest of the value non-drow lack to their betters. More protests come against slavery, against living sacrifices, even stepping upon the living lichen beneath their feet. She trembles and swoons -- the petty mockery hardly left secret.

She keeps the banter light in the hearts of the black-hearted women. No true politics, no true debates. Only drinks and light spite, only games in the dark city.

[Liliu'anae]

A hooded figure can be seen in Sshamath making inquiries to the local citizenry. For what purpose remains unknown but it's rumoured that this individual hails from Skullport

[DaloLorn]

A strange new threat seems to have supplanted the beetles and goblins that traditionally hinder Zarmoon's labors in the mushroom grove north of Varalla's Passage. Many of the beetles have been torn apart, their insides (but usually not their pincers!) removed postmortem in such a crude and violent way that it's often difficult to ascertain how they were killed; the goblins were stripped of all but their undergarments, with even broken weapons and torn armor not deemed beneath their new owners' attention.

It is these goblins' corpses that likely offer the first clues to their killer's identity: Clumsily but brutally hacked down with a pair of thin blades; strangled or beaten to death by a larger foe; or ensnared by primitive mechanisms fit for a kobold's den... this is not the work of a beast, but neither is it the work of a trained warrior. Regardless, and whether they intend it or not, their traps may become as grave a threat to the mushroom-gathering drow as the beetles they slay...

[DaloLorn]

An unusually androgynous drow ventured out into the mushroom grove last cycle. Probably known to some as "Velve" - "Blade" - they were later seen in the company of a ragged, deeply deferential halfblood girl, wearing tattered rags interspersed with carefully (if not entirely efficiently) placed bandages and bits of goblin armor. Haphazardly carrying a bag full of mundane or mildly-magical weapons (including a pair of thin blades of drow make) and armor, the girl seemed to favor a mismatched pair of enchanted weapons more suited for the hands of a goblin... but despite bearing arms, she eyed the drow guards with a deep terror as they ventured west of Varalla's Passage.

On their return to the city, the halfblood continued trailing behind Velve as closely as she could. From her reactions to the people around her, it seemed clear she had some history as a slave, though Velve has no known history of owning such. While Velve's treatment of her might be more consistent with that of a protégé or apprentice, there is no doubt that the young half-drow doesn't comprehend - or perhaps doesn't dare acknowledge - whatever freedom her newly adopted "owner" is willing to give her... nor that she is just as frightened of any other drow, and to an extent any other sapient, in the city.

One other thing will become certain over the coming cycles: Zarmoon's harvest will no longer be hindered by the halfblood's improvised defenses...

[DaloLorn]

After several cycles of idling in and around the bazaar, the halfblood joined Velve on another venture west of the city. It didn't take long for Velve to return, carrying her burnt, lifeless body to the nearest temple to be raised; evidently the trip did not go well. This didn't seem to discourage them long, though, as after a few visits to the local merchants, the duo ventured back out of the city.

Upon their return this time, the young half-drow seemed an entirely different person. Almost cheerful as she talked Velve's ears off, her previous servile dread was replaced by a healthy respect more suited to Velve's past treatment of her: Asking for advice and permissions instead of awaiting commands, talking about the past and the future, and even laughing for the first time since her arrival in Sshamath. Although she remains wary of (and nominally subservient to) other drow, it would appear that she has finally (re)discovered her freedom... and turned a tidy enough profit that she soon replaced her slave rags with some proper equipment, to boot.