The Adventure

Scene I: The Party Assembles
The adventure began in the city of Gent, located in the northeast mountains of Galadia. The year was 7e427. The original members of the party were:

Malzahar had long dreamed of one day riding a dragon, and had recently learned of some ruins that were rumored to hold ancient manuscripts that contained information about dragons. Though a powerful psion, he was understandably wary of making the journey on his own (and certainly didn't want to have to carry all of his own travelling gear), and was thus bringing along Basha, who was more than willing to render aid unto Malzahar. A few days before he was to depart, Malzahar noticed Enkidu while attending to some business. Recognizing him by his apparell as one of the monastic monks--Gent, being the closest city to the monastery, was a common first stop for those sent out to experience the world--invited him also to travel to the ruins, and was pleased when the young man accepted.
 * Malzahar - An elderly human psion and prominent member of the Academy in Gent. Several years earlier a small group of Okhutan seeking a place of dwelling had come to Gent, and Malzahar was instrumental in securing for them the right to establishment a settlement there. Because of this, all of the Okhutan in the area are very loyal to him.
 * Basha - An Okhutan barbarian who lives in the settlement on the outskirts of Gent.
 * Enkidu - A young human monk from a nearby monastery. He had recently departed from there in order to go out and learn more about the world, a traditional rite of passage for the monastic youth.
 * Loren - An Illussian and member of the White Hand, the Illussian nation's body of foreign diplomats. Though congenitally blind, he is able to clearly sense the world around him due to the blessings of henosis. He was in Galadia after his presence had been requested by the Duke of Enferth.
 * Clairond - An Elvaën mage and longtime friend and travelling companion of Loren.

The night before they began their journey, the trio visited a local tavern, where Loren and Clairond were staying. Upon their arrival, Clairond was at the counter winning the admiration of a number of easily-impressed maidens through some displays of Elvaen magic, while Loren, a bit more modest (but, really, only a tiny bit), sat at a table in the corner regaling several other young lasses with mostly-accurate tales of his travels. Also present at the tavern were several boisterous men whose accents identified them as being from southern Galadia, a region known for the prevalence of raiders and bandit clans.

Two of these men took it upon themselves to harass Enkidu, but they failed to provoke any response from the stoic monk. He could bear no more, however, when the two became physically aggressive, and a brawl soon broke out. Though Malzahar seldom saw reason to involve himself in the affairs of others, he suspected that Enkidu would not be able to defend himself against the five men who now circled around him. Loath to lose a willing travel companion, Malzahar entered the fray with Basha. Loren and Clairond, though without any personal involvement in the fight that was taking place before them, decided to join with Basha, Enkidu, and Malzahar against the southern Galadians under the pretense that these three were outnumbered and had not actually initiated the conflict. In truth, they had been profoundly irritated by listening to the five other men all evening, and were simply eager for any opportunity to take vengeance for that disturbance.

While the party members had no intent of employing lethal force, they were left with no other options when their enemies drew their guns and blades. By the time the fray had ended, only one of the offenders remained alive, whom the party mercifully spared.

''Alright, as much as I enjoy writing out all these details, in the interest of time I'm going to just do a brief summary of everything else for now. That way it will be easy to review the party's adventure, and I can get to work on other parts of the site.''

After the fight, the unexpected allies spoke with each other for a bit. Upon discovering that the previously-mentioned ruins were on the way to Loren's intended destination, the city of Anastheim, Malzahar invited him and Clairon to also come along. Thus the part was officially formed.

Knowing that Baltios, a member of the Academy, had a map of the ruins to which the party was journeying, they went to him and asked to borrow the map. However, Baltios really did not like Malzahar, and the party was unable to convince him to part with the map. They later returned to Baltios's chambers after he had gone to sleep and stole the map. However, Baltios was awakened by this, and, though unable to catch up with the fleeing party, was certainly able to see who was responsible for the theft. Knowing that Baltios was after them, the party thought it was prudent to depart right away, rather than wait around until morning.

Scene II - Exploring the Ruins
The party found the ruins. Clairond made an idiot of himself. The information on dragons was obtained, but did not provide Malzahar with all that he was looking for. The writings he found did, however, make reference to some other texts, and so Malzahar decided to travel with Loren and Clairond to the city of Anastheim to make use of the enormous library housed in the city.

Scene III - Investigation in Anastheim
Everybody arrived in Anastheim safe and sound. They were welcomed at the city's palace by Isaac Matthias, the Duke of Enferth, the duchy of which Anastheim was the capital. The royal council was to be meeting over the next couple of days, and thus Matthias was not immediately able to meet with Loren. For reasons I don't remember, the party felt it prudent to perform an investigation, not knowing specifically what they were looking for. Some of what they found was: When the party was in the palace on their way to visit Matthias, they came upon the scene of an assassination. They saw that it was the king who had been killed, having been stabbed by Matthias's missing knife. Present there were Matthias, Medilieu, and several guards, among whom was the guard who was being coerced. Medilieu accused Matthias of murdering the king, and the guard claimed that he had seen Matthias do so. However, with the evidence they had acquired, the party was able to prove that it was in fact Medilieu who was guilty of regicide. Medilieu flew into a rage and tried to flee. The party intercepted him and, despite facing a powerful foe, slew him and his guards.
 * A local guard's family was being threatened, as a means of coercing the guard into some unknown action. Finding this out involved Clairond again being stupid.
 * King Baldwin XII had been in poor health as of late.
 * Some powder was found in Matthias's room.
 * That powder was brought to a local apothecary and identified as a poison made from a flower native to the duchy of Elborn.
 * A dagger belonging to Matthias, which Baldwin had given him as a gift years earlier, had recently gone missing. However, because it was such a precious gift, Matthias was terribly embarassed, and made sure that its absence was kept a secret.
 * Borjynn Medilieu, Duke of Elborn, was overheard asking one of his servants if a parcel of powder was in place.

Scene IV - Aftermath
The meetings held by the Royal Council were to discuss relations with the Dahaka, and whether or not Galadia should continue its peaceful relations with them, which had of late been strained. King Baldwin was not officially decided, but was definitely leaning towards maintaining and further developing peaceful relations with them. Matthias adamantly insisted upon peace, while Medilieu, though maintaining a facade of neutrality, wanted to wage war against them. Three of the other dukes were in favor of peace, with one, Iliïl von Arburg, in favor of war. Of the four cardinals present, one was intent on waging war, another was also leaning in that direction, and the other two wanted peace.

Though Loren, as an Illussian, had no official standing among the Royal Council, Matthias had requested of the Illussian Empire that he come to be met with privately. Loren had had an assignment some time earlier during which he worked closely with the Duke of Enferth, and the two developed a strong bond of trust. He thus wanted to be able to ask for Loren's immediate aid should the need arise after the meetings, and hoped to be able to call for large-scale intervention by the Illussian Empire if the situation grew desperate. Though he knew that the general consensus of the council would most likely favor continued peace, he nevertheless felt that some "larger forces" were at work, which suspicion was only validated by the king's assassination.

For their efforts which proved Matthias's innocence, the party was rewarded with a considerable amount of treasure and gold. Matthias was appointed regent to Baldwin's son, who was crowned as King Lucius VII Ven Galadus, and he and his wife ready themselves to travel to Enon, the capital city. While acknowledging that there is no way to hide the crimes of Medilieu, Matthias nevertheless desires to minimize his offenses as much as possible, still honoring and respecting him for his lifetime of service to his king and his country.

Scene I - Finding Tears of Eldrasul
Matthias asked the party to go south to the nation of Izdalu and meet with the Dahaka there, to inform them of the current situation and make known to them his desires for peace. They met up with a Dahakiri caravan and traveled with them to the Dahakiri-Ro city of Dazukhol. Loren presents his Illussian seal to gain an audience with the Dahakiri Elders, but the Dahaka are unimpressed, and dismissively tell him that one of them will convery his message to the Elders. The next day, the party is told that, if they desire to personally meet with the Elders, then as a show of good faith they must recover some much-needed Tears of Eldrasul from the remains of an ancient Dahakiri city.

So, the party went to the ruins of Dahk-Vakira along with an elderly Dahak named Buszo and a new party member, another Dahak name Zamira. They killed some stuff, found the Tears of Eldrasul, and left. During that time, Malzahar managed to kill two sandwraiths in a single move by simply pushing them into a deep chasm. The DM was not amused.

Scene II - The Mountainside Fortress
Upon returning to Dazukhol, the party was informed that a nearby Dahakiri-Volk settlement had been attacked by Galadians. The party was asked to investigate and find out exactly what had happened.