The Chapters and Cast of the Ballad
The six heroes fresh from dousing the flame;
Returned to Waterdeep to discuss the future;
With each faction taking moves in the game;
And taking to the crisis a political suture.
Also they sought out items of enchantment;
Within the bountiful City of Splendors;
Where merchants of mystical deportment;
Handle much through their various vendors.
Marle was called away on matters personal;
With Harpers or friends or things less dire;
She plied her hours in place inaccessible;
And prepared herself to face the next fire.
Fennle Pthalien sought out items of protection;
A cloak most secure against blade and spell;
And bracers to aid in an attacks deflection;
For these she traded gems exceptionally well.
Talindra had more practical matters in mind;
A rope of climbing and a rod immovable;
These were what she most sought to find;
And which, to their tasks, were quite suitable.
Aengus himself had a more general thought;
And turned to the academy of magics;
In this place a tutor of arcane learning he sought;
To add to his spellbook another few tricks.
Elivia turned her attention to a war mage's wand;
And followed the advice of the Whispering Crown;
To a slender line of steel held in magical bond;
The bearer to wear a prophecy like a gown.
Lohn turned to the shadowy Zhentarim;
With two thoughts and goals to obtain;
A belt to shift between her and him;
And a pair of boots for gravity to abstain.
In return for the finding of these treasures;
The Zhentarim had a favor to ask;
To travel to Rundreth and take measures;
For or against alliance was the desired task.
An ancient shadow dragon dwelled in the manor;
For how long none knew exactly how long;
And cultists had been seen taking their banner;
To her lair to seek her to join their throng.
Agreed to the mission, Lohn began to prepare;
Shopping for books for learning and pleasure;
Magical treatises and perhaps a "bodice-ripper;"
Alongside a nice dress to present for dragon's leisure.
The Emerald Enclave had their own requests;
To make of the Rosethorn bearer Talindra;
They sought to claim the Scarlet Hall address;
And had a concern which at worries did claw.
The Merosska family had claimed Thurl's body;
After his tumble down several stairs bloody;
And provided him a ceremonial haughty;
Which the Enclave feared was worthy of study.
To seek the crypt of the Merosska family;
The paladin was called to action discrete;
And there to see if Thurl's body did actually;
Lie within the stone where his name did repeat.
At the Order of the Gauntlet Fennle did meet;
With a lieutenant of Samular knights beside her captain;
Discussing the placements where the cults retreat;
They planned assault on the keep along the river then.
With requests for the Enclave and Lords Alliance both;
To add their forces alongside the Gauntlet and Network;
To lay siege against the last of the enemy's surface troth;
They asked to lay with her allies the necessary groundwork.
To this the monk did readily agree;
And left to seek out the rest of her party;
To discuss which force they should now tree;
And introduce to opponents most hearty.
Meanwhile Laerl Silverhand had a dagger for Elivia;
Of steel which in her hands alone would turn red;
Showing the proof of authority for the chosen of Mystra;
Within the Lords Alliance for which she had much bled.
A mercenary force was requested as a neutral garrison;
Beholden officially to none of the member states;
Laerl looked to the cleric of Mystra and asked her orison;
And implied that her family might serve these fates.
With a nod and some hesitation Elivia did accept;
The task of turning to her father's and mother's place;
To negotiate a contract for the Alliance most adept;
Which kept Waterdeep running at a better pace.
Meeting with her father began in a manner disdainful;
As he refused at start to look up from his papers;
Or even turn to face her in a manner meant to be painful;
Treating her words as the merest of vapors.
To her claim of speaking for the Alliance he openly scoffed;
Until Elivia's new mark of authority presented her proof;
Stabbed point down through the desk's leather pad so soft;
Into the wood with a resolve that remained quite aloof.
With wonder and surprise, her father did face;
Her with more consideration than a moment before;
When he took books and prayer to be her place;
A tree from which he thought fruit would not bore.
To the spoken admission of this thought;
Elivia reminded him that with books and prayer;
Especially those such as Mystra wrought;
Came power to destroy armies with a glare.
She gave him intelligence on what he would face;
Griffons and Manticore and aerial cults insane;
And in the Feathergale Spire her father would place;
A unit of pegasi and their partners the sky to rein.
The band of heroes returned from their factions;
To discuss the next point of attention;
For where to direct their focused actions;
And fire was decided to bear their apprehension.
But first there were tasks along the way to complete;
An investigation in the tombs of Waterdhavian nobles;
Reinforcements to prevent a Riverguard retreat;
And an ancient dragon to bring the Zhentarim's roses.
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