Party: Exandra, Rufus, Hilniflit, Finial, Callehalahath, Ambrose, Pear
Day 0: Taxes in town settled up – Guild kitty after taxes: 6,591 gp
Asheryn is busy rushing around the Guild preparing for the party's audience with the dragon queen, Nightserasa. The loot from the raid on Bargle was divvied up and distributed before the party leaves with Asheryn for the castle. Asheryn takes the party towards the noble's quarters. They pass through to the throne room, where they enter a secondary chamber. The room is draped in blue and brown. The room is guarded by the Queen's soldiers and a robed figure is waiting for them. Yannos arrives shortly after with the ork skull, which he passes to Asheryn.
Suddenly the guards leave the room and return moments later. A herald appears and announces Queen Nightserasa. A tall, elven-looking bronze woman in an ornate breastplate enters. Asheryn introduces the Guild members and expresses hope that the Queen is still pleased with her after her expulsion from Elven lands. The party glosses this. Asheryn then presents the skull to the Queen. The Queen expresses her appreciation and gives the skull back to Yano for further study.
The Queen then grants each member of the Guild a favor and gives them an opportunity to make a request of the Court. Hil, impatient and overly excited, decides to use this opening to tell the queen about the other ork skull they'd found under Shadowed Keep, but accidentally destroyed with a little bit of fire. Asheryn and the party are barely able to contain their groans. Hil ignores them and plows on, unrolling a long wishlist… then catches Asheryn's glare. Hill rolls up the list and requests the Queen make a suggestion that might please her highness. The Queen offers Hil a Cloak of Firey Vanishing. (When attacked by fire, it turns the wearer invisible and leaves a pile of ash where they were standing.) Hil is delighted and pleased with this gift.
Then Exandra steps forward and swears loyalty to the Queen, asking if she may train and spar with the Dragon Guard so she may better serve the Queen. The Queen agrees and grants her an honorary title equal to sergeant in the Guard and tells Exandra to report to Captain Belorin.
Next Calle, clearly besotted by the Queen, promises to do the Queen a favor in the future. The Queen is pleased and offers Calle a Stone of Alliance.
Finial, with a flourish of pride, speaks to the Queen in draconic and explains his desire to continue his study of the cycle of life. The Queen rewards him with a Ring of Surging Electricity (shocking grasp and exploding die mechanic for electrical spells).
Ambrose requests a parcel of land that he can run in the service of the Court. The Queen explains that there's no land to offer beyond the walls of Westmarch that the Queen can grant explicitly, but she grants him a Court Charter of Stonehaven Keep – the condition of which is unknown. If Ambrose can make it safe, the Queen will allow Westmarch citizens to settle there.
Rufus asks for his bow to be enchanted and the Queen says she will make it an Enchanted Huntsman Bow +1.
Pear desires something sneaky, like a pair of Cat Burglar Boots (to boost her climbing and acrobatics so she can fall out of things gracefully).
Once all the gifts had been granted, Hilniflit reads Weido's letter to Bargle. The Queen is a bit non-plussed. Politics beyond her walls are not her concern, but she asks that if the Guild is going to intervene, she asks that they do so in a manner that will do right by the people of Dulwich.
Ambrose then tells a really, really hilarious joke. You had to be there. It was really great. The herald then leads the party out to the Main Hall to wait for their gifts to be retrieved and arranged. A note is delivered to Ambrose with the Queen's seal. The note reads "Ha ha" and includes a Rune of Power in the envelope.
With the Queen's audience concluded, the party heads out to Shadowed Keep by warp stone. Outside the Keep, the party finds one of the rune-covered goblins they met in the forest and set here, guarding the entrance. The goblin shows no fear of the party despite the fact that the party killed a bunch of his clan. Hil approaches the goblin and asks how things are going between the two merged goblin tribes. The goblin seems to suggest everything is fine.
Ambrose tries to soften the goblin up by telling a really terrible joke. It was bad. I can't repeat it here. The party leaves the Shadowed Keep for Dulwich, formulating a plan on the way. That night, they make camp and discuss possibilities. Will they infiltrate the city covertly and spy or try a propaganda campaign? The plan is not settled before they sleep for the night.
The next morning, on their way to Dulwich, the party is stopped by shrieking coming from an abandoned house. The party approaches and finds a crumbling stone, 2-story building with a thatched roof. 3 horses are tied up out front. Exandra, Hil and Pear rush to the front entrance. Calle sneaks around one side of the building and Pear circles around to the other side. Calle, spying through a window, finds two humanoids with wings for ears shrieking in front of a headless corpse covered in a writhing slime. The humanoids are being cornered by two dark skinned creatures that are just humanoid heads with bat wings for ears and tentacles on their chins.
Calle smashes the window. Finial runs through the front door and shouts, "What's going on, here?!" The hairless humanoids shout for help. Calle shoots one the dark heads from the window. Hil steps in and casts burning hands, engulfing the dark heads in flame. Exandra rushes in behind and kills the first head. The other shrieks a blood curdling scream and Hil, Rufus and Pear suddenly find themselves frozen in place. The slime suddenly comes alive and attacks Exandra.