Ariadul

Ariadul is the second largest town of the western elven kingdom. It is a beautiful, thriving metropolis, with white stone and decoratively constructed wooden buildings. The streets are clean and everyone makes something of themselves here with not a beggar in sight. As the closest town to the borders of the western human and dwarven kingdoms it is where a lot of trade is expected. A handful of humans and even dwarves have even managed to relocate here and their presence has gradually become welcome. Security is of high importance here.

Story Significance Act 2
There was an immediate tension in the air when the party arrived in Ariadul. The party was immediately asked by the Town Guard to hand in their weapons, however, Elras intervened and reassured them. Despite this, the party were informed the city was on curfew and were strongly advised to stick to it. As the party made their way through the marketplace they were given funny looks, and found even the shopkeepers not being very forthcoming. An important-looking man ran up to the party, recognising them as the famous heroes of Esmere. Introducing himself as Ambassador Edmund, he invited them for tea at the Esmere (Human) Embassy. He apologised for the icy welcome from the Town Guard but they had their reasons. There had been some minor incidents in the town. One of his servants, Enson, was thrown in prison after repeated incidents of theft and assault. His behaviour however was out of the ordinary - Enson was a supporter of the alliance and apparently he couldn't remember any of these occurences. Edmund was annoyed that other elves have exhibited similar behaviour but have been treated better. These incidents had not helped with the upcoming trade conference in Ariadul. Edmund suspects only one person, an archmage called Sardyl of the Arcane Institute. He spoke out against the humans a while ago, remarking that elves were superior and don't require humans as he believed them to be lazy. Edmund realised that Tyrion was Addylyn's son and recommended that he visit her at her home further in town where she'd been living for the past two months. Tyrion's father used to work for the Esmere Embassy and fell in love with Addylyn in the city. The couple settled for a quieter life in Simorelle and Addylyn gave birth. Tyrion's father didn't return from battling the giants and so Addylyn remained in the village and did visit Edmund on her occasional trips to Ariadul. Tyrion informed Edmund that Addylyn died, which confused him. Edmund insisted that Addylyn was a live and well and missed Tyrion. He said that she moved back to Ariadul when her son left home.

Elras visited the Town Guard to speak to Captain Iyronel who confirmed what Edmund had said. He found that Sardyl was an abrasive and annoying character but was highly regarded in the Arcane Institute. Meanwhile Tyrion and Addylyn were joyfully reunited at her home. She remembered waking up next to her grave but not how she got there. She asked around Simorelle about her son but found that he had gone with no indication as to where. She decided to settle back in Ariadul and prayed that Tyrion would one day return. Elras met up with the party at Addylyn's house and they went to the Arcane Institute to speak with Sardyl. Sardyl however, refused to see them. The party investigated the Arcane Institute and after asking around they found that every two nights he would sneak out to some old ruins. He had been researching on a mysterious phenomenon of magical distortion there for around three months. His apparentices only knew that it was growing but not of what it was. Sardyl was also the only current licensed elven mage who researched into necromancy. Ordinarily the subject was banned at the Arcane Institute but Sardyl showed exceptional knowledge and talent so they made an exception.

In the evening Edmund summoned the party for help. An Elven Guard was spotted setting fire to the Esmere Tradehouse. Captain Iyronel arrived and commanded his guard, Ulred to stop but he didn't listen, continuing with his arson attack. The party intervened and restrained Ulred, much to the dismay of Iyronel. The party spot Sardyl observing from a distance who then returned to his workplace upon the arrest. At the Town Guard HQ the party were present at Ulred's questioning, to which, unsurprisingly, he did not remember anything. Iyronel asked if Ulred's severe head injury from three months ago had affected his judgement. Ulred reassured the captain that he was fine but decided to spend the night in the hospital.

The next day a human guard, Ethan was arrested for defacing an elven minister's home. Addylyn then led a protest outside the Esmere Embassy, which turned violent with elves throwing food and junk at the building. Tyrion and the party quickly took her away before Town Guard arrived. Back at her house she couldn't remember anything. The party persuaded her to rest and not leave the house. Back at the Town Guard HQ, Ethan also can't remember anything. The party examined Ethan and Enson more closely and discovered that they had lethal accidents months ago which should have killed them but they survived. The party decided to confront Sardyl, sneaking out at night to the ruins.

They followed Sardyl to an ancient temple site and saw a whirling portal of black and blue energy. It however was jittering in its existence (like static on a TV signal). Sardyl approached the portal, incanting unknown words which began to transfer energy from the portal to him. Confronting the necromancer the party did battle. Sardyl taunted Tyrion and said that Addylyn was alive because of him. If he should fall, then the lifelink would be broken and Addylyn would die again. Tyrion was asked if he wanted his mother to die again. With tears in his eyes, Tyrion cried out that she was already dead and landed a killing blow to Sardyl. D'hargo examined Sardyl's notebook, understanding that he was unaware that this was a magic portal. Sardyl had simply been siphoning energy from it to create new magic, such as an arcane version of ressurection but with a twist of mind control. Tyrion, flooded with emotion charged through the portal, leaving the party with no choice but to follow.

The portal led to a pocket plane where the party was presented with a series of challenges. Their first was combatting Air Elementals. This was followed by navigating a small dungeon with deaf basilisks loitering the area. The third test involved freeing a trapped cube by standing on a pressure pad that slowly lowered the magic field around it but continuously burned the person standing on the pad. The party's intelligence was then tested by solving a logical 'clock' puzzle, followed by a test on their judgement. They were presented with the case of Rothar the Half-Orc who killed a man, Rick after a card game. Four witnesses were called and the party was allowed to question them. Denby the bartender saw Rothar losing and saw him chip in a valuable heirloom. He commented that Rick hates orcs, and so found it unusual that Rick chose to play with Rothar. Jeb, a tavern patron saw Rick cheating and goading Rothar and saw the fight where Rothar killed him. Bill the bouncer saw Rothar kill Rick too, claimed that Rothar was in a state of uncontrollable rage. Rose the waitress saw Rick put someting in Rothar's drink. The party spoke to Rothar who was very apologetic for his actions. Because of this they decided he should have a sentence of community service. The last test involved a little girl, who sat infront of a humungous dragon statue. She was hugging a large glowing ball and did not want to give it to the party. It was up to them to persuade her to hand it over to them. D'hargo attempted to cast the spell 'Charm Person' on her to make the process quicker but it had no effect and she temporarily imprisioned him in a magical maze. Although Haven was known to be a more charismatic person it was Tyrion who proved to the girl with his words that she could trust him. Handing over the glowing ball, the party were teleported back to the ruins over Sardyl's body, the Orb of Dragonkind on the ground. Carefully placing it into a sack, the party finally had the object they were seeking. Before making their way back to Leonore they said their farewells to Edmund and Tyrion buried his mother again, back at her grave in Simorelle.

Known Locations

 * Marketplace
 * Esmere (Human) Embassy
 * Esmere Tradehouse
 * Town Guard HQ
 * Arcane Institute

Local NPC's

 * Ambassador Edmund
 * Captain Iyronel
 * Addylyn Maher (deceased)
 * Sardyl (deceased)
 * Enson (deceased)
 * Ethan (deceased)
 * Uldred (deceased)