Umber

The potential for an alliance between Iuz and the Scarlet Brotherhood creates new possibilities for unpleasantness.  

Sir Geoffrey’s personal assistant and the captain of the Montinelle militia frowned nearly identical nervous frowns as the young woman rode away from the gate toward the manor. Mid-afternoon she’d appeared in front of the town as if she’d walked in on a cloud, wearing that mithril armor that was probably worth more than the market square, with that tame weasel on her shoulder who stared at them with an unpleasant steadiness that on a human face the assistant would have called disdain. The black and silver cloak was new and nearly as expensive-looking as the armor. She’d said that Sir Geoffrey was expecting her, as if his personal aide wouldn’t already know, and before he could even offer her a horse demanded one for the longish trek back to the manor. When the captain asked her to return it to the barracks stable when she left, she laughed.
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The party refines it sense of purpose. Hanen finds himself in unexpected company.

Hanen was overcome by a wave of dizziness, and when he came to himself again he looked around in confusion. The last thing he remembered was Lars running out of Klavicus’ room and Lyssa looking at him with concern. It was with some astonishment, then, that he suddenly found himself apparently no longer at the Grey Kingfisher Inn at all. More disconcertingly, he had no idea who he thought this Lars and Lyssa were, or had ever been, and he was none too sure about the existence of the Grey Kingfisher. It was if there had been some seismic shift in his memory or, more ominously, in the world itself.
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Another group of slavers dispatched, the party finds themselves in possession of an empty keep. (af)

You did an excellent job infiltrating and destroying the denizens Slaver Fortress.  After the battle, you manage with little trouble to clean up the remaining defenders of the castle.  The wolf Fenris – who seems to smile at you with a disconcerting lupine satisfaction while feasting on the entrails of the mad cleric Keltar – manages to chase the scent of the fleeing Drow to a well-concealed trapdoor in back of the cleric’s personal chambers on the first floor of the temple.  “That is not my place to venture” he says.  “The stink of the dark ones is strong down there.  I prefer to hunt among the trees and the forests of Oerth, not in the confined passages of the Underdark.  Perhaps you should teach them a lesson in keeping their heads underground…” 
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Klavicus finds Hanen a more sophisticated audience for his tale.

Several weeks had passed, and after bringing the escapade on the Plane of Blue to what Kirin and Erik found an abrupt and rather unsatisfactory conclusion, Hanen refused to tell them any more of the story, returning to the “prettier” tales that Anna preferred. Wheedling didn’t help. Silent resignation didn’t appear to yield better results, being angry at Hanen was out of the question, and any hopes for a timely resumption were dashed one gently raining night when their usual story time was interrupted by the arrival of two visitors at the inn. The smallness of the one was underscored by the exceptional height of the other, who even hunched over looked to Erik’s eye to be well over seven feet tall. Although the larger individual kept his face concealed within the shadows of his cloak, the other tossed back her hood to reveal an auburn-haired elf with strangely translucent skin. Hanen stopped speaking mid-sentence, and appeared to be concentrating on something, although he didn’t look directly at the new guests.
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In the absence of the multiverse, new and mysterious players emerge from the power vacuum. (af)

As you step through the portal, you seem to lose all sensation in your body…time seems to fade away, your sight dims to nothingness, the feeling of life seems to drain from your limbs. You see, in your mind’s eye, a transparent sphere surrounded by an octahedron surrounded by a polyhedron of unknown immensity. This structure is bisected by nine planes stretching out into the trackless void that surrounds the confusing shape. There is a familiar outline, like that of a constellation or a child’s game of connected dots, on each of the planes…is that the outline of a bird or river or perhaps a snake you notice? You cannot be certain, as the shapes are indistinct…
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