Recorded by Court Scribe Severanius from the spoken words of Queen Aeliona of Valishdal to a court gathering, Tertius 4th , year 946, 7th age

These events take place during the last days of Fey’Em’Tabor, year 897, 7th age

This scroll details the first meeting of the Companions with Princess Aeliona of Avyrness and their subsequent rescue of the Princess.

The Companions had been on the road for many months in separate groups across Ekandor. They had agreed to meet up in Takesh, the capital city of the kingdom of Valishdal. Many of the Companions ended up meeting at an inn in Hawks Hollow, the Oakenstaff, ran by an old friend Haggen. The principal members of the Companions at this time were Clover, Dusky, Glimmer, Alston, Thresh and Tenzijen.

While resting the night a curious band of men and a woman entered the tavern looking for respite from the pouring rain. After offering up his room, Alston began questioning the woman and her companions. Glimmer played a sweet melody in the background and discovered that the woman was in fact Princess Aeliona. Her ship had suffered some setbacks and had put into dock near town and her guardians needed a room for the night to secure her. After spending a good portion of the evening together the Princess invited the party to the castle, and she was to be wed to King Lysander III in a week.

Later the next day the party ran across the wreaked ship of the Princess. Bodies of Orcs and guards of the princess littered the ground around the wrecked boat and all the sailors were dead. Tracks led away from the ship and into the nearby forest.

The party tracked down the Orcs to a cave system and discovered that the Orcs were planning on sacrificing the princess and two of her guards to the Orcish gods for their favor. The party sneakily made their way through the caves to confront the Orc leader and the Orc priest that was sacrificing the captives.

After an epic battle against the forces of evil the party saved the princess and one guard. After looking through the temple to the evil Orc god they discovered that there was a chest of gold with Baron Sochess crest. The party decided to help escort the Princess back to Takesh.

On the way they discovered that a man by the name of Commander McCray was hunting the Princess and attempting to kill her before she arrived back to the capital. The party decided to evade the search party by travelling through the woods.

It was here that they were surrounded by the undead and a Wight. Scholars noted that this may have been the first time the Companions interacted with the Wight King, although cross referencing other scrolls muddies the waters a little. Regardless, they traded a song for peace, and the Wight left them in the dark, right before dawn broke the horizon.

Upon arrival to Takesh the party quickly discovered all was not well. It was customary for the Prince or Princess of Avyrness to go into hiding for one month before they were to wed, in order to purify themselves and prepare their body and mind to accept the new responsibilities that would be laid before them. During her month away, news had been brought to King Lysander that the Princess had died from the Pox and that Avyrness was merely using her time away as an excuse in order to sue for peace withDar’Amkul. The King went into hiding from this news, announcing a time of mourning for the kingdom.

During this time away the King, through a proclamation, claimed that the Companions were traitors to the crown and should be arrested on sight. The party quickly discovered that no one had heard anything from the King during his time of mourning. The Party began to suspect that Baron Sochess, who by all accounts was amassing power with the nobles for a coup, had something to do with the disappearance of the King.

The party also was found by Seneschal Aeryk, whose powers had been greatly diminished by the disappearance of the King, asking for their help in discovering what truly happened to the King. The party was assaulted by Commander McCray, this time backed up by a mysterious witch, but the Commander quickly fled the combat as he was quickly outmatched. The party then agreed to meet with the leader of the Shatterlock Gang, a known criminal enterprise in the city and someone who Seneschal Aeryk could not directly go and speak to.

The party met with Kruthuk Turiss, the local leader of the Shatterlock gang, who provided them a way into the palace. Once inside, the party snuck into the Kings chamber to discover that he had been poisoned and cursed, his life slowly draining away. The King's High Steward Morrin claimed that he had summoned a priest and had received medicine and that the medicine did help calm the King when he was experiencing coughing fits. The party used the High Steward to summon High Priest Lorellion, a practitioner of the Kings faith in the Dawn Dragon, to the palace. Lorellion removed the curse and the King slowly was brought awake.

After arresting several suspects and with the help of a zone of truth spell, the party quickly got to the bottom of the mystery. Spymaster Corliss, working with a mysterious entity known only as Shadis, plotted to overthrow the King. Corliss had lied to the King about the death of Princess Aeliona and had helped in getting the poison into the castle. High Steward Morrin was unwittingly killing his King slowly every night. The poison needed to be slow enough that Baron Sochess could gather power and persuade the nobles to band together under his leadership in order to stave off a civil war. The Companions were declared Traitors and arrested to be used as bargaining chips in order to gain peace with the Kingdom of Dar’Amkul. Corliss did all this because he felt the King was weak and that the war was costing too many lives. He believed that Baron Sochess would have a much firmer hand in guiding the country and was working to help install him into a position of power without the Baron ever finding out.

Corliss was put to death and the Companions and Baron Sochess were exonerated. The Companions were given a feast and celebrated as The Heroes of Valishdal. It should be noted from this time frame on all records in Valishdal were recorded with this honorific for the Companions. Princess Aeliona wed the King and became Queen Aeliona the 1 stone month after the King was saved.

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