Castle Whiterock—Chapter 10: Summer in the City

Characters

• Emmeline Forthwrought, eccentric human wizard, with Jonathan, cat familiar.
• Frevia Arden, self-sufficient human druid, with Roberta, snake animal companion.
• Imra Shadowmantle, disciplined elven rogue.
• Melanie Shadowmantle, aristocratic human fighter, with Angelina, recovered toad.

It's Just Business

Over the next week, Imra asks around about the three merchants she needs to remove from the gem trade with Far Cirque. She discovers that one has recently died after a long and distinguished life. She  visits his home to pay her respects and learns that his children are likely to sell his trade charter. She passes this information on to the family to follow up on.

With help from Emmeline and Frevia, Imra puts together a business proposal for the other merchants. The second merchant is impressed by the presentation and offers to cut the Shadowmantle family in on the business if they can help him smuggle gems out of Morraine under the crown's nose. Imra is pretty sure she can sell Lord Elric on this plan when she returns to Cillamar.

The final merchant is Angela Stein, very wealthy and with diversified interests beyond just the gem trade. After giving her presentation to a underling, Imra is invited to dinner at Stein's home, along with the rest of the party. When they arrive, they find the home decorated with many clocks and clockwork devices.

A servant leads the group to the dining room, and soon Stein arrives with her silent but imposing bodyguard. Stein is pleasant but straight to the point. She has heard of the party's success in the ruins of Castle Whiterock, and she wants them to find something for her beneath the castle. Centuries ago, a group of gnomes founded a school called the Clockwork Academy. (Imra recalls a flyer for the Academy that she found in the mines beneath the ruins.) The tales speak of amazing breakthroughs that have been lost to the ages, and Stein wants them back. If the party can recover information from the Clockwork Academy, she will gladly pass her gem trade charter to the Shadowmantles. The party eagerly agrees.

Wax On, Wax Off

During the week, Melanie spends much of her time at a monastery run by lay followers of Soleth, the god of solitude and peaceful death. The monks provide free self-defense classes and subtly teach against violence and aggression.

While training, Melanie makes friends with one of the monks, a half-elf woman named Ella. Ella was brought to the monks as a baby, the only survivor of a disease outbreak that killed her parents and left her alone for some time before neighbors found her. She shows Melanie the meditation garden she tends, which is an odd collection of large stones set in a clay floor. Melanie doesn't really understand it, but she treasures the connection with this young woman and invites Ella to visit Shadowmantle Manor if she ever leaves the monastery and Galaron.

Next Steps

With their business concluded in the city, the party looks to return to Cillamar. They know they will be heading back to Castle Whiterock to search for the Clockwork Academy. To get back a little faster, the group decides to hire themselves on as guards on a river boat and head up the Morro River and through the Ice Mire. If all goes well, they can hire horses at Stonebridge or just hike back home.