Chapter One

Date: July 19

      The adventure began on the House Lyrannder airship "Pride of Stormhome" currently en route from Sharn to the Lyrannder enclave on the northern island paradise of Stormhome. The luxary ship held the player characters for a variety of reasons, but also had several passengers of note.

      The peaceful summer voyage was shattered by an attack of several warforged, a shifter assassin, and a mage directing the assault. Before the crew, and several brave strangers, could stop them, the attackers killed a guard who was accompanying a Brelish envoy traveling to Aundair. The shifter fled over the side deck and hid from pursuit somewhere in the bowels of the ship. On the deck, the four strangers were brought before the captain, Myranna d' Lyannder, who asked for their help in investigating the attacks. Melorae the bard searched the corpses of the attackers, and found a strange stone tablet covered in runes. The newly formed band of investigators pocketed the strange item and set about interviewing the passengers on the ship.

         The three persons of high interest among the ship were interviewed one at a time. The first presented herself as Lady Tempany d' Cannith who was traveling with a sealed chest that she kept by her at all times. The lady informed the party that the chest held a schema she was transporting to the House Cannith enclave in Stormhome, and she figured that was why she was the target of the assassins. The second person interviewed by the party was a professor, formerly from Morgrave University, who was heading to visit his former student, whom he identified as the Explorer known as "Redd Thom," to hear about some latest discovery that had been made regarding the strange continent of Xendrik.

         The final interiew was with the Brelish envoy, Lord Drenmen, who was on a "diplomatic mission to Aundair."  Lord Drenmen was sure the assassins were after him due to his status and mission. One of his protectors was out completing her own investigation of the ship.

          As the party moved through the ship they met a strange little girl who they had spied momentarily on the deck earlier. Barefooted, green eyed, and with a face that no one could place as to exactly what race she belonged to, the girl identified herself as Baevra and soon dissappeared. The party found that many people on the ship had seen the strange girl, but none knew her, or who she was traveling with.

         In the hallway leading to the galley, the party came upon two more warforged and the earlier escaped shifter placing another strange rune in the hallway. A brief and brutal struggle erupted in the cramped hallways with the adventurers successful. They found that the rune glowed brighter now and Melorae and Pelcam quickly deducted that the proximity to the elemental ring that powered the ship was having this effect on the runes. The warforged fighter known as The Nameless One simplified it for the party. "It's a bomb. They're going to blow up the boat."

        The investigation had turned into a race against the clock to find out if there were any more rune tablets around the ship, and just who they were dealing with. The party sought out the ships quarter master, and found the gnome in a cloud of Dragonfoil smoke. Apparently the gnome had been paid off with the potent drug to smuggle a few large crates onto the ship. The Dragonfoil however was so potent that it had done damage to the gnome's mind, and all of his duties had suffered. The party was saved by Baevra who appeared again and cleared their minds of the drug's effects, putting the party back on the trail of the killers and their plot. The adventurers searched the cargo hold, but found nothing.

        Returning to the captain the party shared their fears, the captain agreed, and began to push the Pride at the edge of its speed to reach Stormhome by morning. The party returned to the cabins of the passengers, only to discover Lady Tempany was gone, with only a smear of blood on her cabin's floor. Professor Blackwell revealed that he had spied others in his room after a conversation with Lady Tempany and the party found another rune tablet hidden in the corner. Blackwell also revealed that he held a journal sent to him by his former student, and that he feared the journal and its contents were the reasons for the attacks. Back in Lady Tempany's room the party found the cunningly hidden corpse of a crewman, and another hidden rune tablet.

      The characters now suspected that Lady Tempany was not what she seemed. They rushed to the captain who sounded the alarm to the entire ship. Suddenly, Lady Tempany and another pack of warforged assassins broke onto the deck. Lady Tempany removed a master rune tablet from her locked chest and shouted something about the return of the Cyrian nation. She then started the ritual to dissappate the elemental. Her warforged stormed forward as the party dashed into combat. The battle flared across the stage until Tempany was knocked away from the main deck and then sent spilling into the air while Melorae held the tablet. With the ship saved, the party found that the Brelish envoy had been murdered in the chaos and that the professor had been slain trying to assist the party. With his dying breath, the Professor gave Melorae the journal sent to him by his old student and tasked her with finding "Red Thom" in Stormhome.

     As the ship descended into Stormhome the party stood on the deck next to the corpse of the Brelish envoy wondering what would greet them when they docked.