Nobody could say for certain who had originated the scheme, but it was brilliant enough that each of them did what they could to claim some portion of the credit. One of the more aggressive of the fellowship was the clean-shaven drider known as Baron Chaverin. The baron was also an accomplished cleric, and it was the abuse of his power in his native dark elven community that had led him to be afflicted with the nightmarish curse he now carried as a drider. Having recently been charged with overseeing the eastern half of Limbourg by the Archduke of Maelonbourg and the Wenigzustand, Baron Chaverin was given the explicit command to defend this land from any attacks launched by Lotharingia, the neighbor across the river to the east. Every aspect of the caper was going to be a benefit to Chaverin, and the fellowship involved had commenced moving forward with this in mind. Chaverin would reap the rewards in the near future, but down the road he will be expected to lend his talents to enable them to be similarly successful.

There is a maxim well known in drow elven culture that there is no such thing as a successful man. There are only successful women that have kept the men in blissful ignorance of reality. For Chaverin this was just as true in the surface world he now dwelled in as it had been in the underdark. The woman that quietly kept Chaverin on track and held his more monstrous urges in check was a drow elven priestess who went by the name September. Her given name was Charsintra Rrostabban, and she hailed from a dreadfully powerful family that had backstabbed its way to the top of the pack in a number of underdark cities. September though was enamored with surface life, especially at night when the stars came out and the creepy things skulked about. Like Chaverin, September had always been immersed in the theological aspect of drow culture. Her role as the High Priestess of the barony gave her enormous influence over many things, but especially over Chaverin. While he was not as mentally unstable as Quinn, the drider that lived in the town of Resurrection down in Maelonbourg, Chaverin was still a dangerous person who had more than enough of the physical and magical powers he might need to bend things to his will or to simply snap them in half. September had not known Chaverin that long, but in their short time together they had done what dark elves always do; find common ground to exploit the strength of others to cover up whatever weaknesses you perceive in yourself.

For this reason, Chaverin had insisted that September be allowed to take an active roll in the plot once the ball got rolling. The choice had been between September and a less experienced dark elven priestess named Aleena who served a similar role with Quinn the drider. Aleena was not as powerful as September and she freely acknowledged that. The deferral to September was a nod to the elder priestess and the fellowship began to move forward with their planning. While the dark elves were going to provide the spells to carry off this gambit, they were going to need genuine assassins well-acquainted with the surface world to do the bulk of the work. Luckily, the fellowship had a fine lineup of professionals to draw from.

Malek the jorish huntsman was one of the first to be nominated. Lately he had been occupied with helping to secure Oublier and the city of Bozageest against Lotharingian incursions. Malek’s skills were legendary among the fellowship as was his quiet humility about just how lethal he was. From the point of view that Malek’s participation in this adventure would help to thwart or at least hinder the Lotharingians when they began their militaristic behavior when spring rolled around was a strong motivator for Malek to join. Malek had a vested interest in defending Oublier for the simple reason that he was preparing to marry the Duchess of Oublier and there wasn’t any force on earth that he would stand idly by and let run amok across her domain. It was to that end that the fellowship approached Malek. It worked. Malek was on board.

There were two others that had to be convinced to join in order to guarantee the success of the mission. While Aleena agreed to do all that she could to leverage them into helping, it was going to be up to others in the fellowship to do some of the convincing. The members in Resurrection were gathering together and figuring out their approach. Aleena counted on the influence of the most devious member of the organization to actually go in person to visit with the two that were needed to pull it all off. Aleena was always the most anxious and nervous whenever she had to deal with Tragallia the Night Hag. Even though she routinely had to calm down Quinn whenever he went into his murderous blood rages there was nothing more terrifying to Aleena than simply chatting with Tragallia. It wasn’t an issue though. Tragallia knew the importance of thwarting the Lotharingians perhaps more than anyone else in the fellowship. She graciously took the assignment to deal with the last two recruits.

Tragallia paused briefly as she drew closer to her destination. It was a busy part of the town, although it could be argued that everywhere in Resurrection was busy. Tragallia was in her most frequently used polymorphed human form. Only those that knew of her true nature would find her threatening while she was in this guise. She took a deep breath as she read the sign hanging over the door. It read “Niemand Shadefiend” on the first line and on the second it read “Bowyer & Fletcher.” Putting on her most inviting smile, Tragallia opened the door and stepped in.