After escaping Brother Ezekiel, Madame Leota, and the sinister Carnival of Shadows, the party arrived in Rearsgale—bruised but intact. There, they laid the groundwork for the False Frog Gambit, commissioning a sculptor and enchanter to craft convincing duplicates of the mysterious frog statuette. Lucious, with the help of a hired bard, seeded tales across taverns and markets: stories of treasure caches tied to frog relics, waiting for bold seekers to uncover them.
Their efforts drew attention.
Soon, they were contacted by Thraegun Vellskald, Icebound of the Ninth Hollow and envoy to the Permafrost Jarl. Through a second iceblock communicator, the Jarl revealed unsettling truths: the Darkwater Clan had survived the imperial purge and now plotted to release a shadowed horror upon the world. The frog statuette, he claimed, was central to their plan. Though once promised rulership of the surface in exchange for his aid, the Jarl had been cut out—his ambitions derailed, his trust revoked.
He also confirmed a chilling suspicion: “Madame Leota” is likely Velomira Theryn Darkwater, niece of the last emperor, now a loyal surface agent controlled from the clan’s hidden headquarters.
Determined to trace the frog’s origin, the party journeyed to the Basalt Shelf, guided by directions from the Hill Giant chief and Scarlet Garvin’s hideout. After ten days of travel through Donbeg’s outskirts, they reached a dwarven ruin—unremarkable on the surface, but saturated with Scryer’s Marks, runes left by diviners for long-term surveillance. Hundreds of them. Possibly thousands.
In the ruin’s basement, they found six wall safes:
- Two violently breached
- One cleanly opened
- Three still sealed
Before they could investigate further, a cult hit-squad teleported in—three cultists, two skeletons, and a wight. The party dispatched them swiftly. Lucious attempted to open the remaining safes, but even his skill and tools weren’t enough.
With cultist bodies prepared for Speak With Dead, the group turned back toward Barrelhaven, seeking better equipment—and answers.