You enter the main hall and see people everywhere. People of various types of clothing and dress, all foreign to you. Humanoids of all shapes and sizes, a couple of young green dragons, and a young black dragon glancing about at all of you. Dwarves, hobgoblins, Indrasian humans, elves, even some skeleton guards. The main hall is full of the unimaginable all in one place and not fighting. The hall itself is decked with banners of Dravens and memorial banners of Prince Raffolk. In addition, banners of the governments who are in attendance have been hung from the ceiling. You see dozens of banners. You walk in and a dozen servants come up to you quickly as everyone else begins to notice your presence. A horn starts to blow and a servant nearby runs over in the far side of the room and grabs it from the blower’s mouth. Then whispers in his ear. He nods, and just gives you a salute. As he does, a dozen servants escort you all down a side corridor. They even usher your guards with you, who try to stop immediately and leave you, no offense. Happy to be home Cecil and his companions are more than ready to be away from your company. Instead all of you get escorted to a chamber on a lower level of the castle. This was a barracks the last time you were here, but has been converted to a private lounge of sorts. There you are instructed to stay for the moment. Objections are met by a reminder that there are multiple dragons about who have political motivations for possibly seeing you all dead. And, no. There are not just young dragons about. You are given assurances that Ma Thornberry and Breschka are aware of your arrival and will be with you post haste. However, since you didn’t given them notifications of your arrival, it will take them a bit to prepare and greet you. Arieth meets with you. She’s wearing a navy garb of Dravens. On her arms is a strange insignia none of you recognize. Everyone seems to defer to her as she walks in and shakes your hands, hugging all of you in formal way. When she is done, the half-drow grins and says “Good to see you all. We should talk.” She leads you into a back conference room. In just 3-4 weeks the castle has been spruced up a lot. You get the feeling that some of the problem was neglect, but some was ignorance. People hadn’t fully explored and used Castle Raffolk in some time. Now, as Castle Dravens, everything seemed better presented. No more cobwebs, no more pools of water, no more rotting wood. The entire castle as you are walked about seems upkept, and regal. Arieth sees you eyeing the castle and says that Ma Thornberry has been using her magic, along with the aid of her apprentices to help get the castle quickly back into regal shape. You all sit down in the conference room and Arieth begins updating you. Arieth says, “Queen Lightcrown is here. I’ve met with her a few times alongside Breschka. If you haven’t noticed…” she looks at Urd specifically “I’ve been given a pretty major promotion. With Beyhla labeled a traitor to Shrave and Oron a fool or a martyr, I’m now in charge of Dravens intelligence.” Her smile goes to a frown quickly. “That makes my life hell. Still I’m glad you are back.” She looks at Urd and smiles. Then she looks around at all of you and resists laughing. “You’ve made my life a little bit easier.” She has to stop from laughing. There is a moment of silence. Once one of you interupts her silence she composes herself. “Well. We’ve had several criminal elements in town that have been trying to claim a stake since we repelled the undead, and since you left for Guilds’ Town. Since you’ve returned, many have just grabbed their stuff and left. Of course we’re hunting them down. But I think it’s hilarious. You folks come back and bad guys go literally running away.” Then Arieth gives you all a rundown of the situation: More people are going back to their farms. Nards are coming out of Guilds Town. They have claimed it as their own. Hobgoblin and orc armies are amassing on the borders, coming from the Vemk empire. Brescka is trying to reassemble their fleet. She has some reinforcements of ships from Sehe and elves from Kevorth, but few of their neighbors with fleets are able or willing to help. Dwarves have begun arriving from Gravelback, Elves from Thrinegrove, and more Dwarves from underground. Many dwarves of Shevorth have arrived. They come with both good and bad news. Apparently Auril, goddess of Winter was summoned into their realm and took over the mortal form of a local hero. Word is that he is the reason for the strange weather in the seas north of Dree. This has crippled the west Corrive fleet, and Auril’s champion is exacting vengeance upon Corrive for past slight. They still aren’t sure what Auril’s game plan is. They have warned that when one deity becomes active in the prime material plan, it often invites other deities to as well. The Archduke is trying to forcibly wed Anna. Has arranged a public marriage. There are several diplomats in town, and Arieth tells you about all of the important groups you should probably be aware of. Outside in Tents Dree: Queen Lightcrown, with her are two Necromatons, named Idris and Elba. Her guards include an adult green dragon whom the party has met before. She also has a coterie of Iggies (a dozen), doing her bidding. Her guards are a dozen dragon knights. Shevorth: The Shuror people have come to back Breschka. They have brought a decent number of troops, and say they have more on the way. Gravelback: The Gravelback diplomats have brought a ton of books, many their troops have scavenged and mended from destroyed homes here in Dravens’ Port. Thrinegrove: An elf shows up, refuses to give his name. He’s there to speak for the immortal king. South Indra: The hidden and elusive Indrasians have come with an eccentric and blood-thirsty gnome who calls himself “Pixi”. [Ron has heard of him, he’s Indra’s “Tough love” diplomat. Somewhat of a bloodthirsty, he’s sent in to prove how tough Indra is.] Staying Inside the Castle Mozmon: Four Minotaur Admirals come, one for each direction, to give council but also open up discussions. Sehe: A group of Sehe nobles are there at the behest of the crown. Aarakocra Federation: Led by a young, brash Aarakocra named Rirre. Free Islands of Kantun: Captain Reis has stuck around to protect the interests of Kantun. Seddriz: Some haughty farm-dwarves are staying in the lower chambers of the castle, not far from the bullywugs. They have various beasts of burdens down there with them including giant boars. Kingdom of Tarl (Bullywug Empire): Currently inhabiting some of the castles lower levels. Swell has set up a gambling hall, and is trying to appease them. Staying in the City Nobles of Dravens: The Archduke and his cronies have allied themselves with Thrinegrove, who they’ve paid to leave several elf contingents behind to guard their assets. Likewise, several of the established members of Guilds Town merchants are moving to Dravens Port under the protection of the nobles. Nards: The Nards have claimed a section of Dravens’ Port for themselves, to the west central part of the town near to the docks. There’s an old human in town, covered in dwarvish tattoos. He’s a bit standoffish and very pale skinned. He’s been preaching about the “Return of Kiernard”. Drow from the under-realms from the “Dhalmass-Kyor-Lin Empire” Free Bullywug City of Golork Hobgoblins of the Vemk Empire are there to parlay with Breschka. Arieth then turns to you all and says, “Oh, we have one last diplomat who just arrived.” She looks at Urd and says, “The emissary from Bonehammer.” She grins, shakes his hand.