Ammun explained that his understanding of King Murgrim’s disloyalty to the kingdom developed slowly over years as Drothmara’s seductive hold on him also grew. Ammun denounced Aengus at his trial because he could not believe that the stolen Highgate Crown, which he had studied extensively, could be used for anything other than transmitting thoughts and inspiration. That someone’s actions could have been controlled seemed unthinkable, so Ammun believed that Aengus, his apprentice, must have chosen a dark path. Only after Aengus’s exile and Murgrim’s tightening restrictions on the use of magic did he finally discover that the king shared his bed with the duergar priestess. Her influence on him was slowly destroying the kingdom through crippling prohibitions on magic, and she had apparently convinced the king to steal the Highgate Crown for her, which ignited the clan war – a convenient distraction from the ongoing duergar guerilla war. Because the king was already weeding out anyone on the Council of Elders who objected to his dangerous decrees and replacing them with those more loyal, Ammun decided to keep his discoveries to himself and try to enact change from within the king’s circle of trust.
The crucial question now was: What should be done? Not only was the king dead, but he was a traitor to his kinsmen. Who should be trusted with this information? The royal family had been decapitated, and the king had no immediate heirs. The next in line to the throne was the king’s nephew, Thalgrum, a young dwarf with barely enough hair on his chin to catch his ale and who seemed to have more interest in chasing tail than in leading. Though no one would deny him his right to the throne, Aengus worried he might lack the experience and the level head needed for leading them out of this crisis. The Council of Elders would certainly have wisdom, but the king had replaced some with loyalists to him – or perhaps to Drothmara. They decided to reach out first to First Hammer Rosa, whom both Ammun and Aengus trusted, with the intention to reach out next to trustworthy current and former council members. The First Hammer responded to Ammun’s magical summons but would need two days to return to Clefthome. Their goal was a peaceful transfer of power and to rally the kingdom against its true enemies.
With time to kill, Ammun looked over some of the Wild Rovers’ treasures. He notified Vara that her mortar and pestle had been partially corrupted with the power to transform users into hags. Jani translated the remaining untranslated pages of the journal they had recovered:
- The Ruined (written in Orcish): “Restore the Eye, Summon the Quori”
- Lamp (written in Primordial): “Save the wish! DO NOT USE!”
- Lute (written in Draconic): “Beware the honeydew. Fear the dragon. Avoid the priests.”
The Rovers considered there next moves and decided that perusing an item not already in their enemies’ possession, in particular the Lamp of Maliki, would be the best course of action.
At last Urs’s persistence paid off, and Ammun was convinced to return Desmond to life. The Blue Streak’s ruined body was restored, and though he lay still and unresponsive, he breathed again, to the others’ enthusiastic joy.
To celebrate Desmond’s return to the living, they went clothes shopping for him. With the best of intentions, they had an eye-catching, moisture-wicking outfit enchanted with acid resistance custom made for him, but they would later be reminded when he had the strength to speak that Desmond was already resistant to acid.
Aengus crafted a pair of vessels and lit votive candles in them at the city’s main temple for his lost friends, Magma and Granite. They all enjoyed some much needed baths and rest over the course of two days, until at last the day came when the First Hammer was expected to return.