Chapter IV: Legends and Old Wives’ Tales

Arriving at Roma, the group started to gather intel once again, to get a little bit more detail about the conflict.

While the scouts were working on the latest news of the surrounding area, the rest of the group moved outside the city walls once again, so as to not attract any unwanted attention to themselves. As they finished setting up camp, the first scouts arrived, just as the sun was about to hide behind the sea. The intel they acquired was very puzzling. According to locals, the once-beloved king Zahhak, of the Shirdalinid Empire became completely consumed by some sort of treasure hunt, and by the looks of things found what he was looking for, or something close to it. The Shirdalinid forces started attacking the border outposts of Romioi out of the blue. At first, these little spats were thought to be local conflicts between the people living in nearby settlements and outposts, it was even thought that those were bandit and deserter attacks out of desperation for supplies. But it became clear what was going on very quickly.

The frontline was located to the East of Miletus and South West of Hadrianopolis. But as of late, the fights became infrequent and very confusing. As if there was no one at the helm, leading their army in this war. It was decided to travel through a passage between Mount Remulus and Palatinus, taking a ship from Brundisium to Hadrianopolis and see if there is any more information they can find out about what is actually happening between the two nations.

In Hadrianopolis, the group learned a little more about the king of the neighboring kingdom. What they learned was very odd, but ensured them that it was time to somehow cross the front line and start looking for leads in the Shirdalinid capital – Shirdalepolis.

The team packed up once again and started traveling south from Hadrianopolis through the rougher parts of the woods. This way they could minimize their odds of encountering war camps and border patrols on both sides of the conflict.

It took about a week to get to Shirdalepolis. The trip was exhausting, even for Meldave'er, but as soon as they arrived at the city gates, everyone got very excited to finally rent a bed and a cooked meal. The next day, scouts went out to gather information about the king and Meldave’er went to research the local folklore about the legendary tower. Within a few days, the picture started to take shape.