Plains have given way to a rocky woodland. The trees were once cut back from the road, but theforest has crept closer to the cobbles in intervening years. The Graywall Mountains loom in the distance, and on the mountains’ northernflank are the towering figures of the Six Kings. You notice that the foliage on the eastern side of the road ahead is disturbed, showing that more than half a dozen heavy or heavily laden booted humanoids passed into the woods here. They tried to cover their tracks. A thicket covers the forest floor in many places here. Sinister armored figures lurk among the trees, a cowled humanoid among them. Lightly armored warriors with bows also skulk in the foliage of the treetops.

Steel flashes, and armored warriors emerge from among the trees. They are clad in tabards emblazoned with the symbol of the Emerald Claw. A large human in plate, his dark beard hanging under his helm, holds his halberd aloft. “Leave none alive! For the glory of the Emerald Claw, their deaths shall serve our cause.”

Encounter: Emerald Claw Ambush
Captain Warrik (W)
Emerald Claw necromancer
Emerald Claw knight
2 Emerald Claw scouts
3 Emerald Claw troopers

During the encounter, they spot a face among the leaves of the forest – the broad, orange face of a hobgoblin warrior in dark armor. Two goblins in black leather armor creep nearby, watching the battle. They flee once they are spotted.

When only one remains, Sariel and Gennal interrogate him. He knows only that Demise plans on allowing the PCs and the Kech Volaar to acquire the Crown fragments. Then she plans to somehow steal those pieces. Captain Warrik didn’t trust her to succeed.

Among the loot found from the bodies, they find that Captain Warrik’s plate armor is magical and he carries a potion of healing. Sariel dons the armor, being the only one who can even lift it besides Sabraxa, who claims she has enough armor from her dragon scales.

The party arrives at the foot of Six Kings. A faint path winds up the mountain’s slope and slips between two low shelves of gray stone. As you crest that rise, you see figures ahead – armored goblins, all with weapons drawn. This war party is not the Kech Volaar seeker team that Captain Kalaes described to you in Sharn. These goblins bear the weapons and icons of the Kech Shaarat – the Bladebearers, a Dhakaani clan.

The lead hobgoblin is a bulky brute in battered black leather armor, a pair of notched scimitars slung across both shoulders. “I am Chib Naersaar. Saw you ambushed by Claw, eh? Goodfight you put up, for weak paleskins. Claw not Kech Shaarat, though. You leave maps, notes on Arkantaash. Flee back to the city with your small lives, or lose them here.” The party refuses to give up their notes on the Ashen Crown and prepares for battle.

Encounter: Bladebearer Standoff
Chib Naersaar
Bladebearer hobgoblin
2 Bladebearer sharpshooters
3 hobgoblin soldiers
2 hobgoblin grunts

The Bladebearers are fervent believers in their own martial supremacy. All fight to the death and the heroes march on.

They find the landmark that Captain Kalaes said to watch for. Beneath the third king, an outcropping of white stone points the way to a dark cavern. As you approach, figures emerge from hiding among the rocks. This band of goblins and hobgoblins resembles those that Kalaes described – they must be the Wordbearers. They don’t look happy to see you.

A frowning hobgoblin female in chainmail, with a bastard sword slung across her shoulders seems to be the leader. Another hobgoblin in dark leather whispers to her, giving you a meaningful look. From the tattoos on this hobgoblin’s face, and the bejeweled rapier he carries, you recognize him as the doppelganger Citadel agent, Tikulti.

The leader steps forward and speaks in a deep, feminine voice. “I am Yeraa, leader of these Kech Volaar seekers. Arkantaash belongs to goblin kind. Six Kings belongs to goblinkind. Name your price for Ashurta’s Blade, which I believe you have acquired. Then leave this place, and if you desire peace, do not return .”

They refuse to sell her the blade and try to convince Yeraa they’re on her side, without revealing their true mission.

Yeraa speaks again. “It is written that the destiny of Arkantaash is bound to those who seek and find its scattered fragments.” Behind Yeraa, Tikulti steps forward. “These folk have claimed Ashurta’s blade, and they have shown courage, honor, and forthrightness in their actions and in treating with us. Before we join in this quest, let us bond in spirit with the amalorkar.”

Amalorkar is a Goblin word that roughly translates as “honor fight.” The goblins prepare for this competition by padding their weapons for nonlethal combat. Tikulti coaches the PCs on how to do the same, and explains to them how an amalorkar works. Meanwhile, Yeraa prepares the amalorkar ritual circle.

Yeraa pulls a bag from her pack, opening it to slowly pour ash on the ground. On the flat bluff outside the cave, she spends several minutes outlining a wide circle of ash, open on the north and south ends. As she completes the circle, the ash flares and gives off a ring of thin smoke.

The PCs must now prove their worth to the Wordbearers in order to fulfill the Citadel’s mandate.

They win 4 of the 5 battles. The Kech Volaar greet the PCs’ victory with enthusiasm. To them, the characters’ right to join in the search for the Ashen Crown has been sanctioned by the spirits of Six Kings. The goblins treat the PCs as allies.

Though the other Wordbearers are friendly to the PCs, Yeraa remains aloof. She discusses business and of the possible dangers of the dungeon. “Hard to say what we might find there. Spirits still defending ancient halls from foulspawn. Lost goblin clans living in the darkness for five thousand years. Many bold warriors go into the caverns beneath Six Kings, looking for weapons or glory. Not so many come out again.”

Yeraa reveals that two Crown components are said to be deep within Six Kings, close to a magical location called the Moon Pool. Time might have changed this fact, and nobody can know if some monstrous force now has the items.

Yeraa explains to the PCs that she plans to use an obelisk that she knows is inside a chamber near the surface of the nearby cave. She thinks the obelisk should open a portal deeper into Six Kings. By using it, she and her seekers can go into another level where Lurtaan’s cord is hidden. At the same time, the PCs can seek Zaarani’s solitaire in the passages closer to the surface.

Yeraa gives the PCs one of a pair of sending stones. She keeps the other one and asks them to keep in touch intermittently by using the stone.