A Wedding in Chains | Raid/Defense Target: Xoeth Belos
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A Wedding in Chains
Raid Target/Defense: Xoeth Belos
Tentative Time - Subject to change:
Saturday February 7, 2026, at 11:00 AM Eastern Time
Background:
One year ago, Bennek Sepret arrived in the North, to demand the expungement of the marriage between his cousin Aoth Sepret and the Peltarchian princess Elizabeth Fisher. When he was refused, he offered the aide of his blue dragon consort to the Cleimant Council, as a collateral attack and a means to pressure the couple to separate, by threatening the city and royal family of Peltarch.
It was revealed that he had promised the hand of his cousin Aoth in marriage to a powerful Thayvian mage named Xoeth Belos, a figure steeped in rumors of his nature, apparently as wretched as it is powerful. He is lord of the Sunscourge Qasr, an independent complex that stands in the scorched sands in northeasternly desert wastes of Thay. He is a figure reviled for his unspeakable practices in magic and in leisure, even by Thayvian standards. He possesses a listless harem of women, a growing number of which have more recently been rumored missing. It is to this harem that Bennek Sepret sold his cousin, in exchange for a powerful artifact capable of destroying all members of a specific and given bloodline. It came to light then that Bennek cared little for the marriage, or for his promises to Lord Belos, and wishes only for the powerful artifact, which he intends to use to attack the Thayvian Lord Odath Kakanos, who is at once Aoth and Bennek's uncle, and the sole survivor of a mysterious catastrophe that has befallen House Sepret involving a sequence of dead relatives and the return and legitimization of the bastard Elda Thrall, now Elda Sepret. [OOC: Edited from "Marlus Thrall, now Marlus Sepret."]
The Golden Geese have since worked with Bennek to prepare countermeasures, and initially planned to either string Bennek along and deny him the artifact, work with him and obtain it for themselves, or destroy it, or otherwise. Either way, following Bennek's assistance against Geroldine's invasion, Bennek returned to Thay, in order to placate and delay Lord Belos who had since patiently awaited his latest betrothed. Bennek Sepret has not returned from his visit, and now apparently awaits his cousin at the with Lord Belos at the Sunscourge Qasr. A representative of the lord, the Orc Warlock Zug'grul, was recently sent to collect Aoth Sepret for delivery to the Qasr. He went missing when he relucted and attempted to delay the wedding even further on her behalf. The magocrat Adan Whisperwick then informed the Golden Geese of Zug'grul's current location, i.e. in a compound a many leagues north of the Sunscourge Qasr, in the Plains of Purple Dust, [OOC: Edited from "a few leagues away," and to add the specific location of the Plains of Purple Dust] in return for a homonculous clone of one a woman who had previously escaped from Belos' harem. Aoth has since coordinated with the Thayvian house Agnneh, who might have an interest in the matter.
The Golden Geese were recently given a deadline of five days to deliver Aoth Sepret to Lord Belos at the Sunscourge Qasr. Those days are now nearly up. At the Qasr or in Peltarch, abroad or at home, one way or another, Lord Belos intends to collect his latest acquisition.
Consideration:
This is a scheduled plot event. Party decisions in this thread and during the event will affect plot and character outcomes, which may involve altered NPC alliances and/or permanent NPC deaths.
Scheduling, Planning & Actions:
Participants, please post your availability and actions below, both for the above date and for any actions, efforts, coordination, or any in game meeting plans you intend to make between now and then. You may use this thread to RP any IC efforts and coordination.
[DM Xanatos Gambit]
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In view of the errors in the original post, plus discussions with people who are under the gun with work commitments, and to give people a proper chance to plan, this event will be postponed until February 7, 2026.
The original post has been updated.
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@its_a_fire That's right, my mistake:
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"Marlus Thrall, now Sepret," should have read "Elda Thrall, now Sepret."
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The same applies to Zug'grul's location, which is indeed in the Plains of Purple Dust, which is farther than just a few leagues away.
I've updated the post with the corrections (including with OOC indicators where corrected).
Sorry about that, between juggling work and losing my notes on my old PC, I had forgotten these particulars!
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(( To clarify a few things OOC first, @Flom.
- The top post mentions "Marlus Thrall, now Marlus Sepret" but that name was never mentioned in reports from the Far Scouts, Bennek, or Meadow - at least not in my notes. There was an alleged bastard, "Elda Sepret." Are these different people?
- And not to be all "teacher you forgot to collect our homework..." but in game we were told that Zag'grul was being held in the Plains of Purple Dust. The top post says he's only a few leagues from Belos. If he's actually in Thay, that changes my plan!
I'll try to post IC today once we get answers. ))
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Reyhenna considers before offering a shrug.
"Whisperwick may be setting us up again, that can't be discounted, but Zug'grul losing favour with Belos seems eminently believable to me given Belos' replacement of him as emmisary. He already seemed sympathetic enough to our side of matters when he was working for Belos, not to mention unhappy with his part in Belos' appetites. If his former master has turned on him it strikes me he would be an invaluable source of information if rescued."
She waves a finger as another thought strikes her.
"Given Whisperwick's primary focus seems to be on Moonreach at the moment, he may be less likely to try and doublecross us again, and if he does try again I imagine it will be an even more lacklustre effort than his last."
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Isolde finds herself increasingly anxious as the time truly begins to run out. To the others, she'll note that while she does have a favourable view of Zug'grul and is generally in favour of rescuing the warlock, it wouldn't be the first time Adan Whisperwick's lied in order to entrap them. Even if it isn't a trap and Zug'grul's successfully rescued, they still need to seek independent information, in her opinion:
"We're rather fumbling in the dark here, or is it just me? This Belos character's quite nebulous and Bennek's not been famously forthcoming with details about his character. Aoth's connections will be key, but what's to say there aren't other leads we could be chasing, connections we're simply not seeing yet? I think I'll spend our last days on independant research. While I don't expect to find oodles of rewarding lore in local northern libraries, and divination's too erratic for Legend Lore at present, it struck me that Belos' interests could potentially be different or more far-reaching than Bennek realized. This sort of elusive, depraved arcanist could be part of say... the Brotherhood of the Endless, for all we know, or some other cult we've had clashes with before.
The point I'm mostly trying to make is that we don't really know much, and we shouldn't assume that we do. I'm going to dig around for whatever I can find on Belos - it might not help us much with the lay of the estate and other such concrete matters, though. Zug'grul would be a great boon there - but that's if Whisperwick's not setting us up, and if Zug'grul himself can be trusted. I'm still for taking the risk of a rescue, what say you others?"
((availability is good the entire weekend, on my part!))
