Azure Bonds

Azure Bonds is the first book of The Finder's Stone trilogy by Jeff Grubb and Kate Novak. It was later made into an adventure module, Curse of the Azure Bonds, and a computer game of the same name released by Strategic Simulations, Inc.

"Her name is Alias, and she is in big trouble.

She is a sell-sword, a warrior-for-hire, and an adventuress. She awoke with a series of twisting, magical blue sigils inscribed on her arms and no memory of where she got them.

Determined to learn the nature of the mysterious tattoo, Alias joins forces with an unlikely group of companions: the halfling bard, Olive Ruskettle, the southern mage, Akabar, and the oddly silent lizard-man, Dragonbait. With their help, she discovers that the symbols hold the key to her very existence.

But those responsible for the sigils aren't keen on Alias's continued good health. And if the five evil masters find her first, she may discover all too soon their hideous secret."

Summary
The 7th of Mirtul 1357 DR, Alias woke up in one of the guestrooms of the Hidden Lady inn in Suzail. She quickly realized she remembered nothing of the previous night, nothing of how she ended up in the room, and she felt hungover with vague images of lizardmen, shadowy warriors, and wizards in her mind. Another surprise was right there on her sword arm - an elaborate glowing azure tattoo. It was a pattern surrounding five symbols: a dagger lit with blue fire; three interlocking circles; a dot and a squiggle; a hand with a fanged mouth in the middle of the palm; and the last one was of three concentric circles of bright blue light. There was an empty spot underneath all the symbols as if the tattoo was missing one of its parts. As Alias was inspecting mysterious symbols on her arm, she noticed that she was being watched by a lizardman of sorts, one she's never seen before. As Alias' warrior instincts kicked in, the strange lizard was gone.

Alias walked to the Hidden Lady's barroom and met a friendly barkeep who told her that she was found by Mitcher Trollslayer, one of the regulars. She was left on the inn's porch with a bag of gold and trinkets, that was used to pay for her stay. It was there where the woman met Akabar Bel Akash, a trader, and a wizard from Turmish. The Turmishman agreed to help Alias finding out about the azure tattoo by casting Detect Magic on it. The effect was overwhelming, the spell exploded with blue light, lightning flashes, strobing rays, eliminating the barroom. Shocked by the uncanny display of magic, assuming Akabar Bel Akash was incompetent, Alias left the Hidden Lady in search for a capable magic-user to help her.

The only place Alias could think of was a cleric. She eventually reached the only available temple on the Promenade - Towers of Good Fortune of Waukeen. Curate Winefiddle greeted her and offered the temple's services. The warrior asked Winefiddle to remove curse off her arm, but the result of the spell was even worse than the last attempt. Alias realized that she has lost control of her own body as the azure throbbing light wrapped around her body forcing it to attack the curate. Alias, armed with a knife, stabbed Winefiddle, not lethally thanks to his reflexes. Only by Waukeen's luck, Winefiddle survived as Alias was knocked out. She came to her senses shortly back in full control. It was clear to Winefiddle that the azure bonds were not a simple curse, and advised her to look for a sage Dimswart, about half a day ride outside of Suzail.

On her way back to the Hidden Lady, Alias was ambushed by black-leather-clad assassins. Suddenly, the lizard-like creature from earlier in the day appeared wielding a strangely shaped sword, aided the red-haired warrior. She was cautious of the strange creature but he seemed to be friendly, and judging by his body language, pledging her his blade. She called him a dragon bait if he ever tried to cross her. The lizard happily accepted his new name - Dragonbait.

Back at the Hidden Lady Alias and Dragonbait settled for the night. Still, without a way to communicate with each other, the warrior woman thought the lizard to act like a cat, slowly she was starting to feel safe around him as if she's known him in her past. As Dragonbait slept, Alias went through the loot left behind by the assassins. She discovered two vials of potent poison Peranox, it informed her that the assailants were not trying to kill her as they used clubs instead of blades coated in the poison. She also found a card depicting the symbol of what she would discover later to be of the Fire Knives assassins guild. In the morning she woke up to a welcoming smell of breakfast affectionately served to her by Dragonbait. The strange couple reached Dimswart Manor half a day later. They were greeted by the commotion and bustle of the wedding preparations. Alias presented the recommendation letter from Winefiddle and gained an appointment with the well-known older sage from Waterdeep - Winefiddle. He eagerly agreed to help Alias with research on her strange azure tattoo in exchange for rescuing the bard hired by the sage for his daughter's wedding - Olav Ruskettle. The bard was taken by a red dragon Mistinarperadnacles Hai Draco who earlier in the week ambushed the trade caravan the bard traveled with. One of the surviving caravaneers would accompany Alias... The trader was already familiar to the warrior - Akabar Bel Akash.

Alias, Dragonbait, and Akabar made a plan of rescuing the unlucky bard. The Turmishman used his modified version of the arcane eye spell that let him not just scout, but also communicate with Alias who was using stealth to sneak into the infamous red dragon's lair. The deep cavern was home to a pack of ravens who Alias assumed were eyes of the dragon. As the warrior reached the sleeping dragons' chamber she saw a tiny child-like body in a cage. Alias did not expect Olav to be a woman and a halfling. Olav, in fact, was Olive Ruskettle, the bard that was captured by the dragon. Alias woke the little one up but Olive was not the only one who was woken. Mistinarperadnacles Hai Draco, or simply Mist introduced herself to the swordswoman and sassily inquired about where her next supper hailed from. Alias had problems recalling much but she knew she was from Westgate. Mist was happy to know that the dinner delivery was local, and not foreign mystery meat. Alias used her uncanny knowledge she could not recall the origins of to challenge Mist to the Feint of Honor, an ancient draconic tradition. Reluctantly Mistinarperadnacles agreed to a "hand to hand" combat. The battle started, Alias managed to land a few hits and dodge the giant fire-breathing lizard's attacks. Meanwhile, the tiny bard escaped the cage. Mist threatened Alias with her fire breath because no one was there to witness the dishonor. Climbing to the top of the cavern, Olive started teasing the dragon with a quickly composed song about Mist's conniving lies and dishonor. Taking the opportunity, the warrior joined the halfling on the ledge, both women bluffed about Olive owning a ring of fire resistance. Announcing Alias' winning the Feint, they demanded the reward. Mist left to retrieve the promised chest of gold, as the women ran for the exit, knowing that the dragon will remember any minute that Olive not wearing jewelry. Mist's angry fire breath exploded behind the escaping adventurers, sizzling their backsides. As they reached the exit, Dragonbait pushed them out of the fire stream's way. Tumbling down the hill Olive dropped everything that ended up in her "bard's" pockets, including Akabar's spellbook, and a magical scroll. Quickly casting the spell off the scroll - the wall of stone, the adventurers sealed the furious red dragon in... for now. Olive quickly picked up all of her scattered loot, as well as a bottle of peranox dropped by Alias.

The adventurers stopped overnight away from the roads and covered by the trees, away from the danger of the vengeful dragon. Akabar and Olive took care of dinner (Olive mostly did the eating), Alias was consumed by thoughts of her missing recent memories, and Dragonbait wandered off towards an abandoned druidic stone circle close by. Olive masterfully dodged questions about her origins, name, and the fact that she was a bard halfling - unheard of in 1357 DR, even though Akabar nor Alias actually believed the red-headed halfling. The swordswoman left camp to look for Dragonbait, while Akabar told Olive what he knew of Alias, her amnesia, and her magical tattoo. She did find her scaly friend, but he was trapped behind a crystalline cage. To Alias' shock, the structure rumbled and rose out of the groud, revealing itself to be a mineral quasi-elemental. Luckily, Hill Cleaver was nearby and Alias managed to deal serious damage to the elemental, freeing Dragonbait. Akabar and Olive heard the sounds of battle and rushed to her aid. The wizard used dispel magic to dismiss the apparently summoned creature. Alias realized that the elemental had a sigil on its body, intertwined circles, same as on her azure bond.

The group successfully delivered the halfling bard to the wedding. Dimsward did not have time to share his research on Alias' azure glyphs until the wedding was over so the swordswoman and the gang had to mingle. Alias felt naked and uncomfortable without her armor as if she's never worn anything but armor. Dragonbait and Akabar were entertaining the guests. The saurial was dressed in a silk jester's costume, which he found absolutely delightful, and juggled the lady of the house's crystalware using his feet and tail. The main entertainment - Olive's performance started. Alias overheard the groom's cousin Giogioni Wyvernspur mimicking Azoun Obarskyr IV's voice. Suddenly the branded warrior's azure bond lit her gloves on fire, she lost control of her body and attempted to assassinate terrified Giogi. With Dragonbait's help, the assassination was prevented, but the wedding was disturbed beyond repair.

The magical brand caused Alias to flee until she found herself all the way back at the Hidden Lady. Akabar retrieved the sage's research and the group headed back to Suzail in search of missing Alias. They easily found her in the familiar inn, sitting at the back of the main hall, quietly singing to herself a song about the Tears of Selune and crying. Even though she asked Olive, Akabar, and Dragonbait to leave her and forget about her, the group refused, promising to aid her in the quest. The wizard relayed Alias the sage's research. The sigils on her hand stood for: the image of the dagger - an assassins guild called Fire Knives that operated out of Westgate; three intertwined circles likely belonged to a long-dead wizard Zrie Prakis; the insect squiggle belonged to an infamous wizard Cassana who was tied to Zrie before his death; the palm with a maw in its middle was a symbol of an ancient god Moander whose temple has been raized in Yulash ages ago, and the last symbol of concentric circles was unknown to Dimswart, possibly belonged to a new power in the realms. Alias was adamant about heading to Yulash as their first destination, ignoring Olive's suggestion to head to Westgate and Akabar's lead in Shadowdale.

As Alias, Olive, Dragonbait, and Akabar were heading to the town of Yulash, Giogioni Wyvernspur's track was interrupted by the vengeful red dragon. Mist heard the young noble singing one of Olive Ruskettle's songs and knew that the bumbling man could lead her to the women who scorned the dragon. Giogi was offered a deal, life, or deliver Mist's offer to King Azoun IV himself, the deal young Wyvernfpur took. King Azoun was offered safe trade routes and the dragon's departure from Cormyr all for the low price of Alias' and Olive's whereabouts. King's advisor Vangerdahast Aeiulvana collected information from the owner of the Hidden Lady, Phocius Green, and sent the dragon to Yulash. Young Giogi was sent to Westgate with the task of investigating Alias and the attempt on "king's" life.

Guided by her memories, Alias and the group made their way to Shadow Gap and the remnants of what used to be North Gate Inn. The tavern appeared to be burnt down recently to Ollie's disappointment, the adventurers were looking forward to the warm beds. Staying at the ruins overnight the sellsword woman drifted into sleep while thinking about her growing kinship towards the new travel mates. In her dream, she met someone called Nameless who showed her the events that led to the North Gate Inn's destruction. She saw an emissary of the Iron Throne announcing the closure of Shadowgap, the tavern's locals attacked him but to their horror, the emissary transformed into a kalmari, devouring the attackers and burning the building down. The second "guest" in Alias' dream was a hooded woman Cassana who claimed the kalmari was her creation as well as Alias herself. The sorceress summoned her home back to Westgate, as the swordswoman woke up just to see the kalmari in front of her getting ready to devour Akabar. Alias remembered the advice given to her by Nameless in the dream, the creature could only be damaged by magic or by something it already ate. That something was a two-handed sword she saw being regurgitated by the monster in her dream. The group managed to defeat Cassana's kalmari with Olive's and Dragonbait's help. Dragonbait performed a burial ritual on the sword weeping for all the victims of the monster. Alias did not know how he knew about the people who died at the inn, but she wondered if Dragonbait had the same dream as she did.

The group reached Shadowdale, a layover on the way to Yulash. Alias fondly remembered spending winters there back when she was with the Company of the Swanmays. Alias and her friend and teammate Kith used to spend time with the owner of Old Skull Inn, Jhaele Silvermane. To her surprise, Jhaele did not remember the swordswoman and denied ever teaching Alias one of her songs. At the inn, she met Mourngrym Amcathra the leader of Shadowdale who thanked her for freeing Shadow Gap. While Akabar was trying to get an appointment with Elminster, Alias wandered to find Kith's teacher who lived in town - Syluné. All she could find was the witch's ruined hut. Feeling lost and frustrated Alias shouted and was greeted by an old man, secretly Elminster. After Alias found out Syluné was dead, the old man cryptically hinted at Alias' past, the Harper that taught her the songs that no one remembered, and told her about Cassana's and Zrie Prakis' history after examining the Azure Bonds. In payment, he asked Alias to never sing the mysterious and beautiful songs taught to her by the Nameless Harper. Alias refused in anger calling that request evil and tried to flee. Instead of collecting the payment, Elminster gifted her a glowing crystal, the Finder's Stone that was to illuminate a path for those who were lost, as payment for defeating kalmari.

While Alias and Akabar were away from the inn, Olive encountered a creature that appeared to be a halfling waiting for the bard in her room. The false halfling was Phalse, and he was there to bribe greedy Olive. Alias' origins prevented her from being magically scribed or traced, and Phalse paid Olive for a simple task of wearing a magical ring that would allow the false halfling to track the swordswoman.

On his way back from Elminster's Tower after a failure to get an audience with the Sage of Shadowdale, Akabar stumbled across Dragonbait seemingly communicating with an old hooded figure. Unbeknownst to Akabar, the hooded figure was Elminster, consulting the lizard, and offering him aid. Akabar spied on the conversation and saw Dragonbait's shirtless... Similar to Alias', glowing azure bonds were tattooed on his chest. The revelation spiked Turmishman's suspicion and mistrust towards Dragonbait.

Meanwhile, Giogioni Wyvernspur was traveling across the Dragon Lake by boat towards Westgate, to his surprised, he noticed a woman that looked like older Alias on board. He overheard Cassana's conversation with Phalse, about them tracking Alias and following her across Cormyr, Shadow Gap, the encounter with the elemental, and with kalmari.

After restocking on supplies, Alias' party headed out of welcoming Shadowale towards Yulash, passing through Cormanthor, and Voonlar. The closer travelers got to the city of Yulash the more obvious it was to them that the town was in ruins and still in a state of war between Zhentil Keep and Hillsfar. Both armies were dangerous and would likely kill the adventurers on sight. Hiding behind a raized caravan they stayed the night away from the armies' eyes, however shortly after nightfall, Dragonbait disappeared. The group assumed he would be back and went to sleep. But Alias could not shrug the feeling of dread and uncanny desire to investigate the city, thinking her missing companion was there. She left the camp leaving behind a note. As Alias left Akabar was woken up by his magic mouth spell. He still did not trust Dragonbait over his secret azure bonds, thinking the lizard was luring the swordswoman into a trap, he followed her under a cloak of the invisibility spell. Olive was left alone sleeping at the camp.



Alias made her way into the ruins of yulash and avoided the Red Plumes long enough to make her way into a long pit that led into an underground chamber. There she discovered Dragonbait and he revealed to her his own azure bonds. Akabar revealed himself after he followed the swordswoman into the pit. Still mistrusting the lizard, Akabar came after Dragonbait with his knife trying to expose his hidden chest tattoo. In the scuffle, Alias got lodged in a magical wall that let the sellsword sink into its shimmer. The blinding glow of the azure bonds followed by Alias being absorbed and trapped into a shapeless living wall of rot, tentacles, moss, eyes, and mouths. The Abomination of Moander was awakened as legend stated, by "someone unborn". Akabar and Dragonbait saw the wall of rot move towards them with Alias stuck inside motionless. The Abomination spilled over out of the makeshift refuse pit, swallowing all organic matter, including the Red Plums. Akaar attempted to cut Alias out of the god of decay's body but was infected with the seed of Moander and sucked into the behemoth rot monster. Dragonbait could do nothing but flee, mourning his fallen friends.

Meanwhile back at the camp, Mist caught up with Olive Ruskettle craving the payback for the humiliation. The dragon did not rush to devour the halfling quite yet, instead, making her sing one of Alias' songs. Dragonbait arrived in time to encourage the bard to think fast, and Olive challenged Mist to a ''Feint of Honor. Quickly following the bard's lead, Dragonbait communicated with the dragon himself, challenging her to the Feint of Honor'' himself. During the fierce battle, Olive aided the lizard by using the Ring of magic detection on Dragonbait, causing the azure bonds on his chest to explode in blinding light. As Mist was blinded, Dragonbait landed precise strikes and Olive threw a bottle of deadly peranox into the dragon's toothy maw. The heroes won the Feint acquiring a temporary ally to aid them against the Abomination of Moander. The lizard healed the dragon, and to Olive's shock and awe, Dragonbait could not only use divine magic but also speak with Mist translating.

The halfling and the lizard rode the red dragon, chasing the Abomination, following its trail, what later be known as the Moander's Road. Alias regained conscience while being surrounded by the abomination's rot. To her horror, she saw Akabar being controlled by Moander's vines like a puppet, giving the god ability to talk as well as read the mind of the mage. The god told Alias that she was constructed in Westgate and that it was going to be the final stop on their way, but first, the god wanted to stop in the ruins of Myth Drannor, to gloat over his ancient enemies' demise. Elaborating more, Moander told her that she was created as the perfect assassin and agent, conditioned to perform tasks of her masters without realizing so, but her creation was not complete. The final part was a blood sacrifice of a pure soul, and the soul was the lizard - Dragonbait, a saurial. Dragonbait managed to escape the ritual taking Alias with him, making the sellsword merely a newborn with false memories of a full life.

The dragon-riding trio caught up with the abomination as it entered Cormanthor. The god's avatar engaged Mist in a vicious battle, damaging the dragon, but losing a bulk of its body in a roaring inferno of dragonbreath fire. Dragonbait plummeted onto the rotting abomination and managed to rescue Akabar from the god's thrall, but Alias was out of reach. The heroes needed to regroup as the Abomination of Moander continued on into the forest.

After resting, the heroes devised a plan. The Abomination consumed the duskwood trees of Cormanthor to grow in size, and the trees' resin was famously combustible. The dragon and the mage ignited the monstrosity, forcing it to break down to extinguish the flames. In a desperate attempt to flee with his recaptured construct assassin, Moander opened a gate, to Westgate. Mist and the heroes riding her, empowered by Akabar's haste spell, flew into the gate following the god. The glow of the Finder's Stone kept the heroes from getting lost in the swirl or realities of the gate.

In the sky over Westgate, Goigi witnessed a battle to the death between his acquaintance - the red dragon and the Abomination of Moander. The god deposited Alias' cocoon with his cultists and growing bigger and stronger got entangled with Mist's magically enlarged body. As Akabar cast fly to rescue Dragonbait, Olive tagged along, leaving the red dragon behind. In his fall, Dragonbait dropped the Finder's Stone. Mist breathed fire one list time, igniting putrid vapors of the god's avatar. Both creatures perished in the ensued explosion. Mist's charred corpse plummeted into the streets of Westage, and Moander was banished from the Realms.

Alias was taken out of the Moander's cocoon by his cultists. She weakened from breathing the rot gasses in. As the dying god's explosion rocked the sky, Alias seized the opportunity to escape, knocking out the cultists that stood in her way. By luck, she came across Giogi, who understandably was in shock and terror, seeing his target in front of him. Alias borrowed his horse - Daisyeye II, but promised to drop her off at the Jolly Warrior Inn, once she reached Westgate. Even though Giogi was stranded on the side of the road, he did feel his luck was about to change - he came across the Finder's Stone.

Alias and her friends managed to meet up and clean up outside of locked down Westgate at the Rising Raven Inn. Olive ventured into the city to procure some supplies, there she encountered Phalse once again, who made her a new offer. The party's rest was short-lived as Cassana herself, accompanied by the Fire Knives, arrived to claim her Puppet. Dragonbait went down from the Knives' poison, Akabar was dragged underground by skeletal hands. Alias quickly dispatched the assassins, bur unphased Cassana simply put the warrior woman to sleep using her wand.

Alias woke up in a sealed-off room, Dragonbait was badly hurt and unconscious, and Akabar was cuffed with cold iron shackles. Behind a magically transparent wall, Alias saw a woman wearing the same but older face - Cassana, a shambling lich Zrie Prakis, and a false halfling Phalse. The warrior woman's "Mother" controlled Alias with her wand and used it to beat Akaban unconscious. The ritual of Alias' creation was to be completed. Akabar was to become Cassana's toy and consort. And Olive, well, Olive was standing right there next to Phalse. Turning the wall back to stone, the villains set to feast. Olive was terrified, surrounded by overpowering evil beings. She hatched a half-baked plan back in Westgate to infiltrate Alias' masters and expose them from the inside, proving her worth, and now she was in over her head. The halfling was put to sleep and sent to her future master's room - Phalse's room. There Zrie Prakis countered Cassana's sleep spell and asked Olive to murder Cassana the Cruel, as she's enslaved the lich as much as she did the warrior woman.

The first thing Olive did, was attempted to escape Cassana's lair but Zrie Prakis made sure all windows and doors were warded. The only thing the halfling could do - try and find her friends. She followed a trail of blood, likely Dragonbait's, to a secret door, disposed of two Kire Knives, and found unconscious Akabar and seeming insane Nameless Bard. The Bard's insanity was magical and as soon as he was freed, he was able to help Olive free Akabar, heal him, and share Alias' and his own story with his rescuers. Alias was never meant to be a weapon, at least in Nameless' eyes, was meant to preserve the Bard's music and songs in their purest and perfect form. Cassana and her evil alliance cheated Nameless into creating Alias but were planning to use her for their nefarious needs. Nameless saw the error of his ways and realized that even with the ritual not being complete Alias was alive, sentient, and kind to Dragonbait who was imprisoned with her and badly hurt. The Nameless bard aided them to escaped and begged the saurial to take Alias as far as possible away from Westgate. But now Alias was back in Cassana's grasp and the ritual was to be completed.

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