After destroying the labor camp, the party moved south toward the city of Upper Arlen in order to uncover more information about Lady Alessa's missing agent. While camping just north of the city, the rogue spied a group of soldiers traveling with an unknown purpose through the forest. The next morning, the party came across the very same troop locked in a stalemate with another group of soldiers over the fate of a trussed up young prisoner.
Deciding the affair to be none of their business, the party skirted around the heated discussion and covered the last few leagues to Upper Arlen only to find the walled city in lockdown. After trying and failing to get information from a disgruntled local brewmaster, the party succeeded in bribing information from a guard at the city's western gate. It seemed that a powerful and valuable artifact known as the Eye of Marcellus had been stolen from the manor of Upper Arlen's most prominent family and that the city would be closed to all but official business until the artifact was returned. From the description of the theft and the conversation overheard between the soldiers in the forest, it became clear that the young prisoner had some hand in the Eye's disappearance.
In an effort to break the stalemate between the soldiers and open the gates of Upper Arlen once again, the party decided to snatch the prisoner free and recover the Eye. After setting a portion of the Upper Arlen camp on fire, the party escaped into the forest with their prize.
It did not take much 'persuasion' to convince the young man, who gave his name as Caleb, to admit he had stolen the Eye. Caleb explained that the theft had been planned with his compatriots in a youth political movement known as 'One Blood'.
Most of the citizenry of Arlen and Upper Arlen are descended from the first king of the Upper Harrow Valley, Marcellus the Blood King and his twin sons, Felthor the White and Sagius the Bold. To Marcellus's great sadness, the twin boys could never learn to rule together in peace. Therefore, when he died, Marcellus left neither son as his successor, instead bequeathing them a single crown known as the Eye of Marcellus. Marcellus commanded that until the sons learned to share their power in love and cooperation, no descendant of his would rule the Valley. Over the half millenia, the Eye's legend has grown to the belief that any learning to unleash the Eye's power will win rule over the kingdom.
As a result, several civil wars have been fought between the cities to control the Eye. Presently, the current king of Upper Harrow Valley has invoked the 'King's Peace', forbidding any further violence between the cities.
The One Blood saw a great opportunity in the imposed peace, thinking to steal the Eye and send it away across the Heartless Sea. Without the Eye, the two cities would have no reason to war against each other and in time would move toward brotherhood once again.
Unfortunately for Caleb and the other Arlen youth rising to his cause, the One Blood was really controlled by an evil warlock and his band of thugs and murderers. After taking the Eye from Caleb and slaughtering his friends, the Blood stole away to the 'abandoned' lair of a white dragon to wrestle with the Eye's secrets.
After a promise from Caleb that his father, a duke of Arlen would pay handsomely for his rescue, the party released the young man and set out for a back entrance to the lair known by Caleb in order to avoid the main force of the Blood.
The party entered the lair through a thin fissure in the mountain and received an immediate surprise in the form of a hidden trap. The rogue remained confident in his skill to disable the trap up to the moment the large boulder released by the trap ran over his body before crushing several other members of the party.
Surviving the 'Indiana Jones' moment, the party then had to combat the bugbears alerted by all the commotion. After finally dispatching the last of the bugbears, the party was left to lick its wounds before moving further into the lair.
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