Upon their return the the Swinging Barrel, the Company found that it had been abandoned and looted, apparantly by the orc-crossbreed soldiers that had escaped the Orb's effects. They hadn't searched the way inn long before the sound of riders could be heard further up the trail. Terun rode out the meet the new arrivals, who turned out to be an armored patrol from nearby Silverhall, sent to investigate reports of orc marauders in the area. After hearing the Company's story, the patrol's leader, a long man named Morgan of Orris, offered to take the party back to Silverhall to give their report - and receive their reward - from the Silver Lady herself.

Travelling the remainder of the day, the party and their escort arrived in the walled town of Silverhall. Overlooking the Pool of Yevin from a high cliff, the town took its name from the ancient palace-fortress which stood in its heart. Riding up the long lakeside road, the party could make out a smaller stone structure off to one side...Morgan in formed them that it was called Heroes' Rest, and that it had stood empty and abandoned for centuries. As the band approached the front gates, they could see brightly colored lights dancing across the fronts of the inside walls. They had arrived just in time for the beginning of the winter festival called the Feast of the Moon.

As the party entered the city and dispersed to enjoy the festival, two silent figures worked their way intently through the crowd. The tall one was Cedric, a warrior monk from distant Waterdeep. His smaller, almost unnoticed companion was Meriadoc Dunn, a gnome master illusionist who had been hired by Cedric to help find a man - a devious thief who disguised his face with magical spells. The trail had led both men here, to Silverhall, specifically to a Sembian merchant named Oswauld.

Catching sight of the merchant, the two closed in, floowing him behind the assembled tents towards a dark alley near the city wall. There, the merchant was meeting with a dark figure. As Cedric and Meriadoc watched, the merchant produced a weapon from the folds in his tunic - a viscious looking fork-bladed dagger, the signature weapon of a Zhentarum assassian. After the shadowy figure moved off, Cedric stepped up to confront Oswauld, eventually learning from the merchant that the theif Cedric was hunting was not in the city, and that the dagger was intended to kill someone of importance at some sort of banquet.

Meanwhile, the festival crowd had gathered beneath the palace gates to hear the announcements of the Queen of Dalandia, Lauren deLoussien, the Silver Lady. From a high balcony, the Silver Lady officially started the festival, as well as welcomed the Heroes from Hellgate Keep to Silverhall. She then extended an invitation for the heroes to be her guests at a private banquet the following night. Cedric and Meri, listening in, quickly reached the conclusion that the Silver Lady was in danger, and set about trying to find a way to save her.

After the Queen retired back into the palace, the party was placed in the expert care of a local merchant, and sent off to rest and prepare for the following evening. In the morning, the heroes of Hellgate Keep were fitted in the finest formal wear that could be scrounged up on short notice, as well as granted gifts of ceremonial armor and weapons. Eventually, after a day of primping and lounging in comfort, the heroes were escorted into the great hall of the palace, where a feast was being prepared and a stage had been set up for the evening's entertainment.

As the honored guests were entering the palace, Cedric and Meri made another attempt at trying to convinve the guards of the threat to the Queen, but their words were dismissed as the ramblings of lunatics. Something in Cedric's tone, however, caught the attention of Terun, who offered to sponsor the pair as his guests. Morgan eventually conceeded, but refused to let the two strangers sit at the main table; instead, they were given a place in the far corner, close the the watchful eyes of the royal guard.

The feast began, along with a dramatic dance re-enactment of the famous 'Fall of the Skull King' tale. During the lavish performance, Cedric and Meri watched intently for signs of danger. Near the end of the performance, Meri caught sight of a stray performer, dressed in a paper mask resembling a skull, slowly making his way unseen up the dias towards the Silver Lady. Shouting out a warning, Cedric and Meri surged forward, but were quickly detained by the guards. At the main table, the heroes - bored by the performance and eager for a change of pace - quickly leapt to the Queen's defense, overcoming her assailant while Morgan removed the Silver Lady to safety. As Cedric and Meri were released to join the others, the attacker's weapon wasrevealed - and with a shock, Cedric saw that is was not the Zhentarum dagger. Suddenly, from the top of the stairs a scream was heard. Charging up through the door, the party found the Queen's two personal guards dead in the small alcove beyond - and the Silver Lady gone, along with Morgan of Orris.

Following the trail of blood down a stariwell, the party found themselves outside the palace walls, atop a cliff overlooking the Pool far below. They split up to search, with Xirex calling upon a spirit of the air to find the missing Queen. After a few tense moments, she was spotted - held captive by Morgan as he drug her towards the empty citadel of Heroes' Rest. While fireworks and colored lights lit the sky above the town below, the heroes and their two new companions charged the old gate, finding the Captain of the Guard and his hostage in the large Great Hall of the keep. As the sky spirit screeched overhead, the party could see Morgan standing with the Zhentarum dagger at the Queen's throat. Seeing that he was outmatched, Morgan challenged Terun to fair combat. The paladin readily accepted, and they faced each other in one to one battle. The blades of the two swordsmen rang out through the stone keep, but eventually Morgan fell to Terun's greater skill.

As a crowd gathered without, the Silver Lady rose to her feet and moved to the heroes who had saved her life. Bypassing the pomp and circumstance of elabotae ceremony, the Queen took each heroes' weapon and bestowed them with the title of Lord Protectors of Dalandia. For the heroes of Hellgate Keep, she rewarded them with the full knighthood of Silverhall, bequeathing them Heroes' Rest and all the responsibities thereof.

Out in the town, a cheer rose into the chill night air, for Knights of Silverhall were said to have returned to once again defend the land.