Editing Drake's Company (section)

===A New Queen of Air===
[[File:Air Node.jpg|right|thumb]]
Back in Drakkengarde, they received a message from the Mercantile Alliance: several elemental cultists had been seen entering Rundarth Manor. This abandoned mansion was known to be the lair of a [[shadow dragon]] known as the [[Dark Lady]], and while they had been content to leave her be so long as she did the same, they were concerned that the cultists were seeking an alliance with her. Drake's Company entered the ruined manor, and in the cellars beneath it the Dark Lady appeared to them in the guise of a drow woman. After she confirmed that she had not allied with the cultists, but rather devoured most of them and sent the rest back with a warning to leave her be. Lafiel gave her what information they had learned about the cults; in exchange, the dragon confirmed that the cults had opened portals to the Elemental Plane through which they intended to summon their archomentals, and that the cults were only nominally allied with each other. Once assured they intended to destroy the cultists, the Dark Lady sent them away and warned them not to return.

The company descended once more into Belsimar, through the Temple of the Howling Hatred, and were surprised to find it reclaimed by air cultists. The cultists warned that they had a new leader now: Savra Belabronte, formerly of the Feathergale Knights, had taken charge following Aerisi Kalinoth's death. Qwynn simply held ''Windvane'' aloft and told them that by virtue of holding the spear, she was by rights the true leader of the Cult of the Howling Hatred, and Savra merely a usurper. The cultists readily accepted her claim, and told them that Belabronte could be found in the Howling Caves below.

The band descended into the caverns once more, following the cultists' directions to a series of caverns through which the wind continuously whispered and howled. Those air cultists they encountered were easily convinced to make way for their rightful leader, Qwynn. In one chamber, they found a nycaloth torturing an aarakocra prisoner. After freeing her, they asked about Bran and she sorrowfully confirmed that he had been imprisoned with her and, ultimately, tortured to death. Drake swore that he would avenge his friend's demise. In another cave, they found a multitude of fungi, some of which had magical properties; Qwynn decided to eat one, and found herself magically (and irrevocably) de-aged back to thirteen years old. Annoyed at the prospect of having to repeat puberty, she lead them onward through a tunnel in which the wind carried voices that whispered threats that they would betray each other; they ignored these lies and pressed on.

Fighting against the wind, which was now blowing with a gale force, they forced their way into the final chamber. Wind roared within around three massive stone spikes surrounding a massive storm cloud that occasionally parted to reveal a glimpse of an endless blue sky within. At the heart of the chamber was Savra Belabronte herself, who declared Qwynn to be a false prophet and attacked alongside a pair of air elementals. After a pitched battle, Qwynn stabbed Belabronte with ''Windvane,'' killing her. She proclaimed her renewed leadership over to the Cult of the Howling Hatred, suspecting that the winds would carry her message to all of her new subjects. Though the group recognized this cloud to be a gateway into the Elemental Plane of Air, much like the watery globe where they had lost Gnarls, they lacked the means to seal it and returned back to Belsimar to rest.