It is obvious quite some time has passed since my last update on this storytelling effort. What happened? Well, my group traveled the Sword Coast in a caravan to the point of exhaustion. Exhaustion for their characters, certainly. But also exhaustion with the campaign as a whole. We chose to call it quits on the campaign as each person had other priorities to move on to.
Thus, the story remains dormant for the time being. Paused at an awkward ending but hopeful to resume at some point in the future, perhaps with a new group of enthusiasts.