(The following is a summary of the information that Ellyanna learned during session 28)
The final Emperor of the First Empire was a man named Eventis Khorin, known formally as Emperor Eventis IV. Eventis IV inherited the throne at the age of 19 upon the death of his father, Eventis III, from a mysterious wasting disease that has, to this day, still not been definitively identified.
Eventis IV inherited an empire on the verge of dissolution. Over the last 100 years, the Empire's military and economic might had declined, such that several provinces had already successfully rebelled and others were in the midst of open rebellion. Eventis III had been a skilled and cunning general and had managed, during his rule, to reclaim some of the lost provinces and win back some of the Empire's power. Even so, at the time of Eventis IV's coronation, the Empire was much diminished from its height and most of Eventis III's conquests were still tenuous.
Eventis IV was a very different sort of man from him father. Eventis III was a charismatic and confident warrior, who had risen through the ranks of the legions, and who inspired loyalty in his people and respect in his enemies. Under his rule, the people of the Empire had begun to regain pride and optimism for their nation and. Eventis IV, on the other hand, was a sickly and temperamental man who spurned public appearances. Eventis IV had no aptitude for, or interest in, martial matters and focused his time on private researches. Unfortunately, history does not record what subject so occupied the Emperor - only his most trusted advisors were given access to his research, and they did not record its contents.
So different was Eventis IV from his father that many historians have suggested that he was not actually Eventis III's son, or that some sort of horrible event in his childhood drastically changed his personality. While such speculation is common among scholars, there is no strong evidence for these of these claims.
Where Eventis III had begun reclaiming the Empire's territory through military genius and inspirational leadership, Eventis IV immediately began losing it again through military incompetence. As the situation worsened, the loyalty of the legions began to falter. Unable to motivate them through charisma, Eventis IV instead chose to motivate them through fear.
Eventis IV made use of a secretive group called the Duvan'Ku, composed of wizards and other spellcasters, and gave them the authority to keep the legions (and the general populace) in line through any means necessary. They accomplished this through dark magic such a necromancy, demonology, and mind control. The group were named after their leader, Duvan; the name "Duvan'Ku" means, roughly "Heralds of Duvan" in High Imperial. The secretive Duvan was rumoured to be one of the most powerful spellcasters in the world and a close confidante of Eventis IV. While history undisputably shows that Duvan existed and was an advisor to the Emperor, very few details about him survive.
The Emperor's most puzzling decree was made about two years before the fall of the Empire. For unknown reasons, he decreed that the bodies of all legionnaires who fell in combat should be recovered and sent north, to the (then) uninhabited tundra beyond the Frostpeak Mountains. For two years, tens of thousands of corpses were transported through the mountains, never to return. For that matter, none of the living legionnaires responsible for transporting the corpses ever returned either. "Corpse duty" was considered to be a punishment equivalent to a death sentence. Only the Duvan'Ku in charge of the operation ever returned from beyond the mountains, and no testimony from them survives, if indeed it ever existed.
What Eventis IV hoped to accomplish with this decree has never been determined, although many have speculated that the Emperor gave the corpses to the Duvan'Ku as payment for their services. As necromancers, they would have desired a large supply of fresh corpses. Nothing seems to have ever come from the whole affair, and the corpses of the legionnaires are presumably still lying somewhere beyond the Frostpeaks to this day.
The reign of Eventis IV lasted less than five years, and ended when he was assassinated by Aurilex, a Legionnaire general. In the aftermath of his assassination, the Duvan'Ku were hunted down and killed, although the fate of Duvan himself is unknown. In the chaos following Eventis IV's assassination and the purging of the Duvan'Ku, the Empire collapsed completely.
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Session 26: We Finally Accomplished Something
March 1, 118
A few hours pass as the party wait for Severn to assemble his team. The party rest up during this time, and Calanon heads out and buys some supplies before returning.
Eventually, in the early evening, Severn's agents arrive. They are three women, who appear to be a rogue, a wizard, and a paladin or cleric. After confirming the situation with the party, they waste no time in moving forward into the portal. The party follows behind them.
The group makes their way through the rooms that were previously cleared by the party. In the room where they fought the cat-like creatures, the agents stop to take a closer look at them, and Ellyanna joins them. On closer inspection, she realizes that she does recognize the creatures; they are magically-created monsters known as "displacer beasts".
As the three agents approach the final door to the room where Therian is imprisoned, the party hang back safely behind them. The wizard casts a levitation spell on the rogue, who opens the door. The party don't have a good line of sight and can only barely see into the room. They see the rogue levitate up to the ceiling and push herself off, while the cleric hefts her shield and takes up a defensive position in front of the wizard.
A minute or two passes in silence, with the party unable to see what's happening inside the room. Suddenly, the silence is broken by a monstrous roar, and a shout from the rogue for everyone to run. The other two agents begin backing off, and Elvish and Ash-Daughter make a run for it. Ellyanna stays in the room but backs off to the wall, while Dark Star and Calanon move forward to cover the agents' escape.
The rogue comes into view as she propels herself by pushing along the ceiling. A man, presumably Therian, is hanging onto her waist. A monstrous, insectoid creature (later identified by Ellyanna as an ankheg, a type of burrowing beast) leaps towards the pair, spitting a spray of acid towards them, but it only narrowly clips them. When they reach the door, the rogue pushes herself and Therian through, and everyone retreats down the hallway. The ankheg is too large to fit through the doorway and, after a futile attempt to hit them with another acid spray, it is forced to give up the chase.
Everyone retreats back another room before catching their breath, assessing the situation, and quickly letting Therian know what's going on. The decide to leave the ankhegs be and exit the demiplane with Therian.
Once they're out, Severn's agents leave Therian with the party and head off to retrieve the Prelate himself. Severn arrives a few minutes later and dismisses the three women, then turns to the party in order to discuss their next steps.
Although Therian has been rescued, Severn feels that Sahril should not announce her candidacy immediately. He thinks that they should wait until they have the Arch-Prelate's murderer in hand and make both announcements together, in order for them to have the strongest effect. However, they don't know how long it will be until Zorlac has finished erasing the clone's memories, so they don't know how long they'll need to wait. As Gorith will likely be growing desperate, he doesn't want to wait more than a few days.
Eventually, they decide that the party will check up on Zorlac's progress the next day, and they'll decide the best course of action based on what the wizard says. If Kaplan will be ready soon, they'll go ahead with Severn's plan, but if it will take too long, they'll need to come up with something else.
Since they're worried that they might be in danger from Gorith, Severn offers to let the party rest for the night within the Cathedral under his protection. They take him up on this offer.
March 2, 118
The next morning, as the party is eating and preparing for the day, they are approached by Malecar, who wants to leave now that Therian is free. The party agree to keep their end of the bargain and let him go, but Calanon demands to escort him to the gate so they know he's really leaving. Malecar agrees to this. Ellyanna decides to come along as well, to see if she can learn anything from the wizard, and Ash-Daughter also accompanies them, since her knowledge of the city's streets will help them move faster.
While everyone else is escorting Malecar, Dark Star heads to the Salty Locust, the inn where they told their contact in Duskveil to bring the enchanted bed and the remains of the undead from Frosthaven - they are expected to arrive today. Finally, Elvish heads to Zorlac's tower to get an update from him.
At Zorlac's tower, Elvish learns that Zorlac is making progress, but probably won't be done for at least 3 or 4 days. When he returns to update Severn on the situation, the Prelate is not happy with this, and feels that they can't wait this long. He wants to retrieve the murderer and make his move earlier than that. Elvish convinces him to at least wait until the next day, hoping that they can come up with a way to deal with, or at least delay, Gorith while Zorlac is finishing his work.
While Calanon, Ellyanna, and Ash-Daughter are escorting Malecar to the city gates, Ellyanna strikes up a conversation with him, asking about Corsica, the librarian who they encountered earlier. Specifically, she wants to know how they might be able to break Zorlac's control over her. Malecar replies that this type of magic isn't his specialty, and she'd be best off speaking with an enchanter. Unfortunately, he doesn't know any in the city personally.
When they get to the outskirts of the city, Malecar buys a horse from a nearby stable for the journey. Ellyanna, hoping to patch up his relationship with the party a bit, pays a large part of the price and sends him on his way. Afterwards, she lets Calanon go ahead to meet with Dark Star, but stays behind to ask about local enchanters along with Ash-Daughter.
Back at the Salty Locust, Dark Star sees a wagon arrive and goes out to investigate. It is indeed the party from Duskveil, lead by Ellesera, the Elven captain of the watch who they rescued earlier at Frosthaven. They've brought the bed as promised, as well as several chests full of undead body parts, gathered from in and around Frosthaven.
Dark Star asks Ellesera if there have been any further undead sightings or other unusual occurences, and she tells him that there has been a string of murders in the usually-peaceful village, all young women. No one has been able to learn anything of the culprit. Dark Star is immediately suspicious of the two suvivors who they brought back from Frosthaven, but Ellesera tells him that one of the murders was committed while they were both locked in custody, so it could not have been them.
Calanon and Elvish eventually arrive, and they decide what to do next. Hoping they can use the demiplane to transport the undead and the bed, they open it up and step through. Something seems to have changed - the walls are shimmering and wavering, whereas before they were perfectly solid. They decide to store the extra chests inside, but leave the bed and one chest outside of the demiplane, is case it somehow fails or collapses.
Needing a non-suspicious way to transport the bed through the Outer City, they hit upon the idea of converting it into a palanquin and carrying it through with someone riding it. They attach wooden carrying beams for this purpose. While they're working on this, Ellyanna and Ash-Daughter return. They've found the name and location of a local enchanter, but have decided to look into after dealing with more immediate issues.
With Elvish riding the palanquin, the party make their way through the Outer City until they get to the gate. Ash-Daughter gets them past the gate using Undercity tunnels that she used to use as a smuggler, and they continue into the New City. Eventually, they arrive at the same Undercity entrance where they found the necromancer Leravith, and head back down to meet her again.
A few hours pass as the party wait for Severn to assemble his team. The party rest up during this time, and Calanon heads out and buys some supplies before returning.
Eventually, in the early evening, Severn's agents arrive. They are three women, who appear to be a rogue, a wizard, and a paladin or cleric. After confirming the situation with the party, they waste no time in moving forward into the portal. The party follows behind them.
The group makes their way through the rooms that were previously cleared by the party. In the room where they fought the cat-like creatures, the agents stop to take a closer look at them, and Ellyanna joins them. On closer inspection, she realizes that she does recognize the creatures; they are magically-created monsters known as "displacer beasts".
As the three agents approach the final door to the room where Therian is imprisoned, the party hang back safely behind them. The wizard casts a levitation spell on the rogue, who opens the door. The party don't have a good line of sight and can only barely see into the room. They see the rogue levitate up to the ceiling and push herself off, while the cleric hefts her shield and takes up a defensive position in front of the wizard.
A minute or two passes in silence, with the party unable to see what's happening inside the room. Suddenly, the silence is broken by a monstrous roar, and a shout from the rogue for everyone to run. The other two agents begin backing off, and Elvish and Ash-Daughter make a run for it. Ellyanna stays in the room but backs off to the wall, while Dark Star and Calanon move forward to cover the agents' escape.
The rogue comes into view as she propels herself by pushing along the ceiling. A man, presumably Therian, is hanging onto her waist. A monstrous, insectoid creature (later identified by Ellyanna as an ankheg, a type of burrowing beast) leaps towards the pair, spitting a spray of acid towards them, but it only narrowly clips them. When they reach the door, the rogue pushes herself and Therian through, and everyone retreats down the hallway. The ankheg is too large to fit through the doorway and, after a futile attempt to hit them with another acid spray, it is forced to give up the chase.
Everyone retreats back another room before catching their breath, assessing the situation, and quickly letting Therian know what's going on. The decide to leave the ankhegs be and exit the demiplane with Therian.
Once they're out, Severn's agents leave Therian with the party and head off to retrieve the Prelate himself. Severn arrives a few minutes later and dismisses the three women, then turns to the party in order to discuss their next steps.
Although Therian has been rescued, Severn feels that Sahril should not announce her candidacy immediately. He thinks that they should wait until they have the Arch-Prelate's murderer in hand and make both announcements together, in order for them to have the strongest effect. However, they don't know how long it will be until Zorlac has finished erasing the clone's memories, so they don't know how long they'll need to wait. As Gorith will likely be growing desperate, he doesn't want to wait more than a few days.
Eventually, they decide that the party will check up on Zorlac's progress the next day, and they'll decide the best course of action based on what the wizard says. If Kaplan will be ready soon, they'll go ahead with Severn's plan, but if it will take too long, they'll need to come up with something else.
Since they're worried that they might be in danger from Gorith, Severn offers to let the party rest for the night within the Cathedral under his protection. They take him up on this offer.
March 2, 118
The next morning, as the party is eating and preparing for the day, they are approached by Malecar, who wants to leave now that Therian is free. The party agree to keep their end of the bargain and let him go, but Calanon demands to escort him to the gate so they know he's really leaving. Malecar agrees to this. Ellyanna decides to come along as well, to see if she can learn anything from the wizard, and Ash-Daughter also accompanies them, since her knowledge of the city's streets will help them move faster.
While everyone else is escorting Malecar, Dark Star heads to the Salty Locust, the inn where they told their contact in Duskveil to bring the enchanted bed and the remains of the undead from Frosthaven - they are expected to arrive today. Finally, Elvish heads to Zorlac's tower to get an update from him.
At Zorlac's tower, Elvish learns that Zorlac is making progress, but probably won't be done for at least 3 or 4 days. When he returns to update Severn on the situation, the Prelate is not happy with this, and feels that they can't wait this long. He wants to retrieve the murderer and make his move earlier than that. Elvish convinces him to at least wait until the next day, hoping that they can come up with a way to deal with, or at least delay, Gorith while Zorlac is finishing his work.
While Calanon, Ellyanna, and Ash-Daughter are escorting Malecar to the city gates, Ellyanna strikes up a conversation with him, asking about Corsica, the librarian who they encountered earlier. Specifically, she wants to know how they might be able to break Zorlac's control over her. Malecar replies that this type of magic isn't his specialty, and she'd be best off speaking with an enchanter. Unfortunately, he doesn't know any in the city personally.
When they get to the outskirts of the city, Malecar buys a horse from a nearby stable for the journey. Ellyanna, hoping to patch up his relationship with the party a bit, pays a large part of the price and sends him on his way. Afterwards, she lets Calanon go ahead to meet with Dark Star, but stays behind to ask about local enchanters along with Ash-Daughter.
Back at the Salty Locust, Dark Star sees a wagon arrive and goes out to investigate. It is indeed the party from Duskveil, lead by Ellesera, the Elven captain of the watch who they rescued earlier at Frosthaven. They've brought the bed as promised, as well as several chests full of undead body parts, gathered from in and around Frosthaven.
Dark Star asks Ellesera if there have been any further undead sightings or other unusual occurences, and she tells him that there has been a string of murders in the usually-peaceful village, all young women. No one has been able to learn anything of the culprit. Dark Star is immediately suspicious of the two suvivors who they brought back from Frosthaven, but Ellesera tells him that one of the murders was committed while they were both locked in custody, so it could not have been them.
Calanon and Elvish eventually arrive, and they decide what to do next. Hoping they can use the demiplane to transport the undead and the bed, they open it up and step through. Something seems to have changed - the walls are shimmering and wavering, whereas before they were perfectly solid. They decide to store the extra chests inside, but leave the bed and one chest outside of the demiplane, is case it somehow fails or collapses.
Needing a non-suspicious way to transport the bed through the Outer City, they hit upon the idea of converting it into a palanquin and carrying it through with someone riding it. They attach wooden carrying beams for this purpose. While they're working on this, Ellyanna and Ash-Daughter return. They've found the name and location of a local enchanter, but have decided to look into after dealing with more immediate issues.
With Elvish riding the palanquin, the party make their way through the Outer City until they get to the gate. Ash-Daughter gets them past the gate using Undercity tunnels that she used to use as a smuggler, and they continue into the New City. Eventually, they arrive at the same Undercity entrance where they found the necromancer Leravith, and head back down to meet her again.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Session 25: Therian's Prison, Part 2
March 1, 118
The party rest for about 3 hours, in order to regain their strength. By the time they finish, it's mid-afternoon and they're ready to head back in.
Back in the demiplane, they return to where they fought the gargoyle and the magical swords. After listening at the door and hearing nothing, they continue through it. Beyond is a hallway that, after a few bends, ends in another door. Listening again, Calanon hears what sounds like the footsteps of an animal or beast of some kind.
Calanon takes the lead in the narrow hallway and opens the door. Beyond is a large room; at the other end, the hallway continues, but more importantly, both the left and right walls contains alcoves, each housing a large cat-like creature.
Calanon and the rest of the party cautiously approach, which attracts the attention of the creatures. They bound out from the alcoves and attack!
Now that they're closer, the party can see that, although they superficially resemble large cats (such as tigers or lions), the creatures are quite different. They have six legs rather than four and a long tentacle tipped with spikes protrudes from each of their front shoulders. Furthermore, Calanon realizes, when he is first struck by one of the tentacles, that they are under the effect of some sort of illusion - the actual location of the creatures is slightly displaced from where they appear to be.
With the illusion protecting them, and their speed allowing them to dodge most of Ellyanna's area-based attacks, the battle is a tough one. In the end, the party emerge victorious, but injured. Everyone survives the fight, but they are exhausted and most of their resources are spent.
Despite their current state, they know that, according to Malecar at least, there is only one room left in the demiplane, so they cautiously continue forward. Continuing through the room and the next passageway, they come to a door. When they can't hear anything, Ellyanna decides to cast a Light spell on an arrow and slip it under the bottom of the door, hoping to see what's on the other side.
The door is well-fit and she can't see much underneath it, but the light does attract the attention of someone from within the room, who shouts out and asks who's there. They respond to the voice, and quickly determine that it's Therian, Sahril's son, or at least someone claiming to be him.
Therian tells them that he's trapped in a cage suspended over sand, and that several large monsters are burrowed in the sand below him. When they party ask him to tell them everything he can about his kidnapping, he largely corroborates what they've already learned. He does give them one new piece of information, though - apparently, a man has been coming by every few days to bring food and water. He uses levitation magic to avoid touching the sand. Based on Therian's description, the party realize that the man is Gorith's butler.
Even though they're close to Therian, the party decide that they're not in good enough condition to face the monsters that he's described. Assuring Therian that they'll return, they make their way back to the portal and leave the demiplane, then find Severn to update him on what's happened.
Severn is concerned that they need to rescue Therian as quickly as possible - the longer they wait, the greater the chance that Gorith will realize what has happened and try something desperate to retrieve Malecar's device. He decides to assemble some of his own underlings and send them in to face the final obstacle.
The party rest for about 3 hours, in order to regain their strength. By the time they finish, it's mid-afternoon and they're ready to head back in.
Back in the demiplane, they return to where they fought the gargoyle and the magical swords. After listening at the door and hearing nothing, they continue through it. Beyond is a hallway that, after a few bends, ends in another door. Listening again, Calanon hears what sounds like the footsteps of an animal or beast of some kind.
Calanon takes the lead in the narrow hallway and opens the door. Beyond is a large room; at the other end, the hallway continues, but more importantly, both the left and right walls contains alcoves, each housing a large cat-like creature.
Calanon and the rest of the party cautiously approach, which attracts the attention of the creatures. They bound out from the alcoves and attack!
Now that they're closer, the party can see that, although they superficially resemble large cats (such as tigers or lions), the creatures are quite different. They have six legs rather than four and a long tentacle tipped with spikes protrudes from each of their front shoulders. Furthermore, Calanon realizes, when he is first struck by one of the tentacles, that they are under the effect of some sort of illusion - the actual location of the creatures is slightly displaced from where they appear to be.
With the illusion protecting them, and their speed allowing them to dodge most of Ellyanna's area-based attacks, the battle is a tough one. In the end, the party emerge victorious, but injured. Everyone survives the fight, but they are exhausted and most of their resources are spent.
Despite their current state, they know that, according to Malecar at least, there is only one room left in the demiplane, so they cautiously continue forward. Continuing through the room and the next passageway, they come to a door. When they can't hear anything, Ellyanna decides to cast a Light spell on an arrow and slip it under the bottom of the door, hoping to see what's on the other side.
The door is well-fit and she can't see much underneath it, but the light does attract the attention of someone from within the room, who shouts out and asks who's there. They respond to the voice, and quickly determine that it's Therian, Sahril's son, or at least someone claiming to be him.
Therian tells them that he's trapped in a cage suspended over sand, and that several large monsters are burrowed in the sand below him. When they party ask him to tell them everything he can about his kidnapping, he largely corroborates what they've already learned. He does give them one new piece of information, though - apparently, a man has been coming by every few days to bring food and water. He uses levitation magic to avoid touching the sand. Based on Therian's description, the party realize that the man is Gorith's butler.
Even though they're close to Therian, the party decide that they're not in good enough condition to face the monsters that he's described. Assuring Therian that they'll return, they make their way back to the portal and leave the demiplane, then find Severn to update him on what's happened.
Severn is concerned that they need to rescue Therian as quickly as possible - the longer they wait, the greater the chance that Gorith will realize what has happened and try something desperate to retrieve Malecar's device. He decides to assemble some of his own underlings and send them in to face the final obstacle.
Session 24: Therian's Prison, Part 1
February 28, 118
With Malecar incapacitated, the group decide to leave Dark Star upstairs to cover for them in case any guards or other servants arrive, while Calanon and Elvish head down to interrogate him. Before untying him and healing him just enough to restore consciousness, Elvish casts a Charm Person spell on him, hoping to get him to tell everything he knows.
Once Malecar is awake, it's clear the spell didn't work, as he is non-cooperative. He refuses to tell them anything about Therian, believing that they will simply kill him once they learn everything they want to know. Furthermore, he thinks that even if they assure him that they'll let him go, he has no way to know if they'll keep their word. He's right to be concerned - Calanon and Elvish are wary of letting him go, worried that he'll warn Gorith of what they're doing.
Elvish tries again with a Suggestion spell, but Malecar shakes this off as well. Finally, Calanon offers to swear in Vorn's name that he will protect Malecar from harm, if the mage tells them what he knows, then never mentions what has happened to Gorith. He convinces Malecar of his sincerity and faith by impressing him with his religious knowledge, and Malecar agrees to the deal.
Now that he's agreed to talk, Malecar explains that the magical icosahedron that they found is actually the entrance to a small, magically-created reality called a demiplane. By touching the runes on the device in a specific order, the portal can be opened and closed. Therian is indeed inside the demiplane, but Malecar doesn't know exactly what he's guarded by. He created the demiplane with four rooms inside, but then handed it over to Gorith for him to stock it with guardians.
Malecar demonstrates his words by opening the portal and taking Elvish inside. It's very dark on the other side, but he can vaguely make out that he's in a small room made of dark stone bricks.
Calanon and Elvish decide that they're best off removing the device, regrouping, and entering the demiplane from a safer location, so they start discussing how they're going to get it and Malecar out of the manor safely. They want Malecar to wait inside the demiplane so they can sneak him out, but he doesn't want to do this, since there's no way to open the portal from the inside. They could easily betray and trap him. He proposes that Calanon go in with him. Calanon agrees.
With Calanon and Malecar inside the portal, Elvish and Dark Star simply hide the icosahedron in a bag and walk out of the manor. At the front gate, they tell the guards that their games are finished and they're leaving for the night. One of the guards asks why only two of them are leaving when three entered, but they claim that Calanon is staying behind to help clean up, and the guard believes them.
Safely out of the mansion, Elvish and Dark Star regroup with Ash-Daughter and Ellyanna, who were both waiting for their opportunities to sneak in. That, of course, is no longer necessary. The reunited party decide to head to Severn's offices at the Eminent Cathedral, where the prelate's men can watch over them while they rest for the night. Since Ellyanna already slept earlier, she heads back to their inn rooms in order to retrieve everyone's gear, intending to rejoin them at the cathedral slightly later.
Severn agrees to provide a watch and the party, along with Malecar, rest for the night. Ellyanna arrives a few hours later with their gear and joins them.
March 1, 118
After all the activities of the last night, the party sleep in and get a late start in the morning. After preparing themselves, they open up the portal and step through into the demiplane, leaving Malecar behind, watched over by Severn's men.
Coming in with a proper light source this time, they see that the first room of the demiplane is small and contains only a single door, directly across from the portal back out. It is quiet and they cannot hear anything coming from beyond the door, so they open it and step through.
The door leads to a passageway, which turns to the left after a short distance and opens into a room after another short distance. This room is larger, with pillars along the walls and a vaulted ceiling. Along the left and right walls, mounted between the pillars, are ceremonial swords, five on each wall. There is a door on the opposite end of the room, and sitting in an alcove above the door is a stone gargoyle.
The party splits up and investigates the room. Concerned that it could be a guardian, Ellyanna shoots a firebolt at the gargoyle. Apparently she is correct, as the impact of the spell causes it to begin moving, preparing to jump down and attack the party. As they get ready to fight the gargoyle, the ten swords lift into the air and swing upwards, moving in to attack as well.
Suddenly under attack by eleven enemies, the party are badly out of position and completely surrounded. Calanon is unable to protect all of the weaker party members, and escape is cut off. The fight turns into a chaotic scramble, and though the party manage to inflict some damage on their magical attackers, they start taking many wounds themselves.
Eventually, with several party members badly wounded, Elvish makes a run for it, heading back through the portal to get help. The rest of the group manage to hold on until he returns with several of Severn's guardsmen, who help them turn the tide of the battle. The manage to destroy and gargoyle and all ten swords with no casualties. However, they are badly hurt and have expended much of their magical power, so they retreat out of the demiplace to recover.
With Malecar incapacitated, the group decide to leave Dark Star upstairs to cover for them in case any guards or other servants arrive, while Calanon and Elvish head down to interrogate him. Before untying him and healing him just enough to restore consciousness, Elvish casts a Charm Person spell on him, hoping to get him to tell everything he knows.
Once Malecar is awake, it's clear the spell didn't work, as he is non-cooperative. He refuses to tell them anything about Therian, believing that they will simply kill him once they learn everything they want to know. Furthermore, he thinks that even if they assure him that they'll let him go, he has no way to know if they'll keep their word. He's right to be concerned - Calanon and Elvish are wary of letting him go, worried that he'll warn Gorith of what they're doing.
Elvish tries again with a Suggestion spell, but Malecar shakes this off as well. Finally, Calanon offers to swear in Vorn's name that he will protect Malecar from harm, if the mage tells them what he knows, then never mentions what has happened to Gorith. He convinces Malecar of his sincerity and faith by impressing him with his religious knowledge, and Malecar agrees to the deal.
Now that he's agreed to talk, Malecar explains that the magical icosahedron that they found is actually the entrance to a small, magically-created reality called a demiplane. By touching the runes on the device in a specific order, the portal can be opened and closed. Therian is indeed inside the demiplane, but Malecar doesn't know exactly what he's guarded by. He created the demiplane with four rooms inside, but then handed it over to Gorith for him to stock it with guardians.
Malecar demonstrates his words by opening the portal and taking Elvish inside. It's very dark on the other side, but he can vaguely make out that he's in a small room made of dark stone bricks.
Calanon and Elvish decide that they're best off removing the device, regrouping, and entering the demiplane from a safer location, so they start discussing how they're going to get it and Malecar out of the manor safely. They want Malecar to wait inside the demiplane so they can sneak him out, but he doesn't want to do this, since there's no way to open the portal from the inside. They could easily betray and trap him. He proposes that Calanon go in with him. Calanon agrees.
With Calanon and Malecar inside the portal, Elvish and Dark Star simply hide the icosahedron in a bag and walk out of the manor. At the front gate, they tell the guards that their games are finished and they're leaving for the night. One of the guards asks why only two of them are leaving when three entered, but they claim that Calanon is staying behind to help clean up, and the guard believes them.
Safely out of the mansion, Elvish and Dark Star regroup with Ash-Daughter and Ellyanna, who were both waiting for their opportunities to sneak in. That, of course, is no longer necessary. The reunited party decide to head to Severn's offices at the Eminent Cathedral, where the prelate's men can watch over them while they rest for the night. Since Ellyanna already slept earlier, she heads back to their inn rooms in order to retrieve everyone's gear, intending to rejoin them at the cathedral slightly later.
Severn agrees to provide a watch and the party, along with Malecar, rest for the night. Ellyanna arrives a few hours later with their gear and joins them.
March 1, 118
After all the activities of the last night, the party sleep in and get a late start in the morning. After preparing themselves, they open up the portal and step through into the demiplane, leaving Malecar behind, watched over by Severn's men.
Coming in with a proper light source this time, they see that the first room of the demiplane is small and contains only a single door, directly across from the portal back out. It is quiet and they cannot hear anything coming from beyond the door, so they open it and step through.
The door leads to a passageway, which turns to the left after a short distance and opens into a room after another short distance. This room is larger, with pillars along the walls and a vaulted ceiling. Along the left and right walls, mounted between the pillars, are ceremonial swords, five on each wall. There is a door on the opposite end of the room, and sitting in an alcove above the door is a stone gargoyle.
The party splits up and investigates the room. Concerned that it could be a guardian, Ellyanna shoots a firebolt at the gargoyle. Apparently she is correct, as the impact of the spell causes it to begin moving, preparing to jump down and attack the party. As they get ready to fight the gargoyle, the ten swords lift into the air and swing upwards, moving in to attack as well.
Suddenly under attack by eleven enemies, the party are badly out of position and completely surrounded. Calanon is unable to protect all of the weaker party members, and escape is cut off. The fight turns into a chaotic scramble, and though the party manage to inflict some damage on their magical attackers, they start taking many wounds themselves.
Eventually, with several party members badly wounded, Elvish makes a run for it, heading back through the portal to get help. The rest of the group manage to hold on until he returns with several of Severn's guardsmen, who help them turn the tide of the battle. The manage to destroy and gargoyle and all ten swords with no casualties. However, they are badly hurt and have expended much of their magical power, so they retreat out of the demiplace to recover.
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