"Huh? Oh, that." Sverix is silent for a few moments. "As far as I know I'm full bronze, but... then I breathed ice today. I don't know how that happened. I was just thinking of Terendelev..."
He trails off. After a moment he hesitantly suggests, "Maybe it's something to do with me carrying her scale? I know it's got some of her magic in it, maybe somehow it let me breathe ice?"
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Anevia shakes her head. "I don't know. I guess?"
Aravashnial hears the conversation and wanders over. "What happened? You breathed frost? Has that ever happened before? The power and blood of dragons is great, and their mere presence can influence what is around them. It does not take much exposure to a dragon, for instance, for a child to be born a dragon-blooded sorcerer. One certainly doesn't need to have an actual dragon in their ancestry. So, it might indeed be possible that Terendelev's influence on all of us -- saving us during the fall, and also providing that scale -- is somehow affecting you, imbuing you with some essence of a silver dragon."
Horgus turns over. "Quiet, some of us are trying to sleep here."
Aravashnial turns his head in the vague direction of Horgus, but of course does not see him.
He looks back to Sverix and says, "I look forward to learning more about what powers you may manifest!"
"Umm... it usually doesn't work that way for dragons, because we're... already dragons..." Sverix replies, uncertainly. "But I think I want to sleep now, to be ready for tomorrow. Good night."
With that, he finds a comfortable spot to curl up and sleep.
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Rested and refreshed, with new spells prepared (if you wish), you head back to the evil Mongrel lair, with Lann and Anevia accompanying you. You expect that resistance will be weaker now, as you have killed the demonic cultist who had taken them over. Still, if Chief Sull is to be believed, the mongrels who live here are mostly an unredeemable lot, thieves and murderers who have caused problems for his people.
Here is the map of what you've explored so far.
You don't think you missed any secret doors on the lower level (accessible via the hole in the floor / shaft in I18). That's where Hosilla's bedroom and complex was, and you cleared that area out. Of course, it's possible that overnight some other mongrels have moved down there.
There seems to be only one way to go that you haven't gone yet: the door to the north in C8.
The door right in front of you (A11) that leads into the complex is now closed.
Let me know how you proceed.
Sverixalint feels a lot better after a good night's rest. Even if it had been hard, he'd killed a very evil person yesterday, and helped some innocent people, and that was what bronze dragons were all about, right?
The little dragon is more cheerful and talkative as he walks with Anevia and Lann. He falls silent when he sees the closed door, however. Cautiously, he creeps up to the door and presses his head to it, listening for movement on the other side.
The little dragon murmurs a prayer to Apsu before trying to quickly throw the door open.
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Sverix throws open the door.
It's empty and quiet beyond. The bedrolls are still there, but otherwise it looks like not much has happened.
Anevia and Lann come into the room behind him. Anevia points at some of the bedrolls. "Somebody has been through here; those are disturbed, and there are muddy footprints on one of them."
Sverix nods. "I guess there's some of them left. Maybe we should check down below and then go through the door we didn't before?"
Assuming there are no objections, Sverix follows through on this plan.
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Sverix, Anevia, and Lann continue deeper into the complex. Of the obvious places to explore, you don't find any more people... but you do find some things you might wish to explore futher. I'll give you everything you find with quick walkthrough; let me know if you want to explore further in any place.
Through the door to the is what looks like a trophy hall (A5-F7). The worked stone walls of this large room hold a number of shelves, each of which display the preserved bodies of dire rats, bats, rock vipers, cave lizards, and other creatures that pose in eerie stillness. A pair of bedrolls have been laid out to the southeast.
There is a hallway through the door to the east. A muted roar echoes down the walls of this hallway. Near the eastern end, the worked stone give way to natural cave walls, just before the hall ends at an open shaft (K9). Hanging over the edge of the shaft is a knotted rope—the other end tied to an iron spike driven into the ground underneath the surface of what looks like a cul-de-sac in an underground river. If you wish to climb down the rope, it's a DC5 climb check. (Anevia would rather not, unless you need her to, with her broken leg.)
To the north of the trophy hall, there's a short tunnel that leads to a ladder that goes ten feet up. The room above (A2-E3) is a terribly foul-smelling room, with lot of shredded cloth scattered about. Based on spoor, you think that there were dire rats in here, but they don't seem to be here any longer. Some of the spoor is fresh, so they were here as recently as a day or two ago.
The tunnel to the east of the rat nest leads to what looks like another guard post (J2-L4). A rusted iron door sits in the center of the eastern wall of this small chamber. A copper brazier hangs from the ceiling above a flimsy wooden table, but no light burns in the brazier now.
Through that door there's a large room, with what looks like a maze set up in it (M1-W7). This large chamber must have once been a cistern for the sewer ystem. Walls made of identical stone blocks hold up a lofty ceiling reinforced with elegant stone arches, while the center of the room contains a more recent-looking structure made of brick walls that reach from floor to ceiling. The crude maze appears to be a defensive structure, designed to slow down and channel together anybody coming from the surface. In the maze, you find the recently dead bodies of two mongrelmen, and two dretches. "It looks like they were more afraid of you than the minor demons," Lann says. "I suspect our demonic cultist who came in here left these demons here, and the mongrels fought through them to get out after they discovered what you had done to their leader and all of the other mongrels below."
Beyond this (Z3) is the passageway that Lann assures you will lead to the surface.
Is there anywhere you want to explore further? If not, what do you want to do?
Sverix takes a careful look around the trophy hall, the dire rat lair, and the maze, looking for anything of value that might have been left behind.
After that, he'll climb down the rope alone and look around the chamber down there.
If he doesn't find anything interesting, he'll suggest going back to pick up the rest of their little group to prepare to go to the surface.
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The only place Sverix finds something insteresting is down in the Sluice. On the east side, above the water level, there's a secret door. Once he discovers it, he's able to find out how to open it. Looking in, he sees that the entrance to this small chamber sits a foot above the water level to the west. A thick layer of dust coats the rest of the cavern. Near the far wall sits an old wooden chest covered with dust and cobwebs.
Looking in more carefully (with the 21 on Perception), he can also see that there's a section of floor in front of the chest that is trapped; the floor looks like it will give way, doubtless to a pit, if any weight is put on it.
Let me know how you proceed.
"Hey! I found something down here!" Sverix shouts up to the other two. "It looks like someone hid something! I'll take a look."
He notices the odd section of floor in his careful examination of the area. Looking it over, he decides to try jumping and gliding over it. He backs up to get as much of a running start as he can, then runs forward and jumps, spreading his wings, aiming to land on or behind the chest.
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Sverix is able to fly over the dangerous area of the floor. He clips his wings on the doorjam on the way by, and the landing is a little unstable and would not get a 10 from the Russian judge, but he manages to get there.
Getting back (with no running start) might be another story....
There seems to be quite a stash here. Somebody hid something here, and for whatever reason never was able to come back and claim it. The loot includes:
- A very nicely made light wooden shield that detects for magic
- A ring that detects for magic
- An arcane scroll of some sort
- A divine scroll of some sort
- Two identical potions
- 250gp
You hear Anevia's voice calling through the door and from above. "Sverix? Are you OK down there?"
"Yes!" He shouts back. "I just had to jump over a pit. I may need some help getting back, though. Lann, can you come down with a rope please? I'm not very heavy."
A very nicely made light wooden shield that detects for magic
A ring that detects for magic
An arcane scroll of some sort
A divine scroll of some sort
Two identical potions
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Lann climbs down, sees the secret door with Sverix behind it, and whistles. "Looks like you found somebody's stash," he says. "Where's the pit?"
As you point out the hidden pit trap, he nods. Using a rope and some care, you're able to get back across without falling to your doom, although you do manage to trigger the trap on the way. As it opens, you see that it's 10 feet deep, and has spikes at the bottom; you're happy you didn't fall into it!
You aren't able to figure out the shield or the divine scroll, but you are able to analyze the magic auras of the other items. The ring is a Ring of Climbing, the arcane scroll has the magical formula for Identify on it, and the two potions are potions of Darkvision, which won't help you much, but which could potentially help Anevia.
You climb back up and make your way back to the Mongrelman village.
Horgus is impatient, as usual, ready to get back to the surface. Anevia is also anxious; you can tell that she really wants to get the information you've learned back to Irabeth, and she seems to be extremely eager to see Irabeth as well.
Aravashnia remains somewhat distracted. He's vaguely interested in the magic items you found, regrets that he can't read the scrolls, but is able to identify the magic aura of the shield. "It's just a basic enchanted shield. A good one for somebody who might use such a thing." (It's a +1 light wooden shield.)
Before you leave, Chief Sull speaks with you again. "Thank you for what you have done. The traitors had been becoming increasingly violent, and I was not surprised to find out that they'd fallen under the influence of a demonic cultist. We will remain vigilant to make sure such an influence does not gain a foothold down here again. And, once you make it to the surface, be aware that you have friends down here. I will occasionally send Lann to the surface as an ambassador."
You gather your three companions and make the trek to the surface....
Sverix will give Anevia the potions of darkvision. He'll keep the scrolls, and take the ring of climbing ("Until I can fly better, I need all the help I can get with all of these ladders and ropes and things."). He suggests one of the others carry the shield until they find someone who will use it.
"Thanks for everything!" he says to Chief Sull before leaving. "I'll make sure to tell people about your offer when we find someone to tell."
He easily picks up on Anevia's nervousness, but doesn't say anything about it.
After bidding goodbye to Lann and the other mongrelfolk, he leads his companions towards the exit to the surface.
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Further identifications:
2 potions from Crazy Dwarf: One is cure light wounds, the other is invisibility. (Special deal this week! Two potions for one Spellcraft roll!)
2 scrolls from Crazy Dwarf: Shocking Grasp, Resist Energy
Scroll from Baphomet Cultist: Cause Fear
Scroll from MOngrelfolk Area Stash: either Identify or Magic Fang, whichever you didn't get before.
More shortly....
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You emerge to witness the smoking ruins of Kenabres. (See map above. The great fall that started the game was at St. Clydewell Plaza. You emerge to the southeast at the spot labeled Emerge Here.)
"Oh, my," Anevia says with great weight in her voice.
Horgus simply looks around, a look of despair on his face.
"I smell the smoke. What do you see?" Aravashnial asks, sounding less despairing, more curious than the others.
Looking around, the city has been turned into an apocalyptic ruin. Some buildings still stand, but others are torn down in swaths representing the paths of enourmous destructive demons. Cracks in several places rend the ground. The tall buildings you used to be able to see from anywhere in the city -- the Tower of the Kite and the Cathedral of St. Clydwell -- are nowhere to be seen, at least from your vantage in the southeast of the city. In several places around you can see plumes of smoke rising. The streets are peppered with occasional bodies, some of which show signs of having been partially eaten. Fat buzzards circle above.
(You can respond to the NPCs here if you wish.)
"We have to find my home," Anevia says, urgency in her voice. "Irabeth and I shared a home in eastern Kenabres, to the north of here. She is a member of the Eagle Watch; we have to tell her about the news of the places infiltrated by the cultists that we found. Some of them may still be active!"
Horgus Gwerm, for his part, sniffs, and says, his voice somewhat subdued, "Well, you've done a good job escorting me back to the surface. I said you would be paid for your service, and you will be. I just need you to escort me back to my manor... and to stay to defend me while I find out what remains of it. We must head directly there, stopping nowhere else first."
Anevia gives Horgus a sour look, but doesn't say anything.
Aravashnial says, "I would like to be escorted to Blackwing -- the Librarium of the Broken Black Wing. I doubt I could make it there myself given my current lack of sight. I have colleagues there; I would like to learn if any remain. If so, they may be able to help us, and may be able to help me with my sight."
The location of the three places the NPCs want to go are marked on the map linked above.
Let me know how you proceed.
"It's... it's..." Sverix shudders a bit, hesitant to answer Aravashnial's question. "It's... it didn't go well. I think... we lost. There's stuff on fire, and... dead people."
He swallows. "There don't seem to be any demons around here, at least."
Sverix listens to all of the requests. "Horgus, the Librarium is right on the way to your mansion. Why don't we stop there first, and then go on? It won't take long, and if there's anyone left alive there, they might be able to help us if we run into trouble on the way."
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Horgus looks briefly sour, but after a pause, nods, and says, quietly, "I suppose that makes sense."
You begin the treck through the wreckage of Kenbares. Some houses are standing-- but many of them show forced doors, which was likely the work of looters who came by after the demonic onslaught, rather than damage of demons themselves (who tend to just take down walls when they want to go in, at least if they're big enough). (And, honestly, Sverix realizes that he might do the same, at least, when he's big enough.)
It's slow going. The roads are not all clear, and you find yourself sometimes having to climb over rubble, and sometimes make detours. The effect is that it takes twice as long to cover a distance in the city as it normally would. (Combat-scale maps won't uniformly be difficult terrain, however.) Moving at the reduced speed due to Anevia's broken leg and Aravashnial's blindness, it take about 10 minutes to go 750 feet. (There is a scale on the lower-right of the city map I posted.)
However, you don't even get through the 8-9 minutes it would take to get to Blackwing from where you are. As you go, you come across a shop. Inside, you hear crashing noises, and through the partially ajar door you get a brief glimpse of a hunched-over, rat-headed humanoid of some sort moving around.
"Don't worry about that," Horgus cautions. "The city was sacked by demons! There is going to be tragedy everywhere. We can't save everybody."
Anevia hesitates before reponding. "I really want to find Irabeth, and get her the news of the cultists... but we can't just stand by. What if there are trapped people in there?"
Let me know how you proceed.
Bronze dragons never back down from honorable battle... and Terendelev would not have passed by if there was a chance of saving someone. There was only one possible choice for Sverix.
"Then we'll save them," he answered Anevia confidently before stepping forward.
"What's going on here?" he roared as he neared the door... though it wasn't a very inspiring roar.
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You go to the front door of the shop. It looks it is is-- or, perhaps, was-- a clothier/tailor shop. But it's a disaster and a mess. There is torn cloth all over the floor, racks have been knocked down, glass has been smashed. Inside, you see a single rat-faced human-sized demon in the middle of tearing apart and/or eating what looks to once upon a time have been a rather nice ballgown.
The demon looks up, rather surprised to be interrupted -- by a dragon, no less!
Aravashnial and Anevia both delay to let you take the lead. (Aravashnial, being blind, probably won't be able to do a whole lot in any event.)
Action Order
- Sverix — Current
- Aravashnial
- Anevia
- Demon
A demon! Well, that meant Sverix would need some help hurting it all the way. He growls a quick prayer to Apsu to bless his fangs and shield his scales, then steps up adjacent to the demon.
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Anevia steps into the doorway and fires an arrow from her bow.
Unfortunately, she doesn't quite hit.
Aravashnail starts casting a spell.
The demon looks at this dragon suddenly in its face. It casts aside the ball gown it was defacing, and says, in Draconic, "Beautiful dragon, I will deface and tear you apart, I will rend your scales, beggars will laugh at your hideousness!"
It bites at Sverix, and then tears at him with two claws.
Only the second claw makes solid contact, tearing into Sverix for 3 points of damage.
Action Order
- Sverix — Current
- Aravashnial
- Anevia
- Demon
You are up again!
"Not if I tear you to pieces first!" Sverix roars, before lashing out with his teeth, his claws, and even trying to club it with his wings.
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The demon ducks away from Sverix's bite, but in so doing puts itself right in the line of both claws and both wing buffets from the small dragon. The result is that the demon is left on the ground, torn and battered, ready to die.
(Wow. One round. Nicely done.)
As Sverix finishes tearing up the demon, a lantern archon appears in the air nearby. "Was I too late?" Aravashnial asks outside.
"Mabye," Anevia responds. "There might be more."
As you start to look around the devastated tailor's shop to make sure there aren't more demons (assisted for several rounds by a floating lantern archon), a door at the back opens and a pair of beleaguered-looking humans, a man and a woman, come out from behind. "Thank you!" the woman says. "I am Nira Loumis. My husband Belthis and I have been hiding in this shop ever since the attack a few days ago. We managd to stay safe, until this demon came in. We hid from it, but it destroyed nearly everything that was still left...."
Aravashnail hesitantly steps into the room. "What did the demon look like?"
Based on Annevia's brief description, he says, "That sounds like an abrikandilu. Those demons hate the sight of anything beautiful, and are driven to tear down and destroy it. They also hate their own sight; if you see another one, try holding up a mirror to it; that may buy you enough time to escape. If your shop was in decent shape after the attack, and was not ravaged by looters, doubtless that's what attracted the attention of the demon."
Sverix is more than a little surprised at how quickly he kills the demon. He takes a moment to look at his claws after the deed is done.
"You know, I have been feeling a bit stronger recently..." he comments, only to be cut off by the back door opening.
The little dragon can't help but feel a bit proud at having saved some people from the demon. "I'm glad we were able to save you! Even if it messed up your shop..."
Sverixalint growled. "As if everything else wasn't bad enough, the demons have to tear up stuff just for being beautiful! Well... I guess at least, now, you should be safe, because there's nothing left here to attract demons or looters... do you think you'll be all right? We need to get moving soon if you will be, because we need to check up on some other people and places, too."
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"Thank you for everything you've done," Belthis, the man says. "We've been hiding in here for a few days, and we've been OK until that demon came in and started tearing the place up. We have a back room and a bolt-hole that we can hide in if things get hairy again. Go, go on and check on things. And if for whatever reason, you find yourself needing some clothing, or anything you might wish to wear, tailored, please, let us give you something free as thanks."
Anevia is sizing Sverix up. "Seeing you inside, I think you're larger than you used to be. Are you growing? If you're going to grow this fast, then you'll have a hard time putting on any clothing."
Aravashnial hears Anevia say this, and says, "Sverixallint is visibly growing? Fascinating. Usually dragons grow very slowly, as their lifespans are much longer than human lifespans, or even elven lifespans. Given that he also showed the ability to breathe frost in addition to lightning, I wonder if some measure of Terendelev's power may have been transferred into him? We should watch; he may exhibit great strides in maturity and power in a short period of time."
Anevia says, "He's right here, Aravashnial."
The elf responds, "My apologies for talking about you as if you were an experiment. Still I find it very fascinating."
Belthis and Nira look back and forth during the conversation. After a pause, Nira says, "Well, it's good to hear that there are strange and powerful things operating on the side of light as well as all those horrid demons. Perhaps you are destined to fill Terendelev's role?"
(Do you want to converse further, or move on?)
Sverix can't help but feel proud when Belthis thanks him, but when Anevia mentions he looks bigger, he turns and looks up at her with a big smile. "Really? I mean, I do feel a bit bigger and stronger, but if you can see it..."
He pauses a moment as Aravashnial speaks, then adds, "Dragons don't always grow slow. We have growth spurts and stuff, especially when we're young. Maybe I'm just having mine... ten years late..."
He pauses again. "But even if I am finally having my wyrmling growth spurt I shouldn't be growing fast enough for you to notice after a week, so I guess something funny is going on... Maybe it is... something to do with Terendelev..." His voice and gaze drop as he thinks of mighty Terendelev, fallen before he could even speak with her.
Then he shakes himself slightly. "Well, I have a long way to go before I can even be close to Terendelev, but maybe Apsu has a plan. Maybe I am here to... to be the dragon you all need."
Sverix closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and lets it out slowly. Somehow... saying that, it felt right. But it also felt... heavy, as if he were just realizing he was carrying a mountain on his back.
He opens his eyes suddenly. "Oh! Maybe there is something you can help with. We found this magic cloak, and it's... not really dragon-shaped. Maybe you could work on it while we keep going, and I can come back and pick it up after you've figured something out? Would that work?"
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Nira's eyes brighten and she nods. "Yes, we can do that for you! That will be an interesting challenge, to shape it so it will look attractive on a dragon without disrupting the magic. Leave it with us, and we'll see what we can do."
Leaving off the magic cloak, you continue to head through the ruined streets of Kenabres towards Blackwing. As you get there, you see that the building is in ruins. All that remains is the Librarium's facade, and the reinforced great hall.
Interestingly, the buildings all around are intact. It looks as if the Librarium may have been specifically targeted by something or some creature.
"Are we there? How did it fare?" Aravashnial asks.
Anevia gives him a brief description of what she sees. The blind elf collapses to his knees, despondent. His head bowed, in a quiet voice he says, "...most of my friends lived there. What will become of the Riftwardens? I may... I may be the only one left...."
The door is slightly ajar, and you hear an angry man's voice through the door. "Well, then, stack the damn books better!" he's shouting.
This doesn't sound good. You step closer to the door and look through. You see a largish room, with several bookshelves in it. There are four humans chained together in the middle of the room, with an incomplete ring of books around them. Guarding them are two tieflings. To one side there is a fifth human, a woman, who is in tears. Near her is a unpleasant-looking human male wielding a heavy mace and looming over her as he shouts at her.
Let me know how you proceed.
More evil... Sverix thinks as he peeks through the door. Were these more Baphomet cultists, like they'd seen below the city?
He bows his head slightly, touches a claw to his holy symbol, and murmurs, "Apsu ward my scales."
Then Sverix bursts through the doors and roars, "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?"
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The man turns, sees Sverix, and his eyes brighten. "A baby dragon! A bronze one! This will make our sacrifice even that much sweeter, convince the demons that I'm somebody they want to pay attention to! Guys, capture the dragon!"
The two tieflings and the man move to attack you.
Fenna, the librarian cowed by the man, delays.
Aravashnail, knowing that bad stuff is going down, starts to cast a spell.
The man with the heavy mace points it at Sverix and says, "You! Dragon! I challenge you!"
He charges Sverix, swinging his heavy mace has he does so.
However, Sverixallint's scales prove though enough to absorb the blow without damage.
Anevia moves to the side and fire an arrow at the man.
Because of the man's focus on challenging you, he doesn't pay enough attention to attacks from others, and Anevia's attack hits, although the arrow does not penetrate very deeply.
The two tifelings move. One moves around the tied up libraries and gets to the west of you (double move). The other moves to the east of you and stabs with his short sword.
He hits, and because of your having to focus on two tieflings on opposite sides of you, he's able to get in a sneak attack, doing 6 points of damage.
Seeing a chance, Fenna moves steps forward and unties one of the other librarians.
Action Order
- Aravashnial
- Chaleb
- Anevia
- Tiefling #1
- Tiefling #2
- Fenna
- Sverix — Current
Sverix is up!
Sverixalint snarls at the tiefling who stabbed him, but his focus remains on the armored man. "You'd better hope the demons like you, because you'll be in the Abyss soon with them!" he roars. He takes a moment to pray, "Apsu lend me strength!"
Then he tears into his foe with claw and fang, and batters at him with his wings.
Then he steps back out the door, trying to draw them away from the innocents inside and get out of being flanked.
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Sverix turns and tears the man with the mace apart. A powerful bite, followed by a claw, followed by a buffet from a wing that knocks the by-then-bleeding and reeling man back on to to the ground, sliding back a few feet in the slick of his own blood.
The two tieflings are shocked at what they see. The librarians fall silent, two untied and three still tied, staring at the whirwind of death in dragon form that just came in.
Even Anevia seems a little bit taken aback by how quickly and thoroughly Severix dismantled the man. Horgus, back in the street, hides a brief intake of breath.
Aravashnial doesn't seem affected by it; he's still mourning the damage to the facility, and the likely death of his friends.
The two tieflings, after a shocked pause, throw down their short swords and drop to their knees. "Don't kill us! We were just doing what Chaleb told us to! There's no law here, we have to follow whatever strongman we can find!"
Let me know how you proceed.
Sverix spits out the chunk of flesh he'd torn from this Chaleb. The man might have been a demon-worshipper, but Sverixalint was not a man-eater, no matter how depraved the man. He turns to look at the tieflings as they surrender.
"There is always a law in force, the law of what is right," he growls, bloody fangs flashing in the light as he speaks, "And sacrificing people to demons is never right. You'll come with us until we find someone that has authority to decide what to do with you."
His voice softens a bit. "But I'll make sure they know you surrendered, which should help you get a bit of mercy. Anevia, would you please take their weapons?"
The young dragon turns to the librarians. "Sorry about that. But you're free now! It's a good thing Aravashnial was worried about you, or we wouldn't have stopped by."
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Anevia comes in and starts binding the librarians. Horgus lurks at the doorway and watches.
"Aravashnail survived?" asks the librarian who had been shouted at by Chaleb. "That's the first good news we've had in a while!"
Aravashnial comes into the room. "That sounds like Fenna," he says.
Seeing his eyes covered by the bloody bandage wrapped around his head, Fenna says, "Oh, no, what happened to you?"
"I was saved by dragons," the elf reponds. "All of us fell into the crack in the earth that opened in Cyldwell Plaza as the demonic attack began. Terendelev, even as she was battling and being slayed by the Storm King, was able at the last minute to grant a few of us a last blessing, allowing us to survive the fall. After that, Sverixallint led us to safety, and back to the surface."
"And, yes, I am blind."
Fenna looks back at Sverixallint. "Thank you for saving Aravashnial," she says. "It was a secret that this was the Riftwrden's headquarters, but after the attack, all of them who were stationed here were dead. It is good to see that at least one did survive the attack."
"What happened here?" Aravashnial asks. "From what the others described, it sounds like the buildings nearby did not suffer the devastation that this one did. It sounds like Blackwing was specifically targetd."
Fenna says, "During the attack, we were attacked by some sort of horrific abomination. It had the shape of a man, but it was composed entirely of worms, squirming around as he walked. He used magic, and enslaved demons, to kill all of the riftwardens, and to smash down the building. Only a few of us survived by hiding. The head librarian, Quendys Orlun, was up at the Cathedral of Saint Clydwell at the time of the time of the disaster. We haven't heard from him, and fear the worst."
Another librarian pipes up. "Before the worm-man and his demons left, I believe they took with them several treasures. I don't know what, and I don't know everything the Riftwardens had."
Fenna continues. "We stayed here to guard what was left of the library. It was mostly quiet, the barred doors keeping out looters, until this man came."
She nods in the direction of the shredded body of Chaleb. "He and the others were going to burn all five of us in a bonfire made of books at the center of the library."
She shudders.
Turning to Aravashnial, she says, "Please, can you stay here with us? It would be of great help to have a Riftwarden back."
Aravashnial nods. He turns to Sverix, and says, "Sverixallint, you have been a becon of hope in the darkest times I have witnessed, darker than anything I saw in my youth in the Tanglebriar. I will stay here and see what of my order can be salvaged. Know that you have a refuge here, where you can come if you wish a place to rest, or if you wish any other help. I was always one who argued that the Riftwardens should stop being so secretive about their existence, and that they should openly assist the crusade. It is more apparent now than ever that this is necessary. I suspect you may have a vital destiny. I will be here to help you in it. But for today, I will stay here as you help the others find their own residences and lost aquaintances."
Sverixalint gives Aravashnial a small bow, crouching down slightly and inclining his head. He knows the elf can't see him do it, but... it feels right.
"Thank you," he says, "I hope I can live up to that. May Apsu strengthen you to defend your home."
He takes the potions and the mace, figuring they might find someone who needs it. Once everything is done, he looks over at Anevia and Horgus.
"We're going to your house next, right, Horgus? Let's get moving."
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Horgus says stiffly, "Yes, I believe it is finally time to get me home."
After a moment, he concedes, "It is good that you rescued these people here first. It was the right decision to come here on the way."
You begin to pick your way further through the ruins of Kenabres. Some streets are relatively clear, but many are blocked with the ruins of buildings, and sometimes you have to make a small detour to get around a rent in the ground. Sverix could probably glide over them, but Horgus, and especially Anevia with her broken leg, would have trouble with that.
You're about two thirds of the way there, you see, about a block ahead of you, what looks to be three Mendevian knights in battered and bloody armor, standing near a ruined shrine to Sarenrae. A woman on her knees with her hands tied behined her back is in front of the altar, weeping.
One of the knights bends down and says something to the woman. The other knights draw their weapons.
Horgus says, in a resigned tone of voice, "We should find out what's happening." He has learned that Sverix won't let this stand if things are as they appear....
Sverix was already moving even as Horgus spoke, impelled by the noble instincts of his metallic dragon heritage.
"What are you doing?" he growls as he draws close to the knights.
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One of the knights look up. There is a fire, but also a madness in his eyes. "We have to fight the demons! We need every edge we can get!"
Another one says, "Come, you should do this too. Sheathing your blade in the blood of a virgin makes it into a demon-slaying weapon for a time. I don't know if it works with dragon claws, but you should try it! Look what the demons have done! This woman's sacrifice will aid the cause of good."
The woman looks at Sverix with pleading in her eyes.
Sverixalint stands there, his jaw hanging open in shock, for just a moment. Then he shakes his head emphatically.
"You can't fight evil by doing evil!" he exclaims. "This is the sort of thing they want us to do! Can't you see? If you do this, you're playing right into their claws! I'll bet they even made up this story just to get people like you to fall for it!"
He steps a bit closer and pleads, "Please, stop this! You can't beat the demons by acting like them!"
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Sverix does not seem to be able to convince the knights. The leader of the three knights, a human woman with fresh scars on her face, says "Have you seen what the demons can do? There's no hope for us if we don't start making some necessary sacrifices?"
One of the other ones say, "Doria, do it! We will keep this dragon from stopping you!"
The woman raises her sword to kill the tied up woman, while the two knights stand between you and her. They don't immediately attack, but they're ready. Your options including engaging these two knights, or pushing past them in an attempt to engage the third knight who's about to kill the tied up woman. So doing will provoke opportunity attacks from the other two knights, however.
Let me know how you proceed.
Sverix growls in frustration, but his growl turns into a prayer. "Apsu, show them their blindness!" he cries, and a brilliant flash of light engulfs the scene.
Then he charges forward, trying to dodge around the knights and interpose himself between the woman and the knight attacking her.
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The two men right in front of you go blind, but the woman who's about to stab the prisoner manages to close her eyes just in time. She follows through on her threat, stabbing the tied up woman, who screams briefly, and then drops to the ground, bleeding.
The woman stands up from her crouch and faces you. "It is done! Now out of our way, unless you serve the demons yourself!"
Sverix stops right in front of the murderer. "The only demons I see here are yourselves," he growls. "Knights are supposed to defend the innocent, not kill them! Throw down your weapons and surrender to justice, or I shall show you what I do to demons!"