Seeing Hena's face on the infernal only seems to steel the gnome's resolve. "You think to frighten me with her face!?" she snarls as she attacks the creature with sweeping kicks.
Mialari repeats her trick with the velstrac, teleporting behind it before delivering a sneak attack augmented by phantasmal killer!
Between that, the searing light, and Pril's critical hit, the summoned fiend disappears! Illy shoots Barushak, hitting him twice more.
With his summon dispatched so swiftly, Barushak tries a different tactic. He raises a shield of force before unleashing a cone of cold!
Illyiana shivers from the cold attack, causing two of her shots to fly off their marks.
Ice coats Mialari as the cone of cold strikes her full force. She narrowly avoids a critical misstep. Despite her injuries, she teleports behind Barushak to stab the wizard. She scores a critical hit and unleashes the power inside her blade, causing a cold iron spike to thrust up from the floor to impale the conjurer!
"That's c-cold," is Pril's only response to the magical attack before turning her attention to the spellcaster.
Illy lands one hit but Pril misses. Barushak tries to take out Mialari with a phantasmal killer of his own, but she resists with a heroic effort.
Having missed multiple times, Illyiana finally locks in her sights and lets three deadly arrows fly in rapid succession.
Pril continues sending spinning kicks in the man's direction, most of which he dodges. One of which, however, catches him off guard.
Pril delivers a critical strike, shattering his knee, then Illy fires three arrows directly into Barushak’s chest. The conjurer gurgles blood before dropping to the floor.
There are two valuable objects in this room. One of these is a greater skeleton key. The other is a black metal moderate thurible of revelation inscribed with Infernal text. But Barushak keeps his most valuable object, his arcane focus, on his person; this is a book called The Extraplanar Registry, and it is written in Infernal. Anyone who can read it can use this detailed tome to gain a +2 item bonus to Recall Knowledge about outsiders, but it has a greater value—contained within its pages are full details on three rituals: commune, imprisonment, and planar ally. The Extraplanar Registry is worth 1,500 gp.
Among the treasure, several pages of notes written in Infernal not only detail Barushak’s plans to besmirch the Nidalese diplomats with propaganda, but also explain how the rakshasas managed to “draw upon the latent traumas of this city” to manifest undead shades of Barzillai. It’s clear that Barushak is impressed with this occult magic, even if he doesn’t quite understand how the rakshasas managed it. These notes, if presented to the Silver Council, will help to ensure that the peace talks with Nidal continue.
Exploring the rest of the dormitories, you find several more human prisoners, including laborers for Sunset Imports. The last room holds several halflings abducted from Long Roads Coffeehouse, but they have already escaped their bonds and quietly ripping up moldering bedclothes and sheets into long strips which they intend to braid into a rope for escape out the window!
The leader of the halflings steps forward, a broad woman with a large smile. "Lady Docur! Always a pleasure. Any friends of the lady are friends of mine. Laria Longroad, at your service."
Each of the prisoners can describe how they were first held in a large warehouse and then recently transported here under cover of darkness. Most also have family or friends who were taken out of town to someplace the Scarlet Triad called “the quarry,” and they beg you to follow up on this lead
"I overheard that nasty wizard talking," Laria says. "The quarry in question is Summershade Granite Quarry. It's one of several quarries in the Menador Mountains in southern Ravounel owned by the Jhaltero family. Lady Adolina's the mayor of Kintargo, so she might be able to help you out, or at least set up a meeting with her brother, Baron Canton of Whiterock.
"In the meantime, I'll make sure all of these fine folks make it home safely. And I'll get in touch with some old friends of mine to rout any other Scarlet Triad agents still active in the city!"
"I am happy we could help you, Laria," Mialari says to the halfling. "Please, give my regards to Rexus and Hetamon."
The elf then turns to you. "How do you wish to proceed?"
|
The Lord Mayor is indeed happy to see Cardinal d'Borja and his companions. She even rises to greet Milari with a polite embrace and clearly has to bite back a "Madam" every time she speaks to the woman - it appears that she is a former pupil.
After being told about the quarry Adolina's face takes on a mixture of tiredness and grim surprise.
"We, that is my family, haven't worked Summershade for a decade or more. The stone was depleted years ago and the site didn't have much other use so we built a few small houses to hold a few guards and Canton moved on to other ventures." She says over steepled fingers. "There were rumors about some sort of ancient chambers there but you know what people are like with rumors. You'll need to talk to my brother if you want any more information, I've always tried to stay away from the family business - maintaining the peace and all that. Give me a few minutes and I'll write a note for Canton asking him to help you all."
The Mayor is as good as her word and one of her secretaries soon provides the promised note for Baron Canton Jhaltero.
"Off to talk to Baron Jhaltero then," Pril says with a satisfied nod.
The next morning, you set out for Whiterock. Whiterock is 40 miles south of Kintargo along the Yolubilis River, easily reached by riverboat. The region south of Kintargo along the Yolubilis River quickly becomes sparsely populated and rustic. Lush vegetation runs riot over rolling hills dotted with farms and ranches.
Whiterock is the only settlement of any consequence on the Silver Road south of Kintargo. The town is small, with a population of only about 1,500 people, and the town’s center boasts little more than a general store, a farrier, a newly renovated shrine to Desna, a small civic building, and two taverns.
Anyone in town can point the way to the Jhaltero residence, a sprawling manor resembling an opulent hunting lodge on the northwest side of town. Baron Canton Jhaltero is working on minor repairs to the building as you approach. "Ah, good day to you, Lady Docur! What brings you all the way out to Whiterock?" he asks.
"Allow me to explain..." Mialari begins...
***
Canton is alarmed that slavers might be using his quarry. Though it has not been used in years, a few guards watch over the site in shifts of several months’ duration. He worries most for the guards he had stationed there, and the fact they haven’t reported on the activity at the quarry bodes ill. He can explain how to get to the quarry and answers any questions about the route.
"To reach Summershade Quarry, you must follow the Yolubilis River upstream from Whiterock for another 50 miles. At that point, the Katharevousa River and the Yolubilis River come together in a wide confluence. Here, you should follow the Katharevousa upriver along trails used by stonecutters for generations for an additional 70 miles before reaching the quarry. Please, try to ensure that my workers are safe! And take down those bloody slavers!"
And so our heroes traveled to the quarry and rooted out the Scarlet Triad slavers, including their leader, the gnoll Laslunn. In so doing, they acquired a magic gemstone that would open the next portal in Alseta's Ring.
They journeyed next through Jewelgate, emerging in dangerous caverns in the Darklands. After fighting their way through these caverns, they reached Saggorak, a massive ruin filled with undead. The heroes ventured to the thriving dwarven settlement of Kovlar to the south, where they unraveled a series of mysteries and troubles plaguing the town. In so doing, they earned the trust of the ruling Court of Regents and uncovered the sinister plots that the Scarlet Triad was weaving out in Saggorak. Returning to Saggorak, the heroes worked their way through perilous ruins inhabited by all manner of undead. Along the way, they draw the attention of Saggorak’s ancient king, who proved to be a useful ally or a formidable enemy, but their true foes lay in (and below) an ancient cathedral known as the Temple of All Gods. They defeated the second in command of the Scarlet Triad, the dwarf Ilssrah Embermead, who sought to court an alliance with a clan of duergar.
The next key unlocked Duskgate. Our heroes emerged from this portal near Finderplain, a Katapeshi town under assault by supernatural weather and terrifying beasts. Katapesh was the where the headquarters of the Scarlet Triad were located, and so our heroes sought to tear down the Scarlet Triad in Katapesh, destroying it once and for all. However, the Scarlet Triad enjoyed the city’s official protection, and only by dismantling their foes’ political connections could the heroes face the villains directly. When the political climate shiftsed, the Scarlet Triad went on the defensive. Our heroes struck against the organization’s home base and eliminated the organization once and for all.
But they learned that the leader of the Scarlet Triad, a man named Uri Zandivar, had a sister on the distant island of Hermea, realm of the gold dragon Mengkare's societal experiemnt called Promise. It seemed the Scarlet Triad was trying to repair the legendary Orb of Gold Dragonkind to try to control Mengkare and work towards releasing the avatar of Dahak trapped within Alseta's Ring!
With the final key in hand, our heroes worked to open the final aiudara. However, the manifestation of Dahak had been growing in power, and its fury threatened to destroy Breachill! The heroes averted catastrophe and traveled into the lair of the gold dragon Mengkare. Mengkare revealed his centuries-long plan:
The heroes were able to convince Mengkare to stand down from his plan and alter the Anima Invocation ritual to channel the dragon's own power into themselves, giving them the strength they needed to confront the manifestation of Dahak. Thus empowered, they entered the network within Alseta’s Ring and venturde into the planar depths of the aiudara network. There, they cornered the manifestation of Dahak so they can finally faced it directly. After a grueling battle, they emerged victorious!
The world was now finally safe from Dahak's fury. No longer would they need fear an Age of Ashes! The heroes could finally rest and look forward to lives of comfort...
|
The confrontation with Mengkare was extremely troubling for Cardinal Borgia. The idea that even a gold dragon, one of the most powerful champions of Goodness, could consider a mass sacrifice of innocents - even for such a laudable goal as the destruction of Dahak was a situation the cleric had never considered possible. Accordingly Lucius decided that taking a more active role in maintaining the balance of power was the only responsible path for him to take.
Basing himself in Kintargo, for he had become fond of the city (and a certain teacher to be found there), Lucius set about enlisting the church of Abadar and other diplomatic forces to ensure peace and the reasonable settlement of conflicts. Welcomed by the Silver City as a bulwark against the depredations of Cheliax and Nidal the Court of Arbitrament became a notable organisation across Avistan, adding greatly to the prestige of both Ravounel and the Church of Abadar.
Lucius meanwhile, often cast his gaze westward across the sea. Hermea lay just beyond the horizon and he would never again make the mistake of assuming Mengkare's motives...
Illyiana has been a nomad more or less her whole life. Traveling through the gates, visiting all of these lands and locations helped bring to her even more far off places than she could have imagined. By the end of it, once they finish with Mengkare, something changes.
Thinking back to what Pril had said to her all of those months ago, about what she wanted and what came next, well she didn't know how she could ever even consider that.
She did now.
It had been a grueling year in which she had see her talents increase and become a master tracker and marksman. She had seen multiple dragons and even was able to help undo a devastating plot by a gold dragon. What was left to do?
Settle down.
Taking the advice of the beautiful Nime, Illyiana seized the moment and told Pril she wanted to settle down with her. She was done traveling and exploring, and she'd like to perhaps entertain the possibility of raising a child together someday ,if she would have her.
Although she never discovered what happened to her beloved Hena, Pril was a party to some wonderful adventures and managed to fend off the depredations of an evil god. And dragons! So many dragons. So much to see and learn about them. Her greatest adventure began, however, when her love, Illyiana, declared that she wanted them to spend the rest of their lives together.
With the Cardinal off in Kintargo, the citadel was left in their capable care. It didn't take much to finish the renovations and from there a school was born. Carrying over Master Wickt's teachings seemed the least she could do in repayment for the life that he had led her to.
And when Illyiana came to her to tell her about a young woman that had seemingly drifted into the village on the wind and then died while giving birth to her now orphaned daughter, there was only one course of action to take. The precedent set, the Orphanage of the Golden Dragon was born.
Before they could blink, the citadel housed eight students and nine children. The latter all quite happy to call their hosts Mother Pril and Mother Ill.
What more could a gnome seeking adventure want?