"Brigtir Gevrin?" Dani asks, looking to her team to see if the name rings a bell with them. "I'm sorry, but we are tracking a criminal and we cannot let him get away. We must pursue him at all costs. We would prefer to not incur your wrath if possible, is there an agreement we can come to?"
"You man you seek now belongs to Brigtir. She has engaged in an extensive ritual to take his body as her own. There is no agreement we can reach if you plan to deny our master her prize!"
Dani's shoulders slump and she sighs, shaking her head no. "I'm afraid that's not an acceptable situation for us either."
She slips her violin into her hand and prepares to inspire her team.
The creatures shriek and prepare to attack!
"In Cayden's name!" Devon shouts as he moves in and smites the nearest being!
Jack goes with his fighting partner.
Jack scores a critical hit while Devon lands two normal ones. The wounded shining child attacks Devon while the other casts a spell, filling the room with a blast of searing sunlight!
Devon lands two more hits!
Jack growls as the light sears his delicate skin, but the creature left itself vulnerable...
Dora manages to throw up an arm in time to shield herself from the worst of the light and then unleashes a small barrage of missiles at the unengaged shining child.
Dani avoids some of the fire damage, leaning out of the way as she starts to play her violin.
Devon and Jack kill the first evil being while Dora blasts the other one. It fires beams of flame back at her, striking her twice, though Devon's divine intercession reduces the pain.
Devon rushes the second being and smiles it twice!
Jack joins in on the stabbing fun.
Dora, heavily scorched manages to throw out a ray of frost to try and cool the thing down.
With several critical strikes from Devon and Jack catching the being off-guard, Dora's ray of frost is enough to finish it off! It falls to the floor, its light going out.
One of the tables here, plainly an old operating table, has suspicious stains that indicate its frequent use in the distant past. Among a jumble of other valueless curiosities scattered on the table’s surface, you find a 5th-level wand of manifold missiles made from a walrus tusk and a dazing coil hanging from the perch of a tiny brass bird cage.
"We need to keep looking for him before its too late." She says optimistically trying to chevy on the party. "Come on, we will find him."
Jack examines the coil of wire closely and then nods in obvious satisfaction as he deduces its purpose. He withdraws the Doctor's Lancet and wraps the wire around the blade with a slightly feral grin.
"Well this should work very nicely." He says. "If I can strike in the right places this wire will overload the synapses in the body I hit, causing muscle spasms and incapacitating a foe. Very useful. Might even help you avoid a few hits." He adds, clapping Devon on the shoulder.
As the sorceress bounces with impatience Jack takes a moment to check her injuries.
Devon lays hands on himself to patch up his injuries, and after a few minutes to regain focus, he leads the way through the door.
This large chamber appears awash in dust that drifts in heaps several inches deep along the floor. A metal rod protrudes a few inches from the south wall, and a cage 15 feet square stands near the room’s western end. Jonis Flakfatter lies at the bottom of the cage, unmoving. Strange, rounded runes cover the floor beneath and around him.
A skull floats in the air, wild hair flowing from its crown. Colorful gems are set into its eye sockets, and each of its teeth have been replaced by a gleaming jewel as well. The thing turns towards you and lets out a sepulchral sigh. "You dare to disrupt my ritual? I will obliterate you!"
Dani starts off by trying to paralyze this flying, talking, wild-hair skull. Afterwards, she strikes up her inspirational violin song for the group.
Dani's spell has no effect on the skull!
Devon moves up to smite the undead, landing two powerful blows! It resists the physical damage some.
The loose debris in the room whips up around the skull, creating a whirling storm. The air around the creature shimmers as it activates a defensive spell, then it unleashing a devastating wail! Dani raises a scintillating safeguard to protect you all!
Devon cries out as the negative energy drains him slightly. He ignores the debris battering him to strike the undead again! He lands a critical hit, using his holy weapon to restore some of his health!
Dani continues to inspire courage and casts a spell to help her allies fight through the dust cloud.
Jack strides through the cloud, grinning as negative energy crackles around him and closes his wounds.
Dora staggers from the wail before giving herself some respite but makes the matters worse as she cries out in pain.
Both Devon and Jack land good hits, though the debris cloud batters them. The bejeweled skull begins to blink in and out of reality as it casts a powerful spell, banishing Devon to an extradimensional maze! One of its eye gems stops glowing as its power is temporarily expended.
"No! Damn it!" Devon curses as he rushes through the magic maze, looking for the exit.
Jack withdraws from the skull, taking advantage of it putting space between them, to go and help Dora who is in a very bad way.
Dora catches her breath and manages to splutter a few words. "Jack. Thank you."
"Devon!" Dani cries out worriedly. She continues to inspire her allies before casting an offensive spell against the skull.
Brigtir resists Dora's disintegrate spell, but Dani's spirit blast hits its full force, leaving it badly damaged! The undead sustains the maze spell on Devon and hurls a telkinetic projectile at Dani!
Devon continues to navigate the maze, finding the exit!
As he reappears, he moves in behind the undead to smite it. "Flank with me, Jack! Let's finish it off!"
Crying out in pain and staggering a few steps, Dani regroups and takes a deep breath just as Devon reappears. Relieved to see him return, Dani plays her harmonized songs for her allies once again.
Jack doesn't acknowledge the command but moves smoothly into a flanking position to strike at the skull.
Jack delivers a critical hit and follows up with a second strike. With a final shriek, the skull crumbles to dust, along with most of the gems set into it. The single surviving demilich eye gem contains the mind blank spell.
Flakfatter is uncoscious, but fortunately he is otherwise none the worse for wear.
"Jack, see that he survives this don't you? He needs to pay for it all."
Dora quickly searches the area around them to check for any residual magic that may have caused the whole affair.
The air is thick with lingering transmutation and necromantic energies from Brigtir's ritual. Fortunately, with her final demise, the magic should soon disperse harmlessly.
Jack ensures that Flakfatter will live, restoring him to consciousness. "Ugh. Thank you. I'd much rather wait to see what the Absalomian justice system has in store for me than to have that monster take control of my body." The priest offers no resistance to being restored to your custody.
Dani has no comment on Flakfatter's preferences, but she too also wishes to see him brought to just rather than transformed into some undead vessel of evil power.
Once their prisoner is properly healed and restrained, she helps lead him back up to their containment room.
Jack goes first and insists that the rest of the party wait while he ensures that there are no more lurking traps or members of the church of Norgorber waiting for them to emerge.
You safely escort Flakfatter from one cage to another, securing him in the vault once more.
Over the next 48 hours, the Norgorberites make two more attempts to liberate Flakfatter, but you shut them down relatively easily. However, Harlo Doleen fails to materialize at the hunting lodge after 72 hours. Nothing happens for another hour until Oirel of House Uiry finally arrives to take Flakfatter into custody. Two dozen members of the Starwatch accompany him from Fort Tempest, and he has a secure, lead-lined carriage to hold Flakfatter on his way to imprisonment in the fort.
Oirel’s worn face appears even graver than you last saw him. “Doleen has gone missing, I’m afraid,” he explains in a steady tone. He gazes at the facade of Hunting Lodge Seven as his people take over in handling the hooded Flakfatter. “I’ve heard the troubles you went through to keep the Infector’s cronies at bay. You’ve done good work here, and you deserve a long rest. After a trial at Fort Tempest, Flakfatter’s going to spend a long, long time in the Brine, I assure you.” The grizzled guard veteran even manages a grin.
“And speaking of the fort, I’ve made some arrangements with your supervisor, Asilia of Gyr. We’re getting my offices ready for you in Fort Tempest. It’s an upgrade in work accommodations. I won’t need them for long since I’ve only got two weeks until my retirement, and I plan to spend those last few days taking some long walks around the old precinct. I’ve got the keys for you, right here.”
It seems like the worst of the rainstorm had cleared. As Oirel fishes out a ring of keys—your keys—from a belt pouch, a dark pall falls around you all. A white skull, a black robe—the specter of death—appears beside Flakfatter as the Starwatch members usher him toward the secure carriage for transport. You catch only a flash of the specter’s grinning, skeletal visage before it swings its scythe!
The specter slices Flakfatter twice!
"Dora! Banish it!" Jack commands as he hurries over, seeking to patch up the priest before making a hurried thrust at the creature.
Dani turns to Flakfatter and can't believe they have to protect him, again. She casts a spell to surround him in a cage of force. Force Cage.
Afterwards, she inspires her allies with courage!
Without distracting herself, Dora quickly focuses all her might on banishing the creature.
Devon swings his blade but doesn't hit the specter of death. But Dora summons all of her arcane power into a spell of banishment, and as the undead raises its scythe to swing again, it suddenly vanishes, sent back to whence it was summoned from.
"Whoa! Nicely done," says Oirel. "That must have been the Twilight Four's last attempt to stop Flakfatter from divulging their secrets. We'll take him from here. Now, he'll be beyond their reach."
***
With Jonis Flakfatter behind bars, you have successfully arrested two members of the nefarious Norgorberite sect called the Twilight Four. Captain Asilia assures you that she will personally oversee the interrogations of Flakfatter. In the meantime, she urges you to take a breather and acquaint yourselves with your new lodgings at Fort Tempest.
"Thank you, Captain. Please let us know if you need our assistance again."
Turning to her companions, she says "I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted can't wait to have a drink!" Hooking her arm through Devon's, she says "Shall we go celebrate our new Tempest promotion?"
"Honey, you took the words right out of my mouth. To the Tipsy Tengu!" Devon declares.
Not surprised that Devon and Dani want to head straight to their favourite watering hole, Dora follows along. Devon usually makes good suggestions.
You spend a few days recovering and taking care of personal matters. Then, a carrier crow arrives for you at Fort Tempest. The massive, black bird waits on the sill of a window until you collect the letter tied to its leg, after which it issues a single, ominous caw before taking flight.
Agents,
The Twilight Four are even closer to their goal than we anticipated. I fear that they have already infiltrated the Grand Council, and it seems we may be playing directly into their hands.
I will soon be framed for a treacherous crime, and you will also be implicated. The trap has already been laid, and like mice in a maze, we have nowhere to go but into the open maw of the waiting beast. Fortunately, I have had time enough to fashion a hidden blade with which to cut myself out of the beast’s belly. You, my dear agents, are this hidden blade.
Please follow the attached directions in order to meet me at a section of the infamous Grislyfair in the Precipice Quarter, at a remote corner of the haunted carnival called Harrowland. There, we will trick our enemies into believing they have us beat. Then and only then will we be able to counter our foes and earn justice for the city of Absalom. Until our belated moment of glory, I beg your patience and your discretion. Tell no one of our meeting.
Harrowland, though long abandoned, is the demesne of a cruel killer who may or may not have something to do with all of this. Although we find ourselves trapped like birds in a cage and destined to fall from grace, at least you might stop this depraved murderer and do some good in the process.
May the gods grace your path,
W.S.
Although Flakfatter has given away no useful information during his interrogations, the path forward seems clear: you should gear up and prepare for an expedition to the decrepit ruins of Harrowland in order to meet Acting Primarch Wynsal Starborn and figure out what exactly is going on.
Jack reads the message in silence and then passes it on, frowning deeply. "Most unusual..." He says, "Although by acting against Starborn the remaining members of the Four have moved openly. Assuming we can avoid their trap then finding them should be much easier than previously."
"A little melodramatic perhaps." Dora says, a crease forming upon her forehead. "This doesn't seem like their usual mode of operation?" Dora muses aloud.
"How do we even know this is actually the acting Primarch and not just the Twilight Four's last ditch attempt to foil our investigation and implicate us in something anyway?" She sighs heavily, "This is a truly impossible situation...and I....we have worked so hard and come so far - we can't throw this all away if this is just some ruse."