With a negligent wave of her hand Imperia wraps the elemental in magic.
You swiftly charm the elemental, returning it to quiescence.
Looking around, you see that among numerous human footprints on the beach are the prints of a large cat, perhaps a lion. Some of these tracks come and go to a spot just to the west of the pool. The secret door in the cliff face there opens into a passageway clogged with webs and fogs. You deduce that these are the effects of a guards and wards spell.
"Delightful..." Imperia says, extracting a powerful scroll of antimagic. "Let us move carefully, and invisibly, for what it is worth I think."
She hands out spells to let her companions see each other before they each swig down an extract and proceed.
It is slow-going up the wide steps of the web-choked passage, but eventually, you emerge into a large cave. Stalactites and stalagmites crowd the edges of this series of connected caverns, leaving a winding path through the center along the banks of a creek of crystal-clear water. Two stone bridges offer passage over the swiftly moving current where it passes through the caverns. A serene blue glow from the water and the moisture clinging to the walls highlights images carved along the cave walls that depict an armored warrior confronting a hulking demon with burning skin and a wavy-bladed sword--St. Ilnea herself fighting the balor lord Karash'e'tor.
An elderly woman in golden full plate sits astride a mighty lion, holding a glaive at the ready. There is something otherworldly about the woman, and you realize that she has been empowered as a divine guardian. She is flanked by two giant shield archons. They all stand watching the entry passageway, but they don't seem to be able to pierce your invisibility, letting you get the drop on them!
Imperia opens with a Hungry Pit hoping to take one of the archons out of commission!
Remembering that archons can fly, you instead open the pit beneath the lion. With a yowl, the lion plummets into the pit, which begins crushing the beast!
Jordanna pounces on the old woman while Zara charges up alongside her. Together, slaughter the divine guardian before she can react!
Imperia nods in satisfaction and then turns on the shield archons, attempting to overwhelm one of them with laughter.
The archon falls over laughing, indisposed, while Jordanna and Zara assault the second one. It doesn't last long. They then execute the laughing archon and ensure that the lion doesn't make it out of the pit alive.
Imperia watches the butchery placidly and then, once the various enemies are defeated, prepares to move on.
Thousands of green and blue tiles adorn the walls of this room, creating a mosaic of a stern warrior leading armies against a horde of wild-eyed humans and fiends led by a flaming demon with a wavy-bladed sword. At the chamber’s western end stand five magnificent marble statues representing a chorus of angels lauding the unyielding warrior depicted in the mosaic. A shimmering blue radiance reflects off these statues from four multifaceted, crystal decanters that wash the chamber in a soft cerulean glow.
With a crack of thunder, an astral deva appears! She glares at you angrily.
Then she summons a blade barrier on top of you!
"Ouch!" Imperia says angrily, "That is not polite!"
She reaches for the creatures mind and starts wrenching around it, pulling out all the deva's worst memories!
You remember that angels have protective auras that block low level magic. You instead opt to paralyze the deva with hold monster, a tactic that proves quite effective. Jordanna swiftly slaughters the helpless angel. As the killing blow lands, the angel’s halo ignites in hellfire and falls to the ground in protest of this blasphemous act. You may claim this hellfire halo as a trophy.
Imperia picks up the halo and gently places it over her own head, where it flares into fiery new life. Her ioun stones seem momentarily confused but they soon adapt, weaving their course around and through the fiery halo - surrounding Imperia in a complex interplay of light and dark.
The mesmerist nods in approval and gestures for Jordanna to lead the way onwards.
You fight a trio of couatls as you advance through the next hall, and at last, you reach St. Ilnea's fountain. A strong floral scent permeates this blue-and-green tiled chamber. Water from eight decanters affixed to the walls of the room spills into a marble-lined pool at the room’s center, radiating with a brilliant blue glow, but the water level of the pool never seems to rise, despite its constant replenishment from the decanters. A set of polished stone stairs descends into the pool.
You toss the body of the divine guardian into the fountain and use the scroll of unhallow to permanently defile the sacred waters. Then Jordanna immerses the head of the dragon Parnoneryx in the waters, completing the next step of the tathlum ritual.
When you are ready, it will be time to travel to the village of Barleybridge to gather innocent blood.
Imperia insists on working back through the cavern to ensure that nothing has been left behind, before using one of her scrolls to return the small group to Egorian. There she sends a message to the Queen informing her of the groups success and awaiting her pleasure for their next task.
The second stage in preparing the tathlum requires 100 drops of blood harvested from a hundred different innocents. The fact that this blood must be harvested within a single 24-hour period from 100 different people who live in close proximity and know each other complicates matters, but by following Queen Abrogail’s advice and paying a visit to the small village of Barleybridge, you have a good chance of being able to complete this step.
The queen once more uses greater teleport to send you to the outskirts of the village. The village of Barleybridge is located in the western Turanian Hills. One of dozens of similar villages spread throughout Cheliax, Barleybridge has no real claim to fame, for good or for ill. Its citizens are proud Chelaxians who pay their taxes, yet rumors of the growing influence of the church of Cayden Cailean have long troubled the government. Only Barleybridge’s small size and humility has kept it from being the focus of a full-on Asmodean inquisition, but today, that long-term protection is about to backfire, for to Queen Abrogail, the citizens of Barleybridge make for a perfect source of innocent blood.
Barleybridge sits on a small, teardrop-shaped island on the northwestern shore of the murky depths of Mudwater Lake, accessible via boat or the single stone bridge that the town is named after. The closest “big city” to Barleybridge is Macini, but the village is self-sufficient. Its primary exports are barley and barley products, but these products bring Barleybridge no great fame. The village is currently enjoying Barleyfest, an annual celebration of all things barley, wherein two of Barleybridge’s residents are crowned Barley King and Queen for the coming year.
Imperia joins the Barley Festival and finds Barleybridge's Mayor. A flash of her Thrune mark gets her the minute or two that she needs on the stage with the majority of the village paying attention.
"Good citizens of Barleybridge, your Queen sends you tidings and good wishes at this, the Barley Festival. She has sent me to bring these tidings and distribute her bounty to you all at this time of prosperity and plenty. However, with the forces of the so-called 'Glorious Reclamation' her majesty has a task for you, her loyal citizens. The Imperial mages are working a great magic, to create a ward across the heartlands which will repulse the Reclamation and keep the scourge of their hatred from our peaceful communities. To aid in this work the Queen needs something from you, her faithful citizens. One drop of blood. That is all. Playing your part and giving a drop of blood will strengthen the wards and allow you all free passage through them should the need arise. I trust that all of you loyal citizens will be happy to take part in the defense of our nation! Long live Queen Abrogail!
The crowd's enthusiasm is not entirely hearty, but as Imperia makes the rounds and starts distributing the queen's bounty in the form of gold coins, people become more enthusiastic and make few qualms when Jordanna pricks their fingers to collect the required drop of blood.
It takes much of the festival but Imperia manages to accumulate the droplets required. The final donor is a little girl with pigtails and Imperia gives the girl a platinum piece for her very own, and a kiss on the forehead for being so brave.
She even stays for the crowning of the Barley King and Barley Queen, using minor magics to ensure that their 'crowns' flicker with light as they stand above their cheering 'subjects'.
Your silver tongue and winning personality allow you to harvest the blood with little difficulty. Once all 100 drops are gathered, you must anoint the severed head of Parnoneryx with the blood within that time. Once you have done so, the second component for preparing the tathlum is fulfilled.
The final step in preparing the tathlum is to anoint the dragon’s head with the “ashes of history”—a symbolic destruction of lore about a creature that helps to focus its destructive potential against those who knew the creature in life and are thus the only remaining sources of information about the creature in question. In Parnoneryx’s case, this requires you to travel to Warlock Island off the western coast of Cheliax, where a mysterious library known as the Archive of Redacted Histories can be found. As in the previous two missions, Queen Abrogail is willing to teleport you directly to the entrance to the archive.
Imperia spends her night much as she has spent the last couple, sleeping deeply for several hours, and then reading her book and drinking strong black coffee. Despite the queen's willingness to give her a little more time Imperia is keen to push on and complete her assigned task - if nothing else she wants to give her paramour a good impression of her diligence and skills!
Thus she reports, early in the morning as is her wont, to the palace to serve her queens will.
Built into a mountainside at the heart of Warlock Island, the Archive of Redacted Histories is part book repository and part vault. Modeled after the infernal Library of Oaths found within Hell’s fifth layer, Stygia, this secluded archive is home to a vast collection of heretical tomes and forbidden knowledge that Cheliax’s Imperial Ministry of Historical Accuracy has, over the decades, redacted from common knowledge, including various editions of official histories of Cheliax that have been constantly “reinterpreted” by House Thrune during their rule. Ostensibly, the Hellknight Order of the Rack is contracted to destroy these outdated histories, but House Thrune has saved copies of these works for potential future use. As a result, most of the books within these walls represent the only surviving copies of the tomes in question. Today, however, after nearly a century of Thrune rule, the importance of keeping “outdated realities” has diminished in Queen Abrogail’s opinion, and she now sees the archive as an obsolete insurance policy that has outlived its usefulness and is now more of a liability than a boon.
The archive is maintained by the cult of Geryon, the archdevil of forbidden knowledge and heresy, and guarded by Hellknights of the Order of the Glyph, a secret Hellknight order founded by House Thrune to preserve knowledge while keeping it out of the wrong hands. The archive serves as the order’s citadel, though they are technically guests of the cult of Geryon within its walls. Queen Abrogail isn’t sure what exactly you might face in the archive beyond the cultists of Geryon and Order of the Glyph Hellknights, but she knows that both groups will fight to the death to protect the library. The Order of the Glyph, though nominally allied with House Thrune, follows its own code and does not serve Abrogail directly. They would never agree to destroy the documents under their charge, so you will have to contend with the Hellknights to acquire the final component for creating the tathlum.
Abrogail can give you no more information about the archive’s interior, for only the Order of the Glyph Hellknights and the cultists of Geryon are allowed within. Should the queen (or one of her agents) ever require a text from the archive, she makes the request via a sending spell, and the cultists of Geryon then retrieve the tome and deliver it, thus limiting knowledge of the site’s defenses to only those who live within its walls. In any case, Abrogail has had no need to seek any of the knowledge within the archive to date. To ensure that the symbolic act of destroying history will carry enough weight to properly prepare the dragon’s head for the tathlum ritual, the queen tells you that you should burn all of the tomes in the archive to be safe, but at minimum, they must destroy no fewer than 5,000 books. Once this has been accomplished, you need only smear some of the ashes from the burned books across the dead dragon’s eyes, symbolizing his blindness to his own history, at which point you are to return to the queen for the final stage of creating the tathlum.
In a flash of light, Abrogail teleports you to the entrance to the archive on Warlock Island. A crumbling facade juts from the jagged mountainside, marking the entrance into the mysterious Archive of Redacted Histories. Several vine-tangled columns support a pedimental roof decorated with ophidian motifs, while three dilapidated stairways lead into the archive’s dark interior. Coiled amid these entrances are two menacing statues depicting giant vipers set to strike.
A few moments after you arrive, four Hellknights of the Glyph march out from terraces flanking the entrance and line up in front of the snake statues. "No visitors are currently welcome in the archive," one loudly proclaims.
"I'm sure your leaders will see me." Imperia replies. "Take me to them."
Once all the guards have given their magically compelled agreement Imperia gestures for Jordanna to disappear and marches inside.
One by one, you charm the Hellknights. They nod and form up to escort you into the archive. Wide stone pillars support this large room’s ceiling, while below, a dozen bins are stuffed with scrolls, sheets of vellum, stacks of paper, and other unbound documents. Near the ceiling, a series of alcoves run along the room’s perimeter, containing eighteen different statues of men and women.
The statues placed in the high alcoves around the room depict men and women immortalized in the act of betrayal or oath-breaking—a doctor causing intentional harm, an officer stabbing a colleague in the back, a pregnant woman kissing one man while she holds the hand of another, a pauper begging while he holds a bursting coin purse, and a messenger breaking open a sealed letter are among the figures depicted. All of the statues are presented in minute detail, such that an observer might assume they are petrified victims.
From here, you pass through a wide chamber. Two giant statues of serpentine figures, each wielding a pair of horrific scimitars etched with strange runes, loom over this wide chamber. The statues’ ophidian eyes glare down upon the path that winds under their crossed blades—a walkway of tiny golden tiles set among a field of blue water mosaic decorations.
Past these statues, a great copper bowl sits in front of a towering statue that depicts an intimidating diabolic figure—a tripartite creature with the bodies of three men and three serpents merged at the hips. The imposing creature wields three objects among its six arms: a teardrop-shaped shield bearing a serpent’s face, a coiled flail, and a trumpet carved from a twisted horn. Two of the titanic statue’s triplicate heads are helmeted, while the third and central head is that of a snarling snake. Two long hallways stretch to the statue’s left and right.
A pair of enormous aghusra asuras guard the stairs to the east and the west, coiled up and eyeing you menacingly. The lictor of the Order of the Glyph waits before the altar. "I am Lictor Maritas Clandegar. Who are you who intrudes upon our sacred archive?"
"I am here at the behest of Her Infernal Majestrix." Imperia says, before beginning an unnecessarily long winded explanation that covers some of the real reason for her being here. She also enchants the man with magic!
Though the lictor tries to fight it, he is no match for your mesmeric powers, and soon you feel his mind bend to your will.
"Dismiss all your summoned creatures and send all of your other order members to duties well away from the stacks." Imperia commands her thrall. Once he has carried out his duties she nods approvingly.
"Good, now take me to the largest archives."
The lictor orders the other Hellknights away before leading you to the west. This immense chamber is a maze of bookshelves, each sagging under the weight of countless tomes with a wide variety of bindings. Three round reading tables sit to the west, while a wide stairwell to the south leads to a balcony that overlooks the library from above.
A pair of Geryon cultists tend to the stacks, but seeing the lictor with you, they assume you are here for a good reason!
"Get rid of the cultists in whatever way you think best." Imperia tells the Lictors. "Guards, keep everyone else out of the chamber."
"Help him if he needs it." She adds quietly to Jordanna.
Lictor Clandegar calls out in a booming voice. "Master of Heresy! Come forth!"
A few moments later, a pale-scaled vishkanya man steps out onto the balcony, peering down at you. "Have your cultists vacate this room at once. We need the room."
The vishkanya scowls and looks past the lictor to you. "I can sense your psychic powers. You have ensnared his mind," he says matter-of-factly. "Who are you, and what are your true intentions here?"
"Send your cultists away and we can talk." Imperia replies, equally matter of fact. "I'm sure the Hellknights will leave as well."
--------------------
Assuming that the group is winnowed down to her, the Master, the Lictor and an invisible Jordanna. Imperia looks up at the vishkanya. "I am here to fulfill the orders of Her Infernal Majestrix Queen Abrogail II. She has decided that your archives are needed for a greater purpose. So remove your cultists, allow me to do my duty and the Queen will ensure that you are all reassigned to more prestigious posts."
”I serve the archdevil Geryon, whose authority trumps that of your mortal queen,” says the Master of Heresies. ”Enough of your half-truths, changeling. Speak plainly your purpose here.”
"Somehow I thought you'd say that." Imperia says, making a pointing gesture that Jordanna should understand. "So get off your high horse and do what your queen demands, or put him in the room to trump the authority of my 'mortal queen'!"
Jordanna catches the master off guard, stabbing him twice!
The vishkanya quickly responds to the attack, stepping back and disappearing before using a quickened spell to try to blind Jordanna!
Imperia decides not to risk commanding the Lictor to do anything specific, instead hurrying up the stairs and attempting to lock the vishkanya's body into immobility.
Your paralysis spell works, but a talisman around the Master’s neck grants him freedom of movement!
Jordanna misses the invisible psychic. He fires a beam of disintegration at her but it just hits a mirror image.
"Irritating." Imperia says, stepping up behind Jordanna to imbue her colleague with See Invisibility.
Now that she can see the Master, Jordanna wastes no time making quick work of him. He dies on the end of her spear.
With the Master dead Imperia gives Jordanna free reign to deal with the rest of the cultists to be found within the stacks. Equipped with greater invisibility the alchemist goes on a short, but extremely lethal killing spree whilst the Lictor commands his men to assemble outside the monastery for exercises and training. Imperia's charmed knights keep the doors closed while Imperia goes around torching the books in the archives. Perhaps foolishly she can't resist collecting a couple of particularly interesting tomes from the shelves and secreting them away - although she is careful not to choose truly dangerous subjects.
The books burn fiercely, but thankfully not too long and it is a simple matter for Jordanna to smear the ashes over the tathlunn...
As Jordanna smears the ashes, the severed head suddenly seems to wake up and breathe out a blast of golden fire. This fire does not burn, but instead instantly coalesces into a ghostly form of the slain gold dragon, unmistakably that of Parnoneryx, returned from beyond the grave to face those responsible for defiling his remains!
The ghost casts several spells instantly as part of its manifestation!
"Oh bother." Imperia says with a sigh, before reaching out to touch Jordanna. "Destroy the ghost of Parnoneryx would you dear?"
She also channels her fiendish power to smite the beast!
Having not expected a fight, Jordanna downs her second extract of channel vigor to speed herself up!
The ghostly dragon exhales fire bolstered by heavenly fury!
Imperia bolsters Jordanna with Greater Invisibility and then retreats a sensible distance from the angry ghost!
Jordanna dodges the worst of the flames but is overcome by holy guilt. She still has the wherewithal to draw an extract and hold it at the ready once her nausea subsides.
The ghost hits Jordanna again despite the invisibility!
Imperia pulls out a scroll and reads aloud to disrupt the dragon's protections.
You dispel the dragon's mirror images and some of its other defensive spells.
Resisting the corrupting touch, Jordanna quickly drinks the extract to enlarge herself, then she attacks!
The dragon attacks again, hitting Jordanna with its touch.
Imperia pulls out another scroll and attempts to close Jordanna's wounds!
Jordanna sags with weakness, but you help keep her on her feet. She stabs the dragon twice more.
The dragon attacks again, hitting Jordanna with its touch once more.
Jordanna stands firm this time, and despite her severe injuries, she focuses her fury and stabs the dragon twice!
With a mournful roar, the ghost discorporates!
As Jordanna slays the dragon Imperia gives a quiet sigh of relief and then sets to fixing Jordanna's wounds with her wand.
Once the changeling is not in danger of bleeding out Imperia pulls out another scroll and then, without bothering to even go outside the building to face the Order of the Glyph, recalls herself and Jordanna to Egorian - leaving behind an order suddenly bereft of purpose.
Unlike her usual method, Imperia goes to the palace herself and requests an audience with the Queen.
"It is done, Your Highness." She reports. "The tathlunn is ready. I must report also that the Order of the Glyph stands bereft of their purpose - the lictor and his men are unharmed, although the Cult of Geryon is no more. If your majesty has use for them may I suggest you send word shortly? The Lictor is... currently very amenable to any suggestions I make and my services are, of course, at your majesties disposal."
She curtsies low and waits, in full business mode - at least for now.
"Excellent. I will decide the Order's fate shortly, but for now, let us finish what we started," Abrogail says.
She leads you into a large cavern deep below the Imperial Palace. There, attended by a small legion of devils (including her erinyes advisor Contessa Lrilatha), Abrogail invites you to aid in a series of chants and prayers that take several hours to complete. At the start of the ritual, Jordanna dips the dragon’s severed head into a pool of infernally tainted quicklime that the queen has prepared. You and Jordanna alternate taking this same action every hour, dipping Parnoneryx’s head into the pool, encrusting the head with a new layer of dark red material. Finally, after each of you has contributed twice to the ritual, Queen Abrogail herself makes the final application. At this point, the quicklime coating the severed head hardens and what remains in the pool burns away in a violent but harmless blast of haunted flame, leaving behind the completed tathlum.
"At last," the queen says with a wicked grin. "The means of defeating the Glorious Reclamation are quite literally in our hands. Take some time to rest and make your final preparations. Soon, Hell will come to Westcrown!"
"As Your Highness commands." Imperia replies, dipping a curtsy once more as she retreats, slightly disappointed by the outcome - still the queen is busy and it is her task to serve, so that is what Imperia does.
Retreating back to the Lawgiver's Rest Imperia orders food and settles in to a long reading session, accepting only two interruptions. One is when Lavasvia comes to speak to her and the other is when Lasida knocks cautiously on the door like a worried puppy. In between her various missions Imperia has been working on reinforcing the former knight-bannaret's conditioning and the formerly proud magus has undergone an almost complete change of heart.
Layering compulsions ensure that she has an instinctive, bone deep distrust of Iomedae and her teachings, and Imperia's kindness to her and patience, as well as the gift of a new spellbook has given Ladisa a puppy-like devotion that Imperia is rather pleased with.
"Come here Little One." The mesmerist says with a smile, and that smile widens in satisfaction as the half-elf kneels by Imperia's chair and puts her head in the changeling's lap. Imperia strokes her hair idly as she continues to read, although with her new toy around it becomes much harder to keep her attention solely on her reading.