Retreating once more Max spells out the situation for Jordanna.
"I say we take this group down quickly and then move on to the great ritual if we can." He says. "Leaving less of them behind as reinforcements is a good thing, but I don't want to waste resources either. Go for the masked woman first."
He himself opens the battle with Dominating one of the lesser assassins.
Jordanna nods, ready to spring into battle!
Jordanna opens things up by trying to warp the mind of one of the lesser assassins.
His mind snaps as he becomes permanently confused! He stands and attacks the lead Gardener, slicing her with his kukri!
Bleeding heavily, she groans and backs away. She quick draws two daggers and hurls them at Jordanna. The alchemist dodges the attacks. The other assassin marks the changeling for death as he poisons his blades.
You cast your spell of domination, and the other assassin starts to succumb to it. But he grits his teeth and calls upon his resolve to fight off the enchantment. The effort costs him, though, as the mental strain is harmful.
Jordanna pounces upon the lead Gardener, scoring two critical hits with her savage jaws! The woman's mask cracks as Jordanna tears through it and bites her face off. She falls to the ground in a pool of blood.
The confused assassin attacks his ally, slicing him twice.
That other assassin shakes off his stun and moves to try to slice Jordanna, but misses!
Since the battle is nearly over Maximus purloins the downed assassins weapons and employs them to slice the standing assassin.
You stab the assassin in the back with the stolen weapon, then Jordanna rips him apart with her claws and teeth. The confused man falls soon thereafter.
The pile of rare salts is worth 3,200 gp. The lead Gardener also has two major healing potions on her person.
Collecting the healing potions for the future use they will no doubt see Maximus prepares to continue on. Hopefully collecting the salt will be enough to ensure that another group cannot come to restart the ritual that they have just interrupted.
You continue to the south. This wide room has eight crypt doors, four to the north and four to the south, each made of rusted metal with bare gaps where a plaque or plate was removed more recently. Other doors lead east and west. Maps cover a large table in the middle of this room. Nearby, a desk holds several writing instruments and old rags.
The rags suddenly disappear, seeming to fade out of existence...
"That's not good," Jordanna snarls. She drinks a mistform elixir, causing clouds of mist to spring up around her and conceal her location.
A moment later, the "rags" reappear floating in the air above you. Now you can see that the creature resembles a roughly rectangular mass of mismatched parts from multiple bodies, as though several people were compressed in a coffin together and became inextricably tangled. As if the horrific appearance wasn't enough, you find yourself struggling to breathe...
Maximus tries to gasp another breath in and then unleashes a barrage of magical missiles at the floating rags above him.
Jordanna resists the aura and the illusory mask. "Sahkil!" she snarls, hurling the alignment ampoules she prepared for just such a foe!
Reeling from the strikes, the creature swoops down to attack Jordanna! It pummels her with numerous fists, its attacks making her feel like she is being entombed. Fortunately, she resists the mental assault.
Maximus copies Jordanna, knowing that he needs to end this thing before he runs out of air.
The alignment ampoules prove extremely effective as both you and Jordanna batter the sahkil with holy hand grenades! The creature quickly withers and melts away under the focused assault.
Once it is gone, you can examine the maps on the table. The maps detail the plans with the final blades, indicating that the Gray Gardeners have been moving the guillotines into the middle of Galt’s population centers. The maps also indicate the locations of the final blades, including Silent Lenore and Sharp-Tooth Hana here in Litran; this map looks similar to the one Tristel Liendi of The People’s Maps put together on her own. Around each final blade is a neat circle about a mile in diameter, marked “gray death confirmed fatalities.” A larger circle about five miles in diameter around each is marked, “gray death likely fatalities.” The intent to slaughter most of Galt’s population is clear.
Also on the table is a log of orders delivered to Gray Gardeners throughout Galt. The recipients aren’t named, but each order details methods to ensure that people flock to town centers and specifies a time frame of the past few days. The most common suggestion is to hold a public execution of a highly regarded public figure, guilt or innocence irrelevant. Where this approach seems insufficient to draw significant public interest, the Gray Gardeners should imply that they’ll solicit public opinion about the accused’s guilt. Additional suggestions for driving population into the towns involve paying off bandits or monsters to make the countryside more dangerous or arranging for a large celebration. These orders plainly insinuate that Litran’s Harvest Jubilee was part of this broader plan.
Amid the maps is a scroll of massacre (10th level).
Maximus collects all the information, fully intending to return with it to Egorian. Then Cheliax can extract maximum value from it. The scroll might also be useful, particularly since he expects a large group to be running the main ritual. This might just be the opening shot required.
With all the information safely stowed Max favors his aunt with a somewhat malicious smile. "This is going to be very useful to my mothers. Galt will be back in the empire within weeks. Still, we should press on."
You move on to the adjoining chamber. This opulent chamber smells strongly of sweet incense. Tapestries hang on the walls, and a divan festooned with pillows stands against one wall. A brazier in the middle of the room glows with blue fire and emits a sharp scent that the incense doesn’t quite cover.
Two Gray Gardeners are here, throwing salts into the brazier. Lounging on the divan is another man, small, sallow, and unpleasant. He wears fine clothes and a thin veil.
When he notices you, the man shrieks! "Gardeners! Defend me! And quickly!" he cries.
"Too late." Maximus replies, clobbering the man over the head with a nearby bottle.
Your projectile goes wide as the man ducks away from the attack. Jordanna pounces on the nearest of his bodyguards, blinding him with a critical hit with her claws and following up with a bite to the side of his neck!
The priest casts a spell, infusing his allies with zealous conviction, before taking cover behind his divan. The guards try to demoralize Jordanna with a stern glare.
The changeling is taken aback, and they stab at her with their sword canes. She takes a hit, but her alchemically enhanced defenses protect her from most of the strikes.
Max batters the foe Jordanna blinded with cushions, books and anything else his mind can reach.
After a fierce battle, the cultists fall. Their part in the ritual disrupted, you head deeper into the crypts. You cross a harrowing pit and dodge past the deadly swinging pendulums that swing across it, fight more Gray Gardeners and sahkils, and eliminate the last group of secondary casters. The time has come to put an end to this charade once and for all.
The rounded walls of the catacombs' central chamber meet at a vaulted ceiling thirty feet high. Three statues of robed scholars stand at three ends of the room; one is toppled and broken into pieces. Several unusual images swim on the walls: market squares and city plazas throughout Galt, each with a sinister guillotine at its center. Tendrils of shimmering energy connect the images to each other.
The conqueror worm lays in this chamber, undertaking its ritual to free the gray deaths from the final blades. The massive worm turns toward you, its telepathic voice rolling in overpowering waves. "Ah, too late. See here. Witness Galt’s first death throes.” One of the scenes shows a plaza packed with people despite a steady downpour. The worm makes a tugging motion on a shimmering tendril, and the guillotine in the plaza shudders. A huge spectral form begins clawing its way free of the guillotine as the townspeople scream and turn to flee before falling dead on the rain-soaked cobblestones.
“I have an offer to make you, and I make it only once: name me one city in Galt to be spared and leave this place at once. The city you name shall be the sole survivor among all the settlements in this tiresome land."
"Tiresome. Well I have to agree with you there." Maximus says with a sigh, making a subtle gesture towards his aunt to close the distance. "Do you have any idea how long dealing with your minions took? It was quite irritating. You will not be feeding on any part of the Empire, lest you feel the wrath of Lord Asmodeus, the Thrice-Damned House Thrune and me. So return to whatever netherworld you came from voluntarily, or I shall send you there regardless."
"Arrogant human! I will enjoy killing you!" the worm declares.
There's no sense in beating around the bush so Maximus opens with one of his most powerful spells, attempting to crush the worm's physical body with his mind alone.
Jordanna likewise wastes no time, rushing the enormous worm and tearing at it with her jaws! She fails to land any good hits, though!
The worm ignores your magic and Jordanna's attacks. It focuses its mental power on trying to summon its most powerful minions to its side. It seems to not have realized that you have already slain them, though, as nobody shows up!
Seeing his aunt fail to land a blow Max lends Jordanna his powers to guide her blows before unleashing his mind. He's going to need every edge he can get.
Your spell gives Jordanna the edge she needs, her teeth tearing into the worm's soft belly!
The worm recoils in pain. It raises a shield of force before using its psychic powers to surround itself with supernatural splendor in an attempt to command your obeisance.
Max grits his teeth but is unable to resist the creatures power. He lashes out with a projectile before bowing stiffly to the monster.
Jordanna is overcome by the worm's magic, bowing and groveling as she pays tribute in order to fight off the enchantment.
The worm uses its shield to block some of the damage from your telekinetic attack. It disgorges a line of sizzling acid from its mouth!
Max stands up from bowing at an inopportune moment and falls back to the floor to try and end the spell quickly.
Jordanna evades the worm's breath, finishing her obeisance before biting the monster!
Jordanna's teeth tear a huge chunk of flesh away from the conqueror worm's body! Blood and ichor drip from the wound as the thing thrashes about in rage! It bites down at the changeling, its ringed maw tearing into her as well! The worm lifts Jordanna off of her feet and struggles with her for a few moments, then it swallows her whole, the alchemist disappearing down its gullet!
Max lets out a short burst of profanity as he leaps up - without Jordanna present he is now extremely exposed... so he raises a wall of prismatic colours between himself and the worm, trusting in its vast size to make it difficult for it to pass all the way through.
Jordanna eats away at the worm's insides, undeterred at being inside of its gullet. Her razor-sharp teeth find its flesh soft and chewy!
The worm thrashes about on the far side of the prismatic wall, and as Jordanna bursts out of its belly, the creature falls into the wall! Energies flash as the creature is burned, shocked, and melted, and the great manipulator behind Galt's decades of revolution finally dies!
Max leaves the wall in place until he is absolutely certain that the worm is dead, before dismissing the magic with a wave of his hand. He almost embraces his aunt, but she's covered in viscera and other things best left unmentioned so he contents himself with enacting some minor magics to undo the damage.
"Well..." He says calmly. "That seems to have gone well. I dare say that the Gardener's hold on Galt is broken for good. We should leave this foul place immediately."
Suiting actions to words he does so, and once back at the inn he sends off another report to his mother. "Mother, Gardeners finished. No longer a threat. Have not yet informed Drannoch. Leave for Isarn tomorrow. Send any instructions there."
In the final adjoining room, you find the ritual components the worm and its minions used to create the enchantments on each of Galt's final blades. The notes hint at a ritual to undo the enchantments, the only known method of destroying the final blades. This is the final piece needed to put the Gray Gardeners' reign of terror to end at last...
***
Your victory has rendered the Gray Gardeners not only leaderless, but without the network of psychic manipulation that allowed their order to thrive. The victory was not without cost, though. The town of Halvon no longer exists, destroyed by the gray death the worm unleashed. Many dignitaries from across Galt were also slain during the masquerade, and the resulting confusion and power vacuums will likely prompt cutthroat intrigue as the nation stabilizes again. Camilia Drannoch leads this stabilization, and she makes no secret of the fact that the House of Thrune are the ones responsible for saving Galt. Public holidays and events honoring Thrune's service soon spring up across the nation, and relations between Galt and Cheliax going forward will no doubt prove interesting...
The greater service to Galt is to find and make use of the ritual you discovered. Every final blade destroyed is one step closer to safety and peace of mind for the people of Galt--and one step closer to Cheliax reclaiming the nation as part of its Empire...
Naturally, the enacting of such a complex and important ritual requires the personal attention of the man who brought down the Gardeners and Maximus finds himself spending considerable time in Galt. The first step is the purchase of a manor of appropriate size and splendor which is soon staffed with servants and the appropriate bureaucrats, since there is no chance of it remaining a simple house. Soon the Infernal Empire's embassy in Isarn is in full swing, complete with devilish guardians, asmodean servitors and all the wealth and power that Cheliax can lavish on it's favored citizens.
It is perhaps unsurprising that Max's travels around Galt to destroy the final blades rapidly come to resemble the processions of a nation hero (or conqueror). Unlike his initial incognito entrance to Isarn at Camilla Drannoch's request he travels in full state, destroying each final blade in a ceremony filled with pomp, speeches praising Cheliax and 'the long history of Galt and Cheliax working in harmony for the greater good of mankind'. In a symbolic gesture every family who lost someone to the final blade destroyed that day receives a payment of coin from Cheliax, such 'sympathy gifts' soon become the most notable feature of Crown-Prince Thrune's visits and many a heart-wrenching story is presented to the him, even more impressively not all of them are false.
Such pageantry is naturally a slow process and Max returns to Isarn after nearly a year of travelling around Galt only to find a pleasant surprise when he returns, his mother. Although Queen Abrogail could never travel to Galt herself her wife, the Emperess Consort Imperia, has rather more freedom and the convenient excuse of being a concerned mother who wishes to see her son after such a long absence.
Presumably tearful embraces and a touching family reunion played out, but one thing ought to be noted by the history books.
No one else was in the room where it happened
The room where it happened
The room where it happened.
No one else was in the room where it happened
The room where it happened
The room where it happened.