It feels like they've entered a new Door, one leading to the expanding scope of the New Legend, Queen Eutropia.
As they soar above the expanding army, halfling and hound observe what feels like a rightful growing movement for change in Taldor. Their aerial pattern continues to bow-tie over the Carriage of Betony, but it does take larger and larger arcs to bear witness to the factions arriving to merge with the march.
Muri feels the familiarity of their return to the Palace Grounds, and commits as much detail to memory as he can, so he can flavor his stories with as much truth as possible. His visage darkens when he sees the Ulfens, judging them unkindly for their ancestors. He can only trust that the Queen will never incur their disloyalty.
The halfling will come to remember the three days leading to the Coronation as Chaldira's Kindness, for the boons that befall Betony are surely divine in origin. It becomes his sole mission to liquidate all of the art, save for a very well-thought-out marble statuette of Chaldira Zuzaristan Herself. The rest becomes the foundational assets he will shepherd for his remaining days. Stories will reach Oppara about the little lord of the northern lands, who welcomes fellow citizens of Taldor to strengthen the Northern border, develop the farm lands and grazing pastures, and personally patrols the airs on winged dog to harry raiders and hunt monster dangers.
...
The Coronation witnessed, Muri and Underfoot pay their respects to their companions. To Kort, they wish him success in finding and marrying Madella. To Edelmira, they wish her the success of effecting true change in the government she rightfully challenges. To Kamari, they wish her much pampering for her position above the fray, so many times beaten and battered on the frontline. To Elen, they wish her the world stage, either to procure talent or perform herself, powerful orator and dancer that she has become.
When all is said and done, Muri remembers himself.
"I Wish I was home."Wish #3- Greater Teleport, cast at Level 20
"Thank you, Baron. You have been kind, when we have experienced many unkind things. I can't speak for my friends, but I think you're right, about stepping away. The life of a noble is kind of a burden. And it can shorten one's life. If you're stepping down, where are you stepping to?"
"We're glad to have met You, Prince Carrius. The true You. And we will speak your words to the Princess when we see her next." The halfling speaks quickly, sensing that there is very little time before they witness the dissolution of the noble.
Muri looks to his companions to see if any of them will speak to the Prince before it's no longer possible, then he readies for what might be a fight out of the Palace, given what's just occurred.
Muri AC = 24
HP = 118/118
Weapon Equipped = Chaldira's Hand
Condition(s) = Stoneskin 121/150, Prayer
Underfoot AC = 32
HP = 137/137
Weapon Equipped = Teef
Condition(s) = Stoneskin, Prayer
Muri watches as Stavian is rinsed of most of his injuries. He doesn't know the word 'attrition', but he understands the dynamic between Betony and Sixth Legend has now become a war of it.
The halfling senses the direness of the situation, so calls on Chaldira as well to help in the battle. Swift to Smite Stavian I
Almost in answer to his prayers to Chaldira, Muri hears Elen's clarion call, and finds each of his pulls swifter and more powerful.
When he's finished firing, he strains to see Edelmira lying on the floor, possibly witnessing the Night Swan drawing breath, though he won't trust that fully until she actually stands.
Muri AC = 24
HP = 118/118
Weapon Equipped = Chaldira's Hand
Condition(s) = Stoneskin 121/150, Prayer
Underfoot AC = 32
HP = 137/137
Weapon Equipped = Teef
Condition(s) = Stoneskin, Prayer
Muri studies Stavian for the briefest of moments. He sees the fire elemental as the last thing burning of Carrius, and the halfling experiences doubt for the first time in six Legends. This battle will end in defeat, but at what cost? The last soul shard won't go willingly, and when it does, will they return to a will-o'-wisp Prince?
It causes the halfling to reconsider asking Chaldira Zuzaristan for help. Instead, Muri barks at Stavian, trying to pull the elemental's eyes upwards to answer the challenge. Swift Action- Challenge Stavian
"You're the last one, Stavian. You should know that all the others understood, or failed to understand and fell. You fight for nothing more than a little extra time here, where you are no longer needed."
Muri AC = 24
HP = 118/118
Weapon Equipped = Chaldira's Hand
Condition(s) = Stoneskin 121/150, Prayer
Underfoot AC = 32
HP = 137/137
Weapon Equipped = Teef
Condition(s) = Stoneskin, Prayer
Muri decides that a little boost might be good against the ember emperor. Coaxing Underfoot forward then upwards, the halfling uses his Ring to empower Betony and enervate Stavian.
Cast Prayer, 11 Rounds, +1 luck bonus on attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, saves, and skill checks, while Stavian gets the -1s
Muri AC = 24
HP = 105/118
Weapon Equipped = Chaldira's Hand
Condition(s) = Stoneskin 131/150
Underfoot AC = 32
HP = 137/137
Weapon Equipped = Teef
Condition(s) = Stoneskin, Shaken
Muri shirks off Purple, allying his attacks with Edelmira one more time. If she proves more effective in her quicker attacks, the halfling turns his attacks from Orange to Purple. "Can't wait to be done with the gadflys."
Muri AC = 24
HP = 118/118
Weapon Equipped = Chaldira's Hand
Condition(s) = Stoneskin 141/150
Underfoot AC = 32
HP = 137/137
Weapon Equipped = Teef
Condition(s) = Stoneskin, Shaken
Muri Reflex Save v DC 26:1d20 + 19 ⇒ (17) + 19 = 36Stoneskin Underfoot Reflex Save v DC 26:1d20 + 16 ⇒ (13) + 16 = 29Evasion
Underfoot Will Save v DC 26:1d20 + 5 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 5 + 4 = 19Shaken
Muri prevents Underfoot from taking flight, feeling her restlessness and her fear. The halfling concentrates his attacks on the same sword as Edelmira, determined to swat away as many swords as possible before returning his goddess's ire against Gennaris.
"So, I know that we're not safe when we enter these doors, but it's still weird thinking that you just drank real poison. Or did you? Is it making us think we're in danger, and our bodies react? Anyways, I'm glad you're not suffering, Elen."
Underfoot senses the trend, and marches Muri to the next door, bloody scimitar of iron, and the awaiting Gennaris soulshard.
Muri decides that they're only going to see this through if they all join the Poisoner at the table, and drink.
The halfling reaches for 1 Scallop, 2 Dragon, 3 Eagle, 4 Unicorn, 5 Naga:1d5 ⇒ 1 the Scalloped Cup, and lifts it from the table, waiting for the others to pick for themselves.
If Beldam I doesn't object, Muri produces his Noble's Vigilant Pillbox, activates the white pearl, and closes the distance to the cups, so he's within 10 feet. He studies the pearl to see if it dulls to grey.
Detect Poison
If it does, Muri proceeds to ask Beldam I if he can move the cups.
Muri flinches as Daronlyr is suddenly assassinated by the hands newly sworn to protect him with their very lives. He is only too glad to lose sight of the bloody scene.
"So, even Emperors have to live with the possibility that loyalty can change. Do you think Princess Eutropia will have to deal with that? Someone to check her meals, someone to check under her bed... Makes me tired thinking of that..."
Muri nudges Underfoot, and the pair descend to open the Whispering Door.
"They are true believers and protect me because I am the emperor!”
The halfling's eyes narrow. "That's the thing about those who have the gold. The nobles of our land. Prince Carrius. Princess Eutropia, too. If someone wants it badly enough, they don't stay dead. Someone wants Carrius to control the Throne, so they stitch you together with five other souls, and pull him back to... uh, life, so they can prevent Eutropia from becoming the new Empress."
"What would have happened, I wonder, if Parmain was brought back to challenge you, you and your assassination of the rightful Emperor. It's confusing, isn't it. They fought you, until you killed him, then they kneeled..." Muri looks down on the Ulfen with something like contempt. "They failed to protect Parmain. The king is dead, long live the king, eh?"
"Like dogs. Owner dies, they lick the hand of the next person to feed them..."
Muri clenches his fist, and one of his two Rings begins to glow. "Maybe they want a second chance?"
Wish #1- Bring Parmain V back to life, here and now.
"Up, Underfoot." The hound sprouts her Wings, and rises above the melee threat of greatswords.
Once in position, Muri speaks to the shadow soul. "We spoke to Cyricas and Taldaris, and both understood they needed to release their grip on Carrius. You and your Ulfens, do you only respect violence? Do we have to slay your ghost guards to prove you need to listen to us, and let go?"
Muri AC = 28
HP = 118/118
Weapon Equipped = Chaldira's Hand
Condition(s) = Total Defense
Underfoot AC = 36
HP = 137/137
Weapon Equipped = Teef
Condition(s) = Total Defense
With Kamari experiencing the embrace of the Second Legend's animal companion, Underfoot senses the likelihood that Cyricas might want to get close, also, so takes flight, wings lifting halfling and hound to the height of the Room.
Muri looks down from on high. "Cyricas the Kind. We respect you, all of what you did as Emperor. We don't want to fight. We will celebrate you. How you came to be a part of Prince Carrius, it was the plan of something called the Immaculate Circle. By remaining, you give them the power to corrupt Taldor. The greatest kindness here is sacrificing for others, restoring power to those with the most respect for the people of Taldor."
Muri AC = 24
HP = 118/118
Weapon Equipped = Chaldira's Hand
Condition(s) = None
Underfoot AC = 32
HP = 137/137
Weapon Equipped = Teef
Condition(s) = None
The halfling realizes that he has the first breath in response to the Second Legend. He looks back and forth, from Edelmira, to Kamari, to Elen, and finally to Kort. Only then does he turn back to Cyricas, and the Stern Gaze.
"...Noble... Cyricas. The people of Taldor remember you, and fondly. I know I will miss it, too, when I depart. When it's my time. I hope I can return to my family and my land, since I still have time. You do not, and you are being forced to remain here and guide someone else's hand in this life, not live it yourself. That feels cruel." Muri strokes Underfoot's nape, not quite grooming her, more of a self-soothing gesture.
"I've had enough adventure for a herd's lifetime. The memories will burn bright for awhile, but like all things, they'll cool like embers should. Passing on, to other planes, other ways of existence, sounds like a different kind of adventure. One that can be entirely your own. We're hoping that Prince Carrius can come back to us, and enjoy a full life of his own, with adventures that would make you proud."
Muri slumps into his saddle, relieved that more words are unnecessary, the impact of his companions' powerful enough to ease the aggression of the First Legend.
The halfling directs the hound to the blue marble door, gateway to their next encounter, with the Second Legend, Cyricas.
Muri is overwhelmed with it all. The six doors, the poor ragdoll, the feeling that they shouldn't be here at all, however short a time they've already been standing here.
"This is bad. That magic to step inside someone like this, it's bad." Muri doesn't immediately coax Underfoot forward, but Underfoot at least patrols the Hall so that she and he might get a better look at each of the Doors.
When they return to the side of the others, Muri looks to the wiser among them. "Can we connect Doors to Souls? Will it really matter what order we take them?"
The halfling and hound are ready for whatever Door is selected. He fidgets with his Ring, wondering what lies ahead.
”I like that idea.” Muri dismounts, preparing for a restrained leisurely stroll across the Royal Grounds, expecting to be barked at should an informed guard put two and two together.
”I also like that were so direct. Hopefully the Prince thinks he’s running us to ground well outside Oppara.”
Muri frowns, as their investigation results in mundane wealth and ostentatious stick. "Nothing damning. Ok, let's head out." The halfling commits some bits of their visit within the halls of the Vault to memory, should he ever decide to keep things safely locked away. He doesn't take advantage of the opened box and key in their possession, figuring they have bigger fish to fry at present.
"From the Courtyard, do we need any special magics to slip into the Throne Room? What kind of safeguards does the Palace have for that kind of sneaking?"
"Yeah, I'm thinking that if we peeled the iron key off the Masked Marquis, there might be things in the deposit box we might benefit from. The more resources, the better."
Muri does a herd count over all the loot sheep. He remembers something, almost as if Chaldira Herself reminded him to keep track of even the smallest in the flock.
"We still have that Key to Abadar's Vault, right? That might be something our more deceptive companions might be able to investigate, eh? I mean, we are returning to Oppara..."
The halfling asks Betony if the Belt of Mighty Constitution might benefit Underfoot, for the number of times he's been unable to shelter her from various forms of nastiness.
"Well, that's one less group of Ulfens to worry about, hopefully. I might try that again tomorrow, if you think it's worth doing."
The halfling and hound ready for departure. "Where to, Princess? Where should we leave you?"
Ninjaed/Missed this:
GMEuan wrote:
Edelmira puts on the ring...
Muri watches something materialize before all of their eyes, and gasps quietly, not sure what to make of it. He's not much wiser after Edelmira shares the experience from her side of the Ring. "At least it didn't feel... dangerous, Edelmira?"
Muri watches the Ring pass from one agent to another, coming to rest in the palm of Edelmira. The halfling doesn't object whatsoever, and wonders if the Night Swan will put the ring on to check for fit.
Messing with his own Ring, Muri verifies that its settings are still the same, since last he Sent to Martella.
"Prince Carrius- please send help, currently in Kazuhn City, hiding, need funds to resupply, we discovered many things, are rumors true? Are we wanted?"
"You're alive, and you have the best interests of Taldor at heart. That's enough for me." Muri turns to the others.
"If we put together Martella's and the Princess's cautions, we might avoid problems with the informants and investigators by striking at the Prince directly. We're still gonna face the Ulfens and the Royals, just stepping onto Palace grounds..."
Muri frowns from time to time, as Princess Eutropia speaks. He's not my brother. The frowns coincide with the use of the Royals, and diminish with repeated exposure.
"With your help, we can avoid the first two choices. We saw some pretty evil things, and it may have its hooks too deep in your brother. When we try to remove them. Unless you have special magics? We barely understand what the Ring lets us do to him."
"It's not safe at all." Muri speaks before he can smooth out his words. "We are really glad you're back. We're being blamed for your death, and I think we're going to need to deal with your brother. We think there's something wrong with him, the way he was brought back to life. Not like you. Something way more ugly."
Muri perks up. "Oh, I can do that." The Crusaders within his Ring bring forth the magic which shapes stone, on the other side of the mausoleum, allowing a cloudy person entrance.
Muri shares his Sending with the others, reasonably sure that no one would suspect the brazenness of their plan. "Martella suggests the building is clear, but we should probably try and avoid any outside guards."
The halfling and hound wait for the spell to be cast, and Betony to depart for the grave.
Muri plays with his Ring, prior to infiltrating the surrounds of the Mausoleum. The facet comes to rest on the Taldan Flag, and the halfling mutters a quick phrase. He thinks on Martella while he does so.
"We will remove Princess from mausoleum. What dangers will we face there? Guards? Sensors? What protects her body from grave robbers? Will tell more tomorrow."
Muri listens quietly as the doppel is prodded to understand. Instead of freeing the agent like a newborn chick from a shell confining its movements, the doppel just turtles up, refusing to understand Kamari's true intent to restore Eutropia to life. Instead of piling on, the halfling helps escort Frep to jail, hoping the jailors understand fully what they've imprisoned.
"I'm alright with the wind walking, too. Do you think Anselm would be up to purchasing the scrolls for us? He was very convincing with his words."
Muri's mouth remains agape for most of the initial confrontation of the doppel. He was fully prepared for spit and bark, but he hears... affection for Eutropia instead. For as little as he needs to understand most evil things in the world, especially on the violent path they've hewed, he asks Chaldira for understanding. Cast Detect Evil on 'Virgil'
"You know my name, and the names of my friends, right? What is yours? It's hard to speak to you when you're wearing Virgil's face."
"I'm not hopeful," Muri grimaces at Virgil, "the Immaculate Circle was very good about concealing itself this whole time. The sham Virgil, which part of our dangers is he? Is he an informant? Is he one of those investigators? I'm alright with us trying to figure out who he's helping to keep track of us."
"I'm more interested in bringing the Princess back. It argues for us if she's seen alive, so we can't be blamed for her murder then." Muri is ready to return to one of their rabbit runs, but he's gonna keep his dull eyes peeled for snare traps.
"So she's warning us about..." Muri pulls out a single arrow, holds it like a director's baton, and starts drawing in the air in front of him.
"Investigators. So, folks like Martella? Then she mentions paid informants, so folks who like mentioning things to Investigators? So we're gonna need to be careful looking like ourselves and speaking anywhere near folks like that." Muri puts a dot on the last part of his thought before moving on. "Do folk really know what we look like? It has been awhile, and I don't remember sitting for any portraits..."
Muri moves to the third warning. "The people. At least the people who like Carrius. And we can't trust our own folk back at Betony with the false Virgil. That's a rough game, not trusting."
"The Ulfens, and the Guard. We have no allies there." Muri shakes his head.
"Feels like we swat one wasp, we anger more. So we can't just run into the Palace and call out Carrius. I mean, we could, but that feels like death or imprisonment."
Muri stops writing in the air. "If we strike at the sham and miss, we've alerted his web. If the sham already played his cards looking like Virgil, and now looks like someone else, we're not going to know until we get there." The halfling turns to Virgil.
"I don't mean any disrespect, but if someone were in your shoes right now, how much power do they really have in Betony? Do you think Myrna has already sorted out the fake? She might have been replaced too." Muri frowns as he thinks of all the bad things taking place, all the things that are currently out of their hands.
"We could return, use the Gem of Seeing to sort out face-stealers, but that feels like a trap. Everyone interested in us will be interested in Betony and Birdsong."
"We need the freedom to speak freely with each other, and we need powerful magic to conceal our true identities. Oh, and constant vigilance. There's no way we're not being hunted right now. It's only a matter of time before someone tries to ambush us, if we look like we do right now. We should ask Martella for more magics."
"Wait, what about the Princess? We're going to use that Crucible, right? Martella should learn about the Crucible. Maybe she can help us get the Princess's body back, so we can do that first."
"They created the constructs so they explode when destroyed. In a library. That's interesting." Muri does his best to remember where those two special books were. He'll wait patiently for the Professor to pour over the collections, and secure what he can to bring away from this newly discovable place.
Muri AC = 25
HP = 111/111
Weapon Equipped = Chaldira's Hand
Condition(s) = None
Underfoot AC = 32
HP = 127/127
Weapon Equipped = Teef
Condition(s) = Elen
Undeterred by the number of missed shots, the halfling continues lavishing expensive projectiles against Red, very glad for the dual misses of their own.
