[Alliance] Chapter Two: Session Twenty-Four
September 3rd
Some last minute preparations are made, and the group starts to disperse to spread some rumors about the fact Vel may be carrying something of import and may be trying to rendevouz with Kilnar.
Vincent does some general rumor-spreading, and Gil goes to the brothel he had helped previously and recruits them to help in the rumor spreading as well.
Tess was able to meet with Nori and passed word to her in as much detail she could without being too overt. However, Nori was unable to confirm the exact amount of assistance that could be acquired as Borel was out of his office. The best she could hope was that if Vel and/or Uther were brought in, that situation would be handled discreetly.
Vel also spreads rumors discreetly, and also overhears that other rumors are spreading about the fact there may be imposters about and corruption in the magistrate.
Uther stays back and mans the fort.
By the evening, everyone has returned and go over the next step of the plan. Vel suggests that Uther and herself disguise themselves as Guardians of the Eternal Spring agents to give them reason to be traversing the Dusk District. Jaina said that they would have to get Uther a uniform, and Gil suggests a Spellbreaker set instead, as Rowan was there possessing Spellbreaker armor.
Rowan is rather taken aback, but agrees, and instead possesses Uther’s armor while Uther wears the Spellbreaker armor.
Gil, Vincent, and Jaina prepare to tail Uther and Vel, with Jaina intending to branch off after the moonkey if the key gets taken somewhere else. Valeera and Tess stand by to branch off with Jaina if needed, and Vereesa goes to lay low as well.
Before leaving, Gil apologizes to Vel about the way he spoke to her previously.
Uther and Vel start to navigate toward the Dusk District, going around a long way to avoid going right by the palace. Fortunately, due to the heavy rain, they don’t see many patrols or passerbys. One of the groups they do see simply nods in solidarity.
As they enter the dusk district, they meander for about 45 minutes. And then two other Guardians happen to see them, flanked by a golem. The woman in command approaches, and comments that she hadn’t heard about Spellbreakers being on patrol in the area. Uther said he was off duty, and the guardian looks at Vel and asks her what she’s doing. She said she just got off duty, and the spellbreaker was escorting her home.
The Guardian captain says it was a gentlemanly action, but then asks Uther to remove his helm. Uther tries to deflect, loudly complaining that his armor is already getting messed in the rain, and now his hair is going to as well, but the captain is insistent. She also comments that she knows that Vel is using illusion magic, given the rain.
After some more hesitation, Uther lifts his hands to remove his helmet, but as he does, he suddenly hurls it at the two Guardians, grabs Vel (who makes a startled “eep” noise), and then bolts for an alley. The two Guardians glance at each other, and the arcane golem with them activates its hold person mechanism.
Vel is able to resist it, but Uther immediately seizes up, and the Guardians begin to follow.
Vel touches the incapacitated Uther and dimension doors out down one of the alleys she had seen. However, as the two guardians of Eternal Spring and the guardian pursue, fire erupts, blocking off Uther and Vel’s escape on foot.
The timid guardian that had barely spoken lets the illusion drop to reveal Telina, smirking. The captain still seems to be the Guardian captain, however--likely another traitor among Borel’s ranks.
Gil, who is standing by with the others, creeps forward, moving into a better position to see what’s going on.
Telina and the other guardian walk further in. The arcane guardian takes a few steps, but then turns and blocks the alleyway.
Telina: “Well well well, look who I found out past curfew.”
Vel tenses immediately, noting that Telina is preparing a spell. The guardian captain also has a bow drawn and trained on them. Uther, fortunately, is able to break the hold person.
Telina starts to gloat, commenting on the fact that rumors had started to circulate and Vel’s scrying protection had dropped. She muses that if they had a trap prepared, they might as well spring it, but Vel retorts back that Telina had acted a tad early. Uther agrees, saying that Telina had gotten hasty in her approach.
Telina seems unconcerned, and asks if they were going to just surrender quietly or make things difficult.
Vel is gauging the situation. The arcane guardian had settled in to guard entry into the alley. Uther sighs, dropping his hammer in front of him, and the guardian captain starts to approach.
However, as she approaches, Vel touches Uther, attempting to dimension door out. In that moment, Telina releases her spell and, panicked, Vel drops the dimension door to instead counter the corruption spell that was hurled at them.
The guardian captain immediately fires an arrow at Vel, but Uther uses righteous defense and causes the arrow to bounce harmlessly off a holy aegis.
Telina then summons another spell, which she releases on Vel and Uther. It seems to take the form of a shadowy snake, though Vel is able to resist the effects of the spell as it hits. Uther, unfortunately, isn’t so lucky as his mind is assaulted by psychic energy and his mental processes start to shut down.
Telina cackles, commenting that she wished Vel’s brother was there so she could witness both Gil and Uther pining for Vel’s affection in a feebleminded state.
Vel is panicked, and touches Uther, successfully dimension dooring up onto a roof, where she pulls him down out of sight.
The rest of the party continues to wait. Vel contacts Gil with sending, stating Uther got feebleminded and that she was going to try and offer the moonkey because she can’t keep running.
In the distance, Vel sees Telina rise above the buildings using levitate, and the warlock’s eyes lock on the pair as she starts to approach. Vel does nothing, remaining close to the ground, her eyes fixed on the warlock, and Telina purrs, musing that Vel seems “so dreadfully tired” and she casts sleep on the pair of them.
Vel doesn’t counter, her resources just about spent, and she and Uther fall unconscious as Telina lands.
Back with the group, Jaina informs the others that Telina had teleported Uther and Vel.
Vel’s eyes bat open, and the first thing she sees is that she’s on the floor. She’s leaning against Uther. They are back to back, and squatted down in front of them is Dar’khan Drathir. All their magical items have been removed.
He has something in his hand. It’s the moonkey. The fake one.
He flips it up and down, twirling it between his fingers.
Dar’khan: “Ah, good morning Velameestra. I hope that your nap was restful.”
They are in a room. It isn’t clear where, but it’s a study of some sort. There’s a teleportation circle under them. Telina and Runesight are also there, as well as the student Runesight had teleported away from Duskwither with. Over in the corner is an imp who is balancing an empty wine glass on his forehead, and a succubus with a not empty glass drinking the wine. She has pink skin and blonde hair with black and red highlights.
Dar’khan: “Welcome. I do hope you’re comfortable in your arrangements. I dare say I didn’t exactly expect such a gift, but it’s appreciated.”
He continues to muse, delightfully surprised that Vel and Uther’s group had done some of his work for him, though he would have to make arrangements in the future to get the others.
This causes Vel some pause, and she voices her surprise that he doesn’t already have one. Dar’khan is curious, but hones in on the “one,” correctly assuming that the party had managed to retrieve two.
He starts to monologue a bit, commenting that they were fighting against the inevitable with the Legion. They would come regardless, thus it was something that just needed to be accepted. Vel tries to get some motivation as to why he was aiding them, but Dar’khan opts not to answer, commenting that it wasn’t worth giving his motivations to someone that wouldn’t live long enough for it to matter.
However, Vel is able to gather that he holds no loyalty to the Legion… curiously enough.
Vel asks if he’s just going to kill them then, and Dar’khan responds it would be a waste to do so now. They would be kept alive until the “promised day,” at which point they would be sacrificed.
He then comments he will see them soon. Or perhaps not so soon. He isn’t sure how time worked in the place he was sending them, and he then stepped aside to allow Telina to seemingly plane shift them.
Vel is able to resist the spell, but she glimpses Uther start to slide into the alternate plane, and, not wishing to leave him to fend for himself in his present state, she instead willingly fails.
On the other side, there is nothing but darkness. It takes a moment for Vel’s darkvision to kick in, and she starts to take stock of of their present situation. She feels Uther hold her hand, and she squeezes it back before she gets to her feet and, using some rope that had been used to keep Uther bound, fixes a tether between the two of them so they didn’t get lost in the darkness.
She sees a familiar shape, and she identifies it as seemingly a mana wyrm, though it’s much darker than the ones she had previously seen. It examines her curiously, but seems a bit more focused on Uther, hissing expectantly much as how Arkha’din demanded things. However, it’s hiss almost seemed to sound like it was in reverse.
Vel conjures a small illusion, and it looks at it, then swims through it, dispersing the magic, but it still seems more focused on Uther.
Somewhat intrigued, Vel holds out an arm to Uther, showing him the burns and injuries caused from the fight with Telina. Instinctively, even in his feebleminded state, Uther uses the Light to heal the wounds. The mana wyrm hisses, recoiling from the holy energy.
However, immediately after, it seems to perk up, suddenly fearful, and starts to wriggle rapidly away. Vel identifies the action as a fear response, and, given they have no idea what was on the plane they were in, she immediately starts to follow, tugging Uther along with her. However, they end up reaching the end of the “island,” and it seems to just drop down into nothingness below.
She rapidly looks around, and Vel tries to pull Uther behind a bunch of rocks with her, but as they try to hide, she sees a wave of creatures slurp forward. They have trendril-like bodies, and tendril-like limbs and they seem to be hungrily searching for something. It seems like they are speaking, but it’s in a language she couldn’t hope to understand.
Realizing there is no hope to hide from them as they seem to be on a trail of some sort, Vel starts to try and run, casting prestidigitation to cause a shower of sparks. It seems the creatures are momentarily blinded, but in that moment, a massive, clawed thing erupts from the side and swings at Vel. Only two of the six attacks hit as she shields, most of the strikes glancing off the arcane barrier, and then Uther hurls a punch, his gauntlet flaring with holy light.
Meanwhile, the wretches continue to slurp forward and start to dogpile. The clawed creature goes after Uther, knocking him unconscious and ripping into his limp body. Another is coming from behind, and then suddenly, one of the pillars behind them starts to move, like a column of flesh.
However, as it moves to attack, it instead sweeps aside one of the clawed monstrosities, giving Vel an opening to grab for Uther as it speaks
Mysterious entity: “Hehe. Welcome to the Telogrus Rift, wayward travelers.”
It holds out its hand, black, wispy aura wrapped in some form of rags. Given little option between trusting this stranger that aided them and the certain death of the native creatures, Vel grabs it as she grabs Uther.
They are promptly teleported, and Vel immediate drops to tend to Uther, stemming the blood flow from his wounds before he bleeds out. The elf takes stock of their new location, and she realizes they were on another one of the “islands.” She can still faintly see the monsters scrambling on the edge of the one they had just left.
The humanoid figure seems to at least 7.5 feet or 8 feet tall. Vel thanks him, and he replies that it was the least he could for the most interesting travelers that he had encounter. He comments that things had been rather boring in the rift as of late. Vel asks where they were, and the man explains that the world was not unlike Vel and Uther’s own until a creature of malice and hatred tore it asunder. All that remains is a blasted corpse of what the world once was. There were a great deal of curiosities there.
He confirms he wasn’t originally from there, but introduces himself as Locus-Walker. He also says that there were others like him around but they were… not so amicable and he seemed to imply they were brainwashed in some form. He advised her to avoid them.
Vel asks if there was any way they could leave, and Locus-Walker said that he was quite capable of doing so. Though it required a mastery of certain things. It was not quite so easy for Vel and Uther, though he had something that might be able to help them.
He opens his hand, revealing one of the bone daggers--which Vel knew had the capacity to open portals.
Locus-Walker explains that he had received it from a “trader” of sorts--a most interesting artifact. However, he was willing to offer it in exchange for their aid, as there was something else of curiosity in the Telogrus Rift that he wished to acquire. Namely, it was an artifact of some sort, one his fellows would use as a tool until it broke that he, instead, wished to preserve.
Vel asked what it was exactly, and he said it would take some time to explain. Vel glanced at the still unconscious Uther, and mentioned he would need a bit of time to recover.
Locus-Walker was willing to oblige. He said he was quite patient.
Meanwhile, back in the material plane, Jaina is leading the party as quickly as she could in the direction she could sense the moonkey. Gil realizes they are heading in the direction of Runesight’s manor.
Jaina asks if he thinks that’s where they were taken, and Gil said that it would make sense. Gil uses primeval awareness, and he picks up a solitary demonic signature. Jaina says they need to be careful, and she sends Vereesa to inform her where they are at.
Jaina asks them if they are just going to go in guns blazing, or take things more carefully.
Tess tells them she’ll see them inside, she’s going to scout around, and she uses her cloak to turn into a raven to sneak in.
Gil says that he’s concerned about magical defenses, and Jaina confirmed that magisters are notoriously defensive and secretive. There were probably defenses everywhere.
They decide to try and sneak in through the servants quarters, and as they approach, they see a guard. Gil says they need to avoid killing anyone, as they don’t know who is knowingly helping the warlocks. Jaina agrees.
Jaina says she has something that may help to distract them, and she conjures a water elemental. It starts to charge, but as soon as the guards realize what’s happening, it surges into them, engulfing them. One of them is knocked off his feet completely and absorbed into it, while the other is knocked back. The water elemental keeps going down the street, the guy’s friend inside, and the free guard chases after him.
Jaina puts the Staff of Antonidas in the crook of her arms, and brushes her hands together, pleased with how that turned out.
They go and break into the servants’ quarters and start to poke around, looking for an entrance into the main manor.
As they poke around, they hear a soft, female voice seemingly trying to come up with words that rhyme, as if she’s writing a poem of some sort. She has a single candle nearby.
Gil uses druidcraft to put the candle out.
The girl comments that was strange, and she starts to poke around trying to find a piece of flint while the party sneaks past. The girl is unable to find any flint, and she decides it may be time to just go to bed, and she leaves the room, heading in the direction the party had just left.
They continue, and Jaina senses magic nearby. Gil blocks the cracks in the door so they can use light without it shining through, and he uses produce flame. Vincent starts to poke around, and he finds small footprints around.
Gil comments there may be invisible sentries.
Gil uses the lantern of revealing Vel left with them, and starts to peer around with it. Then, there’s an “OH SHIT” as a black imp with fiery claws is revealed.
It starts to cower, begging not to be hurt. Gil asks what it’s doing, and it babbles, asking if they came there often, and Gil withdraws a sword. It, terrified, comments that’s a sharp blade.
Gil asks who its master is, and it asks “what master” but then Gil sacred flames right next to it. It starts to babble again, saying that it was just checking to make sure nothing gets stolen. Gil pushes, and it admits it was sent there to make sure no one used the servant quarters to enter the manor.
Gil tells him not to play any games, and continues asking about who was there. The imp said there were prisoners. The girl. And the guy. Two blondes. In the study.
It confirms there are traps, but said the passcode is “Promise.” He isn’t telling the complete truth, but he seems to be honest about that.
Gil goes to fire off an arrow at him, but the imp fires off a firebolt. A barrel catches fire. Vincent immediately closes the distance and runs it through. It disperses. Gil puts the fire out.
Jaina says they have to assume they know they are there.
She uses dispel magic, clearing the alarm on the door. They enter, and start looking for the study.
They find themselves in the wine cellar. Jaina mentions it seems like there is magic coming from some of the barrels. They decide to investigate, and quietly pound a tap into it.
However, the wine bursts out, and Vincent jumps out of the way, resulting in Gil getting his with the brunt of it.
The wine begins to burn as it hits Gil’s skin, and it seems to calcify. Gil heals himself for the time being, but he steadily gets completely encased in a crystalline statue--becoming petrified.
A wine-like ooze continues to gloop onto the floor. Vincent stabs at it, but the dagger immediately corrodes. Jaina blasts the creature with a lightning bolt. It quivers, now boiling in its barrel. Valeera stabs her daggers downward, and it splatters, now destroyed.
Gil is still petrified.
They decide they need to retreat. Jaina recalls Tess, informing her they are retreating, and they leave to regroup at the warehouse as Jaina teleports them out.
Arator immediately jumps off the crate he was waiting on, and he asks what happened to Gil and where everyone else was. Jaina explains that Gil was petrified. They found some sort of enchanted wine in the basement. She reassures him that Gil is still alive.
However, Jaina isn’t sure where Vel and Uther are. She believes they are inside Runesight’s manor, but they weren’t able to get in.
Vereesa and Tess regroup, and there’s a rage boiling under Vereesa’s demeanor as she strokes Gil’s calcified face directed at those that would dare harm her family.
