Chapter 54: The Kraken's Gamble
General Summary
Date: 16th of Uktar to 17th of Uktar, 1491 DR
After the battle, the party regrouped. Ranvas informed everyone about Nym’s fate and about the Seer being a dragon who stole the Scepter. Uthar told the party the Scepter is one the seven rods that are a piece of divinity. The Scepter is the only thing that could free Serissa from the throne. Uthar also gave the party a wooden token with a painted goose on it. Apparently, it had been recovered from the Queen. The token was a similar one the party received from Felgolos ages ago.
The party confronted the imprisoned Orlecto. He had no interest in talking but revealed he and Miriam were romantically involved and had plans to be king and queen. After this, the party went to talk to Miriam in her tower. Miriam was heartbroken to hear about Nym’s death. Bene persuaded Miriam to tell that she had been working with the Seer and her job was to convince the Queen go to the meeting where she had been killed. The party remembered a giant storm happening around that time, which could only mean the Queen’s death. The party informed Uthar about this and returned to their quarters.
Nomime tried to scry on the owner of the token and it revealed a woman on a gambling ship. Nut remembered hearing about such a boat in Yartar. The party thought this lead might be worth following. The scrying on the Scepter was unsuccessful and Nomime could only glimpse an ancient temple. Scrying also did not work on King Hekathon. Scrying on Felgolos, the party learned he was being tortured by cloud giants somewhere.
In the morning, the party teleported to Yartar. The quickly found the gambling boat and found it almost empty. They investigated the ship but found no trace of the woman nor anything suspicious. From the cooks, Bene learned the woman was the security chief of the boat and would return in the evening. The party left a note to her and decided to explore the city.
Nomime went to the library to investigate ancient dragons and temples. She discovered some information about a dragon called Imryth, who can change her appearance from body to body. Ranvas and Nut went shopping to fill up on health potions and Nut also bought some magical arrows for his bow.
Bene and Belros went to talk to the waterbaroness Nestra Ruthiol. They hoped that they could convince her about the dragon cultists’ conspiracy and to stop the war between Lord’s Alliance and the giants. Nestra, however, was not in the mood for peace. Her goals lied in protecting her people and she had no guarantee the giants would stop the attacks now that the Ordning is broken and the Scepter is missing.
The party regrouped in the evening and boarded the boat. Bene tried to mask everyone into looking more presentable. The guards forced the party to give up their weapons before entering. At the boat, the party heard some information about Lord Drylund, who is the owner of the boat, wanting to become the new waterbaron. The party found the security captain, Pao Ming, who could use powerful magic to keep the people in control. She had no information about the Scepter but remembered that Felgolos had been banned from the boat due to cheating accusations.
After this Ranvas and Nut tried their hand in gambling. Nut quadrupled the money Ranvas gave him. Nomime tried to gather people to serve the gift giver without much success. Bene and Belros listened to some more rumours and Bene started talking to lord Drylund. He invited the party to his quarters to discuss the coming election and to perhaps buy the party’s votes. He, however, wanted to leave the Lord’s Alliance and his plans seemed a bit suspicious to the party. He grew more uncomfortable as the party mentioned the Cult of the dragon.
Nomime probed his mind and found he had made a deal with the Cult of the Kraken. After the party confronted him about this, he told the dragon cult’s floating castle kidnapped Hekathon and there is some kind of ascension ritual coming. He also told the Cult of the Kraken killed the storm Giant Queen at the meeting but Nym made the first attack. After this, Lord Drylund’s eyes started to bleed and he spoke in a different voice about the party having a visitor. Then he was dead.
The party smelled ozone in the air and realized Imryth had arrived at the boat. They contemplated between teleporting away and staying and decided to talk to Imryth. She was very upset and started turning the gamblers into stone people, who attacked the party. The party struggled against the creatures as they had no weapons or armor. The boat started to rise but Imryth was nowhere to be seen. After some time Ranvas saw her at the helm of the ship and tried to attack her with frying pans. After the boat was 150ft in the air, Imryth let the boat start falling.
The final stone warriors died from the crash as did most of the cooks except the half-orc Bene was protecting. Nomime Misty Stepped into the water to avoid most of the damage but Belros took the full hit. He managed to survive after using his Lay on Hands. Ranvas and Nut jumped into the water and manged to survive.
Washed upon the shores of the Rauvin River the heroes must make a decision: Will they chase Iymrith to her lair or will they find and rescue King Hekaton.
Missions/Quests Completed
- Find where Hekaton is being kept.
Character(s) interacted with
