Session XXIV: Intruders in the Nightgaol

During the same evening, Del'Gado, Caerlin, and Imaros decided to pay a visit to an unassuming housing complex. The target was the supposed cattle farmer that Del'Gado had spotted two months prior. He creates a falsified document bearing the seal of Gilgenon before going there. Caerlin misty steps in and unlocks the front door from the inside, making some noise in the process. Movement is heard from one of the rooms, which was apparently the family of the "cattle farmer" moving upstairs. The impostor was a middle-aged man who was initially very hostile towards the group, wildly accusing them of trespassing, disturbing his privacy, and behaving in a threatening manner towards him. Unsubstantiated accusations, clearly. Pulling a knife, Del'Gado pressed the man for details, asking him about the cattle farmer persona. After showing the falsified document, the man finally revealed that he had been paid by the king to pretend to be a cattle farmer in a staged dispute at court, apparently to give a good impression to some guests. Content with his answer, the group left the house, pondering why the late king would even bother organising such a trivial falsehood.   Later in the evening, the party reconvened with Baldur, who had been sent a scroll of teleportation back to the Ennead Star Embassy. They explained what had happened, including the fact that they killed the king and framed the deaths of several clergymen at the hands of the Sunguard. Baldur was upset because of the unexpected fallout of this, referring to the closure of Sun-Temples, deeming it to be unnecessary suffering. Regardless, he happily took the Plate and Cloak of Akkon. "To make it his own," a sentiment that will have unforeseen consequences. They then managed to be teleported to the Fortress of Tomorrow by the Arcanists, where they were quickly shown the door by two leonin Sun-Knights. The party made camp some distance from the fortress and continued northward to the rumoured Nightgaol.   On the way, Izdubar made an appearance. He had now followed up on the demiplane containing coffins, and had learnt about a teleportation circle that supposedly led to a hidden Arcanist operation, a secret College. Though he could not extract details from whomever was unfortunate enough to have been interrogated, these Arcanists seemed to be quite remote, being somewhat behind in the news cycle; it is unknown who they answer to; and in some capacity the Arcanists teach and study Universal Magic there. He also informed the party of one of the duergar Unholds which was located at the site of the Anchor, and speculated the forces of Kaedra was unlikely to allow them to exist for much longer, as these were devil worshippers. Thus, when and if they eventually join Izdubar in his plot to slay Vyriavaxus, it would be most fitting to do so either before or after the fighting. Three more days passed and the adventurers happened upon some sentries dressed in impressive plate armour of an unknown design. They spotted Del'Gado.   Although the rogue tried to reason with the gaoler captain, even showing him another falsified royal scroll and presenting themselves as legitimate authority figures, it did not convince the gaol Warden, whom the captain contacted with a scroll. The Warden instructed the gaol watchmen to let the party leave with their lives, which was unusual, apparently. Of course, the party would not let this hinder them, and so they left their sight, snuck in another direction, dodged a wandering patrol, and proceeded farther in, eventually confirming the rumours: the Nightgaol was indeed a real place. Kadaron's sources proved reliable. Approaching the southern wall, the party decided how to approach without being seen. They concluded that Del'Gado and Mira would fly, because this is something she proved capable of doing (as well as being able to turn invisible), high above to scout the Nightgaol from afar. They saw that the northern wall's sentries were down for the count, seemingly sleeping on duty. Also noting that the inner courtyard did not contain any gaol watchmen, they descended to investigate closer. Del'Gado found what seemed to be a controller's office, a small building with the windows covered with iron bars. Peeking in, he spotted two gaolers who were at the very least unconscious. He decided to try and break in: the door had clearly been tampered with. Del'Gado managed to lockpick the secure door, entered, and could now see clearly that the two gaolers were dead. Inspecting the bodies, it was clear they died from regular bladed wounds, probably from knives. Mira had a look through the ledgers, and eventually turned up the subject of the party's search: "prisoner S-627, original name Varkallin, reason for incarceration not given." Her cell appeared to be in the bottom floor of section S. Before they did anything else, Del'Gado blocked one of the barrack doors shut and decorated the peripheries with caltrops. The party then elected to dispatch of the southern sentries quietly, which they managed to do, if barely. The full party now entered the courtyard, Del'Gado picked the lock to section S (which required Baldur to kick down in the end due to it being jammed), and they entered the actual Nightgaol.   The cells were somewhat economically placed. Two rows of cells, each on opposite sides of an open middle area, seemed to be the standard layout. Whilst Del'Gado prepared to use a rope to rappel down, Jacqualine and Caerlin investigated traces of blood that led to a shut door; it had seemingly been welded shut, but Jacqualine bypassed this with stoneshape. They entered a small armoury with two dead gaolers. The two irreconcilable individuals could not assert with confidence what had killed them: the eladrin recognised the damage to their armour as being similar to that witnessed in one of her visions. The reptilians from the desert world had had their chitin armour pierced by accurate shots. Leaving the armoury with some worriment, the party descended down the rope. The way down was too long for one, so Del'Gado had to attach another to it, which was an easy task for someone with boots of flying. However, both Baldur and Caerlin slipped momentarily: Baldur regained his bearings, but Caerlin plummeted downwards. Jacqualine, relieved at the prospect that this man may have just met his end, had her day ruined when she found out that he had barely managed to perceive the bottom floor during the fall, allowing him to misty step to it. Regardless, they saw two peculiar bodies lying a way ahead. On closer inspection, it was two pale humanoid beings who had had their jaws removed and metal grafted to most of their limbs. On their chest were markings which seemed to follow the numbering used in the Nightgaol: "X-21" and "X-24." Now speculating more wildly about what was going on here, the party followed the route which contained ever-higher numbers in the hopes it led to S-627.   Just as they crossed a corner, the adventurers saw, for the first time, signs of life inside the Nightgaol. But these were not Akkonians. With their weapons of metal, black uniforms, and impersonal masks, the now-recognisable features of the military outsiders of Kaedra were evident. Two were keeping watch in front of two more deceased abominations, and they quickly demanded that the party stop. Jacqualine replied in their language, trying to pass as one of them, but was unable to provide an answer when she was asked for her MOS codes. She saw that whilst they looked similar to the soldiers of the 55th, they had an emblem, a sword on a globe, stamped into their helmets instead of the number 55; their masks' lenses were tinted red; and their webbing was coloured dark green. One of the ten troopers made a remark about the bipedal cat, which Jacqualine interjected by also pointing out Imaros, the goat-man. After a short exchange, the squad lead, Cipher-1, instructed her soldiers to lower their weapons. Their goals were aligned: both were here to rescue someone. However, it was the same person they were after. Cipher-1 referred to Varkallin as "Spearhead 2/141" and refused to provide further details; a soldier arming explosives at her cell door was proof enough. Del'Gado offered to open the door more subtly, but the demolitions soldier refused, stating that it would take too much time to remove the ordnance. Cipher squad stacked up against the door, and before they breached the cell, Jacqualine cast silence around the door, making the explosion noiseless. A faceless casket was present in the room. The soldiers deferred to the adventurers in regards to this matter, letting them open the casket; later followed by Jacqualine casting remove curse on the unresponsive body of Varkallin. She awoke in shock, and the squad medic began assessing her condition. She wondered what year it was. She described that she had lived in utter darkness for what felt like a lifetime; however, Jacqualine and the party were more interested in her connection to the military outsiders. Still in some distress, she asked to speak with Jacqualine in private. In short, she had been associated with them for a long time, and never entrusted her with this information because she, quite frankly, had regarded her as somewhat vain and self-absorbed. Still, she admitted that Jacqualine seemed to have changed recently, but never dared to take the risk. When they were done, Cipher-1 declared that with their objective now fulfilled, the squad would move to decommission the facility and liberate all viable prisoners. The plan was to have one unit clear the interiors of the Nightgaol, another to cause a nuisance in the courtyard, and the perimeter unit, Marauder, would pick off the outer patrols. The party agreed to join them, and moved with Cipher-6 and Cipher-8 to the courtyard. Cipher-6, the demolitions specialist, set charges at the gates, which would detonate, presumably attracting attention towards the location; but at the same time, Marauder would open fire and prevent patrols from responding. The two soldiers explained that they would keep the party's flanks clear to the best of their abilities.