Episode 16: Unexpected Faces

General Summary

20 Mirtul, Year of Lightning Storms   The group convenes at the Slithering Serpent to meet with Dust, where he intends to Commune with Murdane. They sort out the series of questions and he asks them, shedding light on a number of topics the group has been curious about: Falzek is still alive; the yuan-ti have the halo of Antonio of Hjordis; it is unclear if Murdane wishes to refound her temple here; there are no other relics to pursue nearby; Svent shouldn't support the yuan-ti against the rebellion; should the udoxia be in safer hands; and a few others.    As they are selling some magic items and dividing loot between the group, Nereida seeks out Shay on the street and asks the group to meet Talon the following night. Later the party returns to the Slithering Serpent where Dust makes his first attempt to present the tales of Murdane to listeners. Mirko arrives to investigate getting his gold and they agree to meet another time since the bag is quite heavy.   21 Mirtul   Shay and Svent go to Castinus to attempt to scry for Falzek. At first, it seems that it will work, but then the scrying mirror goes blurry and the spell fails.    In the evening, the group goes to the stables at The High King's Keep, enters the sewers through a secret passage, and makes their way to where Shay and Svent met agents of the Peregrine before. This time there is only one: Bozhidar Kolane. He leads the group to an old temple of Ilmater, where they meet Talon -- a former militia sergeant Shay and Svent worked with before named Basilus Bardus. They agree to assist the rebels by destroying a gate to Tashalar that other yuan-ti use, hoping to retrieve the halo of the planetar on the way out.   While showing them the shrine of Atonia of Hjordis, the group is rushed out by Bozhidar when militia forces arrive, suggesting someone betrayed their location. When they exit the secret tunnel, they find themselves in the basement of the Temple of the White Rose, the old temple of Ilmater, with Brother Anacian guarding the exit.