Session 15: Reigns and Revolutions Report

General Summary

Face to face with a tear in the multiverse, the Masters of the Nine Elements hastily descend into the lowest level of Reaver's Keep, coming across an abandoned cave system underneath the fortress. Fending off the creatures that roam there, they quickly learn of the fate of the scientist team that tried to study these monstrosities. Only one member of the team remains, though deranged from months of not ever seeing the sun. Finally, the players find a pentagram mapped with candles that acts as a seal between Holdenglade and what lies beneath. Blowing out the candles reveals a door to the undercity. Taking a deep breath, they plunge into the unknown, only to find what they hoped they wouldn't: a contorted maze of atrocities and grotesque creations carelessly fused together, shambling in the streets.   Avoiding an early expiration, the party head straight for the antechamber Mother Idal showed them in the scrying. There, they're confronted with the worst creation of them all: a heaping mound of flesh with many eyes, transfused with the appendages of the weak. It remains in stasis, hovering 5 feet above the ground, completely still bar the occasional twitch. Five cultists chant in a guttural, ancient language as Marko Turei steps out from the shadows, offering Averel one last choice. Join Lord Vess, or die for nothing. Averel chooses neither. And so the battle commences. All of them fight with unmatched ferocity against an order that teased them for so long. And despite Marko's loyalty to Vess, he soon realises he's no match for the Masters of the Nine Elements. Averel swiftly finishes him off with an Eldritch Blast to the face, instantaneously deleting him from Avalǿn. But then the cultists stop chanting, and the Beholder Titan awakens. Though immediately it is dragged back to the clutches of darkness it came from as the party use all of their might to annihilate it; Donevan frightening it, followed by Heato restraining it with blazing chains, Rostliem in wildshape slamming it into the ground with his antlers, Averel subduing it with a Hexblade's curse, and Tony dealing so much damage that the creature goes into system shock. And a combined effort of Donevan, Averel and Tony attacking at once finishes the beast off, its entrails exploding everywhere upon death.   Covered in blood and guts, the party finally locate Zelèna, strung up in a cage hanging from the roof of the chamber. Averel shoots the lock with an Eldritch Blast whilst Heato catches it with the might of a giant. Together, they all evacuate the fortress after a very cumbersome effort. Back at House Dragic, Anton rejoices at the return of his daughter, and promptly pays the party the amount he promised. He tells them to get some rest, and that in the morning, the revolution will begin.   And so as dawn breaks, the party receive a map of the city, annotated with mission objectives that will help them cripple Holdenglade from the inside. Averel and Tony begin by heading to San Cherico, to win the vote of the peasantry. Tony gathers a crowd in the middle of the street and somehow manages to persuade them that he is a manifestation of their God, and that he will make the city righteous again. All the people have to do is follow him. The crowd responds with one condition: if they can manage to assassinate a noble named Benjamin Barton, who has been overtaxing the proletariat population for quite some time, the peasantry will be by his side when the time comes to take up arms. Meanwhile, Heato, Rostliem and Donevan search for the approval of a guild that will help them in the siege, eventually landing on one that Heato happens to be a member of: a primary adventurer's guild known as the Guild of Champions. The Grandmaster of this organisation is the esteemed 'Old Lerog the Gnashed', a Hobgoblin warrior hardened by time and steel. Disgruntled with King Orthrond's recent decision to take a hefty share of all guild earnings, Lerog agrees to fight alongside the party, and give Holdenglade back the freedom it so desires. Without time to waste, he, along with his best men journey to the party's captured outpost to teach the peasantry how to fight.   After successfully completing the first phase of the plan, the players rendezvous to the Aspen Vestige, to begin phase two: disable Holdenglade's communication systems. In other words, cut it off from the rest of the Empire completely. Following a scouting of the Communications Centre, the party scale the walls of the facility to end up on the roof. From there, they peer through the great glass dome situated at the building's crown and formulate a plan to get in and out unseen. Averel and Donevan decide to Misty Step through the glass, and one by one, take out all of the workers in each communication room, silently and stealthily, whilst also taking the sending stones to each Imperial City for themselves. As for the guys in the centre of the room, Averel uses illusion magic to simulate a fire in the building, forcing the rest out of the room for a brief period. After ransacking the place for any communication devices, they decide to create a real fire to destroy every single document Holdenglade has of the Empire's plans. And by the time the workers return to their offices, the perpetrators are already gone, as if they were never even there.   Successful in yet another mission, the party decide to head back to the outpost themselves, to help with training the peasantry in more advanced forms of fighting; Averel and Heato teaching them the artful ways of the blade, Tony training them in releasing their inner magic, Rostliem explaining the importance of healing fallen allies, and Donevan giving them hope in his God. The next day consists of Averel and Tony heading back to the Aspen Vestige to sabotage the magic school that wronged the little Kobold so long ago, Rostliem and Donevan hunting down the tradesmaster of Holdenglade, Lord Percival Brass, for information on an upcoming delivery to the city that could severely hinder their plans to take Reaver's Keep, and Heato venturing back to Mother Idal on his own, after seeing yet another nightmare of the fate of his old party that leaves him wondering whether or not what he's doing right now is even worth it. Averel and Tony are victorious in their scheme, using explosives to injure the majority of Holdenglade's Arcane population, and Sly Tony personally seeing to the deaths of those who told him he would never amount to anything. Rostliem and Donevan confront Lord Brass, who tries to fight his corner but ends up with an axe to the head, however not before Donevan picks up a trade ledger detailing the whereabouts and estimated time of arrival of the payload.   But as Heato opens the door to Mother Idal's personal chamber, things take a turn for the worse, as he witnesses her speaking in some ancient tongue into her crystal ball; supplying information to none other than Emperor Barontyne. Stunned at her betrayal, he shuts the door for a moment before knocking once more to confront the Hag. He tries to maintain his composure when asking about an easy way that he could get to Terren to save his friends, but she sees through his facade and gives him a choice. Either he stays with the Masters of the Nine Elements whilst his friends waste away in Imperial Prison, or she introduces him to Barontyne, so he can see what it's like on the other side. After all, Barontyne makes a strong ally, but an even stronger enemy. Dumbfounded, Heato weakly says that he'll consider her offer. The Hag warns him one last time that his friends won't live forever and slams the door in his face. Days upon days go by. The peasantry are being trained, and the party have intercepted the payload. The revolution is well underway; there's now resistance in the streets of Holdenglade. And Orthrond waits in anticipation for the final showdown...