Session 30: The Next Lesson Report

General Summary

Recap:

1. Everyone quickly acted to retaliate against the large stone soldier, and with a particularly well timed blindness spell from Wren, the stone hoplite was made easy for the party's combined assault.
2. Now feeling like they definitely had the king pinned down to the crypts, Eleonora placed the portable hole on the door to the north wing, yet the party discovered that the door apparently led to an empty room. Melyre, Wren, and Eleonora cautiously stepped in the room while Kane and Griss'tok kept watch, and Melyre quickly found that the blank wall on the opposite end of the room was an illusion.
3. The three of them stepped across the falsified wall, to see the king gratifying himself with one of the servant girls over-top his father's tomb. Melyre coldly ended the servant's life in an instant, and then held the king at bow-point as he began to plead for his life.
4. In the king's pleas, he began to offer his explanation of the war between Northal and Secrix, saying that the idea that Secrix started the war was a carefully crafted conspiracy created by Jhin. While Eleonora had no evidence to refute his claim, an odd pattern in his body language signified that he may not be being entirely truthful.
5. When Melyre asked what the party could do to ensure their safe escape, the king offered to let them take him as hostage, though he'd need to present something to the guard to prove that it was truly him, and not something akin to a disguise self spell. The king asked if he could present such proof to the party, and when they reluctantly accepted, he attempted to use a magical rod to subjugate them. When the rod had only affected Eleonora, the sheer rage of being lied to again allowed her to shrug off its effects, and quickly put an end to this lying king's life herself.
6. Meanwhile, time was growing short, as Kane and Griss'tok heard the amassing of the Platinum Guard outside the crypt's doors. Feeling shot for time, the party opted not to loot the crypt, and instead escape out of the castle. Using the portable hole, the party was able to juke their way out of the main castle building, and when presented with the task of scaling the walls, and subsequently, the plateau, everyone split up to find their own way.
7. Eleonora opted to attempt to teleport to the plateau's top, falling just barely short, and plummeting to the ground. Melyre began to simply scale the wall with Kane's skull dangling by her hip. Griss'tok began his signature immovable rod climb, with Wren kept within his chest. After several rounds of climbing, a daring rescue of Eleonora by Melyre's hippogriff Topaz, the death and resurrection of said hippogriff, and countless volleys of crossbow bolts, the party barely managed to escape Secrix Castle by the skin of their teeth; desperately pushing traveling through the night to avoid being captured by the Secran search parties.
8. It was a grueling half a week until they came across the first signs of Kane's ship, and with a last little push, they finally made it to the safety of the Sunken Widow. Welcomed within allied territory again, the party made the call to rush back home and lick their wounds; their mission successful.
9. Back home at Northal, the party's eager to report their mission to Jhin, and after arriving in the castle, passing by Meta on the way, they meet him in his study; though with an unfamiliar guest, at least for most of the party.
10. Jhin explains that he wants the party to help his friend, Wren's old mentor, with a dangerous project. As the party tries to pick his brain for the details, Wren has a small chat with her old mentor, seeming eager to show how far she's progressed since they last spoke.
11. As part of Wren's catching up, she assures Lian that she'll be able to convince the party to help, and boasts about her home, which Lian is eager to see. With everything in order, the party heads back home, with Lian following behind.

Notes

In Game Date (dd/mm/yyyy): 11/14/1196—02/15/1196