Empire Group IV Report

General Summary

Ivan Dies Two Times in a Row

• When Primus is about to die after starting a fight with the Empire Group, a Young Black Dragon is revealed to have found its way into the underground cavern. The dragon was attracted by the massive hoard of gold and treasure that Primus gathered without him even knowing. Once awoken from its slumber, the dragon eats Primus whole. As it turns on the party, Merlin recognizes the dragon from his travels as Dandit, who he first met as a wyrmling without a hoard. Dandit says that he knows Merlin wants something from his hoard that he refuses to give up, and the party realizes it could be a piece of the Crown of Truth.
• Ivan asks Dandit for a pocket watch in return for the gun he got from the Modern Plane. Dandit finds the gun interesting and allows Ivan to take only the pocket watch. Ivan then asks if he can free him from the gold Primus' gauntlets turned him into. Dandit laughs and spews his acid breath over Ivan, causing him to die once again. Ivan's soul is partially sucked into the pocket watch, while the other pieces rejoin in The World In-Between, where he ends up startling the same person he saw before (Grimshaw) while they were writing in their journal.
• Grimshaw gets extremely angry from being interrupted in his private quarters and takes out a gun to shoot Ivan in the head before he can even ask for another gun to replace the one he gave Dandit. After dying again, Ivan wakes up back by Dandit (who is wrestling with an enlarged Doc) then grabs his jacket, waves his hand, and leaves. He lies to Lexus and tells him the others have died after fighting a dragon, and that they have to leave right away. The two run off through the cavern to get back to the airship.

The 1st Piece of the Crown of Truth is Discovered

• While Doc wrestles Dandit, the Young Black Dragon, Leo and Merlin end up finding a hidden locked chest with the first discovered piece of the Crown of Truth. The party books it out of the room after Doc makes the ceiling collapse on the dragon and follows after Ivan and Lexus. Ivan fails to keep them from getting out of the cavern, and they end up all regathering on the ship. Doc and the others call out Ivan for lying about them being dead, but Ivan manages to sound convincing enough about him being mistaken that crew isn't exactly sure who to believe. Doc says Ivan disobeyed a direct order and not to let it happen again.
• Ivan claims that the Emperor must be wanting to use the Crown of Truth to take over the world and kill people. Doc and Leo say that they have no idea what the Emperor wants to use the crown for, they're simply following orders. Ivan then says that he assumes they're all evil because they worked with his father 20 years ago, who he claims is evil. Leo replies that he didn't even like Ivan's father because he kept asking him if he paid his taxes.
• Ivan, Leo, and Doc argue about where they should go next, at one point even considering dropping Altas off in the Empire's prison. Ivan gets confused about where exactly Cassia is in comparison to where he wants to go, and convinces the party to go try and find her first. This actually leads them in the exact opposite direction of where Ivan's father is, but Ivan shrugs it off and goes with it anyway. Everyone agrees it's best to find Cassia, THEN search for the next piece of the crown. Now that they have a piece, they don't have to panic and try to find another one right away.
• Doc tells their navigator, Benedicta, where to go next and they set off.

Character(s) interacted with

• Primus
• Dandit the Dragon
• Benedicta (navigator)