Chapter 7, Session 3: A theft, a charity and a murder

General Summary

I'll see you in Fallrock when you are ready to see what's left. He-Who-Left.

• Silas Povir speaks to Kodo as he is killed in Wakefield.

The party began questioning The Crownsguard soldier they captured from Wakefield, the soldier quickly revealed that they work for Silas Povir and recently arrested Ardeth and are keeping her in Wakefield prisons and mines. He then told the party about the feat the crownsguard had about Silas due to how fearsome the warrior is and he also told them the prisons are inside the mountains and are accessed by an underground passage.
The party then split to look into the prisons, with one group going to scout the area and the other staying with the prisoner in the temple of Wakefield... to say the scouting missions wasn't the quietest would be an understatement and, after a period of panic and worry as well as a small measure of bloodshed. Half the guards filtered out of the prisons to search for the group and the party used that opening to investigate further. 
Upon going down the party found an underground city inside the mountain, filled with ore and minerals but also ruined buildings and shadowy figures moving across the streets and buildings, a whole lost civilisation it seemed. 
The party decided to save their interest and wanderlust for now and instead focused on the large building at the front of the town, a ruined former town hall that now acted as the prisons of Wakefield and a main source of mining for the dread iron that is collected there. 
Upon entering, the party encountered a series of walls and chained locks for the prison and, after a botched attempt at fooling the soldiers into opening the prison doors, combat started with Silas Povir on the other side of the bars and ordering his men to fire on the party as they worked to unlock the doors. 
The party soon realised that the doors weren't easy to unlock and were locked magically, requiring an individual to place a wand in the lock and cast a spell slot matching the level of the lock in order to unlock it. This proved to be a difficult ask for the casters who had to get in firing range of the crownsguard and their bows as well as getting close to Silas who proved to be arrogant but cunning, blasting the party with eldritch blast spells when they were in range, especially making sure he focused on the casters. 
This also included a focus on damaging and distracting Fen through a phantasmal killer spell as he summoned forth a monstrous image of Baralas to terrify and damage Fen for extended rounds before the wizard lashed out with a powerful fireball in response. Anastasia and Mimsi found themselves getting more and more frustrated each round as their ranged attacks were not impacting on Silas and he seemed to easily regenerate any damage the party were doing.
Soon enough, the party broke through the first two barriers and found they were then being hit and debuffed not just by Silas but also by three Masked Brigade mages who unwillingly worked for him and were even brought forth for the vampiric Silas to feed from, healing his wounds in the process.
Mimsi, in a ploy to get closer to Silas Mimsi climbed above the magic walls and punched through the stone wall and crawled through to join the fight. 
The battle continued and, after a period of goading and waiting, Kodo finally had the opportunity to face Silas and embraced it, using Long-Stride's kanabo to assault the vampire and finding as he used it, that the club still had a shard of Long-Stride's personality in it. Making it smooth to fight with and allowing him to exude a calming presence to others... Kodo decided to focus less on the calm emotions as he, along with Anastasia, brutally assaulted Silas seeking to put an end to him. 
During the time, the rest of the party dealt with Silas' Masked mage followers and eventually removed their masks as Kodo and Anastasia finished Silas off... with the vampire promising Kodo they would find one another in Fallrock where Kodo could see what became of the Firbolgs that did not become what Silas did. With that, the vampire turned into a dead mist and left the prisons.
Moments after that, the party worked on ensuring the masked mages were safe as the others searched for the prisoners, soon after, they found Ardeth outside by the mines as she revealed she was waiting for them. The Dwarf explained that she promised she would fix Wakefield as she had spent that last few decades as a pacifist and therapist... but she had realised that due to this inaction too much bad had been allowed to happen in Alturis and she could no longer stand by and allow it. 
The party watched then as, moment later, the Crownsguard had returned to assist Silas and Ardeth used a 7th level blade barrier to destroy them as they approached, the party then watched as underneath each soldier a pair of demonic hands reached up and dragged them down... leading Ardeth to remark that 'he' was still protecting her. With that, the party gathered in the prison with the three masked mages and the true hero Ardeth joining their ranks.

Rewards Granted

• Kodo attuned to Long-Stride's Kanabo and learned it's calming and damaging properties.
• The party saved three more masked mages and Ardeth the true hero.

Missions/Quests Completed

The party saved Ardeth in Wakefield

Report Date

02 Jul 2022

Primary Location

Wakefield

Related Characters

• Ardeth
• Silas Povir