Kapora's Gambit

General Summary

After spending a good amount of time recovering from their fight with the corpse flower, the four members of the Velchurian Jewels decide to push on into the Endless Crypts, determined to stop Kapora from taking the Black Feather no matter what. The crypts proove scary, but the group finds their way to the center of the structure, into a strange room with a circular door. A tricky riddle leaves most of the group incapacitated by traps before Lorcan opens the door, revealing the tomb of Mirduin, long-forgotten champion of the Raven Queen. Within the tomb, the group enounters three figures, who appear to have just taken the Feather for themselves. One of them is Allin, the elf who fled from their fight before - another is a short dark-skinned elf the group hadn't seen before, twin daggers in her hands. In their midst stands a grinning black-scaled dragonborn that can only be Kapora Kerjac, the leader of the rebellious group. Kapora adresses them, apparently knowing each of them by name. She warns against them walking down the stairs that seperate them. Kapora talks to each member of the group, attempting to intimidate them despite realizing they probably won't be deterred. In fact, she even gives them a hint - she gives them some strange clues that may help point them towards the person she is planning to assassinate in the name of freedom. As she prepares to leave, the group springs into action, determined to stop her from taking the Feather. Unfortunately, she uses the power of the amulet to turn surround herself with shadows, escaping nimbly. The group tries to stop her allies, but Allin and the drow both manage to escape as they accidentally trigger a trap - a massive black-feathered demon appears and attacks the intruders. Thanks to Lorcan's apparent connection to the Raven Queen, the group escapes with their lives. Heavily wounded, they start to make their way back to the church and Father Snike. As soon as they enter, they see a familiar pair - Snap and Tarek found their way to the church and are currently questioning the blue-scaled dragonborn who runs it. The group decides to have a conversation about what to do with their information, as they hear that the pair that didn't enter the Endless Crypts also has heard some interesting stuff. Discussing for a while, the group eventually finds it's way to the Drunken Brazier, to talk to Balabar, after realizing he may be the one being targeted by Kapora. They talk to him for a while, and their belief that he may be in danger is increased - they decide to stick around just in case something happens. The group still seems unsure, however, and at that moment a familiar figure enters the room, an orc in leather armor. Yamar, the member of Virtuous Flame they left behind a few crosssings ago, approaches them. He explains he is a member of Vixen Brand, an organization that may have been working with Kapora to complete her plan that night. He says he is planning to leave the city, that he is here to sell his information to Smenk before he goes. When he finds out the Jewels have also been searching after Vixen Brand, he sells them some vital information. He ends up only receiving a small amount of gold because the group intimidates him into conceding. With Yamar's information about Vixen Brand, the group decides to investigate them, only returning to Balabar if they don't find anything. They head for the Gate's Way by the northern gate, and after walking around for a short time they see Allin Mindreaches, who approaches them with a look of desperation. He pulls them aside and says Kapora used some sort of charming magic on him, but that after he awoke he saw things more clearly. He gives them some vital information about Kapora's evil plans, that her desires aren't in fact to bring about a revolution but only to anger the Dawn Legion enough to send an angel to Fynderth - an angel that she could dissect and analyze. Before he can finish his story, however, he is stopped by a spell. The spell is cast by a gnomish figure, Umzu Rivenstone, and the same drow from the crypts. A group of Vixen Brand rogues follow them menacingly. A fight breaks out where Umzu and the drow, named Nivala, try to silence Allin by murdering him. Fortunately, the group manages to save the elf's life, bringing him back from the near edge of death to keep breathing. After scaring away Umzu and Nivala, they hear a single word uttered by Allin before he falls unconscious: 'Dalors'. Realzing now that Kapora is targeting none other than Realmguard Dalors, leader of the Dawn Legion within Fynderth, the group rushes to the Golden Hall to warn him. At this point, the wind is rising and rain begins to pour down as the group rushes over the cobbled streets. They enter the golden hall, where they speak with the Grand Notary, and a group of Vedette is mobilized and put into place by the Realmguard's private chambers. Here the group also sees Shieldcaptain Divarnas, who seems grateful for them to have found out a piece of information this important. When Lorcan manages to sneak his raven into the Realmguard's room, however, he sees something unexpected - the hair of the Realmguard is grey, completely different from how Kapora described it. Exasperated, he shares the information with the rest of the group. Although she is still worried, Divarnas seems somewhat relieved that the Realmguard isn't targeted by any assassination, commenting that he will be able to return to his son. With a start, the group realizes the Realmguard wasn't the target of this attack - it was his son. They rush to his private house through the rain, soaking their clothes, but see they are too late. The door is broken down, servants murdered, and there is no sign of the young Dalors to be seen. A loud thunderclap followed by a beacon of light shining from the peak of the church of Isanya. The group heard before that there would be strike on the church lead by Vixen Brand, and panic hits them when they realize the young boy is held in a guillotine atop the tower, about to be executed for the whole city to see. Rushing to get on top of the tower, Snap, Arviel, Craig, Lorcan and Pimwrick head up. Tarek offers to enter the church as a hostage, trading his life in for the lives of the men held inside. A fight breaks out on top of the tower - Kapora proves to be a very capable fighter, and his allies are also quite adept. Nivala is felled by Arviel's daggers, after which she pushes her off the edge of the tower. Lorcan and Pimwrick fight Kapora, while Umzu seems conflicted on whether to help his brother or his boss. Snap heads back down when she realizes Tarek has gone inside, managing to wrest him free from the kidnappers before they can get away. Craig falls while climbing up, seriously hurting himself and being forced to run up the stairs inside instead. As the tide of battle turns against Kapora, she turns to execute the child - but Craig manages to hit it with a levitation spell, causing the blade to hang in the air harmlessly. With a grunt, Kapora uses her hasted form, courtesy of a spell cast by Umzu, to escape, throwing the Black Feather away to distract her opponents. On her way down, she encounters Snap and Tarek making their way up - dodging Snap's arrow nimbly, she turns to Tarek to strike, landing her broadsword directly into his clawed palm. She twists, tearing flesh and bone, and pulls the fingers free with her other hand, grunting that it's 'a little something for the investors'.