Session 53: We're Off to See the Archmage
General Summary
The road from Diamond Lake was crowded. The party walked alongside wagons and carts piled high with displaced workers and redirected mine equipment. Most were being relocated to Smenk's other assets in Blackstone and Steaming Springs. Others were taking advantage of the safety in numbers to get away from the dragon's devastation, in fear it would return.
The crowd made vacancies rare when the sun set over the village of Blackstone, and faced with the choice of paying an exorbitant price or camping, the party decided that they were used to roughing it. They set Zeke's new griffon as a watch, and fell asleep below an outcropping of black granite.
In the morning, they set out again, amused to find a pair of small tracks that had quickly retreated at about the point where the Griffon would have become visible. They lost most of the crowd at the turn-off to Steaming Springs, and Vin crossed her fingers that no one would recognize her from her historical escapades as they entered the town of Elmshire.
The townsfolk were curious about the obvious adventurers, and their interest only grew when they found out they had come from the site of the dragon attack. As the crowd around them grew, Lins found an innkeeper plucking at her elbow, offering free rooms for the party if they would tell their tale inside the common-room. The party happily obliged, supplementing their rendition with minor illusions. They were made very welcome, and told their tale again and again until they coudln't speak for yawning, and moved to their complementary rooms. Behind them, the tale of the Black Dragon was already speeding on its way to the realm of myth.
It was raining when they set out, but quickly cleared up to a bright blue day, reflected on the unknowable depths of the Nyr Dyv as they followed the coast.
They arrived in the evening, just as the first stars were coming out over the western hills. Magepoint was tucked into a thick, dark evergreen forest, shading it from the heat of the day. Smooth paths led through swaths of cool grass and blossoming wildflowers, and warm lamplight shone through the windows of charming stone buildings.
The party was pleased to learn that the Archmage was expecting them, and had reserved them rooms at an expensive Inn known as the All-Seeing Eye. The party's wizards immediately availed themselves of the town's impressive library, scoring some valuable knowledge about the archmage. They also ran into Nelelue, who had heard of their arrival, and let them know they had some time before the Archmage returned from some business on Arcadia.
The wait was well enough, as the party had plenty to do. Primarily shopping. They were surprised to find magical wares available, but soon deduced that Tenser had built his lair on a wellspring of arcane power. Even those who were barely capable of a cantrip could pull off simple enchantments, if they did it close to the tower.
When the Archmage was ready to recieve them, they walked across the long stone causeway which connected his island tower to the coast. Arcane energy rippled through the air, setting their hair on end as Nelelue led them up the winding steps to Tenser's study.
The Archmage did not rise to greet them, but shook their hands in turn as they leaned across his heavy desk. His office was thickly carpeted, and furnished with large-scale portraits of far-off locations, rendered in stunning detail. They gave the effect of being many windows, each looking onto a different place. The mage himself wore a blue-and-silver tunic bearing the crest of his name. His hair was grey and thinning, but his lean face looked no older than sixty. His keen eyes were sharp and unwavering as he listened to their tale.
After they had relayed all they knew, Tenser steepled his fingers and asked what they wanted to know yet. For a third time, Lins asked a great mage if the name Dagotha meant anything to him, and this time, she got an answer. Dragotha was an ancient dragon, the right hand of Kyuss himself when he was a human.
Kyuss' mortal origins were another subject of Tenser's expertise. Kyuss was an enigmatic figure, he explained, but it was certain he got his start thousands of years ago in the south, where he led a cult into the Amedio Jungle to found his own religion. After some time there, he attempted to ascend to godhood. Many believe he succeeded, though he was never sighted again, and his worship fell swiftly apart afterward.
As he recounted the details, Tenser paused, and noted that the party was not the first to have asked after the history of Kyuss. His former associate from the Circle of Eight Balakarde Bucknard, had been curious as well. In fact, Tenser believed it would have been fair to call his interest obsession.
Balakarde's pursuit of knowledge had drawn him to site of the Wormgod's apotheosis, his city of Kuluth-Mar. Tenser had implored him to be careful, as the place was no doubt swarming with Kyuss' unkillable and corrupted spawn, not to mention the lingering effects such an unholy cataclysm would have upon the area's arcane energies, but Balakarde would not be stayed and departed in haste. When he returned some days later, he was a changed man.
Shaken and distracted, Balakarde would say little of what he had learned but departed again immediately. Tenser would need time to figure out where he might have gone next. In the meantime, he recommended that if the players wanted to defeat those who would raise Kyuss, they woudl do well to follow the footsteps of Balakarde.
They agreed, and after gathering their assets, Tenser gave them a Scroll of Teleport for the return journey, and sped them along to Kuluth-Mar, their course ordained by the Archmage's power.
When they landed, they were in a humid jungle. Birds and insects screamed and buzzed around them, and they could see a pack of jackals nosing around some crumbled stone. Before them lay a ruined city, overtaken by the reaching vines and roots of the jungle. Its innermost regions sealed off by a black ring, and a mighty ziggurat rising from the centre.
They stood on the doorstep of the place it all began, where a mere mortal had risen to dark divinity that the Ebon Triad sought to revive.