Skin In the Game

Having rescued Yago and Kebri from corruption, Makar and the crew spent a night resting. Rescuing Uyazi and Kamatu would be an adventure for tomorrow...

Rescue Mission....2!

With Yago and Kebri out of commission for the week dealing with their corrupted wounds, Makar gathered the remaining party members to plan. Captain Yamoa identified the actors at play: The Immalaia families, selkie crime families led by a "Immalaia" or matriarch. The captain was willing to set up a line of contact, to allow Makar to ransom their party members back, but this would take a day at least. 
While Yamoa established diplomacy, Makar went out in cat form to investigate the last known location of Uyazi and Kamatu - a fishery near the docks at Otterhome. The fish dumping pile was swarming with strays, while the rooftops were controlled by unusually disciplined cats. The strays, led by a cynical ruffian named One-Eye, explained that the roof cats were some weird heretical warrior clan who offered desperate cats food in exchange for loyalty and service. Makar bluffed their way in and discovered a cat spy network that was taking over the strays of the city. At its core was a number of humanoid cats and selkie shapeshifters, who used flayed cat skins to transform into cats at will. Makar then went back to the boat and found that cats were spying on their ship. Makar bribed the cat spies with food. 
Makar spent much of the rest of the day tracking the fake Uyazi, who they pounced on in cat form. Intimidating the imposter, Makar followed on their back as they went into the selkie Admirality (selkie self-government in the city) and used their association with Makar to extract information out of Admiral Walamaka. The actual imposter seemed to be a low-level stooge who didn't really understand what was going on. Makar burnt the papers Walamaka provided, and then reported to the Admirality to tell them what had happened. The Admiral began preparing to rally the top merchant families for a crack-down, and discussed breaking out old anti-witchcraft laws that could allow for emergency powers and easier convictions. Makar then headed back to the ship to discuss their findings - and that Uyazi seemed to be most likely dead.

Crime Lord Meeting

The next day, the crew went to the meeting site, were blindfolded and disoriented, and then were taken to a ship to meet with the Immalaia herself. She offered them a deal: Kamatu healed and returned free of charge, along with Uyazi's not-skin-bits, and Makar would leave them alone. They had (by the power of the False Chimera) read through the memories of Uyazi and Kamatu and found out about Makar's rather extensive connections, and they wanted to make it clear that they were a neutral party in divine politics. The Immalaia said she would handle any excessive apocalypse behavior in-house, but also refused to come down too hard on those families that had joined the False Chimera - that was her realm that she would manage as she saw fit. Makar, mustering all of their skill, luck, and magical might, intimidated her into revealing the name of the family that was most deeply tied to the Chimera: the Rahanis, a nice merchant family near Ambertown. She also agreed to hand over Uyazi's skin.
The Immalaia explained that the threat of legal action didn't particularly concern her; the Admiralty's rejection of peltless, poor, and shipless selkies had alienated many, and any witchcraft laws would only push more people into the Immalaia's arms. So, Makar agreed to back off, and signed a treaty that they would de-escalate things with the law. Kamatu was returned, his wrists un-broken by magic; the crew retreated back to their own ship. The Admiralty was told to de-escalate and ideally try to build better relations with the less fortunate selkies who run most of Otterhome. The group received Uyazi's skin. And so, all those who could be saved were saved. 

Dragon 

The next step was to investigate "Ishkibal the Dragon". Makar spent much of the rest of the day getting in contact with them in the Cathedral of Ishkibal, but finally the meeting was arranged. They appeared as a silver-haired human man with white, reptilian eyes. They were soft-spoken, polite, and seemed very fond of hot chocolate. The Dragon explained that it was the latest in a line of silver dragons to make contact with and aid explorers in the deep dungeon; the silver dragons have been part of Azalen mythology and history from the beginning of the city. This one has only known the name and identity of Ishkibal, and considers itself to be part of the Lunar God's greater being in a way.  
As for why the Dragon has been unleashed, it told a troubling story: that, ten years ago, a child named Verkohn had slipped into the deep dungeon somehow. This strangely eloquent child had timidly claimed to be the Chimera and had entered the Chimera's bastion. The gate to the Chimera's revolver had opened, and Verkohn had moved to take it, but the dragon had stopped him - it felt that no child could or should safely wield a weapon of divine power. Verkohn had thrown a tantrum and revealed himself as something else, something that deeply hated the Chimera. The dragon had taken pity and removed Verkohn from the dungeon - but the boy kept slipping in where the walls of reality and dream were thinnest. Over the years, the boy rallied the dungeon's worst creatures to seize the weapon; the five metallic dragons called together the more benevolent or loyal creatures to stop him. In the end, Verkohn failed - but adventurers from the surface kept planting more seeds of contamination, preventing the metallic dragons from excising Verkhon's influence completely. And so, Ishkibal asked to see the surface world and even hoped to drive the evil from it. But Ishkibal found a surface world more complicated and strange than he could comprehend. Instead of causing problems on the surface, he has retreated back into the dungeon to try and protect the Dungeon - especially now that the five Chromatic dragons have turned against them. 
Makar verified Ishkibal's story through a detect thoughts spell (which miraculously penetrated the dragon's mind). Ishkibal informed them that they would not deliver the actual Chimera (Arzet) to the weapon unless Arzet proved their worthiness to them in a public way that could inspire the surface world. Otherwise, they'd have to go the same way as everyone else (though the dungeon). 

Vriska Inbound

When Makar finally returned to the boat, they found the crew dealing with a strange newcomer: Imora, companion of The Hidden One. Imora attempted to play it cool, introducing herself as a ruthless, badass mercenary of sorts who would help them at an eventual price. She eventually dropped that once it was clear that it wouldn't work. She finally revealed that she was here to warn Makar that Dina, one of the four dooms of the world, was arriving in two days to put Makar on trial. Imora explained that Dina was a self-righteous monster who would surely set up a kangaroo court; she should not be allowed to control the situation. Makar would deal with this, but only after wrapping up the selkie situation. 
As a last thing that night, the crew tested out the Uyazi pelt - who could wear it? What would it do? They found that anyone, even non-selkies, could wear it and gain all of Uyazi's abilities. Kamatu didn't like the vibes of it, and reluctantly tried it on; he felt that it's use did something horrible to the place it was used, but no one else could replicate the feeling. Makar decided to put the pelt away rather than use it, burn it, or test further. 

A Murder and a Rally

Imora and Makar decided to sneak into the Rahani manor to investigate the most cultish of the selkie crime families. Imora entered disguised as a servant, Makar entered as a cat and slipped by the guard-cats. Everything went well initially, but Imora accidentally entered the forbidden basement right as the Lady of the Manor exited - and marked her with a strange amulet in the shape of an eye. The two retreated, then Makar entered the basement again. Downstairs, beyond the cellar, they found a locked door and a makeshift bedroom. Using detect thoughts, they discovered that the guestroom contained a woman who was deeply disoriented in the space between dream and reality. This woman also seemed to be very armed and skilled with blades - all evidence pointed to this being the person who did the skinning. Luckily, her thoughts also confirmed that no Chimera gate had been made yet down here. Imora snuck back in, and the two tricked her into unlocking the other door. As the woman was busy, they ambushed her - and pelted her with everything they had. The woman took quite a few blows before dying, but didn't have the time to seriously fight back. Makar and Imora fled without checking further downstairs, and rushed out of the manor without being caught. 
Assassination successful, Makar decided that this was sufficient sabotage for now. The two went down to Reefport, to go check on the underwater reef city of Asalay. On their way, they checked in on some local Jellicles. Once they reached the actual reef, Makar wanted to know why the Trash King was exiled; apparently "feral" cuttlefolk from the deep waters are kicked out on three strikes of not understanding local law. Makar rallied the people to try and make a more accepting and patient system, but stopped short of calling for a destruction of the current order. Heading back to the surface, Makar found Imora trying to flirt with the Elemeer priest and get him to embezzle money for her. Makar told her off, and found out that apparently he does steal small amounts from the tithes to buy himself small rewards after reaching personal goals. Imora further pontificated about how all piety is a manipulative front used to con people. But, with Makar's goals wrapped up, on to the Dina situation!

Palace Intrigue

Makar and Imora agreed that containing Dina was essential; she needed to be quarantined, to prevent the Network from spreading. To prevent her message from reaching disenfranchised people in any way, their confrontation needed to be contained to the palace. Ideally, this would be in front of assembled nobility and courtiers who would find Dina's rhetoric threatening, pushing them towards the monarch. But this plan needed government support. Makar and Imora went to Crown Princess Kavinara with this, and Kavinara was shocked to hear that such a dangerous thing was soon to arrive and that the government had no forewarning. 
They created a fairly workable plan: they would mobilize the crownguard to block off the route between the teleportation circles and the palace, with cats and soldiers lined to prevent any nimble escapes or cat-tricks. Dina would be herded towards the castle, past a prepared teleportation circle back to Kiazerov (which would provide Dina with a nice emergency exit to quickly leave the city when she inevitably tried to run from her feelings). Only elites would be allowed to witness the confrontation; Dina's populist rhetoric would fall on the ears of a panicked establishment, not a desperate commonfolk. 
The only problem with this plan was the actual monarch, who would surely have to be there. King Akelan II was too nice for this to go smoothly - his bleeding heart, excessive trust, and love of giving powerful strangers government positions would spell certain destruction for the kingdom if Dina was allowed to talk to him at all. So, the three conspirators decided to get him out of the city entirely for a week. 
They visited him while he was having a late dinner after a long day of court. Kavinara and Makar told Akelan of Dina's arrival, but framed it entirely as an armed magical attack; Akelan needed to go into the countryside to call the levies and gather an army to help protect the capital, as to spoil this attempt on his life and prepare to recapture the city in one action. The troops, once readied, could then be turned Westward to prepare against the eventual arrival of the Empress (another end of the world). Win-win-win! He was not told of the planned audience with Dina at all. He sent Kavinara out and talked to Makar separately; he felt disturbed that he had found out about this only after there was already a plan prepared, and wanted to know why Makar had gone to her first. Makar assured him that it was the chaos of the last few days, and the two talked about trying to repair his relationship with Kavinara. Makar stopped him from going off to apologize to Kavinara for a recent argument about information sharing, and encouraged him to depart immediately. 
After he left, Makar wrote a letter explaining that they were the one to plan and orchestrate the deception, not Kavinara. They left the letter behind for when Akelan returned, hoping that this would minimize the damage to Kavinara's position - and only paint Makar as the villain to the court. 
With the last day before Dina and Kipilu's arrival complete, it was time for Imora to go. A strange wizard who called himself "Archmage Zenthurias Zyrtec" retrieved Imora, and sold Makar a twelve-part fantastical autobiography. The strange mage also implied that he was Kipilu's biological grandfather. He whisked Imora away and Makar headed to bed, exhausted.

Components

Goals

QUEST GOALS

• Leave for Samvara
• Investigate the broader fallout from the arrival of the Rot
• Collect allies for the coming struggle
• Meet up with Potha
• Investigate Kasmir's background
• Investigate the threats in Asalay
• Deal with the Dina situation (NEW)

Relations

Protagonists

Makar: The Masked One reborn.
Kipilu: The Hidden One reborn.

Allies

Ally List:

• Zofara: A fatalistic warlock who presents as hyper-goth. Sworn to the Scarred One. 
• Yago: A berserker from Imorask with a gentle spirit. A whaler who has renounced whaling and now seeks to lobby for shark rights.
• Uyazi: A pretentious rogue who aspired to be Makar's chronicler. Past tense.
• Kamatu: A noir dad sorcerer from Vikasha. 
• Dailio: A selkie childhood friend of Makar. Studying business
• Ezia: A dryad childhood friend of Makar. Studying wizardry 
• Kebri: A paladin of Emesh. Naive adventuring boy.
• Fastfin: A shark paladin of Emesh. 

Justice, Paladin of Haru: A paladin of Haru of some fame in Asalay, part of an adventuring group. Has a sending stone connected to Makar's.
Imora: Imora is a Kobold-born Chorical born of a Calazan merchant, taken as an orphan by the state after her parents abandoned her in Suneka at a young age. Imora has always been suspicious and cynical, preferring the safety of herself and those she cares about to the ideals of some broken system. Imora is a very lonely girl, distant from her fellow priests outside of Kipilu and (to a lesser extent) Dina. Imora is skilled in the areas of stealth, precision marksmanship, and general subterfuge. She is a proud and self-destructive person.

Neutrals/Bystanders

King-Sovereign Akelan II: King of Asalay. A young, enthusiastic idealist of a king desperate to live up to his pious parent's ideals. Has a complicated relationship with his city, his sister, and his government. Wants to be a maverick, but has little understanding of how bad his situation is. Craves the fame and "freedom" of an idealized adventuring life.
Crown Princess and Royal Steward Kavinara: Heir of Asalay, older sister of Akelan, disgraced but recently redeemed. An angry cynic and pessimist who seems to have found some Ishkibite religion during her exile, and who craves redemption in the eyes of God and her brother. When she was young, got involved in the adventurer scene and learned how abusive the city is to its heroes, and became wildly disillusioned; was cut out of the line of succession for her erratic behavior, then tried to coup the government in response. The attempt killed her dad and injured her mom (and set her mom down a path where she died voluntarily crusading at Kenahai ).
Draconic Eminence Mathri the Pious: An older priest and paladin, a mystic enthusiastic about Ishkibal the Dragon.
Ishkibal the Dragon: A silver dragon from the Underworld that believes that it is spiritually entangled with the God Ishkibal. It supports the Temple of Ishkibal the Dragon and protects the inner sanctum of the Underworld from interference. 
Admiral Walamaka: A shrewd and careful selkie who just wants stability and to keep selkies neutral in Asalay.
Baldrich the Wizard, aka Archmage Zenthurias Zyrtec: Powerful wizard of the Founding Academy and owner of the Blue Unicorn tavern. A swindler who surrounds himself with other swindler-spellcasters. His tavern, which appears rather nice, is geared towards his crew's many multi-level marketing schemes, cons, and other ways to extract money from passers-by. Baldrich's power and usefulness shields him for consequences, though he is generally rejected by his fellow academy wizards for being a weird conman. His favorite alias is Archmage Zyrtec, which Kipilu knows him as. Zyrtec is extremely performative, and seems to have a pretending to be a mysterious adventurer with a convoluted backstory and a difficulty "remaining corporeal".
One-Eye: A one-eyed cat who rules the Otterhome fish heap. A brutal, punished Garfield.

Competitors

The Immalaia: A selkie adventurer who rose from nothing to take over the selkie crime network in Asalay. She has united the criminal elements of the city by blood and coin. She is a ruthless operator, cold but courteous. She has no desire to pick a fight with the Gods or the Nemeses, but she is also not easily intimidated. 
Halua Rahani: A criminal aristocrat of the selkie Rahani crime family in Asalay. The most openly loyal to the False Chimera. 
The Pelt-Taker: A short selkie woman lost in the dreams of the False Chimera. Prime candidate for becoming the Gatekeeper of a potential selkie-operated Gate in Asalay

Plot type

QUEST

Parent Plot

Another Dragon, Another Court

Related Organizations

• Kingdom of Asalay

Related Locations

• Asalay