Blood of my Blood

Life, Death

Danger, Daryl, Indigo, and Mirian return to Hearthstone to update Prefect Aarden, but they aren't the only ones who've returned.

The party returns to Hearthstone City to find it a metaphorical powderkeg. Refugees from all over the Steppes have fled here after Cerulean destroyed and raided their towns and villages. They move through the throngs to pass on what they’ve learned to Prefect Lawrence Aarden. There are many dragons, each with different powers. The Library of the Gods will teach how to combat and pacify them. But most importantly, Merielle created a cult of dragon worshippers and is a danger to everyone around her.   Lawrence is shocked in disbelief at this news and asks the party to fetch Merielle for him so he may question her himself. The party obliges and heads toward the shantytown, built in the ruins of the zoo, of Hearthstone City to find her. She is with Franklin and a jabroni Paladin by the name of Leonis Justus, helping the refugees when the party confronts her. They attempt to arrest her, but Leonis gets in the way before she shapeshifts into a Giant Spider, kidnaps Franklin Aarden, and manages to escape.   Aarden believes the party now and sends them after her. They investigate her bedroom in the capitol building, where Indigo deciphers some druidic writing on the wall and uncovers a hidden door below. In her secret room, they find five locations marked on a map. Information they don’t understand, but might later. They follow the trail battling grotesque monsters, cultists, and eventually find her in an apartment building. She wears the garb of a Druid, and her druidic focus is a scorched patch of bear hide. Hide that belonged to Sapphire Sage, the chief of Indigo’s village. Merielle was the one who killed them all.   They fight her and chase her to a rooftop courtyard…where Merielle holds the prefect’s son next to her - a knife against the boy’s throat. The party tries to reason with her, but Merielle slits the young boy’s throat.   “YOU KILLED MY SON!!!” Danger goes into a blind rage, but Merielle’s murder wasn't just for shock value. She sacrificed Franklin to summon a Bearded Devil. The devil fights the party while Merielle turns into a Giant Spider and escapes again. They slay the damned fiend and woefully go back to Lawrence to tell him the terrible news.   Lawrence steps down as prefect and, pulling his father’s perfectly crafted sword from storage, sets off on a quest to gain the power to avenge his son’s death. He orders the party to find the Library of the Gods to discover the knowledge they need to stop Cerulean’s rampage. He informs them of a secret tunnel that could bring them to Hobgoblin Nation undetected, close to where the Library is, telling them the secret password. Distraught, but determined to bring Merielle to justice, the party sets off to find the Library of the Gods.