Episode 21 - The Sundered Mask

General Summary

4th of Harvest, 1442

The midnight bell tolls across the settlement surrounding Castle Cole. Deep within the sewers, the body of Roan Cordelaine is discovered by a city watchman. At the front gates of the castle, Sarischa Ravana and Iryval Ayvir present themselves and call for an unscheduled meeting with Ravenna Durant, the Iron Warden of Castle Cole. Underneath the castle, Elnor Portrain leads the agents of House Ildrafn through the sewers, joined by Kain Unknown, Jarvin Cadwalader and Drosta. As Elnor and his crew moved through the sewer tunnels to infiltrate the castle, Bexley and the agents of House Sandoreale were also making their preparations to breach the defenses in the dead of night and abduct the heir to The Kingdom of Banteave at the behest of their master, Gethin Sandoreale. And in the shadowed cobblestone streets, another figure dwells. Bearing a tattoo of a skeleton dancing upon the gallows. Watching. Waiting to strike. *** Having wormed their way through the castle's underbelly and into a barracks in the castle courtyard, Elnor and his team sought to delve deeper into the castle by securing spare tabards bearing the markings of the Barony of Cole. Their efforts, however, were quickly superseded when Elnor heard the brief ringing of a watchman's bell out in the central courtyard, only for the ringing to be violently silenced mere moments later. *** Having used Iryval's name and status to earn an audience, Sarischa was brought face to face with Ravenna Durant. However, Sarischa's attempts to sway Ravenna into disclosing more information about her secret guests Annabeth and Mair fell on deaf ears; Ravenna's paranoia was too great to overcome, and the sudden ringing of a watchman's bell from the courtyard only heightened her vigilance. Unwilling to leave anything to chance, Ravenna ordered Iryval and Sarischa to be imprisoned within the keep until further notice as she and her guards moved to investigate the alarm. As they were dragged towards imprisonment, Sarischa began subtly plying the sorceries of Pyx to plant a single thought in the mind of his jailer; Tell Ravenna of Bexley and his cutthroat's identities. *** Elnor couldn't make out much of the man who had killed the watchman in the courtyard, but he clocked several other figures moving silently along the curtain walls of the castle, dispatching any guards they came across with practiced ease. Realizing that time was not on their side, the Ildrafn agents moved to quickly reach the central keep, but as they crept out of their concealment they were spotted... not by the guards of Castle Cole, but by Bexley and his pack of Sandoreale spies. A melee immediately broke out between the two rival parties, with each inflicting some small hurts but neither managing to gain the upper hand. The chaos of the brawl left both sides scattered across the courtyard, with Bexley disappearing from sight. While the battle in the courtyard raged on, Elnor called on Drosta to assist him and quickly made his way to the inner keep. Finding tenuous handholds, they began to climb, seeking any open windows on the second floor they might use to infiltrate. Clambering inside the second floor of the inner keep, Elnor and Drosta came across a guardroom where Sarischa and Iryval were being held. Elnor attempted to pick the lock to free them, but couldn't manage to open the cell door before Drosta's patience wore out, leading to her kicking in the cell door, alerting others to their presence. With the inner keep abuzz with the sounds of battle, Elnor elected to send Sarischa and Iryval with Drosta to ensure their safety while he ascended to Ravenna's guest quarters where Annabeth and Mair were likely to be sheltering. Opting to avoid taking the stairs to circumvent the combats in progress, Elnor continued to scale the exterior of the keep until he arrived at an open balcony on the fourth floor. He hauled himself inside... and found himself face to face (and sword to sword) with Gantrick Cordelaine, an armoured paladin of The Six Saints and Annabeth's sworn protector. Despite the suspicious circumstances of their first meeting, Elnor managed to convince the knight that he was there to help him protect Annabeth and Mair, and the paladin let his guard down, if only for a moment. Outside in the hallway, Ravenna Durant and her bodyguards were engaged in a fighting retreat as the mysterious assailants forced them to retreat to the room where Annabeth and Mair were hiding. With several assassins standing between Gantrick and his charge, Elnor opted to climb around the side of the castle to gain access to Annabeth's room while Gantrick distracted the attackers. Scaling out onto the high ledges of Castle Cole, Elnor's footholds suddenly became far more perilous as he climbed over towards Annabeth's room. A crumbled bit of the balcony nearly sent Elnor tumbling to his death, but he was able to haul himself with one final surge of strength up to safety. Barging in through the balcony doors, Elnor was confronted by Ravenna and her last surviving bodyguard who were holding the door against the attackers. Despite her heightened paranoia, Elnor was able to convince Ravenna he was on her side, and offered Annabeth and Mair a chance at escape, rapelling down to the third floor and escorting her to the secret escape tunnels located in the castle's library. While Elnor persuaded Annabeth to trust him, Gantrick stepped out of his room and prepared to engage the three men trying to break down Annabeth's door. He nearly got the drop on them... but failed to notice the fourth man waiting in the shadows, who managed to slip a poisoned throwing knife past Gantrick's mail. As his vision began to swim, Gantrick made a valiant attempt to distract the invaders, if only to by Annabeth and Mair more time, but the fourth man was too fast for him, deftly dodging his blows and slamming his head against the stone walls. Reeling and dazed, Gantrick slumped to the floor as the fourth man, the apparent leader of the mysterious band of assassins, ordered his men to leave none alive inside. With one final kick, the door gave way and the killers charged inside. Down on the third floor, Elnor, Annabeth and Mair found the secret passage in the library leading to the escape tunnels deep underneath the castle. When they finally emerged on the other side, they were in a reedy marsh a short walk from the port on the southern shore near Castle Cole. There, she found her captain waiting to take her away to the shores of the Continent, where she and her babe Mair would disappear into obscurity. She confessed to Elnor that she feared she would never be safe so long as she and her daughter remained in Banteave, and that one or both of the Dillestone brothers were likely involved in hiring the assassins that pursued her. Elnor suggested that if she left for the Continent, she and Mair would never be able to stop running, but if she trusted him and House Ildrafn, there might yet be a path forward to safety. The ship departed shortly thereafter. Was Annabeth and Mair onboard? Where were they headed? Did Elnor manage to convince them to remain in Banteave's great game? Only Elnor knows. For now. *** Gantrick managed to pull himself up from the floor and crawled towards the open door into Annabeth's room. The assassins were gone, and Ravenna and her bodyguard lay slain in Annabeth's defence. Gantrick took care to replace the mask that had fallen from the Iron Warden's face. When help finally arrived at the castle, the toll of the dead was significant, and Tavina Oake found her friend sitting beside Ravenna's body in quiet mourning. She helped him to his feet, and together they walked out into the light of day as Castle Cole reeled from the terrible events of the past night, counted their dead, and tried to determine how to move forward.

Missions/Quests Completed

Annabeth and Mair Dillestone have been located, and they have escaped the dangers posed by Gethin Sandoreale and the mercenaries known as the Serene Dead... for now.

Campaign

The Burning Isle

Protagonists