Session 51 - Illusion

General Summary

The adventuring group known as the Party consisted of five members once again. Red and S’thom had joined Gorgoroth when the dragonborn had arrived in New Frontier just before spring equinox three months back. Lat’num met the Party while searching for the Orb of Time and Space which had crafted him a new warforged body after his death. The Party’s most recent member was Ifrit the warlock, who joined them just to get away from Kaverna Proklet.
Together they decided to leave Westermoss via the teleportation circle in the Kaverna Proklet control room. Their destination was Granite Hall in the Altaran Peninsula. Lat’num had found the magical coordinates to the Hall while exploring Kaverna Proklet and the Party hoped that it would take them to the location they had discussed wtih Orion Dragovic while back in the Crvena Vale.
When the teleportation circle activated and they traveled through interdimensional space, there was a brief moment when Red saw something flicker in his vision, almost as if the Party had skipped right past one destination and landed in another. It was gone in a blink of an eye and the others in the Party missed it. After they teleported, they found themselves in a granite chamber that was 20’ wide x 40’ long, made out of red, orange, black and silver striated granite. The sky outside the high windows was bright blue but there was no scent of an ocean breeze in the air, only dust.
There were two guard in the hall, one tall and one small, and a steward who bowed deeply and apologized profusely. He acted as though he and the guards were expecting the newcomers. He spoke directly to Ifrit and refered to the tiefling as the Lady Chamberlain before realizing that Ifrit was male. The steward apologized again and bowed even deeper. Once recovered from his faux pas, the steward ushered them through the doors and around winding halls where there were always two guards at every door, one tall and one small.
The steward led the Party to a teardrop shaped room decorated with white tiles and a large black circular dais. He called the room The White Iris. He introduced them to King Unibrow, a stately goliath who sat on a throne in the center of the dais. The steward introduced Ifrit as the Chamberlain of Txanponetan. Ifrit played the part and bluffed his way into a negotiation with King Unibrow.
The king wanted information on Txanponetan’s infamous Vault, specifically the defenses that would ensure that the King’s “most valuable treasure” would be safe inside. Ifrit, who had never heard of Txanponetan before today and who had never seen the Vault, gave the King a list of plausible yet ficticious features. King Unibrow wouldn’t say what “most valuable treasure” he wanted to store in the Vault, but glanced over at a black chest that sat next to his dais.
The negotiations stalled out and the king told Ifit that the “Chamberlain” should come back in 48 hours after the king took time to consider the business deal. Before they could strike an accord, a magic pulse emanated from the floor around the Party. It was the teleportation circle, active once again. But hadn’t it been in the other room? Before they could react, the guards shoved the party against the wall and told them to be quiet or it would get them all killed. It was a strange sensation, as they were pushed through the wall, which was not a wall at all, but a curtain of illusory magic.
The Party watched through the illusory curtain as a new group of five adventurers entered the room via the teleportation portal, and the steward, the guards and the king all played out the exact same scene all over again. One of the newcomers was a tiefling, though this one female, and the steward welcomed Lady Chamberlain of Txanponetan. Ifrit then knew that they knew that he was bluffing but didn’t know who the real Chamberlain of Txanponetan was.
Red, S’thom and Gorgoroth recognized her. The tiefling was Uanna Dezirinda, the once-homeless wretch that had gotten pulled into a gladiatorial match against the Party due to the machinations between the fiend Lady Antilia and Qix Fey-Branche, the archfey. They also understood that Txanponetan was a banking city in the Golden Savannah.
It was surreal watching the scene unfold from this perspective. Gorgoroth wondered if the king and his retinue were automatons, stuck in some loop that would play over and over again when travelers arrived via teleportation. The others were struck by the way the illusions seemed to shift and change at the exact moment before one of the newcomers turned their heads or turned down a new hallway (which was not a hallway at all, just a mind-bending path of illusions that encircled the room they all stood in.
While everyone else watched King Unibrow negotiate with Lady Chamberlain, Lat’num inspected the room as it actual was, instead of the illusion that was first presented to the guests. The actual room was dark and drab instead of bright. There were no windows. It was square instead of eye-shaped and there were stacks of crates and barrles pushed up against the walls. They were in a storage room. Everything that they had seen since teleporting here had been a fabrication of their minds and the magic that altered it.
After nearly an hour of quiet negotiation everyone’s attention was turned when a door opened. Two young adults carrying boxes and complaining about their jobs entered the warehouse.
Uanna, the Chamberlain of Txanponetan, howled in outrage and dispelled the illusion around them all. A brawl broke out.
The king’s guards subdued the young adults who’d brought the boxes. Uanna’s guards rushed the king and the king’s guards. The king’s steward became invisible and tried to slink away. Lat’num cast Faerie Fire centered near the king. S’thom jumped on the treasure chest and guarded it. Gorgoroth swung his hammer in a frenzy. An alarm rang out and deafened everyone in the room.
Within seconds two of Uanna’s guards were dead, the king’s steward had been knocked out and the king had been stabbed, hammered and engulfed in flames. The Party watched in sickened horror as his face melted off.
Uanna, the Lady Chamberlain of Txanponetan, grabbed her two remaining guards and prayed to a holy symbol. Then they disappeared. One of the king’s guards pointed to the sky outside to the two shapes flying towards them from the wizard’s tower on the other side of the city. S’thom cut the chest open and a dark furred tabaxi crawled out. The two groups argued for a moment, then entered a dimension door summoned by the king’s men.
From a small tavern not too far away, the Party saw the warehouse explode in flame. The Society of the Blue Rose mage guild seemed to have a “fireball first, ask questions later” policy.
The Party and the king’s men debated for a while, each trying to determine who the other side was and what their goals were. Introductions were made:

King Unibrow transformed from a goliath into a tall lanky human. His friends called him Saul. He sipped his dark red drink and quietly nursed a splitting headache.

The half-elf guard was Danilo. He seemed to be the real leader of their group.

The halfling guard was Rusty. He chatted openly and was less reserved than the others.

The steward was a spring eladrin named Linus, just as nervous as his steward character had been.

The tabaxi who had been hiding in the chest was Yen.

“King Unibrow” and his group had been running a con and the Party had accidentally stumbled onto the set. The con was to get access to the Vault in Txanponetan by sneaking Yen inside a chest. From there the thieves were less willing to divulge details. They stated that each had something taken from them that was locked up in the Vault but wouldn’t reveal their personal secrets.
Gorgoroth didn’t respect the thieves, but others in the Party were willing to listen to them. Ifrit told them about the Party’s intention to infiltrate the ISB. The thieves told them about the Altaran Peninsula and gave them rough directions to the ISB’s headquarters in the Citadel of Iron’s Grasp. They provided information on the Iron Circle and the Society of the Blue Rose mage guild. They asked about the Party’s business but didn’t press further when the Party clammed up, nor did they demand recompense for the botched job.

Report Date

31 Jul 2023