Session 13

After sorting through their bags and redistributing a few items (namely, Irene traded Harlan the Amulet of Blood that Glowkindle had given her for the bottle of Truth Serum Harlan had found in Kremmi Cave), they threaded the narrow yet empty market streets to approach the city gates once again. The soldiers on guard were different from the ones they had previously interacted with, so Harlan produced the group’s writ of sponsorship. He had fleeting thoughts about the burden of carrying his life’s belongings with him, and for a moment felt the ache and longing for a place to again call home. He shook off the feeling as his wounds and exhaustion brought him back to reality.

The guards exchanged an uneasy glance. They informed the group that a curfew had been implemented; the Torvani Ascendancy’s vanguard had arrived early, and Kalzaharn was officially under siege. Seeing the sorry state that YFPB was in (bloodied, strength-sapped, missing shoes, etc.), the guards eventually relented and allowed the group behind the city walls, but warned them that they would no longer be able to leave until the siege had ended. Too tired to really process what that meant, the team entered the city on leaden feet. The streets, like the market outside, were completely empty. A stark contrast to the bustling throngs of people they’d seen the first time they entered the city.

The group decided to travel westward into the city in hopes of making it to the walls and the encircling army. The streets began to gradually fill with people as they got closer to the crisis, and eventually the crowd became too thick to move through efficiently. The heat, the sounds, but more than anything else the anticipation choked the adventurers as they made their wall to the battlements overseeing the bridge outpost. It was a strange mixture, primarily of fear but with heavy tones of excitement and curiosity. For many in the city, the Civil War that had ravaged Serulea before the Torvani invasion was already gossip and politics far removed from the daily lives of the capital’s people. The invasion even more so. But now it was here. The enemy was at the gates.

Harlan led the group up a long series of stairs branching downwards from the battlement, and snuck past several guards. They managed to make it nearly to the top before a tall woman stepped in front of them. She drew his thin sword and held it sideways, blocking the archway’s exit into the sun. Before the group could challenge her (or retreat), Roland’s booming voice echoed behind her: “LET THEM THROUGH CRISANTA!” The woman without a word sheathed her blade and stepped aside, observing the heroes with a chilly glare. As YFPB emerged into the bright sunlight, it took them a few seconds for their eyes to adjust. When their vision returned, they were shocked speechless. Thousands of people teemed below them, pressing against each other, the hundreds of soldiers standing in front of the border wall, and the wall itself. Beyond the wall was a sight even more shocking, and far more chilling. For miles and miles and as nearly as deep as even Lorien could see with his elven eyes were thousands upon thousands of heavily armored red-clad soldiers on massive horses. They were armed primarily with spears and halberds, but the group could also see swords and axes and bows and guns.

There were no siege engines in sight, but the sheer amount of bodies and the violence they promised to bring froze the heroes in place. They could not fathom why the crowd beneath them was so close to the gate with mortal danger so close at hand. Clearly the citizens of Kalzaharn had greater faith in its defenses than YFPB did. As the group approached Roland and the rest of the group on the balcony, they noticed immediately that every face was grave. Roland had lost his characteristic smirk, and even Lady Gwendolyn seemed shaken. In the crowd was nearly everyone in the city; the group spotted many familiar creatures, including the King of all Kobolds, the child who got Harlan’s autograph, a new Wizling, Chastity, Ezakyle, and both the red-cloaked mage and the strange hermit from the Babau encounter.

Irene strained her eyes beyond the wall in an attempt to parse the symbols on the flags and banners. She couldn’t remember any specific factions or groups, but she felt certain that the coat-of-arms were of incredibly high caliber. The Torvani vanguard was made up of some of the best the invaders had to offer, and the city was in far more danger than anyone realized. Fear and recognition and her place in it all overwhelmed the woman, and Irene quickly fell victim to another migraine. Irene collapsed. This time, she stayed unconscious for longer than a few seconds, finding her subconscious floundering in a sea of dark, inky tar. She fought to stay above the surface, taking gasping breaths whenever she breached the waves. She slowly lost the strength to fight as the tar began sticking to her and dragging her down, and for a brief moment she considered giving up. As the thought crossed her mind, a face emerged from the darkness: a skinless, bleeding face carved by a deep emotional agony. The face was missing an eye; the same eye Irene wore an eyepatch over.

Irene was stricken with a primordial fear, colder and more penetrating than any anxiety or paranoia she’d ever felt. Her eyelids fluttered open and she awoke with a quiet moan. She found herself surrounded by her teammates, but also by nearly everyone on the balcony. Roland himself was standing over her and asked if she was okay. Instead of articulating a response, she immediately turned over and puked. Vireya immediately ushered the other woman far away from all the prying eyes and let Irene rest. Harlan and Lorien began talking with the other Kalzaharn military leaders and were introduced to several important figures: Roland, his crew, Renlen, and Gwendolyn they already knew, but Roland introduced Cristanta officially as a Blade of El (the highest martial rank a soldier in the Arcane Collegium can reach) and T’Sais as a zealous convert to the cult of El. T’Sais explained that she got her strange (Torvani) name by taking it as a form of honoring the strongest opponent she’d ever faced, and commiserated with Vireya over their feminist philosophies.

A man draped in a casual yellow cloak and a resigned expression meandered over to Irene while Roland discussed military plans with Harlan. He introduced himself as Mazirian, the civilian-appointed regent of Kalzaharn who in times of peace had ostensible control over the administrative functions of the city. Because military concerns had long seen usurped civilian matters, Mazirian hadn’t done anything of note in his position for years. In fact, he appeared to be slightly tipsy. He held out a flask and shook it, showcasing the abundance of liquid inside. Irene gratefully drained the flask in its entirety. The warm liquid burned even her throat, but the hearty and heavy drink in her stomach helped restore her spirit. It restored (or “stored” for the first time) something strange, too. She felt movement on the top of her head and, upon feeling with her hands, discovered two small nubs growing out of her head. Mazirian chuckled and gestured to his own head, where under the hood similar nubs could be seen. They had drunk Diabolist’s Whiskey, a potent brew of demonic origin that warms the body and soul by releasing a bit of the drinker’s inner devil. Indeed, Irene felt much stronger and managed to stand steadily. Vireya squealed and rushed over to caress Irene’s horns.

Harlan and Lorien remained with Roland, who expressed a shaken faith in the city’s ability to defend itself. He unsheathed his mystical sword Durandal, which was broken down to the hilt. The hilt was a beautiful intricate metal, but the shining crystalline blade was broken a few inches above the guard. Roland was certain that the legendary (in the literal sense, Durandal was a blade of stories and wasn’t thought to really exist) blade held a latent power that could be unleashed to protect the city, but he wasn’t sure that he would be able to draw it out in time. Roland expressed hope that YFPB would stay and defend the city from the invading force; Harlan took his words to heart, and began to immediately plan an escape from the city. Renlen adeptly saw the change in Harlan’s expression and snuck over mid-conversation. He palmed Vireya a full Platinum Sun (worth 100g!) and urged them to escape if they could while he remained in the city. The group took their leave, briefly glancing at a final armored veteran who was sitting on a portion of the guardrail.

As they wandered the empty streets, Harlan discussed leaving the city instead of staying to defend it. Unsurprisingly, the rest of the party was fully on board with escaping before the fighting began. Not one of them had faith in the walls, Roland, or the Arkanite army to prevent the city from being sacked. Thus, they decided to gather as many resources as they could before leaving. Lorien found replacement shoes, everyone bought new bedrolls and stocked up on rations, and Harlan replaced his javelins. The group also entered a nearby magic shop hoping to identify Vireya’s new Wizling Mirror and snag some artifacts on sale. The magic shop was clean and smelled vaguely of chemicals, and the two girls immediately started scheming to steal some of the expensive items sealed behind glass. Harlan, in response, pointed out several animated golems that were guarding the shop. Their thieving hopes dashed, the girls began accosting the woman at the counter. The woman, Helen the Potionmaster, pointedly ignored the customers as she brewed a cauldron that smelled like bread.

Vireya spotted a small, spherical glass bottle that seemed to be moving on its own. On a closer look, the bottle had a mouth and eyes, as well as tiny stubs for legs and arms, and was wandering about on the counter next to Helen. Vireya demanded the creature, but Helen claimed she needed it for experimentation. The creature, who Helen had dubbed Peebles, was something of a clumsy menace. In the short time that the group talked to the Potionmaster, Peebles managed to knock over several books, ruin Helen’s experiment, and drip strange liquid on the floor. Helen, exasperated with the failure that Peebles’ life had been, offered to give him to Vireya if she brought back an artifact from a “petrified battlefield” west of the city. The tiefling promised the task without consulting her team and demanded payment (Peebles) up front. When that didn’t work, she had Helen identify her mirror. Lorien and Harlan noticed Helen’s eyes flash, and when she tried to lowball Vireya for the mirror the offer was rejected out of hand. Helen explained that it was certainly more than a normal mirror, and more than a scrying mirror at that; the mirror was capable of teleportation using a certain code word.

Harlan finally decided to offload his silverware from the Brewmaster’s Basement. After some heated negotiations, he traded the decently-pure silver for various small magic items: a piece of Buzzbee candy, some pink Runechalk, and a tube of Sylvian lipstick. Satisfied with the trade, the group went to go “turn in” their quest to the blacksmith. The blacksmith was overjoyed to have a fresh supply of Orichalcum and placed an already-complete set of Orichalcum-infused chainmail in front of him. The armor was an enhanced set of normal chainmail that would allow Harlan to retaliate against weak melee attacks. Rather than take most of the gold payment for the quest, Irene used the money (and a bit from Harlan) to buy a set of Studded Leather to replace her old and cracked leather chestpiece. The group additionally asked about some new weaponry, but the siege effort created too much scarcity for them to be affordable.

Having achieved their shopping goals, the group decided to bite the bullet and visit the city’s Church of El. The Church was built in the center of a massive compound filled with cathedrals, schools, gardens, libraries, and dormitories. The actual Church headquarters, though, was a shockingly humble chapel covered in vines. The building was a single aisle attached to a two-floor tower and opened into an entrance room so small that the four members of YFPB pressed against each other before opening the inner door. The mudroom and interior chamber were copiously decorated with flowers, bringing a sweet floral scent to the building. The actual pews and pulpit were no less humble, with frayed red carpet leading to a well-maintained shrine. At the shrine was, to everyone’s surprise, Chastity! As it turns out, she was not a simple priest as she had intimated but was instead the full Head Priest of El, the highest religious position one could achieve.

Chastity, already somewhat strange during her first interaction with YFPB, turned out to be a severely discomforting person. She seemed to know far too many things about the group, including their names, their goals, their classes, and their powers. She explained that she wasn’t originally religious, but rose to her position through certain abilities and her ability to navigate politics. She all but begged them to stay in the city and fight, claiming it was their destiny. But when the group demurred, she dropped the subject and resumed her haughty demeanor. Chastity also heavily insinuated that YFPB’s fate was inexorably intertwined with that of Dag’s Disciples. She referred to Irene as a “Betrayer” enough to get on her nerves, and when pressed proposed a hypothetical in which 8 heroes made up of Betrayers and Protectors (representing the pushing and pulling factors making up the conflict in Serulea), Irene would most certainly be a Betrayer. Chastity also asked Vireya some uncomfortable questions about her scythe, and in response Vireya and Irene began looting the church of its wine and protective scrolls.

Harlan, fearful of consequences, was immediately assuaged by the priest, who explained that the resources in the room were free for the heroes to use as they liked. The group immediately scoured the premises, acquiring wine, drugs, and scrolls. Inside the tower, they followed a steep staircase up to an unmarked room (presumably Chastity’s bedroom), but found no lock to pick. Disappointed, they moved to leave, but Vireya noticed a book locked inside a glass box. The book was strikingly similar to the Book of Infinite Knowledge that they had wasted in Glowkindle’s Hideout, and she immediately called her friends over. The book was in fact a Book of Semi-Infinite Knowledge and would answer any single question from each of them (excluding Vireya, who had asked how many questions they got) in vague but accurate terms. Lorien asked how they could save the world; the book told them that they needed “divine relics”, which was wholly unhelpful. Irene asked about Lorien’s gun; the book explained that the Dispositor is fairly weak now but will gain “cool abilities” as long as he keeps using it. Finally, Harlan asked how they could activate the mirror; the book explained that that mirror required a code word (“Valerie”) and the blood of a Wizling to activate.

Vireya swore vengeance on the Wizlings, especially now that she had a reason for violence other than her stabbing. The group had briefly considered asking the book about Chastity’s original name (she had told them earlier than she changed her name to Chastity when she became a priest following a traumatic event), but decided that they had asked the right questions. Leaving the chapel, Irene, still irritated by Chastity’s smug insinuations, decided to climb up the walls using Spider Climb and enter the priest’s second-floor bedroom from the open window. Inside, she found a sparse but clean dormitory room, filled only with a bed, wardrobe, and desk. Irene looted the wardrobe, taking a full set of Chastity’s clothing (but only a single sock) and a special bottle of blueberry wine. She then ransacked the desk looking for incriminating information. Instead, she found a single piece of paper addressed to her by name, gifting the envelope inside as a magical artifact called a Sendvelope that would allow them to communicate directly with Dag’s Disciples. More irritated than before at being directly called out for her antics, Irene shimmied back down and displayed her loot to the team.

With the sun setting, they retired back to the Eye of the Beholder Inn to find Lady Gwendolyn waiting at a long table. The group ate heartily and discussed ways to escape the city. Gwendolyn, after initially encouraging them to stay and help with the war effort, eventually told them to seek refuge or escape through the city sewers. Irene uncorked Chastity’s private wine, and the group felt invigorated from the spirit (except for Lorien, who had a bout of nausea and decided to not partake). After enjoying the night as much as circumstances allowed, the group slept early in preparation for the long day ahead.