As our adventurers return home victorious, with The Princess safely in tow, they are suddenly baited into a confrontation to answer for their recent transgressions...
The ride back home was fast going. Memories of the Bounty Hunter fight now in the back of their minds. The Princess was safely back in the castle. Under full watch of the Royal Guard twenty-four seven, as well as with Odyeus, when he wasn't in his study working on finding answers to the ancient magicks holding the young Lady prisoner in her own mind. The party themselves were invited to stay at the castle if they had wished, but after being in the Wyrm's cave, nothing more inviting was there than the fresh air of the city. Upon leaving the Royal Grounds, they took a look to see about a dozen members of the Dwarven Frackfall clan posted among the various castle walls, parepits, and gates. At the main entrance, much to the chagrin of the assigned Royal Guards, Fissok Sherstryk stood sentry. His hammer in hand, his eyes steeled variously ahead. His weathered ears perked up. While leaving their greetings to him, he did say "have ye no mind, whatever has our young Princess on hold shall not pass these doors…" and they undoubtedly believed the old Dwarf. So now it was time for some respite. And what better place to do so than their old stomping grounds, Fellroy's Taphouse.
But before that, somewhere in another part of the city, thoughts filled Sherrinford the Rock Gnome's mind, one by one. Giving him a forecast of his current…disposition. In his line of work, namely personal investigations, he has gotten himself into some pretty sticky situations. Nothing too drastic he would argue. Of course the overall shared opinion back to him would greatly differ. Yet he is steadfast in his determination. Only the mark matters. Wherever it may take him, whoever it may place him in front of(or above like that one time…), the mark is his end goal. And he is what some in the business might call a 'chaotic overachiever'. He is still a primarily law abiding individual. Yet, sometimes that moral line might get a bit fuzzy here and there. Really, it comes down to doing whatever it takes for the mark. And speaking of fuzzy, so too is that a good word to use to describe both his external vision currently, as well as his internal. It's not exactly a headache, nor his mind falling out of ears and nose, but whoof, its uncomfortable. And the restraints around his wrists keeping his nimble hands clasped, is definitely irritating to his skin. Almost feels like a burn anytime he tries to unwrinkle the tightly corded rope. And this must be a VERY old potato sack over his head because the smell is unmistakable. Rotted potato, mildew, and shit. He ended up here against his will of course. He just asked those fellas in the Taphouse some questions about his mark, and they seemed so believable in their answers. And now the Gnome was in disbelief that he was in the situation he was now in.
He could barely see a small fire light below far off across whatever this space is he was in. Its not giving much light, but its a good indicator the world he know still exists. So that left his ears. And good ears they be. He calmed himself a tad, and focused on any and all sounds he could hear. There are a few, but they are faint and lower than normal, which tells him that he is probably by himself, far from others. He hears the following sounds: laughter, snoring, talking, arguing, water running, a knocking sound, and prayer. There are two other sounds that are at normal volume and very near to him. One is a wet sounding squelch. The other is a sort of metallic creaking. He realizes its a creak because even though he can barely see, his nose distracted, & his hands bound, he can see the fire light below dance from side to side as he is swinging, back and forth, like a clock's pendulum in the dark…
Now returning to the party, after a full night's sleep and a belly full of breakfast, they all are now able to take a moment to catch their breath. To take in for a moment the ever-growing joy of the crowd here in Darromar. Once in a while an individual, or group, will pass their table at the Taphouse, or even while they're out and about, and offer hellos and well-wishes. For the lot of them that came from such varied backgrounds, it does feel kind of nice to, so far, have a cemented place to call home. Using their exceptional talents of listening to the Taphouse crowd around them, they can hear varied conversations and opinions about the fast-traveled news of The Princess returning home. Some say "oh I knew there was something afoot, suddenly she just re-appears?" while others express their joy that maybe now that the Royal Family is getting back together as a whole, things might continue to improve overall in the city. Now that there are no more daily reports after the attack, and repairs and restorations continuing to get closer to completion, Darromar is becoming whole once again. And then the crushing reality hits as we all know, these are The Forgotten Realms. As that fleeting thought escapes their minds, the doors of the taphouse...slowly creak open. So slowly do they open that the creak of the wood hinges on them makes nearly everyone in the place pause, and look in shock.
The old woman, well older woman, dressed in white and red rags, barely can keep herself on her feet as the heavy wooden doors swing open and drag her into the Taphouse, due to her wrinkled hand being so tightly gripped onto the handle. She looks wearily upon the crowd and lets out throaty "the agents, where are the agents?" As she says this, she collapses to the floor, and it is then evident what has happened. The hair on the back of her head, mostly grey with age, is now also stained crimson from the wound on the back of her head. As she falls forward, her arms extend outwards and in one of her hands is a piece of parchment. Several folks rush to her aid on the floor, as well as the party because they know there are none other in the city known as the the Agents of Darromar except for them.
The parchment in the woman's hand reveals writing that is unmistakable. There is malcontent in every word. It is written in rather clean penmanship as well. In black ink across the sheet, it reads...
A letter of intent, from unknown sources, directed at our heroes
There is a symbol stamped onto the sheet showing the end of the message. This is not a familiar symbol to any of the party. All that is known, specifically to Inka and Sendak, is that this woman laid out before them, still breathing and being tended to, is an assistant at the local temple to Ilamter. The one where Sendak, and Inka, claim their fealty. And now they all know, time is of the essence. They must make their way to the Temple of Ilmater, as well as discover who sent this letter and where to find them. Sendak immediately thought back to his recent encounter with the boy and his dog...
When the party arrives first at the temple, it is clear that there has been an incursion here. As there are no doors to speak of at the entrance of the temple, there are arches constructed. Yet they now lay on the ground broken and scorched. On the inside of the temple, every room that you pass has been trashed to some degree. Medical healing spilled everywhere due to broken containers. The makeshift beds and tables used to hold the sick and dying have been either flipped and broken, or their legs broken off and burned. The smell of sick and blood is heavy on the air and beyond the usual, you can see the reason for the intensity now. There are other assistants to the temple, looking at sheet covered bodies. Shrouds that do not move. It's unknown how many there are, as the fervor of the temple is at an all time high. Some of the residents, patients, and staff pass by silently with that all too familiar look in their eyes. "Why here, why us? What have we done to offend our Martyred Father this time?" These are questions that probably lie best unanswered, but confronted. And just when they think this scene is past them, they are confronted in the hall.
There is a young girl, ten years old, carrying a jug of water in one hand and blood-stained sheets in the other. Her hair is dirty and matted, yet her gaze is almost serene coming from her sea-foam green eyes. She curtsies in place, not quite meeting the eyes of the party, and says with a hoarse voice, "the Master is awaiting you in the temple hall. You should go now." She then turns and shuffles off. And then that's when they realize the girl was never looking at them, but beyond them through her now blind eyes. Inka and Sendak make their way to the main prayer hall of the temple(only devotees are allowed at this point so the others remained behind to offer assistance to the staff), and at the makeshift altar to Ilmater kneels Darromar's house Cleric, the Tortle Xudara.
The Tortle Xudara, House CLeric of Darromar's Temple of Ilmater
He rises, keeping his shell facing them, and motions for the Goliath and the Firbolg to sit before him. He leans on his staff as he addresses them, all the while admiring the statue of Ilamter that holds this temple in place. "I sense the weariness on your souls. I feel the weight upon your haunches. I hear the cries of your conscience. Yet all of this means not when you now look around you." The tortle waves his clawed hand as to encompass the temple. "Whatever choices you have made, whatever actions you performed, you bring it all down on this broken house now. And your penance shall be to hold onto it forever. Make it a part of your being. Now, you must go forth. Take with you the cries of today's fallen. Take with you the pains of the downtrodden among ours. Feel their suffering through our true Father and yourselves, you the emissaries of our Broken God." The Tortle then turns to face them, muscled arms raised high and continues in a preaching manner, "He has instructed me to instruct you, to see to those who shall never return here again." And with those words, Xudara walks between them, dropping a piece of cloth on the ground in front of them, and makes his way out of the prayer hall. All that is left is the visage of their deity Ilmater before them, and the horrible silence that now exists here, beckoning your next actions. And those ordered actions are clear. When they look down at the torn and slightly bloody piece of cloth dropped by Xudara, they see stitched into it, the symbol that matches the one on the letter. They have their holy orders.
Next the party decided they needed as much info as possible about this symbol and those that represent it. Instantly they knew where to go next. The Lady Liriel, Darromar's premier historian.
The familiar and friendly visage that is Lady Liriel, Historian of Darromar
She has books telling of the Warstars, the close protectors of the King and Queen of Tethyr in the old days, generations ago. And that were key in the start of the civil war that ended in the fall of the House of Tethyr. Their generational followers, some rumored to be the bastard children of Royal family members themselves, upset that the old ways haven't returned, formed what is now known as The Chaos Brotherhood. It feeds on the less fortunate, the street trash that society forgets, & promises them glory and power and a sense of…brotherhood in the hopes that some day, the city will be rightfully theirs. This is what makes them most dangerous. Their false fed ideals. Their last known base of operations was recorded to be under the river, in the sewers constructed under the city ages ago.
A giant hole in the city's wall that leads to darkness. Sure, nothing could go wrong in there...
Once they are prepared, the party agrees to leave for the sewers to handle this Brotherhood of Chaos situation. The lone entrance is just outside the city walls, on the south side where the river meets the city's wall. As they all activate/share their darkvision capabilities, they enter the ancient sewer structure under the city. Nothing of dangerous note befalls them for a while as this is a well-constructed and rather clean(for a sewer system) area they are in. They walk and talk amongst themselves when Inka gets an idea. She calls forth the bat from Alystn's fabulous hat and sends it off to scout for them. It screeches in agreement(and agrees to screech upon finding danger) and makes its way deeper into the sewer system. The party on the other hand comes upon a large sectioned off room in the sewers that is most peculiar.
Ahead of them a short distance in the center of the room, suspended from the ceiling about 25 feet up by a large chain, is what looks like a larger than normal birdcage. Inside they can hear someone or something making a frustrated ruckus. They follow the chain from the ceiling, through its channel in the carved rock and down the wall to their left where it ends in a mechanism of metal tubing and chain links. Maybe that will drop the cage down. Seemed simple enough until they realized it would not be wise right now to drop the cage down. After a few perceptive checks, enough members of the party saw directly below the cage the source of their pause.
That last guy must've been taken by surprise as slow as this goopy thing moves
A large, nearly transparent block of...goo was slowly making its way towards them. It was big, took up about ten feet squared of space, and inside of it there were bones and weapons. A clear sign that this thing needed to be stopped. Whatever it was. So the party took up their positions and not knowing what would or wouldn't work, just threw what they had at it. Pip setup a Cloud of Daggers. Sendak and his quarterstaff went to work as a Monk does. The others began realizing what they were doing was working. Pieces of the thing were getting burnt out, chopped off, and hollowed out. It was slowly losing mass and size the more attacks that they landed on it. And Sendak learned after the object landed one of its own attacks on him, about the acidic burns it left behind. Soon enough, the thing was no longer moving after it had been goaded into the Cloud Of Daggers and it had been splattered across the room. Inka then made her way over to the contraption in the wall and studied it for a moment. After weighing some pros and cons, she simply wielded her weapon in her best hero stance, and swung with all her might. She made contact, shattering the contraption, which as she surmised, released the tension on the chain, watching it recede through the channel in the wall and across the ceiling, until the giant cage came falling down, breaking into pieces. And then the potato stack from within stood up! And to the party's surprise, it said with nothing but little feet sticking out of the bottom "oy, would ya mind getting this shitty sack off me head?!
Introducing Sherrinford Benedict, the mildly chaotic Rock Gnome Wizard
Once the sack was removed and tossed, Sherrinford Benedict, the Rock Gnome Wizard found himself in this darkened sewer room surrounded by a Goliath, a Firbolg, a Dark Elf(that's not a Drow) and a Half-Elf. After some quick conversation and story relations, it was determined that Sherrinford was in good company and felt the need to close this chapter of this job by following this new group of folks deeper into the sewers to confront his captors and their target. He was also annoyed that those ropes had burned his wrists as they did. "Hrmmm," he thought as the now group of five pressed forward deeper into the city's sewer.
Soon enough they enter a grand sized space of the sewer system. This is a wide open almost circular space as f they walked into the inside of a giant sphere. There are about a half dozen shattered pillars lining the central area. There is a walkway that wraps around the upper perimeter of the walls(from other sections of the sewer they didnt traverse)that are lined with robed members of The Chaos Brotherhood. These walkways they stand upon wrap around and lead to the front of the large space where their leader, Brother Zelroth, is on a stone balcony built way up into the opposing wall straight ahead of them, a good forty feet up. Two torches trim a doorway leading into darkness behind him. Below him at ground level directly ahead of the party is a pool of sewer water, approx 30ft in diameter, that is fed by two trenches running along the floors on the opposite end of the room on each side. And in that pool rests a monstrous being, held in place by thick black chains.
Of all the things, of course The Chaos Brotherhood has to have an Otyugh as a pet.
It thrashes around. It makes terrible noises. It doesnt appear to have any eyes, but they can tell it senses them as its wet, spiny appendages wildly whip in their direction. It makes this guttural gurgling growl sound as it stamps its feet in the water, like a mad bull. This is when Brother Zelroth addresses the party, and his Brotherhood:
The vile and proud leader of The Chaos Brotherhood, Brother Zelroth
"Well, look upon us my Brothers. The ones they call the Agents of Darromar. Heroes even! But we all know them by a better name, dont we? Yes…The MURDERERS of Darromar. And I see you also found my newest pet(he glares at the Gnome). But you let him out of his cage! Tsk tsk. That was a mistake you shall soon regret. But first, allow me a question. All the fetching you've done for the city. All the sweet gestures the people know you for. Aren't you tired of getting nothing in return? This whole city…" Brother Zelroth raises his arms high, encompassing the air. "and they give you none of it. Shame. Not like the old days. When the people of this city wanted something, they took it! Just like how they took the very Crown of the city itself! And now we look upon these days. Everything so ruled, and regulated, forcing us to work from the streets and the shadows to reclaim this hallowed city as ours. And then, someone decided to come around and make themselves a thorn in our guts, didnt he?!" Zelroth points his staff down at Sendak. "Yes, the Goliath who abandoned his own kind to come to our city, thinking he and his new friends could just stand in our way and hold back the old ways. But then, he showed his true colors didnt he? Taking one of our very own away from us!" This draws boos and hisses from the crowd above the party. "Hmmm a small price to pay to learn of possible allies though I suppose. So now then that leaves us with the simple fact that you all shall learn. When it comes to Darromar, you are either for the sowing of chaos, or against it!" His voice boomed this last bit which drew another reaction from the Brotherhood members above. They were now hooting and hollering and you can sense their prideful agitation rising.
Sendak had heard enough. He knows this is all about him and the young man he killed in the streets. And he now also is learning the deeper consequences of his actions regarding The Brotherhood's attack on his temple. Maybe they did not know before today, but forever now they will. He is Goliath. He defends for the greater good of not just his own kind, but of all. Including today as he reached into his pouch and took a swig of the spicy yellow liquid he procured from the ruins. His gaze turned upwards to Zelroth and without a moment of hesitation, Sendak stood tall and threw his hands forward, letting out a fearsome Fireball spell towards the Brotherhood leader. Brother Zelroth was prepared though. When the Fireball attack made it about halfway to its intended target, Zelroth raised his staff up and pointed it down to the crowd below. A force of some kind of magickal energy shot out of it, meeting the Fireball head-on and the collision of the two forces resulted in an explosion, causing both the staff's magick and the Fireball's effect to rain down upon the chained creature below. The impact alone broke the chains holding it in place, releasing the monster, allowing it to aggressively advance on the party. The last thing the party heard Brother Zelroth say before he disappeared into the dark corridor behind him is, "my Brothers, let our reclamation of chaos begin!" They look up to see all the Brotherhood members above them point their weapons down at them. They hold crossbows, slings, some hold glass containers with liquid sloshing around inside, etc. It was time to fight the biggest fight so far. Both from ahead and above.
The monster's attacks were multiple and fierce. Inka had tried her best, but was overpowered by the monster's appendage attacks and ended up grappled and restrained by it. And then Alystn himself fell victim to the powerful pseudopod like attacks, getting grappled in place, left to watch helplessly. The monster also had a poisonous bite that flowed through each of them as well. Sendak and Pip and Sherrinford all brought their might against the beast, but the challenge was growing the harder they tried to fell the creature. At one point, a hissing, vile voice made itself known in the back of Sendak's mind. "You should have joined our Brotherhood, Goliath!" Trying their hardest against the monster, and continually getting pelted by the Brotherhood from above, the party started wondering how exactly they were going to deal with this situation they've clearly been baited into. Heavily outnumbered, and threateningly in danger from the ferociousness of the monster. Fatefully for them though, due to some cause and effect from their recent past, all this ruckus this deep down under the city, brings forth a welcoming sight. Sections of the walls up above where the Brotherhood are lined up, burst open and from the dark holes appear old allies, the Myconids! Those able to, saw and heard the Brotherhood members begin yelling and screaming as their ammo from above stopped raining down and they heard the sounds of the Myconids doing what they do best. Some of the Brotherhood ran, some of them fell, and some of them would never move again.
A couple of the Myconids see the situation below where the party is and send their immediate aid. Aid in the form of Myconid spears, made from their own selves, that come sailing down to pierce the monster's feet and tentacles in place, preventing it from moving any further against the party, and releasing Inka from it's grasp. And where the spears, which are just natural extensions of the fungi folk themselves, pierced into the monsters flesh, this blackness started to spread under its skin which had some kind of effect as the monster is now bellowing and thrashing its head about, as if it was being attacked by an invisible foe. Something is seeping its way through its body, weakening it. So the party went ahead and unleashed their attacks. Arrows. Quarterstaffs, boots, and swords rained down in succession. And in the end, it was the mighty call from Inka the Firbolg. "BONK BONK!" she cried out as her trusty spiritual hammer appeared. It gracefully spun in place faster and faster, and vertically jumped up into the air and came crashing down upon the head and neck of the monster, felling it in place forever.
Once the monster had fallen, the party looked up to see they were being observed by three of the largest Myconids of the group. The same three they(minus Sherrinford) encountered back in Undermar, while searching for the Tunahzee family. The fungi folk look down to their allies, their black beady eyes silently addressing them. One of them points to the party overall, and then points further back behind them to the passage where Brother Zelroth had cowardly disappeared. In a message of, "just a moment," they advance into the dark passageway where Brother Zelroth retreated. It doesn't take long before they hear a man yelling. First out of the darkened space above flies out and lands on the ground at their feet, the broken pieces of Zelroth's staff. You then hear Zelroth himself yelling and cursing, and then screaming out as he is dragged out of the darkened space by the Myconids. They simply pick him up and toss him down to the party, his body landing hard in the shallow water covered stone facade of the sewer floor alongside the monster's corpse.
Sherrinford the Rock Gnome was the first to take action. Not known by the party beyond the past couple hours, they were in some stages of surprise as the Gnome marched his way over to the broken man. He simply took the man by his mouth, opened it, and very nonchalantly called forth his Melf's Acid Arrow spell and shot it straight into The Chaos Brotherhood leader's mouth. The acidic arrow thunked halfway out the back of the man's neck as he began gurgling, trying to contain his final moments. That was not to be as next, and sort of expectedly, Sendak stepped forth. Looking down at the wide eyed man, recalling his holy orders, simply used his boot to push the man's head to position his mouth onto the rim of the stone pool. And when it was in place just right, the Goliath's boot came smashing down. The man's feet kicked for a moment, splashing some bloody water around. And then the sewers overall lay silent. Ilmater has been sated. And Darromar was down one vicious organization. The party, looking at their newest ally the Rock Gnome, decided it was time to head home. They were wet. They were dirty. And they were hurting. "They are also alive," said the Myconids as they satisfyingly and silently slunk back into the darkness of Undermar.
A couple days later, the party had received word that The Princess reported she was having visions. A summons was sent for them, and the party made their way to her quarters in the castle to discuss with her.
She lie in her bedding, looking out the window to her left with empty eyes, swollen from tears. The Sun's Rest weighing on her brow. Any time she tries to think of living her life free of the Step-Queen Tanisa Farsfoot, and rid of the transformative powers of being The Wyrm within her, all she is able to envision through the dark fogginess trapping her mind, is a giant tree. It is not a beautiful tree. It is a dead tree that sits at the bottom of a waterfall ending in waters that do not reflect. And the tree itself is darkness. It has no birds. It has no leaves. But it contains something inside of it. Something that is drawing the Princess' thoughts away from anything of her own. Odyeus has put together his studies and determined that this must be The Dead Tree Hollow, a once great tree that now roots at the bottom of the Dragon Falls in the lands of Impiltur, homeland of the Step-Queen Tanisa Farsfoot. Within the tree is rumored to be an entrance to something. To somewhere. What and where, is so far unknown. And with Tethyrian scouts working with those of Waterdeep, reporting no arrival of the Royal Pair in the City Of Splendors, there must be something tying all these events together. And the old Wizard believes its possible this Tree, is somehow connected.
Even with the Midwinter holiday fast approaching, and the party needing to accept they are about to leave what they know as home behind, they realize the profound weight of this ordeal they have taken on. There have been no new reports of dragon attacks. There have been no new reports of the witch appearing above city skylines. Still, so far all that holds together this current peace, is a simple tiara upon the head of a saddened and trapped young Princess. There is much more still to be done. So saddling their current knowledge and all of their experience so far, the party, now a party of five once again, begin their plans to travel far across this great continent known as Faerun. Somewhere out there plots an evil Queen. Somewhere out there is the next puzzle piece in stopping her...
FIN
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