Session Seven: Retribution

As Stolt transformed, Leegte walked into the foyer from the other side, immediately regretting the decision as a circle lit up around the room, followed by arcane symbols. Everybody in the room felt as if their stomach was wrenched to the floor as the foyer disappeared and they found themselves in an open grass field with the remains of a long destroyed castle and a rocky hill to either side.

Xaljin drunkenly struck the dragon first. From there a long drawn out battle would unfold with the party managing to do a lot of damage on the rare occasions they could hit it. Yagharek attacked with spells from a distance, Leegte - a healing cleric - and Xaljin ran around healing and striking when possible, Thuradin and Cybille getting up close, Aenelis inspiring and inflicting wounds, Lesras throwing a well aimed spear too. The ground would split open at points, first two flaming hell hounds would appear from the flaming casm...one almost melting Leegte’s face off with a blast of flame from its mouth. At other points the ground opened and flame walled around the dragon, which Cybille and Aenelis managed to acrobatically dodge. At another point lava exploded through the ground, knocking Leegte and Xaljin unconscious.

Stolt took to the skies during the battle, starting to feel less cocky and playful than earlier. A few uses of acid breath brought the party close to defeat but a clutch use of grasping vines by Greenfoot brought the dragon back down to the ground. Despite the group coming close to defeat, Yaghark summed a cloud of daggers that encircled Stolt, slowly tearing him apart.

As the dragon died, the sucking feeling came back once more and the party were back in the foyer with a deceased dragon before them. Before heading to the Duke’s chambers, the party took a short rest. Most took the time to heal themselves up after the grueling battle but Lesras took some time to pray to some of his bones and then attach two broken fangs that he’d ripped from the dragon corpse to his iridescent spears.

Despite Yagharek initially opening the door quite loudly, a check by a now mouse-formed Greenfoot would find the Duke fast asleep in his chambers. Cybille entered the chamber and slipped the gauntlet on to the Duke’s hand before he was almost awoken by Lesras outside the chamber.

Once the gauntlet was put on, a light filled the chamber and before them stood an androgenous tiefling with ashen grey skin and white short hair stood before them adorned in flowing ribbons of green silk that moved unnaturally, as if blown by the wind that didn’t exist. A warm smile crossed it's purple lip.

"Grace welcomes it's friends to it's...now former...chambers. They cannot say that it's friends' are an entirely welcome presence but perhaps rueful Grace should see this is an opportunity."

The form levitated slightly, it's toes pointed towards the ground like a dancer and it's hands spread slowly to its side with palms out in an act of submission.

"The Duke was wonderfully complicit, albeit temporarily, and together he and gentle Grace have set in motion the most delicious state of affairs. Most ungrudging Grace offers unto you the opportunity to stand by it's majestic shoulders, side by side, and deliver unto the people the just society that they deserve but never dreamt could manifest. A society without death, without despair. No more watching loved ones perish, a universe in which we say no to Time's fickle finger. All sleep as one and wake eternal. Surely this is preferable to taking an adversarial role to the inevitable Grace."

As Grace started to disappear, it said "Tum somnum" and finally it’s form dissipated. Xaljin’s body stiffened slightly at the final phrase, recognising it from the book that he had been tasked to find by his God, Oghma. He would explain to everybody that it related to a banished god named Narkessius, who believed that the body should sleep, die, and then rise once more eternal. He’d explain that Narkessius’s followers would drink a liquid that would turn their lips gradually more purple and put them under a progressively longer sleep. Thuradin recalled the story from his past life, recounting a story of a cult from before the Pagdon Empire that took their lives en masse. He mentioned that worship of the god had died out after that, they remained as nothing but bedtime stories to scare children.

Although initially confused, The Duke eventually accepted the party’s account of what had happened and thanked them with 750 gold pieces and ownership of the mansion beneath the city, amazed that they’d dared to go down there.

A few days passed before they’d be called before Blunderbuss and Duke Mikkel once more. They were told that Grace remained in The Duke’s dreams and asked whether they would be willing to track the necromancer down to end this.