Session IV: Even in the Quietest Moments Report

General Summary

The party awoke with a loud rooster's cry. Groggily awakening, they all converged to the dining hall, where they found The King of Spades waiting with a large breakfast spread. He explained how they needed to sign a contract promising to be loyal to him, or he'd reveal them to the city guard. Reluctantly they all signed the document, being inducted as members of Deck of Cards. After enjoying breakfast, Malika entered the room, completely exhausted. The King claimed they stayed up all night committing crimes against humanity, Malika corrected him, stating they stayed up discussing her father. The King announced the party was now going to embark on their first mission, ruining the proposal of some Genasi noblemen. The party gathered their items, adopted new masks to hide their identities, and set out.
Magni was tasked with placing a strange paste on the chains of Elementals working in the vicinity. Neli destroyed a statue to gather attention, then Gorb and Lanius, with his robotic Kiwi named Friend, distracted the guards. The group managed to destroy the proposal by forcing one of the two involved to make a hideous scowl. With a mission well done, the group escaped back to the lair. When asked why they ruined a proposal like that, the King simply explained that he thought they looked dumb.
With free time after the mission, the party did a variety of activities. Magni studied a strange book on sword fighting written by Marcus Avidita. Lanius repaired and worked on his pet Kiwi. Neli and Gorb sneaked into the King's lair, discovering it was a mess of newspaper articles, notes, and crumpled plans. There they discovered the noble they targeted was a leader in a ring of elemental slave fights, and he had a horrific training regiment that mutilated his elementals. They escaped before the King returned. Neli talked with Malika, where the little girl revealed the King's real name, Robin.
Robin announced their next mission would be raiding the tomb of an ancient hero, and they'd raid it tomorrow.
After breakfast, the party were teleported to the dungeon. They traversed the ancient stairway, encountering a bloated and warped Giant. He was chained to the wall with a strange collar wrapped around his neck. The party had no time to investigate, for the Giant broke through his chains, attacking the party. After a brutal fight, the party destroyed the collar, causing the Giant to go into a mad frenzy. Tearing apart his own face before falling down dead. Mortified, the party continued onward down the hall. Before walls split the party into two groups, forcing them to press onward separate.
The party was ambushed by unread, though the battle was swift, many of them sustained heavy injuries, causing them to rest while they plotted their next move. They pressed on, with Robin slipping through a vent to get ahead of the group. The party encountered a strange room, with a fountain containing a stone button and runes carved throughout the room. When pressed, the room dimmed, runs lighting up, magic crackling between them. A countdown begins, with every number down, the runes gained more power, forming a mighty fireball. It reset as soon as the button was released. The party investigated it further, finding the door ahead opened slowly as the countdown went down. They reasoned that they would have to slip past to avoid being toasted alive by the fireball runes. However, disaster struck when Neli got stuck under the door, unwilling to let her be squashed, Magni held the button to zero. Where the fireball runes fizzled, doing nothing. The door opened, and they pressed on.
The group encountered a strange room, with chains littering the floors. Magni rushed in, activating the runes forming an enormous Chain Golem. It proved to be way more powerful than they anticipated, so Magni distracted the Golem while the rest of the party ran to investigate the surrounding rooms. With Robin's direction, Neli's quick thinking, Lanius' bird, Magni's endurance, and Gorb's strength they managed to solve the puzzle surrounding the Golem, deactivating it.
The final room was filled with gold, and a skeletal figure holding a rotten and chipped blade. A strange pedestal sat in front of it. Magni recognized it from his dreams, instinctively he placed Frostbrand in the slot. It melted away, forming a shadow dragon from the sludge remaining from the blade. It attacked the party, nearly decimating them immediately with it's fire breath. After a brutal skirmish, they managed to kill the dragon. The sludge that formed it drifted towards the skeleton's blade, wrapping around it's blade. It was absorbed into the blade, forming The Hexblade. Magni took it up, accepting it's power into his arsenal.
Returning home, the party split up loot and discussed the events. Mira discovered she technically had diplomatic immunity to being killed by the Fire Elementals. Robin revealed his name to the party formally, and revealed his secret weapon. A flintlock that could fire three shots instead of the normal one. The party returned to their business, mostly unimpressed. With them gone, Robin studied his letters from the Efreeti Lord, hiding his nerves with a devilish grin.

Rewards Granted

~~Magic Items~~
-Boots of Elvenkind
-Winged Boots
-Gloves of Thievery
-Headband of Intellect
-+1 Longbow
-4 Healing Potions
-A Hexblade
~~Gold and Treasure~~ -25 GP from Robin
-2500 GP from dungeon hoard
-8 Emeralds worth 80 gold each.
~~Lost Items~~
-Frostbrand

Missions/Quests Completed

Malika is still safe.
The players haven't escaped the Fire Plane
Phase I of the King of Spades's plan is complete.

Character(s) interacted with

Robin and Malika have formed a bond, with Malika defending him, and Robin treating her with much more respect than the others.
Robin tolerates Lanius, though their opposing egos cause them to become hostile if left together for too long.
Robin and Magni dislike each other, though they both enjoy making fun of Lanius together.
Robin is disdainful towards Gorb, seeing him as an incompetent idiot.
Robin and Neli have a strange relationship, hating each other's guts, yet still having a sort of understanding for each other.

Notes

Marcus is still dead