Imzeral Arc: Part 2 (8) Report

They moved to the Pinnacle fortifications, where they met Commander Nygar. They discussed the artifacts and exchanged information, and came up with a plan. They pair would betray Solomon and assist the knights in finding him and the artifacts, killing him if he refused to relinquish them.     Ectival alerted Solomon, who was with Calder in one of the isolated out buildings of the fort, that he had been betrayed by his former party members. To try and save Solomon's life, they developed a plan where Ectival would increase the power of the gauntlets to create an illusion that Solomon and Calder were both speakers of Corgastor. Using this disguise, they snuck into the keep where Commander Nygar has his headquarters. Solomon managed to deceive him through the use of clever wordplay and the conjuration of a false document from the Grand Speaker saying that the artifacts were to be taken to destruction immediately. With that, he took both the Greaves of Admaris and the Breastplate of Dion and made off with them. In the out building he put them on, increasing his power, before running of through one of the sally ports with Calder.   While that was happening Lietuenant Keld, Ravyn, and Ralof were heading into the depths, unaware that Solomon had already left with the artifacts. They began investigating the path that they had taken to get to the keep, unaware that Solomon had followed them and was already fleeing the mountain. It wasn't until a few minutes had passed that Ravyn detected the magic of the artifacts that Solomon had on him at the time and tracked that back up the way they had come from. Realizing they had been dodged, they darted back up the corridor and toward the surface. In the keep they learned that two strange priests had requested the artifacts for termination, and were backed up by written approval from the Grand Speaker himself. They informed Nygar of the danger that the deception posed, and soon the whole keep was buzzing with knights rushing to and fro in their attempt to capture this heretic.   Solomon, in need of faster transport, used the Greaves of Admaris to create something like a sled for them to make it down the mountain faster. While they descended, Solomon used his communicator to request a transport from Oxton, who organized an Elivasi trade ship to meet him within an hour or two. The two groups, Ravyn, Ralof, and Rodgyr on one side raced the other group of Solomon and Calder down to the bottom of the mountain. Once around two hours had passed, both parties were at the shoreline. Solomon saw the trade ship burst out from the mist and come toward the shore, dropping off a dingy to gather him up. The other party saw this as well, and with haste had the knights who came down with them man one of the Imperial war ships in dock and begin to give chase. The final episode of this odyssey was finally in motion. The lines had been drawn, and only one side would survive.   The two ships exchanged fire, from both the on board weapons and the individuals aboard. Unfortunately in both cases the advantage was stacked against Solomon, whose trade ship couldn't hope to outmatch an Imperial warship. This disparity began to show itself as the trade vessel was raked by ballista fire, which tore up sails, riggings, and exterior structure. All the while Ravyn shot fireballs onto the ship from the prow of the warship. Seeing this, Solomon began to take shots at her with his bow, grazing her twice with his shots. A marked improvement in marksmanship compared to earlier engagements for certain. In return, Ravyn sent a number of dark magic lances at Solomon, which wrought tremendous damage. Within a few blasts the rear of the ship was on fire, and Solomon had been wounded and brought to the ground. All the while the most significant return of fire was Calder launching small incendiary bombs from a small catapult on the ship.   The exchange of fire ended a few minutes short of half an hour. The final blow came when a well aimed fireball crashed into the sails, turning them into a raging inferno and cutting the trade ship's ship markedly. The Imperial ship gained rapidly and crashed into the rear of the trade ship. The chase was over. Ralof and a handful of knights jumped down from their ship to Solomon's ship, but Ralof's footing was off, so he broke his ankle upon landing. Solomon was too wounded at the time to make any advantage of it. Getting to his feet, Ralof drew his spear and launched it toward Solomon's wounded body, but at the last possible moment Calder stepped in the way of the attack and was immediately killed. The captain and crew and had fled below deck, so that left Solomon alone to deal with his former companions.   Ravyn and Commander Nygar descended a few minutes later down a rope that had been deployed and joined the scene. Solomon by this time had shuffled his way to the prow of the ship and was demanding a parlay. Nygar and the rest of the players agreed to discuss terms. Solomon desired that the artifacts not be destroyed, but rather that they be researched and used for a higher purpose. He also wanted Ravyn, Ralof, or himself to carry them on the way to Gottholm to ensure that the Empire wouldn't do anything foolish or malicious with them. Nygar was unconvinced, and was immovable in his demand that the artifacts be brought Gottholm for termination by the Sanctuary, but he did relent to say that Ravyn and Ralof could carry one artifact each en route. That dealt with most of the artifacts, but Solomon still held onto the gauntlets of Sinestra, and Oxton still had the helmet of Ectival. He refused to relinquish the gauntlets, and in a fury Commander Nygar struck Solomon down with his sword. With his death the conflict over the artifacts was brought to an end.