Session 22: Imperial Court Report

General Summary

After two weeks away, Ace returns to his city of Darkhaven alongside The Ironwood Clan of Valhalla. He returns to see that the new town that his people call Lighthaven has already been established outside the mountain. He is greeted by The Order of Righteous Thunder formerly the Thunderbrand Knights.    Meanwhile, Snyde returns from his somewhat successful trip to the Underdark to find Black Stones for his spell. He spends the new few days researching the Arcane Gate and manages to briefly get it working.   They both meet with the War Council to get up to date on things. As the meeting takes place; in transit through Warp, The Doctor tasks Xander -an agnostic cleric from another dimension - with helping Ace and his team to get Seth out of trouble. He drops out on the Arcane Gate and makes his presence known to the guards both alive and undead. Already Acquainted with Ace, The Baron introduces him to the rest of the council and makes ready to move to Archaboron to help Seth. Before that he greets his people and makes his way to the Glimmer Forge. He is greeted by a tense argument between Skyla and the Valhallan Blacksmith that Ace previously met, Elder Namora. He manages to get them to work together and deposits the scales and hook he got from Dalamadur the Ancient Wyrm. Meanwhile, Snyde inspects Xander's Bracer and is both intrigued and perturbed by the level of unknown magic it possess. On the way to the Elevator, Ace sees Alma in full armour waiting for him and insists on helping with Seth's rescue. When asked on if she could, she simply answers that other Priests of the Storm Lord have arrived to ease her burden. That and she still considers Seth to be her first Love. With the elevator demolished with Ace calling on Grim, They set off through the Arcane Gate, with Xander leading them through.   In his excitement; Snyde witness the outer realms to the point that it knocked him unconscious while Ace and Alma became exhausted from the experience. The Legionaires at the gate let them through after Ace mentions that they were the legal team of the defendants. Thing got more complicated as the team finds out that a pair of inquisitors are in the citadel investigating Cultist Activities. The team is lead to the room where Seth and Milady are in and they catch each other up to speed. After casting Rory's telepathic Bond the team decides to split up and investigated for evidence for the trial that will happen in the morning; Ace and Snyde investigated the bodies of the Cultists with the Power Armour Clad, Hammer Wielding Verdansź Vernik watching over them while Xander and Alma check out Prince's Body accompanied by the Tiefling Spellcaster Akeron.    Ace and Snyde travel outside the Citadel to a small warehouse where the bodies are kept. In their investigation, they found out the other cultists were agents in hiding and they manage to identify April Slysilver. Snyde wants to burn the bodies but Ace insists that they can't because they can't prove that they were cultists yet. Even though they were conversing mentally, Verdansź caught on due to their body languages. Ace tries to convince him that he needed to burn the bodies but he refused. Ace uses the Nyli to take pictures for the court later, and even manages to get Verdansź to give the peace sign in one photo. On the walk back, Ace is becomes curious about the Inquisitor's hammer and he explains his Church's purpose. While the two laughed at first, Ace becomes surprise after boasting his collection of weapons only for Verdansź to point out Valhallan Stormbreaker embedded in his back.    Xander and Alma are guided to the Hall of the Dead where the crippled body of A.A. Prince lays. They started with his body first and were startled when they his boot to have a hidden knife protruding from it. Then they go through his belongings and finds his stack of letter and his journal where he writes his songs in. Xander notices something off about the letters due to several of the same phrases being used and the pen name seemed peculiar. Alma decides to cast Speak with Dead and is perturb to find out that he was actually a spy and insists they grab his journal as it contains all the proof they need. Alma distracts Akeron by asking him for a question as Xander uses Mage Hand to snatch the journal.    As they regroup, they wake up Milady to help decipher the journal and they find out he last contacted a Girl from the Flower Shop. With 4 hours remaining till the trial, they decide to find the contact and with Ace's new wings and incredible Strength, they sneak out the window and fly over the wall. They nearly get caught by two sentries but a timeful call from Snyde as he summons Radaghast from the shadows deals with them.   After careful searching they manage to find the shop, and proceed to break into the house and knock the flourist out. Ace keeps watch by holding the door up and manages to send away a nosy bystander. Snyde and Milady ties up the Flourist as they prepare to interrogate her. Due to her resistance Milady opted to let Snyde torture her for the information but Seth decides to use charm to to coax the information out of her. When she reveals that the ball took place weeks ago, and Seth agreeing with her, Milady realises the information is inconsistent as she remembers it to be a few hours ago. Snyde tries to dispel but nothing seems to be affected. Only after an arcana check did he realised that there were parasites in the flourist's and Seth's head. Suddenly unease by the situation, they check their surroundings for anything unusual but nothing seems to be until Xander uses his Lantern of Revealing alongside Alma casting Detect Evil and Good to find that a Fallen Angel had been waiting to ambush them.