Session 20: The Queen's Instrument

Brussendar 11. Catha is waxing crescent.

General Summary

The Dusty Centaurs, an adventuring troupe and this year's champions of Jigow's Festival of Merit, are answering the call of a mysterious figure named Alyxian, who has urged them to bring his artifact, the Jewel of Three Prayers, to a shrine dedicated to Avandra, the Changebringer, deep within a temple to the Betrayer Gods know as the Betrayers' Rise. Along the way, our heroes have come to an arrangement with a group of erstwhile rival adventurers, travelled to the nearby fortress-town of Baxxozan, assisted in its defense against an incursion of abominations, become entangled in the complex relationships and rivalries of a trio of visiting scholars, formed a pact with one of them to eventually explore deeper into Betrayers' Rise, and, lastly, set out on a venture to stop the activities of a Children of Malice cult that has been operating out of a fragment of the Rise known as The Queen's Cage. As we last left off, our heroes had come across an ancient sarcophagus, wrapped in golden chains, which was the subject of a nearly-complete ritual undertaken by Kolgar, the hobgoblin sorcerer with a strange resemblance to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. As Drow assassins leapt down from the walls to attack the rest of the party, Emeric and Plundertooth tried in vain to penetrate his numerous magical defenses. As Kolgar completed the ritual, one by one the restraints that had kept an ancient champion of Lolth, the Spider Queen "deathless but detained" were broken and the beautiful yet merciless Jourrael, the Caedogeist emerged. Declaring that she was hungry, the fearsome assassin known to legend as "The Inevitable End" thanked Kolgar for his efforts before draining him of his blood and his soul. She also caught a sandwich expertly tossed by Clothilde. Turning then, it would seem, to the only obvious exit from the chamber, the Queen's Instrument made her way towards it. But she was too slow! Madly leaping from great heights and scrambling to safety, our heroes managed to retreat in time to re-activate a magical crystalline barrier. As her screams of rage echoed across the shield and her daggers made slash after slash through the crystal, it seemed to rapidly re-form, holding her at bay, for now. But likely not forever...