Session Preface
The crisp evening breeze carries the inviting scents of the Feast of Fortune as grease drippings from a suckling pig fall into an open flame, hissing and rising as dark smoke. The thaumaturgic announcement of Keeper Porath concludes, leaving behind a silent bubble which then bursts as whispers erupt into a roar of chaos. Parents lead their children to return to the safety of their home, the Scalers work to maintain a sense of order amongst the stampeding crowds, and those who are aware of the eldritch presence among them turn to stare at the recently returned son of Parathraaj as they simultaneously back away.
Keeper Porath, flanked on either side by High Priest Tedrog and Judge Veskis, descends the first flight of steps of the Temple of Bahamut. Overlooking the scene, his scanning eyes soon land on his mark. A smirk breaks across the Temple Keeper's lips. In your mind, Porath asks, "Vorothruun, might we have a word?"
You are led through the Temple towards a small nook in a secondary chamber oft used for the confession of transgressions. Keeper Porath unlocks the door, opens it slightly, leaving room for only Vorothruun to enter. "We'll only be a moment," he says to the other two of you as the High Priest and Judge follow Vorothruun in. Porath steps into the doorway next before the stone door closes behind him. Two high backed wooden chairs with velvet cushion sit facing one another. Porath stands before one and gestures towards the other as his superiors stand on either side of his chair. "Take a seat, boy. Tell us what you know of the missing prophet."
Session Summary
After a short conversation with Keeper Porath, Vorothruun leads Parathrax and Endriel to the Augurium where they seek out Professor Balasar who explains the circumstances of the prophet's disappearance. Speaking to other potential witnesses in the library, the party learns 4 human individuals in red robes with a strange script on them teleported the prophet using the same teleportation scroll the dragonborn brothers had used earlier this morning.
The party then seeks out Thava, a gifted diviner and friend of Vorothruun's from the Academy, though she is not to be found anywhere in the Augurium. Vorothruun thinks to try her parent's home in the Garden Ward and after a terse exchange with her father, finds Thava, along with Headmaster Aide Grellen, reading in her chambers. Thava shares she has scried on the prophet and seen her alive and well, but surrounded by darkness, making it impossible to know where she is. She also discerns the prophet has likely crossed over the River Rauvin, making it impossible to track her with the spells in her repertoire.
After speaking with Thava, the party follows the trail to the teleportation circle where the individuals in robes must have arrived. Trying to learn more from the guards on shift, Vorothruun and Parathrax have a frustratingly fruitless conversation with the Scalers. Meanwhile, Endriel studies the tracks and marks left in the ground, determining the cart must have sat for several moments before speeding away westward. The investigation leads them next to a makeshift stable outside of the refugee camp. Examining the cart, the party discovers the four robes with infernal script as well as the windows blacked out. An elder woman onlooker, after gratuitous intimidation from Vorothruun, reveals the names of four refugee kids who exited the cart. Speaking to the children, the party learns a blue dragonborn with a barbed tail hired them to "free the girl" and offered to pay enough to feed the entire camp for two tenday.
With this new revelation, the party follows the cart trail to Craftsmen's Row, a set of stables beyond the wall designed for efficient loading and unloading of trade wares. As they examine the area for more clues as to the prophet's whereabouts, the eleventh hour bells toll and a thaumaturgic voice booms over the city.
“Avraathe, as the minions you sent to track down the missing prophet have now realized, the Prophet is already free of the chains and expectations your leaders would place upon her. She is somewhere safe, where she can become whatever or whomever she desires.
“I can no longer stand by and watch the innocent suffer in slavery at the hands of the guilty who deny freedom. They judge, with no sense of righteousness. They council, with no mind for others. They wage war, with no desire for peace. They have been bullies all of their lives.
But fear not, they will no longer be allowed to deceive the good, but misguided people of Avraathe any longer. Return to your festivities, look to the sky, and you will find the reward for your long-suffering. A first of three offerings to the Platinum Dragon. May he know we seek his mercy for how we’ve allowed the abuse of his justice to continue.”
Reflecting the glow of the moonlit evening, the eastern spire weeps as crimson blood streaks down the temple’s tower. Headmaster Chaucer and other Augurium members work to clean the scene and remove the body, gingerly pushing the impaled form up and back over the spire’s pointed peak. The Headmaster carries the corpse, her wild magic scars covered by blood, and gradually descends back to the Temple of Bahamut’s stairs where the High Priests and Temple Keepers look on in horror and confusion. As the Headmaster places the body before the Temple Keepers, gasps, retching coughs, and shrieks of terror break out from the now dozens of onlookers. Several High Priests avert their gaze and cover their mouths. As you maneuver to get a closer look, the mutilated dragonborn’s form is unmistakable. Judge Veskis of Clan Suldrembrod, Overseer of Justice, is dead.
Cutting through the noise and chaos now unfolding on the steps of the Temple of Bahamut, the thaumaturgic voice speaks once more, this time with a quiet and decisive tone. “Justice is dead. Long live freedom.”
The party goes their separate ways - Vorothruun to the library to study the infernal symbols on the robe, Endriel to rent a cot in Thendrul's Taps, and Parathrax back to his father's home. In his studies, Vorothruun learns the robe is covered in different symbols representing schools of magic. He also dreams of a lonely tower surrounded by flames. Within the tower is a massive 8-foot translucent green sphere with a pair of fiery eyes watching him through the stone sphere. Parathrax speaks to Parathraaj, whose distant interactions implies he knows more than he's letting on, but insists on waiting to share until everyone is present the next morning. During his meditations, Parathrax later sees the barbed tail described to him as a fragment of a memory, realizing the memory takes place in his father's home.
The next morning Endriel wakes to a warm breakfast and a waiting Durth. Endriel updates Durth on the night's events and Durth shares the growing distance between the dwarves who seem to be in Orin's inner circle, led by his cousin Goolri Underforge, and the more disenfranchised miners led by Sargala Mudbreaker. The two discuss potential means of intervention or the possibility of what is securing the inner circle's loyalty before Endriel returns to Parathraaj's home to meet Vorothruun and Parathrax.
Once everyone is present, Parathraaj recounts knowing Telzuun, a blue dragonborn with a barbed tail, who grew to become a heathen and was excommunicated by the city. Through the use of his father's journals, Parathraaj is also able to corroborate the existence and general location of the tower Vorothruun saw in his dreams. The party decides it best to go and speak to Keeper Porath with this new information. As they make their way to the Temple of Bahamut, the eleventh hour bell tones and the same gravely thaumaturgic voice speaks.
"Citizens of Avraathe, I present my second offering to the Platinum Dragon. The blind judge shall judge no longer and this wayward priest never council again. During the Night of Radiant Light, look upward and you will find my third and final offering, the warlord who knows not peace. May Bahamut know we seek his mercy for how we’ve allowed the abuse of his justice to continue.”
With the death of High Priest Tedrog of Clan Othrumi, Parathraaj divulges he is likely next on the list, as the two deceased were the other names on Telzuun's excommunication document. Along with Keeper Porath, the party gathers in the Library of Libations to discuss options. Keeper Porath shares the manner of the two previous deaths, which appears to include the sorcerer stunning and then teleporting and subsequently dropping the victims from a great height. With this in mind, the party work through several possible, but uncertain means of protecting Parathraaj long enough to prevent his capture.
Eventually, a plan is solidified. The party will gather allies within the city and lock themselves into Keeper Porath's vaults, which will prevent Telzuun from teleporting in and out of the vault and make planar shifting to the small space a difficult calculation. With this plan, the party moves to reach out to allies who might be able to counter Telzuun's spells or otherwise protect their father from becoming the final offering.
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