II.3.1 Regicide

Session Preface

You stand before a pair of rosewood doors decorated with artistic carvings and finished with gold metalwork, not tarnished and clouded. In the silence of the hallway, you can just make our the muffled footfalls of steps on carpet. The occasional creak of leather or armor pieces clinking together confirms the presence of guards.
Pax's amulet thrums to life with steady vibrations and a dull glow in the oni's ruby eyes. A tension hangs in the air, both the moment before decisive action, but also a foreboding weight and dread that seems to manifest from the living quarters behind the door. As the source of the injustice shrouding Daggerford in darkness, the space itself feels cloaked in corruption and drenched in the vile malice and cruelty of Verin, the Duke's demonic benefactor.

Session Summary

As the party burst into the duke and duchess's residental wing of the ducal castle, they find themselves quicky embroiled with not only guards, but the dark manifestations of Verin's demonic presence and the succubus' disguising magic. Maidhands transform into vicious demonic beasts while guards erupt in explosions of psychic horror when they are killed.
The duke soon after bursts through the doors of his library wearing a set of demonic armor painted to take on the appearance of a warrior of Tempus. The duke tears through the room with the massive claws afixed to his gauntlets, but is brought to heel when the duchess enters the chamber in her true form dragging a half-conscious Sir Isteval behind her. In the pause of combat, she explains that Korbach, their helpful spy, informed the duke and duchess that Pax and Aethuriel successfully recovered the shard of the staff. She dangles the knight before her, implying a deal to be struck.
Instead of perhaps listening to reason, Pax taps into his own internal darkness, spitting blood at the duchess. Kaledus suggests that, should the party fail, the only outcome is Gristaxadahn hunting down the duke and duchess all the way back to the Abyss and that, "this is the deal." It is Aethuriel who reinitiates the chaotic battle, bringing his enchanted blade to bear against the duke. Locked in a duel together, Aethuriel is nearly bested before Evelyn leaps onto the duke and deals a lethal wound with her poisonned blade. Even more imposing than his loyal guards, the duke transforms into a demonic shadow, Verin's vile will made manifest as a desperate gasp of maintaining control over the city. This spirit too eventually falls, this time to Aethuriel's blade aided by the protective presence of Helm, but the resulting implosion knocks Aethuriel unconscious.
In the adjacent room, Pax finds himself pinned between the duchess and the ensorcled Sir Isteval. While his blood magic allows him to ward off a lethal blow and nearly defeat the duchess, he is ultimately stabbed in the back by Sir Isteval. As he falls unconscious, the duchess holds his head aloft telling him to, "Send Zariel my regards. I'll see you in hell." before he collapses to the ground. Moments later, Evelyn brings the duchess's reign to an end as well.
Kaledus and Evelyn administering healing potions to the unconcious companions and they collectively begin searching the rooms and preparing for reinforcements responding to the raised alarm. Sir Isteval, in shock over his betrayal against Pax, apologizes prefusely and aids in his healing.

• Among the private quarters, Pax finds a library filled with the original duchess's tomes on politics, geography, and history along with the sleeping chambers of the duke. Noticing the gashes along the walls, destroyed wooden furniture, and bed designed to support the duke's heavy armor, he surmises this room must have at times felt like a cell to the duke as well.
• Aethuriel discovers a room of desks stacked tall with scrolls and missives. Within, he finds a collection of letters between the ducal staff and the guildmasters, a map to Dragonspear Castle, and a note from a Zhentarim by the name of Viper Nalaskur, which reads "Your business has been seen to here in the city. A reminder that there remain branches of the Black Network still capable of doing their work quickly and quietly as long as its for the right price."
• Aethuriel also discovers the ducal coffers, a room of chests overflowing with small coinage, presumably the increasingly hefty taxes levied against Daggerford's citizens, but does not have time to go through it in detail.
• Sir Isteval leads the companions into the chamber where he was tortued atop a stone table smeared with blood. Through a secret door, they find a closet filled with instruments of torture hung along the wall. Through another door, Pax discovers a ritual chamber with carefully carved indentions into the foor creating a summoning circle and ritual space. Here, he determines, the succubus must have used the blood of the duchess to maintain her disguise for extended amounts of time.

Having confirmed the purpose and likely source of the blood being snuck into the castle, the companions presume that the real duchess is likely alive and being held captive in Cromm's Stronghold to the west along the edge of the Lizard Marsh. They are unable to make further plans before the reinforcements of guards arrive. Kaledus and Evelyn escape through the window while Pax turns himself invisible to not been seen as the Devil of Daggerford responsible for the death of the duke. Only Sir Isteval and Aethuriel remain, awaiting to the explain to the guards the truth about the duke and duchess as well as their roles in the evening's events.

Session Overview

Date Played:
September 19, 2023
Party:

• Aethuriel
• Pax

Time Passed:
Marpenoth 22, PM 1493
NPCs:

• Sir Isteval
• Kaledus
• Evelyn
• Duke Jorvund Daggerford
• The Succubus of Daggerford