Clowning On Him
The magical evil of the realm has been slain: the larval Plague Engine under Kreniko, the Plague Dragon, is dead. The God Squad is now ready to take down the more mundane evil of Prince Mazaru Eramzir, who sheltered and fed the Plague Engine to expand his own power.
After the dragon fight, the party spent some time resting and recovering. They bandaged their wounds and talked about the friends they hoped to see again, while Kipilu sang a hopeful song about seeing Ebeba again.
Afterwards, they walked back into the crypt - which they found pleasantly empty of evil smog orb. The upper crypt was not so pleasantly empty: Kipulu sent a scout cat, and rats, biting flies, and ghouls still lurked there. The Squad came up with a plan: Have Arzet use their jump-power vestige (Kiji) to dash horizontally 60 feet down the hallway while carrying the 2 cat-shifters (Makar and Kipilu). Potha was run interference first by running down the hallway and distracting the enemies. Potha took minimal damage Arzet flew by with little trouble. They then used a grease-firebolt combination to create a wall of fire behind them, warding the crypt's creatures from following them.
Emerging out into the main part of the palace, the Squad quickly found a panicking servant near the crypt entrance. The servant was raving cryptically, but after some prodding it became clear that they were a servant pushed into becoming a Plague Warlock by the Prince who had psychically felt the Engine die. The party learned that the Prince was in his office from this exchange. The servant didn't seem very committed to the cause but was now a plague carrier, so Kipilu shot him in the head while he was walking away to go disassociate in the gardens.
The God Squad went to the Prince's office and found the door locked. A failed lockpicking attempt alerted the occupants that someone was forcing their way in. By the time Potha got the door open, the Prince's honor guard had made a barricade of furniture in the corner around the Prince's secret door and had crossbows ready. Only three of the Prince's finest bodyguards were in the room, but they were a competent and prepared fighting force that now had cover. The gods and guards had some spell-and-bolt exchanges, while Makar and the Prince both feigned diplomatic offers across the fighting.
Kipilu broke the stalemate through a Fear spell, which set visions of Purgatory on the gathered enemies. Two of the three bodyguards fled, leaving only one of guard and the Prince himself unscathed. Potha then dashed across the office to engage the remaining guard in melee. Potha and the guard had a fine swordfight - Potha being the clearly better duelist, but the guard having surprising endurance and ability. The Prince began throwing spells into the fray, but he exposed himself to Arzet's magic - which teleported the winded sorcerer out from his entrenched position/panic room and into the middle of the group's spellcasting block. Kipilu proceeded to shoot the Prince in his hip/ass, while Makar smashed him with Unagi's full force. The Prince responded with a Thunderwave spell to clear a path out, but everyone remained unfazed and minimally harmed. Arzet then used the Catapult spell to launch a porcelain clown mask (taken from the abandoned carnival in Suwirsha) into the Prince at high speeds, killing the sorcerer instantly.
Potha had just about won her own duel with the bodyguard, who surrendered immediately. The wounded guard offered to spread news that the battle was lost, clearly to try and escape imprisonment or death. The group accepted - the Prince had centralized power enough that killing the man killed the spirit of his warriors. The Kreniko Coup was finally over.
It became immediately obvious that the coup had taken a turn for the worst up here. The main hallway connecting to the throne room was a mass of charred bodies and the coup's forces had been split into multiple small groups and isolated across the palace. The group found Lady Benibiski's corpse in the throne room, shot with crossbow bolts. Checking her body revealed that she had slowly bled out after being shot and only had fully died during the fight with the Prince. Makar was able to resurrect her, though she seemed deeply scarred mentally and physically from the experience. Thankfully, the Lady's timid and dull reputation had saved her from being prioritized by the Prince or his forces.
Moving through the burnt corpses of the Prince's fire magic, which had struck the insurgent's massed infantry with excruciating force, the Gods found the corpse of Lady Minwa Nozari in the audience hall. Lady Nozari had obviously been targeted earlier as a high-priority target: a horrible monster and the Prince's Doom Paladins had rushed her and killed her with overwhelming force. The beast and paladins had fallen in the aftermath, thankfully.
For all the shock and awe of the Prince's magic and monsters, the defenders seemed short on forces and deeply fatigued - this battle had been taxing on both sides. The insurgent forces cheered the God's arrival and urged them to help treat the wounded in the makeshift infirmary, including the wounded Lady Malwa Akuzir. Potha used her Healing Spirit to heal the gathered wounded, and Malwa groggily woke up from unconciousness.
The group asked about Malwa's experiences, worried that she had been replaced with the rogue Wishgiver. She didn't have any signs of that (to the best that the group could tell), but she mentioned having her soul spared from Purgatory by the Masked One Automata and then suddenly being wrenched back from the brink of death by a healing light - before seeing a bird say "hi", which she assumed was a hallucination. She helped the group identify which bird she hallucinated: a nearby blackbird who seemed to be pretending to eat a corpse.
The group was immediately suspicious and began directing a Detect Thoughts and Speak with Animals at it. The bird began internally panicking before deciding to pretend to be an "omen" telling them great job. The group convinced it not to fly off, figuring from its general emotional response that it was not a threat. After it tried to pretend to be a normal bird for a bit, the group finally managed to get it to drop the acts and open up: it was Duskwing , paladin of Haru. Specifically, it was a paladin of Haru that had been assigned to provide emergency healing support if the group got overwhelmed, a kind of last-chances support.
Duskwing explained that he was an Awakened Animal created by a druid, who awakened many animals in the pursuit of divine knowledge - but who had neglected and imprisoned the awakened beasts who lacked "wisdom". Haru had rescued these animals and stopped the druid, and Duskwing had sworn himself to help Haru in response. Duskwing had spent years innocuously helping people, flying around and finding injured folks to magically save. He was supposed to secretly watch the Gods to put his talents to use, and had avoided being noticed by forces Good and Evil. The Gods chatted with the bird and befriended the guy.
As the insurgents lifted the banner of victory, Lord Wellim Bakari marched the city guard up to the palace to recognize them as the true lords of the city and realm. He came carrying the dead body of the Lord Usurper Kelka Akuzir (seemingly killed by terrible claw marks - likely from the Wishgiver) as a symbol of inspiration for his guardsmen. Wellim gave a brief speech effectively claiming victory and the princedom for himself, framing himself as the chosen heir of the Usurper-turned-hero. The Gods considered assassinating this smug and corrupt man who had sacrificed so little to gain so much, but decided that a deal was a deal. The city and vice-kingdom were stable now, and Lord Bakari's corruption was of a safely pedestrian nature. Besides, the Emperor could replace this new Prince in a few months. Makar encouraged Benibiski and Malwa to keep the regent-Prince in check and stop him from doing any severe damage. The Gods also comforted young Malwa as she coped with the death of her father.
Checking the Prince's panic room, the Gods discovered a chamber for Scrying - complete with labelled and organized samplex of hair, blood, or other scrying anchors for notables across the empire. The Prince also had accumulated secrets and blackmail prepared in the panic room. Makar identified a particularly prominent sugar refining company infamous for their unethical business practices and human rights abuses that the Prince had dirt on, and took that for themselves - good leverage on a nasty company.
The Gods oversaw the killing of the remaining Plague Warlocks, the clearing of the crypts, and the recovery of Iremla Marazir's research. Talking with the reinforcements, they discovered that the Smog Orb had broken into multiple Smog Spirits that had flown away towards the Great Volcano. The group also recovered the Prince's Ring of mindsheilding and the Prince's Cape of Montebank.
The fighting was finally over. Time to return home, train, regroup, and plan the next mission.
Returning from the Crypts
The Prince
Saving Who You Can
Brief Bird Interlude
The Banners of Peace
Components
Goals
QUEST:
- Kill or stop Prince Mazaru Eramzir (Complete)
- Scout out the powers and weaknesses of the Nemeses
- Make connections and allies
- Marshal resources
Relations
Protagonists
Makar Mesaba: The Masked One reborn, from Etekamo. Divine Soul Sorcerer, Courtier Background
Potha Sarana: Halcyon reborn, from the Sarana Tribe of Loanua. Beastmaster Ranger, Outlander Background
Kipilu of Tezitkal: The Hidden One reborn, from Tezitkal. Glamour Bard, Acolyte Background.
Arzet Devadov: The Chimera reborn, from the village of Adov in the Deverkel Wastes. Conjuration Wizard, Sage Background.
Allies
Lady Malwa Akuzir: Daughter of Lord Usurper Kelka Akuzir - a brooding young woman who lost her family to the intrigues of the Prince, who is starting to live for more than just vengeance.
Lady Ovwa Benibiski: A shy noble woman who manages the region's metalworking industry, prominent but often with her head in the clouds.
Lady Minwa Nozari: A confident and powerful noblewoman in the city of Kreniko. Head of the local opposition faction, sorcerer of some ability, and patron of the arts. Held back by her own reliance on advisors from the Far Harbor Club and her reluctance to engage in open violence.
Lord Wellim Bakari: Mayor of the city of Kreniko and corrupt lord of the realm. Influential but deeply cowardly and selfish.
Iremla Marazir: A scientist who plays every side, who studies Plague Engines.
Adversaries
Prince Mazaru Eramzir: An old and bitter prince, trying to balance the Nemeses while claiming the throne of the Empire of Zerua.
Parent Plot
Related Characters
Related Organizations
Related Locations
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