The Maelstrom Campaign - All Chapters

Chapter 1

Escape from Khon Rhahild

Skaemon, Skye, Jessica, Teleran, & Coil

647 Post Maelstrom

Skaemon arrived in the city of Khon Rhahild in the morning of the first day of the Sunrise Festival. He was searching for the other mages that betrayed him and had a lead they might have been in the city.
Jessica and Teleran arrived in the dwarven city of Khon Rhahild in the late in the first day of the summer festival. Teleran was looking for other worshippers of the Niius, Brother of the Moon, but was so far unfortunately unable to find anyone at the festival.
Skye arrived in the city about the same time as Jessica and Teleran. She was there to party at the festival and to get lit as fuck.
The day was turning to night and the bustling trade shifted more towards parting and nightlife. When unexpectedly everyone heard an explosion near the main gate of the city. Jessica and Teleran began heading for the explosion and, unbeknownst to them, Skaemon proceeded to do the same. Together the three of them discovered and engaged a mysterious shadowy creature. They were able to defeat it, but saw many more coming in the distance. The majority of the people nearby saw this and began to flee in fear causing the festival to break apart as people poured into the city or out into the desert away from creatures.
The city erupts into chaos as other explosions go off inside the city and in the palace. The stars are blocked from sight behind thick clouds of black smoke leaving the city in complete turmoil as people blindly scramble for the airship field. Skaemon broke away from Teleran and Jessica and ran for the airship field, meeting up with Skye on the way. They tried to board an airship with the other refugees, but they were quickly filling up and taking off.
Teleran and Jessica searched the chaos in the city and found there was also a group of black cloaked figures attacking the city. Through the smoke they saw when of these cloaked figures wearing a crown over his hood. He disappeared before they could find out more. They found one of the city guards that was trying to get to the palace, but he was just as confused as they were, and he needed to get to the prince to get him out of the city the back way. Jessica and Teleran let him go on his way and headed to the airfield as well to escape the city.
Luckily some new cargo ships were just making their way into the city for the festival and were able to pick up additional refugees. The party were all able to board one of the final airships and take off just as the shadow creatures reached them. One of them was able to grab the foot of the guardsman next to Jessica and he fell backwards, but Jessica was able to catch him and saved his life.
After the stressful take off Jessica and Teleran investigate the refugees. They realize there is one of the black cloaked figures on the ship. Jessica and Teleran apprehended him and question him. He tells them the attack was planned, but he wasn’t allowed to know much. He only knew what he was supposed to try to kill the prince, but was swept up in the crowd so he concealed himself to stay alive. The party take the cloak off of him and investigate it with magic. The cloak possesses strong magic, but is made out of cheap material and made poorly as though mass produced. Teleran and Jessica decide to turn him over to the guards on the ship. They hand him over and he is taken to the brig by the guard on board that Jessica just saved.
The airship flew away from the city out into the desert, but one terrible situation leads to another and they were caught in a terrible sandstorm. The ship was hailed by blasts of wind and sand causing it to veer sporadically. They ship clipped the top of a sand dune tearing off the lower section of the ship, taking the guards and brig with it, and damaged the engines severely. The remainder of the ship crashed in the Golden Sandsea desert miles away miles from any city. Sheltering in the wreckage of the ship they waited out the storm.

* * *

Coil was travelling through the desert to the Sunrise Festival in Khon Rhahild. He camped out for the night to wait out the sandstorm. There was a loud crashing noise just over the sand dune that Coil camped near and in the morning, Coil travelled over the dune. He stumbled across a crashed airship in the desert that was already partially buried from the storm, the source of the crashing sound. While investigating Coil accidentally woke up Jessica who in turn woke up her compatriots. After realizing they were all friendly and informing Coil of the state of Khon Rhahild they decided to travel together away from the destruction.
They travelled to the city of Camador with the rest of the shipwreck survivors, except one guy that refused and stayed in the desert.
Arriving in the city they realized that this one was also under attack from the dark cloaked figures. It didn't seem to be going well and there was fighting happening in and around the city. They saw someone else fleeing from the city nearby. Abandoning the other airship survivors to fend for themselves in the besieged city the party decided just to bail on the whole situation and headed for Oresh.
The party now arrives in Zandajin Jungle. Heading deeper they reach into the jungle they reach the city of Zandajin. The city was also attacked by the black cloaked figures, but the jungle clan reptilkin were able to hold them off and had already secured the city. After a resupply the party decides to leave for the city of Radanha to try to discover the fate of the city as Zandajin had no contact with them after the attack.
The party rests up in Zandajin, but don’t waste much time getting on the road. The trip through the jungle is mostly uneventful. After exiting the jungle, they begin to cross the large savannah land of that takes up most of Oresh. The party arrives at and rests in the first imperial crossroad outpost they pass on the road to Radanha…

Chapter 2 The Road to Radanha Skaemon, Skye, Jessica, Teleran, & Coil 647 Post Maelstrom

The party wakes up in the Imperial camp, but there is nobody around. They hear people marching their direction from the west. The quickly pack up and continue on their way south. They are making good time, but they can hear the marchers coming up on them from behind. They decide to cut across the grassy plains to save time.

The make good time, but in the tall grass they run into a small pack of hunting lions. The party is able to easily defend themselves, but this gives the people marching the opportunity to catch up and they dispatch some riders to investigate the party. The party, still having a head start, runs for the nearby wooded area. They are able to lose the riders in the dense foliage and continue their journey to Radanha.

Once back on the road they reach a bridge they sail the Course Sea to Radanha. They run into two people arguing on the dock. A white Reptilkin, named Seion, and an older grizzled human woman, named Jess. They turned out to be council members of Radanha discussing the strange goings on in the city.

Seion doesn’t want to talk to the party, but Jess starts giving them information. Seion attempts to attack Jess for doing so, but the party stops him before he can kill her. They question Seion on why he would try to kill her and he explains that everything she said is illegal to talk about and if they were caught, they would both be executed.

After this debate, between the council members and the party, the party learns that the city wasn’t attacked when the mass siege happened. Seion also informs the party that the black robed figures showed up a month prior and met with the Proprietor of the City, Warren Somersett.

The Party decides to send Jess ahead and go into town with Seion. The councilman gets them into the city, using special privileges, even though the city is on lock down. Seion takes the party back to his estate and lets them stay there while they investigate.

As the day turns to night the party minus Coil go to an inn for food. While here Teleran eavesdrops on some people from the castle and learns that a lot of the problems are being blamed not on the Proprietor of the City, but on his friend, who showed up a month ago. The party finishes their food and heads their separate ways to investigate.

Coil heads to the palace instead to try and find out what he can. He sneaks in through a side servants’ door. The poor beaten down servants give Coil some halfhearted directions and he finds his way into the upper areas of the palace. He finds out that the proprietor and his friend were sharing a room and he does find the way to the throne room as well. He exits the palace through a nearby window into a central courtyard and attempts to slip over a wall. Coil kills a guard on the outside of the wall, by landing on him from above crushing him, but a guard inside the central courtyard sees this and runs for the palace. Coil bails and heads for Seions’ place, but runs into some more guards. Luckily, he is able to escape them with his identity still hidden.

Skaemon separates from the group after dinner and transforms into a large black owl. Skaemon then does aerial recon of the palace to check on Coil and sees they even have an airship floating above it. Seeing Coils escape attempt from the sky Skaemon swoops down and grabs the guard that spotted Coil. Skaemon lifts him into the air and drops him from a fatal height, but Skaemon in bird form is spotted by the guards on the towers. They attempt to spear the giant owl, but he is able to evade them except for a spear that just grazes his body. Skaemon manages to escape back to Seions residences as well.

Skye goes out drinking after dinner and meets a group of young people chilling. They are talking about how strange everything has been in the city. They inform Skye that the super wealthy are in charge of the city and that the Proprietor is the wealthiest man in the city. He isn’t considered a good person, but things have gotten worse since the Proprietors new friend got to town.

The party reassembles at Seions house and rests…

Chapter 3

Infiltration and Destabilization

Skaemon, Skye, Jessica, Teleran, & Coil 647 Post Maelstrom

Teleran has his first dream from the moon goddess, Niius, Brother of the Moon.

Teleran is sitting on the edge of a cliff basking in the soft glow of the moon. There is a rushing of wind and a massive dragon flies over Telerans head towards the moon. Its face is very different from a traditional dragon, it appears to be the head of a reptilkin man with some black markings on his face.

The white dragon flies directly into the moon and it cracks and explodes like a dropped egg. The Moon now appears like a solar eclipse, but instead of sunlight coming from behind the moon it appears to be crackling purple energy.

* * *

The party wakes to the sound of someone yelling outside and guards running down the hall, past their room, inside the mansion. Skaemon peaks off the balcony seeing armored wagons and horses outside the mansion blocking off the main entrance. The party exits their room and following the guards running for the main hall.
Arriving in the main hall the find Seion pacing in the main hall. His personal guards have the door braced, but they otherwise look scared and confused. Seion tells the party they’re here to arrest him and Jessica looks out the window seeing a massive burly half giant man leading a small army of city guards. He’s caring a spear with the head of the other council member the group met outside of town, Jess.
Given few other options Seion ultimately lets the city guards inside and they arrest him. The guards are also told to bring the party with. The party almost engages the guards, but their captain, Doyle, convinces them to come with instead. The party follows the guards to the city guard’s citadel near the port. The party is separated from Seion and asked to wait in a questioning room. The guards then leave and interrogate Seion.
After a wait the guard captain, Doyle, returns to the party’s room. The party corroborates Seions story and Doyle lets them go without too much trouble. Realizing that they would still need work Doyle offers to take the party to the palace for the palace guard interviews they are currently holding. Coil and Skaemon take Doyle up on his offer and Doyle sends them with a couple of guards to the palace. On the way they stop at Seions’ mansion and collect their things, the rest of the party does this as well.
Skaemon and Coil arrive at the palace and interview with the proprietor of the city himself. He asks some strange questions and ultimately offers them the palace guard positions for 150 gold a week. They are theen introduced to Donovan who makes sure they are given palace guard uniforms, a black cloak with the city symbol on the back. Similar to the city guard uniforms which is a brown cloak with the symbol. They are given their post and told they start in the morning. They then head back into town to find the rest of the party.
Skye, Jessica, and Teleran find an inn for them to stay at while they are in the city. The party gathers again and decides to perform multiple investigations of the city. Skaemon and Coil return to the palace to rest while the rest remain at the inn.
Skaemon and coil were escorted to their first guard shift guarding the gate where the two guards were found dead recently. The guard that leads them here was also stationed nearby in the same courtyard. After a little while on duty a white dragonborn man exited a nearby forested area and headed for the gate they were guarding. Coil, who was on the outside of the gate, saw him approaching and hailed him to find out why he was here. This made the dragonborn man extremely angry and he demanded to be let in. Upon hearing this the other guard in the courtyard ran over and told Coil and Skaemon to let him in immediately. The guard told them the dragonborn was the proprietor’s friend, Saluun , and that they needed to always let him through the gate. Saluun told the guard to report to his own execution for not telling Skaemon and Coil how to do their job and he went willingly with no further argument.
Saluun passes Skaemon and Coil without another word and heads into the palace. Coil follows him into the palace and Saluun leads him to a room deep in the palace. Saluun closes the door behind himself. Coil peaks through the keyhole and realizes that it’s a bedroom. Coil then returns to his post and the rest of their shift is relatively uneventful.
Skye, Jessica, and Teleran explore the city during the day. While walking the main market stretch, they see the regular citizens of the city trading what appears to be stale older stored foods. A small amount of it even appears as though rotting; due to the city being on lockdown. The people appear to be quite poor in comparison to the wealthy district where Seions mansion was, but not quite poor to the point of being sick or malnourished. However, when they reached the market in the wealthy distract Skye, Jessica, and Teleran noticed that they were still trading fresh foods. The wealthy district was also guarded by the palace guard and not the city guard.
The three of them also swung by the Radanhi Port before returning to the inn and confirm what Skaemon saw the night before, the dockyard on full lockdown with no ships in or out. The dockyard was being locked down by both imperial troops and city guardsman.
The full party gathered at the inn in the evening to discuss their next move. The party decided to try to use their members who were now palace guards to sneak past the blockade of the teleportation circle, but when they got there the city guards were actually fairly hostel towards the palace guards. They told them a license from the Proprietor was required to pass now that the city was on lockdown and they were turned away. They also checked out the imperial guard’s garrison, but nothing seemed amiss. They returned to their sleeping areas for the evening.
Skaemon and Coils next shift was mostly uneventful, but Saluun did show up at the same time today. Coil snuck into Saluun’s room and rummaged through his desk. He found in Saluuns desk information about shipments of food entering the city in the wealthy district secretly.
The same day Jessica and Teleran decide to join the city guard. They are told by Doyle, after speaking with him, that they start late tomorrow night and work the night shift. The day passes for them without much else happening.
That evening however Teleran went searching for anything relating to his moon goddess, Temyr. He found a hidden moon sigil at the local blacksmith and after talking to him found out about some other moon worshipers that hung out secretly at the local temple. The next morning Teleran goes out searching for the people at the temple and finds the people the blacksmith described. They told him about their secret ritual site and told him to meet them there that evening.
Skaemon and Coils next morning shift was also uneventful, but Saluun did show up at the same time again today. They also feel a strange and dark presence trying to affect their mind, but they are unsure of the source. After work they decide to request to be moved to a nightshift and were told they could, but they’d have to work a double the next day.
That night Teleran and Jessica report to their city guard duty. While on duty in the market district they see several civilians headed toward the wealthy part of town. Following them they find a protest happening just outside the wealthy district gate. The palace guards were telling the people to disperse, but when more of the city guard showed up, they backed off.
While this was happening, Skye went off to find more skooma or skooma ingredients. She found a group of shady people behind a tavern that was still open, but they were suspicious of her questioning and bailed. She chased after them, but lost them when they turned down what appeared to be an ally with a dead end.
Upon further examination she found a secret door in the wall that led to a tavern run by a shady dwarf with an eye patch. The tavern was called the Hole in the Wall. Here Skye learned she could hire criminals for a job and buy an assortment of drugs. Including the very dangerous drug of deathsticks. Which you smoke and then eat, not doing it in that order will result in death, but the high is craaaazy.
After their guard duty ends Teleran splits off from Jessica and goes to meet with the worshippers of Temyr at their secret ritual site. They perform a traditional moon ritual together as the moon begins to set. Teleran then speaks with the worshippers about his vision and they believe it to signify the evil in the Proprietors friend, Saluun, or perhaps an omen of something even worse to come.
The next day Skye tries the Deathsticks she bought and gets absolutely blasted. Skaemon and Coils last morning shift is also uneventful, but Saluun did show up at the same time again today. Skaemon and Coil feel the same dark presence affecting their minds during their morning guard shift, but stronger than before.
After Skaemon and Coils first guard shift is over the party, minus Skye, go to the port and check out a tavern. The place turns out to be locked down by the guards in order to keep crime down while the city is on lockdown. They talk to the guards working there and realize they are only getting 5 silver a week while palace guards are making over 100 gold or more. Reasonably this made the guards rather angry and they left the bar they were guarding to go talk to their captain.
That night Skaemon and Coil reported for their new shift inside the palace; now they’re guarding the doors to the throne room overnight. On duty they hear a noise in the throne room, but find it empty. The door in the back of the room, leading to the hallway connecting the throne room to the proprietor’s bedchamber, is open. Skaemon and Coil enter the hallway and see a black clocked figure headed for the bedchamber. They chase after and enter the bedchamber, right behind the cloaked figure, but remarkably finding it empty. There is a secret stairway hidden in the column of the wall that has been left open. They descend the stairs and go deep under the palace hopefully still chasing the black robed figure. They find themselves in a secret hallway that appears to be connected to the prison under the palace.
Skaemon and Coil, following the hallway, enter a room with a stone alter holding a recently sacrificed body. The black robed figure is still nowhere to be seen. There are three braziers in the room. The middle one is already lit. Upon lighting the left and then the right another secret stair in the ground lowers. As soon as both people touch the stairs they start to raise back into place, but they are fast enough to make it down in time revealing a long underground cavern.
Coil carries Skaemon on his shoulders and they make good time travelling in the darkness. After traveling a good long way, they enter a massive underground cavern. There is a large body of water here housing three airships, two standard frigate sized airships and one massive imperial dreadnought. The dreadnought had all the imperial markings removed and appeared to be painted black.
There was also enough land in the cavern, surrounding the water, to house a large military camp. The camp even had buildings carved into the stone at the edges of the cave implying that is had been there for some time and could easily house a large army. They are able to sneak in and get a closer look at the airships and are able to get out unnoticed.
While Skaemon and Coil are headed back they find that they have to do the same brazier puzzle again, middle left then right, to open the stairs which again. Which rise back into place as soon as a second person touches them. Upon reentering the alter room they see the black robed figure again who is cleaning up. They jump them and knock them unconscious. Skaemon polymorphs the black cloaked figure into a puppy and coil carries them out.
Skaemon and Coil ascend the secret stair and exit back into the proprietor’s bedchamber. This time they find the proprietor and Saluun Silverscale in bed, sleeping. Coil wakes them up and says they apprehended this criminal, but the two of them only see a puppy. Skaemon and Coil are kicked out of the room, and told never to enter their sleeping chamber again. As they close the door, they hear the proprietor, Warren, whisper to Saluun “You don’t think they saw the stairs, do you?” After this Coil and Skaemon bring their prisoner back to the Inn the party is staying.
At the same time this is all happening Teleran and Jessica are on their second night of city guard duty. They go to the site where the protests were happening the night before to find an even larger crowd with more on duty city guard here. The city guard have even formed a protective barrier around the citizens. The palace guard have also increased their numbers at the gate, but aren’t trying to disperse the crowd. Teleran and Jessica join the protective circle around the crowd of protesters.
Around the same time Skye heads back to the secret bar, the Hole in the Wall, to recruit some help to rob the food shipment coming into the wealthy district of town. While talking to Rogaar he informs Skye that the incredibly shady looking people in the back of the bar would be willing to help. She talks to the mustache twirling shady dudes and they are willing to help in exchange for the supplies. Skye agrees to the deal and accepts the help of the shady dudes. They tell her to meet them at the gate where the shipment is coming into town.
Skye makes her way across town. When she arrives at the gate to the wealthy district, she finds Jessica and Teleran standing guard around the large protest. Skye tells them she needs to get through the gate and tells them her plan. They quickly agree to help her. Jessica angers one of the guards who fires a crossbow bolt at her. The palace guards making the first move really angers the crowd even further. They begin to angerly surge forward slamming themselves against the gate.
Teleran sneaks away from the crowd while this is all going down and flies over the wall while all of the palace guards are so distracted. He lands over the wall and approaches the gate from inside the wealthy district. He surprise kills a palace guard that is defending the gate on the inside of the wall. Removing the wooden bar from the gate causing it to slam open from the surge of people on the other side. Teleran is luckily able to leap out of the way. Skye enters the city with the crowd, but breaks away and heads for the meeting point with the shady dudes. Teleran and Jessica stay with the crowd to keep the violence to a minimum and protect the crowd from palace guards.
Skye approaches the gate where the shipment is supposed to come through and sees some palace officials waiting. The shady dudes have taken positions on the nearby rooftops. Skye approaches as they open the gate and turns into a werewolf. She surprises the group of unarmed palace officials and tears them apart with her claws.
The shady dudes drop down from the rooftops and take control of the food wagons. One of them charges straight into town headed back to the lower district while Skye follows on the nearby rooftops. The other shady guys take the second wagon and head out of the city in the opposite direction. Skye leaps from the last rooftop to the top of the wall, between the wealthy and lower districts, taking out another guard just as the wagon makes it through the gate. They are both safely into the lower district of town and go their separate ways.
Jessica and Teleran stay with the crowd for the remainder of the night, but as the sun rises the people start to disperse. They take this opportunity to slip back into the lower district of town with the crowd. As the sun rises, they return to the Inn, just behind Coil and Skaemon, Skye quietly slips inside behind them a few moments later...

Chapter 4

Under the cover of Darkness

Skaemon, Skye, Jessica, Teleran, Surndra, & Coil 647 Post Maelstrom

The party gather around their prisoner in the inn, the mysterious black cloaked figure that they apprehended the night before, who was immediately tied to a chair. Teleran attempts to dispel the magic on the black cloak, but it resists the spell. However, Coil is able to remove it as though it were a normal hood on a cloak. Revealing for the first time the face of a young wood elf woman with fiery red hair and piercing yet gorgeous green eyes. Teleran, Skye, and Jessica decide not to take part in the questioning and go down to the main floor of the tavern for a drink while Coil and Skaemon attempt to get information.
Coil and Skaemon attempt to question her to no avail other than finding out her name was Surndra. After traditional interrogation doesn’t work Coil agrees to untie her and attempts to convince her to help them. Seeing this new opportunity Surndra makes a break for the door. Skaemon attempts to stop her with magic, but she sees this quickly turning herself to leap out the window. Coil, inches behind, leaps out the window after her. Skaemon runs down the stairs, shouting for the rest of the party, as he runs out into the street to follow.
Surndra makes several attempts to escape the party, but in unable to outrun Coil. Surndra attempts to petrify Coil, but Skaemon is able to quickly undo the spell. Realizing she can’t outrun Coil Surndra decides that its ultimately in her best interest to go with the party. Back at the inn Surndra reveals to the party that not only is Saluun mostly in control, like they suspected, but he is also using the palace guard to build the black cloaks army. An army that is currently preparing to move out. Realizing that they have to make a move soon the party decides to slip into the palace come nightfall.
Later that evening Coil and Skaemon return to the palace for their guard shift and prepare to let the rest of the party into the palace come nightfall. The rest of the party, including Surndra, go into the wealthy district before the gate between the lower city and wealthy district closes. Once inside they hide out of sight until nightfall. They palace guards are out in higher numbers than usual, due to the riot the night before, but the party manages to remain unnoticed by the extra patrols.
Once the sun fully sets the party puts their plan into motion. Teleran and Skye, now a werewolf, take out the guards on the inside of the wealthy district gate while Jessica removes the security beam and opens the gate once again. An even larger and angrier crowd pours into the wealthy district this time accompanied by more city guard and even some of the imperial guards. While this is happening Surndra simply stands back and watches, neither helping nor hindering the party.
Using this massive distraction, the four of them head towards the palace and meet up with Coil and Skaemon who are waiting and open the gate for them as they arrive. The full party heads into the palace straight for the proprietor’s room. The palace is in an equal amount of disarray as the palace guards attempt to reinforce the wealthy district and lock down the palace. The party is able to slip through the commotion without drawing attention to themselves.
They arrive at the proprietor’s room bursting through the door to find it empty. The door to the secret stair is currently closed as well, but using her brute strength Jessica is able to smash through the hidden column revealing the stairs down. The party and Surndra descend.
The stairs are several stories tall so it takes a while to reach the bottom. The party reaches the dungeon-like hallway that leads to the stone alter where Coil and Skaemon found a body. Surndra informs the party that she is going to wait at the bottom of the stairs and they agree to let her. Once the party is out of sight, she ascends the stairs bailing on the situation. This is the last the party sees of Surndra, for now…
They enter the alter room to find eight of the black cloaked figures standing around someone strapped to the alter with a cloth covering their face. They are all holding stone knives and appear ready to stab the person on the alter. Saluun is also here watching the ritual, wearing the same black cloak, but his hood is down showing he is wearing a crown made of blackened steel. The same type of crown Jessica and Teleran saw on the hooded figure in Khon Rhahild.
Upon seeing this Skaemon casts a spell hitting all of the cultist. All, except Saluun, immediately crumple to the floor as their hoods fall back revealing long dead skeletons. The stone knives remain in the air in the same location they were previously being held. A fight ensues between the party and Saluun.
The party forces Saluun back trapping him inside of Skaemons powerful area of effect spell. Saluun quickly takes more damage than he can handle, massively underestimating the party’s strength, and flees down the hidden stairs in the back of the room. However, Skaemon and Coil already learned the secret to opening the stairs and are able to follow behind with the rest of the party close on their heels.
Saluun flees into the cave-like tunnels below, but quickly learns the same lesson that Surndra did earlier, you can’t outrun Coil. Coil grapples Saluun to the ground as the party catches up and gather around Saluun to decide what to do with him. Saluun threatens the party one last time, for getting in the way of his plans, but Teleran silences him with a moon glaive in the back. As he dies the crown rolls free of his head. Coil immediately bends down to pick it up and places it on his own head. The Crown of the Immortal Shadow. Coil suddenly feels a surge of power wash over him and an overwhelming desire to not remove the crown.
While this is all happening, the party hears from deeper in the cave, in the direction of the underground lake and secret military base, a war horn sounding that echoes through the caverns. The party decides not to attempt to face such a challenge in their current state and leave the caves the way they came in. Quickly redoing the password to get back up the secret stair.
Now back in the alter room the party inspects the person on the alter. While they were gone the knives lowered themselves into the body of the victim. The knives were seemingly fused to the table through the now deceased person. Jessica pulls back the cloth over his face revealing it to be the Proprietor himself, Warren Somersett. Confused on why he was killed by the cult they decide to return to the inn.
They ascend the spiral staircase and head back through the palace the way they came. The palace itself seemed eerily quiet, but there are still muffled sounds of fighting coming from outside the palace. The party exists the palace district directly into the lower city to see above them the three black airships, the same ones that Coil and Skaemon saw in the cavern below, laying siege to the city. The airships were firing explosive flaming shrapnel into the city, including the palace and wealthy district…

Chapter 5

City Under Siege

Skaemon, Skye, Jessica, Teleran, & Coil 647 Post Maelstrom

The airships are laying siege to the city. The large dreadnought assaults the palace and wealthy district while the two smaller airships attack the lower city. They are showering are showering the city with flaming shrapnel from canons causing massive fires and buildings to collapse. People are running about frantically and the city is in chaos.
The city is in full panic mode and people are storming the ships in the harbor in a desperate attempt to escape. One of the small airships flies out over the bay of the dockyard and starts burning the ships that are trying to escape from the city. The airship drops a cable allowing troops to slide down onto the docks and immediately engage with the imperial troops defending the docks nearby.
The party heads straight for the docks forcing their way through the chaos going on in the city. They pass the teleportation field on their way to the docks and see that the imperial airship stationed there was shot down. The burning wreckage covered the teleportation field, crushing the soldiers that were guarding it.
The party reaches the docks and sees the imperials fighting the black cloaks from the airship. The party quickly join the fight take out the black cloaks. This gives the wounded imperials a chance to back out, but the airship starts to pull away. The party acts fast and grab onto the cable so they can climb aboard the airship.
They start fighting the crew of the ship the moment they pull themselves onto the deck. The captain storms out of his cabin to stop the party from seizing control of the ship. The captain strangely wasn’t dressed like the normal black cloaks and seemed to have a more refined fighting style.
The captain puts up a fight, but the small crew still aboard the ship is quickly overrun. The Coil and Jessica pin the captain against the rail of the ship winning the fight. The captain breaks free of their grasp and flings himself over the side of the ship using his cloak to magically glide safely toward the ground outside of the city.
While the party is fighting for control of the smaller airship the dreadnought pulls away from the city and heads west towards the continent of Astryia. The other small one stays and continues to assault the city from afar. The party moves in on the other airship with the one they’ve commandeered and get into a firing position in front of the black cloaks’ airship. Jessica is at the helm and the rest of the party use the cannons below deck.
As the opposing airship starts to take some damage, they turn to return fire on the parties’ airship. Jessica reveals, with magic, that the captain of the other airship is actually one of the shadowy figures, like they faced during the assault on Khon Rhahild. Seeing this from below deck Coil, with Skaemon on his back, jumps to the other ship. Coil and Skaemon attack the shadow creature, while the rest of the party continues to assail the airship from afar.
Coil and Skaemon, with the help of Jessica, take down the shadow creature. However, the enemy ship sustained too much damage and began to fall toward the city. Coil and Skaemon tried to stop the ships decent, but it was fruitless. In the end they abandoned the ship at the very last moment as it crashed into the city guard’s citadel dealing significant damage to the building and causing part of it to collapse into the bay.
The party’s newly commandeered airship was in much better condition, but still sustained some damage in the battle. The party lands the airship safely in the harbor and step off the ship onto the docks…

Chapter 6

Imperial Taskforce

Skaemon, Skye, Jessica, Teleran, & Coil 648 Post Maelstrom

The party leaves the airship where its docked and survey the damage to the city. The attack is over, but buildings are still burning and rubble covers the streets. There are crowds of soldiers trying to put out some of the fires. Seeing this Jessica and Coil proceed to give them a hand. Teleran, Skye, and Skaemon return to the inn to rest instead. They find the inn damaged and the lower floor was covered in debris, but thankfully the building was still standing.
Coil and Jessica attempt to aid the soldiers in putting out the fires in one of the dockyard houses that is still mostly standing. While doing so Jessica hears a dog barking within and charges into the burning building. There is a loud crack as one of the support beams breaks free above her. It falls on top of Jessica trapping her leg underneath. Coil runs in to help and manages to lift the beam enough for Jessica to free herself. They search the building and more pieces of burning debris start to fall as the building loses its integrity. Jessica finds the dog, who is hiding with a little girl. Jessica grabs both of them and runs out of the building. Coil starts to follow behind, but the buildings’ structure finally gives and traps him underneath the wreckage.
Coil struggles as the flames and smoke engulf him. Jessica is trying to dig him out of the wreckage, but the building is still caving into the basement and Coil is sinking into the wreckage. Jessica manages to make just enough room to help Coil get out. Coil manages to escape, just as the last of building crumbles and falls into the basement, but he was just barely clinging to life. Coil and Jessica decide they’ve done what they can and return to the inn to rest as well.

* * *

The party awakens in the morning and they decide that they’re going to make sure that their new airship is getting repaired. On the return trip to the dock the party surveys the city. The damage is pretty extensive, but the majority of the fires have been put out. A few buildings are already starting to be rebuilt, but the majority of people are still clearing rubble. There are city guards working on repairing their citadel, but even so there are far fewer guards roaming the street than normal.
At the dockyard there are no longer any city guard and the area has been fully secured by the imperial troops from the local garrison. The airship is already being repaired, but it’s being heavily guarded by the imperials. Upon talking to the captain of the guard they are informed that the airship was found abandoned and they would have to talk to the imperial garrison commander in order to get it returned. The party is also informed that the garrison commander has now stationed himself in what remains of the palace.
On the way to the palace, they pass the relatively small imperial garrison building which is still being guarded. The building is directly across from the city guard citadel and the imperial guards and city guards seem slightly hostile here. A fight hasn’t broken out yet, but both parties look prepared for one which is in stark contrast to the way they were helping each other before.
The party arrives at the palace to find the imperial guards in place of the palace guards. The party is taken to speak with the imperial garrison commander, a battle-worn brown tabaxi named Torm Longstride. He tells the party he is taking charge under suspicion that the ruling council is no longer fit to do so. They allowed the black cloaks to seize power under their noses and were no longer acting in the best interest of the people in the city. He also tells the party that Doyle and the city guard are protecting the council from the imperials and are holed up in the guard’s citadel. However, they are doing nothing else to stop the imperials from seizing control of the city, but tensions are extremely high between the two.
The city is being reopened, but the imperials and city guard are searching anyone that tries to leave for evidence of the black cloaks. The city guard are mostly hold up in their citadel, which gives them some control of the dockyard. They did capture the east gate of the city as well. The imperials have taken control of the palace and the west gate of city as well as a large portion of the docks that isn’t directly overshadowed by the city guard’s citadel.
The party makes some demands for their airship, but end up coming to a different arrangement with Torm. The party agrees to go to the capitol of the empire, Vulanti, and speak with the emperor himself about an anti-black cloak taskforce that they are trying to assemble. In exchange for a new airship that is currently being built, now that the city is open to trade and materials for the airships can be imported again, along with 4,000 gold. The party agrees to these terms and decide that they will teleport themselves to Vulanti and they decide to return to the inn to do so.
On their walk back from the palace the party sees, down in the docks district, a ship pulls into the docks. It’s a large imperial military transport ship clearly housing reinforcements from Ambracia, the imperial city across the sea. On a positive note, however, there are trade ships leaving the docks for the first time since the city was locked down. The party gets back to the inn and prepares to set sail for Vulanti City.

* * *

The party finds themselves for the first time in the Vulanti Empire Capitol of Vulanti City. They arrive in a residential district and head towards the Ivory Spire in search of an inn. They find a cheap-ish place by the river, called Brown-on-the-water. Their room features a window on the floor for the inhabitants to see the river. Skaemon stands on top of it to look into the water, but the glass turns out to be weak. It breaks and Skaemon falls into the water. Coil immediately goes outside and heads down the river bank to search for him, but Skaemon was quickly swept away by the water.
Luckily Skaemon was unharmed and is able to get out of the river. He buys some new cloths and heads back to the inn, running into Coil on the way. The two of them return to the party together and then the whole party decides it’s time to go meet with the emperor.
They arrive at the Ivory Spire and are taken to the waiting chamber by the guards. After a short wait they are directed that they can go speak with the emperor now and enter a large chamber with stairs that lead up to a silver throne. They stand on the platform below the throne and speak with the Emperor who offers them additional wealth, and the potential for a lordship if successful, should they agree to join his taskforce against the black cloaks. The party decides that they will help, seeing the black cloaks as the biggest threat to the world, and the emperor sends them to the Iron Fortress to meet with the Arbiter in charge of the operation.
The party leaves the Ivory Spire and go to the militaristic district of the city. Similar in size to the residential district this area has its own airfield. They arrive at the foot of this massive iron keep and enter. They walk into a large hall that is filled with imperial soldiers, with much finer armor and weapons than the standard troop. These appear to be the imperial Inquisitors, also known as The Iron Order. Among these inquisitors are a few men that have massive suits of plate armor that make the wearers seam massive even in comparison to the inquisitors. They are the leaders of the Iron Order, the Arbiters. The people that serve as the primary judicial system of the empire possessing the power of judge, jury, and executioner to even the highest lord who must only answer to the emperor himself.
As the party enters the hall one of the Arbiters sees them and approaches as they enter. He recognizes them as the new recruits for the taskforce he was told about and gives them their orders and intel. He informs the party that Khon Rhahild fell to the black cloaks and that while the black cloak attack happened in every city in the known world the majority of the cities were able to hold off the black cloak attack. However, some of them are still under extended siege or faced problems more like Radanha. Except for one city that was never attacked, the elven city of Ishti Thalore. The party’s orders at this time are going to be to infiltrate the city of Ishti Thalore and attempt to find out why the city wasn’t attacked and to make sure it’s not another Radanha situation where the city is falling from within.
To help the party get started the Arbiter set up an airship to take them as close as possible the following day. The party could then decide from there how they wanted to attempt to infiltrate Ishti Thalore.
The Arbiter also gives them golden arrowhead pins, that will allow the party to prove themselves part of the imperial forces when desired. This could be used to identify themselves to imperial troops when needed and can be used in the military district of Vulanti to get a discount for their services to the empire.
The party decides to return to their inn, Brown-on-the-water, to decide how exactly they want to proceed. On the way back Jessica breaks off from the party and decides to stop at a blacksmith that is connected to a magic shop, called Mystical Metals. It’s run by a dwarf couple; the husband operates the magic shop and imbues the items with magic while the wife operates the blacksmith and does the forging. After speaking with them they inform Jessica that they could create her an item, but it would take a few days or even weeks to complete. Not wanting to wait that long she finds out what they have in stock that she could use, which turns out to be a magic shield. They were strangely unsure what magic possessed the shield so they agreed to cut her a deal on the shield, even after her imperial discount.
Skaemon is about to head off to find a potion shop, but is stopped by Coil. Coil convinces Skaemon to wait until tonight to go to the potion shop in order to get ‘an even bigger discount’ when nobody is around. The party, minus Jessica, simply return to the inn to prepare for the coming mission…

Chapter 7

On the Road Again

Skaemon, Skye, Jessica, Teleran, & Coil 648 Post Maelstrom

Skaemon and Coil talk to, and convince, Teleran and Skye to join them in their robbery tonight. With little else to do until their flight tomorrow they decide to sleep until nightfall.
Teleran has a second dream from the moon goddess, Niius, Brother of the Moon.

Teleran awakens in a moonlit glade atop a bed of moss surrounded by massive tightly woven trees. The glade is surrounded by a creek that glistens with the silver glow of the moon and gives the glade a natural crescent shape.

Teleran finds himself rising to his feet as though his body is acting against his will. He turns to face the far side of the glade as the underbrush begins to rustle. It is proceeded by a soft thudding of footsteps as something rushes towards Teleran. The underbrush bursts open as large white tiger charges into the glade. In the moonlight its white fur glows silver with moonlight, glistening like the moonlit stream. It stands in front of him and he can feel its breath on his face.

Its eyes are a deep shade of purple and as Teleran stares into its eyes he can see the twisting maelstrom that surrounds the world. He reaches his hand out, as though compelled by Niius, Brother of the Moon herself, and grabs a handful of the tigers’ fur. Teleran pulls himself onto the back of the beast and it releases an unearthly roar that silences the forest all around them. Teleran sees his reflection in the creek’s clear waters, almost too vividly, and as he watches his eyes take on the same purple hue as the tiger. Looking into his reflection he can see the same maelstrom in his eyes. He awakens.

* * *

A little before everyone else is about to wake Jessica returns to Brown-on-the-water with her new shield. As everyone is getting up and getting ready Jessica has Coil and Teleran inspect the shield for her. They are able to discover some of the shields hidden properties, but it still has another effect that they didn’t understand. Jessica, who is getting ready for bed, realizes they are all getting ready to leave. They tell Jessica that they are going on a walk and she decides to leave them to it.
Everyone, with the exception of Jessica, heads back over to the shopping district in search of an alchemists’ shop. They wander the trade district searching for an alchemist to break into. Ending up near the higher end shops they discover the perfect place, a shop called the Dragons Breath Alchemist.
Skye keeps watch out front while Coil teleports Teleran and Skaemon inside with him. Teleran and Skaemon immediately start filling their bags with potions; Coil goes searching deeper in the shop for bigger secrets. Coil steps behind the sales counter and goes through employee door into the warehouse at the back of the shop. The warehouse is just storing more of the same potions that are on the salesfloor, but there are two stairways here. One leading up and one leading down.
Coil takes the stairs down into the basement with Teleran and Skaemon not far behind, now that they are done stuffing their bags. The basement is dug much deeper than most normal basements would be in a city like this one. The basement is lined wall to wall with massive boiling vats of liquids in many various colors. Potion brewing on a scale that even Skaemon believed should be impossible.
The vats are connected by pipes that run from under the cauldron up to the ceiling, and all of the pipes are leading to the back of the basement. The three of them follow the pipes which all lead to a metal box that’s glowing red hot from whatever is contained within. Coil burns his hands in order to lift box up and as he does so blindingly bright light fills the room. Coil tosses the hot metal aside revealing an engine, similar to the ones that power airships, but significantly smaller than anything known to Coil, Skaemon, or Teleran. Coil tries to put the engine in a bag, but it’s far too hot and quickly burns the bag away; meanwhile Skaemon runs back upstairs to try and hide the light with magical darkness, but the light is magical as well and cuts through the darkness.
Skye is still keeping watch out front when suddenly the windows behind her start emitting bright light. Skye ducks down to stay out of sight, but the now glowing shop is starting to draw the attention of people out at night.
Coil tries frivolously to pick up the engine, but finds he’s unable to do so. Teleran growing more and more concerned with the light emitting from the engine he decides to flee the scene, running back upstairs. Teleran runs past Skaemon and out the front door of the store. As soon as the door opens the crystal lights inside the shop begin to blink rapidly. Skaemon upon seeing this follows Teleran out the door and they begin running down the street. Coil flees from the store not long after quickly catching up to Teleran and Skaemon. Skye tries to walk away inconspicuously in the same direction as the other three.
As they flee the scene of their crime, they hear the pounding of hoofbeats headed towards them. Teleran uses his new found wild shape, becoming the white tiger from his dream, and runs down a nearby alley before the guards see him. Coil grabs Skaemon and teleports the two of them onto a nearby rooftop. Skye continues to try to remain under the radar.
As the group of horsemen pass three of them break off from the group. They dismount and circle Skye, the rest of the horsemen continue towards the alchemist. As soon as the first horseman questions why she’s here Skye turns into a werewolf and attacks the horseman. Teleran the tiger runs out of the alley he’s hiding in and mauls one of the guards bothering Skye. Skaemon turns himself into a large ape and drops down onto of the last horseman crushing him. The three horsemen are easily dealt with by the animals, causing their horses to bolt, and Teleran, Skye, and Skaemon flee the carnage.
While the other three engage the horsemen in the street, Coil continues to flee from the original crime. Once he’d travelled a few streets over Coil finds a store for working equipment and breaks in to steal a new backpack. The security here is much weaker than the alchemists store and Coil is able to easily get inside. He finds a new more durable backpack, although a bit smaller. Coil slips out with no problem and heads back to the inn.
Teleran, Skaemon, and Skye return to their normal humanoid forms and take the long way through town to get back to their inn. The three of them return just after Coil, who is waiting out front, and three of them go inside together. Once back in the room Coil yells at Teleran, Skaemon, and Skye for being reckless. Unknown to Coil the commotion of them returning wakes up Jessica who hears Coil yell at the other three for stirring up trouble, but not exactly what they did. Jessica pretends to still be sleeping and doesn’t reveal she heard anything. The whole party rests until morning.

* * *

Once the whole party is awake, they get ready to head across town to catch their airship. They decide to get some new supplies before they set out and the party returns to the trade district. As they walk the main strip of shops, they see a crime scene up ahead, right around where their fight happened the night before. Skye turns and goes into the first shop she sees and the rest of the party follows behind. They go into what turns out to be a middle tier clothing shop. They decide to pick out some new cloths. Skye changers her appearance the most, adding a charcoal gray cloak to her outfit.
After leaving the shop the continue towards the military district, passing the crime scene on the way. The crime scene is being investigated by a handful of inquisitors and an arbiter. Just as the party is about to pass by the arbiter turns, looking right at the party, and locks eyes with Skye. Neither of them says anything and the party continues on their way.
Once in the military district they make their way to The Iron Fortress. The arbiter who is heading up their taskforce is waiting out front of the building. He leads them through the fortress into a large training field behind it. There were several inquisitors out training in the yard, but none paid them any mind. On the far side of the field were airships for the Iron Order to use, one of which was currently being geared up to fly. The arbiter bids them farewell as the board the airship and the party sets sail for Ambracia. For once the flight is relatively uneventful and they land near Ishti Thalore in the evening.

* * *

The party gathers their belongs and sets out towards the city of Ishti Thalore. The party is just across the gap bridge, from Astryia and the elven continent of Isilvalen, around noon. There is an imperial guard garrison stationed at the bridge to protect traders and try to keep the roads clear of highwaymen. Armed people would normally be searched before passing, but the party is able to get through with no hassle by flashing their imperial security badges.
Once across the bridge the party enter the massive forest known as the Kaalsari Great Greenwood. The enormous forest of trees so tightly woven together you could never see more than two or three trees deep staring into the forest. The underbrush is so thick the ground cannot be seen through it, but neither it nor the trees extend onto the road. The canopy is at least 100 feet tall at the lowest and fully covers the road far above. Light shines through the canopy to the ground giving it a deep green hue. The path twists more aggressively here in the greenwood as it twists with the natural patterns of the land never cutting through.
Time is hard to tell here, but what feels like several hours go by while they continue through the forest. After countless twists and turns the party rounds a bend in the road to see a group of travelers ahead. Coil uses invisibility to hide and moves ahead of the party in case they need to fight. As the two groups get closer the party realizes that the other group is armed and acting aggressive. Once within earshot Jessica tell the other group that they don’t want to fight and they’re just passing through, but they just laugh.
The travelers begin to spread out to surround the party. As the travelers separate, they reveal a man standing behind them. It’s an elven man in a deep purple cloak, that looks very similar to the black cloaks cloak aside from its color; his face is also not hidden by the hood like the black cloaks were. He has dark hair, very pointed features, and a bit of a long face that is easy to recognize if you’ve seen him before. Skaemon recognizes this man as one of the people that betrayed him. However, Skye also recognizes him from the stories she was told by her father about the person that cast him out of his homeland.
Skaemon and Skye immediately look ready to fight and seeing this Coil drops his invisibility in front on of the highwaymen and attacks them while they’re surprised. The axe wielding highwaymen move in on the party with their weapons ready. The highwaymen archers and purple cloaked mans’ mage detail start raining attacks on the party from afar. The purple cloaked man starts casting a powerful spell and his cloak begins glowing with purple arcane energy.
The party fights valiantly, quickly taking down the axe wielding highwaymen and one of the archers, but after being blasted by waves of ice and fire from the mages Teleran is struck down and falls unconscious. The purple cloaked man is able to finish his spell and drops his cloak to the ground. Arcane energy amasses above it and the man steps inside of it vanishing instantly. After a few moments the arcane energy disperses and the cloak is left lying on the ground.
Coil grabs Teleran and teleports him a safe distance away while they finish off the rest of the highwaymen. Skye, just barely clinging to consciousness, cuts down the last still standing highwaymen archer and Skaemon finishes of the purple cloaked man’s mages. Jessica goes to help Teleran and restores him to consciousness.
Skaemon grabs the now dormant purple cloak off the ground and the party hurries on their way. After only a few more twists in the road the party rounds a bend to find themselves at the edge of the forest looking out into the barren and destroyed landscape surrounding Ishti Thalore, the Arcanic Wastes. The sun is setting as the party exits the greenwood…

Chapter 8

The Arcanic Wastes

Skaemon, Skye, Jessica, Teleran, & Coil 648 Post Maelstrom

As the party exits the greenwood in the final moments of the sunset before it dips below the horizon. The earth is gray here, as though the color and life has been drained from it. The ground is webbed with cracks that leak glowing purple arcane energy from within the land itself. This is the barren landscape that has absorbed the eastern half of the continent, surrounding the city of Ishti Thalore.
The Party rests. During the rest Coil does some scouting discovering a stone temple nearby. When the party wakes up and realizes a storm is moving in, and the storm turns out to be extremely dangerous, the party decides to shelter in the temple.
While hiding in the temple a room in the back of the temple opens and a secret room is revealed. Coil find a mysterious upgrade to his crown in the other room in the bottom of a pool that only he can reach. After a time the storm passes and the party leaves the temple. The continue heading through the Arcanic Wastes towards Ishti Thalore.
The party travels for the remainder of the day through the wastes arriving at the city just as another storm began to roll in.
Teleran, Skye Liuna, and Jessica head for the Archives of Jahthalas. Skye and Jessica each find a book of exceptional value to them.
Coil and Skaemon head for the market in search of rare goods. Skaemon finds a magic item vendor and overpays for a bag of holding. Around this time, the rest of the party leave the archives and head for the market as well.
Right as Skaemon and Coil go to meet with the rest of the party they run back into them in the market. At the same time, they run into a situation between a city official and a street urchin. The party is able to calm the situation and get the child away. Jessica takes her back home where Jessica learns she was just trying to help here sick brother. Jessica heals her brother and then tells them both to leave the city. The rest of the party goes to get a bag of holding and Skaemon buys another one.
The party gets a room above a bar called The Mercenaries Toilet - Tavern. Afterwards Coil and Skaemon do some recon on Skaemons old house in the city. At the same time, Jessica seeks out the magic item merchant and get a bag of holding for herself at a reasonable cost.
Then the full party goes and searches the house for Skaemons old gear. They find it pillaged except for Skaemons old staff, The Ebony Staff, and a gemstone that didn’t belong to Skaemon. While they are searching the house, Jessica keeps watch outside with Skye. They see someone watching the house from the building across the street.
The party returns to the inn to rest. Except Coil who doubles back and followers the person that was watching the house. Coil watched as the mysterious spy followed the party back to their Inn, but only stayed nearby for a short time before returning to his house. Coil waited outside for a while, but ultimately decided it would be best to wait. Coil returns to the inn to rest with the party. While resting he has a dark vision from the Crown of the Immortal Shadow. A new power is obtained, but who knows what the God of Shadows could be whispering...

Chapter 9

Time to Lay Low

Skaemon, Skye, Jessica, Teleran, & Coil 648 Post Maelstrom

The party wakes up in the inn the next morning. Skaemon feels something drawing his attention from his bag of holding. He pulls out the mysterious gemstone they found with his staff and through it gets a message from the person that left it.
Afterwards the crew the discusses everything they saw the day before and together decide they need to relocate to a different part of town. The party exits the inn to find the angry councilman, Quarth Drume, from yesterday waiting out front with more guards. And both of the kids they helped the day before.
The party gets ready for a scuffle, but Jessica is able to talk everyone down. The councilman ultimately excepts Jessica’s judgement and allows the kids to be banished from the city.
Coil and Skaemon separate to go find a safehouse. They find a recently abandoned house with bodies in the basement. Coil and Skaemon, not wanting to get involved, bail on the house like they were never there.
The rest of the party goes to find a magical weapon for Jessica. They find a strange weapons salesman, but ultimately decide not to buy.
Skaemon decides to head back to the rest of the group, while Coil tries a more obviously abandoned house. He finds it full of squatters already. They attack him and get in several lucky hits. Coil tries to teleport away, but it’s too bright outside. Coil has to fight the squatters to get out safely. He decides to stay behind and hide the bodies now that the house is clear.
They party, minus Coil, decide to investigate the spy further and they all head back to Skaemons old house. After finding that someone had been there after them they choose to go after the person that was spying on them the previous night.

Chapter 10

Spying on a Spy

Skaemon, Skye, Jessica, Teleran, & Coil 648 Post Maelstrom

The party follows Skaemon back across Ishti Thalore to pick up Coil. They end up all cleaning up the bodies from the floor and make it their new safehouse.
The party then finalizes their plan to investigate the person that was following them. The party goes to his house to find it empty and they ransack it. The party finds some information on them in the spy’s house.
The party then uses the information from the spy and the information from the Gem Skaemon found. Most of them decide they need to get out of the city and follow this lead, but Jessica isn’t so sure. She is afraid it might be a trick to lure them away as they were sent to this city specifically to deal with the The Immortal Circle.
Jessica splits from the rest of the party and returns to the Archives of Jahthalas to get some more information on The Immortal Circle and to see who enters and leaves their quarters in the middle of the night. She does see a couple of the cloaked figures, but no discernable information.
After getting the information she was looking for she leaves the Archives to meet back up with the party, who are waiting for her in the safehouse.

Chapter 11

An Unexpected Defeat

Skaemon, Skye, Jessica, Teleran, & Coil 648 Post Maelstrom

The next day, Jessica attempts to sneak into the Archives of Jahthalas with magic, but she sets off the Archives magic alarm. However, there is a massive ripple of magical energy right at the same time that creates an unforeseeable interruption and the spell goes horribly wrong. It causes a massive explosion at the archives. It was unclear how much damage, if any, was done. The city of Ishti Thalore immediately went on lock down with the party trying to regroup.
Jessica eventually gets back to the group at the safehouse and they all set out to get out of town. The party attempts to cast some spells to escape, but spells are on the fritz after the explosion.
The party attempts to slip out of town, but the guard have set up checkpoints at the gate. The party tries to go through, but they know to much about them get apprehended on the way out of town. They are forced to fight their way out. The group can’t all make it out together and end up splitting up as more and more enemy reinforcements arrive.
Jessica and Teleran manage to get through the checkpoint in the commotion and escape the city together. Coil and Skaemon can't get through at all and retreat back into the city to hide in the criminal underbelly for a while. Skye Liuna stays with Coil and Skaemon too long before trying to make a dash past the guards and she is apprehended.
The remaining party members went their separate ways while everything cooled off. Jessica and Teleran had no choice but to flee the Arcanic Wastes or risk dying in a storm. While Skye Liuna was arrested by the guards who decided to turn her over to the empire after finding out who she was.

Epilogue

Skaemon, Skye, Jessica, Teleran, & Coil 649 Post Maelstrom

Things eventually calmed down in Ishti Thalore. Coil and Skaemon decided to stay in the city and make a name for themselves. Skaemon manages to reclaim his seat on the Council of Jahthalas and quickly retakes control of the city. Working alongside Skaemon, Coil establishes an underground guild built on hunting and gathering secrets. Calling the organization the Hand of Secrets he now employs the world's largest network of thieves, spies, and assassins.
Jessica and Teleran are still hunting the The Immortal Circle, but they are doing it on their own terms now. Jessica has begun her own mercenary guild, named Sun's Justice intent on hunting the Immortal circle in the Fungal Wilds. They currently gather and prepare in Khon Derbolder for the long march into the Depths Below. Teleran assisted Jessica in establishing the guild, but he has been called back to Niius, Brother of the Moon for a sacred mission.
Skye Liuna is doing a 50-year stint in Shatterguard prison as the fall man for the explosion in Ishti Thalore. She found her father, Harren Liuna, in Shatterguard and together the two train and bide their time waiting for their opportunity to escape.