The Maelstrom Campaign - Chapter Four

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…