Dykstra and the Deacon

Miscellaneous

Guided by a holy vision, the R&B Investigate the local Church of Sol for the Soul Gems that contain the souls of Grindstaff's family. After running afoul of Houston Dykstra, a powerful aristocrat in Seavale, the R&B managed to retrieve the Gems and escape the city.

As they arrived in Seavale, Beatrix, Cleric of Sol, experienced a powerful vision in which her deity spoke directly to her, saying, "The house of the Sun/Son contains the answers you seek". Taking the portent seriously, the party made their way to the local Church of Sol, run by the elderly Deacon, Hector Winterlight. The church was opulently rich, embarrassingly so, due to the large, and often anonymous, donations made to it in the form of coin, gems, and materials.   Eager to assist the heroes, the Deacon searched his records for any donated items that may resemble Soul Gems, finding only a missing page in his ledger. Noticing that they were being watched by a shady figure sitting in the pews, Firion approached and gave a customary Thieves Guild greeting. The thug explained that he was simply directed to tail the party that appeared via teleportation Circle and report their movements to the local fence.   Following the tail to his rendezvous, the R&B subdued some local thugs, attempting to get information out of them. Unfortunately, they had little to give. After leaving the den of thugs, a few city guard approached the party and explained that a local aristocrat, Houston Dykstra, would like to have a word with them. The party allowed themselves to be escorted to his mansion in the Nobles Square neighborhood of Seavale.   Inside the stately urban mansion, they met with the darkly handsome Houston, who expressed his concern for the safety of the heroes for delving into secrets long forgotten in the city. They explained that they sought the Soul Gems that contained the essences of Grindstaff's long-dead wife and daughter. Houston assured them that he would contact them in he found any info on their quarry.   After leaving the mansion, Austin Dysktra, Houston's 18 year old son, approached the party, eager to assist in whatever they were doing to thwart his father's plans. Austin was something of a conspiracy theorist and believed (rightly) that his father was far more nefarious than his public image seemed. Austin gave the heroes a torn scrap of paper... a portion of a donation receipt that read "two (2) crystalline gems, Large...”, “... on the 26th day of the 4th month of the year 1876 NG”. The area containing the signatures and the organization name was missing, due to the angle of the tear.   In two evenings, there was to a charity gala for the upper crust of Seavale society to attend and make gaudy donations of their wealth. Houston rarely missed such opportunities and was expected to attend, giving the party a chance to search his mansion for the other half of the receipt that would confirm where the Soul gems were located.   Returning back at the Church of Sol, they questioned Deacon Winterlight, but he had no further information. However, he did invite the party to spend the night in the guest quarters of the church, if they so wished.   The R&B obliged, but were set upon Defiled assassins in the night, having to combat the sneak-attacks un-armored, unrested, and unprepared. Barely managing to survive the onslaught, the heroes finally managed to rest and recuperate.   For the night of the Gala, it was decided that Zula the Monk would attend, heavily disguised by Firion's formidable skills, with Austin, in order to keep an eye on Houston. The remaining members of the Red & Black would break into Houston's mansion (with the help of Austin' magical, single-use, skeleton key). Firion, using his unparalleled ability to disguise himself, appeared as Austin, while Beatrix and Wren made themselves magically invisible. After making a long term distraction for the guards within the mansion, the three searched the library, with no success. Examining Houston's study revealed a secret passage into the dark, deep basement under the building.   Meanwhile, at the Gala, Zula and Austin tried to both enjoy themselves and keep an eye on Houston, who was busy schmoozing, but under the protective eyes of three heavily armored City Guard. Zula, disguised as an Aragonian, was very inept at projecting their unemotional and literal personality, much to the delight of many of the party-goers.   Delving into the darkness, the other 3 heroes encountered a shrine to 'Shadow', a lesser deity of darkness, greed, and death, traps, a secret Study of Thieves Guild materials and the Dykstra family crypt. Within the large room, a magical, but currently inactive, portal dominated the center of the space, and small writing desk covered in mad scribblings describing a blanket of undeath covering the world while an upside down pyramid hangs ominously in the air above it all.   Apparently, some powerful entity called 'Quantus' had been mentally torturing and controlling Houston to feed it information and perform certain tasks. Additionally, the other half of the receipt was found here, reading, “...to the Church of Sol, Seavale...” “...provided by one Houston Dykstra...” and the signature of Houston and Deacon Winterlight. Grabbing all they could, the heroes escaped just as Houston arrived home.   With solid proof that the Soul Gems were indeed at the Church of Sol, they heroes returned there and retrieved them from their in-plain-sight hiding spot hanging amongst the baubles in the church. A moment later, Houston entered the Church, flanked by the three City Guard and Wednesday "Brutal" Sanderson, Beatrix's daughter, and quad-iron wielding mercenary. Houston accused the party of breaking and entering, theft, and trying to swindle Deacon Winterlight. As the City Guard moved to arrest the heroes, Firion managed to cast Wall of Force around them, giving him time to cast Teleportation Circle.   As the Guard helplessly attacked the spherical Wall of Force, Houston donned a glossy, black chainmail gauntlet that appeared to be made out of pure Onyx. He then used this fire-magic empowered gauntlet to incinerate the Deacon who was standing nearby and then torch the entire church. In the minute it took to cast Teleportation Circle, the church was full engulfed in flames, the Guards and Brutal having quickly fled the inferno.   Arriving in Zamber, at the base of the Dragonspire, the heroes were quickly given an audience with Argentazukkarrius, the Regent Silver King of Zamber. The heroes conferred with the King on the their possible move. Deciding to hear what the trapped souls of Lyssa and Adeline, Grindstaff's wife and daughter, respectively, had to say, Beatrix used her Divine Intervention, to which an aspect of Sol replied, freeing the souls from the gem long enough to converse with the R&B. Lyssa was sad to have been murdered and missed her husband, but was also deeply disappointed to hear that her dear Viktor had taken such a dark turn due to her and her daughter's murder. Her soul stated that she preferred to not be reincarnated into another body and feared that she had been dead too long to reclaim her life. She also expressed concern about how much Viktor had changed, both physically and emotionally, over the last quarter-century.   Unsure what to do with the Soul gems now that they had them, they decided to meet up with Brutal and see if she had any insight on the whereabouts of the Undying and what Houston had done with them. Beatrix also Communed with Sol and the party learned that the Undying were NOT in Seavale.   After being teleported successfully to the village of Tredway on Terra Main, they met up with a fleeing Brutal and offered to take her with them back to Zamber. Wishing to escape Houton's wrath she readily agreed. The Red & Black then teleported back to Zamber to plan their next moves.