Session 37

The Knot spends the next few moments with the infernal contract devil, questioning him.  Trying to get him to reveal who he worked for to no avail.  In the end, the Knot reluctantly took his advice.  Though they expressed their concern for trading one master for another, they agreed.  They would overthrow Cardinal Thorn after they dealt with the King.

After Dessiter returned to Hell, the Knot made a quick inventory of the island's resources.

They did notice one of the oread guards they had temporarily paralyzed in an earlier fight was missing.  Yvainne scryed on him, to find the guard waiting in some army camp.  Fear descended on the Knot as they realized the Copper Dragon, before he died, had sent a warning to the King.  As the Knot panicked to act, they saw two shroud members they had hiding with the King's army sneak up behind the oread and assassinate him.  Grabbing a parcel off his dead corpse and fleeing before anyone realized.

The Knot had a group of competent minions... they were moving up in the world.

With the island explored & the immediate loose end dealt with, the Knot rushes off to Charmagon with their copper dragon head in tow.

Their meeting with Charmagon was both scary, brief and rewarding.  The massive beast rejoiced at the sight of the head of his adversary.  He was so pleased he "gifted" the Knot with his "welp" of a son.  Jaratheon Knightsbane howled with displeasure, until his father nearly ripped out his throat.  The black dragon fled & cowered from his father behind the Ninth Knot.  The great worm rumbled at in 2 weeks, on the night of the new moon, he'd strike the capital.  Then he rumbled the Knot leave him & never bother him again.  The Knot didn't need to be shown the exit, they quickly managed to get out.

The Knot spent a couple days making the island their own.  They were quick to start relocating their minions to their new headquarters.  Wasyli catalogued and marveled at the massive volume of books. But they were on a tight deadline so they left it to their minions to prepare the island.

The Knot traveled to the capital.  Their minions had already prepared the manor house, whose deed they had "acquired" in the ruins of Daveryn.

Settling in, the Knot quickly gets the lay of the land in the City.  They find some conflicting rumors about the Princess, but they focus more on how to get Yvainne an invite into the King's Palace.

She managed to con her way into an invite into the servants out-building.  But realizes she'll be unable to do an actual servants job during the day, without bursting into flames.  Quell though managed to land a job as a Cook's assistant and start to gather information about the residents of the keep.  But not actual entrance into the main keep.

Meanwhile, the Knot struggled to get more information and an invitation for Yvainne.  In the end, the Knot, reluctantly, settle on calling Wasyli's "Aunt", the Baroness of Veryn.

They meet the Baroness at her small estate in the capital.  After pleasantries are exchanged, and refreshments are served, Wasyli asks her to help.  They need into the royal palace.  Asking what the problem is, Yvainne pipes up.  "It's an undead problem..."  The baroness nods in understanding.  With a smile she responds "For you, I'm sure it can be arraigned.  Just tell me how soon and I'll make it happen."

Session 36

Faced with a nay-indestructible foe, the Knot decided to try to stall the dragon, while they tried to find and rescue Quell.

Brother Summit, Wasyli and Trik rushed back into the massive dome structure, leaving Emmerick, Mardus and Yvainne behind to hold off the beast.

Wasyli and Trik tried to keep up, but Brother Summit rushed on ahead.  Under his breath Wasyli said "He's getting too far ahead..."

Brother Summit rushed up the stairs and found Quell, in rags, chained to the wall.  Two crystal gargoyles guarding him.  Summit, out of breath, braced for an attack, only to look on in horror as he saw one of the gargoyles turn on their unarmed, restrained prisoner and shred him under their claws.

The other gargoyle, making sure their ward was dead, then pushed on to engage in the Monk.

By the time Wasyli & Trik arrived, Quell was beyond even a breath of life.  Still, revenge was had.  Both crystal gargoyles soon were nothing but chunks of rock.

Meanwhile, outside the remaining Knot was faced with a daunting task.  Then Emmerick had an idea.  The anti-paladin grabbed the unconscious and bleeding Rakshasa and placed Helbrand at her throat.

The Dragon stopped his attack & growled.

Mardus asked to stabilize her and got permission to get outside the anti-magic field and stop the bleeding while Emmerick tried to get the Dragon to offer his life for that of his concubine.  A low rumbling growl was the only response he got.

A quite but tense banter developed between the Anti-Paladin and the Copper Dragon.  In the end, the anti-paladin and fire oracle of Hell do what they do best.  Agree to a pact.  They offer to free the Rakshasa, if they can simply leave with their elf.  The catch, the Rakshasa has to leave and never return to the island of Talengarde.  And the Knot will not return for two days, to give the Dragon time to send her off to another plane.  The Dragon agrees, with an addendum.  The Elf can never return to the island, so long as he still draws breath.

A dagger to bleed the two followers of Hell and the paw of the copper beast followed by a shake was enough to seal the deal.

By the time the dragon and anti-paladin arrive, they find Quell and the gargoyles dead.  Still, the deal was struck.  The Knot hand over the Rakshasa and leave.

Over the three days the Knot collects a large number of vials of alchemical reagents, preparing an elaborate trap of using telekinesis to hurl vials through the anti-magic field.  Also using dark magic, they bind a vicious barbed devil to their service.  And raising Quell from the dead, even though they'll have to keep him on the bench.

Returning, the Knot wastes no time in assaulting the top of the dome, melting the roof, revealing their target, the Copper dragon.  Though he's not alone, his tree-woman concubine is back from the dead and with him.

The battle is joined.  And their plan is never able to be executed.

A fire storm from Mardus forced the dragon up next to the waiting Knot.  His joke about "third time, still not very charming" falls on deaf ears as the Knot unloads on the dragon.  Brother Summit, Emmerick, all of the Knot attacked in coordination.  In a matter of seconds, before the Dragon could even respond with an anti-magic field, he falls under the blows of the Barbed Devil.  Falling back down into the roaring inferno below.

Mardus still tried to telekinesis a dozen vials at the tree-woman, and didn't even get close.  Still, Wasyli dimensional anchored the tree woman, and Emmerick made short work of her, sending her after her lover into the fires of hell.

With the island theirs, they began to explore.  Yvainne confidently flying down into the Dome.  The vampire rejoicing in her new "home".

With the Dragon dead, Wasyli left to grab Quell and return.  With the Knot reformed, they quickly explores the Dome complex, finding many, many items of interest.  Massive, magically controlled stone figures comprising a chess set, dozens of book about all kinds of oddities and other strange items.  By far the greatest find was figuring out the riddle to move the Queens of the Chess Set to open the vault of the ancient dragon.

Within the treasure horde they found two items of great interest.  The first, the pommel of Helbrand, which Emmerick quickly attached to his blade.  The second, a suspended skull floating in a jar, a Demi-Lich...

Before the Knot fully cataloged their find, they return to the Dome and are greeted with slow clapping.  There, standing in the middle of the massive chess set is the contract devil, Dessiter.

In a very matter-of-fact voice, the Devil says what the Ninth Knot already feared.  What Emmerick had been saying since they first broke out of Branderscar Prison over a year ago.  Cardinal Thorn was about to betray them.  When they finish their mission, and the King of Talengarde lays dead.  Tiadora will come and summon them to the High Cardinal of Asmodeus in Talengarde and there.  In his throne room of his secret fortress far to the north.  There, Cardinal Thorn will kill them all.  They will have the wicked reward they so justly deserve.

Silence descends...

Session 35

The Knot, magical invisibility in place, began their search & destroy mission.

Lacking a magical window in a vale, Wasyli simply disintegrated a hole into the roof of the wooden side building.  The Knot explored, expecting combat.  All they found was an empty building devoted to art work depicting the Rakshasa's life.  And a large number of abandoned empty barrack bunks.

It seems their earlier assault thinned the ranks of the island's inhabitants more than expected.

The Knot returned to the roof, their invisibility magic starting to fade.  They spotted patrol of crystal gargoyles coming.  Mardus dropped an illusion and the knot waited until the patrol passed by.  After they were gone, the Knot rushed on and found a secluded garden and a secluded pond.

Their magic about to run out, the Knot ambushed one of the patrols near the middle of the island, high in the air.  One of the gargoyles rushed away to alert others, only to be disintegrated into a pile of dust.  The other one staggered under the blows of the Knot.  Mardus readied a telekinesis spell and as the crystal gargoyle fell, Mardus acted to catch the large form and gently float it to the ground.  The patrol was destroyed, and nary a sound was made.

The Knot picked another spot, this time forced to stay low to the ground, using Wasyli to bend shadows to hid them.  As the second crystal gargoyle patrol flew nearby and the Knot struck.  This time, the range proved problematic.

One gargoyle fled away.  It reached the large domed building and reached for the door, only to be hit with a destruction spell.  Then the other gargoyle fled as well.  It too reached for the door, only to get killed with a burst of magical energy and slumped over.

The Knot quickly grabbed the gargoyle corpses and dumped them into a river stream.

With the obvious threats eliminated the Knot considered their options.

They decide to bait a response and hide to see the response they get.  The bait came in the form of a handful of fire seeds bursting, turning the garden trees into a roaring inferno.  The Knot had to wait a few minutes before they heard the roaring "Invaders!" call to ring out and an angry dragon followed by two concubines emerged from the domed building.

Seeing an opportunity to sneak in, Yvainne stone shaped a hole into the building, only to get stuck, unable to enter.  Sighs rang out from the Knot.  Their vampire friend hadn't been invited in and the dome structure was a private dwelling, it's inhabitant very much alive, if the roaring was any indication.  Beyond they saw a massive set of chess pieces, the size befitting a huge dragon and the open doors.  The dolphin concubine looking away, trying to summon her water elemental.

Forced to improvise, the Knot resorted to a direct assault.  Yvainne started to circle around the outside of the massive building, as the rest of the Knot rushed past massive stone chess pieces.  They managed to blast the concubine and disrupt her summoning and causing her to call out in pain.  Alerting her dragon mate and his Rakshasa lover.

The Knot clashed against the dragon and his women.  A joke about the Knot being assassins of Kings, and how assassins somehow fit "ass" in their names twice made some of the Knot burst into laughter, but they managed to all recover eventually.

With only 2 concubines, and no crystal gargoyles or oreads, along with a massive complement of powerful magical buffs, the fight starts off better.  The Knot is able to land devastating blows on the Dragon.  But the beast kept falling back and getting healing from his concubines.  So the Knot shifted strategy.

Emmerick and Brother Summit try to dodge around, avoiding a full pummeling from the beast as they took hits on his women.  The mermaid angel is the first to fall.  Emmerick and Brother Summit are quick to ensure she doesn't get back up.

Shortly after that the Rakshasa goes unconscious under multiple blows.  Though Summit does get beat up pretty bad by the Dragon, forced to rely on healing from Trik.

Seeing his two concubines go down, the dragon resorts to his last line of defense.  He brings up an anti-magic field.  Emmerick & Brother Summit feel their magical buffs fail.  Even Emmerick's smiting turns off.

The Knot gets quite for a second as the dragon roars.  Stripped of magical buffs and gear, the prospect of fighting the massive dragon turns into a scary proposition indeed...