Session 57

Eric the wizard surveyed the battlefield.  Most of his friends dead on the field of battle.  His spells almost all depleted.  The Shroud still mostly up.  He had no choice.  With a sorrowed look, the evoker cast his prepared teleportation spell to get himself, the dead Brother Donnigan and the paralyzed Ghalee.  He did give a parting magic missile on the fallen form of Quell, but with the shield other in affect, the rogue was barely able to survive.

The ranger, high above saw the wizard flee and with her fly spell still up, fled as well, flying up & over the top of the spire, out of sight.

Brother Summit looked ready to go after her, but the order was given to fall back.  The dragon was stirring and the Shroud was down a third of their strength.  Mardus brought the Shroud back to the pocket plane.  Once there they quickly got Yvainne back in her coffin where Emmerick used his negative energy to bring her back up while Mardus used a positive energy to restore Quell & the other living members of the Shroud.

A quick restoring of magical protections and the Shroud was back on the battlefield.  They wanted to go help their devil ally against the Solar.

But as they reached the battlefield, in the brief five minutes they were away the battle had changed considerably.  Two massive silver dragons flew in the air above the battle.  The Eye of Vitra-Kali shone true in Yvainne's mind.  One of the dragons was the Princess, polymorphed into that shape.  But it didn't matter to the soldiers.  Far below the Shrouds forces were breaking.  The Dragons were destroying the forces that crossed the bridge.  The King's flanking force fled across the bridge in terror.  It was turning into a rout.

Thankfully the mother & daughter team were avoiding the main fight where the Solar & Pit Fiend were last spotted.

The Pit Fiend would have to fend for himself, the Shroud wasted no time, their target was out in the open.  It was time to end this war, once and for all.

The Shroud considered their approach.  The Dragons were close to the spire still.  The ranger could be a factor.  The Shroud considered coming in from that direction, but Summit spoke up, saying he could use his Ki to shadow step to engage with the ranger if she showed up again.

So the Shroud moved with haste to stop the rout of their troops and rushed the Dragons head on.

They focused on the colossal mother.  Emmerick provided a group smite good to all the Shroud.  With the powerful boon in place, Summit led the way, getting right up to the dragon & laying down a vicious flurry of smiting blows.  In his zeal, the monk used up all but his last reserve of Ki.  Cursing his over enthusiasm, he called out saying he could not go and engage the ranger should she show up.

Almost immediately after that, the Ranger started long range sniping Emmerick.  Emmerick shrugged it off and pushed onto the mother, landing a powerful blow.  Quell and Mardus joined him.  Soon the dragon was surrounded.

Wasyli landed a quickened critical hit of enervation onto the daughter & tried to Trap the Soul on her, but somehow she managed to shrug it off.  The daughter then cast timestop along with a succession of delayed blast fireballs and buffered herself up.  Fighting her would be like the fight with the wizard, only compounded by the fact that she had form of the dragon up.

Some in the Shroud groaned.  Still, their primary target was the Mother.  The massive silver dragon tried to get out of flank & managed to land some damage on the group however, she didn't get far enough away.  Quell managed to land a succession of smiting sneak attacks, followed by Emmerick doing a dizzying number of smites.

The mother dragon was dripping blood all over, the Shroud could not understand how she could still be up.  Until Wasyli remembered that powerful Silver Dragons can sometimes even shrug off death for a round, to go down in a blaze of glory.  And he would have none of that.  He landed a Trap the Soul.  And sucked the dragon into his gem, still clinging to life, and now in a permanent state of suspended animation.

The Ranger continued to snipe the Shroud until Mardus turned and cast Telekinesis and yanked her bow from her hands.  Unfortunately for her, it was at that exact same time that two dark and brooding shapes came up over the spire behind her.  Nibarius and his lackey were victorious over the Solar it seemed.  Quell gave an almost sad look.  "She doesn't even have her bow to fight them."  He said.  And as he turned away, he saw the devil's pounce on her.  Her screams were barely audible above the thunderous rumble of the battle.

Summit tried to hit the dragon princess and kept struggling with the combination of concealment and mirror image as did Quell & Emmerick.  And one point Emmerick, with Helbrand in a vorpral state, managed to take off a head, but it turned out to be the head of a mirror image.  Still, they did some damage, but then the Princess rained down delayed blast fireballs and in her state of fiery body healed most of her wounds.

Yvianne though could see her clearly in the green taint of the Eye of Vitra-Kali.  She transformed herself into a dragon with form of the dragon.  And stepped forward.  The vampire dragon shrouded in darkness with a gleaming pin-prick of green light shining out enveloped the Princess in her shadows.

The yelling and screaming could be heard loudly.  There was a moment of silence after that followed by the sound of Yvainne casting soul bind.  The army far below looked up & saw the lifeless form of the princess falling down to the battlefield below.  Her soul trapped in a gem resting on Yvainne's cold, unmoving chest.

Nibarius flew over to the Shroud, his claws stained with angel blood.

And far below heroes from all across the Inner Sea saw Hell triumphant against Heaven.  Talengarde would be in the grips of fiends for the foresee future.

The overwhelming armies of the undisputed King of Talengarde wasted no time in clearing the battlefield.

The Shroud returned at the head of their victorious army to the capital.  There were no celebrations, no peasants throwing flowers at the feet of the triumphant.  Just silence.  A still city.  A scared city.  Many faithful Mitrians had quietly prayed for the return of the Princess.  Knowing she was still alive out there.  And return she did.  Only to die.  No one was left to save them from their new King and his fiends.

At the old palace the King's entourage received a warmer welcome.  The Quisling court of the King heaped praise on their absolute monarch.  Many spoke of a grand triumphant celebration.  But something was different this time.  This time, their praise and kind words were undercut with something else.  Fear.  For the forces of Hell had found a new home.  Talengarde.

The End

Session 56

The Shroud sets off for their final battle.  Enveloping themselves in a variety of powerful divination magics and setting off to their first target, the Titan.

The massive brute was moving onto the bridge, trampling over man & beast alike.  As the Shroud moved in, Wasyli spotted an invisible Ghaele backing him up.  And he, along with Yvainne & Quell spotted the Princess off in the distance, commanding the heart of her army on the other side of the river.  Wasyli sounded a silent prayer to the Lord of Hell that his King did not see her.  For the rash Emmerick would have simply flown over the river & attacked her directly.  And the Lich sorcerer feared they'd relive history, as the old Barca king fell to the Markadian rebel in a similar maneuver.

Wasyli called out the Ghaele.  Yvainne was angry she could not she the creature.  So the vampire priestess of death made the only logical choice & gouged out her own eye & stuffed the massive emerald Eye of Vitra-Kali into the open socket.  The true seeing let her see the Ghaele.  And also see the Princess is actually Lord Havelyn.  She shouted out that the Princess was actually Havelyn.

Emmerick barked out "Where!"  His eyes glaring out across the field of battle, looking for them.  But before he could find anything, the Titan spotted the King & his allies & surged forward.  The King turned his attention to the matter at hand.

The huge creature stomping any soldier who stood in his way while his Ghaele companion called out for him to stop, but the Titan would have none of it.  He was going straight for the King.

He was greeted by the full might & fury of the Shroud.  Quell & Mardus moved forward, steel in hand.  Quell landing a powerful flanking attack.  Then Emerick took one step forward and slashed Helbrand back and forth.  The steel biting through the flesh of the titan.  The flashing of steel stopped as the blade was coated in Titan blood.  With a groan, the Titan fell forward.  The bridge shook as the massive creature fell before the King of Talengarde.

The Ghalee looked on in horror as in under a matter of seconds, her ally was dead.  She finally started to fumble with her backpack & got out some odd looking device.  Brother Summit shadow stepped right next to her & she quickly fell under his flurry of blows.

In under ten seconds, the Shroud was victorious.  Then off in the distance two objects came hurtling down from the sky.  But it was no angelic being coming from the Heavens.  It was instead two fiery meteor like objects.  Yet the flames were half fire, half pitch black.  There was no doubt.  The pit fiend had arrived.  The fiend & his companion landed in the heart of the battle between the two major armies.  There, near the last sighting of the Solar, the forces of Hell would be bolstered.

Quell paused a moment to collect some of the blood of the Titan.  He felt his ring try to overpower him and force him to drench it in the blood.  But with an Iron Will, Quell resisted the urge & put the vial of blood in his pocket instead before he & the rest of the Shroud quickly ducked back into their army as it surged forward across the bridge.  The six of them using the speed of the fight along with the number of their soldiers to stealth away.

With no apparent response forthcoming, the Shroud considered their next move.  Emmerick demanded to know about the Princess & Havelyn.  Wasyli & Yvainne filled him in.  But they were split on what to do.  The Pit Fined would have a hard fight against a Solar.  Even with an ally & the larger army.  But others argued to strike at Havelyn now.  While they had such a good opportunity.

As they argued, Emmerick got his Black Dragon, mounted it & said simply that the discussion was over.  He was going off to kill Havelyn.  And before waiting for a response, took off and started to fly across the river.  The rest of the Shroud rushed to follow their bold and crazy leader.

So, like the battle eighty years ago that happened in the same location, the Barcan King would fly across the lake & do battle with the Darian usurpers.  But that was were the similarities with history ended.

The Shroud, led by Emmerick swooped down into the heart of the enemy army and right in front of Havelyn.  As the fight began, the rest of the Sons of Balentyne moved forward from where they were hiding amongst the regular soldiers.

The wizard Eric had a powerful wish cast ahead of time.  He wished to go first in the Son's battle with the Shroud.  And it worked.  The evocer opened up by stripping some of the Shroud of their Resist Energy: Fire before casting timestop and buffing himself with displacement, mirror image and a host of other buffs.  As well as leveling the area in delayed blast fireballs.  As the damage piled up, Yvainne was sorely regretting the shield other spells she had cast on Quell & Emmerick.  As she felt the powerful fire magic burn her to a crisp.

Emmerick & Havelyn slowly moved forward, powering themselves up as they went.

Yvainne dropped her protection of Emmerick as she frantically tried to heal herself.  Unfortuantely for her, the hidden Ranger started to rain down arrows from over a thousand feet away from her hiding spot on the spire.  And her target was Quell.  Yvainne & Quell shared the pain as he was shot over & over again.

Mardus quickly got the resist energy: fire back up & had to start healing his companions too, as they continued to take more damage.

Wasyli tried to strip Eric the Wizard, but the Evoker had Spell Turning up, just as Wasyli did.  A powerful resonance was formed and the spell failed.  After that Wasyli focused on readying to Greater Dispel Magic whatever the wizard would try next.  And he did, as the next time the Wizard tried to remove the Shroud's fire resistance, Wasyli dispelled it.  The Sorcerer & Wizard got in a stalemate with their arcane magic countering each other.

Brother Donnagin followed with Havelyn & blasted Yvainne with a sunburst hoping to destroy the vampire outright.  But she managed to survive the blast.

Emmerick moved forward and taunted Havelyn calling out.  "Come here!"

Havelyn have him a grimace and responded "Not yet" before he moved past the King and savaged into the already floundering Yvainne.  Brother Donnagin following behind & bursting positive energy.  Under the combined assault the undead priestess was teetering.

The Shroud's cleric was badly hurt.  However, the Shroud was exercising the same maneuver.  Brother Summit shadow stepping next to the Cleric of Mitra & beating him down blow after blow.  Quell tried to get in on the fight, but was still getting badly hurt by the never ending rain of Arrows falling down on him.

Mardus rushed in and cast waves of ecstasy.  It was enough to stagger the Paladin & Cleric if nothing else.  And that gave Yvainne enough time to flee & try to heal herself and while at it, she managed to use unholy word to blind, deafen & stun the Ghaele, removing her from the fight.  And made it to Quell in time to see the rogue fall under another barrage of arrows.

Lord Havelyn, staggered, with Yvainne out of reach, turned to meet Emmerick.  "It it time false King!"  Emmerick gave a wicked grin  "Not yet" and he stepped past the Paladin and slashed Brother Donnagin over and over again.  Helbrand drenched in the blood of the holy man.  When Emmerick was done, the Priest lay dead on the ground.

Emmerick then turned to meet Havelyn, with Mardus backing him up.

Before Yvainne could bring her rogue friend up, both of them got blasted by another fireball from Eric.  The damage was enough to cause Yvainne to revert to her gaseous form, as the vampire had taken too much damage.  Quell would surely have been dead but for his Ring, which having been charged with the blood of a fiend, was granting the elven rogue immunity to fire.

Emmerick was blind to the plight of his allies.  He and Helbrand were blood drunk.  He advanced on Havelyn, Mardus & Brother Summit there backing him up.  And the King of Talengarde killed his third enemy of the day.  For when he was done, the Paladin lay dead on the ground.  To make sure the paladin would not be rescued, Mardus stuffed his body into his large bag of holding.

With three of the five sons of Balentyne lay dead, only two of the six Shroud had fallen the Ranger knew what was coming.  She had but a moment to act, so she reached into her handy haversack and quickly removed her magical rocket, the same kind as the Titan and Ghaele had at the bridge.  But this time, she was able to fire it off.

It burst overhead, in a shower of sparks & fire.  As the booming faded, it was replaced by the low roar of a Dragon.

Session 55

The Shroud considers what last minute moves they need to make before the final battle.  Quell urges they return to the Kraken and slay it.  They have no need for it and it's titan-tainted blood would power his ring.  The rest of the group was unsure.  Attacking a Kraken under water, in it's lair, still seemed too much of a risk.  Quell was unhappy but deferred to the ruling of the group.

One concession the group made was that perhaps the killing of a fiend might help and there were some on the group, like Wassili that were worried about the presence of powerful angels.  Perhaps by contacting their patron, the Pit Fiend Naburus, they could garner a favor by dealing with a rival and get his help, along with a more powerful ring.

A sending to the Fourth Marquee of Misery returned a positive response & the quick arrival of the contract devil Dessiter to spirit the Shroud to the pocket plane that was the Pit Fiend's lair.

The Shroud put forth a rousing case for help from the Pit Fiend with Yvainne leading the way.  Highlighting among other things, that divine agents would be arrayed against them, and that if they won, Hell would hold Talengarde forever.

In the end, the words of the Shroud rang true in the ears of the Fiend.  The Fourth Marque of Misery would come and aid them in the final battle.

The Shroud went on to ask if he had any minor rivals that needed to be eliminated.  They had an artifact ring they wished to power up.  The Marque was surprised, but he mentioned a minor bone devil who was hassling some of his agents.  Not a caring leader, he had no interest in intervening to help his underlings, but if the Shroud needed something to slaughter, that was an option.

But he further urged caution on the ring.  It was a powerful artifact, that if fully powered, would summon it's Titan master.  And further, even increasing it's power a little might corrupt it's wearer.  The Shroud took the Pit Fiend's warnings under advisement and left.

Once back in the capital, Wasyli cast a powerful wish spell that would alert the Shroud if the Sons teleported into Talengarde.  During the following week the Shroud considered what to do about the noblewoman interested in their King.  They announced an engagement, but decided they would not have time for a proper wedding.

And that proved correct, for at the end of the week, the wish alert triggered.  Their scouts were placed on heightened alert.  But they still failed to see any major enemy troop movements over the next day.  So, the Shroud prepared their final ploy by marshelling their remaining soldiers in the capital and prepared to leave the following day.

That night, on the eve of their departure, Emmerick woke to the sounds of combat and his bedroom door crashing open.  There, standing in the doorway was the High Inquisitor of Mitra.  His inquisition allies assaulting Emmerick's royal body guards as he rushed into the room.

The guards tried to push their way in, one managing to get into the room to the Kings side as others tripped the inquisitors outside.  But the High Inquisitor was all over Emmerick, slashing him with his powerful blade as Emmerick touched him with his touch of corruption causing the inquisitor to wince in pain.  Before long Brother Summit and Wasyli responded to the sounds of combat, teleporting in.

Wasyli cast suffocation and at first it seemed like the Inquisitor would shrug off the effects, but then he finally fell down, chocking.  Emmerick stepped over the chocking High Inquisitor, still in his nightshirt, as other inquisitors fell and gave a speech to his guards.  Thanking the one guard for rushing through attacks to come to his aid.  Wasyli gave a dour look and Brother Summit rolled his eyes at it as the other Shroud members came rushing with more guards to quite the odd scene.  And no one noticed the High Inquisitor, ignored, slowly suffocate to death.

The following morning the King was roused to alerts from across the city.  Angels were spotted flying above the skies over the capital.  Four planetars in total, preaching the return of the Princess and the end of the wicked false rule of the usurper.

The shroud readied themselves and then Emmerick strode out onto his balcony overlooking the old palace in the heart of the city.  From there he called out the Angels as they flew by.  The angels turned & sneered at the King before drawing steel and swooping down on the monarch as the rest of the Shroud burst out onto the balcony met them.

Wasyli cast fly on everyone and Emmerick & Brother Summit flew and twirled into the air, clashing with the leading angel as another came down onto the balcony.  Another angel cast Holy Aura on it's allies and the last brought a blade barrier down over the doorway.  Yvainne managed to dismiss one of the angels immediately back to it's home plane as Quell ducked through the blades & struck the angel on the balcony, only to be blinded by it's holy aura.  He then had to blindly flee back into the castle where the vampire priestess was waiting in the dark to heal him.  Blindly dodging spinning blades in the process.  The death priestess restored his sight and told him to get back out there & forcefully shoved him back through the blades, the rogue had to jump & weave out of the way as he was pushed back through.

By the time Quell got back out there, he was shocked to see the Angels all destroyed.  Wasyli had used his magic to rend into the Angels.  While Brother Summit & Emmerick had savaged them with blades.  But Mardus was a sight, enlarged & taking on a celestial aspect himself.  Whatever the commoners must have though is hard to say, an Angel fighting along side the King against four other angels.  What they saw for sure was, the four angels all falling to the ground far below.  Destroyed by the King & the might of the Shroud.

With the angels out of the way, Emmerick rallied his army & marched from the city with much fanfare.  And as soon as they were out of sight, they marched their forces straight into Mardus' pocket plane.

The bait worked as planned.  Within a day scouts reported seeing an army emerge from the forest, apparently from a massive slopped earthwork underground entrance that showed up overnight.  And the fears of the Shroud were realized.  The army included not only the Sons, but some kind of Titan, the Princess, her dragon mother & some sort of powerful angel, likely a Solar of Mitra.

The only small benefit, the actual size of the army was relatively small.  In fact, only a fifth the size of Emmerick's large host.  And very few resistance or freedom fighters flocked to the Princess' white unicorn banner.  Still, it was small army & it was quickly moving toward the capital.

The Shroud used the pocket plane to drop a quarter of their army to guard a choke point on a bridge while they used the rest to flank the army from the other side of the river.  As the Princesses forces started to push on the bridge, the flank army moved in.  Splitting the Princesses forces with the Titan and a small force of fighters moving on the bridge head, the Angel leading the host toward the large battle on the open field and the Dragon apparently no were to be seen.

The pieces in place, the Shroud prepared to move.  Yvainne requesting a miracle from the midnight lord to be clocked in night and as she walked into the morning sunlight her form and the area around her turned pitch black.  The Lord of Darkness heard her prayer.

Would the Lord of Hell hear the prayers of his followers & deliver Emmerick victory.  Or would it be the pleas of Mitra that would finally be heard.

It was time to find out.

Session 54

The King and his allies were ready for a fight, but with most of the druids tense towards each other and not the King's entourage, the Shroud kept their cool.

Mardus & Wasyli started with asking questions and soon it became clear.  The druids council had ordered, by virtue of Emmerick fulfilling the prophesy, that all druids of their order were to stand down & back the King's reign.  And Brunhild, with great reluctance agreed.

But, the Shroud was still worried and that fear was confirmed with Quell pointed out a magical sensor on Brunhild.  The druid calmly explained her friends didn't trust the King & feared for her safety.  Yvainne was quick to retort that they would not talk to her until it was gone.  Brunhild seemed indifferent to that.  But the Druid leadership was quick to intercede & offered to dispel magic it and ended the effect.

The Shroud tensed waiting for an attack, but with none present they resumed questioning Brunhild.

She offered little new information.  Save two important details.  One being that the great worm silver dragon mother of the Princess was saying with her daughter.  And that the Princess was likely to prepare for war in a few months.

The Shroud considered their next move.  Reluctant to anger the druids but also fearful of Brunhild sowing descent in the ranks of their new allies, the Shroud contemplated the options.  The majority of the Shroud urged to leave her be & great relief was felt when the brash King agreed.  So long as she was watched.  Mardus & Yvainne pointed out a "protection" detail could be assigned to protect her from her former allies.  Though they would likely never attack her, it would a palpable excuse.

So, the King and his allies prepared to leave the druids.  But still were a bit reluctant of their hold on them.  So the King decided to do one more grand hunt.  This time the King & his party would capture & kill the legendary Black Unicorn of the Caer Bryr.  And they managed to do it.  Relaying on tracking, divination and abjuration magic.

The feat was considerable, but having already vanquished the terror of the Caer Bryr & fulfilling the prophecy, it wasn't as grand.  Still, it seemed to please the druid leaders, even if it antagonized a minority group of good druids.

With the confirmation on the absence of the great silver matriarch the Shroud decided to mount a raid on her lair.  It took a bit to find the location, but the powerful Shroud managed to locate her sanctum none-the-less.

Arriving in the barren peaks of the frozen North the Shroud used powerful magics to sneak into the lair.  And there, they used the greatest rogue in Talengarde, Quell, and walked through every trap, found every secret door and thoroughly explored the area.  Unfortunately, the lair was abandoned and aside from a bed of a ton of copper coins they found little of any real value.  Though, the diviners in the group did collect a scale from the dragon, in case it was needed for scrying.

The King and his allies returned to the capital to consider their next step.  Research into the dragon dug up some information about the Dwarves and their rivalry with the duergar.  If the crown could pick one, they might have a strong tool.  Mardus had his ally in the duergar and urged them to consider the value of the dark dwarves.  But others in the Shroud and in the Court urged the King to back the dwarves.  They were lawful, merchants and traders.  They would make good, taxable, loyal, subjects.

The King choose the dwarves.  He met with a prominent thane, Thane Turin.  Turin was quite surprised when the King offered him the opportunity of a life-time.  Bend a knee to the High King and become a King of his own.  The King of Dwarves.

Over the next month many titles and honors were handed out to the dwarves as a new mini-kingdom was formed under the watchful eye of High King Emmerick.

With the Dwarves organized, King Emmerick and an army of humans led the dwarves to their soon to be home.  The mountain city fortress of the duergar.  Mardus grumbled at the loss of the Duergar, but did the best he could.  He used his contact with the duergar to manipulate the dark dwarves & cause a coup.  By the time the dwarves arrived, the duergar defenses were in ruins and they easily stormed the city.  While a handful of duergar loyal to Mardus & the Crown were secretly evacuated and housed in the mountains in the savage north.

And the dwarven king was true to his word.  Soon the Crown was flowing with tax money & a unit of dwarves was available to be called on by the King.

The Shroud was ready.  They needed to finish off the Princess and her forces.  They were ready to end the threat to the throne and finally put an end to the doubts about their reign.

Then they came up with an idea.  They quickly contacted their frost giant allies.  The giants began raiding the borderlands and the Crown started raising the levies.  As exaggerated reports of attacks spread like wildfire.

All around the island the King's representatives rallied and started marching North.  But as soon as the soldiers got away from major population centers a portal would open to Mardus' ever expanding pocket plane.  And off the soldiers would go.  Ireans, Dwarves, Humans.  All the forces of the Crown.  Slowly disappearing as if they were all going far to the North.  With an added bonus that any sleeper resistance members would be stuck in another plane.  Unable to tell their allies what was happening.

While their forces appearing to head north, the Shroud left the capital lightly defended.  Yet, using chucks of the dragon's island, they made teleportation dead zones around the capital.  To force the Princesses forces to either sail to the island or teleport & rally farther away and march in the open to the capital.  The Shroud just needed enough time to assemble their army from their pocket plane.

And then the reports came in from the Sixth Vale hiding in Andoran.  The Princesses army was marshaling.  It was working.  Yet, there was a slight wrinkle.  No ships were being called.  The army would likely use teleportation magic.  So the shroud would not know the exact time of her arrival and their truce deal with the Kraken was useless.

Still, the King's army would be ready.  It's numbers swelling as Mardus continued to push to make the plane a massive luscious garden paradise for their forces.

Soon the final battle would be at hand.  The last chapter in the Shrouds road to be the undisputed rulers of Talengarde.

Session 53

The Shroud continued their discussions of the fate of the Duke.

Using illusion magics they spoke with the Duke's heir, to see if they had a suitable replacement with a sour relationship they could exploit.  What they found was a teenager angry at his confinement who knew little of the Duke's motives.

They discussed trying to get the Duke on board.  But Emmerick refused to let the Duke be his heir.  And they found likely little else to bribe the powerful noble with.

In the end, Emmerick resorted to blunt threats and stated the Duke would be "volunteering" half of his mercenaries to the Crown.

It was clear the Duke hated the order, and the man who gave it.  But backed in a corner with little options, he conceded.  Though he was quick to stick the Crown with the costs of keeping the forces.  And worse, the Duke said nothing, yet the rest of the Nobles in Talengarde were shocked and enraged at the King's flagrant disregard for the Noble class's right to protect themselves with "house-hold" guards.  At least all the Nobles save those backing the Crown already.

The ham-handed approach by the King alienated potential allies & emboldened enemies.  Much to the dislike of the rest of the Shroud.

It was the first sign of a totalitarian regime was forming and the nobles weren't thrilled.

The Shroud moved on to Daveryn where they held a brief ceremony to open the rebuilt city.  And while there, they offered the coveted post of Duke of Daveryn to Wasyli's "Aunt", Baroness Vanya of Veryn.  The Baroness was as surprised at the boon as she was quick to take it.  Even when Wasyli added the requirement that her secret magical alter be gifted to the Crown, the Baroness eagerly agreed & became a Duchess.

The tour finally arrived at their final destination, the village of Varyston, and the near-by prison of Branderscar.

As they reached the hotbed of resistance two events caught the Shroud by surprise.

The young boy, Stefan, who led the flock of children to the vale before being tricked by the Shroud into being a squire of the king, was dead.  Apparently he died in a horsing accident.  But a small part of the populous believe foul play.

But worse, the townsfolk showed signs of infection of the Tears.  And reports were cropping up from across the southern heartlands of the Tears returning.

The Shroud notified their organization and the other instruments of the Kingdom at their disposal to start quarantines & isolation as best they could.

Still, the death of Stefan seemed too convenient to have happened right after he arrived as a squire in the capital.  So as the order to quarantine went out the Shroud turned to investigate the death of the Stefan.  The propaganda and bolstering of the resistance seemed too perfect.  Mardus asked if perhaps it was a plot by the resistance.  Wasyli wondered as well.  Brother Summit suggested they go & do an investigation at the capital.  Yvainne offered a speak with dead to see if it was indeed murder and Mardus said they could raise him from the dead to show how good they were.

The Shroud continued to discuss if they thought it was murder & how they could tell until finally Emmerick spoke up.  "The divinations will show he was murdered."  Mardus responded "but how can you be so sure..."  "Oh I'm sure." responded the King.

The rest of the Shroud stood dumbfounded as realization set in.  Then thye broke out into angry argument at why the King would do it.  Even the death priestess said "But it was a boy!"  in horror.  Mardus too was particularly angry as he spend all the time to solve the problem, just to have it ruined.  Brother Summit mostly fumed with anger.

In the end the King was indifferent to their complaints.  He was King, the decision was done.  The potential future threat was neutralized.

The Shroud, angry though they may be at their seemingly blood-crazed King, turned to the matter at hand.  A bunch of plague infected political dissidents.

Spending some time speaking with the villagers they confirmed the majority of the town truly did hate Emmerick.  Though, since some of the Shroud felt the same way, they decided to show some unexpected mercy.  And instead of making an example of the town, they poured in resources to treat & aid the town.  Hoping that acts of kindness might stall the die-hard resistance movement.

In the end it helped the sentiment of the town a little, but not nearly as much as hoped.  And worse, it was doing nothing to stop the plague, as it became clear the plague originated further to the south.

With little good coming from their visit, the Shroud headed south and found the epicenter of the outbreak.  The town of Barrington, where there recently appointed Baron was located.

They found there the plague was rampant & already spreading to the surrounding areas.  Including from the great mass of children who visited the Vale of Valternae to see the sheppard boy, Stefan.

The Shroud tried to determine what happened.  Quell asked Yvainne if she still dominated the Baron and the vampire confirmed she did.  But the Death Priestess also pointed out that at no time did her thrall alert her to the outbreak or it's severity.  Further investigation revealed the Mayor and some other public figures tried to be overly caution early on & issue a quarantine only to have the Baron dismiss them as overly worried and instead only implementing half-hearted efforts.  Instead saying that trade & tax revenue would be adversely impacted.

In the end, the half-measures were not enough, the plague spread like wild-fire all across the land.  The town would be nearly impossible to save, as would the Kingdom unless the Shroud could do something, and something big.

The Death Priestess pointed out she could not cast a miracle to stop it as her god would likely be in favor of the plague.  And Mardus too questioned if Asmodeus would step in.

Then they had a stroke of genius.  The anti-plague plague.  The one that the great worm silver dragon made.  It saved the island before, perhaps it could be used again.  They are quick to find some of the commoners they found who had it before.  But the disease seemed to have died off after killing the Tears off.  Perhaps some might still live, but it didn't look promising.  Still an unorthodox option was available.

Resurrect the disease.  It was a risky move as the spell might fail.  But with the death and agony all across the island, the King had little choice.  Mardus cast the spell & managed to be successful.

Starting at the epicenter of Barrington & spreading out from there, the anti-plague worked wonders.  All rejoiced save one.  The death priestess was worried, she wanted to preserve a Tear.  It was too glorious of a gift to let die off yet again.  But the rest of the Shroud would not have it loose on the island.  So they came up with a clever idea.  They took two beggars, one infected with the Tears, the other with the cure and the turned to stone both of them.

The cure statue was stored safely by the forces of Asmodeus, the Tears statue was stored by the forces of Zon-Kuthon.

Finally the Shroud managed to break a string of bad luck & celebrate the end of their grand tour in peace at the capital.

The old Palace was alive for the next week as a great feast was held in the honor of the warrior King Emmerick and his conquest of all the isles.  And a new holiday was celebrated, Unification Day, so the commoners, still recovering from the ravages of the Tears could enjoy something.

During the feasting, the members of the Shroud noticed something interesting.  This was the first time in a year the King was finally back at the Palace hosting social entertainment and all around were young single noble lady's.  One radiant foreign beauty caught even the eye of the normally dour King.  The Lady Jezerael Della Torre, a woman from a powerful merchant house from the decadent lands of Taldor.

Still, the Kings advisor's did worry about getting sucked into the politics of another major power of the Inner Sea.  Still, in theory it was safer than the deal Galen tried to make for them with Cheliax.  But the King wasn't quick to push the issue, instead fine with a more prolonged courtship.  As he considered his options so he kept Lady Jezerael a little at arms length.

After the banquet & party were over, the King returned to the duties of ruler-ship.  And with Count Barca in his ear, he turned his attention to his old Knighthood, the Knights of the Alerion Order.  It was little work to gather a group of men to storm the chapter house in the capital.  Still, the King wanted to be there himself, and so he & the Shroud gathered a force & politely arrived at the Chapter house to see what they could find.

There Emmerick came face to face with his old leader, the Knight Commander Errol Greymantle.  Errol didn't bother with pleasantries, instead drawing steel & attacking his accursed student.  Emmerick blocked the attack with his shield & didn't bother even drawing Helbrand, instead simply touching the old man & and doubling him over with nausea and pain.  And then his casters mentally controlled him & forced him to reveal all his secrets before being handed over to Yvainne's "tender" care.

And those secrets were nothing short of the entire roll of Knights still on the islands.  What followed was a purge of all the knights of the Alerion order.  And of course what would the Crown do with all that Knighthood gear.  Well, give it to their good friend, Count Barca & the Knights of the Griffon.  If the Princess ever did return to her island, she'd find no help from any Knights.

Shortly after that, the King got an odd message.  A song bird found the King.  The woodland creature delivered a message from the Druids of Taigh Eolach.  The King should come.  And quickly.

The Shroud worried it might be a trap so they came prepared. What they found surprised them.  There, in the court of the druids was Brunhild Sturmdottir.  The druid who attacked them at the Horn.  Twice.  And who was last known to be travelling with the Sons of Balentyne & the Princess herself.  And she did not look happy.

Session 53

The shroud, coming off their glorious triumph, both political and military, in unifying the Isles heard a disturbing rumor.  Apparently thousands of children were flocking to the Vale of Valtaerna.  Led by some Sheppard boy named Stefan.

So close to the Vale, the King had to halt the Tour near the gates of Ghastenhall & investigate himself.

Arriving covertly what the Shroud found surprised them.  It was indeed thousands of children all praying to Mitra to "save them" from the rule of King Emmerick and his Asmodeans.  The King noted they could just slaughter them.  But the rest of the Shroud advised Emmerick against such a brash action.

Instead they infiltrated the crowds during the day, leaving behind their vampire death priestess to wait for them.  What they saw amazed them.  Somehow all these children were somehow surviving out in the wilds of the Vale.  The near-by town that the Knot left was providing some food but seemed reluctant to too eagerly embrace the rabble.  So mostly the children were trying to survive in the wild on their own.  The Knot made note that as expected some disease and malnutrition had taken hold but didn't bother to check beyond a cursory glance.  For they had a bigger prize, the Sheppard boy Stefan.

The boy was of pure heart.  But he was just that.  A boy.  No special powers, no divine will.  No angel in disguise.  Just a boy.

Still the danger was real.  Mitra was known to reward simple acts of faith.  And the praying going on here had a eerily familiar tone to the ritualized praying at the Horn.  Not only that, Mitra had a patron angel of children.  Cassiel.  Would this angel manifest and aid the people of Talengarde?

The Shroud decided yes.  He would.  In the form of Mardus, transformed into a celestial aspect of course.

And if that failed, well, maybe they'd just have to go to the divine plane & kill Cassiel themselves to prevent an intervention.

But the need for an inter-planer assassination mission wasn't needed.  As Mardus showed off why he landed in Prison in the first place.  His adept skill at defrauding the faithful.  Manifesting from the prayer fires, he gave a glorious speech as he radiated divine will.  And he spoke to the people, telling them to go home.  That Emmerick, for better or worse was their lawful king.  And they should return to their lives & pray to Mitra in peace.

The stunned crowd of Children slowly dispersed.

Some lingered, but the Shroud spend some time & made sure they all eventually left.

Emmerick insisted the boy must be killed.  He was still a threat to his reign.  But the other Shroud members refused to go along.  There was no need.  It would be cruel and risk enraging the populous.

Still, Emmerick wanted the boy watched.  So the Shroud came up with a plan to offer the boy's parents some money and ask he be allowed to squire at the capital.

And once again, Mardus' honeyed tongue came through.  The dirt poor parents, eager for help, gladly offered to let their son squire at the capital.  Provided they had assurances of his safety.

And so, with that last obstacle behind them, the Shroud moved on to their destination.  The city of Ghastenhall and it's Duke.  The original reason for their grand Tour, started half a year before, was finally coming to fruition.

They arrived to a grand welcome.  Mercenaries in Talengardian armor yet oddly foreign looks, guarded the roads and peasants stood behind, cheering for the King.  The longtime native of Ghastenhall, Quell, noted that many of the peasants were the poor folk often times bribed by local nobility when a crowd was needed.  Still, there were a lot.  Clearly the Duke opened his purse strings to give King Emmerick a welcome he'd remember.

Before long the Shroud found themselves in the great chamber of the Duke.  Where a few years ago they played a ruse of returning the bones of a long dead princess for a handsome reward.  But now they wanted a greater reward.  The unwavering loyalty of the city & ruler of Ghastenhall.

The Duke, polite & formal, was ever a gracious host, willing to heap great praise on the military prowess of the new King.  The Shroud, unsure of how hard to push used the pretext of a long travel and the need to rest.  This would give them time to think.

Taking the rest of the day, the Shroud did anything but rest.

They spend time conversing, exploring and gathering information.

The Shroud found out the mercenaries are from the far away land of the River Kingdoms of Avastan and his advisers are worshipers, and likely priests, of Abadar.

Quell Yvainne & Mardus all left the grounds.  Quell destined for his old friend Khyber at the Thieves guild.  Mardus hoping to meet some "new" friends in the infamous Red Quarter.  And Yvianne on a trip to see her sire.

Yvainne arrived at the crypts below the city grave yard at the court of her master, the Vampire Lord who created her.  The Shrouds hope was the Undead power could be used to aid them in their plans.  But while there she learned that her sire was not only quite protective of the city of Ghastenhall but also the Duke's line.  Fearing she might tip her hand, she quietly ended her questions on the topic.

Meanwhile, back at the Castle, Emmerick brooded in his Royal Suite impatient for action.  Eventually the King unsheathed Helbrand and shedding his blood on the blade communed with the dark lords of Hell.  During that time he confirmed the Duke as an heir.  A nephew of 16 years and according to Hell there is no love lost between the two, to the point that trying to use the nephew as a hostage wouldn't work.  But he found out something much more interesting.  The Vampire Lord who created Yvainne is somehow related to the Duke.  And he would be displeased if the Duke was killed and the nephew was the new ruler of Ghastenhall.

As this went on Mardus explored the Red Quarter & found out the Duke and his advisers do not take part in the local "entertainment"instead the Duke has a stable of mistresses & man-servants at his disposal in the castle itself.  Though the soldiers do & they seem to be well paid, as they always have coin to spend.  After a while, the Fire Oracle returned to the castle.  Interested in finding these cloistered "friends" of the Duke.  He was unable to get access to them, but along the way he did find out that the private residence of the Duke, the Advisers and his nephew are all under the effect of a Forbiddance spell.  And likely other security measures.

Quell didn't return to the castle for most of the night.  Instead he spent his time in an eye opening conversation with his friend, Khyber.  While treating with his old friend at a local watering hole, he found out a great many things.  For one thing the Thieve's Guild would love to get into the Capital City.  They would like to legitimize brothers there.  And Legitimize the fighting pits of Ghastenhall & add a Coliseum in the Capital.  And some even considered partitioning slavery.  All proceeds of course would be taxable by the Crown.

But the information on the Duke was what Quell was interested in and the reason for his visit.  And so that is the conversation he spend the most time discussing.  It seems for years the Thieve's Guild has been trying to win favor with the Duke and failed.  They tried blackmail.  Nothing.  They tried murder.  All their assassins have disappeared.  The best Khyber could offer.  Bribery.  But it would have to be something big.  Something to invest him in Emmerick's rule.  Something to bind him.  Make him Emmerick's Heir.

What would the Shroud and their King do.

Session 52

The Shroud prepare to fight the beast of legend, The Caothach Ool.

Wielding their powerful divination magic they had no difficulty finding the beasts hidden lair deep in the depths of the Caer Bryr.

What gave them pause was what they found out about the beasts legendary powers while researching in their library.  In melee combat this brute was fearsome indeed.  What the Shroud decided to do was pick an open spot to engage the beast & hope a well placed reverse gravity would neutralize the beast.  The problem was, in the heart of the massive forest a large enough open space to engage it would be hard to come by.

The death priestess did say that they could request a miracle from the god of death & purge a region of the forest of all living things.  Though the eagerness of Yvianne was appreciated, the cost of such a boon was too great, both in material cost & potential anger of the elves and humans native to the land.  What was found was a large lake right outside the beasts lair.  It would make quite a fountain, but should still work.

With the location of the trap settled, they set the bait.  The vampire priestess, equipped with a newly forged ring to protect her from the harmful effects of moving water on her undead frame, floated in the middle of the lake.  Then Mardus spring the trap with an earthquake over the waterfall entrance to the beasts lair flooding the entrance to the caverns with water.

As predicted the massive bandersnatch roared out of it's lair.  Spotting the death priestess it charged her leaping at her in the heart of the lake.  Hacking and slashing at her, it's attempts to grab the vampire foiled by her freedom of movement spell.  Still the damage was noticed.  Then the area was reverse gravity'ed.  The beast was unable to grab the flying Yvainne but it did manage to coil it's tail around a massive tree root under the lake.  The shroud cursed themselves for not checking.

A huge column of water rushed up around Yvainne and the flailing Bandersnatch shrouding them in mist obscuring the two.  Quickly the flying Yvainne came rushing out of the mists while the screeching beast could still be heard.

Using magics, they pull the water back to stop the mists and that's when Mardus gets a good look at the tree root.  For a moment he turns to the rest of the Shroud & telepathically asks if they think he could burn it.  Getting back a likely no, he grasps his adamantine blade & rushes down, braving the slashing claws of the beast & in one swift stroke hacking the massive root in two.

Beast & root go rocketing into the air.

Once there, suspended, oscillating in the air, the beast was helpless against the massive torrent of magic and arrow blasted at it.

After the beast was dead, it was simply a matter of Emmerick wearing the beasts pelt & walking into the druidic enclave and declaring the fate of the Iraens.  "Be the loyal subjects to Emmerick & full citizens of his Talengarde.

Before the King left his new subjects he was offered an interesting opportunity.  The previous Barcan line hunted unicorns with the Iraens.

The Shroud liked that idea & lingered and had a grand hunt to celebrate the joining of the Iraens into the Kingdom.  A half-dozen Unicorns were bagged in the outing as well.

The entourage finally uprooted from Farholde and it's surroundings to move on into the borderlands region.  There the King surveyed the devastation brought to the watchwall and the infiltration of the humanoids into the Kingdom.

The shroud was surprised at just how badly Fire-Axe had destroyed the defenses and how many humanoids still infested the borderlands.

They decided to rally an army made of mercenaries & recent militia recruits to purge the borderlands.

Emmerick's first campaign was a resounding success.  Though it took a couple months, his forces proved overwhelming for the small smattering of brutes terrorizing the region.

Then the Shroud saw an opportunity ripe for the picking.  The savage north lay bare, seemingly easy to seize and they sat on an army on it's border, fresh off a victory & positioned to strike.

The order was given.  The Crown of Talengarde would rule all the main island.  What ensued was a half-year long campaign lead by Emmerick and the Shroud themselves.  It managed to be even more glorious than the one in the borderlands.

The Savage North bowed before the King's army.  They slaughtered the savage humaniods and other ruffians.  And even the walled ice elven fortress capital was sacked by the King.

With the Bugbears and others put the the knife and spoils seized for the low treasury of the Crown, the King was faced with a choice.  Would he put the Ice Elves and their kin to the knife as well?  Or would he have them bend a knee to his banner?

His council was mixed.  The old nobility like Duke Barca urged slaughter & making it a colony.  The neighboring Frost Giant queen urged slaughter as well, but handing the lands over to the giants.  It was not fit for humans to live there & she could easily hold it.  In the name of the King of course.  His military advisors, such as General Barca urged mercy.  Let them bend a knee to the Crown.  They can maintain the lands themselves better than any humans & still be taxed by the crown.

In the end that was the idea the King liked the most.  The Ice Elves would be part of his Kingdom, as would their lands.

The Shroud stood in an interesting position.  The south was theirs, as was the Caer Bryr.  Now all the rest of the main island in the North was theirs.  All that remained was the reclusive human tribes of the Yukan.  Then the entire island chain would be under their rule.

When they went to treat with the Yukan they expected to find a reclusive chieftain ruling a reclusive people.  What they found was a people poised for change.  Their chieftain, a younger man, eager to embrace the ways of their southern neighbors.  When an eye on a title of a small barony along the watch wall.  A barony owned by a boy of but five years, with an advisor who was a Mitrian priest, likely still loyal to the absent Princess.

Emmerick, with but a flick of his pen appointed the chieftain the new guardian of the young boy holding the title & seizing the Priest as a traitor.

And with that the Shroud managed to do something during Emmerick's reign that Barcan and Darian alike failed at.  They united all the islands of Talengarde under one banner.

The banner of Hell.