Session 26

Galen hurriedly teleports the Ninth Knot outside the familiar Branderscar prison before teleporting away.

The five remaining members of the Ninth Knot looked on their old home once again.  The infamous Branderscar prison.

Quell attempted to stealth up to the gate house of the prison only to be spotted by some local villagers doing some sort of construction.  Quickly resorting to bluffing he's able to blend in with the workers & see what's going on.

The disguised elf spots a couple obvious changes.  First, construction efforts are underway to increase the gate-house of the prison.  Second, a much larger guard contingent is present manning the walls of the prison. And last, two banners fly beside the prison's flag, those of the Knights of the Alerion Order and the Mitrian Inquisition.

Times have changed.

The Knot spends considerable time guessing at their options.  Without an arcane caster, they'll be hard pressed to launch a magical assault into the compound.  Further, not knowing how long remaining their prisoner has forces them to not wait and pray for different spells.  So they fall back on what they do best.  Lie.  Bluff.  And sneak their way into position.  Then burn things down.

Emmerick & Brother Summit take on their role of Priest of Mitra and Knight of the Alerion Order.  Though they swap names in case their actions around Farholde & Balynten have raise suspicions.  They come with a guardsman (Quell) and two prisoners (Yvainne & Brother Summit).

The silver tongues of Emmerick & Mardus manage not only to deceive the simpleton guards but also the clever inquisitor.  Yvainne & Brother Summit are hauled off to the prison.  And thanks to the trusting words of Emmerick aren't even checked for weapons.  Meanwhile Emmerick & Mardus give their report to the inquisitor.

One flaw in the hasty plans of the Ninth Knot becomes apparent.  Quell, who deftly disabled the locks in their last stay at Branderscar prison is stuck upstairs with an inquisitor, leaving Brother Summit & Yvainne stuck in shackles.

Still, the Monk sees in a near by cell a bound & gagged prisoner matching the description of their target.  Not wasting any time the monk begins to break his bonds & those of Yvainne.  Causing a large amount of noise.  Meanwhile up above the fabricated story being told by Emmerick & Mardus begins to fall apart before the inquisitors insistent questioning.

Realizing the story is falling apart Emmerick makes some noise himself as he hurls a table up onto the inquisitor & all three of the knot members in the room attack.  With Quell's precision stabbing backed by the gross power of Emmerick's mace, the inquisitor falls, but not before calling for help.

And with the jig up, the Ninth unleashes hell on Branderscar.

In the prison below, Brother Summit & Yvainne remove the gag from Wasyli's mouth.  With the Sorcerer able to speak, he quickly dimension door's out of his wall mounted chains.

The three rush to the door to find it barred.  It seems the guards noticed the noise.  Wasyli doesn't hesitate and casts Shatter, reducing the door to a pile of splinters.  And the three prisoners rush forward & up the stairs.

That's where they run into the other Knot members who are in the middle of fighting a half-dozen guards, one cleric & have a wall of fire up burning part of the keep.

Unleashing Hell indeed.

The combined arms of the Knot destroy the remaining resistance within the keeps interior.  A quick use of arcane magic by the new sorcerer blocks the main entrance of the keep.  Quell and Mardus have to pass through their own wall of fire to break into a store room & recover Wasyli's gear.  Meanwhile Brother Summit & Yvainne move toward the servants exit in the kitchen where they get waylay-ed by a pair of Knights of the Alerion Order.  Brother Summit finds himself reeling from the blows when Emmerick rushes up and lets the staggered Monk fall back and receive healing.

Under the unrelenting mace blows from Emmerick and punches from the healed Brother Summit, the Knights fall before the Knot.

Unsure of how they'll all flee the island, Wasyli brings up that he can cast the Fly spell on all of them.  Yvainne adds an enveloping darkness and the six criminals of Talengarde flee Branderscar prison.  For five of them it's their second time.

The Knot arrives at a familiar all-be-it abandoned manor house.  Dust, cobwebs & decay fill the air.

After breaking their clay seal & waiting for an hour, Tiadora arrives.  Taking a reluctant Wasyli she departs.  Wasyli finds himself before Thorn in a freezing cold throne room of sorts.  The trappings of Hell adorning the walls.  At Thorns side stands some sort of guard.

A pleasant if stiff conversation ensues, ending with Wasyli signing a familiar contract with the High Priest of Asmodeus in Talengarde.

Then as quickly as he came, Wasyli is teleported back to the abandoned manor house and his new fellow Knot members.

The Knot settles in for a long overland journey to the bustling trade port of Ghastenhall.

Arriving from the West they find an Inn in the crime riddled Red Quarter and quickly get a lay of the land.  And only until after spending a couple days gathering information around town, does the Knot approach their contact at the Library of Ghasten.  The member of the fifth knot.  Barnibus Thrane.

Making contact with Thrane is quite easy & they schedule a private meeting in the evening.  Speaking with Thrane then, he's quick to take the Tears from the Knot.  He informs them there is an estate set up for them, with servants.  And also 6 magical gems, each able to be socket-ted to the Iron Crowns they each possess.  Each stone provides a different magical bonus to the wearer of the crown.  A gift from the Cardinal for a job well done.

With that settled the Knot is faced with the decision of what to do next.  They have Ghastenhall before them and a month of free time.

Four weeks is probably not enough to bring Ghastenhall to its knees, but how will they know if they don’t try?