Session 38

Over platters of delicious foods, the Baroness and Knot work up a plan to sneak Yvainne into the palace.  A simple late day visit by the Baroness that lasts too late into the night and she along with her guard (Mardus) and handmaiden (Yvainne) will say the night with her in the palace.

While the Knot waits, they spend some more time researching the defenders and powers in the Adarium, with Quell continuing to play the role of the a cook's assistant.  And that's when they find out the Sons of Balentyne are guarding the princess in between going on some other no doubt heroic adventures.

The Knot decides to go ahead with their plan and a few days it goes off without a hitch.  Yvainne is invited into the keep and spends the night under the roof of the King as the handmaiden of the Baroness.

And two days later, at midnight, the assault begins.

The Knot stealths into the Palace grounds and pick up Quell.  Cloaked in an invisibility sphere, stones with silence on them and telepathically linked to communicate, the six Knot members, and the assassin Irfan al-Janbiya use stone shape to create a door into the first floor of the Palace and enter it, sealing it up behind them.

The Knot quickly ransacks the first floor residence of the palace.  They make sort work of the handful of traps in the area, finding a secret trap-door and the book Thorn asked them to find, the Libram Darius.  Along the way the Knot members tried to ignore the constant internal monologue Emmerick seemed to have with... something else in his head.  The rest of the Knot knew something was off with their anti-paladin, now they knew.  He talked to himself or... something else.

The Knot pushed on, proceeding through the rest of the first floor, Yvainne reading the book & using her gaseous form to slip into the various guest rooms and they find only one guest saying on the first floor.  The court wizard, all alone and asleep.  Emmerick decapitated the wizard in his sleep with one swift stroke of Helbrand.

With the first floor of the residence secure, the knot leaves the upstairs and secret trap door alone.  And instead head for the exit to block the main Palace door in preparation of the fight to come.

Along the way Yvainne reading about the start of the Darians and their fight with the old line of Kings, the Barcans.  And about the origins of Helbrand, the infernal blade Emmerick now wields.  Also, how, after the last Barcan King died, his blade, Helbrand, was broken into three pieces.  The last missing piece was added to the old throne of Talengarde.  Some of the Knot members discussed if the Throne could be the one here.  But decided it was likely still in the old throne in the old Palace back in town.

At the exit of the residence the Knot readied and in a rush the busted out into the main foyer of the Palace, taking the handful of knights guarding the doors to the residence by surprise.  The guards weren't expecting an attack from inside their warded area.  Failing to realize the dire situation, the guards turned & fought the Knot, instead of rushing to the exit to warn the compound.  Their mistake may well cost their King his life.  It certainly cost them all of theirs, as in a matter of seconds they all lay dead, while the guards outside the keep continued to go unnoticed.

After dragging the corpses of the Knights into an unused armory, the Knot approaches the front door and uses their silence stone to silently bar the main door to the Palace so the guards outside wouldn't notice.  They were forgetting the magical forbiddance spell around the keep kept those outside unaware of any noises coming from within.

The Knot almost completed the ground floor foyer when they all turned at the sound of the Librium Darius falling on the floor.  They all turned & looked at Yvainne.  She looked at her companions and her voice filled their minds via their telepathic bond.  "The princess.  Her mother.  Is a dragon..."  They rest of the Knot reviewed the book where it stated Princess Bellinda's mother was in fact a powerful silver dragon, the great wyrm mother of the silver dragon they killed at the Horn of Abaddon.

Mardus made a half-joke saying, "Well, maybe tonight's attack will make her hit her magical, draconic puberty."  The joke fell flat as the Knot member shifted in place, contemplating Mardus' comments before resuming their search.

But before long they had something new to deal with.  Emmerick felt his sword pulling him up to the throne room above the foyer of the Palace.  Apparently the old throne of Talengarde was moved...

Wasyli went first, magically invisible, and hiding in shadows.  It still didn't stop him from being spotted by two powerful angels who flanked the empty throne of Talengarde.

Declaring themselves as brothers of Ara Mathra and that they knew the Knot would arrive at the throne the Knot plotted to steal, they stated their desire for something simple.  Revenge.  Then the two angels drew swords and advanced.  Wasyli madly screaming in the minds of all the other Knot members for help.

The forces of heaven and hell clashed in the empty throne room of Talengarde.  A battle over the throne of Talengarde that the millions affected by it's outcome would likely never know about.

The two brothers of Ara Mathra struggled to do their brother honor.  The Ninth Knot was savage in their assault.  A well timed feeblemind from Wasyli, using his Infernal boon crippled one of the angels.  And the other got swarmed.  Even Irfan even tried to help, though he was blinded by the radiance of the angels and unable to help.

Over and over arcane & divine magic slammed the angels, along with fist and blade with Helbrand drenching itself in angel blood.

The Angels manage to do some damage back, but they, like their brother Ara Mathra, fall before the Ninth Knot.  One of them even having it's wings ripped off by the fast blades of Quell & Emmerick.

With victory in hand, Emmerick strode forward.  Helbrand dripping blood off it's tip.  The anti-paladin stepped over the fallen bodies of the Angels, his boots squishing in pools of angel blood.

He calmly sat down in the Throne of Talengarde, turned and looked at the rest of the Knot, a wicked grin playing on his face.  Then it twists into rage as he stands and turns on the Throne, pulling out his adamantine mace.  Brother Summit rushes forward, getting out the stone with silence on it as Emmerick savages the throne, indifferent to the noise it makes before it's blanketed in silence.

The rest of the Knot stood in silence as Emmerick turns the throne of Talengarde into rubble. Poking through the remains with his mace, the finds it.  The last piece of Helbrand.  He picks it up & secures it to his sword and the voice of Helbrand is clear through the Telepathic link to all the Knot.

It is rebuilt, free, intelligent and ready to bring ruin to the Mitrians and raise Asmodeus back to prominence in Talengarde.  And it was in the hands of the usurper.  The time to kill the King was close at hand.