Session 41

The Shroud minions came in & started to clear out the dead as the Knot digressed into discussing what to do with their master's lieutenant.  Many suggestions were offered.  Kill her, free her, interrogate her.  The loudest voices urged restraint.  Keep her alive, bound (as best they could) and unconscious.  And await Dessiter.

The contract devil did not disappoint.  He arrived on the docks, politely requesting entry to the island.  Unlike Tiadora he waited his turn and was led into the great dome of the island.

He grinned broadly at the Ninth Knot, side-stepping some minions dragging the last of the Erinyes corpses from the room.

The contract devil was quick as ever with his praise of the Ninth.  For their killing of the King, or their killing of the Azata ally and for capturing his "sister", Tiadora, alive.

Around them the servants scrubbed away the blood splatters.

Continuing on, the agent of hell was eager to free the Ninth from their contract, and for that he informed them they had to meet his Master, the Marquise of the Fourth Misery, the Pit Fiend, Nabarius.

The Knot asked for a few moments, which Dessiter offered, but with a warning: "be quick".

Dragging the unconscious devil upstairs into the library stacks, where the previous resident had held Quell prisoner, the Ninth deposited their prisoner.  Also they piled mounds of the teleportation negating crystal rocks around her and had Yvianne stone shape it up around the handmaiden devil to her waist.  Rocks intertwining with her tentacles and binding her in place.

Satisfied with their prison for their immortal "guest" the Ninth returned to Dessiter and returned to the docks, where, with a poof of sulfur and brimstone, the devil brought the Ninth Knot into the personal pocket plane of the Fourth Marque of Misery.

There, before a nobel of hell, Dessiter introduced the Knot.

In a booming voice, Nabarius dismissed the contract devil.  "Do you have to hide behind the compliments of others.  Speak of your deeds.  And know, Hell is watching."

The Knot stumbles a little, but with a couple soft whispers from Dessiter, they manage to speak of their great deeds.

With a rumble the Marque speaks.  "And why Dessiter, are these mortals before me?"

Dessiter explains the plight of the Ninth and further explains he's found a way out of the contract.

"Your lord, the second pact is quite clear, they are bound to he who is known as 'Cardinal Adrastus Thorn, High Priest of Asmodeus in Talengarde'.  If he were to no longer be High Priest of Asmodeus..."  Dessiter quickly explains.

With a rumble the fiend responds, "interesting... and do remind me, who bestowed this title on Thorn?"

"Well you did" responds the contract devil.

The Ninths eyes widened as they all shared a look at that revelation.

"So with but a word, I could reduce him to just a priest?"

"Your knowledge of the finer legal points surpass mine oh guardian of the guillotine gate" responds Dessiter.

"Still, it is a trying time in Talengarde.  I would hate to leave such a vital post unfilled.  Is there no one who could step up and claim the mantle?"  mused the fiend.

Seeing the opportunity, Mardus stepped up and with the support of his allies, he spoke of his greatness and ability to lead the faithful.

The pit fiend waived a hand.  "Silence, I have heard enough.  I had high hopes in Thorn.  But he has failed me.  I renounce his title.  And I appoint you, Mardus, as the new High Priest of Asmodeus in Talengarde.  Now be gone all of you, do not let me down.  And Mardus, do not forget about what has happening to your predecessor."

With a snap of his fingers, the pit fiend then banished the Ninth back to the docks of their island headquarters.

The Ninth, eager to attack their former master, discuss finding and assaulting his fortress.  But Dessiter dampens their great plans.

"Thorn is not a simple mortal man.  Slaying him and he'll return.  He is no mortal."

"What is he, how can we destroy him." Asks Wasyli.

"Quite simple, he is a Lich.  And I might have a lead on the location of his phylactery."

Dessiter then proceeds to tell the Ninth how for the past few weeks he's been off trying to find it & may have a lead.  References to the priest, Samuel Havelyn, the mortal form of Thorn, references a Cairn Linnorm far away in the savage north,

With the Ninth Knot given a starting point on the next step, Dessiter bows & departs.  Leaving the Ninth Knot to plot next steps.

Researching the Library, the seized records from the diviner in Daveryn and Brother Summit conversing with their trapped Demi-lich, the Ninth assemble a host of information about the Cairn Linnorm.  The biggest concerns, the need to use spells like Death Ward.  And a death curse.  Whoever fells the Cairn Linnorm risks being doomed to a swift, unnatural aging and death.  An unpleasant prospect to be sure.

And yet, a possible option, existed.  the Demi-Lich spoke to Brother Summit that somewhere in the Cairn, was an artifact, that if still functional, could remove the curse.  A massive stone Obelisk, that the Linnorm dragon hated & gnawed on.  If the beast hadn't managed to destroy it there could be hope.  The Demi-lich also offered to aid the Ninth, if Brother Summit would free him.  An "offer" Brother Summit turned down.

The Knot were ready to go.  And with the shadow magic of Wasyli they could turn a week long trip into a few hours if they walked between the shadowplane & prime material plane.  Yet the concern about the otherworldly horrors around the Caer Bryr gave them pause.

Mardus remembered the magical way to examine people told to him by the archmage in Ghastenhall.  He quickly reviewed Brother Summit and was relieved to see his companion didn't show signs of corruption.  Then, he absently checked his other members, something he hadn't done before.  And to his horror he say most of this companions were showing signs of taint, in particular, Emmerick.  Clearly their fight in the ruined sanctum of Mitra in the Cathedral of Mitra-Made-Manifest, had an unexpected affect on all of them.

With that unsettling news, the Knot decided to carefully use teleportation magic to get around the Caer Bryr and in half a day arrived in the area of the Cairn that the Linnorm called home.

Exploring the outside of the Cairn, they see only one obvious entrance.

The knot waits & has Brother Summit approach and it's when Brother Summit's half-orc vision that spots some stone guardians waiting inside the entrance.

Unwilling to advance, the Knot regroups and decides to do one more check of the Cairn's exterior.  That's when Quell noticed the large cap stone of the cairn looks to actually be movable.

Yvainne uses her vampiric gaseous form to slip into the cracks around the cap stone & finds within a massive stone chamber.

The Knot decide they've found the likely lair of the Cairn Linnorm.

The forces of hell ready themselves.  They shroud themselves in powerful magic & when they are fully warded in powerful magic, they attempt to dimensional door into the Cairn, and there magic fails.

Unwilling to waste all their spells they think on their feet & Mardus casts reverse gravity on the massive stone slap, lifting the huge bolder into the air.

Below there's a roar, and battle is at hand.

The cairn linnorm rushes up and attacks the Knot as they stand ready around the slap.

Blasting them with breath weapon after breath weapon, the magical wards hold and the Ninth Knot manage to shrug off the beasts attack.

The more direct tooth & claw prove more damaging.  But still somehow the Ninth manage to weather the attacks as their melee members fly in, braving the lightning strikes of the creature.

The magical might of the Ninth Knot fail to penetrate the spell resistance of the dragon, but armed with cold iron, the Knot rips into the beast with death cold steel.

The Cairn Linnorm managed to inflict some damage as it howled in pain from the blows against it's form.  But were as lesser attacks had bounced off, or immediately healed up, these blows ripped through it's form.

In a flurry of steel, Emmerick plunged Helbrand into the beasts form, piercing it's hard.  The blood of the dragon washing over the blade.  Emmerick removed the sword and watched as the monster fell down into the darkness.

The death curse reached out, but the anti-paladin simply shrugged it off.

Flying down below, the Knot found the form of the dragon impaled on a massive stone obelisk, it's blood soaking into the stone.  The obelisk glowing in the darkness.

Then the Knot looks around and finds a massive treasure horde.  Coins, gems, magic items.  And sifting through the pile they find the true prize.  A golden coffin, within it a lock box containing a blackened and burnt human heart, wrapped in strands of iron, barbed with spikes of iron that dig into the heart.

They found it.  Cardinal Thorn's phylactery.

Their victory over the Cardinal was close at hand.