Session 42

The Ninth Knot, having secured Thorn's phylactery and the massive treasure horde of the Cairn Linnorm, declare themselves done with the ancient cairn of the ice elves and leave.  Also, they noticed a scrying sensor.  Thorn likely knew they acquired his heart...

A quick use of reverse gravity and they are back out the way they came.

Out on the surface, they are greeted by a large plum of fire and brimstone.  At first, they think it is a particularly grandiose entrance of Dessiter, until, when the hell smoke cleared they saw a brute the size of a war horse.  The hulking draconic looking devil raised his hands and the Knot reached for blade & spell pouch until the horned devil called out.  "Wait, wait!"

Quickly asking them to give him something to kill, he reveals he's been ordered by Thorn to kill, show them slaughter & taste their blood.  And after that, retrieve his heart.  But the devil clearly has no interest in following through with the intent, just the literal meaning.

The death of one summoned animal & 'showing the Ninth Knot slaughter' the devil was content to give small pin-pricks of blood tasting.  Yvainne though, not afraid of pain, slit her wrist, pouring copious blood into the maw of the gleeful devil.

With the deed done, the Horned Devil & Knot bartered.  The Horned Devil wanted one thing, his true name back from Thorn, unread by any other.  And the opportunity to advise the Ninth, should they come to power in Talengarde.  In exchange, this minion of Thorn would provide them with ample intelligence from his years of service to the Lich.

The Knot eagerly agreed.  Though, only after Wasyli wrote up a contract to protect the Ninth.

With a pile of fresh intel at hand, the Knot contemplated what to do next.

As they discuss the need to check in with Fire Axe.  He seemed to be the most likely to revolt against Thorn.  As he expected to be doomed by the King's Army as Thorn refused to deliver him from his apparent doom.

But then they get a message from the Fifth Knot, Barnabas Thrane.  It seems their arch-rival, Sir Richard, was spotted by the knot member & he's urging them to come quickly.

Still, the Knot decides for caution and instead focuses on checking with the First before the Fifth.  Also, it had been days since they'd received any reports from their spies infiltrating the King's army about the upcoming battle.

As the Knot makes ready for their trip to the ruins of Daveryn, they get a report from their cell.  One lone survivor is all that's left of an apparent slaughter of the command of the army.  The other operatives are missing, presumed dead.  And the army appears to be in rout.

With this news any doubt leaves the minds of the Ninth, the First must be visited.  Still, with a brief hesitation, they do cast a sending ahead of them & receive a friendly response from Fire-Axe.

They meet with an elated Fire-Axe.  It becomes clear with the recent victory that any doubt the Bugbear had for his Master has vanished.  He seems quite pleased at his epic victory.

Still, some oddity's around the tactics of the King's Army leave doubt in the eyes of the Ninth.  They fainted & instead of attacking weak points, assaulted the strongest point.  Odd tactics indeed.

A quick trip to the sight of the King's camp with goblin wolf-riders reveals an interesting site.

Multiple groups assaulted the command tent.  Some wielding arrows that looked identical to Tiadora's Erinyes but others getting impaled and ripped asunder by some kind of brutes.

The Knot manages to find the remains of their minions.  With the bodies intact, they discuss a couple speak with dead spells.  Still, this was turning into one of their best cells.  They infiltrated the King's camp.  Worked their way close to high members of the army's command.  And greatest of all, they managed to stop the informant of the Copper Dragon from alerting the King to all their secrets.

A waste to leave them dead.  In a bold move, the Knot uses raise from dead on all three of them.  And reform their most elite unit.  Clearly a group in need of a name...  Also, they got their Intel, as well as a much more loyal & vicious organization.

Tiadora did arrive here before her visit to the Ninth Knot.  Along with her Nine Erinyes, but they were not alone.  A group of Barbed Devils also attacked.  They slaughtered all the commanders, save one.  The High Commander of the King's Army, General Vastenus Barca.  It seems he was in league with Thorn as the Cainite Knot.

With the discovery of the identity of the Eighth Knot, more of Thorns secrets are revealed.

With this information in hand, the Knot prepares to visit the Fifth Knot.

They discuss a possible risk of an ambush, however, none of their interactions with Barnabas were negative.  And it seemed unlikely he'd try anything.  Fire-Axe for example seemed oblivious to their revolt on Thorn.

The Knot still arrived with a little bit of caution.  But sending a couple to scout out & speak with Thrane raised no red flags, as Barnabas seemed completely sincere in his desire to speak with the Ninth.  With one of Thrane's classic "come to this late night lecture" secret meeting set-up.

The Knot spend some time shopping & resting in town before their late at night meeting at the university.  Surprised to find the plague in town was in rapid decline.

When it was time, they met Thrane in his usual deserted lecture room.  The same as so many other meetings they've had with Thrane.  The cleric of hell certainly was a creature of habit.

As the Knot entered the room, Thrane began to speak, but before he got more than a sentence or two out about getting some secret note with a unicorn on it, he and half the Knot all froze as 6 barbed devils revealed themselves.  Behind them, two more came in snarling.  And with them, a massive horned devil who was silent as a ghost.  It was an ambush.  Just not one Thrane seemed to know anything about.

The Knot considered trying to rescue Thrane, but with half their party under the effects of hold person and facing an array of enemies, the Ninth decided to flee instead.  Quickly bunching up, they teleported away, leaving behind a helpless Thrane.

A day later and another sending revealed Thrane survived unscathed.  Though he seemed reluctant to re-engage with the Ninth.  Still with some coaching, he met the Ninth in a rough & rowdy tavern in town.

The scholar and priest of "Mitra" looked decidedly out of place and uncomfortable in the surroundings and the conversation with the Ninth was terse.  Clearly, he now knew something was up between the Ninth & Thorn.  But still, he spoke to them for he'd been trying for days to warn Thorn to no avail.

The princess was on the move, rallying support.  And the Sons of Balentyne were helping her with Lord Havelyn at her side.  And they knew some of the secrets of the Knot.  But not all was accurate.  The Sons were next to explore Charmagon's lair, who they falsely thought was one of the Knots.  Also, in a point Thrane seems awkward to bring up, they think the Ninth Knot are the masters of the organization.

But with Thrane having communicated the movements of the princess & Sons to both the Ninth & Thorn, he feels his obligations have been fulfilled.  And he quickly takes his leave of the Ninth & their dispute with Thorn.

Interested in the rapid decline of the plague, the Knot does spend another day in town, gathering information.  They find people who seem to be cured, but in fact are infected with another disease, this one an apparently benign one.  Yvainne resorts to Commune to get more information & the Knot finds out one rather important task.  It seems the Princess's mother, the great worm silver dragon, Agetha Regina, created or provided some sort of good counterpart.  An intelligent disease, that hunted the evil one.

The Ninth Knot stood split.  Some arguing to strike at the Paladin now.  Others urging caution, reminding the Knot of the need to eliminate their Master and seize power now.