Session 51

As the members of the Shroud considered what to do with Lord Ritcher's offer, a group of servants moved through the crowd in the throne room.

The creatures then shed their appearance.  Before the new King of Talingarde stood a horde of demons.  The forces of chaos, led by two Mariliths calling themselves the Twin Queens, challenge the new King as weak and that the Kingdom would fall to the forces of the pit.

The Shroud laughed in surprise at the brazen and clearly ill-conceived frontal assault.  The demons rushed forward and summoned more of their kin.  Then Wasyli blasted them with magic, causing a majority of the extra-planer creatures to fall over, nauseated, including one of the Queens.

All around the peasants, nobles and others in the court fled as demons vomited and the Shroud chuckled.

Brother Summit dimensional stepped up to the remaining Queen with her six swords and rained down a flurry of blows on her only to have her shrug off most of the damage and return onto him a devastating round of sword slices.  The monk fled back to his death priestess ally who healed him.

But aside from that moment of overconfidence, the Shroud managed a ruthless slaughter of the planer outsiders.  Fire and hard steel destroying the demonic forces.

With a blatant indifference to the blood, vomit & gore that coated his throne room, Emmerick resumed his meeting with the now terrified Richter.

The King insisted Richter provide more information, but that if he did, then he would be made a Baron.

Yvainne offered to "help" him, and in short order dominated the hapless mortal.  This got a disapproving look from Emmerick before the undead death priestess insisted she'd not do anything bad to him.

Yvainne was quickly relieved to find out this minor noble had no machinations to take over her covert operations.  He was simply a hapless fool who was trying to barter information for a reward, unaware of the ire it raised in her.  Sure that he'd be no threat to her, the priestess kept her word to her King and left him alone.  At least for the time being.

And Richter proved his worth, as the secret police searched the apartment and found an empty Resistance safe-house.

Not done yet, Emmerick insists if he wishes to be a Baron, he must further show his value by helping Yvainne's forces to observe the safe-house.  And so Ritcher did just that.  He repeatedly spotted different Resistance figures moving & learned a rough pattern of every 2-3 days a new group would arrive and stay for a few hours.

It was simply a matter of waiting with a strike force for the next appearance and the Shroud's forces struck.  With Yvainne, Brother Summit & Quell leading the forces, the Resistance figures were captured alive.  Among them was a member of the Inquisition, a valuable prize indeed.

Yvianne was eager to get the prisoner into her torture chamber.  Wasyli mentioned they could use mind fog and then she could just dominate him & be done with it.  Yvainne responded with a simple "that won't be necessary" and with a wicked grin she had him dragged off to her torture chamber.

With a flood of information coming in on the Tesistance, Emmerick rewarded his loyal servant & granted Lord Ritcher the title of Baron of Barrington that he so coveted.  The new Baron would have to decide if it was worth the price of having the talon's of a death priestess in his mind.

The Shroud considered their next move.  The new leads on the Resistance activity would take months to follow up.  The work on rebuilding Daveryn would take time to execute.  There was the issue of the Duke of Gastenhall and there was a whole realm the King still needed to bring fully under his heel.

Of those the Duke was the most problematic.  They brought in Count Barca and spoke at length with him.  He urged caution.  A direct conflict with the Duke was a problem, but so too was seeking an audience.  No, the King needed a pretense for going to Gastenhall.

They Shroud mused and then at nearly the same time Count Barca & Wasyli both suggested a tour of the Island.  That would give a pretense for a visit & possibly help deal with other issues.

It was decided.  An expanded entourage was assembled including some minor figures from court, Shroud members, a small compliment of Mercenaries and a couple Griffin Knights from the Counts household guard.  Along with the Shroud and some of their lesser Veil members.

The Tour would start in Farholde & work it's way along the borderlands, stopping in Gastenhall and the ruins of Daveryn before finally returning through the heartlands to the Capital on the south.

As the Tour got underway & sailed around to Farholde, a new stop was added to the end of the Tour.  The intelligence coming in from the infiltration of the Resistance found a hot bed of activity in Varyston, the town attached to the infamous Branderscar prison in the Heartlands.  It seems they didn't much like their new King.  So perhaps he'd need to make a personal visit...

Brother Summit did ask if perhaps they could overhaul the Prison and appoint him as the Warden.

Emmerick responded "Oh, maybe!! ..." in a voice like he was talking to a child asking something way above their ability.  This got a stunned look from Brother Summit, followed by a dismissive snot as the Monk left the chuckling Monarch.

When the King finally arrived in Farholde the first order of business was to meet with lady Shalyn Marsten.  With the death of the local Barcan noble, Baron Arkov Vandermir, during their last stay in Farholde, a long vacant post needed to be filled by an even longer ally.  The King was quick to appoint her as the Baron of Mir

While staying, Quell & some of the other Shroud noted that the Nuns in the town had vanished.  Speaking with the new Baroness as well as some other locals, the Shroud found the Nuns had fled into the Savage North, to some long ago explored Tomb by their founder, the adventuring priestess of Mitra.

The Shroud spend an extra month in town & snuck away to visit the Nuns.  Finding the Tomb guarded by armed Mitrians, the Shroud decided a simple earthquake or nine should cover it.  And after Mardus was done, the Shroud left, not having to draw a blade, yet destroying a major pocket of the Resistance.

The Shroud decided to linger a while longer while sending the entourage on to the Borderlands.  They wanted to check on the elves & humans of the Caer Bryr.  Their investigation of the natives led them to a familiar figure.  A druid named Keara Kilkerran who happened to be present at the King's palace when Charmagon attacked it.  The new King offered to speak to her where his predecessor didn't live long enough to.

She simply wished self rule for her people.  A fact that Emmerick didn't like.  Still, she offered a way to keep her people on his side should the Princess ever return to claim her throne.  And that was a legend.  The legend of the Caothach Ool which stated a champion of the Iraen people would come and destroy the might beast and return wearing it's pelt.  And the campion would speak a prophecy of the people.  Whatever that prophecy was all the people of the forest would follow it.

The Shroud mussed quietly at the possibilities.

Session 50

Arriving as victors the Shroud's entourage heads to the old palace where Emmerick claims as his new seat of power.  The shroud wastes little time in securing the alliance of the younger brother of the late Barcan King, Count Barca.  They also manage to secure a handful of other local nobles and allies in their new court.

Reluctant to upset the law of the land immediately, yet needing to be crowned, the Shroud manage to secure the reluctant support of the head of the Mitrian church and crown Emmerick in a lavish coronation ceremony following the Darian tradition of Mitrian worship.

The multi-day affair is well receipted by the common folk.  The overt ton of reconciliation with the Mitrians in particular lowers fears of petty retribution.  Not only is the common folk well represented, but most major noble houses manage to send at least some representation.  Though, the Duke of Ghastenhall is not in attendance and his attendants and a magical trinket gift to the new King are not enough to assuage the concern in the King's inner circle at his absence.

At the end of the multi-day festivities, well past any involvement of the Mitrian church, the Shroud does introduce a prayer to all other gods.  The opening gambit in their attempt at true religious freedom in Talengarde.

While this was going on Quell had an odd discovery what he thought was simply odd whispers he heard during the festivities was actually the powerful ring the Shroud took from Thorn's lair.  It was trying to talk to him.  Then it clearly spoke to him, about how, to grow in power it needed the blood of an angel, a fiend and a titan.

With the immediate take-over done and a small group of supporters, the Shroud works to further solidify their power base.

The shrouds organization starts to spread out through the land and over the coming months slowly remove monuments and other items glorifying the late King & his daughter.  Starting in royal holdings and lands around the capital before spreading out.

They also make pushes on the spiritual front.  Throwing together a ceremonial speak with the backing of some of their noble allies, the Shroud puts forth the case to lift the illegality of religion in the land.  The support of the nobles is won, though the common folk seem uneasy.

Also, the King picks a spot on his palace grounds for a new shining cathedral of Asmodeus.  To further push pro-religion & make Asmodeus more of a state religion.

And then the Shroud is confronted with their largest problem.  A lack of funds.  The Princess fled with whatever she could and with one of the three metropolitan hubs of Talengarde in ruin the Crown was sorely underfunded.  They could prepare the site for the Cathedral, but before any major construction initiatives could be started the funding would need to be corrected.

One option Mardus and others mention is trying to establish trade with the outside.  Yvainne points out sailors dislike traveling to Talengarde though because of the Kraken.  This brought looks of confusion from the other Shroud members until Yvainne explained it's an old sailor tale that the route to Talengarde is inhabited by a Kraken.  Speaking to the local nobles like Count Barca get a dismissive note.  But speaking to the Sixth Shroud, formerly the Sixth Knot corroborate Yvainne.  The price to ship mercenaries to the isles was inflated due to that cost.  Further some well questioned divinations removed all doubt.  There was a Kraken.

With some intelligence and powerful magic, the Shroud easily pinpointed the location of the beasts nest.  They then took the King's flagship and made a show to go out and hunt a Kraken.  And once safely out in open water, transferred operations to a less valuable ship and sailed out to the location of the lair.

Arriving at the spot, the Shroud considered an alternative option.  What if they tried to simply barter with the beast?  Using a host of protective magics they descended into the watery depths.

There far below the waves they found a massive fissure in the ocean floor that was the entrance to the beasts lair.  Quell's ring whispered "a titan draws near".  Which made the elf eager to kill it.

Using lights that shone brilliantly in the pitch darkness they announced their presence peacefully & were greeted by bobbles and a rumbling voice echoing from the depths of the fissure.

What proceeded was an odd conversation.  The Shroud tried to get the beast to turn down it's savagery and wait peacefully.  The price they got in return was exorbitant.  And some of the Shroud members wondered if the beast would even honor the deal.

Still there may be some way to get the vain beast to help.  They asked if the creature would enjoy feasting on a princess and her army.  This got the creature interested and with a small tribute it agreed.  As the Shroud dropped the goods down into the depths they spot a massive tentacle reach out, grab it & drag it down into the darkness.

The Shroud left the depths unsure if they'd made the right decision.  There would be no fan-fair of victory, and the trade lanes would stay chocked off.  And the kingdom still needed money.

The Shroud turned their attention to other options to improve their finances.

Looking over the books they saw clearly there was a massive financial lose in revenue when Daveryn was lost.  Using their minions they got a report of how much it would cost to repair and repopulate the city.  The price was staggering for it seems Fire-Axe's destruction of the city was severe.  Still, if it got back up & resettled it would help greatly with the finances of the Kingdom and perhaps also improve some moral.

The Shroud considers speaking with Wasyli's Aunt, but Wasyli urges caution.  He still doesn't trust her or her intentions and so if they were to bring her in, they'd need to understand the implications.  The rest of the Shroud agrees so they table that decision.

And the Kingdom remains underfunded.

While all this is going on an underground war is brewing.  Yvainne, appointed as the head of intelligence has been sending out shroud members backed by their Ogre Magi Lieutenant to try to run down the Princesses followers in Talengarde only to see the more pressure they apply result in the opposition slipping further underground.

That is when a minor noble, Lord Gaius Richter the uncle to the late Sir Richter, warden of Branderscar, approached the King.  He stated he could help in dealing with the underground resistance.  Clearly what the Crown as doing was not working.  He continues to talk about how the efforts are failing, unaware of the insult he's leveling at Yvainne.  Or unaware of the great deal of delight it is giving Emmerick.  He further claimed to have found a resistance safe-house.  He simply wished to serve in a greater capacity, as a Baron of the small town of Barrington, what with the former noble dying heirless in the war.  And help the Crown bring down the resistance movement.

As he finished the Shroud considered what to do.

Session 49

The Shroud spent some time looking over the artifact in the dank underground cavern.  Quell using his linguistic talent, Wasyli relying on his knowledge of the planes.

In the end, the Shroud used a miracle to turn off & move the artifact safely from the site back to their island fortress.

Once there they spend more time analyzing it and discovered that among other things, it had the ability to summon and control otherworldly horrors.  The possible combat implications intrigued the Shroud greatly.

The Shroud returned to the area of the Caer Bryr where the ruins of the Horn were to search the lair of the green dragon.

As they feared, their ally was no more, his lair now home to otherworldly horrors taking residence including hounds and spiders.  The corpse of the young dragon wrapped tight in a massive web in one corner.  Worse still, a large alpha hound was there with his pack.

As the fight broke out, the massive wrapped corpse started to ungulate and to the Shroud's collective horror, they realized it was chock full of swarms of baby spiders it belched out in massive clouds.

With a combination of magics & summoned monsters the Shroud kept back from the swarms of spiders until Yvainne rushed forward & plane shifted the baby spider nest back to the plane of Abaddon.  Making it a problem for someone else, but no longer their issue.

The remaining spider & hounds proved difficult to fight, but still manageable.  Relaying on blade, magic and their own bare fists in the case of Brother Summit, the horrors were no match for the prepared Shroud.  And all fell before the villains.

With the otherworldly horror mostly resolved the Shroud turns itself to making the final preparations for their victory over Fire Axe & their conquest of the capital.

Their first stop is to talk to Fire Axe.  Informing their ally of Thorn's demise & their coup of his organization go over better than expected.  Honeyed words and promises of a future as a Shroud member keep Fire Axe on their side.  The bugbear even provides an ideal ambush spot that's a few days ride still from his slow moving force.  The Shroud agree and head there to prepare the site.

While preparing a spot for Yvainne to stay hidden but still functional during a daytime battle, Emmerick summons Tiadora & General Barca.  Tiadora will be tasked with extraditing Fire Axe during the coming battle, but General Barca has a more important job.  Emmerick wants advice on how to approach his claiming of the throne.  And wants his new advisor to provide the advice.

After a long conversation, the Shroud & their general come to a decision.  He will enter the capital & use his contacts to prepare the city for the new King's coming.  While the Shroud will defeat the "savages" in combat.  Allowing the new King to return, bloody & battered but victorious in combat.  A savior of the people.

As the general leaves the mercenaries arrive.  Their leader, Heir Essenmark greats the future king & they prepare for the battle.

Using the natural terrain to funnel the bugbear army into a choke point, Emmerick & his band will hold the breach with Yvainne already prepped, hidden close at hand in a stone-shaped cavern.

The bugbears arrived with after dawn and without realizing it, funneled themselves right into the trap.  And then it was sprung.  Archers, protected by light infantry and natural rock cliffs rained down arrows on the tightly packed brutes.  Heavy Cavalry, combined with a well placed earthquake blocked their exit and their general, Fire-Axe disappears as a she-devil teleports in & out with him.

Wasyli uses sympathy to hold the regular bugbear in front of the choke point, unable to push through.  But the large ogres & giants surged forward, unimpeded by the magic.

Emmerick, Quell & Summit brace for them, then Mardus began unleashing Earthquake after Earthquake while using quickened fireballs.  Wasyli and Yvainne joined in to rain down their own divine & arcane magic.  What followed was over a minute of non-stop screaming and wailing as bugbear, ogre and giant alike are blasted, melted & swallowed hole.  Burnt and buried alive the sounds are horrifying.

Quell fires a couple arrows into the inferno, making little difference in the grand scope of carnage.  Emmerick shakes his head in disgust and sheaths his sword as his fellow Shroud members destroy with ease the last remnants of the "grand" army of Fire Axe.  There would be no glory here for the would-be King.

As the battle ends the mercenaries rush forward, killing the maimed & wounded bugbears still standing.  But this was no mercy killing.  This was a chance to pillage from the pillagers.

Emmerick rummaged through the field, matting his blade & armor in blood, to make it look like he did something other than stand there.

The rest of the Shroud looked out on the field of battle.  Blood and gore chocked the river at the edge of the battlefield and mini-waterfalls of gore spill down into unknown depths exposed by the cracking of the ground.  At the far end of the field cavalry obliterate what wolf-riders managed to escape the initial assault.  After the dead pillagers were picked clean, their bodies were thrown on massive burn piles.  The flames roaring over the occasional sounds of screams from underground.

With a quant field turned into the gory graveyard of the the army of Fire Axe.  The Shroud moved on with their army to the final destination.  The capital.

As Emmerick leads their army to the walls of the near by city they are greeted by an entourage of dignitaries from the city.  Among them are two of the Shrouds allies, Wasyli's "Aunt" and General Barca.

The Mayor of Matheryn was the first to speak, greeting Emmerick, clearly unsure of the situation.  He is quickly brushed aside by Count Leothyn Barca, the aging brother of the late Barcan King.  The Count shares a knowing look with the General before giving a cunning smile to Emmerick.  "It is good to see you nephew.  Let us come into the city & rejoice at your victory."

The mayor looks even more confused but also relieved as the entourage joins with the Shroud at the head of the Army of Mercenaries and strides into the city.

Civilians poking their heads out of allies & windows.  Most confused but some do let out some clapping or cheering at the new defenders of Matheryn.

And just like that Thorn's plan comes to fruition, as the forces of darkness seize the heart of the Kingdom of Talengarde.

A new golden age of Asmodeus is at hand.

Session 48

The Shroud argued about what to do with their political options.

Emmerick and Wasyli had no interest in bending a knee before the throne of Chiliax and they managed to get most of the remaining shroud members on board.

Quell still found it an unwise move and argued as much, but as it became clear Emmerick had won the majority, Quell relented & went along with the rest of the Shroud.

Galen was upset, but bowed before his new leaders.  Though he did request to be extracted.  He felt that perhaps he had overstayed his welcome and the Shroud agreed.  They removed their agent & brought him back to the safety of Talengarde.

Shortly after moving forward & arranging the transport of their mercenary army they started using powerful divination magic to locate the Princess and the Sons of Balentyne.  They found them all, at the capital of Andoran.  The arch-rival of Chiliax.

Quell restrained himself from criticizing too hard, as the rest of the Shroud realized they just turned down the help of a major power, as their fellow claimant to the throne was doing that very thing.

Still, the Shroud had picked their course.

Using magic items & knowledge acquired from Galen & Thorn's notes, Wasyli proceeded with attempting to craft a phylactery and move down the path of transforming himself into a Lich like Galen.

With their primary source of arcane magic having only limited availability and a mercenary army still weeks out and there arch-rival in a location that might prove difficult to attack, Brother Summit pushed the Shroud to consider a loose end to follow up.  The threat of the otherworldly creatures hunting them.

With a planer breach to the negative energy plane readily available in the Cathedral, the Shroud easily collected a few hounds and brought them to Professor Tiberius Feign.  The wizard was surprised at the unexpected guests, but always eager to pursue his planer research, quickly found time for them in his underground laboratory.

The Shroud wanted to find the location of the thing that was sending creatures to them so the Professor gathered his collection of planer forks attuned to the various outer planes and performed a ritual with a special compass to point to the planer fork attuned to the plane the thing was on.  The ritual commensed and the chamber was filled the wailing of a hound.  Yet the compass didn't seem to settle on a planer fork.  Then Brother Summit noticed it.  The compass kept tracking the Professor.  As he stated that, a look of horror filled the Professor's face, as he reached into his belt pouch & pulled out a planer fork attuned to the prime material plane.

The Professor quickly slit the throat the wailing hound and a dread-filled silence descended on the camber.  Then the professor told the Shroud if they were to face the creature, they should do so quickly.  And he left the camber, his assistants having to scramble to collect all the valuable planer forks the wizard had ignored in his haste to be rid of the place.

The Shroud thought back to the time they were near the Horn and saw signs of the creatures there.

Could this all have come when they called forth Vitra-Kali...

The Shroud prepared for an adventure, Wasyli was able to drop them off near the horn before returning to his creation.

The Shroud them moved toward the old green dragon's lair, were they'd seen signs of the creatures before.  They prepared to fly to the areal entrance at top of the mound and stopped as they cleared the tree tops.

Further to the south, was an ever expanding pool of black liquid and at it's center, the ruins of the Horn.  Everywhere the liquid went, fauna and wildlife died.  A huge blight has spread out across the land for miles.  It even got into the near-by river & travelled up & down stream, chocking out a massive lake near by & the bogland near the coast.

Brother Summit remembered his trip with Wasyli, were they saw a small pool of liquid in the ruins of the horn.  What horror has befallen the land.

Steeling themselves, they leave the green dragon lair and head to the source of it all.  The Horn.

They arrive and see slowly moving black liquid oozing out from the foundation.  With an overabundance of caution, the Shroud advance into the familiar yet distinctly different underground of the Horn.

The mouth of the caves was chocked with rubble from above, hunks of stone & earth filled in most of the cracks between the stalactites & stalagmites, leaving just a small passageway in.  Around the side a river of black liquid goo oozes underneath.

The Shroud move on into the interior, having to avoid rubble and black goo.

Within they found a further altered interior from their last visit.  Walls broken down, or caverns chocked with rubble.  Yet no sign of spiders or hounds.  Just more black ooze.

Eventually they found the likely source, it appeared to be coming from the mud room they used to conjure mud elementals.  Yet they couldn't reach it as the main passage was a river of black goo and the only walkable surface was a ledge on the far side.

Yvainne shaped from the stone walls a buttressed bridge with a lip to protect from the goo below.  As the bridge finished being shaped, screeching wails came from down the passage in the mud room.

As the Shroud advanced via a combination of arial magic & the stone bridge, they found two creatures of ungulating flesh, a massive blob of eyes, mouths & other organs.  Oozes of flesh splashing in the black goo.

And they advanced, letting a wail loose as they went.

Mardus and Quell both quickly go mad from the screeching, as Emmerick & Brother Summit push forward, overcoming it.  And Yvainne's undead mind ignores the wails as her undead frame likewise ignores the black goo as she wades through it in front of her companions.

Quell in his madness flails at Mardus this in turn brings the focus of the equally confused Mardus to turn on Quell & savage into him.

Realizing the two would rip each other apart in their madness, Yvainne had to return & heal Mardus who then healed Quell and stopped the madness induced cycle of in-fighting.

Still the horrors advanced, one taking particular interest in Brother Summit.  And the shroud paused, unsure if they could handle the fight or if they should flee with what shreds of sanity they retained.

But then the Anti-paladin of Hell stood forward and cast fear on one of the abominations.  Even it's alien mind reeled in terror and the creature fled from the beacon of hell, deep down into the goo.

The shroud got a second wind & pushed forward, their doubts starting to wain.  Then Quell finally made his way to the bridge and finally seeing the horror, he fled again, his mind unable to handle it.  Meanwhile, Brother Summit, stuck with one of the horrors on his own was forced to withdrawl for some healing from his companions.

Seeing their second wind vanishing, Emmerick & Yvainne surged forward to fill the void meeting the attacks of the otherworldly creature with blade and fang.  And as Brother Summit & Mardus recovered, the four Shroud members even without their rogue or wizard, managed to hack, slash, burn and bite the creature.

Against even the limited might of just part of the Shroud, the creature was ripped into ribbons.

It's mate eventually emerged in a rage as the fear had subsided but weakened and without it's companion, the prepared Shroud destroyed it too.

As quite returned to the caverns, the Shroud looked where the creatures had been.  There, beyond where the mud pool had been, in the alcove were the old broken chest used to be, were massive stone tablets & some sort of pool, that appeared to be the source of all the ooze that was invading the plane.

Investigation revealed the tablets to be some sort of otherworldly artifact that was generating the black liquid substance.

The Shroud stood before the artifact, unsure of what comes next.

Session 47

The Knot bursts out into the hallway unleashing an assault on the undead dragons.

Steel and fang clash as arcane magic rains down and infernal hell fire fills the hallway.

Quell takes the brought of one of the dragon's assaults, the stone skin from Wasyli from before the fight with Thorn gets all used up, but the elven rogue survives.  All be it with an emergency heal from Mardus.

Wasyli isolates the two dragons with a wall of force only to have Brother Summit shrug and teleport past it & solo one of the dragons himself.

Yvainne does try at one point to get the dragons to surrender, but her desire to make the Ninth their new master doesn't seem to go over too well.

The Knot resigns to utterly destroying the dragons and proceed to do just that.

Brother Summit mercilessly grinding his dragon into bone dust while the other one is overwhelmed by the blades of Quell and Emmerick.

The following morning the Knot meet with the wizard Ben and learn about the grave knights & the magic of the fortress.  Yvainne attunes herself to the key to the fortress and they wait as the grave knights raise & they take control of them.

The fortress of Thorn is finally completely under the control of the Knot.

Though, despite Yvainne's eager desire to bath herself in the negative energy of the odd magical devise, Quell brought up that none of them, save maybe Brother Summit should go near the planer breach.  There was a collective groan as they remembered the taint they all carried with them.  And one small part of their new fortress most of them would need to avoid.

The Knot left a token force to guard the fortress along with the newly raised graveknights and returned to their island to speak to their old acquaintance, Tiadora.

Calling her by her true name, the handmaiden of hell knew who her new masters would be.  She begrudgingly signed a contract binding her to the service of the Knot.  But she did insist on a rider that allowed her to ignore the orders of Yvainne until they were confirmed by a true worshipper of hell.

Her opinion of the death priestess was clear.  The devil didn't trust her.

Having Thorn's former lieutenant under their grip, the Knot decided to abolish the idea of Knots.  That was Thorn's order.  And that order was dead.  No.  They supported a shroud and so now there would be Veils.  And they would be the greatest Veil of all.

With Thorn's personal journal in hand and his lieutenant subservient to them.  The Veil moved forward with their slain master's plan.

Their attention turned toward the former 6th Knot, with their former ally, Galen.  They were supposed to have an army.  The army of the new King would come and save the Kingdom from the bugbears.

Tiadora, with Lord Vastenus Barca former general of the king's army, went to see what the 6th Knot had assembled.  They found the leader of the 6th knot in Riddleport, with a band of cutthroats and brigands as well as a formidable mercenary army.

Yet there was no sign of Galen.  The leader of the 6th knot didn't know where the Lich wizard went.

Using divination & teleportation magic, the Veil arrived to speak with Galen, Tiadora in tow.

They found Galen living in the lap of luxury, negotiating with a group called the Queen's Hand, advisors to Abrogail Thrune II, Queen of Cheliax.  Talengarde would have a powerful professional army to defend them, and all they needed to do was bend a knee to the Throne of Cheliax.

It would seem the Veil had two armies to choose from.

Session 46

Thorn begins a long diatribe about how he brought in the Knot & raised them, and this is the thanks he gets when Mardus interrupts him.  "Thorn, you're in my chair"

"You what it?  Then come and take it."

Battle was joined.

Thorn is quick to use timestop and bring in an Ice Devil in the midsts of the Knot.  Along with a host of defensive spell effects.

The barbed devils try to hold as many of the Knot as possible, but are much less successful now that the Knot is buffed up & ready for a fight.

They even use illusions to bring in a horned devil, but this time, the Knot sees right through it and ignore the illusionary construct.

Instead they focused there combined rage on the Ice Devil in amongst them and had destroyed the summoned creature in a matter of seconds.  Under a relentless barrage of attacks.

Wasyli did manage to get off a dimensional anchor to keep Thorn from fleeing, which got a cackle from the Lich Priest.  "You think I'd ever flee!"

Thorn responded by unloaded orbs of negative energy & used channelling to pull negative energy from the very floors and walls, bursting it all over the Ninth Knot, who's well prep'ed death ward spell left them immune to the effects.  Well, aside from Yvainne.  The vampire priestess of death jumped into the sphere of negative energy & basked in the extra health it offered her.

Still, the Priest of Hell had some power not tied to the negative energy plane.  And he showed it by directing an implosion spell on Quell & crumpling the elf into a dead ball.

The Knot stood stunned for a second before they rushed into action.

Emmerick provided a wall to keep off the barbed devils while Mardus & Yvainne rushed to the side of their fallen comrade.  Two breath of lifes and one heal later and their elf rogue was brought back from death and able to carry on the fight.

Meanwhile Brother Summit rushed forward to break the concentration of Thorn only to run into some kind of barrier blocking him.

A quick check from Wasyli deduced it was likely a anti-life shell or some other effect.  Regardless, he blew away the magic with a particularly powerful dispel magic.

And Implosion was directed at Brother Summit but the Monk shrugged it off before rushing in and clobbering the Lich, disrupting his concentration.

Thorn desperately tried to fend off the Monk, only to have him ignore all the powerful magics the Priest could hurl at him while all around Devils were falling.

With the ranks of Devils reduced & Quell back up Emmerick was able to stop playing guardian and be the killer he was, charging forward with Helbrand in hand.  His recently restored elf companion following along behind.

As the Knot swarmed Thorn, Yvainne looked at all the Devils surrounding her & laughed with joy before unleashing a wail of the banshee and destroying most of the remaining Devils in one swift stroke.

Thorn stood his ground, not fleeing but fighting to the death. And that is just what he got when Emmerick, wielding Helbrand and infused with his anti-paladin power as a vorpal weapon, swung the blade around and took clean off the Lich's head.

The future King of Talengarde would be no puppet anymore.

Yvainne quickly pulled out Thorns phylactery.  The vampire grinned as she bit down into the withered pulsing heart.  The wicked iron barbs poking into her mouth as her blood mixed with Thorns.  She feasted on a Lich that night.

As Yvainne dropped the drained, shriveled husk on the ground a rumble could be felt from high above and a voice whispered in the ears of the followers of hell.  "Come my children".

The Knot left the throne room & walked past that curious ornate door before going outside.  There, the sky turned blood red, then it started to rain.  Blood.  As infernal shapes danced in the sky, singing in infernal.  And that same curious voice spoke softly in the ears of the followers of Hell among the Ninth.  Whispering to them all the times the righteous or faithful faltered or failed to act it was the corrupting influence of Hell.  That the Ninth Knot as been secretly helped along the way to reach this moment.  For now, the Devil is thy only Master.

Emmerick, Mardus and Wasyli stood enthralled with the glory of their faith.  Even Quell & Brother Summit felt blessed.

While Yvainne stood in the corner.  The death priest's eyes shining in the dark.  Disliking even the taste of the blood falling.  Finding it too... infernal.

The Knot returned back to the secret throne room, once again passing the curious ornate door.

Back inside the Knot does an exhaustive search of the secret inner sanctum.

Along with finding Tiadora's true name, Thorns personal diaries and a bunch of seals for communicating with other knots, they find the great treasure room of Thorn.

Among the treasures was their former Knot member, Galen's phylactery.  But the greatest treasure is an odd looking ring of great power.  The Knot catalogs it & moves on.  They do note, in the great battle with Thorn, the Lich Priest did not use the ring.  Which gives the Knot pause.

As the Knot nearly finish the rounds searching through the inner sanctum they here a rumble & roar fill the underground complex, followed by a crackle of electricity.

The Knot rushed to the secret entrance of the inner sanctum, Mardus used his Fire Oracle power to see through the torches in the hallway beyond.  And there he saw the ornate door broken on one hinge and a massive undead dragon bursting forth.

The Knot paused.  "Perhaps we should just let it leave" someone says.  Another observes it might kill the traitor general, which brought some mild desire to intervene.  Then someone else pointed out "Oh what about Ben & his wife?"  That statement brought the Knot into action.  They quickly rushed for the door to burst out on the undead dragons.

It seems at least one trap of the Cardinal would still annoy the Knot.

Session 45

The Knot decide to send Quell forward to sneak near the guard house full of grave-knights and try to reach the guest rooms where the necromancer Ben was rumored to be staying.

Quell got close to the guest rooms only to be spotted by one of the undead guards.

The elf cursed under this breath before beating a path back toward the prison with guards chasing after.

Emmerick, Brother Summit, Mardus & Yvainne readied for the coming onslaught while Wasyli rushed off to double back & use a wall of force to block the guards from alerting the rest of the compound.

As Wasyli was off blocking off the rear guards, the front guards encountered the forward might of the Ninth and they were brought low as blade and magic flared as the first few grave-knights fell.  In a move that Yvainne had mixed fillings about after, she enchanted Quell's blade with the destruction effect, causing one of the blows from the elf to permanently destroy one of the grave-knights.

Then the rest of the grave-knights, unable to breach the wall of force turned & slammed into the line of the Ninth.  The undead warriors managed to cause some damage to the front line.  Mardus found himself surrounded unable to fall back.  Then Brother Summit rushed forward shooting "Protect the High Priest!" and with fist and boot broke through the knights and scattering them so Mardus could retreat to relative safety.

By the time Wasyli managed to return, he found over half the guards destroyed and a wounded Mardus recovering.  The sorcerer didn't even bother casting his powerful spells, instead using minor spells to pick off a few more guards as Quell, Emmerick & Summit ground the remaining knights into the ground, claiming the guard house for the Ninth.

Wasting no time, the Ninth rush to the guest rooms looking for Ben and they find the necromancer poking his head out of a room trying to figure out what the commotion was.  With a nightcap on and a small candle in hand, the powerful wizard didn't cut a particularly striking figure.

The Knot quickly explained the disturbance as simply a change in management and nothing he should worry about.  The initial conversation goes well, as Ben seems quite indifferent to their coup attempt against their former master.

Then Yvainne asked about if his wife is around, and about the location of Vincent.  And Ben explains, with mild hesitation that yes, his wife is in his room with him and that no, Vincent is not around.  Further queries have Ben push back that it's late & that he'd like to get back to his room.

Yvainne again mentions his wife & he gives an angry look, much to Yvainne's surprise.

He again mentions his desire to retire for the rest of the night and that he could be found in the morning in his lab and he has no more time for questions.

Quell starts to push for more questions now and some curt words are traded between the rogue & wizard before Mardus jumps in and defuses the situation.  After a couple more brief questions, the Ninth let Ben return to his chamber as they resume their coup attempt.

With their intel, the Ninth prepare their next move.  Quell goes for another scouting mission, this time aided by invisibility from Wasyli and silence from Yvainne.  They find another gap in their intel, some new door on a hallway that has the heraldry of Thorn, including two grave-knights in livery.

The Knot set up an elaborate ambush, using a combination of silence, wall of force and a healthy dose of brute strength to strike.  They assault the guards on the odd ornate door and other guards down the hall guarding the presumed personal chambers of the head of the Second Knot.

They're nearly perfect with Quell & Mardus savaging the two grave-knights in heraldry, but Emmerick & Brother Summit prove unable to contain there two guards before they alert their commander.

Marcel Wolfram, Lord of the Second Knot and Anti-paladin of Hell steps forward and engages with Emmerick.  The two anti-paladins savage each other as all around grave-knights are reduced to hucks of armor.

Then Yvainne, wielding powerful enchantments, forces Wolfram to temporarily treat the Ninth as his friends.  Eager to see if they could salvage the Second they question it's Lord to see if anything could be done.  After a few questions it becomes clear, Wolfram's loyalty to Thorn is unwavering and unquestioning.  It would be exceedingly difficult to salvage this servant of hell.

So they decide to not bother.  Mardus tries to trick the Lord of the Second Knot into taking some Fire Seeds as "gifts" but as it turns out Thorn's anti-paladin knows more about spells than the Ninth's does, as Mardus' trick doesn't work and Wolfram, free of the spell lashes out.  But it doesn't matter.  Emmerick staggers from a blow from his rival, and Mardus detonates the Holly Bombs, engulfing the Lord of the Second Knot in the fires of Hell.  As the fire leaves, it is clear the new High Priest of Asmodeus has sent the top lieutenant of his rival back to Hell.

The Knot finds the secret door the dead fur-trapper mentioned and they ignore the other rooms around.  Their target is Thorn.

Quell spots a difficult to stop trap on the secret door but is able to disarm it and the Knot moves into the secret inner sanctum of the former High Priest.

The Knot find a few side rooms but they remember the words of the fur trapper & move up to the door at the end of the hall.  There the Ninth huddle and prepare for the fight they've been waiting for for over a year.  Emmerick eagerly gripping his mace.

The Knot cloak themselves in as much protective magic as they can muster and they burst into the secret throne room of Cardinal Thorn.

There they find their target.  The Lich Priest of Asmodeus, along with a half-dozen barbed devils.

The battle for the Knot of Thorns commences.