Tombs of Scoria: Episode 81

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== Synopsis ==
A year and a month has passed in the Third Material Plane in the Brothers’ absence. Valla McGary has been captured and is being held prisoner in Crownhold, and many of the McGary followers have perished. Shine lives, and continues to defend Drekis, but has suffered great bodily harm and lost her right eye in the defense of Drekis. The Brothers reveal their return to Arc Sombar and The Queen, but keep their return hidden from Shine. The Brothers are filled in on Drekis’s gathered military intelligence, including Scoria’s magical capabilities, and a minion of Scoria in Crownhold who wields a legendary dagger from the Age of Heroes. 
The Brothers resolve to assault Crownhold directly in order to assassinate Scoria’s top ranking minions and rescue their mother. During some downtime, the Brothers level up. Imrik learns Power Word: Stun, Persistence, and Reverse Gravity. Tyrael and Anton track the Ring of Invisibility-wielding assassin, Sophie, who stalks through Wikkthonrarenta.
== Recap ==
=== Back Home: 10th Jan 1515 ===
Anton grasps the Amulet of Velthara and detects Scoria within Crownhold. Imrik scrys on Shine and sees her perched atop the royal keep in Wikkthronrarenta. The Brothers see that though Shine lives, she has been maimed, having lost her right eye, flesh across her face and back, broken claws, as well as entry and exit wounds resembling a lightning strike. Imrik cancels the scry before Shine notices their observation. 
Tyrael looks out of the attic and sees the McGary household staff working, and people going about typical business, but the mood is dire. 
Imrik attempts to Scry on their mother, but he is unable to detect her. Imrik then scrys on McGary Keep, but sees it empty with signs of fighting and mundane fire damage. 
The Brothers debate the merits of whether or not to reveal their return, but eventually decide to contact . 
Meanwhile, Tyrael dons a large hooded cloak to obfuscate his identity and slips out of the McGary home without alerting the household staff to investigate the condition of his thieves den. He finds the den has been destroyed by fire. As Tyrael walks through the city streets, he learns that Drekis seems to be experiencing a large influx of refugees, seemingly from all over, including Iron County to the West and the cities to the South. Merchants carefully guard their goods, refugees worry about their next meal, and bouncers openly wear armor and weapons.
Tyrael investigates a few bars to search for whereabouts, but finds that Vega hasn’t been seen for over two months. Tyrael, still hiding his identity, feigns ignorance speaking to a bartender, and finds that the Brothers have been gone for a little over a year and have returned on January 10, 1515. Tyrael asks for the bartender's opinion on where things all went wrong for Drekis in the War, to which the bartender replies that if Tyrael is ever taking a stroll through the cemetery, he can “find the grave of Lord McGary and go ahead and relieve himself on it" as thanks for the downturn in the War. Tyrael sneaks back into their home and reports his findings. 
=== Sending and Time Pools: 11th Jan 1515 ===
The Brothers awaken to gentle snowfall. Imrik casts on Arc Sombar, referencing the the time she helped them turn Georg to flesh in the dungeon (ToS 28). Arc Sombar replies, telling Imrik to meet within their old estate the next day at midnight. Anton detects Scoria and feels she has returned to Dragon Peak. The Brothers sneak into Anton's room, which is covered in a layer of dust. Anton retrieves a basin and fills it with one of their Decanters of Endless Water. 
Anton casts a series of : 
Show me the funeral of Tyrael McGary.  
* The spell fizzles. 
Show me the battle that took Shine’s eyesight.  
* Anton sees Shine engaged in aerial combat with a blue dragon over Bon' Theris. Below, Scoria fights alongside the armies of Mistrya. Shine slays the blue dragon, but is raked across the face and back, losing flesh and her eye in the process. Shine retreats.
Show me the destruction of Tyrael's thieves den.  
* At night, a figure appears out of thin air, breathes out a gout of flame over the building. The figure reaches into a bag, pulling out a bottle larger than the bag itself, consumes the contents, and breathes out even more fire, destroying the building. 
=== Going to the Old House: 12th Jan 1515 ===
Imrik casts on the Brothers and they make their way to their old estate which has been boarded up, the perimeter of which has been filled with squatters. Anton and Imrik stage a fight to create a distraction and Tyrael picks the lock leading into their cellar. Imrik into a bird to fly into the chimney, and Anton turns into a bat to make his way into the home.
=== Meeting Arc Sombar: 13th Jan 1515 (just after midnight) ===
The Brothers reconvene, where they see Arc Sombar, who appears by some form of projection. Anton describes the Time Pool of Arc Sombar’s wedding to an uncomfortable level of detail to verify their identities which she accepts.
The Brothers relay that relatively little time went by for them. After about a month of the Brothers’ disappearance, Scoria engaged in a series of emboldened attacks that led to the destruction of nearly every city beyond the forests of Wikkthonrarenta. Drekis is not alone in its casualties: Mistrya is starving; the young, the old, and the feeble, were given as sacrifices to Scoria; civil war rages in Mahtava. The Brothers make their way into the Keep to see an updated map of the War. Entering the Keep cancels their Seeming.
==== Drekissin Intelligence and the Continued War for Arcadia ====
Arc Sombar relays that Drekis has enough resources and food to get through the winter, with a better equipped army of superior size, but suffer from internal havoc, crime, and distribution problems. The Brothers learn that their mother was kidnapped from McGary keep, where she is likely being held as a prisoner in Crownhold. Scoria was able to bring a number of dragons to her side, but Shine killed all of them across an unbroken streak of loyalty. Arc Sombar’s apprentices have all been killed, as have most of the clerics within the capital, all by an assassin, likely the same one wielding a Ring of Invisibility that botched an attempt on Imrik’s life long ago. 
Arc Sombar also reports that Scoria must have a third entrance to her lair, but it has yet to be found. The main ground entrance is guarded by orc encampments, with the orcs numbering in the hundreds. The main base has ogres, trolls, and giants. The skies are guarded by approximately fifty harpies, and below the harpies within the mountain, gargoyles.
The elves have pulled back from Drekis: their forests have been destroyed, as have two of their cities with a third city nearly in ruins. 
Sombar also notes that Scoria has launched her attacks by some apparent form of Greater Invisibility, raining down fire while maintaining invisibility, and retreating ostensibly through an innate Teleportation spell whenever she risks overextending. The gathered intelligence shows that other than her lair and infrequent meetings in Crownhold, she has never appeared on the ground.  
Drekisian intelligence also has identified some of the magical items wielded by Scoria.  She has a brooch, the true nature of which is unknown, but Sombar and the Brothers posit that it may be a Brooch of Shielding, given that a mass of wizards casting is the only other thing besides the Brothers that legitimately threatens Scoria in a head to head fight.  Scoria also has magical rings, the effects of which are also unknown.  
Drekisian intelligence has however positively identified that Scoria wears the Robe of Eyes in her human form, which is believed to also benefit her in her dragon form, which grants her unerring vision that pierces through all illusion and invisibility, additionally granting her 360 degree vision around her at all times, making it effectively impossible to catch her unaware. Arc Sombar adds that Scoria has also been seen with and .  
Despite Scoria’s many weapons and resources, the Mistryan war machine is falling apart due to the blow struck against Mahtava by the Brothers.  Given enough time, Arc Sombar believes Mistrya will run itself into the ground with no soldiers left to fight, and that Scoria alone keeps Drekis at bay. Mistrya has suffered greatly from food shortages, with the old, young, and infirm fed as sacrifices to Scoria and her harpies, so as to cut down on the need for food. Arc Sombar and the Brothers reason that the optimal strategy for Scoria would be to simply bide her time and outlive her Drekisian enemies, but Scoria has not done that, instead choosing to personally lead the assaults. They wonder why.  
Arc Sombar points out that the Wyrmwood is warded with anti-teleportation and anti-invisiblity magics. If Scoria and the Brothers ended up facing off in the Wyrmwood, it would be a mortal confrontation with no possibility of magical retreat for either side. Alternatively, the Brothers could methodically work their way through Scoria’s lair if she decided to hide away, eventually grinding down all of Scoria’s minions and traps until only she remained.  
Scoria’s wizard, Balaerius is confirmed to still be alive.  Scoria’s cleric of Voraci, the dwarf Zarthan, has not been seen in some years, but is assumed to be alive.  
In the Brothers’ absence, the armies of Drekis successfully dispatched Scoria’s Vanguard and Enforcers.
==== Scoria’s Claws and Fangs ====
Arc Sombar notes the presence of two of Scoria's "Eyes & Ears, Claws & Fangs" in Crownhold: Nyar and Voltas Steros. Voltas Steros is a powerful wizard, serving as a emissary between Scoria and Alex Guilder. With the emissary is Scoria's Enforcer, the assassin Nyar, who wields the dagger, Ifan. 
Arc Sombar recites the features of Ifan. Ifan is a magical dagger enchanted with a permanent Dimensional Blade, allowing it to ignore all forms of armor except mitigation provided by magic or mobility. Further, the Dagger grants its wielder Infravision, and also contains a well capable of storing poison for injection upon a successful attack. And, perhaps most devastatingly, Arc Sombar notes that the Dagger grants the wielder at-will use of . 
Arc Sombar eyes Tyrael, commenting how the Dagger could be a weapon of deadly accuracy, attacking backs and weak spots effortlessly across a battlefield, should it ever be wielded by a warrior of sufficiently roguish background. Imrik is similarly spooked by the prospect of Tyrael wielding such a weapon.
==== Reuniting With The Queen ====
After some deliberation, the Brothers decide to reveal their return to the Queen. They reunite.  The Queen slaps Tyrael across the face and he does not resist. The Queen embraces each of her nephews, thanking them for returning home alive and well.  
The Queen confirms that their mother has been taken as prisoner in Crownhold, and is certainly being held as a trap for the Brothers. The Brothers and the Queen both agree that it is a trap, but that they are going to assault Crownhold as three brothers, assassinate Voltis Steros and Nyar, and rescue their mother, regardless. The Queen agrees, saying family comes before anything. The Brothers keep their return hidden from Shine.  
The Queen confirms the survival or death of many of the McGary’s followers and family. The Wayfarers all yet live, and are engaged in reconnaissance and subterfuge against Mistrya.  and have died. whereabouts are unknown. has died. , their mother’s bodyguard, has died. has died. and have survived and maintain the McGary household’s security. status is unknown. Vega has survived and is engaged in reconnaissance. Anton’s wife and child survived the siege of Outlast, The Queen knows what has transpired in Heatstroke (ToS 71); Anton assures her that his priorities have changed. lives.  
=== One Week's Downtime (Experience): 14th-20th Jan 1515 ===
The Brothers take some down time to recuperate and reflect on recent events. Tyrael gains a level in Fighter (13) and Rogue (16); Anton gains a level in Fighter (13) and Cleric (13); Imrik gains a level in Fighter (13) and Wizard (14); effective 15th level due to ). 
Anton takes a weapon proficiency in swords.  Imrik takes the downtime to study new spells. Imrik learns . Imrik learns . Imrik fails to learn . Tyrael trades his Green Dragonscale Armor +3 for a suit of Dragonscale Armor constructed from the scales of Xorathis.
=== 21st-24th Jan 1515 ===
Imrik continues his 11 days of studying and learns .
==== Hunting an Assassin ====
In the meantime, Tyrael and Anton spend time tracking down the assassin stalking the capital who wields the Ring of Invisibility. Through a series of castings on the clerics, they determine the assassin is a woman named , who dons a unique mask of alabaster color. Under the guise of Seeming and Etherealness, Anton and Tyrael track the mask to a tower by a barracks where soldiers train by casting on the assassin’s mask.
Tyrael disarms a poisoned needle-prick trap triggered by an attempted opening of a door without a key. Anton and Tyrael search through a series of rooms, and eventually come to a room where Anton detects the mask beneath them.
Anton reattempts to detect the mask, but finds it is out of his detection range, despite it just previously being somewhere beneath him.
Category:Tombs of Scoria Episodes