Session 33: Stepping Through Shadows

* A session of tension, filled with intrigue, our party began their reconnaissance of the Fargrave Palace
* We began in Buntis’ tower, where our party, Ecath, Chartreuse and Entari all appeared in a flash of bright light. Around them, the tubes filled with non-newtonian monsters resided, watching eerily as the great Prime Minister of Petrador collapsed
* Ecath, cold, clammy and pale as the tundra, was all but out for the count for the next phase of the plan, having depleted his magic so entirely that he has experienced a fair few levels of magical exhaustion
* Leaving Chartreuse to guard him, Entari escorted the others into the bowels of the anti-magic field in search of Daelynn, granting them each advantage on their stealth checks
* Against all odds, Ramzi, who continuously rolled low, was somehow able to bluff his way out of every encounter with a guard, somehow starting the foundations of a union and also caffeinating a lot of guards.
* Tato and Morgan, whilst remaining hidden throughout all of it, followed behind Ramzi, losing sight of him when he went to head down to the kitchens. Entari, having a silent conversations with the silent-goers, went along with Ramzi to ensure he wasn’t alone if he encountered trouble
* Meanwhile, the duo he really needed to watch, decided to try and rob another set of guards, sneaking up and surprising them in a quick hold up
* Ultimately, it didn’t go exactly to plan, however by the end of it, the group was able to get them to start considering that Faephine may have had something to do with what happened to Daelynn
* When other guards emerged to respond to the sound of someone being held up, the original victims covered for our chaos duo, just in time for Ramzi to return with one of the wait staff.
* Parting ways from their temporary allies, Ramzi mixed his night-night powder into the remaining cups of coffee on his tray, delivering them to the guards outside of Daelynn’s chambers
* With them all asleep, they were finally able to sneak into Daelynn’s chambers, finding the prone, deeply asleep empress lying. Above her, glowing balls of light created a tangible dreamscape of a young Daelynn, Ecath and their gang of children.
* Trying a variety of things to wake her up, in a moment of genius, Morgan, succeeding with another horrific nat 20, tore out of the room with Daelynn in his arms, racing for the top of the scientist’s tower.
* With Entari phasing ahead to unlock the door, Morgan collapsed at Ecath’s side, placing the unconscious Daelynn into his arms where he could greet his old friend again
* Awakening from her slumber, the empress was not able to process her shock of the entire situation with the party urging her to call off the guards currently giving chase. It was quickly explained that Encara had been Ecath the entire time and there was an entire wealth of knowledge that had been lost to her oh so long ago
* Striding forward, silken blankets tossed around her like a robe, she slammed open the door of the tower and bellowed down to the guards below, calling off the mad manhunt and restoring order. With a final call to return Faephine to her imprisonment, our group was finally left alone to process everything that had just happened.
* Finally, in the quiet of the afternoon with Daelynn safe, watching Ecath slowly recover from his exhaustion, Daelynn comes to an easy decision
* In a massive show of strength, she broke open the walls of the tower and bellowed loudly for the entire city to hear that she was challenging Faephine to trial by combat for her crimes

And that is where we left sesh 33, next session will be 03/08/2022!