Session 62

* The Steward's Estate

**Previously...**

## And Now...

Having engaged Tovric and his ynfernael minions, the heroes led powerfully, with a strong opening gambit, however, following several unexpected twists of fate and revelations, the tide appears to be turning against our heroes as Tovric advances upon them...

### A Measured Advance.

Tovric advances down the stairs, projecting a wave of horror before him, but desperation gives our heroes the will to resist it, even as it tears at them. Seeing the Gnome about to strike at his allies, Harper leaps forward and delivers a nasty slash to the gnomes arm, severing a vital tendon connecting the shoulder to the elbow. Convulsing in agony, the Artificer drops a capsule he was holding, which bursts open upon striking the floor into a thick, inky cloud of blackness. The cloud envelops the Gnome, but Harper is able to pull back in time to avoid being caught in it. From within the cloud, horrid wet sounds of bones cracking and flesh ripping can be heard.

Rising to his feet, his body still shuddering under its horrid change, Leshrac reaches out towards the nearest target of opportunity and tears one of Tovric's minions limb from limb. Horrified, the Minion next to him leaps towards the Minion battling Gar and suggests they trade opponents, he slashes at Gar, inflicting a ragged, rough looking wound as the minion, suddenly thrust into combat against Leshrac's massive, bestial form, is barely able to make a few tentative and ineffectual swipes.

As the cloud of oily smoke begins to slowly expand, Dandy takes the opportunity to move, using the smoke as cover. Clambering up one of the red, fleshy vines onto the balcony overlooking the room, she sees what she perceives as Tovric looming up behind Nyarduke. Taking aim, she launches a sling bullet at the vampire. It impacts hard, erupting into a tangling mass of vines which wraps around Tovric and the staircase balustrade, temporarily trapping him in place. Goldie and Harper, meanwhile, hearing horrible sounds from the smoke, ready their attacks for what may emerge.

As the smoke begins to disperse, the gnome can be seen staggering and lurching towards the entry doors, as though trying to escape. His body, however, is warping and contorting, making movement increasingly difficult. He opens his mouth, saying something in gnomish but it shifts to something more guttural and frightening. His mouth explodes from the inside out. He drops to the floor, a mass of taut, blood-streaked sinews and splintered bones with nothing but a few ragged scraps to identify its former owner. It splits wetly in half, twisting into the form of two roughly dog-shaped beasts which glare hungrily at Goldie and Harper.

Examining the beasts, who seem to be made of the same ynferael flash as the machine, Goldie reasons that fire will be similarly ineffective. They therefore launch a bolt of ice which is able to catch one dog in its side. The second leaps at Harper, who, panicked, tries to fire a crossbow bolt. The shot goes wide, but Harper is able to avoid the raking claws by ducking behind one of the larger tendrils.

### It's All Far, Far Too Much.

Giving full reign to Fluffy's bloodlust, Gar follows up against the vampire who wounded him, tearing the minion limb from bloody limb. Seeing another of his followers fall and finding himself momentarily unable to break free of the vines, he attempts an incantation, only to have his power countered by Leshrac.

Nyarduke, meanwhile, still in a kind of fugue state where he imagines each combatant is his deceased brother, sees this horrific display of violence and his mind crumbles under a maelstrom of conflicting emotions. He holds up both arms and bellows, "Truce!" The sound echoes and reverberates round the room, and as the last echoes fade, the whole hall falls silent. For a moment, everyone is frozen into silent stillness...

The moment of silence is shattered as the doors at the far end of the hall burst open to reveal a squad of elite Kellosian Paladins led by Preceptor Tusid (Session 60) and including the heroes' ally, Giana Delakin. One of the Paladins casts further restraints upon Torvic upon recognizing him. At the same time, Goldie is able to entrap the last vampire minion within an icy prison. Seeing the demon dogs charging for the Paladins, Dandy uses a well-skipped sling stone, rendering them momentarily harmless as the Paladins move in to deliver killing blows. In response to this, and seeing his forces decimated, Tovric smiles ruefully and looks up at Nyarduke, "Well, I suppose I might be open to considering terms."

### Pulling Chaos from the Jaws of Victory.

Unfortunately for Tovric, Nyarduke's not home right now. That last outburst used up the last of his mental willpower, causing Nyarduke's personality to recede and the Hereshna persona, to come to the fore (See Session 54-55). Hereshna, seeing only the face of evil and revelling in his raw physical power, hoists Tovric high into the air and slams him bodily into the marble steps, rattling the Vampire lord's brains. "Haha!" he cries, exultant, "We meet again! But how do you expect to defeat me now that I'm not naked!?"

Gar, his mind temporarily overwhelmed by Fluffy's bloodlust, charges towards the temporarily incapacitated Tovric and with one mighty blow, decapitates the Lord of Bilehall. Tovric's head rolls down the steps, dissolving into clouds of hot ash as it descends. Briefly, the thump, thump, thump of the head is the only sound in the hall. And then the skeleton erupts into a searing ball of incandescent flame. This ball of flame entirely destroys the captive minion and hurls Gar's seemingly lifeless form across the room.

Fortunately, Giana moves quickly to stabilize him and begins to heal the massive amount of damage he's taken. Gar tries to move, but Giana tells him to remain still. The Paladins set up to conduct a ritual of banishment on the demon dogs, but Gar pleads with her not to let them go through with it. Uncertain of why Gar would be asking for this, she pauses for an instant, and it's enough of a distraction for the dogs to escape their ritual bindings. One of the dogs coughs up a blob of foul flesh, which transforms into a third dog, and the other quickly follows suit.

Seeing this, Goldie casts a containment spell to try and recapture the dogs. They're partially successful, inasmuch as the spell protects the Paladins momentarily from the dogs, but the strain of casting causes Goldie to revert to Cat form. Harper attempts to distract the dogs with a cloud of illusory butterflies, but the malign influence of the place corrupts the spell and it manifests as a swarm of hellish moths. Dandy checks in with Gar, who's trying to make himself understood, muttering something about horns and a mortar and pestle. After a quick rummage in her backpack, Dandy produces a mortar and pestle and hands it to Giana, who doesn't seem to know what she needs it for. Dandy gives her a brief, "What can you do?" shrug.

### Loot the Bodies!

Leshrac and Hereshna begin searching through Tovric's blasted remains to see if they can find anything of use in the current situation, with Leshrac showing interest in an amulet and a runestone, and Heresha in the massive, ornate gauntlet Tovric was wearing. Seeing this, Dandy wanders back upstairs and decides to investigate the room Tovric was staying in, hoping to find some clues as to their plans for the Conclave, but not heartbroken by the prospect of some mysterious treasures. Gar, meanwhile, has struggled to his feet and staggered towards one of the demon dogs, hoping to get the chance to slice off one of their horns.

Seeing this, Goldie attempts to distract the dogs, but is caught in the side by a swipe from one of the dogs' jagged, whip-like tails. Harper responds by taking a shot at this dog, but misses, nailing another dog to the far wall by its horn. Seeing this, Gar begins limping in that direction, dragging Fluffy behind him. The Paladins attempt to reassert control over the situation.

In examining the gauntlet, Hereshna discovers a ring of fang-like teeth circling the end of it. These, he assumes, would reflexively bite into anyone attempting to wear the gauntlet, making it difficult (if not impossible), to remove. Hearing a noise behind him, he spins and is able to clamp the end of the gauntlet over the head of one of the dogs, which is trying to sneak up behind him. As this happens, the gauntlet's fangs immediately clamp into the dog's throat, locking into place.

The hell moths land on various paladins causing them physical agony, and once more, they look as though they're about to lose their hold on the hounds. The Paladins' cries of distress cause Dandy to return to the room. She sees that Giana's still holding the mortar and pestle, so she takes them back and returns them to her bag. She takes a shot at one of the hounds, and strikes the one with the gauntlet on its head.

### Rites and Revelations.

Leshrac senses an alien presence nearby and attempts to zero in, only to discover that Waiqir is scrying on the room. Gazing upward, he sees the sunken, malevolent eyes of the Betrayer staring down upon him with savage malice, pinning him in place. With the last vestiges of his will, he manages, by sending his vision deep within the eyes' lightless depths, to scry backwards through them.

He beholds Waiqir sitting in a dark-lit throne room. The atmosphere is one of decay and desolation; empty, worn, cracked and old with no upkeep of any kind. Ominous armoured figures with red shimmering eyes stand guard at the door. At his feet, a gnome (almost certainly Garxil's other son - See Sessions 1 & 24) holds a crystal containing a familiar consciousness. At first, Leshrac thinks of Dandy, but soon recognises it as Chance. There is a machine like the one in this room but larger and with no flesh or bone components. At its heart, there is an inactive gem but the machine seems to be functioning. Frustration emanates from Waiqir at the machine not activating properly.

Gar and Hereshna both manage to kill a demon dog, giving the Paladins some breathing room. Giana and Preceptor Tusid take this opportunity to rally the Paladins and array them to cast a banishing spell. Breaking free of Waiqir's fear effect, Leshrac reaches a hand into Dandy's backpack (without asking! Rude!) and grasps the Star of Amplification, adding its power and the additional warding power provided by Bea's contribution to the group's last meal (Session 60) and his own to the Ritual.

There is a blindingly flaring light, and as everyone's sight returns to them, its effects can be immediately seen. All the fleshy components of the machine, and the scarlet tendrils draped throughout the house are gone. Similarly, the dogs and butterflies are gone as though they'd never been there. Gar's link to Fluffy is severed, as is Leshrac's to his ruby eye. On the balcony overlooking the room, three ghostly figures can be seen. One is the Gnomish Prophet who originally crafted the Prophecy (Session 33), one is Arik and the third is an Elf, also a member of the Seraphic Mantle. In the centre of the room, hovering above an inlaid Kellosian symbol is a huge, but equally ghostly flame.

Seeing the ghostly flame, Dandy opens her sacred tinderbox and allows the small flame to leave. As it drifts upward, it passes by the three Seraphic Mantle members who give it their blessing in turn, before it drifts upward to rejoin the larger flame. As it does, the flame, once ghostly, becomes real, and seals the consecration of the area.

Unfortunately, despite this, and even with Tovric and the Gnome Artificer (and his machine) gone, the Conclave is still in danger, now with only hours to spare. There's no time to rest on their laurels and the heroes need to hurry to ensure Waiqir's plot is entirely foiled.

### Afterword.

As Leshrac leaves the Mansion, his eye's power is restored and he has a vision: "seeing a campfire, a couple of hired bodyguards sitting, one sleeping, around a campfire. A lone tree, a big oak or similar sheltering them. In the distance a lonely, distinct tower is visible. It's missing the middle, the 2nd half is floating, without being connected. A few seconds later, a pair of hands pull out a book and write, in a known handwriting, his long lost partner's hands, 'ten days'." (The Tower is almost certainly the one from Session 13.)

## Tactical Overview:

Round FiveRound SixRound SevenRound EightRound NineRound TenRound ElevenRound Twelve