Session 9: The Breaking of Bral

### Into the North Wing

Branta immediately left out of sight. The party was wary of following him, so they managed to convince the imprisoned Children of the Orbs to follow after, telling them the Orbs were waiting for them there. The Children excitedly followed Branta and then the party heard a commotion, phasebow shots, and then nothing.

Preparing for a fight, they prepped molotov cocktails and breached the room at the end of the hall, finding a large space with some sort of ancient crane and an ancient device over a lava pit that looked like the device from the dwarven rune carving. The room contained many Bralian soldiers - one of whom was guarding a shackled and beaten Deg - as well as Branta, a couple monodrones, and an older human woman and her attendant. The molotovs badly damaged several soldiers and nearly killed the attendant, whereupon the woman shouted for the party to stop. The only way to save them all, she said, was to activate the device. She was the Merchant-Prince Peyta Cosar.

She and the party negotiated back and forth, as the party and soldiers had a tense standoff. Suddenly, booms rang out and the room began to shake. She told them their pursuers were here and the device had to be activated now, because the weapon it initiated was the only way to hold them off. The party grabbed Deg with a telekinetic pull, and Peyta, exasperated, exclaimed "For the love of the gods... Branta, just throw in the rookie." Branta grabbed one of the terrified guards and tossed him into the lava.

### The Weapon Rises

The device activated, emitting a pink beam of light that made the lava glow. Peyta and her entourage left down a corridor leading away from the Donjon, and the party turned back toward it. When they were heading back toward the prison chamber, however, they found an immense crack through the entire Rock of Bral running through the hallway. It seemed the lower levels of the Donjon were actually some sort of magically-powered vessel, and it was taking off. Through the crack, the party could see a huge space battle occurring, with squadrons of squid ships and hammerships engaging formations of shrike ships in aerial dogfights above.

Rather than jumping the gap back into the ascending prison vessel, the party decided to turn around and follow Peyta's route out. They emerged in the basement of a ruined building in the Temple District, and began making their way toward the Docks, as the vessel continued ascending.

The city was in utter chaos. Ships soared overhead, shooting bolts of magic at each other as they flew by. Airborne monodrones zoomed around repeating "CITIZENS OF BRAL, YOU ARE ORDERED TO EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY" over and over. Most of the mass of docked civilian vessels had already left or was trying to escape. Three massive dark ships, just like the one that had attacked the party over Pryzonis, had appeared in the sky and were bombarding the city, which had split fully into two pieces.

### Battle at the Docks

The party reached the docks with Deg and escaped prisoner Virta Harrowthorn just as the three colossal ships began targeting the ascending prison vessel, which began to falter and break apart. They ran out onto the docks to see fighting at the edge of the Valiant's deck between Bralian guards and the mysterious warriors and elite warriors who'd attacked them at Pryzonis, including the elite commander, who was trying to get onto the ship.

Blocked from proceeding directly and wanting to circumvent the battle, the party used a long rope to lasso a cleat on the Valiant's deck, then pulled themselves to the ship one by one. They attacked the warriors as Deg went down to launch the ship.

They damaged the elite commander's armor, and he proceeded to pull off one of his guantlets and his helmet. Under the gauntlet wasn't a single hand but two long spindly hands of sickly white-green skin that seemed to unfurl out. Under the helmet, a long white-green neck unfurled to reveal a lizardlike head ridged with protrusions and dominated by two huge black eyes.

"At last," he said, "the exiles -- you've come. It's time to take what is mine. It's time to take the Key."