Session 65

* The Citadel

### NPCs:

* Lady Jane Pryor, heir to the Barony of Pelgate and daughter of Baroness Pryor.
* Baroness Harriet of Frest, Member of the Baron's Conclave
* Baron Fredric of Kell, erstwhile protector of Vaelcom, Member of the Baron's Conclave
* Sirdrell Pelbrutt, Steward of Archaut
* Bea, Gnomish Member of the League of Daqan
* Bellia Sephone, Widow of the Murdered Baroness of Allerfeldt, now finally cleared of her murder
* King Trevnor Soulstone, the Ghost of the Last King of Terrinoth.

**Previously...**

## And Now...

With their role in the Conclave presumably resolved, our heroes are ushered out of the central chamber and a recess is declared. However, the heroes are certain that an attack will be made on Baroness Harriet, so they've sent Goldie in in disguise to see if they can't telepathically discover what Lady Pryor's representative, Jane Pryor, is up to. The mission is a partial success with Goldie managing to make contact, but the contact is detected and Jane Pryor immediately demands that guards, "Arrest That Cat!"

### With Step One: Planning, Complete, we move onto Step Two: Making Shit Up As We Go.

Hearing that the plan has gone sideways, Nyarduke and Leshrac attempt to re-enter the Conclave Chambers and wind up tussling with guards. Goldie attempts to leg it, but a guard produces a strange device which launches a magical rope. This ensnares Goldie, bringing them crashing to the ground in a heap.

As this is happening, Gar and Dandy are on the Gallery Level, with everyone else on the Baronial Level, rushing towards the Chamber. The scene is appropriately chaotic. Leshrac begins trying to shout above the tumult, crying out a warning to Baroness Harriet, but it is unclear if he can be heard. He pushes forward, and is grabbed by a guard. He attempts to startle the guard into releasing him by assuming his bestial form. Meanwhile, Nyarduke has charges the guard who has restrained Goldie and is busy hauling them roughly to their feet. Seeing Nyarduke thundering towards them, Goldie manages to step aside in time as Nyarduke crashed bodily into the guards, knocking one prone and the other out.

Seeing more guards coming, Harper fires a series of bolts of lightning from his wand, discouraging them from approaching temporarily. Goldie, meanwhile, has begun to work on the entangling ropes with their claws, and is soon successful.

### A Moment of Calm Before the Storm.

At this point, Dandy and Gar enter, beholding a scene of utter chaos. Thinking quickly, Gar moves over towards a large, ornate stone statue, and wedging his back firmly against a wall, is able to topple it. The statue lands, shattering into fragments and the echoing sound of its destruction cuts straight through the noise. Everyone falls silent as all eyes are temporarily on Gar, who's frantically trying to catch his breath.

Suddenly, everyone acts at once.

Baron Fredric notes Gar's condition and snaps at an Aide to "Do the Thing!" The aide nods and rushes off, leaving the Conclave chamber and darting down a nearby corridor. Not knowing exactly what "The Thing" might be, but sure it can't be any good, Dandy rushes off in hot pursuit.

### 'Pryor Arrangements' are Revealed.

Jane Pryor, who appears to be suffering some sort of malignant magical possession, then reappears from an unexpected direction. Climbing atop the Conclave Throne reserved for Waiqir, she conjures a wave of magical terror, which rolls forth from her position. Gar reacts instantly, charging towards her. Harper attempts to blast her with a thunderbolt, but the Throne seems to magically absorb the energy and redirect it outward, striking a nearby Baron, several guards, and Gar. "Oops."

Finally making his way to Baroness Harriet, Leshrac warns her that she's a target and that she should try and find Bea, whose magic should be potent enough to protect her. With the Baroness and her assistants then safely removed from the field of battle, he looks to try and drain the magical energy of Waiqir's Throne, only to be met by twin gouts of scorching abyssal flame which lance forth at both Leshrac and Nyarduke, knocking both flying backwards.

Leshrac clambers roughly to his feet and looks to Nyarduke who appears to be suffering some sort of convulsion. The spasm passes and Nyarduke pauses briefly, as if in the throes of some inner turmoil. He then draws his spear, leaping towards several of the Barons and laying about himself with homicidal glee. The lance strikes out over and over like a bloody scythe and in seconds, five Barons lie critically wounded and bleeding out upon the floor.

Nyarduke turns from this bloody scene and seeks out the nearest cluster of Barons. A demonic grin creeps across his face, and he begins to stalk towards them, his eyes blazing with an unnatural fury.

### Things Are Always Darkest Just Before They Get VERY Dark Indeed.

With the possessed form of Jane Pryor otherwise distracted by Leshrac and Nyarduke, Goldie has been able to sneak in behind her, depositing a small but potent alchemical parcel beneath the throne. They are just able to get clear before a thunderous explosion tears through the chamber, as everything is plunged into an an unnatural darkness, and the sounds of a thousand damned souls shriek forth in agony.

Gar attempts to find Nyarduke in the dark and tries to shake some sense back into him, only to discover he's discovered one of the Barons by mistake. On edge and mistaking Gar's shaking for an attack, he strikes back at Gar with some kind of magical energy.

The sound of glass shattering can be heard from somewhere in the chamber, but this sound is drowned amidst a growing, howling shriek as though the room was in the midst of a hurricane. Thinking quickly, Harper activates his Shadow Rune after seeking shelter beneath what he assumes is the shattered remnants of some kind of heavy furniture. As the rune activates, Harper's vision switches to a kind of negative image, and he beholds a scene of uncontrolled chaos!

### Corridors and Chases.

Far from, and largely ignorant of, all the tumult within the Conclave Chamber, Dandy is still in hot pursuit of Baron Vaelcom's assistant, whose seen her and taken off at full speed. Despite his entreaties to slow down, he keeps running, terrified that she's going to beat him up.

A difference in leg-length takes its toll, and eventually the aide draws ahead, but Dandy continues looking for him. She eventually finds him as she rounds a corner to see him standing at the cloakroom just inside the entrance to this wing, where he's frantically trying to get the attendant to hand him... Fluffy?

There's a brief confrontation and Dandy eventually convinces him that she's not going to beat him up, but that she really needs to get back to the Chamber. The aide sees reason and hands Fluffy over before taking off for parts. Dandy takes the opportunity to catch her breath and asks the attendant for her stuff back as long as she's there. Given the state of the chamber when she left, she has a nagging suspicion that she might need it.

### Two Maelstroms and a Crescendo.

As Harper's Shadow-Vision comes into clarity, he sees a storm of thrashing, demonic energy tendrils surging forth from a crack in Waiqir's throne and striking out blindly throughout the room at anything within reach. It's immediately obvious that this energy is not being controlled or directed in any way, but has been contained within the throne for so long that it's just being uncontrollably released.

Sensing the power unleashed within the room, Leshrac reached out magically and attempts to make contact with the newly-invoked Flame of Kellos which recently manifested within the Steward's Palace. For a brief moment nothing happens, but then a tiny pinprick of light manifests in the centre of the room, before blazing violently into life. The light hovers over the fallen form of Nyarduke, illuminating a room that looks nothing like the one everyone had been in earlier that day.

Bloodied bodies and shattered furniture have been flung everywhere. Floorboards have been torn up by lashing gouts of energy and sections of the roof have collapsed. Many of the statues situated around the room's outer perimeter lie in shattered ruin, and the walls which separated the various Barons' ready rooms have been utterly destroyed and scattered about the room in shards of scorched cloth and splintered wood.

### Requiem for a Madman.

Gar rushes over to Nyarduke's and turns him over. "Duke?" he asks, as the eyes flicker open and the figure takes in a ragged, shallow breath. "Afraid not, m'boy," replies Hereshna. "I couldn't let him do it, d'you understand? I knew he'd never forgive himself. I, uh, had to take over but, I'm afraid I may have overextended m'self. You know, lad, when I was first gifted with this body, my first thought was what wonderful heroic deeds I could do with this magnificent, heroic form. And now that I've finally done it... it's kind of disappointing, you know... it's over... so fast."
His eyes flicker and he breaths a long, gutteral sigh. When his eyes snap open again, it's Nyarduke.

### The Aftermath.

Several things happen, seemingly at once.

An accounting of the wounded is taken with one Baron critically injured, two very badly hurt and two others injured. A sixth Baron and the Steward appear to have sustained internal injuries and have vomited blood, as well as sustaining several broken limbs. Lady Pryor has vanished, presumably through the shattered window. Uneven landscapes of rooftops, alleyways and towers stretch off in a hundred directions with no way of pursuing her.

Following this accounting, Leshrac notices that there's no sigh of Bea. Harper agrees and volunteers to go looking for fer. At this point, a great many guards enter the room begin to go to work, assisting where they can. Goldie begins to brew healing potions. They're not especially potent, but should be powerful enough to pull anyone in critical condition out of immediate danger, and to stabilize anyone less injured until they can be comprehensively seen to.

Upon regaining his feet, Nyarduke staggers over to throne and drives the Sword of Severance deep into it. Initially, there is a vast sound of wind as whatever sorcery remains within it is leeched away forever, and then a massive surge of feedback as the stone cracks in half, and the Sword shatters, with Nyarduke left holding a hilt and half a blade.

Dandy re-enters the room, out of breath, "Did I miss anything?"

### The Aftermath of the Aftermath: Official Business.

With the various Conclave members functional, if not operating at 100%, they call for a new conference table and chairs and attempt to continue the Conclave.

Their first order of business is to act to temporarily suspend the rights and powers of the Barony of Pelgate and declare Lady Jane Pryor a fugitive until such investigations can be carried out. Dandy briefly advocates on behalf of Lady Jane, stating that her reading of the situation was that Lady Jane was no willing follower of Waiqir but was acting under duress, aiming this last point specifically at the Steward. There is an agreement to take that information under advisement.

There is a brief mention that this will place the Conclave at two chairs down, but Dandy, backed by Leshrac, argues the case that Baron Sephone's heir, until she was accused of murder, was Lady Bellia, and that with her being cleared of said murder, no impediment should exist to bar her from being confirmed as Baroness of Allerfeldt.

After a number of minor pieces of business are quickly dealt with, the newly appointed Baroness Bellia Sephone puts forth a motion to declare our heroes as Knights of the Realm. While there is some subsequent discussion on this, no hard and fast decisions are made.

### Post-Scriptorum: Requiem for a Patriot.

*Archivist's Note: My notes on Bea's fate are largely intact, but there are some notable holes. If I can get any help with that, that'd be great, thanks!*

An aide tells Dandy that Bea was doing magic - created a defensive energy bubble, containing an evil entity. The aide then relates that, when they returned to the same place shortly thereafter, Bea and the bubble had vanished "into the wind".

Later, when Leshrac returns to Bea's house, he finds it unoccupied. He offers his Knightly Fealty to King Trevnor Soulstone, who informs him consequently that Bea has passed, that she had linked her life energy to her magic and burned herself out, and that a new League Member needs to be recruited to fill the role of Justice.

### The Next Session

Session 66 will be the beginning of a side story featuring all-new characters...

Our Heroes will Return following the conclusion of that story, in Session 80.

- 20xp (790 Total)