Episode 2: It's Strategy, Not Cowardice

## Summary

Standing in front of the drawbridge, the party surveys their surroundings. In the distance they see walls of yellow cut stone, and glimpses of heavy movement from wings above the towers. Below the drawbridge, are bodies strewn among the crevasse. On the other side of the bridge, are three shadow-touched guards, with signature black pools for eyes.
They decide to rest up after their last encounter with the zombies, and the recently deceased Halla, sharing their rations. After, the party begins searching and investigating the rest of the building for anything worth the taking. Not finding much, and realizing Sarrek is mostly stalling to prolong the next fight, the party opens the main gate to the drawbridge, alerting the guards ahead.
The fight goes without much issue, save for Sarrek unintentionally congratulating Armaros before the fight was over, not noticing the remaining guard, before it lays its sword deep into Sarek's neck, nearly killing him.
Sarrek comes back from unconsciousness and begins arguing with Armaros about leadership. Sarrek claims to have lead many people, many times, hinting to his past. While they bicker, an instant darkness covers everything, the sun going out once again.
This deeply upsets Sarrek, as he repeatedly states; "it's fine", whiling behaving otherwise. Enkara tries to comfort the group but admits to not knowing how to solve the situation, and that's why she has joined this mission. Armaros isn't afraid, but only because he can't tell the difference between the sun going down naturally, at a steady pace, and it simply, going out in an instant.

Moving forward they see the dim glow of a fire a few hundred feet down the path, past the structure that is set into the walls of the palace compound. The glow is oscured by several dark figures, to far out to distinguish. In the center of the path, a litlle ways forward, Sarrek and Enkara see a body on the ground, with a spear impaling it. Above the body is a blue orb with a refreshing and cool light. By the body are two pits dug into the ground, about 20 feet across, intended to stop armies, or revolts. To the left and the right on the walls, are two doors.

As Armaros reaches for the glowing orb, he hears a thud, and then the sound of something liquid, as a hot, burning oil begins to drop down from a hole in the ceiling. The oil covers Enkara, and barely splatters on Armaros. The sound happens a second time, near Sarrek, as a bright red, sludge falls out of another hole from above. To the right, the door slams open, and a guard wielding a single spear, runs out. Sarrek, barely hanging on from the last encounter, knows this is the end for them. He reaches for his arrows, being made aware that he is almost out, hoping they will last a few minutes more. A loud clanging of iron and chains prelude to two massive portcullises crashing down, trapping the party. Aya and Armaros finding it very difficult to fight in the blackness of the absent day. Armaros tries to use the blue glowing orb as a light source, but it hardly helps, so he drops it.

Most of the party survives with no further damage, except for Sarrek who is felled by the Blood Ooze, and had begun being drained of his blood. Luckily Enkara fires a critical arrow, striking the ooze at its core, which is made of stitched-together flesh. Aya is extremely interested in the Ooze's matter and wonders how one would go about creating them. She vials up the remains for further inspection. As the party brings Sarrek to consciousness, and they all take a moment to rest, the sun abruptly flashes and remains. They all take a few more minutes to recover and calm down.

The ground begins to quake, and groan. Through the portcullis, they see beyond a flagpole surrounded by makeshift barricades, with a wavering pendant. Figures move around it, dry smoke obscuring any, and all detail. Up in the sky, the left and right corners of the sun are bleeding into two twin tails, drifting into the sky. They decide to move forward.

They move into the door on the right, that the guard had exited. In the room they are first greeted with a distant whisper, sounding like it's coming down a long hall. *"You thought you could sneak past us, could you? We have uses for little snots like you"*. In the center of the room is a table, atop is a candle, a card game, and some spread out gold. Against the right wall is a hunched shape of some sculpture or altar, not easily distinguished. The left wall holds a large, ornate carving. They see behind the, is a stairwell that goes down, towards the whisper. After more light, they distinguish the sculpture is of a dragon with gems in the eye sockets. The party discusses killing whoever is whispering. Armaros fixates on the gems in the sculpture and tries to pry them out with a dagger, which, in the difficulty of trying, discovers they can be pushed in, like buttons, that seem to do nothing.

Aya, takes this time to investigate down the stairs. As she takes a few steps, the whisper laughs, and ceases. She sees a figure in the room below, facing her. The figure holds a massive club. Surrounding him are various cells, mostly empty, wooden torture devices, and the smell of burning and rot. The Jailer swiftly advances, and deals an impactful blow, dropping Aya to the cold, grimy floor. Armaros, noticing Aya's absence, goes down the stairs, to investigate the noise. The Jailer manages to incapacitate the whole party, except for Serrek who is panicking, trying to find a way to escape or run. Outside the first room, in the area with the pits, and the portcullises, Sarrek tries the left door, only to find it is barred. The Jailer slowly makes his way to Sarrek, who at this point knows there is nowhere left to run but is still attempting to find anywhere to go, fiddling with the dragon eye buttons. As a final attempt, Sarrek fires a nervous arrow, hitting the wall behind the Jailer, as he raises his Iron Rebar, and then cleaving it through Sarrek's skull, past his spinal column, killing him instantly.

*Up high above you, the sun out of time drifts overhead. It is white and yellow, and red, it is small, and large, and bloated, taking up a quarter of the sky, all at the same time. Next to it in the distance, you see a vision of a blue and green planet, swimming in the black void. Lush greenery cushions you under you back. Soft grasses, hyacinths, roses, snowbells, and more. As you look around, you rest in the center of three prominent features; a tall white tower of marble, with doors of pearl, and stained glass windows, a placid lake, sparkling blue under the rays of the sun, and a great oak tree, hory and overgrown with ivy, with a large hollow just out beyond head height. A woman steps forwards, stepping gently towards you over the grasses. She has pale, iridescent skin. She is large and soft. She is wearing a pale, grey peploes, like the draped Grecian gown often seen on urns or statuary. She has a round face with sparkling gold eyes, and soft pastel pink hair, in Grecian ringlets around her face, crowned with a wreath of night blooming jasmine. She smiles at you and says; "Welcome. It's so good to see you. I do hope you will return often. I am Selune."*

## Featured Characters

### Main Characters

* Armaros
* Aya
* Enkara
* Sarrek Bashaa

### NPCs

* Halla (corpse)
* Selune

## Statistics

### Damage

Character Stats for the Episode
 Aya
 Enkara
 Sarrek

### Critical Hits

Character Stats for the Episode
 Aya
 Enkara
 Sarrek

### Kills, Knock-downs, Deaths

Character Stats for the Episode
 Aya
 Enkara
 Sarrek

### Cumulative Statistics

Statistics that track across the entire series.