Session 5: The Unforgivable Sin

General Summary

Ki’tor, prior to Zalia checking her book, had slipped away from the others to check on the entrance and make sure their path out of the cave remained open. Thus he remained blissfully unaware as Zalia struck at Geneviève with her spiked chain. The frankonian managed to parry the blow and kicked the witch into the hall at the end of the tunnel where Jane was standing with the noble. She had managed to find that the crystals in that hall absorbed the magical energy from the stone she was carrying. Jane then noticed how the commotion roused the attention of the earth elementals guarding the crystal-filled hall. 

Realising that her chain was little use against the warriors plate armour, Zalia began to cast a spell and sent three metal darts straight through the sheets of metal. But at that moment something happened. Standing in the hall of crystals, Jane saw how the magic summoned by Zalia was absorbed by the same crystals. They slowly turned orange and red, quickly spreading across the large hall. When it reached the area where the elementals where standing, they changed. Compressing. Turning. And in the end the entire cave shook violently as they combined into a huge elemental being of pure hellfire. Zalia’s flying book flew up to the creature, who looked at it for a moment before sending it back to the witch. 

The hellfire monster then began to slowly and clumsily make its way towards the tunnel. Zalia charged at Geneviève again, who in turn grappled and knocked her out. At the same time she got a glimpse of the monster approaching them and started to flee. Jane began to speak to the monster, which she recognised as something hellish. It told her that it wasn’t Zalias patron, but it did serve a master, and it was also after Geneviève. Then it ignored her as the party fled through the tunnel. Then they came out in the spider-den, Pierre-Pascal threw a torch down into the next hall over where they found that the entrance had collapsed. Trapping them inside. 

Upon this realization, they were left with little choice. Geneviève and Pierre-Pascal decided to try and make a stand. Jane, who now had let go of the noble, tried to hide behind the corner of the tunnel entrance, hoping that she might sneak back into the crystal hall as the hellfire beast focused on the frankonians. As the elemental severely burned Geneviève, Jane managed to do just as she had hoped. The Franklings on the other hand realized that they had no chance in a fight and began to run, to try and get around the beast. Pierre-Pascal ran back to the alcove they had climbed up earlier, whilst Geneviève ran down the other way with Zalia on her shoulder. 

As they made it across the hall they barely managed to get up the alcove, as Geneviève yelled at the noble to stop digging at the entrance and follow her. But as the noble tried and failed to make it up the rope, they noticed that the elemental seemed to get more and more used to its form, moving both faster and with more grace. Pierre-Pascal, in a severe lack of judgement, decided that he would hold the monster off, to let his sister gain more ground. However, as he jumped and struck at the hellfire elemental his blade passed harmlessly through it. As he burned by the beasts mere presence, it struck him with enough force to leave a deadly wound and the Golden Boy fell to the ground. Geneviève, not wishing to squander the opportunity provided by her brother, yelled at the beast to get its attention before she ran back into the spider den.

In the meantime, Jane had managed to investigate the crystal hall and particularly the altar at the end of the hall. As she approached it with the stone in her bag, which seemed to be pulled by all the crystals around her, although no physical pull could be felt, a clawed hand emerged from the altar. Realizing that it most likely beckoned for the planestone, she took it out. That's when she noticed that the magical energies emitted by the stone now seemed to be funneled into the crystals around her. She placed the stone on the palm of the hand on the altar. The hand closed. Then it sank into the altar and with a rumble, a gateway opened on the wall behind the altar. Jane called out for the others before she entered and began to run down the long staircase that appeared behind the gateway. 

 Hearing the distant call of Jane, Geneviève ran back towards the crystal hall. As she went the climb back up into the tunnel with the elemental on her heel, Zalia awoke. She wiggled free from the warrior’s grip as her form changed into her true shape. That of a short, pudgy creature with filed down horns. She stood against the hellfire being and claimed Geneviève as her quarry. The being stopped, stating that Zalia was of “His” blood. It then said that in that case, the blood of Geneviève would suffice. It then turned back towards Pierre-Pascal. Zalia looked in her book again and found that where there had once said Geneviève, there now was a blurry mess, and only the last name Frankling was visible. Not wanting any innocent to die, cast a spell on the elemental, halting it and turning its attention back to her. It shot its flames towards her, giving her deadly burns. At the same time Geneviève noticed that the ground began to shake, as if the escape provided by Jane was closing again. 

Geneviève realized she had to choose. Seeing the futility of being stuck in the cave with the hellfire being, she grabbed Zalia and ran for the gateway. But not before she yelled a taunting phrase towards the being, prompting it to follow her. And so it did. With mere seconds to spare Geneviève managed to reach the gates behind the altar, just as they closed. Leaving the hellfire elemental behind, but Pierre-Pascal along with it. The frankonian called for Jane, who came back up the stairs and managed to treat the wounds of Zalia. The witch then looked in her book once more and found that the name Frankling had now been crossed out and then faded away. This would mean that her quarry had been taken out. She shared this with the other two. Together they then descended into the massive complex hidden behind the gateway.

The three found themselves in a gargantuan hall filled with books, magical contraptions, and oversized furniture. As they looked around, they found oversized levers on the wall. On Genevièves behest, they tried pulling one of them which they believed would be connected to the gate they came from, but to no avail. The mechanism seemed to have rotted away. As Jane approached a large table, where the stone was laying in a clawed hand, a spectral figure swooped by around them. Then a voice boomed across the hall, asking them what they were doing in his laboratory. They explained their situation, and the spirit showed itself. It was the ghost of a humorous ancient Brass Dragon that introduced itself as Galvatorix.

Upon hearing the name, Jane realized who it was. He had been the Arcane Prefect and provincial governor of the area, before the Slaughter of the Crag. But his laxity had led to the schism that had cost Jane her life. Upon speaking it turned out he had been so absorbed in his studies of the Planestones that he had forgone all other responsibilities. Sinking all his time into the laboratory they now stood in, he had even placed powerful wards to keep all the energy of the stones contained there. Sadly he had found that as the empire of Aurix fell, and she sent all stones and apprentices away, when he died the wards also kept his spirit contained. Trapping him in his lab, even in death. 

As they talked, he eventually told them about how his lab was made to locate the stones, even when they were dormant. Now that they had awakened he believed that they could locate them all over the continent. When they walked towards the only exit on the other side of the lab, he also told them about the possible uses of the stones. In the end, they promised to keep the location of this laboratory secret, in return Galvatorix offered his aid in using all the devices kept in the lab. 

Finding themselves deep in the Ahldian Woods, the group managed to find the road leading back to Cragyard. Well there, Jane went to the Old Haunt Inn & Baths where she met Ki’tor, who had been worried sick after the cave collapsed. Geneviève took Zalia with her and stormed into the Stoneweaver’s Lodge, waking the miners. When she found the foreman Mardin Elthook and told him about the collapse and that her brother was trapped, the old dwarf dragged his workers out of their beds. They went down into the Crag and dug the entrance out, but Pierre-Pascal was nowhere to be found, only the burnt bodies of the noble Lord Émeric Duclare, and the smith's apprentice Efran Colt. Dejected Zalia and Geneviève returned to the inn as well, to finally get some well deserved rest.

Rewards Granted

• Level Up
• Access to Galvatorix Lab

Missions/Quests Completed

• Escaped the Spider Cave
• Dealt with Lord Émeric Duclare
• Found Galvatorix Lab
• Spoke with the Spirit of Galvatorix
• Cleared the threats in the Crag