Session 103

After filling King Rangrim in on the major events of the last few years, King Rangrim asked for help to get to his feet and to get to the council chambers behind where his throne used to be. He opened the door slowly, and was quickly hit in the head by something. Retreating just a bit, he called out to "Talra" and told her to stop throwing things and that it was him. He opened the door to reveal a room with a round table with many chairs, and four Dwarves sitting at it -- two women, and two men. The one he called "Talra" shrieked in horror at the sight of her husband's battered body and rushed to him, and the other woman, Asella, the one the group had seen attacked by the rioters as she addressed them earlier, was in there as well. The two men, King Rangrim's sons, Gilgrim and Torgar, were in horror at his condition. The party awkwardly meandered into the room and attempted to explain themselves to the lot as the younger of the two Dwarven men, Gilgrim, shouted obscenities at them for harming his father. The older of the two, Torgar, was apparently more measured and questioned the group about what happened, and they filled him in on King Rangrim's curse. As the party reiterated what happened in the other room, the Dwarves were horrified. Dain learned that all of the specialized Forgeborn, equipped with infiltration technology, were not only known to these four, but that they had approved of their production and purpose. However, Torgar expressed that he had doubts about his father's methods, but didn't feel that it was his place to question it -- a sentiment which King Rangrim chided him for, telling him that he should have said something. King Rangrim asked about the riots outside, and Torgar let him know that they wanted justice for King Rangrim's misuse of the Forgeborn. King Rangrim expressed that they likely would not want to hear the words of the one they were here to lynch, and perhaps instead they would listen to the words of one who he had until recently considered an enemy, asking Balvin if he would go speak with the rioters, and suggesting telling them of the curse. Balvin was apprehensive but agreed and made his way toward the entrance of the Royal Court. Gardain spoke up, reminding everyone that Marnia had recently been captured for her role in plotting against the king, and he wanted her pardoned immediately. The king and Torgar expressed that plotting against the monarchy was a serious crime, but considering what he had been up to while under control, it is understandable that there are those that would seek justice, and he would pardon her under the condition that she not try anything like this again. King Rangrim said he needed to rest, and would send for the group within a few days to continue this discussion. With that, the group went towards the entrance of the court.

At the entrance to the Royal Court, Balvin was standing there looking nervous and wondering what to do as the rioters continued to shout and throw things at the Runeguard. He was unsure how to get their attention, but the group combined their various magical talents to produce and array of dazzling lights and spark showers to grab the attention of those in the crowd. As the noise died down, Balvin addressed the Dwarves, attempting to explain the king's curse, and identifying himself hoping that knowing he had just recently been an enemy of the state would add credibility to his claims. At first, some of the Dwarves in the crowd shouted obscenities claiming that it was a ruse to placate the crowd, but Balvin continued, explaining the circumstances surrounding the events of the last few months, and eventually some of them seemed to accept that their king had not been in his right mind. Balvin promised them that King Rangrim would be making a public apology shortly after he took some time to rest and recover from the curse, and asked them to disperse so that he could rest. The crowd began to leave the courtyard, and the party decided to head back to the Relieved Librarian to rest themselves. As they arrived at the Relieved Librarian, Gardain greeted his cousin Amber, the owner, joking about his role in the insurrection, bewildering her and nearly sending her into a conniption. After ambiguously dismissing her fears and joking about it some more, she angrily told him he'd be getting no bacon and addressed the rest of the party, giving them rooms for the night. The party had their dinner and almost immediately head for their rooms to rest. Before heading to their rooms, Dain stopped Merrick and handed him a book -- one containing information about the rules of succession in the Imperium Arcanum, one of the pieces of information the Deep One had previously demanded of Merrick. Merrick thanked him and returned to his room, where before long, he noticed the room grow dark. He turned and saw the Deep One watching him silently. He told the Deep One that he had some of the information he had demanded, eliciting a contented rumbling sound from the Deep One. He began to tell the Deep One of what he had read in the book, and the Deep One began to make some strange sounds. After a moment, Merrick heard an ear piercing ringing sound in his ears, and after it quickly faded, he realized he could not remember the beginning of the conversation, or why he was speaking to the Deep One. The Deep One quickly told Merrick that this was good and he would contact him shortly with another task, confusing Merrick. Merrick, startled, immediately went to Dain's room and told him of what happened, and Dain didn't remember ever having the conversation with Merrick in the first place. Merrick frantically searched his Book of Shadows hoping he had written down some note that would give him some idea of what was going on and found a note about the information that the Deep One had demanded of him, seeing two items he remembered the Deep One asking for, and another which he couldn't recall discussing before -- the rules of succession. He briefly thought about it and the pair realized neither of them knew anything about the rules of succession. Dain suggests that given that the Ashenfolk had access to magic that the Dwarves seemed unaware of the implications of, perhaps they should make a trip to the Ashlands to see if they had a way to free Merrick of his connection to the Deep One. Deeply concerned, Merrick returned to his room, and Dain returned to reading his newly pilfered book about the construction of Flow Cells.

The next morning, the group awoke and head downstairs, where they found Gardain stealing bacon from a plate in the kitchen while Amber wasn't looking. He began wolfing it down before Amber noticed and shouted at him. Gardain made a quick exit, running from her, as the party laughed. They decided to do some shopping while they waited to hear from King Rangrim, and several head to Royal Runecraft to look for new magic items. Dain purchased a scroll of Remove Curse, wanting to have access to it for the future in case they ever ran into a situation such as this again, and Merrick went in search of some sort of item to protect him, given that he had frequently been a target of enemy combatants, but could not afford the Cloak of Displacement he had been eyeing. Summer also went to speak with some local brewmasters regarding her prototype brewing device she had developed while briefly at the Runesmith College and learned how the devices similar to this one that they used worked. She figured perhaps she could create a more traditional magic item employing these concepts once she returned home to accelerate her brewing, perhaps helping Reginard's new brewing enterprise. After some waiting, the Grand Chancellor, Asella, came to retrieve the party personally, escorting them back to the Royal Court. Upon arrival, they saw a few Runesmiths working to repair the door shielding they had carved a hole out of using Jeryl's talisman and ahead, saw King Rangrim on his throne and Balvin with stern looks on their face. Upon entering, King Rangrim addressed Dain, briefly listing an account of his actions over the last few months, almost in an accusatory manner, citing his destruction of Imperium property, plotting against his king, and even murdering his uncle. After a brief pause, he laughed before saying "Good job." He went on to say that without Dain's insurrection, he may have succeeded in using the Forgeborn to overthrow other nations and the damage he had averted was beyond measure. But he said that isn't why he called him there and introduced Azna Jendor, director of the Runesmith College, before saying that he wanted to make it clear to all Runesmiths present who was actually responsible for creating the Forgeborn in the first place, declaring Dain Brawnanvil as their creator. The shocked crowd whispered to each other before giving applause. King Rangrim said that while the Imperium's coffers had been drained considerably due to his actions while cursed and he could not offer him monetary compensation, he intended to pay the debt he owed Dain and his allies, and said that if he needed anything, he need only ask. He then issued his first act as king since being purged of the curse, declaring that henceforth, all Forgeborn development would cease and disassembling or destroying the Forgeborn would be equivalent to murder and punished as such. Afterwards, Dain asked to speak to King Rangrim privately, and they went to the council chambers.

While in the council chambers, Dain revealed to King Rangrim that his party were not all Dwarves, and in fact, Gardain was the only other Dwarf among them. King Rangrim was understandably shocked, but looked past Reshyk's law in light of recent events, suggesting that perhaps it's time they revisited their long ban of foreign entry into the continent. Dain agreed that Runetech should be withheld from the larger world, but said that isolating themselves wasn't the way. The two briefly spoke about the implications of King Rangrim's original idea to plant Flow Generators around the world, and wondering if it would be possible to create smaller variants that could provide individual power. King Rangrim revealed that it had been attempted, but they had not yet found a way to produce any worthwhile amount of power from such small generators, and that they would take weeks to fill a Flow Cell. However, he said that installing generators worldwide would avert the Wellspring eruptions created by spellcasters creating Flow Cascades, such as were seen throughout the Reckoning era -- however, it was a tradeoff, as this would effectively make all traditional spellcasters impotent, without access to the Flow needed to cast spells. He also pointed out that even doing so, natural Wellspring eruptions would still occur, only rarely, and less destructively. The conversation shifted to other topics, with Dain briefly bringing up Adamar, and his hunt for the wayward Elf. He also mentioned to King Rangrim about his break-in at The Vault to rescue his father, and awkwardly revealed that several other high profile prisoners had escaped -- including one responsible for killing a number of Ashenfolk, which confused King Rangrim as he had no idea the Ashenfolk were present on the mainland. Dain revealed their findings at the Catacombs of Blackfrost and the revelations about the Ashenfolk being ancestors of the mainland Dwarves, and then pivoted to mention how they had magic capable of bypassing and disabling Runetech, which unsettled King Rangrim. The two continued discussing these things before finally King Rangrim bid Dain farewell, wishing him well. With that, the party returned to the Relieved Librarian, where they saw Gardain excitedly talking to Marnia, who had a black eye and looked rough.

Marnia greeted the party, thanking them for all they did and for not forgetting her after the fact. She congratulated them for beating the piss out of the king and getting away with it. Gardain reminded the party to speak to Ferrek about getting their glamours removed, and the Underminers bid their farewell. The party then set out to Greentide, arriving a few weeks later. Heading to Ferrek's shop, they witnessed him crafting and enchanting a glimmering shirt before presenting it to the same Elf they witnessed him extracting filament from months prior. The Elf looked overjoyed and asked if it would make him more popular with the ladies, to which Ferrek replied that he couldn't do much worse than zero. The Elf, offended, shouted at Ferrek, telling him that he paid good money for his services and wouldn't be spoken to like that. Ferrek suggested that perhaps if he spent that money on the women, he wouldn't need the shirt, and told him to get out of his store. The party, chuckling, approached Ferrek, who congratulated them on their insurrection and snapped his fingers, causing the glamours to shatter like glass and fall to the ground, before dissipating into raw Flow and returning to the atmosphere. He told them that if they ever needed his services again to please return and bid them adieu. On their way to visit the Jaded Jackass, the party encountered a curious sight -- two Forgeborn staring at another who was inactive. A small crowd had gathered, wondering what they were doing. Shortly after, the Forgeborn joined hands and placed their other hands on the inactive Forgeborn. There was a shrill sound and a flash of bright light, and after it vanished, the previously inactive Forgeborn asked "Who am I?", and the two Forgeborn replied "You are… Adamant." Shocked by the sight of witnessing the first Forgeborn… birth?... the party continued on their way to the Jaded Jackass, where they briefly bartered with the surly Alberich, intending to sell the recipe and seeds to make Frostfire Mead. Alberich was initially skeptical, but agreed to pay Summer 500 gp for the recipe. They then head for the docks, intending to set out for the Ashlands to find help for Merrick. However, they were interrupted as Dain began to feel a mental ping from his Sending Stone. Touching the stone, Dain received a panicked message from Chandira, who informed him that Archmage Kyran's tower was under attack and she was requesting aid and permission to teleport him and his comrades. He agreed, and the party felt a tingling sensation before being pulled to a distant land…

Arriving on the other side of the teleportation, the party immediately felt entirely too warm in their wintry clothing, as the weather had shifted to a moderate heat. They noticed the sky was no longer cloudy and snowing, but clear and sunny. They saw a battered Chandira in front of them who they initially could not hear due to ringing in their ears from the spell, but after it wore off, she informed them that a group had approached Kyran's tower and had cut through his wards like they were nothing, and were killing the sorcerers inside. The party looked up at the tower, seeing walls that were blasted out and flashes of spells going off. They asked Chandira where they were, and she informed them that they were in Myr, a bit north of Catarvoss. The party ran to the tower, and saw an imposing figure exit the tower -- a Human, one with glowing pink eyes, which reminded them of a long dead foe… Rhys. The figure charged them and they briefly battled it, but realized with shock that several of their attacks seemed completely ineffective. Dain, realizing the figure appeared to be under some manner of mind control, attempted to Dispel it, but was put off guard when he felt an incredibly powerful force push back against his attempts, dazing him. The figure attacked Dain, managing to draw blood from him, which promptly flowed up the figure's blade and healing his own wounds. After a few hits, the bite of the figure's weapon seemed to take more than just his blood, as Dain felt his very life force ebbing away, becoming Exhausted. However, he was only one man, and was quickly dropped by one of Moonshadow's arrows. As he fell dying, the pink light in his eyes went out, and he reached for the party, almost pleading. Unsettled by this, the party searched his body, where they realized all of his equipment appeared to be just conventional weaponry, nothing magical. Merrick briefly attempted to use Arcane Eye to view the top of the tower, and witnessed Archmage Kyran apparently deflecting spells coming from someone else at the top of the tower, but the figure was beyond his eye's vision from the window, and when he attempted to enter the window, he was repelled by the Archmage's apparent wards. They continued into the tower, where they heard a bone-chilling, haunting screeching coming from the top of the tower.