The Keys of Telku / The Final Key pt. 10 / Kith the 25th, 3593 CE / 4-10-22

In the palace of House Dracus, home of the Overlord of Pandona, the party listens as Master Sun, Sensei of the Amita K'un, tells them the story of the Passage of Falling Leaves. During the last blood war with House Eichon, the Amita K'un had attacked their stronghold directly, hoping to wipe the noble house from Pandona and end the feud. But something went wrong in the assault. Many of the ninjas went missing, and they were betrayed by one of their own, Ashikaga, who had been Sensei Yoritomo's First in Line. Yoritomo suffered a mortal wound, and so, in order to allow Sun and the others to escape, he utilized the Passage of Fallen leaves, a set of matched artifacts sacred to their order, wherein two rings each inscribed with the image of a leaf created a dimensional portal. The wearer of the ring cannot pass through the portal, Master Sun remained behind. Now Master Sun tells the party that he is sending an expedition lead by Night and his own First to once more infiltrate House Eichon and attempt to gain information on their plot to destroy House Dracus. The party agrees, in no small part because they think that Tarrus the One-Eyed, the powerful Lord of Liem who has branded them criminals for their efforts to thwart his plans to assemble the dangerous Keys of Telku, is currently in Pandona and may be conspiring with House Eichon. Doctor Marrow has retreated to her room and shows no interest in assisting the mission, and John worries that he will give the party away with his less than stealthy tactics and so they remain behind. As the party prepares, soon darkness falls, and they set out for a secluded graveyard, near enough House Eichon's palace that they can once more use the remaining Ring of Fallen Leaves to open the portal. One Amita K'un, Kursh, will stay behind to guard their escape while the party ventures into the unknown dangers of House Eichon. As they pass through the portal, they find themselves in a dank and dark storage room in a sub-level of House Eichon's palace. They also discover the corpse of Yoritomo, who had hidden himself before dying to protect his ring. As they venture into the strange understructure of the palace, the Adventurers discover that it is a sepulcher, filled with preserved bodies of House Eichon's ancestors encased in glass. While passing one of the catacombs shrines, they encounter a servant girl, and move quickly to keep her from alerting others to their presence, but it is too late, and soon a retinue of House Eichon guards have engaged the party in combat. They slay the guards to a man, discover a crypt set apart from the others, where a woman in blood red armor has been entombed in her own glass sarcophagus. Stele volunteers to guard the unconscious serving girl, less than happy that the bodies of the dead have been disposed using the secret entrance to the sewers that Rados discovered. The rest of the expedition prepares to stealth their way up the stairs and continue their investigation.