The Keys of Telku / The Final Key pt. 13 / Kith the 27th through the 28th, 3593 CE / 5-30-22

Lord Kax of House Margrav has just been poisoned. It happened at formal lunch hosted by Lord Kalkin of House Dracus, and now Lord Kax's dwarven bodyguards have leapt into action, out for blood. The Adventurers are also present, having been invited as honored guests of Lord Kalkin, and they now move quickly to minimize the damage and prevent this diplomatic disaster from further escalating. As Rados rushes after the poisoner, a gnomish woman posing as a servant, Moss uses his magic to disable the attacking dwarves, Adrienne attempts to dissuade the attackers with her flashing blade, John uses his strength to pin one of them to the ground, and Baijao attempts healing magic on the dying Kax. Rados is able to use the magic of his sword to detect the villainous poisoner's location, but as he rushes into the lavatory where she has hidden, she catches him by surprise, impaling him with a poisoned sword. Meanwhile, Baijao calls upon Vespera once more to provide a miracle, and though through the strength of his faith he sees an image of the goddess's avatar manifest and draw the poison from Lord Kax, he senses that he has perhaps strained the relationship he has with his patron. With his recovery, Lord Kax calls for the fighting to cease. Moss and John rush upstairs to aid Rados, finding the magus ailing from the poison even as the poisoner escapes into a secret hatch. However the canny Rados has marked her with a blood curse which will now allow him to know her whereabouts at all times. With the help of both Moss and Baijao, Rados is cured of the insidious poison, and then draws strength from his own patron Mother Matina to regain his strength. Master Sun and the Amita K'un rush in moments after the fighting ends. Lord Kax acknowledges Lord Kalkin's assertion that the poisoning was an attempt to frame House Dracus for the dwarf lord's murder. Master Sun identifies the tactics of a master assassin named Arvinae, contracted through House Rhylym. Up to this point Arvinae has never been identified, but now Rados is able to magically track her, greatly aiding House Dracus. Unfortunately the affair has left Lord Kax shaken and distrusting of House Dracus, costing them a potential ally. Suddenly the party realizes that with a poisoner having gained access to Castle Dracus, that the prisoner Namara may be at risk as well. They rush down to the dungeon, but are too late. Namara lies dead in his cell, a victim of Arvinae. Kalkin states that he plans to call a session of the Temporal Council, and asks Moss to serve as his counselor, to which the druid agrees. The party spends the rest of the day taking care of individual business. Moss and Rados return to Lesym's Quill to procure more scrolls. Baijao makes a pilgrimage to Pandona's Cathedral of Vespera, a sacred site for his religion, where he makes offerings in an attempt to appease his goddess. And Stele, who arrived back at Castle Dracus from his own pilgrimage just as the fight with the dwarves was drawing to a close, retires to his chambers to contemplate the revelations he gained from Brother Cerisian, but not before sharing the disturbing news with the rest of the party that he witnessed a servant of House Eichon transform into a vampire. Meanwhile Adrienne and John prepare for that evening by locking themselves in the castle's dungeon, for this night is the full moon of the so-called Eye of Calibar, the black moon unseen to all but lycanthropes. As they sweat through the night, both are able to resist the unseen orb's pull and keep the transformation at bay, for now. The next day, Rados once more uses his Eyes of the City spell, this time attempting to track down the crest which John previously observed when using the spell to track the movements of Tarrus the One-Eyed. He is able to locate it, observing the same ancient Lord and castle as John, but is likewise unable to identify them. Following the trail of another noble from the house, he tracks him to a secret meeting with other cloaked figures, where it appears they are conspiring against House Dracus as they discuss the poisoning of Lord Kax. A new figure emerges, face hidden, proclaiming Namara is dead and they are now leader of House Eichon, before the vision goes dark. That afternoon, Moss accompanies Lord Kalkin to the meeting of the Temporal Council at the Cathedral of Vespera. The other assembled lords listen impassively of his description of the attempted assassination of Lord Kax. Lord Kax himself is notieceably missing from the gathering. When Kalkin tells the lords that Namara is dead and House Dracus is claming ownership over House Eichon's assets, one of the lords introduces a new participant to the council meeting. It is Narya, daughter of Namara, and she informs the stunned Kalkin that she has married his brother Mako.