Session 24

The Party members came down into the main hall from their rooms in the The Righteous Cave that evening, where they soon met Zandriel Leorel, the half-elf indentured servant working in Gorfius's palace. He was forthcoming and polite but reserved and tired at the same time. Typhon asked about the palace and what it was like to work there. Zandriel described the palace and the comings and goings of all the people there. The group asked him what he wanted more than anything, and Zandriel said that he wanted to be free. He had been taken as as a child and sold into slavery, working at the palace ever since. The Party offered to help secure his freedom, but Zandriel would need to help them enter the palace first. He agreed, and offered to provide the group with servants' uniforms; he also provided information on shift changes and security procedures. They all agreed to meet up the next afternoon towards the end of Zandriel's shift near the servants' entrance on the south wing.   For the remainder of the evening, the Party visited some of the local shops in and around town. Their first stop was to Anything Metal, a local weapons dealer in town. After some haggling with the Tiefling owner, Raldos, it was revealed that she was, in actuality, a demon named Azzog. She agreed to provide the rare armor known as Dragonguard to Sir Didymus for the price of some of his blood, costing him 4 hit points up front, and an additional hit point each time he leveled up for as long as he wore it. Meanwhile, Bloodbane purchased a Javelin of Lightning. Upon conclusion of their deal, the Party was teleported out of the shop in a cloud of smoke just as quickly as they had blinked their eyes.   The group then headed toward Arcane Infinity, a busy magic item shop closer to the center of town. The shopkeeper, a balding human named Jashen Cadan, greeted the group. They attempted to sell the Mysterious Ant Farm to Jashen, but despite his generous offer, declined on account of his refusing to tell the group what the ants were building.   The following day came and went, and by afternoon the Party had arrived and was waiting near the south side of the palace. Zandriel arrived, just as discussed the day prior, with the servants' uniforms. The half-elf lead the group to the main servants' entrance past the loading dock where the hill giant assigned as security had become distracted by a passing butterfly. Zandriel immediately went to a room in the corner, an office belonging to the Mistress of the House, Zesstra Abbylan. His job was distraction. Meanwhile, the Party continued through the loading area and into the hallway leading to the main receiving room of the palace. A plan looking grey door roughly two-thirds of the way down the hall lead down to the vault. The group took the stairs down and found their way to the vault door. A casting of Pass Without Trace by Sir Didymus, coupled with his Cloak of Elvenkind, ensured that Typhon would go undetected.   As expected, Typhon successfully evaded the pair of wyverns in the vault, who were actively hunting for him. He arrived at the Velvet Life Bracelet and attempted to pry it from the case. CRASH! The wyverns turned all focus on Typhon. Just then, Bloodbane and the rest of the Party opened the door to rescue their friend.   The combat was fierce, with javelins being thrown and swords slashing. The wyverns covered tremendous distances in short time, much to the chagrin of the ranger. The wyverns soon downed Sir Didymus, leaving him unconscious and bleeding out. One of the wyverns was killed immediately after with the help of Vigwalin, but the fight was not over...