Frontier Session 31

Session 31: 19-10-2025

The party starts searching the library inside the palace and find a chamber filled with books and scrolls. On the floor there is a runic circle and Suicu after talking to Deerix notices that it has something to do with teleportation. For safety they tie up Deerix so he can't run off while they're reading books and investigating the room. Hiron investigates the alchemical station and find a number of recipes as well as a notebook with the name Alexandr written on it. It mentions at the end "Do not trust the Blue." Jock uses his new magical powers to translate the books written in strange languages and learns about the ancient world.

• Zehir is not trusted by ancient Ilium mages and several other civilizations of the time. They mention that the Zeherites kidnap people to turn into Yuan-Ti.
• They mention the Republic of Lor, the ancient offshoot of the Yuan-Ti civilization. They view Zehir as deceitful, enslaver and a tyrant.
• The Lorrians and the mages of Illium made a pact to imprison Zehir but the mages betrayed them using the technological hybrid to imprison more Gods in their attempt to claim the power of the Gods for themselves.
• There used to be an extensive pantheon of Gods, some general and some tied to certain species. The Illumites seem highly critical of them and were looking for ways to get rid of them.
• The mages of Illium were able to expell the divine influence from the Gods on their own territories but wanted to find a way to cut off the Gods for good. They write about a Great Engine that can use the primal forces to cut the Threads of Fate barring the Gods from influencing this world.
• A council of Archmages ruled Illium and they planned to use the Crystal Palace, the imprisoned Demi-Gods and the Great Engine to take the power of the Gods themselves.
• The council of Archmages was formed by The Red (Fire), The Blue (Water), The Green (Earth), The Yellow (Air) and The Black (Void).

There are two large statues of robed figures with plaques that read "Alexandr the Red" and "Maximillian the Blue". Suicu questions Deerix about the room and he tells him that Grandfather is a real dragon and has eaten a group of people awhile ago. There was also a red robed man who spoke to the dragon outside and came into the library putting a book back into the bookcase. Suicu finds it and can't read it but gives it to Jock who uses his magic to read the book. It is called "The Threads of Fate and the Weaver of Destiny." It explains how the primal forces form into strands of magic that connect all the Planes of Existence together and enable the Gods to influence and draw power from the Material plane.

They take Deerix outside and Suicu casts a spell of Dragon's Breath on him and he runs around breathing fire. Suddenly a portal opens and a green translucent dragon steps out and addresses the Kobold "Didn't I say you should leave, little one?". They speak to the dragon and he introduces himself as Graexnarus the Ancient, or Graex for short. He was bound willingly to the Palace to guard the Great Engine and make sure it was not abused. He exists as a spirit but can turn corporeal at will.

He explains that the Council of Archmages have tried to claim the power of the Gods for themselves 500 years ago but Maximillian betrayed them trying to take it all for himself and become the only God of this world. After a long battle only Alexandr came out of the Core while Maximillian disappeared. He says Alexandr the Red is the man who visited the palace to check on the Core and returns every 100 years. The troubling news is that the seals on the Core are weakening and the imprisoned Demi-Gods are trying to break out. If one of them makes it out they could claim all the power for themselves and set themselves up as the sole God of the world. One of the imprisoned Gods has already escaped and was destroyed in the God Cage.

• Zehir, creator of the Yuan-Ti and the God of Serpents (Imprisoned)
• Torog, The Crawling King, God of the Underworld (Imprisoned)
• Vecna, King of Liches and God of Undeath (Imprisoned)
• Auril, The Frostmaiden, Goddess of Frost and Solitude (Imprisoned)
• Baba Yaga, Mother of All Hags and Archfey of Murkendraw (Escaped)
• Sebek, God of Crocodiles (Diseased)

Graex tells them if they stay too long they will get bound to this place and won't be able to leave. Binding themselves to the power of the Core will make them immune to this effect and grant them Divine power. Once this happens Alexandr will find them and they can help him with the God Cages and maybe find out what happened to Maximillian as Suicu suspects he might still be alive. He gives them the password for the magic circles that teleports them into the basement but he doesn't know how to get into the Core.