Galbarth Greydale re-entered the room, having watched the battle from the safety of the side room. Ardwyn and Adamir immediately surrounded him, distracting him with a strange and intimidating dance until the hapless man was able to extricate himself. “I’ll send a rider out for the duke to let her know what happened,” he suggested. “You all can finish handling these two [captured bards] and get some rest.” With that, he left, saying he would search for the remaining loyal guards.
The bards were duly interrogated, but yielded little new information. It seemed that both of them had joined Sylvan more for the impressive speed of his coup rather out of any real belief in his cause. One of the guards, seeing that there was no way to talk himself out of imprisonment, even admitted to recognizing the Faerie Fire spell that Sylvan had pretended was “demon fire”.
Galby returned alongside a large dark-skinned man in battered armor, who introduced himself as Djonnos, or Jon for short. “And where were you during all of this?” asked Ardwyn, with a hint of accusation. “Following Galbarth’s orders, of course,” he answered. “We did what we could to gather the loyal guards and make an assault on the great hall, but, well...” He gestured to the bodies scattered throughout the room. “I’m just grateful that Galby was able to find you and lead you back here.”
Galby again suggested sending a rider to inform the duke of what had happened, but the party was skeptical that a single rider would be certain to navigate any dangers remaining near the city. Daelon spoke up to note that he had been able to identify some of the recovered scrolls (except for a single especially-complicated one), and they included a scroll of Sending, which would allow them to send a 25-word message to the duke and receive a reply in like kind.
The party took a moment to carefully craft a 25-word message, informing the duke of what had occurred, mentioning Rath and Baldric, and closing with the code word “Galby sucks”. Less than a minute after the message was sent, a reply came back: “Already heard about attack on Cindre, turned army around. I ride ahead, will arrive by morning. Appreciate the warnings. Good work so far. Galby sucks.” With that, they took a well-deserved rest in the guest rooms upstairs.
The next morning, they were woken by a nudge from a servant (except for Ardwyn, who coolly warned the man not to touch her), informing them that the duke was downstairs awaiting them. On the walk down, Adamir quietly questioned Daelon about the nature of the final scroll. The wizard began to explain, but upon hearing the ranger’s exclamation (“holy shit!”), the rest of the party became curious as well. Tessel recognized the Planar Ally spell from her training as a paladin: it would allow them to beseech a god for aid and receive some otherworldly servant, who, for the right price, could then be persuaded (or magically bound) to do a service for the spellcaster. Tessel surmised that this was how Sylvan had originally summoned the demon.
They soon entered the meeting room, where they found the duke shuffling through reports, still wearing her armor and the dust of the road. She invited them to sit down, and Adamir opened the discussion by asking for payment. The duke was quick to grant 250gp to each of them, and even to allow them to permanently keep the magical items on loan, but she insisted that this was only a “bonus” and that the job was not complete until the demon was dealt with.
The duke went on to proclaim that the events of the past few days to be “a fucking disaster”. “The city is full of looters and terrified commoners, half my guards are dead, the war with Valen is a fucking mess, and I was embarrassed in front of my entire army.” She revealed that, after her army had turned around, her ally (the duchy of Revo) had surrendered rather than fight against Valen alone. In exchange for peace, Revo had agreed to support Valen and to call a new Grand Council (a meeting of the dukes). Now the legal basis for the war (and all of Daelon's hard work on that front) was in jeopardy.
The duke also had questions for the party, starting with Valra. “Druid, we have a captured guard who swears that he saw you summoning ‘demon fire’. Care to explain yourself?” Valra told her about the Faerie Fire and other spells. “Do you mean to tell me,” said the incredulous duke, “that this madman took over my city with a bunch of PARLOR TRICKS? Didn’t he know I had an ARMY?” The party could only shrug. “Then tell me, what exactly happened at the Tower?”
After hearing their story, the duke put her head in her hands. “So that’s how the demon showed up. We received a report this morning that a village called Inverelle was burned.” The duke tasked the party with tracking down and destroying the demon as soon as possible (likely starting at Inverelle), then meeting her in Balenor (the capital) to help with the Grand Council. The Council would start in about two weeks, and would last another three or four after that, so she presumed that there would be plenty of time.
In parting, the duke suggested that they get whatever supplies they may need from the shops in town, perhaps including the magic items from Jilbin’s shop. Daelon spoke up to comment that this was an excellent idea, though he knew Jilbin to be “a bit of a strange one”.
That turned out to be a polite understatement. Jilbin’s shop, located in the back alleys of a commercial district, turned out to be little more than a small room with a huge oak tree growing out the ceiling. Jilbin herself was a small gnome, who leapt to her feet when the party arrived. “You! Whatsyername!” she cried, pointing at Adamir. He declined to answer. The gnome turned to Tessel, still pointing at the ranger. “You! Whatshisname?” she yelled again. “Adamir”, replied the confused paladin. The gnome whispered the name to a small white envelope, then threw it into the air, where it folded itself into a paper airplane and gently glided toward Adamir, unfolding itself and falling into his hands. “Ha! I call it the Airmail Envelope!” said Jilbin, throwing a small card toward the ranger that gave a small description and price for the item.
So it went for the others. “You! Druid, right? So... you like animals! Here! And... here! Yes yes.” Jilbin handed a series of animal-themed items to Valra, and went on to each member of the party, placing strange items before them for their consideration. “Can you believe that Jilbin was passed over for the position of Sage of the Silver Tower?” asked Daelon. “How differently things might have gone!” Jilbin agreed, demonstrating her “Sandwriting” invention by throwing a handful of dust in the air, which briefly floated in the shape of the words “Sylvan is a twat”.
After much consideration, Tessel ended up buying the Airmail Envelope and Sandwriting, as well as the Stiffy Staff (an iron rod that could be magically fixed in place), Zoomy Bloomies (a pouch of flower seeds that could grow instantly), and the Deathoscope (a spyglass that revealed how long someone had been dead). Daelon bought the Zippy Skippes (pebbles guaranteed to skip on water) and Jarring Jar (a scream trapped in a glass jar), while Adamir chose to buy the Splattercat (a whittled cat figurine that could absorb falling damage) and the Spicy Buffalo Rings (a set of three rings with the power to shoot rays of fire).
Ardwyn spent some time considering the Mouthbeast, a sock puppet that allowed the user to speak to animals, and she decided to give it a try. Spotting a squirrel on the oak tree, she spoke through the Mouthbeast: “how do you keep your tail so lustrous?” The squirrel, obviously touched by the compliment, stroked her fluffy tail and chattered back. “Take good care of it!” But Ardwyn ultimately chose to be practical, purchasing the Tagger Dagger (which allowed the wielder to teleport to its location) and two Masquereggs (which could each be used to craft a magical disguise).
Valra was the only one to spot Ardwyn's conversation with the squirrel, and she quietly took Jilbin aside. After a whispered conversation and an exchange of gold coins, Jilbin presented the Mouthbeast to the rogue as a free gift. For her own part, Valra purchased only one item: the Lucky Ducky, a duck statuette that grants an occasional lucky break to whoever carries it.
After their purchases were complete, Jilbin’s eyes suddenly filled with tears of gratitude. “You just bought more than anyone ever has,” she said with a quavering voice. But she soon perked up again. “I’ll make more! Yes, I’ll meet you in Wayport with more magical things!” The gnome scratched the location of the city of Wayport on the party’s hastily-drawn map, then started to hastily put away the clutter of unsold items, seeming to forget about the party’s presence in an instant.
They hit the road soon after, and by dusk they were able to reach the village of Fairway for the third time. Upon entering the inn, they again found Tuck, the old villager who they had encountered on each of their visits. This time, however, he was in better spirits, surrounded by other villagers at a large table. “There they are,” he shouted as they entered, “the ones who I was telling you about! The ones who slew the demon!” The party was soon awash with new fans, and tried to tell their own versions of the story. Valra, hoping to get a bit of space, used her Druidcraft to give off the faint odor of a skunk, but the adoring tavern-goers politely tried to ignore this. After some prodding from Ardwyn, one villager even drew a crude picture of a horse as a gift for the druid (with a tiny skunk in the corner as well). After a long evening with lots of attention and lots of free drinks, the party finally made it to bed.
The journey to Inverelle would take about five more days, however, and for the first time since arriving in Rakos, the next few days passed uneventfully.
Eventually they met a group of travelers on the road that stood out from the usual traffic, including a half-orc with a greataxe, a dark-skinned woman with a bow, an extremely stout pair of twins, and a red-haired elf leading the entire group. “Hail, friends!” The elf introduced herself as Danica and chatted briefly with Daelon, claiming to be the leader of another party of adventurers as she approached.
But when she reached the wizard and shook his hand, she drew a hidden dagger and jammed it toward the wizard’s gut. Only a reflexive magical Shield was able to deflect the attack. Cursing, Danica slipped behind her compatriots as they pressed the attack.
The battle began as a farce, with both of the twins utterly failing to hit Tessel. One of the twins flailed out with his club so hard that he dropped it, and Adamir retaliating by losing control of his shortsword in the same way. Daelon and Danica traded insults in Elvish, while the half-orc proved to be so surprised by the surprise attack that she briefly forgot to join in.
Nonetheless, the fighting quickly turned fierce. Daelon began with his trademark Sleep, but only the archer fell victim to his spell. Valra cast Faerie Fire, highlighting Danica in purple flames. Ardwyn moved to grab the fallen club, but ended up grappled by the twin who had dropped it. After a struggle, she was able to throw the thug to the ground and finish him off with her dagger. Without his usual backup, the other twin was soon set upon by Adamir’s twin swords.
Seeing the tide turning, Danica shouted to her remaining minions: “Kill that fucking wizard before he gets away!” The half-orc dutifully pursued Daelon with her greataxe as he tried to maneuver his Flaming Sphere toward Danica, who in turn struck Adamir with a sneak attack. Luckily, Valra was able to fit a Healing Word between shots of her shortbow, and Tessel was able to heal Daelon just before running up to the half-orc and sending her lifeless body flying with a divine smite.
With her party mostly dead, Danica tried one final ploy: running up to the injured Ardwyn and threatening to strike her down unless the party backed away. The rogue flirted in response. Tessel quickly cast a Sanctuary spell, redirecting Danica’s attack toward herself. With the danger gone, Daelon threw a final Fire Bolt, catching Danica in the chin and sending her to the ground, finally dead.
That left the archer, quietly snoring on the ground. Valra relieved her of her longbow, while Adamir expertly hogtied her, leaving her face in the dirt when the Sleep spell wore off. Adamir began a harsh interrogation, but even his kicks and threats failed to elicit even a word of response. Tessel took the next turn, lecturing the tied-up woman on justice, but the woman only began to laugh. As she laughed harder, the paladin saw the reason for her silence: she had no tongue.
The party needed information, and was only getting spat upon by this stubborn captive. Daelon eventually decided to try a Charm Person spell, despite knowing that it was unlikely to succeed. In a stroke of luck, the charm took hold, and the archer suddenly became as friendly and cooperative as she was recalcitrant before. With paper and quill in hand, the woman (who identified herself as Avisha) began to answer their questions.
Avisha claimed that she lost her tongue as a child in Artha, a nation across the sea to the southeast. Danica had led her and the others to try to kill the party for a simple reason: money. They had been hired by a somewhat nondescript man who fit the description of Baldric. In her charmed state, Avisha promised not to follow or attack her captors if they would just agree not to kill her.
This was not an obvious decision, as killing her was Adamir’s first suggestion. She would have done the same to them, after all. But Tessel spoke her mind plainly: “in good conscience, I cannot kill this woman”. Valra and Daelon suggested simply leaving her tied up, out of sight and out of mind. Avisha herself wrote the suggestion that was ultimately adopted: the party could take her to Inverelle and leave her captive there. She had traveled through recently, and despite the demon’s attack, the town was far from deserted. The party agreed, though they left the job of carrying the woman to Tessel. Adamir finished their work by expertly tying the woman up, with her full cooperation, before Daelon canceled his charm and allowed her to return to her original hostility.
With their new captive in hand, the party again set off on the road to Inverelle...
