Marcilinus, carried along on Tessel’s back, informed the party that his colleague Rath was being imprisoned in the Sage’s closet. After the party (with Valra’s Guidance) thoroughly checked for traps, Daelon opened the closet and found the fat halfling bard sitting in the corner, bound and gagged. Though they didn’t trust him immediately, the party was soon convinced to release him, and he quickly deduced that they had been sent from the Duke.
Rath’s first priority, however, was taunting Marcilinus. “Welllll, look what happened here! I always knew it would end like this, but you made it happen even sooner than I thought!” After confirming with the party that they were not planning to let the already-injured mage die, Rath clocked him on the chin, knocking out Marcilinus yet again.
With that business out of the way, Rath and the party began swapping information, trying to piece together the events of the past few days. After some brief arguments with Ardwyn and Daelon as he vigorously asserted the Tower’s independence, Rath apologized for being “testy” and shared what he knew. He confirmed that the sage, Sylvan, had apparently “gone mad” and convinced himself and his masters that the world was to be conquered by a demon god, and the broken Magic Circle on the ground was evidence that they had in fact summoned and released a demon of their own. It seems that Sylvan was headed west toward the city (much to Daelon's alarm), while the demon and the third Master (Baldric) might be headed south. Rath was saddened by the news of a student’s execution, but was prepared to try to lead the Silver Tower and “set things right”.
Adamir expressed the hope of getting some new equipment or other assistance on the way out, but Rath pointedly reminded the party that whatever remained in the Tower still belonged to its residents. He did, however, offer to send them off with some “inspiration” from a song. After a brief detour down to his quarters to retrieve his sorely-missed lute, Rath treated the party to a magical bardic performance, benevolently ignoring Ardwyn as she longingly handled all the silver in the room. After this pleasant pick-me-up, the party turned around and headed back toward the city, accepting a generous lift from their carriage driver.
They traveled steadily, reaching Fairway by nightfall. The village was totally deserted. Or so they thought, until Tessel spotted a pair of eyes poking out from the corner the inn, which quickly disappeared. Following along, the paladin called out, promising protection. Eventually a frightened voice replied, and the man emerged from hiding. Tessel quickly recognized him as Tuck, the man they had met in the inn’s common room on the previous night, though sadly he was not able to remember them (or anything else from that night).
Tuck explained that a man (soon determined to be Sylvan) had come through town prophesying doom, claiming that a demon had taken over, and that they were all conscripted into his army on pain of death. This madness was made more persuasive by a display of magic including floating in the air, purple flames, glowing eyes, and other fearsome spells. Tuck, paralyzed by fear, was the only one who didn’t follow the man toward Cindre or flee to the countryside. After the party calmed him down a bit, he suggested they spend the night in the abandoned inn. While Adamir guarded the door and others helped themselves to a few free drinks, Ardwyn tried to help bolster the poor man’s confidence. Though he was still frightened, they at least left Tuck feeling a bit better, and after a nice rest, they set off for the city.
They passed almost no one on the road all day, until eventually spotting a man on the road, garbed in the armor of a Cindrean soldier. “Halt, citizens!” he called out haltingly. Ardwyn quickly melted into the forest, while Daelon approached him to speak directly. Before the conversation could proceed very far, however, he flipped up the visor of his helm to reveal that it was Galbarth Greydale, the Duke’s cousin and captain of the guard. “Daelon?? Oh thank god!”
Galby hurried to tell the party what had happened: in a sudden and bewildering coup, Sylvan had brought an army of confused commoners to the city and soon took over the palace. His tricks had even convinced some of the guards to join him. Galby had responded by encouraging the loyal guards to fight back, while he escaped out of the city to find help. The party reprimanded him for abandoning the city in its hour of need, and Ardwyn decided to reveal herself by flipping down from a tree and flipping the visor off of Galby’s helm.
After stashing Galby and Daelon in the bottom of the carriage, the party rolled into the city without incident. A woman ran up to Tessel begging for food, claiming that the shops were all closed. Indeed, it seemed that most people were staying indoors, with an air of fear hanging over the city. Tessel shared her rations, and the party followed Daelon along a back-alley path to the palace.
There was a brief detour when the party saw the light of a fire and backtracked to investigate. They found a bonfire in a plaza, surrounded by a small crowd. Adamir and Ardwyn crept forward stealthily, and determined that there were a few apparent looters and several drunken commoners partying by the fire. After assessing their priorities, the party decided to leave the looters for another day, creeping away toward the palace.
They entered the Duke’s palace by a side door, and soon the party had access to the great hall. Ardwyn crept in stealthily... and found herself face-to-face with a guard dragging a dead body to the wall. With a startled shout from the guard, the battle commenced.
Sylvan was sitting on the Duke’s throne, shuffling through scrolls in a panic. “GET THEM!”
Daelon immediately cast Sleep on the throne, and the two bards flanking Sylvan dutifully collapsed on the floor in slumber. Valra soon followed up, Entangling the bards (and, for a moment, Sylvan himself) in a patch of magical vines. Ardwyn was nearly bowled over as Tessel and Adamir bolted into the room, quickly bringing the guard near the door to the edge of death. And soon the rogue herself was throwing her daggers and making nimble attacks with her battleaxe. The guards ran forward to attack, but they did little to stop the adventurers’ momentum.
The Sage of the Silver Tower was not going to go quietly, however. Using a scroll, he cast a Fear spell upon most of the party. Adamir briefly fled from a terrifying vision of an ogre before regaining his senses and sending arrows back in retaliation. But Sylvan used magical Shields to protect himself, and tried to turn the tide by casting a magical Suggestion upon Tessel, encouraging the paladin to stop the fighting. Amazingly, she was able to keep talking without even a moment's break, but now she turned around and began righteously asking her friends to lay down their weapons. Luckily for them, she continued to heal them as she fruitlessly pled for peace.
Valra was able to turn one of the sage’s tricks back on him, casting Faerie Fire to engulf Sylvan in purple flames. With such an easy target, the rest of the party was able to to hit Sylvan again and again. Daelon struck him with a Fire Bolt, nearly burning some of the scrolls, and a well-placed shot from Valra’s bow was finally able to strike him dead...
