14 Flocktime, 592 CY

The party heard that following a bar brawl the night before some evidence had been uncovered which lead to the arrest of Maavu Arlintal by Cauldron’s recently established Magical Threats Agency. The nature of this evidence was unknown, but he was being held at the Garrison under MTA’s watch. Bransen contacted The Foreman via sending, but the man had been unaware that the merchant had been arrested. He asked that Bransen update him if anything else was discovered. Rumors that Alek Tercival had been killed before he was supposed to have recanted in Redgorge were also running rampant. The dwarves were afraid that their conversation with the Striders might have been overheard.

A letter arrived at the Silver Phoenix house for Karamus, who’d spend his first few nights back in Cauldron at the Drunken Morkoth. Jarvyk took word to him about the missive and asked him to come by the house when he got a chance. Bransen, Ashton, and Jarvyk went to the Tipped Tankard, where the altercation had taken place. No one had any great details to give, but they overheard something about a bag that had been dropped, something about “chicanery” and the likely involvement of a wizard. On their way back to the Silver Phoenix house, they overheard a pair of half-orc mercenaries speaking about the possibility of returning to Redgorge.

When they arrived back at the house, they found Kort in his office, frantically searching for something. He told them that he could not find Alek Tercival’s signet ring, which he was sure he had seen only days ago. The paladin’s sword was still there, and everyone checked their personal belongings, but nothing else seemed to be missing. Karamus arrived a few minutes later and the conversation that ensued drew the attention of everyone in the house. They were all congregated in the main hall when the fireball exploded in their midst.

In the seconds following the blast, a burst of unholy energy washed over the party and a half-orc warrior charged down from the balcony slicing deeply into Bransen with a greatsword. The creature appeared to be walking on the air, and stood a few inches above the table. More disturbing was the utter silence that fell upon the room at his sudden arrival. Everyone’s attention was drawn upward to the balcony, where stood a human woman and an elf with a bow in hand. Karamus reacted first tumbling around the other side of the half-orc, drawing a rapier with the flick of his wrist, and sliding it deep into its back. Ashton backed away from the table, finding he could hear again when his back was up against the wall shared between the main room and the kitchen. Once there, he snapped his fingers to activate his new glove of storing, which left him holding the Phoenix Heart in hand. Kan’ti, too, stood near this wall and surveyed the situation with wild eyes.

The elf on the balcony launched four arrows with great speed that sank deep into Bransen as well. The woman, holding a rod in hand, silently blasted the necromancer with searing light before running along the air down to the ground near Ashton and Kan’ti. Greyjek slashed open a dimension door and vanished through it, reappearing in his room upstairs, where he proceeded to gather his equipment. Kort dashed up the stairs to close with the archer, and was quietly blasted with electricity from his left, from an invisible source.

Bransen, thinking very quickly, gestured subtly and was rendered invisible, leaving a major image of himself overlapping his actual body. Then he also moved back towards the kitchen wall where the other spellcasters had congregated. The half-orc took one slash at the image of Bransen before he recognized its illusory nature, then spun around, bringing the massive blade to bear on Karamus twice in rapid succession. The cansin fell to the floor senseless.

Jarvyk disarmed the half-orc and picked the sword up from the table where it had fallen, while Tedryk’s Grace exhibited its power to freeze the mind and body of the assailant. He then stepped back, beginning to slide the extra greatsword into his haversack. The melee was vicious and harried, with spellcasters scrambling to find areas that were unaffected by the magical silence, and Bransen struggling to remain conscious in general due to the concentrated attacks upon him. All of the assassins seemed to be resistant to magic in addition to their ability to walk upon the air itself. Kort fell second, but Karamus was brought back to consciousness when Bransen cast an area healing spell. He rejoined the fight, while Kan’ti fled through the kitchen door, heading outside to follow Greyjek’s example of recovering his combat gear.

The half-orc was the first of the foes dropped. Bransen rendered the archer helpless next, though the man remained aloft and out of reach of the more melee oriented members. Of greatest concern was the invisible sorcerer, who continued to harry the party (usually including Bransen as at least one target) with cones of cold and lightning bolts. The Phoenix Heart protected Ashton from a great deal of the magical onslaught. When the sorcerer saw that the rest of his team were either dead or disabled, he fled the fight, running out the broken window at the end of the hall from which the assassins must have entered.

Kan’ti looked around and said, “Staying with you guys is too dangerous.” He then turned and walked out the door and into the night. Bransen healed the others wounds while Kort and Karamus stripped the bodies and discussed with Jarvyk what should be done about them. The same thoughts were on everyone’s minds.

“Who wants us dead and how do they know so much about us?”

Back to Secrets of the Soul Pillars