The mob of hostages chained to the city gate screamed in terror as the dragon roared again. They pressed away from the giant beast, threatening to crush those in the back against the gates they’d been forced to block. Shadow, kneeling beside them, could smell their fear as he hurriedly searched the body of one of the dead Gray Maidens. “C’mon … c’mon,” he muttered, then his hand found what he was searching for. He ripped the key off the Maiden’s belt as the dragon let out another screech of rage. There were dozens of hostages, and even with the key it would take time to free them all. All it would take was one blast from the dragon’s acid breath, or a few swipes of its claws or tail, and they’d all be dead. Thinking fast, Shadow conjured an invisible Wall of Force to block the dragon from reaching the captives. Then he spun and grabbed the nearest hostage. The man screamed as invisible hands gripped him, but then there was a click and his manacles fell away. “Here – take this and free the others!” a voice said as someone pressed a key into his hand.
Erin charged to the attack, but within
two strides collided with Shadow’s invisible Wall of Force. Assuming one of her party’s casters had imprisoned
the beast where it could do no harm, she reversed direction and headed for the
stairs leading up to the wall’s parapets, to engage the mercenaries manning its
siege engines. From the opposite wall, the invisible Jax sent a Lightning Bolt sizzling into the dragon’s
backside. The dragon bellowed in pain, rearing up on its hind legs and scanning
the battlefield with its long neck. It couldn’t find the source of the spells
that had been injuring it; indeed, it could only see two enemies on the field,
and one of those appeared to be fleeing in terror – the response it was used to
from puny humans. The other had just killed the annoying human it had been compelled
to allow to ride it. As grateful as it was to be freed from that indignity, it
was consumed with rage, and that rage was now focused on Tomas. It dropped
forward, raking both of its claws across the ranger’s chest, peeling back his
steel armor like tinfoil. Then its acid-dripping jaws clamped shut, and it
shook Tomas like a dog with a rat. When it released him, Tomas’s body fell
limply to the ground.
Nat was pressed against the wall not
five feet away; only his Greater Invisibility
had prevented the dragon from attacking him as well. He stared down in
horror at Tomas’s bloody body, acid still bubbling in his wounds. His Arcane Sight revealed the aura of the Wall of Force, and he knew that it would
offer some safety if they were just on the other side of it. He pulled a wand
off his belt as he reached down to touch Tomas’s lifeless arm, then cast Dimension Door. The pair reappeared next
to the city wall, right in front of Erin. “Help him!” Nat cried. Hoping it wasn’t
already too late, Erin said a hasty prayer to Iomedae, then reached down to Lay on Hands. As the power of the
goddess swept through him, Tomas’s eyes fluttered open.
On the wall above them, the mercenaries
hired by Ileosa were struggling to deal with this sudden surprise attack. They
were as shaken by the dragon’s appearance as anyone, but years of battlefield
experience had taught them that the best response to uncertainty was to fight.
However, that didn’t mean that they were very good at it, at least not against
foes as capable as these. Those who had managed to reload their crossbows fired
wildly over their targets’ heads. Two attacked Wren (who had mysteriously
appeared beside them) with swords, but she parried their blows with ease. Her
mace sent one tumbling off the wall, and crushed the shoulder of the other. On
the ground, Shadow could see that even amidst the chaos, the hostages were
slowly freeing themselves; confident that his Wall of Force would protect them from the dragon for now, he fired
off a volley of Magic Missiles at one
of the mercs above them, then hit his mate with Quickened Magic Missiles for good measure.
On the city wall, Wren quickly quaffed a
Potion of Darkvision. Everything
around her swam into view in shades of gray, and she slammed her mace into the
bewildered mercenary beside her. But through the darkness, she could see the
dragon in flight, its wings beating some forty feet in the air and its
malevolent gaze staring straight down at Erin and Tomas. “It’s in the air above
you!” she cried. “It’s coming for you!”
Nat had already concluded as much. His Permanent Arcane Sight had shown him the
magical aura of the dragon’s Mirror Image
spell rising above that of the Wall
of Force and flying towards them. His first instinct was to grab Tomas and
Erin and teleport away to safety, to put as much distance between himself and
the dragon as possible. That’s what he would have done a few months ago – run for
his life. But he was not the timid boy he’d been when Gaedren Lamm had turned
his life upside down. He was a wizard
now, a mighty wizard – a devils’
bane, a scourge of the undead. He was a Defender of Korvosa, and by gods, it
was time for him to become a dragon killer. Using the magical aura as his
target, he unleashed an Empowered,
Intensified Fireball that exploded in the darkness. Before its
reverberations had faded away, he followed up with a swift Cold Ice Strike, sending a shower of ice slivers shooting up into
the darkness. There was a screech as the fire and ice met the dragon, and then
a second of silence followed by a resounding THUD. The Darkness faded
away, and the daylight revealed the dragon’s lifeless body amid shattered
cobblestones.
The mercenaries on the city wall didn’t
stand a chance. Shadow sent a pair of them flying back into the river with a well-placed
Lightning Bolt, and Tomas, still on
his knees, took out two more. Erin charged up the stairs and ran one through
with Serithtial. Only one survived, and he threw down his sword at Wren’s feet.
“I surrender!” he cried. “Please don’t kill me!” Wren pounded him with the butt
of her mace handle, hoping to knock him out, but he had a thick skull; he
dropped to his knees, still begging, as she hit him again and again. “I think
you can stop now,” Erin said quietly, and Wren stopped just short of bashing in
his head, her chest heaving.
The panicked crowd of hostages gradually
began to realize that they were safe. As the party began to pry out the spikes
that fastened their chains to the city gate, a black-clad figure suddenly appeared
atop the northwest parapet (not far from where those Lightning Bolts had been hitting the dragon from). “Look! It’s
Blackjack!” Nat cried, and all eyes turned to him. The city’s hero strode along
the parapet to where he could address the crowd below. “You have seen for
yourselves the evil of Queen Ileosa. You – the subjects she should be
protecting – used as human shields to protect her evil minions. And a dragon! In our city! This is the work of Ileosa, and
it must be stopped. Go home and tell your friends – this rebellion is real, and
the Queen must go!”
The crowd erupted in cheers. “Hooray for
Blackjack!” “Blackjack has saved us!” “Blackjack the dragon-slayer!” The party
exchanged rueful looks, but had the humility not to try to wrest the glory back
from the hero of the city. Blackjack gave the crowd a jaunty salute, then
hurried off to right some new wrong. A minute later, Jax returned. “Woo! That
was some fight, huh? What was all that cheering about?”
Erin had already used her Wristband of Sending to report back to
Field Marshal Kroft that the gate was clear. From her vantage point atop the
wall, Wren could see the force gathered on the opposite bank of the river,
flying the flag of Korvosa. Within minutes of Erin’s report, they began to
move, marching across North Bridge. It was a mixed force of Guardsmen and Sable
Company marines, with Grau Soldado at their head. With a screech, a pair of
hippogriff-mounted marines soared overhead and on into the city; apparently at
least a handful of marines had been able to save their mounts from destruction.
With the hostages freed, Erin and Tomas manhandled the massive bar off the city
gate, and swung it open to welcome the rebel force into Korvosa.
Grau (they noticed that he was Captain Soldado now) was effusive
in his thanks, but had little time for pleasantries. He was busy directing
squads of his men off into the city, each with their own objectives. They
turned their captive mercenary over to his men (not wanting to risk revealing
the location of the rebel’s secret headquarters by taking him with them), then
gathered up Sabina Merrin’s body and teleported back to the Dead Warrens.
The rebel HQ was a buzz of activity for
the rest of that day and night. Magical messages flew in from the field, along
with a steady stream of runners in and out, keeping Kroft and the seneschal
abreast of the battle for the city. There didn’t seem to be much for the party
to do at the moment, so they did their best to stay out of the way.
The next morning, Cressida and Neolandus
called them together. Their eyes were dark from lack of sleep, but they were
buzzing with energy. “The battle’s going well,” Kroft told them, pointing to the
map of Korvosa on the wall. “We’ve secured most of North Point. We’ve liberated
City Hall, and thrown up a cordon around the Bank of Abadar. Archbanker Tuttle
has declared the Bank neutral in the rebellion – although he wants us to keep
our guards around the Bank to keep the Queen’s forces out.”
“I still say this is our best
opportunity to rob the bank,” Shadow muttered, but everyone had told him ‘no’
so many times that no one really listened any more.
“There’s still fighting in the Longacre
Building,” Kroft continued, “but most of North Point is ours. We’ve also
secured both ends of High Bridge, and most of that Ward from Citadel Volshyenek
to the Gray District. But we don’t have enough men to press the attack on two
fronts.”
“What about the people?” Tomas asked. “Are
they joining the fight?”
Kroft shrugged. “In some places. Mostly,
they’re just terrified. But it hasn’t even been 24 hours yet – I think they’ll
start to rise up. Especially as word spreads that Blackjack has joined our
cause.”
“I didn’t think I’d ever be grateful to
that anarchist scoundrel,” Neolandus grumbled, “but his assistance has been
invaluable.”
“But there’s only so much our men can do
as long as Ileosa and her forces hold Castle Korvosa.” Neolandus continued. “If
this dragon is any indication, there’s no telling what kinds of allies she
might yet summon to her side. Grau and Marcus’s men are no match for what’s
inside the Castle – we’ll need someone like you to root her out.”
“And I think the sooner, the better,”
Kroft added.
“Let me tell you what I know about the
layout of the Castle,” the seneschal offered, and for the next hour the party
poured over the sketches he had made, showing each room and hall in the castle,
along with all its secrets. “That’s everything about the Castle itself,” he
concluded, “but I have no idea what the Queen might have waiting inside.”
“That’s where she comes in,” Nat said, jerking his thumb at the body of
Sabina Merrin slumped in the corner. She’d been stripped of her armor and
weapons, and one of the Pharasman clerics had cast Gentle Repose to ward off any unpleasant odors. The party had spent
much of the night debating just what to ask the deceased Gray Maiden commander
(remembering the difficulty they’d had getting useful answers from dead folk in
the past), and now Wren waved her hands over the body, invoking Pharasma’s
blessing to send this soul back from the Boneyard just long enough to allow them
to question it.
A low moan escaped Sabina’s throat as
the spell took effect, and Nat took the lead with the questioning:
“What magical protections have been
added to Castle Korvosa since the Queen took power?” ‘No new magical protections have been added.’ Shadow frowned at that answer, and quickly
interrupted to ask a question of his own: “Were there any existing magical
protections?” ‘None to speak of’ the corpse replied. “I thought I already told you
that,” Neolandus grumbled.
Nat scowled at Shadow, then resumed
working through his notes. “What new helpers has she imported to support her
cause?” ‘Many devils.’ “What
expertise does the Queen have?” There was a pause as Sabina’s spirit considered
this ambiguous wording. ‘She is a powerful and passionate leader.’
Everyone rolled their eyes.
“What I meant is, what kind of spells is
she able to cast?” Nat clarified. ‘She has many Bardic abilities,’ Sabina replied, and eyebrows went up – this was
news.
“What’s up with you and the dragon?” Nat
asked, and everyone groaned – they thought they’d agreed not to waste a question on this, but it was too late. ‘The Queen commanded me to use him to quell the
rebellion.’
Wren held up a finger; there was only
one question left, and she wanted to use it. “What being or power is the Queen
channeling or being used by?” She waited anxiously for an answer that would
reveal something new, but Sabina’s response disappointed her. ‘None. Ileosa is all-powerful.’
“Sounds like she was sold a bill of
goods,” Jax snorted as the magical power left the corpse. “A real true
believer.”
Nat had already turned back to Neolandus’
sketches of the Castle. "This Togomor fella is a Bloatmage, right? That means he
can probably teleport, and so can any devils she’s got. That gives us a big
problem – anything we try to do, they can just pop in and surprise us.”
“What about guards around the base of
the Great Ramp?” Erin asked, pointing to the great stairway leading up from the
city to the Castle. “If we start trouble inside, are they going to come rushing
in as reinforcements?”
“There are a few dozen Gray Maidens and
a score or two of Chelish mercenaries guarding the approach to the Castle,”
Kroft replied. “But that’s a long
climb up, and our men can help pin them down with arrow fire if need be."
While everyone else was looking at the
Castle floorplans, Tomas was staring thoughtfully at the maps of Korvosa and
the surrounding areas on the wall behind him. “I just don’t know,” he muttered,
shaking his head. “Zellara told us we’d have to go somewhere else – but where?” No one had an
answer.
“I think we should try to take out the
Bloatmage first,” Nat said decisively, and for once there was no drawn-out
argument. What did go on and
on was the ensuing debate over tactics. “The bottom line is that we just don’t
know what we’re going to run into,” Jax said at last. “We know where his room
is, but we don’t have any idea if that’s even where he is.”
“Could we try to scry on him?” Wren
asked.
Nat got a big grin on his face, and begin
sorting through the myriad of wands and rods hanging on his belt. He’d had a
new belt custom made in Janderhoff, with dozens of little hooks each labeled
with a rune. He found the rune he was looking for, and pulled off the
corresponding wand. “That’s exactly why I picked up this little beauty. It’s a Wand of Clairvoyance.”
“Doesn’t that rune say ‘S’?” Shadow asked.
“Yep – ‘S’ for Seeing things.”
“What’s the one labeled ‘D’?”
“That’s my Selective Metamagic Rod. ‘D’ for Don’t hit your friends.”
Shadow started to continue to try to
figure out Nat’s filing system, but stopped himself. Nat’s brain wasn’t a place
he was sure he wanted to visit.
Nat was already staring at the map of
Korvosa on the wall. He put one arm straight out in front of him, pointing,
then rotated until he was pointing straight towards Castle Korvosa. He
carefully aligned Neolandus’ floorplan sketch until it aligned as well, then
pointed his wand towards the Castle. He scrunched his eyes closed and muttered
some words.
He
found himself looking down into an elegant bedroom with a canopied bed, colorful
tapestries on the walls and exotic rugs on the floors. Narrow windows pierced
one wall, but they had been covered with additional tapestries, hung awkwardly.
A standing lamp in one corner looked like some sort of swamp plant, with
wrought-iron leaves and a single oversized fruit of amber colored glass.
Despite the room’s fine furnishings, it was littered with discarded food: bread
crusts, chunks of moldy cheese, empty wine bottles, chicken carcasses, and
bones with tattered remnants of meat. The source of the mess was a hugely corpulent
man with a shaved head, sitting at the desk reading a scroll as he gnawed
absently on a turkey leg.
“He’s in his room,” Nat gasped, pulling
himself back from the spell’s vision. He turned to Neolandus. “I don’t think
you’ll like what he’s done with the place.”
This seemed like a great tactic – they wished
they’d had something like this when they were exploring Scarwall. “What about
the Throne Room?” Wren asked eagerly. Nat consulted Neolandus’ maps again,
focused on the location, and cast the spell.
He’d
been in this room before – when they returned the lost brooch to King Eodred’s ‘grieving
widow’. It had the same magnificent frescoes, mosaics, and tapestries he
remembered, and the stained glass windows depicting Korvosa’s former monarchs –
although now those images have been defaced with crudely-painted horns and
mustaches. At one end of the room, Korvosa’s Crimson Throne sat on a low dais,
and Queen Ileosa lounged in it, clad in a green silk gown. Arrayed before her
were a protective detail of four Gray Maidens, standing at attention. In the
opposite corner of the room stood a dark-skinned woman, eyes closed in
meditation. She was clad in a Vudrani sari, with an embroidered gold silk scarf
draped over her head and shoulders. Nat did a double-take as he saw her – there
was something familiar about her features. But he was quickly distracted by the
other inhabitants of the room.
“Shit!” he said, coming back to the room
around him. “She’s got Nessian Warhounds! Three of them!” He’d gotten far
closer to those horse-sized hounds back in Scarwall than he ever cared to again.
“Did you see any Red Mantis?” Jax asked,
but Nat shook his head. “They’ve got to be in there somewhere. What about the
ballroom, or the Grand Salon upstairs? Can you look in there?”
Nat used the wand twice more, first
perusing the Castle’s ballroom, then the large open Salon that opened onto it
from above, but he saw no sign of inhabitants. By now, the wand was getting hot
to the touch, and Nat was reluctant to use any more charges until it cooled
off. Besides – he’d already learned what he was most interested in. He knew
exactly where the Bloatmage Togomor was. Now it was time to take him out.
The PCs earned 23,467 XP, putting them
at 444,302 XP and Level 15. You need to reach 600,000 XP for Level 16.
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