Friday, December 21, 652 AU, continued

• They meet with the Duke, the Duchess, Atris, and Utaz in the courtyard in front of the guardhouse.
• The Duke doesn’t believe their tale of a lich under the city, and is very suspicious of their cultist robes.
• The Duke, despite Atris and Utaz assuring him their story is true, still does not believe them, but lets the Duchess handle matters.
• Duchess Daykin awards them estates in the city for their heroism.
• Bill, a harengon ranger, introduces himself, as he wants an estate too, but the Duchess reminds him that he already has a sizeable farm outside the city walls.
• Captain Woodmore arrives, and boasts that he’s come up with a great idea—reroute the train through Kyasha’s Vale, which would placate the druids of the Osorin Forest (and would necessitate defeating the hydra, of course…)
• Utaz has sent for a diviner from the Shining Citadel to discover how to handle the issue of the phylactery
• They return to the temple, clean themselves and put on new clothes, and take their stuff, as the temple no longer has extra room for them with the influx of citizens requesting healing and shelter.
• They realize Leander isn’t with them, and a sending reveals he stayed behind in Hart’s Crossing and will head west to the Shining Citadel.
• They return to the guardhouse to pick up Valspira. Utaz is worried about Valspira, but has good news—he and Atris have requested that the Queen grant the Dawnbringers the right to practice magic, since they have proven themselves heroes. Apparently, Duke Daykin was going to try to take down the party on charges of illegal magic use, but now he can’t.
• Zobus the Seer, Queen Oriel’s top diviner, teleports in to answer three questions.
  • Is there a way to destroy the phylactery without harming Rinnall?
    • He shall be healed as she was healed.
  • How do we destroy the phylactery of Tharruk?
    • Tears and lamentations.
  • How many days will it take for the lich to reform?
    • Three days.
• Zobus returns to the Citadel immediately. Valya thinks the cryptic answers refer to Beatrice, who was healed by the Pool of Tears—perhaps Rinnall can be healed by the Pool?
• They head to Kyasha’s Vale along with their new companion Bill, Acacia, and Rinnall.
• It’s nearly nightfall by the time they make it to the foothills of the Grey Mountains, where they are ambushed by a few zombies and a revenant, who gloats about Tharruk’s victory, not seeming to know that Tharruk failed.
• They defeat the zombies and continue to Kyasha’s Vale, where they see a pack of zombies milling about the field in front of The Healing Hand Inn. Aurelia disintegrates most of the zombies by channeling Soleil’s sunlight, and they take out the stragglers.
• Avilia, Len, and the other citizens who survived the zombie assault thank the party.
• Klabrog and the other guards arrive from the guardhouse.

Saturday, December 22, 652 AU

• The next morning, they head up to the Pool of Tears with Klabrog, carrying several barrels of explosive oil.
• Valya summons her smoke mephit to scout out the subterranean facility with Aurelia while the rest of the party try to find the cave entrance through the forest, and they get into an altercation with the hydra under… less than optimal conditions.
• The fight is difficult, and the hydra sprays gouts of poison all over the place, but eventually they are able to defeat it.
• They give Rinnall some of the water from the geode, and he seems to be cured! Tharruk is no more!
• They attempt to return to Crystalport via a teleport from Valspira, but she miscalculates and they end up in Tavin, and walk the rest of the way.
• They are discussing their new estates with the Duchess in the late afternoon, when Lieutenant Kargan requests Qhask’s presence—apparently there is a foreing delegation in Crystalport and they think Qhask should be present.
• The delegation turns out to be five kobolds. Two of them are Bror and Bar, Qhask’s companions from Caranthiax who were ditched by Skorzunk etc. because they saw “ghost worms” enter them. The other three are blue kobolds named Cretkaag, Chrun, and Viddo. Viddo reads the following from a scroll:

Hear this, disgusting, squishy inhabitants of Crystalport! Her Majesty Bellaroth the Resplendent, the Powerful, the Magnificent, Conqueror of Doskland, Conqueror of Vuquontis, Destroyer of Chymria, Despoiler of Ghelroth’Far, Terror of the Gemran Skies, New Ruler of Whitestone and Amyanthalas, et cetera et cetera, demands tribute! Bellaroth herself will come thundering from the skies to collect 10,000 gp from your puny settlement each week! If you cannot pay, Bellaroth will reduce Whitestone Valley to so much smoldering rubble! Your former master, the cowardly and pathetic Caranthiax, held the moorbounders to the east in check, as you are too weak and stupid to do so yourselves. Bellaroth will not do this! Bellaroth will stir the moorbounders up against you, and worse! For you harbor a group of adventurers who have stolen from her! Restore her hoard, hand over the adventurers, prostate yourselves and beg for forgiveness, and Bellaroth may yet spare you! Continue to defy her, and face her wrath!

• Qhask tries to convince Bror and Bar not to serve Bellaroth, but they seem to think Bellaroth is majestic and awesome. ❦