Episode 7 Part 2 "A Death in the Family"

Session #23: 12/1/2019

 21st of Octoban 2350 of the 5th Age

Recap

 * The session began with the party gathered in the War Room of the Twilight Citadel as Admiral Rinalle and Savacool argued about Savacool's insistence on relying upon the Good Samaritans when a new Sword of the Seelie entered and took up her post keeping watch over the Emperor.
 * Kandra used her Contract Monacle to see that the new Sword of the Seelie is a female winter eladrin.
 * As the party planned for the coming battle, Arch Priestess Starbow took Liosynth aside and inquired as to whether she had given any thought to the Eaglais she would join when the battle was over. (An Eaglais is a subsection of the Order of Corellon that dictates how the Crescent Knights are deployed around the world.)
 * The party spent a great deal of time hashing out a plan to take down the City-Ships and their mated Green Dragon commanders, after hours of deliberation and numerous arguments and ideas, the party landed on the idea of using ballistae and chains to keep one of the dragons down while the other is dealt with. They decided to head to Cloud on a Mountaintop's Mystical Emporium to see if he might have any enchanted ballista bolts or chains that could hold a dragon.
 * The party gained even more than they could have hoped for when meeting Cloud, after discussing how his pocket dimension and door work, Vendrin came up with the idea to use the pocket dimension's door to teleport Elberen soldiers onto the city-ships to claim it.
 * The party negotiated with Cloud and were able to convince him that simply ferrying the soldiers to battle was a small price to pay for getting in good with the new Emperor of Elbereth. In addition to this agreement, Cloud gave the party several hundred feet of Mithril chain that they can use to hold down one of the dragons.
 * As the party returned to the war council with their newly formulated plan, they were assaulted by a mercenary adventurers band known as the Bloody Seven who were after a bounty set on them by the Horned Alliance. After a difficult fight, the party searched them and discovered that the Horned Alliance set a 20,000gp bounty on EACH of them. Meaning that if someone should kill the Good Samaritans, they would earn 100,000gp.
 * The party filed away the attack as something to deal with later and brought their new plan to the War Council. Excited by the prospect of slaying both the dragons and capturing one of the City-Ships, they agreed to the plan.
 * Thokk took the Mithril chains to the Kingmaker to have Greatforge help him in cutting them down to size. While there, Thokk took the time to taunt his captive brother, Eartaker.
 * Xafiq drew out several diagrams for the city-ships and helped the War Council choose how to insert the troops aboard them.
 * The party retired to their quarters in the Twilight Citadel to rest before the battle in the morning. Before she could retire to bed, Liosynth was stopped by Ver who asked her to clarify several of the bombs she had dropped in his journal before returning it, including having allowed the previous emperor to be killed and Orion Alivaur being Oberon. Ultimately, though, he told Liosynth he trusted her judgment, though he would appreciate an explanation if they should survive the next day.
 * The next day, the party took up position outside of the city, away from where the attempt would be made to tie down one of the dragons, and waited for the timer till the elvish attack began. As the hourglass ran down, the party watched the Arkinian ranks hurriedly rush back to their boats and hurry back to defend the City-Ships.
 * The ballistae, hidden among the tree line, fired upon the green dragon Daulahn, but few of the shots were true and Daulahn was able to shake off the Mithril chains and fly to defend her City-Ship.
 * As the party took up position around their own clearing, Vendrin used Message to taunt Vivithrax into flying down and confronting the party.
 * What followed was the most brutal battle the Good Samaritans have ever had. Vivithrax and Daulahn were ruthless enemies, breathing swaths of poisonous gas over the brave heroes. Vivithrax blew his poison over the heroes and killed both Vendrin and Tennebris in one breath. The Good Samaritans rallied around their fallen comrades and brought Vivithrax low and Daulahn after him as she returned to avenger her shamed mate.
 * As the battle ended, the party quickly stripped the dragons, then picked up their fallen comrades and brought them to the Temple of the Endless Sky where Liosynth used her new rank to have both Vendrin and Tennebris raised from the dead.
 * Vendrin was successfully raised, but not before having another vision. However, Tennebris was unable to return. Phiora Moonsparrow told Zeevah that something was holding Tennebris hostage and stopping her from returning.
 * Phiora offered another option though, an agent of the Order of the New Moon was based in Elberneth and was able to bring Tennebris back, but not as he was. Tennebris was brought back and morphed into a Displacer Beast.
 * With their part in the battle done, they only had to wait and watch as the Elberen soldiers routed the Arkinians. They captured the Io'Thrayoth and sent the other City-Ship running scared. Many elvish soldiers were killed, along with numerous centaurs, and Lycans, but the day was won.
 * After the siege was over, the party took Theresh to the Kingmaker and introduced him to the crew. Most of the crew came around to the idea of having him there after some convincing, but Thran Traigh was vehement that he would not sail on a ship with a fiend. He took his final pay and left.
 * The party went to check in on Oberon and spoke with him about what he would do next, finding that Titania had truly gone to her final rest. He decided he would stay in Elberneth and work with Savacool for the betterment of Elbereth and rebuild the Savit Cel Ru. He told the party that, despite his pain, he still owed them a debt and would come to their aid should they need it. He promised he would move on from his past.
 * A week after the battle, Liosynth had her Eaglais ceremony. The party was able to attend and watch as she ascended the altar at the Temple of the Endless Sky and chose to join the Order of the New Moon, a selective and secretive sect of the Order of Corellon that dealt with problems where "Corellon's light could not reach."
 * Liosynth then began her training with the Order of the New Moon, working personally with Akir Atharis, the strange drow leader of the Order.
 * The session ended as the party made plans to venture to the Orcish kingdom of Gramt so that Thokk could confront Bugbearspine Dorgad and avenge his family's honor.