Astvanor Session 186 (5/29)

[cinaed]

Session 186: Month of Rayalvias (5/29)

The Hooligans arrive in Refuge with a furious Kalia, moving from the balmy mid-spring air of Previdian to the slightly colder spring air of Avisrune. They all land steadily on their feets, though rushed from their escape.

Kalia immediately throws herself against Galowen, beating her fists against his armored chest. She demands they put her back. She demands it. Audacity asks why and she says that they don’t understand the political ramifications.

Nicholas says it’s all right, they can get back to the palace right away. He’s dismayed to learn that they’re in Avisrune and tells them that he can teleport back before he casts Sending to Edwin to respond that he’s alive and he’s sorry.

He waits five seconds, ten seconds, fifteen, a cold sweat that breaks out all over his skin. It settles in his limbs and the pit in his stomach before a crackling voice comes through, “Nick, what are you talking about? Have you seen her?”

Nicholas says he has her. Edwin says good. That’s good. This is most assuredly his voice. Nicholas knows how he sounds and knows what he sounds like when he’s made a decision. Edwin sounds relieved and very calm. He knows with this sense of calm that Edwin expected this and sort of wanted it. This wasn’t by chance. Edwin sent him here for this reason and is set on the possibility what may well still happen to him.

Nicholas tells him to get out of the castle. He’ll come for him.

Edwin tells him not to be silly. Stay there, wherever there is.

Nicholas says please. This time there is no answer, though it was received.

Yolov says that they could get back to Staghart and into the palace, knowing that at a run from Asa’s shop it would be a fifteen minute run to the palace. Nicholas knows there is a teleportation circle within the palace but it’s heavily guarded. He also knows that there’s a teleportation circle within the financial district, but it’s possible that Halcyon hasn’t warned the guards there yet.

Nicholas casts Teleportation Circle to get them to the financial district. They all come out of the teleportation circle, making the guards jolt and turn with their hands on their hilts. One of them immediately recognizes Nicholas and his authority token at his waist. It seems that Halcyon’s potential warning to the guards has not yet reached them.

Nicholas passes them all gold, apologizing for the late night troubles, and the group rushes out into the night. The air is heavy with a warning of rain. The moon is a sliver where it cuts through the dark promise of a very damp morning and a long cold windy day. Their breaths burn in their lungs.

It’s a long run for anyone. They can all feel it in their chest and calves and the stitch in their sides. The seconds count down into minutes as they run and Nicholas leads them through the darker parts of the palace where he and Edwin spent time when Edwin felt stifled, where they had romantic trysts and Nicholas watched him how to climb and throw himself safely down the wall. It’s a skill Edwin taught him that he uses now.

He can see candle glows in the windows, a handful in the tower where the princess was just liberated from, and candles in the tower where the prince lives. It’s another servant entrance that he shoulders his way into.

Yolov casts Telepathic Bond on the group and then Invisibility on himself and Nicholas as they enter the palace. A lot of what keeps them from being noticed, invisible but their footsteps obvious, is that the guards are moving quickly. Some are moving in the same direction, others towards other places within the castle.

Nicholas leads them on via silent communication. The expensive ornate rugs and the tapestries loom over them as they turn onto a corridor where there are prizes from various hunts, mounted animal heads and weapons, and pictures of distant places.

The door to the prince’s room is slightly open, just enough to let light bleed out onto the stone floor.

Nicholas cannot stop himself from just opening it. He flings it open and inside the prince’s bedroom to the immediate right is a luscious bath and beyond that is the entrance to the bedroom. Lining that hall are three palace guardsmen. Behind them Nicholas can see more people heavily armored and behind those two knights they can all see, standing with his hands folded behind his back, is Lord Halcyon.

Standing beside him is a young looking gentleman that they’ve all met recently: Nicholas’ assistant Arthur. The guardsmen and the knights look very confused at the door swinging open, but Halcyon’s gaze turns towards the group and he says that it’s very good of them to join them. He asks if they thought that would keep them safe or protect them.

Halcyon casts Dispel Magic and both Galowen and Nicholas become visible again, showing that Galowen has his middle finger up.

Halcyon says that he’ll have to inform everyone that the prince and princess were kidnapped by the small group that calls themselves the Hooligans. Audacity tells him that he’s lying, and Halcyon says it will be just one more mark against them on their pitiful existence before he kills them all.

Halcyon disappears, leaving behind Arthur as alarms begin to sound, who looks at Nicholas as Nicholas asks if it was difficult to betray them. Arthur says not really and that it’ll all be over soon.

Arthur casts Fireball, too far away for Yolov to Counterspell. It catches all of them. Az and Yolov manage to keep hold of their invisibility as Arthur sprouts two spectral wings, the wings iridescent and looking wrong. They can all tell immediately the wings are covered in thick shadow, much like Iceclaw back in Avisrune.

He flies twenty feet up into the air.

Az throws his Eldritch Blasts at Arthur. Two of them hit, smashing him into the ceiling.

Arthur swears and tells them that it’s just easier if they stop. Halcyon cannot be stopped.

The two knights move forward, one of them taking swings at Nicholas. Galowen gets his shield up and blocks the first attack, but the second blow lands, slashing into Nicholas.

Audacity moves forward and strikes out with his staff at the closest knight. Both blows land, though the knight manages to avoid being stunned. Then Audacity, no longer invisible, sends a flurry of blows against the other knight, stunning him.

Through the Telepathic Bond Audacity asks Yolov to make a quick exit and Yolov says not until they find the prince, then he can get them out. Audacity looks at the knights and asks where the prince is, getting an answer from neither of them.

Nicholas moves sideways, casting Shield of Faith on himself and then casts Toll the Dead on the nearest knight. He looks around frantically for Edwin. He sees no sign of him.

Diana flies over and breathes fire upon most of the soldiers and one of the knights.

The other soldiers move to flank Audacity, raining multiple blows down on him.

Yolov comes out of invisibility to cast Chain Lightning on all but one of the soldiers and knights, grimly killing three of the five of them as Galowen also attacks, swinging out at the soldier that just attacked Audacity.

Audacity smiles affectionately at Galowen as Galowen smites the last guardsman into a smoking ruin on the ground. Galowen moves to stand in front of the remaining knight.

Arthur flies forward and sends out Scorching Rays towards the group. One hits Audacity, another hits Az, and the last slams into Galowen. Galowen’s head aches as Arthur casts Mind Sliver on him as well.

Az strikes out with another round of Eldritch Blast, hitting Arthur once and knocking him back ten feet, his wings flapping very hard. As he does, Az and Audacity can’t quite make out the color of the wings beneath the shadow, but it’s gleaming and very bright.

The last knight makes two weapon attacks against Galowen. One blow lands, slashing into him and smiting him with an unpleasantly familiar radiant light.

Audacity reaches a hand towards the pool and a strand of water leaps out and slaps Arthur in the face. Then he turns and hits the knight, killing him with a blazing radiance. He looks up at Arthur and tells him that he’s also a pawn to his father.

Arthur and Nicholas say he’s not Halcyon’s son, with Arthur adding that he’s just imbued with Halcyon’s powers. Audacity says he’s a pawn then, with Arthur countering that he is too. Audacity says perhaps but he has better choice in masters.

Nicholas looks at Arthur and says that it goes without saying he’s dismissed from his post. When Arthur says Nicholas was fired first, Nicholas says to let him have this and asks where Edwin is. Arthur’s face falls. Nicholas says he knows what happened, just tell him.

Arthur says he won’t.

Nicholas says that he has other ways of finding out and casts a spell that animates four of the dead soldiers and mutters under his breath that his father won’t be upset with a little necromancy. He looks at the ghouls and orders them to grab Arthur.

The ghouls begin to climb each other to grab at Arthur. They manage to get eye level with Arthur as the one on top grabs him. The ghoul grapples him, preparing to bring him down to the ground.

Yolov looks at Nicholas and asks if they need Arthur alive for questioning. Nicholas says he won’t tell the truth even if he’s dead, and Galowen’s Zone of Truth won’t get answers either. Yolov casts Psychic Lance on Nicholas, injuring but not incapacitating him, and then moves further into the room, looking around for Edwin. He finds no sight of him.

Galowen casts Lay on Hands on himself and then draws on some of the Fey magic into his sword in case he can get within attack range of Arthur.

Arthur casts Chain Lightning on Audacity, Az, and Nicholas. Yolov attempts to Counterspell, but Arthur counterspells in return, lightning striking the three.

Az looks down the hallway, trying to see if anyone else is coming. So far there’s no sign of anyone. He leaves the fate of Arthur to Nicholas and the others as he resummons Medrash.

Diana casts Draconic Transformation on herself and breathes out another breath of force damage directly onto Arthur and then another acid breath upon him.

Chunks of Arthur’s flesh begin to melt and peel off of him, landing in thick chunks of blackened viscera. It’s messy and wet as parts of his exposed skeleton begin to pit with the acrid air from Diana’s acid breath. She recoils a little even as the ghouls keep holding him while they rot and melt down, turning into puddles of miserable sludge.

Arthur is dead, the guards are dead. More guards are coming.

Audacity casts Cure Wounds on Nicholas as Nicholas casts Locate Object on a token of affection he gave Edwin, a stupid ring on a stupid chain that bears his family crest. It pings far away. It’s somewhere in the catacombs of this palace. They’d have to go through every guard to get there.

Nicholas tells the group and then asks them what their next grand plan is. Yolov says he has spells to get them through walls, at which point Nicholas tells him that Edwin is dead. Yolov doubts that, wondering why Halcyon would say that they kidnapped them both, until Nicholas casts Locate Creature for Edwin. There’s a dull emptiness and a certainty as there the spell doesn’t find him, because the person must be living for the spell to find him.

Nicholas tries to stay behind, but Yolov insists that he return to Refuge at least long enough to speak with Kalia with them and tell her about her brother. He gathers up a memento from the room and then returns with the Hooligans to Refuge.

They tell Kalia the news, who stares blankly at them. When they all awaken the next morning, Nicholas is gone.

By dawn, word has spread that the princess consort’s birthday has been cancelled. By the evening rumors begin to swirl and the tearful princess consort and King Terrance speak to the nobility and to the ambassadors of the kidnapping of the royal heirs by the group known as the Hooligans.

Images of their group, save Hava, circulate over the next few months. There are very few safe places for them. Many of their allies are still supportive: the capital of Striog and all of Kastvar. Valnore and Avisrune cannot protect them if they’re recognized publicly there. They are wanted on pain of death within Previdian.

The Hooligans have a few different places that they can go from here.

They can attempt to repair and increase some of their political support. All of the nation-based ones besides Previdian could be boosted with careful political maneuvering. Or they could dive deeper into research on the Sunken Ones and Lord Halcyon himself.

They all settle on handling politics, regaining and establishing trust with world leaders to better prepare for the final fight against the Sworn Edge.