The Dauntless II

As they look over the room, Suki feels a tingle at the back of her neck, an instinctive sensation that something is wrong here. "Get down!" She shouts, letting out a burst of flame at one of the pillars and the wall behind it as the door slams shut behind them. A scream rings out through the room as the flames dance over the gold-stitched tapestries and carved walls, and Suki states that it seems the entire ruins are haunted. A moment later the room shakes, apparently not liking being called out, and a large chunk of the wall's carvings throw themselves off the walls and onto the party.

Extricating themselves from the rubble, the group lays into the walls, intending to carve the inhabiting spirits out by force. After a brief moment of this Dorrak realizes that the spirits must be vulnerable to the purifying force of Positive Energy, and relays this to Django, who crouches and pours weaponized positive energy into the floor. With one last scream fading to nothing, the room shudders and stills.

Moving into the next room, unwisely without healing, the group is soon ambushed by a group of poltergeists, who try to frighten the whole group at once, with limited success, then turn invisible. They hurl debris that strikes everyone hard, soon bringing the injured Suki down, but she seems to stabilize on the ground after being struck again. Django uses a mix of healing and holy magic to blast the spirits, and with Suki on the ground after letting out a blast of flame, Dorrak and Antoinette finish them with tooth and holy sword.

You claim the regalia from upstairs, a grey robe of the archmagi emblazoned with the royal seal of Saggorak, and retreat once more so Django can pray for spells that can heal Suki. You return a day later, and finally make your way to the Temple of All Gods. The looming facade of this towering stone cathedral is decorated with carvings that show a powerful dwarven hero in various acts of defeating all manner of strange monsters, single-handedly building huge stone structures, and forging powerful weapons. A pair of curving stone stairs rise up to meet a looming iron double door in the middle of the building, and a nest of some sort crafted of rubble and bones lies sprawled between the two stone stairwells.

"This carving isn't a myth," Dorrak notes. "These are historical. So whoever that dwarf was, probably one of Saggorak's first kings, actually did everything portrayed there himself."

Antoinette looks up at the carving. "For a city like this? I'd believe it. Shall we breach then?" she asks, shifting to her dinosaur form.

As the group charges the front door, they hear a vicious shrieking, and a massive three-headed monster, with one mouth growing red hot, the second glowing blue with charged breath, and the third's maw dripping acid, emerges from beneath the stairs. Dorrak leaps on the offensive before the creature pulls away and unleashes a fiery breath attack on the group. The group pulls in on the monster, most of their strikes proving ineffective, but a few good strikes get through its tough hide. It manages to almost tear apart Dorrak and Nova, but Django keeps them alive. Eventually Antoinette is able to get the final blow.

In the next hall stands a solitary duergar, but another bangs on a door in a side room, quickly revealing more of them. The group splits up, Dorrak and Nova cutting off the side room initially then moving in with Suki while Antoinette fights one in the main room. The fight goes well initially, with duergar suffering brutal wounds and falling, but bit by bit their blows wear the heroes down, forcing Antoinette to fight at reach while Django saves his more powerful healing magic. This comes to a head when a grievously wounded Nova holds her ground between a duergar and Antoinette and falls to hatchet blow after hatchet blow, with a fatal slice to her neck coming as that duergar burns to death, only to be saved by Django. As she bleeds on the ground, Dorrak looks helplessly to the half-elf, unable to help himself as he's locked in combat with another foe, and Django quickly magically stabilizes her before the last enemy falls to Antoinette's stinger.

As soon as the final foe is down, Dorrak rushes over to Nova and presses his head to her, listening for a pulse, only letting out a relieved breath when he hears her heartbeat, though he's still trembling.

Nova slowly comes to as Django administers to her wounds and, seeing Dorrak nearly in tears next to her, gives his face a quick lick. "I'm alright," she grumbles.

Dorrak breaks into a weak smile and takes a deep breath. "Thanks to Django. That was brave, holding the line the way you did. Made me proud."

Nova just grunts, but despite herself, her tail wags several times in rapid succession.

After patching up, the group explores some more, finding a secret cache in a wedding chapel. The final room of the ground floor to check is the far end from the entrance, and inside this they find two massive demons.

The fight is brutal, with gravity being messed with, multiple party members being taken down, however briefly it may be, and Django's supply of healing magic being almost completely drained, but eventually it ends with the party standing victorious over the corpses of the demons.

After exploring some upper levels with a pair of creepy rooms, one with a pile of corpses, one with whispering angry ghosts, one with a pile of corpses, both of which the group decides are not a today problem, they then quickly tear through a group of Scarlet Triad agents that, while annoying, aren't a major threat and are swiftly dispatched. The heroes then waste no time in continuing up the stairs.

This room combines elements of a smithy and a temple, its three massive stone forges each accompanied by metal anvils that seem to double as altars. Carvings of a towering dwarven smith adorn the walls, particularly to the south, where they frame an iron double door that seems to have been partially melted shut. Two iron statues stand guard, constructs of some sort, while behind them, leaning against the rear forge in what anyone with even a hint of religious knowledge knows is blatantly blasphemous and disrespectful, is a dwarf in black steel armor with a red scarf, a flaming spiked chain in hand, and a light hammer slung to her hip. "Well, well, well," she says, glaring at you all. "We finally meet face ta face. The almighty Dauntless, here ta interfere with yet another of mah organization's operations. Wha' exactly do ya have against me, hm?"

"Slavery, murder, kidnapping our neighbours, corruption, it's a long list. I'll give you the same offer I gave Lazlunn: Surrender. You get one chance," Dorrak replies, his face stony as he holds her gaze from atop Nova.

"Well, if yer gonna infringe on mah right ta practice mah religion," Embermead mutters, shaking out the chain.

Django immediately casts regenerate on Dorrak as Antoinette rushes forward to trip one of the iron guardians with a biting attack. Dorrak orders Nova to rush forward at Embermead. He strikes with divine fury and the heavens answer with a critical blow to the villain. Suki rushes in to follow the attack. Embermead attempts to attack Suki with a harm spell, but her eyes light with a mixture of surprise and fury as Suki's wounds stitch back together. The guardians attack Suki but Django stitches up her wounds with a harm spell of his own. Antoinette runs in to complete surrounding Embermead. Dorrak and Suki lay into her.

Realizing her situation, Embermead commands the guardians to kill Django. She then uses a spell to force Dorrak to retreat, giving herself a little breathing room. Django runs behind Antoinette and Suki to avoid the wrath of the guardians. Antoinette and Suki continue to attack Embermead, but the dwarf is able to block or dodge many attacks. Dorrak flees on Nova, but comes to his senses quickly and dismounts to run back into the fray. Embermead commands the golems to block off Dorrak. Then she tries to cast a spell, but Antoinette quickly retaliates with a vicious blow that sends Embermead sprawling to the ground. Django quickly stabilizes her. Afterward, cleaning up the guardians is a simple matter.

Antoinette stares down at the beaten slavemaster. "We shouldn't kill her here. She deserves death, but no death in this city is permanent. The last thing I want to see is her avoiding judgement."

”I agree she deserves death, but I do not believe that she’ll avoid justice in Kovlar. I have little doubt she’ll face execution there. I also feel that given what she’s done to the people of Kovlar, they deserve the chance to deliver justice to her themselves. Dorrak points out.

Antoinette thinks for a moment. She seems conflicted. Her hands curl into fists and she stares at Embermead with barely contained rage. She takes a few deep breaths. "If her conspirator will face death, there is no reason to suspect she wouldn't as well. We will let Kovlar handle her execution."

"If we haven't defeated Veshumirix yet by then she may even get punished twice," Suki adds sagely. "I doubt the old King would show much mercy to her spirit after all."

With that matter settled, the Dauntless quickly strip Embermead of all her valuables and search the room, then proceed back downstairs. They look back into the room with the pile of corpses and Django blasts it with a burst of radiant sunlight, and it rears up and roars. The cleric identifies it as a Warsworn, an undead formed from a mass of war dead, and they shut the door and leave, resolving to slay it another day. They return, carrying Embermead's unconscious form, through the city of the dead to Kovlar, and then to the Guild of Arms, seeking to speak with Commander Hammersong.

The guards stationed at the front of the Guild of Arms salute you and allow you back, where you find Hammersong in his office. "Well well well," he chuckles, chewing on a cigar. "Y'all got me another present? And here Ah am with nothin' for ya in return."

"No present required, unless you've got a gold bounty on Ilssra Embermead. Worshipper of Droskar, a high ranking member of the slaver group The Scarlett Triad, and the architect behind most of the recent troubles in your city. She is Kolarun Chiselrock's co-conspirator," Antoinette states.

The commander lets out a hefty chuckle and leans in to look at Embermead. "Can't say Ah've seen 'er before, but Ah'll get 'er ta interrogation an' see what we can learn. In the meantime, Ah can at least reward ya fer services ta the city. Ah'll send word down ta the armory, ya can pick up some supplies from there on me."

"We appreciate it, thank you," Dorrak tips his head gratefully to the Commander. "We found her in the Temple of All Gods in the dead districts alongside several Scarlet Triad agents, demons, and duergar."