Editing The Third Eye (section)

====Cursed Coronation====
[[File:Cursed Coronation.jpg|right|thumb]]
The coronation was well-attended by important people: nobles, influential merchants, members of the Court of Voices, and even Laromarius, golem master of the Arcane Tower. Queen Lyrencia motinoed for silence before beginning a gracious speech evoking the royal heritage of House Azennar and the noble lineage of her daughter, Aphinah. The speech continud into a lengthy explanation of all the rights, privileges, and duties of the sovereign. Finally, she declared that she was bestowing these right upon Princess Aphinah, crowning her Queen of Hargram. As she placed the crown on Aphinah's head, the royal headpiece changed appearance, growing bony claw-like protrusions and thorns. Dark magical runes appeared on its surface, and a ring of downward angled fangs extruded outward. Thunder boomed outside, and through the windows strange purple clouds could be seen gathering in the previously clear skies. As lightning struck outside the hall, Queen Aphinah laughed hysterically as she stood, her mother casting a wall of force across the dais at the front of the room. Aphinah declared herself the new queen, demanded obedience and loyalty from all of her subjects, and began proclaiming harsh and arbitrary new laws, with penalties ranging from stiff fines all the way to death for such infractions as "dressing the same as the queen" or "wearing your hair in a ponytail." She then called upon the Children of the Coven, and as a number of cultists appeared in the crowd as their illusionary disguises disappeared, Aphinah called them her "eyes and ears" who would "tell on you if you misbehave." Finally, directing her yelling at the Knights of the Crown, she demanded, "Voice your loyalty to me now, my hounds, and I shall reward you with power beyond imagining! Otherwise, you will perish in the flames of Hell!"

Many of the knights immediately dropped to the knees and shouted "For crown and kingdom!" As they did, they were suddenly transformed into terrifying werehellhounds. And as her first command, Aphinah told them to slaughter all the priests and paladins who did not take the pledge. The throne room erupted into chaos. Lord Mondar and his closest knights immediately formed a protective circle around the nearest priests, and began a fighting retreat towars the door. Meanwhile, the adventurers tried to both fight the werehellhounds barring the exit and save the innocent, panicking people who were mostly being caught in the middle of the chaos. Meanwhile, Aphinah leaned against the wall of force and grinned at the carnage. Eventually they managed to dispatch the werehellhounds guarding the doors and break them down, and Lord Mondar called for them to follow him to a secret exit. Leading the adventurers and surviving priests down into the royal crypt, he barricaded the doors before opening a hidden passage that led into the sewers. While the priests broke off to tend to their followers throughout the city, Lord Mondar and his remaining knights led the adventurers back to the Lucky Leap tavern, where Ricio Tane pulled a hidden lever and closed metal plates over all the doors and windows. Bedrools were laid out throughout the tavern and the basement, while Tane and Mondar discussed next steps.

In the morning, Lord Mondar told the adventurers that they had a plan. But first, he wanted to relate the story of what happened fifteen years ago. He cautioned that his memory of the time in the [[Feywild]] was somehwat unclear, like a vivid dream, and also that he had vowed to speak of the events in no further detail than the story he was about to tell. In [[Calendar#Year 2987|2987]], the stayr lord King Dasmag kidnapped Queen Lyrencia into the Feywild. King Azennar put together a group to rescue her consisting of himself, Prince Krasnar, Lord Mondar, Father Lestor of Ioun, and Master Eydan of the Arcane Tower. Lord Mondar did not recall precisely how they entered the Feywild, but distinctly remembered a tree with many eyes. Once in the Feywild, King Azennar defeated King Dasmag in a duel. The satyr lord was so impressed by the king that he returned Queen Lyrencia, and invited them all to a feast at his court. During the celebrations, he enchanted the crown of Hargram with a blessing of plenty to make up for the trouble he caused. Tragically, as they passed through a swamp on the way back, they hit a quicksand-like area of sucking mud and both Prince Krasnar and Father Lestor were lost.

Lord Mondar now suspects that the events of that quest are related to recent happenings, and that Queen Lyrencia, and possibly Queen Aphinah, are in league with Dasmag. He had no idea Lyrencia could cast magic, and always knew her as a kind woman. As for Aphinah, he always found her a spoiled and vicious child but now wondered if there was more to it than that. As far as he was concerned, a regent would likely need to be appointed until a new heir could be found. He presented his plan: in a nutshell, to steal the crown. Lord Mondar would try cleansing it with his own divine magic. It that failed, he would bring it to Master Eydan, who had not left the Arcane Tower since returning from the Feywild and had since appointed a new Archmage. If Eydan proved unable to remove the curse, Lord Mondar was even willing to destroy it if need be, believing it to be the source of the curse now afflicting the kingdom, as the terrible storm had not abated since the day before.

The royal quarters of the palace would be filled with sealed doors. However, Ricio Tane had a solution: he knew of a magical item called the Master Key, capable of opening any lock. Once the crown was in hand, however, they would need to prevent it from being magically tracked while they moved it throughout the kingdom. Ricio Tane also had a solution: a magic item in his possession called the Chest of Magic Nullification, which would completely block any and all magic from penetrating it. Unfortunately, it already contained a cursed item of catastrophic power which would need to be safely disposed of first: a demonic idol that rapidly drained all moisture from everything in an increasingly large radius, which would swiftly kill any living things nearby and - perhaps - eventually consume the world itself. Finally, in order to get into the palace itself, they would need to utilize a secret tunnel. Mondar knew of its existence, as the king had frequently used it to sneak out of the palace for extramarital dalliances, but not of its location. For that, they would need to find and ask the Royal Architect, Nandor Tyk. The adventurers, however, would need to accomplish all of these tasks; they were still unknown in the city, while Lord Mondar and his knights were all easily recognizable.