The Third Eye
The Third Eye was an adventuring company formed around the time of King Waldrann Azennar's death in Hargram.
Membership
- Ilara - Female shifter barbarian, seeking a pack and a place to accept her.
- Ililen Wuntohiin - Male firbolg monk, seeking his friend's killer.
- Isabelle Darrington - Female orc wizard, and member of the Arcane Tower.
- Leon - Male human druid, searching for answers about why Queen Lyrencia tried to have him killed.
- Sylas Asidia - Male eladrin warlock, working to investigate a mysterious murder.
History
Blood on the Crown
The Couatl Feather
The beginnings of the Third Eye occurred in 3002 when Leon and Ilara, both on the road to Hargrave, met. Leon was going to meet with an investigator he had hired to learn why someone had tried to kill him years ago. Ilara, meanwhile, was simply searching for a place to belong, and had heard Hargrave was welcoming of all races. The pair soon met with Ililen Wuntohiin, a firbolg monk also on the road to Hargrave to purchase medicinal herbs and other supplies. In Hargrave, they met the investigator, Sylas Asidia, who told Leon that his investigations pointed to Queen Lyrencia herself having given the order to have Leon killed. The group then went to the Lucky Leap tavern to have a drink and absorb this information, where they met the orc wizard Isabelle Darrington of the Arcane Tower.
While getting to know each other, they saw Crownwarden Cyne Mondar at a nearby table engaged in a business transaction to purchase a rare couatl feather from a halfling for a large sum. After Mondar departed, a bugbear entered and threatened the halfling over gambling debts, in the course of which he knocked over a lantern and burned up the couatl feather. The distraught halfling then appealed to the obvious party of adventurers with a deal: if they helped him buy a second couatl feather from his grandmother, and then escorted him to sell it to Mondar, they could keep the difference after the halfling's debts were paid. Seeing the opportunity for easy money, they agreed. They accompanied the halfling to his grandmother's house, where after chiding him for his gambling she finally agreed to sell him the feather, with the adventurers' money. As they headed towards Lord Mondar's manor, however, the halfling suddenly tried to escape into the crowd but was quickly grabbed by Ilara. The commotion attracted the attention of a guard, at which point the halfling transformed into a doppelganger and surrendered himself to the authorities.
Summons at the Old Grinder
The party continued to Mondar's home to try and complete the sell themselves, only to learn that not only had Mondar never made any such deal, but the feather wasn't even real; the entire transaction had been a scam from start to finish. Lord Mondar sympathized, and told them that he had a need for adventurers with a task that he did not necessarily want to involve the Knights of the Crown in. Mondar's friend, Lord Rumlyn, had heard rumors of suspicious gatherings and dark rituals near the old windmills. Cyne Mondar asked him to look into it and report back any further details; Rumlyn's report was that the clues seemed to implicate Countess Maritayl, owner of the Royal Stud Farm. Mondar didn't want to move against a respected noble with an important position in court without further proof and asked Rumlyn to dig deeper, but he hadn't reported back in. Mondar was getting worried, but didn't want to sent his knights in case his fears were unfounded, so asked the party to check on him under the pretense of retrieving Lord Mondar's horse, which he would need for the upcoming King's Games festival.
They arrived at Lord Rumlyn's manor, some ways out of the city, to find it on fire. Ilara barely managed to pull Lord Mondar's horse from the stable, while her companions found Lord Rumlyn's cook hiding in a barrel. He said that Countess Maritayl had arrived a short time ago with cloaked figures, murdered the guards, kidnapped Lord Rumlyn and his family, and set everything ablaze. The cook heard them saying something about a sacrifice at the Old Grinder, an abandoned mill several miles distant. After sending the cook back to Hargrave with Lord Mondar's horse, the group gave chase and, after several hours, arrived at the Old Grinder. They entered to find it guarded by hooded cultists and mercenaries, and after dispatching them descended to the basement to find a summoning circle with two dead bodies lying in it, and a bound and gagged woman and child nearby. A bearded devil had a wicked-looking knife pressed to the child's throat, while more cultists stood nearby. Ililen was unable to prevent the devil from slashing the child's throat, though Leon managed to heal the wound before he died. Once all of the foes had been defeated, the two captives confirmed that one of the cultists was Countess Maritayl, while the dead bodies belonged to Lord Rumlyn and his father. Lord Mondar arrived soon after, having heard the news from Lord Rumlyn's cook, and escorted his late friend's family back to Hargrave.
The next day they met with King Waldrann Azennar, who was grateful to them for stopping an infernal cult from summoning more devils. Unfortunately, from what the two survivors were able to recall, a second devil had also been summoned. While they didn't see it, being blindfolded at the time, they described hearing the beating of wings. The king told them that the annual King's Games were in two days; if the Royal Swords were unable to find the devil themselves, then afterwards he intended to lead the hunt himself and invited the adventurers to join him. He also promised front row seats at the Battle of Champions, for those not intending to participate in the tournament. Sylas spent the two days researching devils, though found a wide variety possessed of wings. The others, meanwhile, simply rested and waited for the games.
The King's Games
The King's Games were the annual celebration of Hargram's founding. As usual, they began with a royal tour throughout the city, followed by a full day of festivities and contests. The adventurers, still exulting in their victory at the Old Grinder, gleefully took part. Ilara won a strength and endurance contest known as the Merfolk Lumberjack, even beating one contestant who the crowd booed as a cheater on account of being an actual merfolk. The mood was dampened a bit late in the day when, during a cliff-diving competition, a halfling crashed into the rocks and died, but the tragedy was soon forgotten as the day concluded with the Battle of the Champions, a combat tournament in which each contestant wagered a magic item to their opponent. The grand prize ws a private audience with the king, but since the king himself competed and was skilled enough to emerge victorious nearly every year, it had become a popular joke among the populace about a "royal audience of one."
Ilara and Leon both elected to take part in the contest. Apart from the king, the other competitors were the paladin Gratus Ultio of the Knights of the Crown, the dwarven blacksmith Kagrian Ironsinew (who was using the tournament as an opportunity to show of his wares), a traveling monk named Vragi, a half-dragon sorcerer named Cay Tali Valberg, and a mysterious figure known as the Raven Knight. Isabelle caught Cay Tali cheating by surreptitiously accepting magical aid from the spectators, disqualifying her, while Kagrian was defeated by the king. Meanwhile, Ilara defeated Vragi and won his quarterstaff, and Leon defeated Gratus and won his sword.
The next fight, between the king and the Raven Knight, proved a surprisingly even match, with both fighters wielding their magical arms with great skill and neither yielding any ground. Finally, the Raven Knight stabbed the king in the leg, causing him to fall. With his opponent's blade at his throat, the king raised his hands in surrender. Praising his opponent's skills, he urged her to remove her helmet and receive the cheers of the crowd. Releasing a catch on her armor, a pair of black feathered wings unfurled from beneath her cape as she removed her helmet to reveal the face of Queen Elyssa, the king's late wife. She denounced him as a kinslayer and a traitor, declaring that she would claim his punishment and they would meet again in Hell. Then she plunged her sword through his heart before vanishing in a vortex of fire. Though the clerics and paladins rushed to his aid, there was nothing they could do. King Waldrann Azennar was dead.
Funeral of the King
The king's funeral was held a week later, following a national period of mourning. Lord Mondar invited the adventurers to attend, given their recent deeds. The funeral procession moved into the royal mausoleum, past the statues and sarcophagi of Hargram's past rulers, until they arrived at the space that had long been prepared for King Waldrann, including a glorious stone statue. Flanking it where the statues and sarcophagi of his first wife, Queen Elyssa, and their son, Prince Krasnar. As the king's body was lowered into the sarcophagus, a mournful wail filled the air as the crypt doors slammed shut. A ghostly voice whispered, "Murderer! Your line will end here and your deeds will be avenged!" From the statue of Krasnar, holdings the prince's signature glaive, a spectral version of his weapon appeared and began lashing out at the assembled people. As the Knights of the Crown moved to protect Queen Lyrencia and Princess Aphinah, and the other guests attempted in vain to pry open the doors, the adventurers attempted to attack the spectral glaive but found their attacks ineffective. Eventually Leon hit upon the idea of attacking the iron glaive held by Krasnar's statue, and when he and Ilara managed to break it, the spectral weapon vanished and the doors opened once more.
Later that night, Lord Mondar met with the adventurers once more at his manor. Clerics had inspected every inch of the crypt and found nothing to explain what had happened; the king had subsequently been buried in a smaller ceremony attended only by his family. Lord Mondar was concerned, however, by the events. The Raven Knight was almost certainly the winged devil summoned by the cultists, which pointed to a greater conspiracy. He and his knights were also troubled by Aphinah's impending ascension to the throne; she was known to be cruel and sadistic, and some of the paladins had begun to debate whether their oath was to the crown, the monarch, or the kingdom. A rumor had even spread that Aphinah intended to disband their order. Above all, Mondar was worried that they just didn't know enough about what was going on. He asked the adventurers to help him uncover the truth beind the king's murder, promising a suitable reward afterwards. For now, though, he wished them to join him for the coronation the next day. He hoped the ceremony would be uneventful, but wanted them in the room just in case something happened.
The Midnight Curse
Cursed Coronation
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 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.
Tomb of the Constructor
The adventurers decided that their first task would be acquiring the Master Key. Tane explained that twenty years ago, an old adventuring companion of his, a master burglar named Davrillo Princarr, had appeared at the Lucky Leap and told him that he'd found the tomb of Master Arlen the Constructor, first Archmage of the kingdom, and intended to plunder it using the Master Key to get inside. Ricio declined, having just opened the tavern and pondering permanent retirement. Princarr never returned, and Tane suspected he had died in the attempt, but he still had the location his old friend had shared with him.
Following Princarr's directions, they traveled ten miles west of the city, finding that the choking rain and cursed lightning that now fell from the sky were found througout the kingdom. There, hidden by an illusory cliff face, they found a large chamber filled with broken golem pieces and containing a large door with a massively complicated locking mechanism on the front. Staring at the door was a young green dragon. After some discussion, it admitted that it had been unable to open the door, and struck a bargain: if they helped it open the door, it would get full access to all information within as well as half of whatever treasure they found. Upon agreeing, Sylas was able to decipher the process to open the gate.
Within the first chamber was a massive statue of Master Arlen in his youth, and several pedestals containing models of his various creations (with descriptive labels). These included the Arcane Tower, the Royal Palace, the king's Falcon Blade, and a multifunctional construction golem called a daedal wright. The first door they entered revealed a room full of broken golem pieces, but nothing of value. The second door opened to a flood of inscribed clay tablets; the room beyond was completely filled with them, floor to ceiling. At the far end of the chamber they found the skeleton of Master Arlen, slumped over his desk. Arlen's ghost floated nearby, dictating complex mathematical theorems to a deadal wright that was furiously writing down his words on a clay tablet. When both ghost and golem ignored them, they looked at the tablets to find them filled with dry, technical, and incredibly long-winded writings on history, medicine, magic theory, construction techniques, and more. His skeleton and what remained of its garments crumbled to dust practically at their touch, but they did find a piece of blue crystal fused into the forehead of his skull; the gem was also visible on the face of his ghost.
The final chamber was where they found the skeleton of Davrillo Princarr, a daedal wright standing over it. At the far end of the chamber of a massive iron stove, flanked on one side by a stack of clay tablets and on the other by clay and straw. In the center was a massive spiral staircase descending into the floor. Leon conjured a vine to try and drag Princarr's skeleton closer to them, but succeeded only in removing its leg. They instead stepped into the chamber, which caused the daedal wright to attack them as well. After destroying it, they found the Master Key on Princarr's remains. Lookking down the staircase, they saw that it was just countless walkways and shelves full of clay tablets going down more than two hundred feet. At the bottom they could see two broken golems, which appeared to have had their metal components chewed off. Deciding they had what they came for, they split what little treasure they'd found with the dragon and departed.
As the returned to the city, Isabelle inspected the crystal fragment she retrieved from Arlen's skeleton. Though whatever power it granted had long since faded, it store bore faint traces of magic. As they pondered what effects it might once had held, they decided that if they were going to travel together and save the kingdom, they would need a name for themselves, and settled upon the Third Eye.
Emporium of Marvelous Rarities
With the Master Key in hand, their next task was to get the cataclysmic artifact out of their Chest of Magic Nullification. Ricio told them that The only place they could safely do that was in a hidden cavern accessed via a teleportation circle in the Emporium of Magical Rarities... The same place the chest had been stolen from years earlier, by Ricio Tane's wife. Ricio told how years ago, a beautiful half-elven wizard named Avrathia Silverstar entered the Lucky Leap, and immediately stole his heart. They got married, and were involved in many questionable missions together, before they laid eyes on Master Bertio Ranberd's treasures at his Emporium of Marvelous Rarities, and decided to steal them. Master Ranberd took on a small number of apprentices, who also worked the shop. Avrathia posed as a student and was accepted; she hid her true skill, which was nearly equal to Ranberd's. For a year she studied and worked there, all the while uncovering and reverse-engineering the various protective systems of the vault. Her feigned quick and significant magical progress impressed Master Ranberd, allowing her to get closer to him and his secrets during a number of private lessons. And then, one day, she appeared at the Lucky Leap looking more terrified than Ricio had ever seen her. She thrust the chest at him, along with her notes on the Emporium's security, and explained that she had tried and failed to rob it alone. Not wanting to draw Master Ranberd's ire upon her husband, she kissed him goodbye and fled into the night with magical speed. Though Ricio searched for her, he never found her, and eventually came to believe that Master Ranberd killed her.
He shared his wife's maps and notes with the adventurers. The teleportation circle was in the emporium's inner vault. Both the inner and outer vault doors were keyed, and Ricio Tane had copies of those keys. However, there were four other locks on the vault doors. These locks could only be undone by pressing hidden switches throughout the rest of the building, and would only remain unlocked for ten minutes, so the whole thing would have to be done quickly. On top of that, every window, and the main door, and a number of interior doors, were set with alarm spells that would mentally alert both Master Bertio Ranberd and his apprentices/employees. Also, the main corridors and the stairwell were subject to a permanent warding spell and the entire building was under a permanent private sanctum effect. Fortunately, Avrathia's map showed which doors were alarmed and where the hidden switches were, but getting in and out undetected would still be a challenge. To aid them, he gave them a magical cologne of dispelling. He also warned them about what Avrathia said she had found in the cavern on the other side of the teleportation circle: an enormous crystal whose very presence assaulted her mind with crushing psychic force. She had also told them that Master Ranberd had been there, and was seemingly able to use magic despite the anti-magic field, which she attributed at the time to the green crystal embedded in his forehead.
Sylas's first plan was to strike up a conversation with the person manning the store, invite him out for drinks, and then cast Suggestion on him and get him to lead them to the switches and then the vault. The man was decidedly uninterested, however, especially once it became clear they did not intend to purchase anything, and then became suspicious and asked them to leave. Thus, the group moved on to their second plan: wait until nightfall, then break in and hope they could successfully dispel everything. After dispelling the alarm on the front door, they used the Master Key to unlock it, but encountered what seemed like an invisible metal grate. Casting dispel magic revealed an ordinary, now-visible metal grate. Thinking outside the box, Leon shapeshifted into a spider, crawled through the grate, turned back, and opened it from the inside.
Following the map, they went through the first door, into the lavatory, and triggered the first switch: a single tile on the wall that looked exactly like every other tile but could be pushed in. As they were told, there was no visual or auditory cue that they had triggered anything. The tile just pushed in, and then back out. With the first switch pressed, the ten-minute timer had started. After disarming the door into the main hallway, they successfully dispelled the warding effect on the corridor. The next switch was through the lecture hall, where they encountered an apprentice cleaning up. Sylas cast his Suggestion spell, but when the apprentice was unaffected Ilara elected to bash her over the head instead. After hiding the unconscious apprentice under a desk, Ililen used his own firbolg magic to disguise himself as her. They then passed into the alchemical lab in the next room, where an innocuous-looking valve could be turned to activate the second switch.
With both switches on the ground floor triggered, they hurried upstairs. Ililen took the lead and entered the library, only to find Master Bertio Ranberd was sitting in a chair, reading. He looked up and said, "Ah, Enixea, what of the intruders?" Unfortunately, Ililen realized that while he looked like Enixea, he didn't sound like Enixea, and when he spoke Ranberd immediately realized what had happened. Ranberd started to call him out on the deception, so Ililen rushed him with his quarterstaff, but the wizard simply teleported away. Realizing they'd been made, they quickly triggered the next switch by setting the hands on a painted clocktower in the library and hurried on. They dispelled the alarm on the next door, and opened it to find Master Ranberd's bedroom. Ililen stepped in, and set off a magical glyph that he hadn't seen, placing him under Ranberd's magical telepathic control. The master wizard asked what Ililen was doing in the Emporium, so Ililen explained that they needed to use the teleportation circle in the basement to safely deposit a dangerous artifact in the vault. When Ranberd asked how the monk even knew about the teleportation circle in the first place, Ililen related the entire story given by Ricio Tane. Ranberd thanked Ililen for the information and told the monk to walk out to the balcony.
Meanwhile, Ililien's companions watched him into the room, suddenly go still, and then start walking towards the balcony door, which they knew to be alarmed. Ilara grabbed him and held on until the dominating magic wore off, while Sylas dispelled, unlocked, and opened the secret door leading to a hidden room with the final switch. Inside that hidden room they found a table with vials of blood and preserved female body parts. And, sitting in a chair at the far end, a woman in a red and yellow dress with a patchwork face. She looked up, expressed surprise at having visitors, and quite earnestly asked who they were and what they were doing. Sylas again attempted a Suggestion spell, and when it failed she frowned and asked what spell he tried to cast, as it must be one she didn't know. Since she seemed friendly, Leon told her, and then asked who she was. She said her name was Avra, and that Master Ranberd had created her, but reminded Sylas that she asked first and he hadn't answered. Sylas apologized and introduced himself and his friends, explaining that they had to dispose of a dangerous magic item. She accepted this answer, and they asked if she could come with them; she'd never been outside Master Ranberd's room before, and was curious to see what else there was. After rotating the wall sconce to trigger the final lock, they rushed downstairs with Avra, who kept gazing in wonder at everything they passed along the way.
Below the Emporium, at the vault's antechamber, they were confronted by another apprentice and an animated suit of armor with a finely-crafted greatsword. Unfortunately, Ililen triggered a second unseen warding glyph and found himself trapped in a magical sphere of force. Isabelle immediately dispelled it but the apprentice, already on alert when he saw the warding magic vanish from the stairs, attacked along with the animated armor. Ililen quickly knocked him out with his staff, then joined Ilara in dispatching the armor; the barbarian took up its sword as Sylas opened the door to the outer vault. The vault was filled with books, potions, and scrolls, and while Sylas rushed to open the inner vault door Leon tried to snag some. When he found they were held in place by magic, he regrettably left them behind, knowing they had little time. The inner vault was filled with much more valuable magic items, but suspecting they were likewise held firm they hurried past them and into the teleportation circle.
The Third Eye appeared in a cavern containing several large iron chests and a very large green crystal formation. Standing in front of the crystals was Master Bertio Ranberd, who looked at them, almost curiously, before Isabelle and Sylas immediately grabbed their heads, screamed, and collapsed. As Ilara grabbed their bodies and dove back through the teleportation circle with Avra, Leon quickly opened the Chest of Magic Nullifcation, removed the demonic idol, and hurled it into the cave. Ililen meanwhile, throw a dart at Master Ranberd. The wizard easily dodged it, and then transformed into a massive feathered serpent shortly before Ililen and Leon, too, were dropped by the crystal's mind-crushing aura. While Avra began to freak out over what she had seen in the cave, and how terrible it had felt in her mind, and what Master Ranberd was even doing in such, a place, Ilara downed a healing potion and then charged back in to retrieve Ililen and Leon. Reviving her companions with enchanted berries provided by Leon for emergencies, they managed to calm Avra down enough to flee, escaping down the street and disappearing around the corner just as they heard the city watch arriving from the other direction. When told about Ranberd turning into a feathered serpent, Isabelle recognized it as a couatl, a magical creature often found guarding powerful magic items.
Victorious, but thoroughly spent from their harrowing ordeal with the crystal, they staggered back into the Lucky Leap. Ricio began welcoming back, but stopped when he saw Avra, his eyes widening as one word escaped his lips: "Avrathia?" Avra replied, somewhat cheerfully, that Avrathia was who Master Ranberd created her to look like. As Ricio began to freak out a bit himself, the adventurers decided to go to sleep and let him deal with this himself. Avrathia told Ricio what Ranberd had told her: that the wizard had caught up with Avrathia only a few days after she fled into the night, whereupon he promptly disintegrated her. However, he soon began to feel guilty about it, having fallen in love with the woman he felt had been his intellectual equal. And so he created a flesh golem in her image, named her Avra, and eventually began teaching her magic. Periodically he would bring new parts to "improve" her, though she was unaware of where he obtained them. Having never known anything else she believed Ranberd to be a kind man who cared for her, but after what she had seen and heard that night, she was beginning to have doubts. Though she was not truly his wife, Ricio still invited her to stay at the Lucky Leap, an offer she accepted.
Hunt for the Royal Architect
With the Master Key acquired, and the Chest of Magic Nullification emptied, all that remained was to find the Royal Architect, Nandor Tyk, to learn the location of the hidden tunnel into the palace. They first went to Nandor's apartment and knocked on the door. There was no answer, but an old lady down the hall cracked her door and peeked out. When they asked if she knew Nandor, she said no and slammed the door. Ilara bust down Nandor's door to find his apartment empty. Nothing appeared amiss, but Sylas found a smudge of poop on the floor, like it had been tracked in on a boot. Ililen identified it as being from a large reptilian herbivore, and Isabelle knew that there was only one place in the city that might possibly have such a creature: the Royal Menagerie, which had a pair of triceratops. On their way out they knocked on the old lady's door, but she told them to go away or she would call the guards. When she tried to close the door Sylas stuck his foot in to keep it open, and she made good on her threat and became screaming and yelling for the guards; the group beat a hasty exit and made for the Royal Menagerie.
While normally open to the public, the menagerie was now closed and the gates were chained. While walking there, the group noticed that throughout the city there were more weeds than usual, in places where they should have been removed before getting so big; many of the weeds also looked unnatural and dangerous. Additionally, a great deal of moss and lichen had appeared in the almost perpetual rain. They unlocked the gates of the Royal Menagerie with the Master Key, and noted that there was a lot more algae in the fountain than just a few days of neglect would account for. Then they unlocked the gift shop, where Ilara took a stuffed griffon and left 6 silver on the counter (Leon swiped the money when no one was looking).
At the center of the menagerie was a small lake, with a sign stating it was home to a number of crocodiles, including a big one called Old Gnarly. Looking into the lake, which was starting to overflow from all the rain, they saw it was filled with the mangled bodies of crocodiles and at least one keeper. Sylas spotted the big one swimming under the surface. As they looped around to the triceratops pen, they saw a wooden platform next to the stands; though they would normally be above the lake, they were now partly submerged in it. Attached to the platform was a wooden crane arm with a cage on the end, and a body inside. Trying to get to it, Ilara ended up stepping in not one but two bear traps. Iilen looked for more, and not finding any stepped up on the platform... At which point Old Gnarly burst out of the water, climbed up onto the stands, and said "Are you feed, or do you bring meat?" It was not mollified by Ilara saying "We have mead!"
After killing Old Gnarly, they looked around for more traps. Behind the stands was a dead triceratops, clearly killed by the giant crocodile. Its horns were oddly spiraled, like a unicorn's. They could see the other triceratops, also with spiraled horns, looking at them through a giant hole in the fence around its pen. Since there was another trap in front of the hole, Ilara picked up a stick and safely set it off from a distance. And then the other triceratops teleported across to attack her as thorns burst out of the ground under their feet and a keeper leapt out of the bushes, telling them not to struggle because Old Gnarly liked his meat intact. Ilara knocked the triceratops unconscious, and Ililen did the same to the keeper before tying him up. After they woke him up, he panicked because if he didn't feed Old Gnarly, the crocodile would eat his father. After showing him that Old Gnarly was dead, and rescuing his father from the cage, the keeper had an emotional breakdown at everything he had endured. His father explained that he was the head caretaker of the menagerie, and that after the storm started the animals got... Strange. They started acting smarter, and meaner. And then Old Gnarly started talking. It kept him alive only because he had fed it good cuts of meat, but was also using him as a hostage to get his son to feed it more meat. The group offered to let the keepers escape to safety at the Lucky Leap, but they insisted on staying and caring for the remaining animals as best they could.
Nearby was a set of two cages with iron bars. One was filled with a variety of objects, including a barrel, a trough, a chest, and an armchair, but no animals. The bars in one corner had corroded away, and it was partially flooded by the overflowing lake. The cage next to it had an inner layer of wooden bars a few feet from the iron ones, and a sign inviting visitors to see "the iron eaters of the Thundering Mountains." On the far side of the cage they could see a dead body wearing underarmor padding, but no armor over it. Ililen walked over to check out the body and saw an enormous rust monster eating the remnants of its armor. It then immediately turned toward and made a beeline for him and his adamantine staff, along with the smaller one behind it. Leon conjured vines to entangle them and kill them from a distance, but Ilara noticed when she shot the big one with a crossbow bolt, it ate the bolt head to heal its wounds, an unusual trait for a rust monster. With the creatures slain, they identified the corpses as members of the Royal Swords and one of the queen's witchservant cultists. Ililen and Sylas checked in the other cage, and the trough opened its mouth and spat adhesive goo at them; they dodged, then killed it, and found the half-eaten body of a keeper clutching a potion labeled "Invisibility - For Emergency Use Only."
Both cages were attached to a small building with sliding metal doors; Ilara opened one, surprised a cultist inside who had barricaded the exterior door, and killed him. Inside was a cage full of rabbits, trays of rotting vegetables and meat, and a crate of iron ingots: food for the various animals of the menagerie. The other cage attached to the feeding shed, which did not have its bars partially rusted away, contained a dirty and very hungry owlbear; Leon threw it a rabbit, which it snapped up immediately.
The next three enclosures were a set of identical rocky bowls surrounded by iron bars. The first had a sign pronouncing it held gricks. Some of the bars were dissolved by acid, and next to a dead grick. The second had a sign that said, "Beware Deathsting! The tail that stings, the claws that catch!" Some of its bars were also dissolved by acid. The third visibly held a pair of griffons. The bars on its enclosure were much higher, supporting a net over the top, and had not yet been dissolved. Looking back into Deathsting's enclosure, they saw a number of canvas bags scattered about in one corner, and when Sylas looked closer he spotted a hatch in the ground designed to blend in with the rock. In fact, having spotted it, he now saw that all three enclosures had such a hatch. That's when Deathsting, a giant scorpion with acid dripping from its jaws, appeared from the bushes and stung Sylas, nearly killing him with its venom before Ilara and Ililen killed it. Ilara, still enraged and having only hit a single thing, jumped down into the grick enclosure to fight them as well.
Once the gricks were dead they entered the trap door, which led to the feeding chambers. They had been taken over by the Uncanny Vagabonds, a traveling band of entertainers and outlaws.After explaining that they were looking for a way to get rid of the queen, the Vagabonds' elder, Taris, admitted that Nandor was his cousin, and was staying with them. He was even willing to let them speak with the architect for only a hundred gold, a price which included everyone involved promising not to tell anyone else about each other. Nandor, who had holed up with the Vagabonds as soon as the trouble started, was happy to furnish them with the location of the hidden tunnel, as well as a map of the palace itself. He told them about an abandoned royal villa, used occasionally when the monarch needed to meet someone in secret, or who they didn't want to allow in the palace. In the wine cellar, one of the large kegs was actually a secret door leading to a staircase down into a hidden tunnel, which connected directly to the royal quarters in the palace. The tunnel contained a gate, however, that featured the most complicated locking mechanism Nandor had ever seen. It wasn't just a physical gate, either; it also included an invisible wall of force. The late king had the key, but Nandor didn't know who held it now and and couldn't promise the queen was unaware of the tunnel, or that it would be unguarded. Still, he conceded it was a better option than the front door.