After leaving Claudius' mansion, the party encountered an unexpectedly familiar face on their way out of the trade district. At the head of a caravan of Astrazalian royal guards was none other than Lorale Evenstar, Morrah's Aunt, and a former ally of the party during their efforts to free Sehanine in the Vally of Fallen Stars.
Lorale was surprised to see Morrah, and though she did not recognize any of her companions other than Zayola, she treated all of them warmly, thinking that any company her niece and former companion kept must be worthy of such praise.
Lorale insisted on speaking with Morrah in private though, and so the two made for one of the small officer's tents that were being erected by her entourage. When Morrah asked what all the commotion was about Lorale explained that all of their efforts were in preparation for the The Lady of Spring, Shandria Duskmantle, to make a public appearance and congratulate those who took part in the city's defense. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about," Lorale said in a hushed whisper, and she motioned Morrah beyond the flap of the tent.
" You are not safe here Morrah Moonshadow," she continued pulling up a seat behind the table. "There is something you need to know about the Lady of Spring."
"Lady Shandria is not as she appears to be. She claims that name to be sure, the name of a supposed distant relative of a major noble house, and she wears the mantle of Stewart not Queen, but she is in fact Velayn Morningstar, my older sister, and your aunt."
"Somehow Velayn escaped her confinement in the same structure that held me in captivity, and reclaimed the throne of Astrazlian under an assumed name." I haven't worked out all of the intricacies yet but it is clear to me that you are an obvious threat to her power in the city, even more so now that the North Star, your mother, is rumored to have made a return to the Feywilds."
Lorale then went on to confirm the party's suspicion that the shooting star that had so caught the eye of the Prince of Frost was very likely, Sherea of the North Star, Morrah's mother. "Don't you see, Morrah, any potential claim that you may have had to the throne before now would have been slim given your mixed heritage, but your mother has an undisputed claim to the throne in the absence of my mother, and that potentially makes you a valuable asset to Velayn."
"You have to get out of the city, every moment you spend here is a risk." Unsure of what to say, Morrah eventually nodded her agreement and asked if Lorale could help her and her friends do just that.
Lorale conceded the point and allowed the others to join them in the tent to discuss their next moves. She laid out a map of the region where she had seen the shooting star land and gave her best approximation of its final destination, which was considerably more detailed than anything the party had gleaned.
She described the area where she saw the shooting star go down, a swampy corner of the Faywilds on the far side of the southern portion of the Great Summer Forest.
The positioning of the site of the star was, in truth, more ideal for them than it was for the Prince of Frost, as it would require the Prince to go around the Forest, still a firm stronghold of the Summer Court, whereas the party could cut through it or detour further to the West using the rivers. The Western route would take them down the Cindarine and then through the Blastedlands near the town of Harrowheim.
As it stands the Prince would lose time taking the much longer overland route through the Thundering Gap and this could potentially allow the party to make up for the time they had lost in the city after his departure.
While it was still unclear which route they would take, the first step was obvious, they would need a ship, and a fast one at that.
And so it was decided, and the party left the royal camp and Lorale behind, bound for their home on the far side of the city before making for the Floating Markets and the few remaining sea-worthy vessels in all of the city.
The day it took the group to cross the upper ring was uneventful enough, though they were careful to keep Morrah disguised after their recent revelation with Lorale. Eventually, they all arrived at Baravan Manor just as dusk was falling on the city.
They were met with a rather rude reception though, as upon trying to open the the main gates with the key they had, they found that it did not seem to fit the lock anymore. Someone had changed them!
It only took a moment before Zayola was banging on the gate wildly, eager to get off her feet after a day of walking, and more irritated than perturbed, as the rest were.
It wasn't long before a sliding metal slit in the door, which definitely wasn't there when they last left, came open and a set of shrewd eyes and a long pointy nose poked through the opening. "Can I help you? It is long past visiting hours I will have you know. What is the meaning of this intrusion?" The companions couldn't even begin to fathom the audacity of such a statement, clearly coming from someone who had just occupied their home, and they couldn't help but wonder, on whose authority.
After several grueling minutes of back and forth, the apparent new tenant finally gave them the answer they were looking for. It was Claudius, that bastard, he had apparently issued them a forgery when he gave them the "official" copy of the deed a few months earlier. In that encounter, in exchange for the original document, he had issued them a deed of ownership under his own pen, and it just now dawned on them that this left all of the leverage in his hands. It then became clear that the whiley aristocrat was both judge and jury in the city's bureaucracy, and that no amount of appeal would change the verdict.
Utterly played and dejected, the party turned to the streets as there were no inns in this part of the city, but as it turned out, they wouldn't be stranded for long. It had occurred to them that the rude doorman had made no mention of any particularly noteworthy inhabitants being present upon their eviction, only noting an elf and human that had apparently greeted the new uninvited guest. There was notably no mention of any drow or a drider for that matter, and it was soon revealed to them why.
Morrah caught a whisper from down a side ally a few minutes after they had left the manor grounds, and they were greeted by Nina, who had been lying in wait for their arrival.
"Am I ever glad to see you lot, I wasn't sure what to do next. Follow me, I'll explain everything on the way." Nina then led them down a couple more alleyways until they came across a stone manhole cover that was left slightly ajar. The group descended one at a time until all were safely obscured in the dank place and on their way further into the subterranean network.
As they walked, Nina explained that the Drow had discovered a secret hatch in one of the storage structures on the manor's grounds and the group had scouted it out and planned to use it as an escape route just in case an event such as this were to happen. It turns out the hatch opened up into an ancient basement level of the structure that connected to the city's sewer system, and, while not particularly comfortable, it was at least sufficient for their needs.
All of the Drow were there and greeted the party with much gratitude, and surprisingly high spirits. Apparently, the confined spaces were not at all discomforting to them. Nim even seemed to have gained some control over her sensibilities, though she had still not resumed her speech.
Ula, the serving girl who had evacuated with Yeshana and Korrhuc, was helping a lot with Nim's recovery. Despite their different backgrounds and Nim's monstrous form, there was something about her that seemed to resonate with Ula. Like they were kindred spirits of some kind, and by all accounts, Nim had improved drastically after Ula had arrived. The two were the same age, both teenagers now, and at first glance, you might even say that they seemed to be friends, in their own unusual way.
Fivin seemed relieved by Nim’s recent developments in particular. Being understandably distressed by the state of their affairs up to that point, his spirit seemed to be somewhat lifted when he watched Ula and Nim playing a game that they had devised earlier that day to pass the time. It even seemed as if a smile might cross his haggard features before he abruptly turned to address the newcomers. “Good to see you all again.” He said fervently. “It has been one thing after the next lately, but we are all still together at least.” “What news do you bring of our current predicament?”
The others gathered as well from the various corners of the chamber to hear the details of what had transpired above. Morrah led the discussion with a summary of the events that had led Claudius to double-cross them and laid out the conditions for reclaiming ownership of the estate. This was the new unspoken goal of all that were present. “The key is that original document I think” Morrah concluded. “I believe that if we possess that, we may be able to appeal to a higher authority than Claudius and that by itself would probably be enough to put the issue to rest.” “I’ll put his ugly face to rest!” Zayola barked in response, and her tone more than backed up her statement.
“If we’re lucky we won't have to.” Nina offered, and she put a hand on Zayola’s shoulder. “I have the beginnings of a plan that I think can get us what we need with minimum repercussions,” She continued, “and if we’re lucky, we may even be able to make off with a few of his treasured artifacts as well.”
Nina proceeded to fill in the gathering on what she had in mind, and those around the circle began to grin and nod eagerly as she detailed the plans for the daring heist.
First, they would need solid reconnaissance, and this would be a task for Silva and a certain condor that was now comically perched atop the priest’s shoulder. Silva would instruct Claw to circle the complex from above while she kept a line of communication open with the bird telepathically, what was even better is that the Elravine Condors were a common site around the Upper Markets, as Claudius’s family linage happened the namesake of the bird and his kin. There were plenty of the creatures roosting and flying about the palace, and Claw would blend in seamlessly. In this way, they were confident that they could avoid suspicion while also keeping a keen eye on the complex from above.
With solid information provided by the old bird, they could proceed with the second phase of the plan, infiltration. For this phase, Nina would lead a team of their most dexterous and nimble party members to scale the outer wall of the complex and try and find a hole in its no-doubt formidable defenses. Accompanying her on this phase would be Morrah, Zayola, and surprisingly, Ulvara. The dark elf infiltrator had been silent up until that point, but upon hearing Nina’s plan she insisted on being part of the infiltrator group, having quite a bit of experience in similar operations from her time with the guild.
That just left two, Toni and Azar. The mild-mannered half-elf seemed content to sit this one out, recognizing that his skillset was less than relevant to the circumstances, but Toni on the other hand was never one to pass up an opportunity for excitement. It quickly became obvious that he planned to participate wholeheartedly. This was a problem for Nina who hadn't even considered that we would want to take part. It seemed obvious to her that this was a mission for discretion and no place for a living candle without a subtle bone in his body. To the seasoned spy’s dismay though, Toni would not take no for an answer and insisted that there must be some role for him to play.
“What if I played to my strengths?” The Fire Ginasi suggested. “ If I am so incapable of subtlety,” he said sarcastically, “why don’t I provide a distraction to take some of the attention off of the rest of you.” Nina did not particularly like this idea, as it seemed more likely to her that this would tip off the palace guards that there was something bigger going on regardless of where this particular distraction took place, but she eventually came around when it was pointed out that it was possible that Claudius was expecting something anyway since he had so brazenly challenged them and knew them to be a brash collection of characters already. A sentiment that was undeniably supported by Zayola’s expression throughout all of their discussions up to this point. As set on revenge as she had been on anything in her life, the riled-up fighter paced back and forth relentlessly just outside of their circle, clearly thinking that the finer details were unnecessary and that they could figure out the rest along the way.
Defeated, Nina sighed and relented to Toni’s distraction Idea, but only under the condition that it take place adjacent to the palace rather than on the grounds themselves. The city baths were suggested, and Toni accepted the conditions, content that he could work with that.
And so they all put up for the night and prepared for the long march back to the district they had been only the day before, both irritated by the sudden turn of events and eager to set them straight.
The party arrived in the financial district in the early evening hours of the following day and set out to work immediately. With a bit of daylight left to burn, the infiltration team decided to scout around the perimeter of the complex with the crowds of the evening markets to cover their movements. They found a promising gap between two guard towers on the opposite side of the palace’s main entrance before heading back to where they had started their patrol.
Meeting up with Silva and Toni at the designated rendezvous point, they confirmed their plan after Silva filled them in on Claw's intel gathering from above. There were two windows on this particular section of the building, one grand lower window that seemed to open up to some sort of opulent parlor on the other side, and a much smaller secondary window that opened up to another room further up the wall. The smaller window would be the primary objective, but if it proved too difficult to reach they could always risk the more obvious entry through the grand opening.
With their plan decided, the infiltrator group broke off to make their approach while Toni made for the baths. Not needing to stay in any particular place to remain in communication with Claw, Silva opted to go with Toni as well, thinking to perhaps rein in any of his more destructive tendencies. Nina, supported this course of action wholeheartedly, quietly praying to herself that Toni didn’t somehow find a way to screw everything up.
Toni and Silva entered the baths before the infiltrator team was fully in position, and Silva urged caution, while Toni made his way into one of the back rooms of the many private chambers that spurred off the main bath. It was surprisingly easy for them to get into the inner workings of the facility, with hardly any security at all present. As Silva rounded the corner and followed Toni behind a shrouding cloth that covered a narrow opening she actively urged Toni to bid time before doing anything rash. As she lifted the curtain though, she could clearly see the genasi wrenching shut valve after valve on what appeared to be a huge central boiler that seemed to serve the entire wing of the bathhouse. The speed at which he worked was honestly mesmerizing, with the creature of chaos seemingly having an implicit sense of whatever would be most disruptive to the delicate machinery in front of them. Within a matter of moments, he had the boiler just about critical with built-up pressure. Just as Silva was about to say something else, her mouth agape, Toni casually directed her out of the room the way they had come as he lazily flung the final, literal, and proverbial wrench, over his shoulder vaguely in the direction of the machine.
Just as the two rounded the corner and let the cloth fall over the portal behind them, a tremendous wiring noise began to build as a series of pops and hisses followed. The shriek of the boiler continued to grow, generating ever more hot steam until the corridor they were in began to fill with hot gas. Moments later it all escaped in a rush into the open-air courtyard in the center of the complex, billowing perpetually from all of its surrounding private rooms. Bathgoers began running around in confusion, with shouts building into occasional screams as people collided in the dense fog and everyone hurried to escape the building heat.
Satisfied, Toni led Silva to the huge public porch in front of the building where everyone else had begun to gather to observe his handiwork inconspicuously. To his disappointment, the effects of the distraction, while drawing some attention from the neighboring palace guards within view, did not seem to be spurring a greater response. He had to go bigger Toni decided, and he turned back to the baths to see what else he could break.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the complex, the infiltrators were arriving at the base of the wall they would need to scale, and after a quick incantation from Morrah, they were up the wall, scaling its height with staggering efficiency. Zayola led the charge, as she could be surprisingly quiet when she wanted to be while still exhibiting the unrivaled strength that the lead belayer requires. In no time at all they had reached the large window and Zayola was examining it, clearly skeptical of the validity of this entry point. The others were starting to show some fatigue, but Zayola seemed convinced that going for the smaller, more difficult entry point was worth the risk. She continued scaling forward with the others in tow and with only a slight mishap costing them a bit of time they were able to make it to the upper window at the higher level.
It was good too, as this particular window did not seem to be overly secured to prevent entry, with only a simple wire latch holding it shut. Zayola immediately popped it open and had everyone into the room in short order. They were reassured that they had picked the better of the two options, as this room was empty and also appeared to let out onto the main procession hall at the heart of the complex. This looked to be an ideal jumping-off point to reach any of the other parts of the complex, but just as they peaked through the doorway they were met with the next, rather unexpected, development.
A thunderous boom suddenly rang out from the foundations of the building below them before everything suddenly settled once more. The explosion was so powerful, that Nina thought she saw some of the nearby stones in the wall jolt upward before abruptly settling it back into place. Toni had gotten his distraction apparently, and all element of surprise was now lost.
To their luck though, this had seemed to work in their favor, as the explosion was so abrupt and profound that it seemed as though the very integrity of the structure was now in question. Nervous bureaucrats began to spill out of the various nooks and crannies of the complex and evacuate in a feverous hurry. The guards didn’t seem too keen on sticking around either with all in sight heading for the exit with little head for anything but their own safety. Nina looked on in anticipation all the while. That was when she saw him, being led out of a doorway on the opposite side of the atrium, Claudius himself being escorted away by a couple of nervous-looking guards. He seemed hesitant to leave, but a tremor that followed a few seconds later as the structure began to settle back into place, convinced the tyrant that it was time to go.
No sooner had the hall been vacated, did the small team of burglars rush from behind the closed door. They hurried across the great hall, taking in it's immaculate grandeur only as an afterthought, and rushed up to the formidable doorway. The portal was securely shut behind a great, solid stone door with iron banding to secure its form even under great duress. Zayolla was werry of the door, as in her experience, such portals were usually heavily trapped to prevent unwanted entry. She saw many of the telltale signs of such countermeasures even at a glance, but what was even more concerning to her was the possible presence of magical deterrence. She had been injured quite badly by a frost trap some year earlier in her days living on the streets of Memnon, and she was not eager to repeat that mistake. Luckily for Zayola, Morrah had just enough magical capability to cast a rudimentary spell to sense the presence of other magical effects and exhausted the rest of her limited reserves performing that spell before they proceeded. As she completed the incantation, her eyes widened in horror as a dozen or more magical glyphs appeared before her eyes. The overwhelmed ranger staggered backward with the realization and urgently ushered the others away from the door.
After some brief deliberation and another unsettling tremor in the structure, they finally elected to prod the magical barrier from a safe distance at the other end of the room. A little skeptical of Morrah's seemingly over-cautious precautions, the rest of the retinue was eventually convinced to take cover behind the great stone pillars that supported the ceiling at the opposite end of the great hall. Morrah then gingerly peaked out from behind the cover of one such pillar to let loose an arrow from nearly a hundred feet away.
The skepticism of the others was dismissed in the next instant as an explosion seemingly as powerful as the one they had heard minutes before rocked the structure a second time and the heat of many advanced fire spells all released their energy at once. The party was left clinking tightly to their substantial, but now seemingly insuficent cover. Gradually the heat dissipated and they peaked out from behind their respective pillars. They knew that Claudius was a precautionary individual, but the display before them called into question the wisdom of such apparent paranoia. It seemed as though, to eradicate any would-be burglars, the aristocrat had commissioned such an excessive countermeasure that it had rendered all of the more conventional precautions pointless. There was no need to be concerned with physical traps now, or even a door for that matter. What stood before them was a smoldering hole in the opposite wall of the great chamber and it invited them in warmly, scorchingly even.
What lay beyond was a study every bit as opulent and excessive as they expected from a figure such as Claudius, with an expansive entry that accommodated several rows of parallelly spaced clear crystal display cases, each protecting its own object of interest. These were clearly the famed relics that Nina had spoken of during their briefing, and indeed it was a popular rumor among the thieves of the city that Claudius's hoard was one of vast untapped potential. For Nina's part, even her eyes seemed to salivate at the sight, and the others smirked from behind as the young rouge took an impromptu tour of the room's finery like a small child let loose in a chocolate shop.
While Nina ogled the merchandise, Ulvara got to work at what she did best, combing over the great wooden desk at the head of the room and sifting through the countless sheets of loosely strewn paper scattered on its surface. The desk was situated in front of a window of similar grandeur and opulence to the one they had passed over on their way up the south wall to their smaller, less conspicuous, point of entry. It was a good thing too, as Morrah, with eyes still tuned to the arcane spectrum, sensed many magical glyphs similar to the ones on the door at the head of the room placed on the opposite surface of the glass. She slapped Zayola's hand away as it drifted towards it a moment later.
True to her reputation it only took Ulvara a few minutes to locate what they had come for and she smugly presented the deed to Morrah and Zayola much as they remembered it those weeks earlier. The sole difference being a peculiar marking present on the lower corner of the deed. It was Claudius's on personal seal, but notably the same one they had seen on the piece of paper they had been issued themselves in its place. Dismayed the party entered a collective slump, but it did not last long. Undeterred by the development, Ulvara continued her investigation of the desk and quickly uncovered a secret compartment on the underside of its surface. With I little bit of deft finger-work by Zayola, the hatch popped open, and out fell a peculiar seal and vial of ink. Morrah put the finishing touch on the mystery by once again sniffing out that the items were indeed magical although the nature of their enchantment she could not tell.
They stashed everything away for the time being and turned their attention to Nina, who was carefully examining one of the crystal cases, able to staunch her fervent enthusiasm for treasure in light of the very real possibility of traps. Zayola confirmed her suspicions a moment later and dismantled the triggering mechanism for that case and several others in short order. They had managed to scoop up several artifacts, a guided animal horn with a golden mouthpiece, a long thin rod made of some peculiar kind of metal, and a canon of all things, before their luck finally ran out. They were collectively arguing over the fate of the cannon in particular when a commotion rolled in from the main entrance and the two side doors at either end of the great window.
Two dozen palace guards all shuffled in at once with a perturbed and disheveled Claudius bringing up the rear. "You've got a lot of nerve blowing up my home not once but twice! And all in the span of fifteen minutes." the exacerbated yet still smug aristocrat managed to gasp out between heaving breaths. "Sorry to drop in unannounced," Nina replied, "but you have to admit that this is the most excitement this stuffy place has seen in the last hundred years," she said, almost too gleefully. The others grinned at the sight of their generally uptight and by-the-book spymaster, finally letting loose for a change. Although it didn't seem like it was going to be much of a consolation given their current predicament.
"You may think yourself clever, little girl, but I will have justice despite your little quips. Now shall you come quietly or will I have to have the vultures dispose of your corpses?" The suddenly sinister man propositioned ".So? Which shall it be?" There was a pause, while Nina considered her response suddenly seeming very out of her depth, but it was Zayola who would make the next move. "Nah, I choose boat."
Nina thought to turn around and question the perplexing response, but she never got the chance, being suddenly forced to the ground along with Ulvara. This was Morrah doing though, as it seemed that the ranger was the only other person in the room who caught Zayola's meaning. A moment later after a few lightly muttered command words, a full-sized sailing vessel suddenly filled the room from end to end sending soldiers flying backward to careen into walls, crystal cases, and furniture all simultaneously. The hall was suddenly enraptured in a cacophony of small explosions and shattering glass as the various traps of the remaining display case suddenly went off all at once and the room was sent into a general spectacle of disarray and mayhem.
Meanwhile, on the ground below, Silva was still trying to wrap her head around exactly what had just happened. She had heard the first explosion, the whole upper ring lightly heard it for Silvanus' sake, and she was still waiting for Toni to emerge from the dark hole he had found in the basement of the bathhouse when the second explosion rang out and she could see smoke start to waft out of the upper windows of the structure. Toni emerged a moment later blacked and covered in soot, but with a huge grin on his face. Silva exclaimed with utter bewilderment, "What did you do!?" Toni, still quite pleased with himself innocently replied, "That one wasn't me." referring to the second explosion, of course, the first certainly was his doing.
Beyond words at this point, Silva whirled around and tried to focus on her connection with Claw in the skies above. Moments later she had located the party behind the great upper window and frantically began to stammer through a plan, blurting out a series of squawking noises both verbal and telepathic to the condor. The frenzied onlookers all around them seemed to pay her no heed, too distracted at the spectacle playing out before them, and Toni simply plopped down on the steps next to her, satisfied in a job well done.
The next moments were those of legend, though none who witnessed them have ever retold them since. The careening soldiers and exploding cases were just the beginning, as moments after the boat had materialized those soldiers in the back rank were quickly closing the gap between themselves and the vessel, but the next instant would prove to thwart their efforts and everyone else's for a moment. In the instant after the boat had materialized it crashed through the huge window at the end of the room, and Claudius looked on in quiet horror as the scene unfolded before him. The bow crashed through the emasculate panels of stained glass and the first of many spells that lined the outside of its surface went off triggering all the others in quick succession. The entire wall erupted into a third and final crescendo and the blast lurched the boat upward several feet. It did not, however, prevent the blast wave from filling the rest of the space, and all that were not initially thrown to the ground certainly were now, as the boat, now clearly recognizable as a fully armed and sea-worthy longship, settled onto the floor of the room. A moment or two passed in speechless silence, then Claudius's voice suddenly rang out. "What are you waiting for!? Kill them!"
To the small group's credit, they did well to hold off their assailants at the battlements of the vessel, like true sailors holding the line against a boarding group of foes, but the fight was too uneven, and before long they had been pressed into a tight desperate formation at the figurehead of the boat. Sure that this was her end, Zayola was posturing for the ending she had always wanted, a glorious blaze that would perhaps buy her companions a few more moments when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She grunted under her breath, "Not today, it seems."
Then whirling around, the tiefling picked up a surprised Morrah and flung her like a wildly confused javelin clean out of the exit they had made. Nina and Ulvara looked at her in shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened, until Zayola finally blurted, "Just trust me!" This was moments before she uttered the same command word as before under her breath, thus dropping the three of them, and half a dozen guards several feet to the floor below. Zayola then used that moment of uncertainty to deftly scoop up the small wooden box that had materialized out of thin air in the boat's place, and dash for the two women now sprawled on the floor at the base of the window.
The remaining guards who were not flat on their faces just watched in amazement as the burly fighter scooped up her remaining two companions, one under each arm, and jumped through the window herself.
If they had had the foresight to follow through on the seemingly suicidal act they may have learned the truth, but Claudius and the guards were hardly in any state to pursue their suicidal foe further, so the true fate of those fateful burglars was not known for some time. For Silva's part, however, she was relieved at the incredible stamina of the Elravine Condors of the Upper Ring.
