After making their reports and tying up some odds&end, Roland and his companions set forth to find the next gem for the crown. This time Tess led them to the ruins of what was believed to have been an old Monastery, now crumbled to pieces as a large cliff separated the remains into upper and lower sections. A wide but shallow stream ran through the area, cascading over the cliff as a waterfall.
They immediately ran into a tribe of goblin bandits which had taken possession of the ruins. But goblins bandits weren’t *that* challenging at this point. Although the goblin shamans backing them up made the encounter somewhat more threatening.As the got closer to their objective a larger concern presented itself – as several Minotaurs had laid claim to the area around an old Manacalon Monastery – and that is precisely where Tessa’s crown was directing them to go.Tess had to work out an intricate series of moonlight-activated Stele’s to open the Mausoleum so they could enter.Inside they found an elf woman waking up from a slumber on a stone sarcophagus. After brief introductions they quickly learned that she was not even aware of the Cataclysm! She was a living pre-Cataclysm Manacalon Elf whose final memories were emergency meetings to understand the threat posed by the newly appearing “humans”! She even recognized Tessa’s crown! – though she knew little about it. She said she last remembered seeing it worn by an Elven Wizard she remembered being referred to with respect as “The Magister”. But her memories were so fragmented that she could not remember more.
She ordered them about as if they were peasant servants, and refused to believe anything they told her of the Manacalon Empire being long gone until they walked her outside and showed her. Even then she claimed she could still feel her “Master” calling to her and demanded they escort here there. Tess desperately wanted to ask her all manner of questions about Manacalon life and history, but the woman – Kythaela – was completely uninterested in speaking with her. It seemed she harbored the Manacalon sense of superiority over other races, distrust of humans, and a particularly strong dislike for Tess’s obvious half-breed nature. She did manage to tolerate speaking with Roland, and Tess was able to translate place names to determine that where she wanted to go was near the Dwarven village of Coparann. None of them were terribly pleased with her as a person at this point, but Tess indicated that the Crown was telling her this was their best lead.On the way to Coparann, Kythaela kept seeing places she thought she recognized, blurting out “this is the place!” and running in, forcing them to come in after her. Several times this led them into un-necessary ambushes as Orcs or the like had taken up residence in the ruins. Between her treatment of Tess and her obliviousness to danger Ket in particular was growing quite exasperated with her.Shortly before arriving in Coparann, they met a small merchant caravan. While talking to the lead merchant, several of the man’s own guards attacked! Once they were defeated he disavowed knowledge of why they would do such a thing, but claimed they had been acting “weird” lately. He also said they had come upon an injured scout from Coparann some days ago, but had been unable to heal his wounds – claw lacerations. He asked Roland to return the man’s belongings to the guard captain in Coparann.When they arrived in Coparann they did as they had been asked. The captain, Joris, questioned them carefully for a while, and then asked them to visit privately with the Ceannard – the administer of the town. He said that he had been taken aback by the delivery of the belongings… because the man to whom they belonged had returned to town several days ago!The Ceannard seemed a very astute men. He questioned them carefully, including Kythaela. They had elected to refer to her as “old elven nobility looking for family heirlooms in their ancestral holdings”. The Ceannard raised an eyebrow at this, but under his questioning she clearly knew enough about the area that was not common knowledge to satisfy him. She certainly had the “high elven noble disdain towards being questioned by a dwarf” down pat. He then asked them to snoop around in town and get their own takes on the situation. He wouldn’t tell them what they should be looking for, because he wanted an outsiders perspective.
So they each went about investigating in their own way:
After poking around, the learned that any guards who had been outside the city on patrol were being continually assigned to duties keeping them from spending time at home. The tavern was in financial difficulties due to so many fewer guards spending time there. Families were concerned for over-worked, absent loved ones. And the logbooks did not reflect any of this unusual activity…
The Ceannard then let them know that the Baron of Coparann – Baron Stonefist – had been behaving oddly for some weeks now. He hadn’t met with the Ceannard in that entire time, when they used to meet daily. He had taken to referring to Joris – a childhood friend – by his title and assigning him to menial duties he hadn’t served in years. He asked them to make their request to visit Kythaela’s Master’s estate directly to the Baron, and then return and tell him the Baron’s reaction.
The meeting with the Baron went… poorly. He had absolutely no interest in letting them explore the old Manacalon estates for any reason, and rudely dismissed them. Kythaela recognized the keep, and believed some of her old belongings would be hidden in the basement, but clearly did not mention this to the Baron.
When they reported this to the Ceannard, he responded that this cemented his suspicions. The Baron he knew would have been immediately angling for a percentage, and would have been wary of angering an elf noble of unknown political connections. He asked them to return to the Baron with a different approach – revealing their connection to the Legacy Council and claiming Kythaela was a direct representative of the elven New Empire.
This time the Baron was far more wary, and asked why they had not mentioned their connection to the Council earlier. They responded that in clandestine operations they did not reveal such detail unless required. As a show of faith, Kythaela offered to show him where old Manacalon secrets had been hidden in the basement of his own keep! He took an immediate interest, and insisted that he and his guards be shown these secrets right away.
But once in the basement, the Baron showed them entirely different… the real Baron imprisoned! Upon which the fake Baron and his guards immediately attacked, closely followed by Soraks appearing out of the dark!.
Once the Baron, his cronies, and the Soraks had been defeated, they released the Baron – who quickly returned to the upper keep with Joris. Meanwhile Kythaela showed them a secret passage to a Major Gate – which with the proper codewords could teleport groups to any other location with a Major Gate. She also retrieved what she said were her own personal belongings from a hidden compartment, including her spellbook! She said she could now be far more helpful in combat.
They returned upstairs to find the Baron and the Ceannard in deep discussion. They thanked them profusely, and said in light of the obvious proof of the Soraks’ return and capabilities, they had decided Coparann would join the Legacy Council! They would absolutely allow Kythaela to continue on to her ancestral estate, and gave them a number of gifts in thanks for uncovering the Sorak infiltration and rescuing the Baron. In return Kythaela told them of the Major Gate below and offered them the codeword!
Roland looked at her oddly as they left the Baron’s keep. Offering the dwarves a reward like that when they had not requested payment seemed decidedly…. unlike what they knew of her. But she merely replied that honorable and forthright rulers of the area ought to have control over such a strategic resource sitting right under their feet. Even if they were Dwarves. Some things never changed.
One response to “Solasta: The Sleeper Wakes”
atcDave
intriguing chapter. I really like the “ancient” character, even if she us a bit of a pill.
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