Madam Saya had directed them to the Nighthouse – a former dwarven estate not far outside town which was home to Madam Dupont’s establishment.
Inside they ad-libbed a flimsy cover story about applying to work as bouncers… and were immediately accepted. No questions asked. They were directed to staff quarters and told to settle in and look around. As long as they stayed OUT of the store-room in the east wing. That seemed… unexpected and unusual. They had expected to have to try harder to get in.
They looked around a bit. The Nighthouse was a large place – with its own tavern and stage for entertainment in addition to the back rooms. Checking out the staff quarters they met a woman named Dodge. The pumped her for information for a while, and learned that Madam Dupont had been acting distantly lately. She had been normally quite friendly until the last few weeks. She had doubled the number of bouncers around the same time. The east wing storeroom had formerly been just full of costumes, but had been declared off-limits… also two weeks ago. Hmmm.
Clearly they were going to want to get a look in that store-room, but it was constantly guarded. Looking around for a way in, Hans noticed a particularl sort of large, brooding drunk at a table near the bar. He bought the man drinks – several rounds – while encouraging him to rant about all the ways his life had been unfair.
It didn’t take long before just the right “push” from Hans… and the big man was starting a massive brawl – pulling away the door guards.
With that distraction drawing away the guards, Hans quickly picked the lock and got them into the storeroom. Where they found a pale and sickly Madam Dupont tied to a evil-looking chair in the back of the room. And Madam Saya as well! Neither of the women recognized them in the slightest.
Both women had been taken captive by acolytes of a group called the White Rose. Shapechanging demons had taken their places, while they were tortured as the demons fed on their pain and fear. They quickly reached the conclusion that “Angel” had been sacrificed to make them believe the House of Starlight was clear. Which meant the reason they had been sent here – and the reason they had been admitted so easily – was that this was a trap…
They turned just in time to be ambushed by a demon summoning a swarm of demonic larvae!
Once they fought back the larvae, they instructed the Madams to stay hidden and headed out into the hallway… only to find bedlam as demons and White Rose assassins fought with loyal bouncers and patrons ran!
They fought their way through cultist and demon alike until they made their way to the main hall, where the “Madam Dupont” they had met upon entering had returned to her natural form… a demonic sorceress!
Marty and Yana had to contend with cultists and demons up front…
While Winny worked at countering the sorceress’ spells and Hans took potshots at her
Eventually, with the help of the remaining bouncers, they were able to restore control of the manor. But that left one loose end. The “Madam Saya” they had actually been working for.
They returned to the House of Starlight to find her waiting and ready… and reverting to form as an Incubus Demon!
The demon began by calling out its cultists and summoning more cackling demons…
But while they were distracted with those it made another play… taking control of Hans in the back line!
Fortunately Winny was able to put him on a back burner
And then help Marty deal with the Incubus.
Afterwards Hans regained his senses.
With the proper Madams back in control of their respective establishments, they were only too happy to provide the tower passes that the counterfeit Madam Saya had promised them. Unfortunately these were *entertainer* passes… So they would have to at least nominally look the part. While most of them could pass as bodyguards/bouncers well enough, Yana looked nothing like a soft courtesan – however she might dress. And Marty and Hans even less. Which left…
She was *not* happy about it….
Inside the tower the lower level was full of elf merchants hawking minor magic items . All of which were claimed to be priceless Manacalon relics. There were guards blocking access to the upper levels, and no amount of fast talking or waving passes made them budge.
There was an odd warrior woman standing off to the side watching – the only other non-elf in the room. When they went to speak to her she introduced herself as Nezbal. She didn’t buy their cover story for a second. She said she knew exactly why they were there – to sneak in to see Master Iban. As Hans and the others spoke with her Winny found herself staring in shock. She didn’t know who or what this woman was, but her arcane senses were absolutely screaming. Whoever or whatever “Nezbal” was, Winny was sure she was *not* human.
Nezbal showed them that she too carried a purple wolf. She claimed that there had been 10 magical seals sealing Thalorel’s Tomb, and she had placed one of them herself. She had been instantly alerted when it had been opened. If true this pegged her as very, very old…
She said she also needed to ask Iban about the Purple Wolf. And she had also been stymied by the guards. She proposed that they cooperate. She would provide a “distraction” to occupy the guards, while they snuck up to see Iban. She would then later find them to share what they had learned. She wouldn’t explain the nature of her “distraction”. But she did tell them she would *definitely* find them later, so they had best not try to renege.
Then she told them to run for the stairs, as she threw back her head and laughed and began changing…
Into a huge red dragon!!! As promised, Nezbal was *definitely* drawing the attention of the tower’s entire guard contingent.
They found a side hall to hide out while all the guards were drawn in, giving Winny a chance to get changed. After which she made them swear *NEVER* to mention to episode again.
Even with the guards drawn away the tower still contained its original automated defences. They had to fight their way past a few golems and other guardians, but they’d now collected a few more tools for dealing with such opponents.
And on the top level they discovered that not ALL of the tower’s defenders had left their posts to deal with the dragon. They rounded a corner to discover a Denizen battle-mage and his company of soldiers.
They had to dive for cover as he let loose with a massive fireball…
As they picked themselves back up, Winny responded with a cloud of choking gas – keeping the mage gasping for breath rather than chanting more spells. This enabled them to finish off the patrol and heal back up.
In the final room before the master’s chambers – an old elven sanctuary repurposed as an arcane lab – three automatons powered a particularly large golem with an arcane shield.
Absolutely nothing phased it while the shield was active. So Marty kept it busy, using holy magic to harass it with spirits and protect himself…
While the others chased down and eliminated the automatons powering it.
At which point Marty could switch from offence to defence and finish off the troublesome foe.
Beyond the golem’s chamber they found a well stocked living area, with an entirely comfortable Master Iban. He told them while technically he wasn’t permitted to leave, he was perfectly happy. The Denizens were the best archaeological assistants he’d ever had! They spared no effort to track down any tome or artifact he requested.
He had told them he needed to reconstruct an ancient ritual to crown the most “valiant” elf as the new Manacalon Emperor. And so the various Denizen commanders were competing to see who could be most useful to the Prophet instead of expanding their territory. Marty considered it all rather dishonest, but he did concede that there were far worse things the Denizens could be up to.
As soon as they mentioned Thalorel’s Tomb Master Iban immediately knew that they had been involved in opening it. Was it written on their foreheads? He claimed that there had been eleven wards sealing the tomb and he himself had placed the last one… Which seemed a rather familiar tale. They mentioned Nezbal and her own claim, and he seemed disturbed at her involvement. Then he sat back to tell them the real story.
Long ago, before the Cataclysm, even before the Manacalon Empire, there had been an ancient goddess named Yinyue. Yinyue had been one of the primordial creator gods. Its was said she had once been a goddess of Music, but one day her Music had changed from harmony to discord. It had become twisted and tainted. The other gods had sealed her away in a cage on another plane.
The archmage Thalorel had found the key, opened the cage, and stolen some of her secrets. He re-sealed the cage and then kept the key until one day, he vanished. There had once been 127 “Tombs of Thalorel”. Each with its own purple wolf. Each with a fragment of Thalorel’s soul. Over 120 had been opened and pillaged by the time of the Cataclysm. And despite the efforts of many a mage none had ever been able to make any of the purple wolves do anything whatsoever.
Most of the baubels had been destroyed. Only seven were known to still exist – five still sealed in long lost Tombs. Meaning either one of them was the fabled key… or none of them were. Most scholars considered the purple wolves no more than idle curiosities.
Iban told them Margarete was possessed by a soul fragment of Thalorel – which was why exorcism hadn’t helped.. He knew of many prior attempts to free someone from such possession… all ending in the death of the victim.
He apologised for not having better news. He offered to buy their purple wolf – as he’d always wanted to study a physical speciman. Marty declined the offer. It was still their only lead to saving Margarete. Iban shrugged and sent them on their way.
They sat lost in thought at the tavern, waiting for a meal and a night at the inn before heading back to the Academy. They still had no idea how to help Margarete, and answers seemed further away than before they had come.
.
Author’s Notes:
I really like how these guys are meshing as a team. Each combination has a real flavor to it. Normally in a team some pairs turn out stronger than others, but these all seem to work.
No idea where the story is ultimately headed. But I like the false starts and twists. And factions doing their own things that do not appear to be related to our quest. Makes it feel like there’s an actual world out there.
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