They returned to the Academy feeling frustrated and disappointed. They still had no way to help Margarite. Despite all their efforts in the Library of Pakri their best lead had seemingly been stolen before they even arrived.
When they went to see the Dean there was a surprise waiting for them. Nezbal was already there meeting with both Dean Proudbeard and Professor Oshyan. Nezbal denied any involvement with their ambush on the way to the Library. She said if she had wanted that she had far more effective means of accomplishing it… to which Marty had to concede the point. Then she revealed the purpose of her visit.
She handed him a book as a “token of goodwill”. “Advanced Golemizing” the very tome they had been looking for in the Library! Then asked about what they had learned about Purple Wolves from Master Iban. As they filled her in she shook her head and laughed. “Lies! All of it!“
There were indeed only 7 remaining purple wolf tokens. Iban had 1. She had 5. And they both knew *exactly* where to find Yinyue’s Cage. Which meant if one of them was the Key, it was very likely *theirs*.
Then she laid down an ultimatum. Her “representatives’ would be waiting in Thalorel’s Rest for five days. If they did not turn over their purple wolf to her within that time… She and her army of kobolds would burn the Academy to the ground and *take* it!
She left politely, but shouts outside soon after indicated she had taken her true form before departing.
Marty and the others turned to ask the Dean what they should do, when he pulled out a letter and read it to them. A letter from Master Iban… demanding that they turn over the purple wolf to Commander Haldin in Cradenhill within five days or his army of First Denizens would raze the Academy! Iban also *explicitly* noted that this could have been avoided if “those damn students of yours had properly surrendered to my ambushers!”. Well that was one mystery down.
Well this was a fine mess. If they surrendered to either party the other would attack. And given what they knew about the amulet they didn’t particularly want *either* of them to have it. To say nothing of still potentially needing it to free Margarite. Marty suggested that if they *had* to trust one, he’d lean towards Nezbal. She may be a Red dragon, but she’d been straightforward and upfront with them so far – unlike Iban’s treachery.
Professor Oshyan suggested evacuating the students to a safe haven, and trying a touch of chicanery. Tell each army they were giving the amulet to the other, and let them both show up and fight it out. Marty agreed with the evacuation, but thought the rest sounded like a recipe for disaster.
The Dean suggested they attempt reason – negotiate with both parties and see if they couldn’t arrange a compromise of some form. They didn’t even really know what either faction wanted to *do* with the purple wolf. Marty thought that was at least worth a try.
They visited Thalorel’s Rest first, to negotiate with Nezbal’s representative. That turned out to be a large draconic humanoid of unknown species calling itself “Grrk, the Voice of Nezbal” – together with an honor guard of skittish kobolds. He would not say what Nezbal wanted from YinYue’s Cage. It wasn’t clear he even knew.
Hans suggested an “alliance” of sorts. They would promise not to turn over the wolf to Iban, and in return would share everything they learned about it. There were many places they could enter peacefully where Nezbal… would find less cooperation. Once they found a cure for Margarite, they could re-negotiate what would happen with the amulet. Surprisingly, Grrk agreed. As long as they swore not to turn it over to Iban, Nezbal could be patient for a time.
Commander Haldin… was a tougher sell. He didn’t care why the Prophet wanted the wolf. And he wasn’t interested a similar offer to that they had made to Nezbal. He demanded instead that they turn over direct control of the Academy to him. Then he could oversee their efforts personally. In return he would refrain from outright annexing the Academy until the situation came to a head. As long as they did not turn the wolf over to Nezbal. It wasn’t much of a deal, but it seemed to be the best they were going to get. Marty magically sent word to the Dean,
But when they drew near on their return… they saw a terrible sight. The Academy burning!
They rushed back to find the Dean in the wreckage out front. Teachers were tending to injured students. And guards were manning the doors…. facing inward.
Commander Haldin had magically arrived before them, with soldiers in tow. Just as students had begun returning from hiding in light of the agreements. The Dean had met him to turn over control of the Academy… and Haldin had attacked! Haldin had said he had promised “not to annex the Academy”. But had said nothing about raiding and pillaging!
They were incensed at this betrayal, and demanded to know the current situation. The Dean told them the faculty had largely fought off the attack, but there were still pockets of Denizens holed up in ambush positions inside the Academy. He didn’t want to send in any more guards, as he needed them to protect the students.
“There’s an easy answer to that!“, Yana growled, hand on her hilt. “We’ll take out the trash!” The others nodded. This had become *very* personal.
Inside it wasn’t quite that easy. The raiders were veterans – experienced and battle hardened. And they knew exactly how to fight foes who could not see in the dark.
Fortunately Winny had an answer to *that*.
But there was more than snipers roaming the halls. There were elite legionnaires.
Cunning scouts.
Dangerous battlemages
And deadly Centurions.
They also found a few remaining pockets of hiding students, and helped them as they could.
When they reached the dormitories they discovered that the Denizens had paid particular attention to the Raccoon’s own quarters. They were completely destroyed!
They had a pitched battle with a large contingent of Denizens in the feast hall.
And afterwards Yana discovered that “The Adventurer’s Friend” – a famous sword which had belonged to the founder of the school – had been broken from its display. She figured he would approve of her using it against the last of the invaders.
The final holdouts were in the central gardens – home of the monument where their names had just been inscribed as “best students”. There was a small contingent of Denizens led by… Mortino – the goblin they had briefly met as Iban’s butler.
The “butler” began raising his arms, but Winny beat him to the punch. Once more using a cloud of choking gas to prevent spellcasting.
Unfortunately while the gas disabled his guards it wasn’t quite sufficient to stop Mortino. He blinked out of the cloud and loosed a mental assault, completely disabling Yana and Hans!
Marty wasn’t going to stand for that! And he’d had enough of conserving power for the day. So he let Mortino have it with everything he had – frying him to a crisp!
But as the body lay there smoking, a dark power began swirling up out of it. Forming into… something resembling a demonic minotaur!
The beast charged towards them and Yana attempted to hold it back.
But she was almost immediately struck down!
Winny tried assaulting its mind instead, distracting it from finishing off Yana and briefly stunning it. Unfortunately it quickly shook off her spell.
It looked like that might be it for the Raccoons, as the Monster batted away everything they had and stood looming over them…
Until a bloodied Yana, not *quite* down for the count, came flying in from behind and permanently embedded the “Adventurer’s Friend” in the beast’s memory.
Then they slowly limped away to inform the Dean.
With the last of the Denizen raiding party defeated, they had achieved something of a stalemate. Neither army was willing to follow up with another direct assault. The Academy had earned enough respect that both likely assumed that even in victory they would be weakened enough to be ripe pickings for the other.
And so the Academy buried its dead and began rebuilding.
The Raccoons were hailed as saviors. The Dean said that as they could no longer be considered mere “students” they would hereby be named “Advisors to the School”. This would come with a stipend and their own separate living quarters. The students had dubbed it “The Raccoonery” and decorated accordingly…
Unfortunately the Dean also blamed himself for the lives that had been lost. He had been the one to tell Iban of their travel plans – thinking him a friend. He had been the one to first suggest negotiating, and the one to call back the students when an agreement had seemingly been reached. To his mind that was a failure in his duty to protect the school. He would not be dissuaded.
Professor Oshyan was appointed the new Dean. She had been studying the “Advanced Golemizing” book, and had an idea how they might be able to save Margarite. She believed it should be possible to shunt the soul fragment into a golem. This could allow them to separate the two souls without harming Margarite.
Ex-Dean Proudbeard knew of an expert Golemizer who lived not too far away. Hans asked if this was another “friend” of whom they should be wary. But Proudbeard said the woman – Karla – was more aquaintance than friend. And “totally unhinged”. He had no idea what she might want in return for her help, and they should “expect the unexpected”. She lived alone in a cabin deep in the woods. Sounded like another “field trip” was in the making.
Author’s Notes:
That was pretty much exactly how that bloody minotaur fight went down. He one shot Yana when he steamrolled into us. Winny managed to stun him for a round while Hans hacked at him and Marty tried to stand Yana back up. But we were cooked without Yana pulling “second wind” – a DND5 fighter move – and then promptly standing up and max-damage critting the sucker.
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