Session 16: Big G Reveals His Plan

Grombrin heads back into the dungeon to gather his stuff from his camp, while the others go outside. In the camp they made outside, Lokreth is gone, and replaced with the dead body of an aasimar, surrounded by signs of a fight. The group doesn’t know what to make of this, so they head on, leaving the body so that Grombrin can take the armor when he comes out. The group scales the wall and returns to the rockback village. The villagers are alarmed at the sight of the duke, but Ahrm explains the situation to them. The rockbacks consent to cooperating with the duke to inhabit the ruins, and the group is paid the gold that they were promised.

Grombrin emerges from the dungeon and finds the aasimar. He loots the half plate it’s wearing and finds a note inside. It’s from “O.” and seemingly addressed to the group, warning them from danger and introducing them to someone named Berecheth, who has been watching them during their quest. It ends with “she has yet to have died for nothing”, just like an earlier letter.

In the village, Vojta recognizes an aura on the duke similar to Lokreth. They question whether the duke might be one of the acolytes, but he doesn’t match the descriptions and doesn’t intend to leave Oda Iger. His aura is instead the result of having been blessed by Mereteth long ago. When Grombrin makes it to the village, the group buys a camel-drawn cart and a water barrel for their desert journey, and head out towards Glyckheart.

On the second day of travel the group meets some Asaian nomads who are heading to the ruins of Red Canyon. They ask for the group’s complete names, because they are hired by the new king of Glyckheart for border patrol. The nomads mention that they’ve met a friend of the group, but that they’ve sworn an oath not to reveal information about him. They invite the group to come to their camp and meet him, which they do in hope that it might be Lokreth.

At the camp, Grombrin and Ahrm keep watch outside while Arran and Vojta head into the visitor’s tent. Inside is not Lokreth but Gyrraleth. He doesn’t wish to fight right now, however, only to explain his motives; Arran and Vojta choose to hear him out. The dragonborn talks about how consequences prevent people from committing violence. He wants to bring back Cerebarieth so that there can be a higher power who can keep anyone accountable, thus ending wars and crime. Vojta argues that ending the natural order of freedom and change would be equally damaging, that the people would tear themselves apart rather than accept this static world, but Gyrraleth is willing to risk it. When asked about Lokreth, Gyrraleth admits that he tried to abduct him, but that he escaped thanks to the interference of Berecheth, who had been silently protecting the group under Tusk’s orders. Berecheth was killed by Gyrraleth, becoming the body that was found at the ruins. Gyrraleth apologizes for killing Tusk, saying it was not his first choice, and offers the chance to join the Last Light Gang and assist him in freeing Cerebarieth. Due to the laws of hospitality, he will not harm the group today, but he will continue opposing them if they refuse to join him.

Arran and Vojta return outside to discuss, and facepalm when they find that Grombrin has created a stone podium where him and Ahrm are having a dance-off. When they’re done, Vojta tells them Gyrraleth’s ideology. Ahrm thinks the ideology is bullshit, but he distances himself from the conflict – his only goal is to kill Thaddeus, at which point he will die. Grombrin sympathizes with Gyrraleth’s ideology, but refuses to join an assassin’s guild, and his loyalty drives him to stick with the group and face danger with them. Vojta feels that he must continue to oppose Gyrraleth, but Arran wants more information to judge from, so he suggests contacting Pha’uel.

The group buys an aquamarine gem from a nomad jeweler. Ahrm confirms with the jeweler that it was not obtained from a Glyckheart inhabitant named Joe, who he says is a deceptive asshole. The group waits for the moon to come out, and Arran speaks in draconic to the gem, transporting them to the realm of Pha’uel. As before, Pha’uel is reluctant to provide any information for free, but the group convinces him that they have the shared goal of stopping Cerebarieth, and request his help in return for their support. He reveals that the two remaining acolytes are Saleekh Serai, the king of Glyckheart, and Theras Brightwood, who is at the Spike. He also marks some ancient temples on Arran’s map and tells them that the way to have a chance against Cerebarieth is to collect the four acolytes and then seek out the blessings of the other primordial gods, besides Etreath. Pha’uel agrees to answer more questions later if needed, and teaches Arran the incantation to contact him. Arran asks him who O. is, the sender of Berecheth’s letter, but Pha’uel claims this isn’t essential to completing their goal, and will only divulge it in return for a soul. He asks the group to give his regards to Theras when they find him, before sending them back to the physical plane.

Now that their plan of action is concrete, Arran also agrees to continue opposing Gyrraleth. They tell this to Gyrraleth, who claims to respect their decision and allows them to leave the nomad camp unharmed.