Session 26: Viziers Are Always Evil

September 1, Year 3488 (SE 118)

The party, minus Sharla, are escorted to the Viskhan police station, where they are interrogated by Lieutenant Hadia. Since Hadia knows the party and is aware of their current mission, she is much more understanding and accomodating than the guards who captured them. She lets them go, but warns them that she might not be able to smooth things over for them next time. While this is happening, Sharla exits the burned-down building, taking the map that she found with her, and makes her way to the Temple of Kib, hoping that the party will eventually rejoin her.

The party decide that the situation with the cultists is serious enough that they need to communicate this new information to Ayal, and possibly to the Vizier himself. When they arrive at the palace gate, the guard initially doesn't let them in, but Zedlyn manages to intimidate his way past the guard, and they head inside to speak with Ayal.

Ayal is very unhappy with the party, since the kind of chaos they've just caused is exactly what he asked them to avoid. But as they explain the situation to him, he slowly begins to agree with them that this situation with the demon cultists and the dreams is very serious and should be brought directly to the Vizier's attention. He interrogates them thoroughly so that he can pass on their knowledge as completely as possible to the Vizier, and provides them with a sealed note that explains that they are working by the Vizier's orders, which should help them if they get into trouble with the guards again.

While speaking with Ayal, he tells them that he did manage to get in contact with the Mages' College and secure access for the group, so once Ayal heads out to speak with the Vizier, the party head for the college. Since it's getting late in the day, Adokas heads out to his meeting spot where he hopes to meet other worshippers of Theia, leaving Arik, Iriellis, Zedlyn, and Flossaria going the college.

At the college gates, they ask for the battlemage who they spoke with previously, whose name turns out to be Jakaril. Jakaril tells them that he did pass their request onto the rest of the mages, and one mage in particular, a man named Varanac, has apparently discovered something of interest. Flossaria and Arik go to speak with him, while Iriellis and Zedlyn ask around to see if any of the mages can help them track down the source of the dreams.

Upon meeting him, Varanac tells Arik and Flossaria that he did, in fact, find a spell to prevent dreams. He found it in the spellbook of a minor mage who lived about a century ago, who apparently suffered from recurring nightmares and created the spell in order to use on himself. The mage's journal contains a vague description of the nightmares, but they don't seem particularly similar to the dreams that Flossaria and P'hla have been having. Still, the spell should prevent the dreams.

Flossaria asks Varanac to cast the spell immediately, but he doesn't have it prepared. Instead, they agree that he will prepare it first thing the next morning, and come to the Temple of Mung to cast it on her. This means that Flossaria will need to stay awake for a third night in a row in order to avoid the dreams.

Meanwhile, Zedlyn and Iriellis are eventually directed towards Miriel, the most senior diviner at the Mages' College. Miriel, a tiefling woman, tells them that she knows a spell that can determine who is viewing someone's dreams, and another spell that can track down whoever it is. However, neither spell will come cheap - she asks for 400 gold pieces for each spell, and warns them that they aren't 100% effective. If the individual responsible has put up protections against scrying, she way not be able to pierce them. Zedlyn and Iriellis consider the offer, but aren't able to decide if the spells are worth the price.

Once again, no one has come to Adokas' meeting spot, so he leaves and rejoins the rest of the group at the Mages' College. He arrives just as they're leaving, so he rejoins them on their way out. He goes with Arik and Flossaria to the Temple of Mung, where they plan to spend the night trying to keep Flossaria from falling asleep. Zedlyn and Iriellis head to an inn; the Temple of Kib is on the way, so they pass by and check for Sharla. She's still there, so they explain everything that's happened to her, then all three of them continue to the inn to rest for the night.

At the Temple of Mung, Flossaria is having serious trouble staying awake, despite Adokas' constant efforts. Finally, a few hours into the night, she succumbs to her exhaustion and briefly falls asleep. Immediately, she find herself floating in a black void, while the voice from before booms around her. It explains that, since she has neglected to choose a side, it will choose for her. The voice invades her mind and crushes her will; a few seconds later, she awakes, but with the presence in control of her body.

From Adokas' perspective, Flossaria only closed her eyes for a few seconds, but when she requests to step outside, he is immediately suspicious that whatever happened to P'hla is now happening to Flossaria. He refuses to let her out, and goes to wake Arik and decide what to do. The two adventurers come up with a plan. Arik steps out, claiming to needs to relieve himself, but in reality going to speak with the priest on duty and asking him to cast a spell to detect evil. The priest does so, then enters the room, claiming to be merely checking up on the group. The result of the spell is this: Flossaria is strongly radiating evil.

Now certain that something is compelling Flossaria to leave, like P'hla did, Adokas sneak attacks her with a stunning blow, knocking her out long enough for himself, Arik, and the priest to tie her and gag her. While Arik and the priest keep watch, Adokas heads for the inn to gather the rest of the party and decide what to do.

When the rest of the party arrive, they discuss the matter and decide to take Flossaria to the Mages' College, hoping that someone there can help her. They put together a makeshift stretcher for her and carry her to the college.

Arriving at the college gates in the middle of the night, they are surprised to learn that there is a letter waiting for them - apparently, the Vizier sent a messenger with an urgent missive to their last known location, the college. The party read the message, which explains that the Vizier is greatly concerned by the situation, and would like to speak with the party in person, immediately. They decide to send Iriellis and Zedlyn to speak with him, while the rest of the party stay with Flossaria.

Arriving at the palace gates, this time Iriellis and Zedlyn present the letter from the Vizier and are admitted immediately. Rather than the outbuilding they visited before, this time they are led directly to the palace, through the main hall, and into the throne room. There, they meet Lord Jaleer, the Vizier of Viskha, who is seated on a smaller throne set in front of the absent Queen Ilthai's throne. Jaleer is surrounded by a dozen or so of his elite honour guard.

The Vizier confirms the contents of his message, explaining that he would like to personally oversee the investigation into this demonic cult. When Iriellis and Zedlyn explain the current situation with Flossaria, he decides to personally look into it. He commands his steward to fetch his horse, the guards' horses, and horses for Iriellis and Zedlyn as well, and they all ride back to the College of Mages.

At the college, the Vizier and his party are immediately admitted, and brought to a central chamber when Flossaria has been brought. Jaleer orders the mages out of the room so that he may speak with the party in private, and as the mages depart, his guards take up positions around the room.

Once the mages are gone, the Vizier turns to face the party, and immediately declares them under arrest for "murder, demonology, and conspiracy against the city of Viskha". The adventurers, surrounded by a dozen of the city's finest warriors, have no choice but to surrender.

Session 25: Fireballs Really Hurt

September 1, Year 3488 (SE 118)

Arik wakes the rest of the party, and they quickly search the rest of the room, rapidly coming to the conclusion that P'hla is definitely not here anymore. Knowing that she was radiating an aura of evil the previous day, Iriellis casts a spell to detect evil and sweeps it around the area. The spell fails to detect anything of note.

Expecting trouble, the party outfit themselves in their gear and step outside. It is an hour or so after dawn, and everything outside seems normal, so they split up and begin asking nearby bystanders if they've seen P'hla. After about twenty minutes of searching, Arik finally encounters a citizen who claims to have seem her; he points out the direction that she went in.

Arik gathers the rest of the group and they head off in that direction, hoping to find some clue regarding where she is. Iriellis' spell to detect evil is still active, but she doesn't detect anything before it runs out. They travel down the street for about fifteen minutes before Arik stops them and tells them that he recognizes the area. Last night, when he tailed one of the cultists, the man turned out to be keeping an eye on a building not far from where the party currently is.

Decided that this is very unlikely to be a coincidence, the party ask Arik to lead them to the building in question, which he does. He takes them to a particularly run-down section of the slums, to a small dilapidated building with boarded-up windows. Again, they speak with some bystanders, and Iriellis finds an old man who recognizes her description of P'hla. A few silver pieces are enough to convince him to tell her that he saw P'hla, or someone who looks like her, walk into the building that Arik pointed out.

Now convinced that P'hla must be inside, they start planning on how they will get inside the building themselves. Sharla steps forward and knocks on the door, hoping to use her magic to immediately hypnotize whoever answers. Unfortunately, no one answers at all. She tries to open the door, but finds that it's barred.

With no one answering and the door blocked, the party decide to force their way in. Handing the Gauntlets of Ogre Power back and forth, several party members attempt to smash the door open. Finally, Zedlyn succeeds; with the sound of splintering wood, the door flies open. Standing behind it are three figures, ready for a fight!

One of the figures is known to the party - it's Grif, the dwarf who met with Flossaria a few nights ago. He has a battleaxe drawn and is ready to charge. Next to him is a human warrior who the party don't recognize, also ready to fight. Standing behind them is an unexpected sight - a lizardman, but different from the other lizardfolk that the party have encountered. This one is taller, with a more refined manner and appearance than its bestial counterparts, and is wearing elaborate robes.

The party don't have much time to analyze this strange lizardman, as it immediately begins casting a spell the moment the door breaks open. Acting quickly, it unleashes a fireball into the group before any of them have a chance to react; Iriellis is instantly knocked unconscious by the blast and most of the rest of the group are severely injured.

As the party begin to react, Grif and his warrior companion charge forward, and the lizardfolk casts another spell, dropping Adokas to sleep. Zedlyn hurls one of his gnomish grenades before kicking Adokas awake and fleeing with the unconscious Iriellis in his arms, but he fumbles the preparation and the device fails to explode.

The party, realizing that they are outmatched, begin to flee. Before leaving, Sharla tries to conjure an illusion of the floorboards rising up to block pursuit, but the enemies see through it and are unaffected. The lizardfolk mage has time to cast a third spell; this one conjures a web of sticky material that binds Adokas and Sharla, the two party members who hadn't yet managed to flee, preventing them from moving.

Zedlyn continues to flee with Iriellis, but Arik, seeing that Adokas and Sharla are trapped, charges back into the fray in order to buy them time to escape, while Flossaria supports him from a distance with her crossbow. Grif and the other warrior step forward to engage him, while the lizardfolk at the back pelts him with magic missiles. They manage to cut down the human warrior and injure Grif, but Arik cannot withstand the mage's attacks for much longer.

Sharla and Adokas finally free themselves. Adokas hurls a flask of flaming oil at Grif before the party disengage and run away. Grif goes down screaming, and behind them as they flee, they hear Zedlyn's grenade finally explode.

As they run down the street, the last thing that they see before turning a bend is someone dragging Grif out of the burning building - a human (or something similar, like an elf) who they don't recognize and didn't take part in the fight.

After running to a (hopefully) safe distance, the party stop and regroup. Iriellis has awoken from the blast, and she and Flossaria heal the rest of the party as best they can. They're still quite injured, so they decide to retreat to a nearby Temple of Slid. At the temple, Iriellis is healed for free, while the rest of the party pay for the services of the temple's healers.

A few hours later, the party are rested and healed, and they decide to return to the scene of the fight. When they arrive, they see that the building is badly damaged by the fire, and the surrounding building are slightly damaged as well. Nearby bystanders and residents appear to be warily keeping away from them. Iriellis uses another spell to detect evil, and sees nothing. The party conclude that it should be safe to search the building.

There isn't much left of the building itself, due to the fire, but they discover a trapdoor that leads down to a small basement. The basement is very full, with three beds and many boxes and crates stuffed into a small area. One of the beds has several cut ropes lying on top of it, leading the party to guess that P'hla might have been captured and tied up there. Sending Iriellis and Zedlyn upstairs to keep watch, the rest of the party search through the boxes.

Some time passes, and within the half-hour, Zedlyn and Iriellis see a squad of ten city guardsmen approaching the building. They inform the two adventurers that they have been seen fighting within the city, and that they must be taken in for interrogation. Iriellis tries to defend the party's actions, telling the guard captain that they were only looking for their missing friend, and that they were only defending themselves, but the captain isn't swayed. She tries to invoke Ayal, warning the guard captain that he will be very upset if they're taken in, but the captain still isn't swayed. Finally, she brings up their relationship with Lieutenant Hadia, claiming that she will be able to vouch for them. But the captain is still resolved that they must be taken in for questioning.

While this is happening, the rest of the party are downstairs, searching through the boxes. Many contain mundane food and supplies, but a significant number contain ancient-looking religious relics and idols. Unfortunately, most are too worn or damaged to be reliably identified. Soon, they hear the commotion occurring above; Sharla decides to hide, while everyone else decides to go along with the guards.

As Sharla is emptying out a crate to use as a hiding place, she finds, at the very bottom, a map with a location marked in the desert to the west - one that doesn't correspond to any location that she knows. She has no time to study it in detail, though. She hides in the box as the guards come down to take the rest of the party away. They don't notice her hiding spot, and everyone else is led away, leaving Sharla alone in the darkness.

Session 24: Gods and Dreams

August 30, Year 3488 (SE 118)

After finishing their respective tasks, the party regroup near the palace gates to watch the Royal Procession. Everyone comes except Zedlyn, who stays behind at their rented building to keep an eye on the cultists. Adokas passes on the location of the building to the rest of the party when they meet.

It appears that a large portion of the city has come out to watch the procession. The palace gates open, and the procession begins. For the next half-hour, the armies and the important functionaries of Viskha march out of the gates. Apart from the soldiers, the party see many of the city's most important nobles, merchants, and priests, including Iskander and his wife with the other priests of Kilooloogung.

At the end of the procession is Queen Ilthai, her honour guard, and her most important advisors. She is riding a powerful warhorse and wearing elaborate ceremonial armour; Zedlyn reflects that according to common knowledge, she is supposed to be an extremely skilled warrior and gifted general.

As the Queen begins making her way through the city, the crowd follows, and only a few of the party members (Iriellis and Arik, specifically) are able to make their way through the mass of people fast enough to keep up. The Queen travels across Yahn's Market to the city gates, before stopping at a stage to address the people. She asks them to remain strong in the face of years of warfare, reminding them of the increased influence and privilege that the city now enjoys because of their conquests, and assuring them that Cappadarnia will finally fall this year. Before she leaves, she formally passes control of the city itself to Lord Jaleer, her chief vizier. She and the last remaining soldiers exit through the city gates, and they slam shut, ending the procession. The crowds begin to disperse.

Afterwards, the party again split up to pursue different goals. Iriellis asks Arik to meet her at a local cafe to talk. It seems that Queen Ilthai's speech has made her think of her home city, Cappadarnia, and her family there. She asks Arik if he plans to go there, but he says he doesn't intend to go that far south; his next intended destination is Golnuz, the so-called "City of the Gods", known for its extensive temples and devout people. They discuss Iriellis' background, and when she explains that she is a deserter from the Cappadarnian army, that solidifies his decision not to go there - it's a warzone, and Iriellis has a death penalty for desertion having over her. Afterwards, Iriellis goes to a tavern to drown her sorrows.

P'hla and Flossaria travel together to the Temple of Kib, looking for information about the creation of the world. They speak with a priestess there, who tells them the standard story that they already know - that Kib created the world, and all of the creatures upon it, except for certain unnatural creatures that were created later through magic and sorcery. Such creatures are abominations against Kib. They ask if they can study any scriptures, but she can only point them towards the common and publicly available ones; while the temple does have a library of rarer and more valuable writings, they are only for the use of highly-ranking priests. Finally, they ask about the deserts to the east and the west, wondering what the scriptures of Kib say about them. She says that, while most places in the world were given to various creatures, there are certain areas of the world, such as the deserts, that were given to no creatures - they were made inhospitable so that there would be a part of the world that existed only for itself.

The remaining party members (Zedlyn, Adokas, and Sharla) spend the rest of the day keeping an eye on the cultists' building. Although they do occasionally see people going in and out, they aren't yet able to infer any patterns or make any conclusive deductions.

That night, the party gather in their rented room and keep watch throughout the night. Flossaria decides to stay awake all night, worried about what could happpen in her dreams if she goes to sleep. At all times, one other party member is awake as well and keeping watch. They watch the building all night, but observe nothing of interest. It seems that no one is going in or out of the building at night.

August 31, Year 3488 (SE 118)

Flossaria manages to stay awake all night, and the next morning everyone else awakes. Flossaria asks P'hla about her dreams, but P'hla responds that she didn't dream at all, which both relieves and somewhat troubles Flossaria. The party again split up to pursue various aims, with Arik and Adokas staying behind to keep watch on the cultists, and Iriellis too hung over to be of much use.

Zedlyn goes to find a store that sells mining supplies, and convinces the appropriately-named Dwarven proprietor, Axehand Hammerfist, to show him the mining explosives that he keeps in the back room. Although such items are highly regulated, he convinces the dwarf to sell some to him; specifically, he purchases two small Gnomish demolition charges, built for precision rather than raw power, and therefore useful as grenades during a fight.

Flossaria and P'hla again team up to visit a temple; this time, they track down a temple of Yoharneth-Lahai, the God of Dreams. Lahai's temple is a small, run-down building in the docks district, manned by a single elderly priest. They start by asking the priest questions about Lahai, wondering if he could be responsible for their dreams. However, the priest's answers don't seem to match up very well with their experience, as he describes Lahai as a benevolent God who sends dreams to entertain the people or to remind them of past memories. Even nightmares are usually a warning to be heeded, and thus actually a good thing, according the priest.

P'hla decides to explain to him the specifics of the dreams they've been having, while Flossaria leaves the building, as she was explicitly told by Grif not to say anything to anyone. While she's outside, she casts a Detect Evil spell and concentrates on the inside of the building. She detects a faint source of evil, and rushes in to warn P'hla, but when she steps back in, with the spell still active, she realizes that it is emanating from P'hla herself!

By this time, the priest has finished listening to P'hla, and after some initial confusion, he comes to a conclusion as to what the dreams must be. He explains that such dreams could not come from the Gods, and therefore must come from the demons below. Demons, he explains, sometimes send dreams to individuals in the hopes of driving them to commit evil and unholy acts. Flossaria listens to this explanation and is convinced of its correctness, realizing that it isn't some ancient god speaking to her, but rather a demon trying to trick her. The priest teaches the two adventurers a series of mantras to Lahai that should help ward off bad dreams, after which they thank him and depart.

At noon, the party regroup at their room. Flossaria, convinced by the priest of Yoharneth-Lahai that the dreams are lies from a demon, disregards the warning given to her by Grif and shares everything she knows with the party. She then leaves for the temple of Mung in order to inform them as well, and spends the rest of the day praying at the temple. P'hla visits the College of Mages again, but Ayal's message has still not arrived, and she is still not let in.

The rest of the party spend the afternoon keeping watch on the cultists, and by the end of the day they have ascertained some basic patterns. While many of the comings and goings of the cultists seem to be random, there are also several that come and go on a regular schedule. During the afternoon, Adokas, having yet to find any followers of Theia in the city, decides to try the opposite tactic: he posts a public note asking any followers of Theia to meet him in a specific place that evening.

As evening nears, they decide to send Arik to tail one of cultists that leaves the hideout - normally his distinctive appearance would make him a poor choice, but in the dark of night, it shouldn't be an issue. Adokas heads out the the meeting that he'd advertised earlier, Zedlyn wanders the nearby neighbourhood hoping to find anything of interest, and Flossaria prepares for a second night without sleep.

Zedlyn and Adokas return as night falls, both having found nothing of interest, and the party settle down for the night. It is immediately apparent that Flossaria can barely stay awake; only constant interruptions from Zedlyn (and later, Adokas then Arik) keep her awake.

Partway through the night, Arik returns, informing Adokas and Flossaria (the two awake party members at the time) that it appears the cultists are engaging in a vigil of their own - the cultist he followed heading to a building about half an hour away, trading places with another cultist who has already there, and settled in for a long watch.

Arik takes the next watch after Adokas, and it is uneventful. At the end of his watch, he and Flossaria go to wake P'hla for the last watch, only to find that she's not in her bed. A quick search of the area confirms their immediate suspicion: P'hla is gone!

Session 23: Allies and Enemies

August 28, Year 3488 (SE 118)

The party spend the morning finishing up in the town of Barar. In particular, they sell the gold ring that they found and collect the reward promised to them by the town's head merchant. Sharla spends a few final hours with Tamat at the Druid circle and Jalessa at the Temple of Kib.

Once their tasks in Barar are complete, they bid farewell to the town and set out for Viskha, to return the symbol of Kord to Iskander and continue on their quest. They travel for the rest of the day and set up camp for the night at the side of the road.

That evening, P'hla calls the group together for a meeting. She explains to them that she has been having very strange, vivid, recurring dreams the focus on two monuments. She dreams of lizardfolk (or similar creatures) dancing around a stone obelisk in the desert to the east, and these same lizard-like creatures being driven to build a pyramid in the west by laughing, humanoid creatures. Furthermore, when she had the dream last night, a voice spoke directly to her.

This voice claimed to represent powers older and more powerful than the Gods, and said that the Gods had stolen the world from them, and soon they would rise up, take back rulership of the world, and cast down the Gods and their creations. It asked for P'hla's service, and in return it would grant her great power and spare her life when the rest of the Gods' creations are destroyed. P'hla refused this offer, at which point the dream ended.

The rest of the party are unsure what to make of this, until Flossaria confirms P'hla's story by telling them that she has had the same dreams, including being spoken to by the same voice last night. Flossaria, however, asked more questions of the voice, including details such as what exactly would be expected if she served, and was told that someone would visit her to explain.

As they discuss the dreams, Sharla realizes that the description given by both P'hla and Flossaria of the stone monument in the east seems to match descriptions given to her by Tamat of the Eye of Ranorach, the monument for which Arik is searching and which led him to travel to Ember in the first place.

The party decide to report this to Arik and get his opinion on the matter - meanwhile, they double up their guard shifts for the night. With P'hla's refusal to serve the voice, they are worried that it or its servants might seek some kind of vengeance.

August 29, Year 3488 (SE 118)

Most of this day is spent travelling, with the party arriving at Viskha around evening time. Even from a distance, however, they can tell that something big is happening in the city. A great fleet of ships is gathered in the city's harbour, and Zedlyn recognizes them as Viskhan military ships. They approach the ferry that should take them across the river to the city, finding it is much more crowded than usual. When they ask a bystander, he tells them that the flood season is upon Ember, and Viskha is preparing to resume its war with Cappadarnia.

Eventually, they get a spot on the ferry and arrive at Viskha. The city itself is very busy with the bustle of soldiers and other military staff, but they make their way through and head to Iskander's mansion. They present him the symbol of Kord, which he is happy to receive, and he holds up to his end of the bargain by giving them the Ring of Fire Resistance that will allow Arik to function normally in the desert heat.

Arik tells them that he has spent his time with Iskander perusing his considerable library of religious texts, and has uncovered an ancient text that seems to relate to the Eye of Ranorach (http://fgofe.blogspot.ca/2014/03/the-eye-in-waste.html). They also question Iskander about if he knows any unusual creation myths, or myths about something greater than the Gods. The only such story that Iskander knows is the story of MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI, said by some to be the creator of the universe. He is said to be sleeping, and the Gods are his dreams, and the worlds are the playthings of the Gods. This doesn't quite match what P'hla and Flossaria were told in their dreams, but MANA does appear in the text that Arik uncovered. While speaking to Iskander, they also learn that there will be a royal procession the next day that he will be attending, in which the queen herself will be leaving the city and heading off to war.

While the rest of the party are discussing these myths and texts, Adokas heads off to find Lieutenant Hadia at the police station and check in. When he speaks to her, she tells him that she actually has a message for him and the rest of the group - several days ago, their presence was requested at the Viskhan Palace, and she was asked to bring them as soon as possible. When Adokas asks if there has been any progress in tracking down the cult of the half-closed eye, she tells them that there has, but she has been forbidden to speak of it by royal order. She believes that this order and the meeting at the palace are related. Adokas agrees to gather the rest of the party and meet at the palace gates one hour after sunrise on the next day.

Adokas returns to Iskander's home and relays Hadia's message, then the party disperse to rest for the night. Zedlyn stays at a local brothel, Adokas at a nearby inn, Iriellis and P'hla at the Temple of Slid (Iriellis uses her influence get P'hla admitted for the night), and Sharla at the Temple of Kib (using her knowledge of the Gods and her possession of a valuable golden holy symmbol of Kib to convince them that she is a pilgrim of sorts). Flossaria asks Arik to join her at the Temple of Mung.

At the temple, Flossaria shares with Arik the details of her dream, as she did with the rest of the party the previous night. Arik agrees that trying to visit the monuments that she saw in her dreams would be a good idea, except that they have no real idea where they are, beyond "east" and "west". There's little more than mile after mile of desert in both those directions, so attempting an expedition without more information would be folly. Flossaria tells him that she can still feel a faint tug to the west in her mind, which could lead them there, but Arik is unconvinced.

That night, Flossaria is awoken by one of the priests of Mung, who tells her that someone is there to see her. She gets up and greets the visitor, who is a dwarf who introduces himself as Grif. Grif is middle-aged and has the appearance of a veteran, with scars and old wounds all over his skin and a pronounced limp in his walk.

Grif introduces himself as an emissary of the same entities who contacted Flossaria in her dreams, and asks her to step outside to talk with him. She does so, and they move to the alley next to the temple. There, Grif allows her to ask whatever questions she likes.

It quickly becomes apparent that Grif is somewhat unhinged, mentally. He doesn't seem to care that the Ancients (as he calls them) apparently intend to destroy all of the Gods' creations, humans and demi-humans included, and he seems to implicitly believe everything they tell him, despite having no real reason to. He demonstrates the powers that have been granted to him - a simple light spell, not impressive on its own, but he points out that it normally takes years of study for a mage to master even the simplest of spells, but he was granted it, along with much more powerful abilities, in an instant.

Already suspecting that something is seriously wrong with Grif, Flossaria tries to cast a spell to detect evil, but phrases it so that Grif thinks that she is casting a spell to evaluate his magical power. She casts the spell and finds that Grif is radiating evil power, although whether he is just naturally an evil individual or whether this is due to the influence of the Ancients is unclear.

While he doesn't answer all of her questions, Grif does impart some useful information. He tells her that he and his fellow cultists have mostly been occupied digging up ancient artifacts and uncovering ancient lore, as directed by the voices in their heads. He informs her that P'hla's refusal to serve is known, and that she has been "marked" for it. Finally, he tells her that the Ancients can see into her dreams, and therefore can find out anything she knows.

With Flossaria remaining hesitant and unwilling to commit to serving the Ancients, Grif decides to depart and give her time to think. He warns her not to tell anyone about the cult, and to make up her mind quickly.

Re-entering the temple, Flossaria warns the guards to be extra vigilant before returning to sleep for the rest of the night.

August 30, Year 3488 (SE 118)

The next morning, the party gather at the palace gates and meet Hadia for their meeting. Taking a moment to talk amongst themselves, Flossaria shares what she can of her encounter from the previous night - specifically, she warns P'hla that she has been marked by the cult, and warns everyone else that apparently the Ancients can see into her dreams. They consider going to the College of Mages to see if there is a spell that can prevent her from dreaming, although such an expedition will have to wait until after their meeting.

A guard lets the party into the palace complex, and they are led to a smaller building near the main palace. They are escorted to the office of a royal official, who introduces himself as Ayal, advisor to Queen Ilthai's chief vizier, and explains his interest in the group. He tells them that the palace has recently become aware of the cultists of the half-closed eye (though he explicitly avoids saying how), and that they are interested in dealing with the cultists. However, they wish to do so in the most discreet way possible, both to avoid frightening the common people and to avoid alerting the cultists themselves. Going through the police would cause too much of a disturbance, but the party are ideal candidates for this task, as they are already involved anyway, and they can investigate in an unofficial capacity.

Ayal offers the party 2000 gold pieces if they kill either kill or drive out the cultists without causing an undue disturbance. They have tracked the cultists to a specific building within the South Yannreach, and estimate that there are at most a dozen individuals hiding within. Zedlyn haggles Ayal up to 3000 gold pieces, and they request that he send a message to the College of Mages requesting their aid. Ayal agrees to these terms and the party accept the mission. He gives them the location of the cultists' building.

Leaving the palace area, the party split into four groups, in anticipation of the royal procession in a few hours. Iriellis returns to the Temple of Kib and spends the time praying; Flossaria and P'hla head to the College of Mages, Zedlyn and Adokas go to investigate the cultists' building, and Sharla and Arik head back to Iskander's mansion to research in his library.

At the College of Mages, Flossaria and P'hla discover first-hand that one must either be a member of the College or the invitee of a member; Ayal's message has not yet arrived, and the battlemage guard doesn't let them in. They do at least convince him to pass a message on to the mages inside, asking if they know any spells to prevent someone from dreaming. They decide to return later, once Ayal's message has arrived.

Zedlyn and Adokas check out the building where the cultists are hiding - an ordinary, somewhat rundown residential building in the South Yannreach. Asking around the area, they find a room for rent in a building across the street, with an excellent view of the cultists' hideout. They rent the room for a week, making sure to pay the landlord a bit extra in exchange for his silence. Zedlyn gets to work furnishing the room with curtains and furniture, while Adokas continues to scout out the area.

Finally, Sharla and Arik spend their time in Iskander's mansion, searching for old maps or other texts that mention pyramids to the west. While Sharla is more scholarly, Arik has spent the last few weeks cooped up in the mansion so he is familiar with the library. In the few hours they have, they are not able to make any substantial discoveries.

As mid-afternoon approaches, Iskander kicks Sharla and Arik out of his mansion, because he and his wife must leave to participate in the royal procession. The rest of the party head out and gather together to watch the procession as well.