Casting the ritual took Azeri almost the entire day. That evening Akta finally stirred, and looked around in surprise at the people in her room. She knew nothing had even taken place - aside from the soreness where she had been stabbed, she felt no different than if she'd had a long night's sleep. Apparently she had been murdered while she slept. Reita of course fell on her daughter's neck and wept with joy, which unnerved Akta a bit.
As everyone was re-grouping, Tselem let slip that Zelian was Akta's father. Akta was stunned, and Reita was furious - apparently she had never wanted Akta to know. With this Reita decided to abandon this home and go stay with some family in the city of Owl's Perch, a few days journey to the north. She was so angry that she almost refused the party's help, but they were able to persuade her that she and her daughter didn't stand much of a chance without them.
As the tieflings frantically packed, Azeri decided to go into town and contact the Church of the Silver Flame to try and get a message to Elane. Reita had a message cube specifically for contacting Elane, but it wasn't working, which made the party extremely suspicious. They even started to wonder if maybe they were being double-crossed, or dismissed as collateral damage.
Azeri found a church, and was able to persuade the acolytes there to raise the vicar from his sleep. The vicar was a little put out by her request, but eventually agreed to send a message along.
When Azeri returned to the house, a plan was formulated. Tselem transformed to look like Akta, Azeri and Edge placed "her" in a coffin (not a cheap affair!), and then set off very publicly for a graveyard, staging a funeral procession. With the show distracting everyone else, Taumir took Reita and Akta and headed up the road (somewhat disgruntledly).
The funeral lasted till late at night. Once it was over, the three party members discreetly made their way out of town. They were just about clear when a passing dwarf lady stopped them to talk to Edge. She asked if he was the Edge who had served in the 31st Regiment. He confirmed he was, and she attempted to arrest him for murder! Three other dwarf females came to join in the arrest attempt. Edge and the party resisted for a moment, but then Edge decided to try a different tactic and surrendered to their authority. (These warriors were enforcers of the druidic cabal that tries to keep order in the Reaches; this cabal operates like a national government, but has very little actually power outside the cities that border Lake Galifar.)
Tselem and Azeri ducked into an alley and quickly made a plan. Tselem transformed himself into a nondescript human, and Azeri conjured her phantom steeds to ride with all haste to catch up to Taumir.
Edge's captors brought him to a House Orien teleportation station, and informed him he was being taken to a judge in Greenheart, the capital of the Reaches, some days away. At this Edge decided to drop the ruse and broke his bands. He and Tselem made off into the night, and after a long chase were able to elude the dwarves.
Azeri found Taumir and the tielfings, and after a heated discussion, it was agreed that Azeri would stay with them and camp for the night, waiting for the rest to join up with them again. Taumir rode the phantom steeds back to Varna, and after some searching found Edge and Tselem. The three of them fled town and rendezvoused with Azeri and the sleeping tielflings. Edge confessed that he was more or less guilty of the accusation - he had allowed his terrible, brutal captain to be killed during the war.
By this time it was the dead of night, almost getting into the wee hours of the morning. The party elected to sleep till they woke up, and it was mid-morning on the first day of Dravago before they roused once more.
Rewards
- 1,200 XP each.
- You've found some Hydra Armor (Level 13, Player's Handbook, p. 230).
- You've found a scroll with the ritual "Reversed Portal" (Player's Handbook 2, p. 216).
- You managed to loot 2,400 GP total.
