Episode XV: Night of Dissolution, Act I -- The Pythoness House III (Juliar 9)

Vatex, Dziga, Emeris, and Early leave the gatehouse after resting and return to the fourth level of the Pythoness House. They explore the battlements outside and find a rooftop garden, from which they access a small ledge where they find a small iron key. Then they return to Radanna’s chamber and rise to the fifth level of the keep. Dziga finds an old stash of poisons on a bookshelf.

Ascending to the sixth level, the company finds a ritual room covered in symbols associated with the summoning of demons, conjuring dark power, and other evil acts. Hidden within one symbol they find a hidden switch that opens a small compartment, in which they find a ring bearing the symbol of a broken square. Vatex knows the symbol as that of the Brotherhood of Elan, an obscure anti-Empire group. Early recalls that Itumar was looking at the Brotherhood’s political pamphlet. The group speculates as to the possible connection between the denizens of the Pythoness House and the Brotherhood.



They take a bridge from the central tower to the western tower. As Dziga searches the door for booby traps, a monstrous thing crashes through it, attacking them in a fury. It is brutish, stupid thing with two heads, three arms, and pipes and tubing wound throughout its body…the Cobbled Man! It grapples with the rogue and hurls him from the bridge, where he crashes below on a flower pot in the rooftop garden thirty feet below. Early engages the brute in melee while Vatex fires his rifle and Emeris conjures his shadowy flames around it. The warblade-fighter keeps the Cobbled Man at bay for a few moments, until he too is heaved off the bridge. Vatex sinks another round into it as Dziga returns to the fight, tumbling past the flailing aberration. He spins and sinks the Asura dagger into its back. The dead Cobbled Man falls off the bridge, landing on the prone warblade below.

Early finds half of the spiral device Taunell had mentioned, stitched inside the Cobbled Man’s shirt. They proceed to explore the Cobbled Man’s abode in the western tower. From the roof, they see a goat-headed demon watching them from the central tower. Saharasahla contacts Emeris through the thoughtstone, and tells him that it is “earthbound demon” called a rhodintor, a servant of the Ancients – very powerful and devious. They fire upon it from the western tower, and it seems to mock their attacks until Vatex smashes it with a perfect shot from his spyglass rifle. The terrible chest wound spurts sizzling black blood.



The rhodintor flees to the third level, powering itself up with magic along the way. It sends a couple of hellhounds to harry to group but they are dispatched quickly. The group pursues, consuming potions of strength and dexterity and Dziga downing a potion of invisibility. They square off with it on the fourth floor, where draws its shield and axe and seems excited to fight as they surround it. Emeris reaches in to drain its strength with shadow magic, but the rhodintor shoves him aside with his shield. Early crouches low to evade a heavy swing, and the rhodintor carries the momentum to deal a grievous blow to Vatex. The rhodintor then drives its horns into the urban ranger’s guts, nearly killing him! Dziga appears and strikes at the demon’s flank, staggering the demon. Early uses the opening to channel his power through the Vajra, the wolf spirit inside him lending him strength for a devastating cut that cleanly decapitates the awful foe. They take its fine weapon and shield, and Early takes the head as a trophy.

The group returns to the central tower and explores the disgusting rhodintor nest, but find nothing. The only area unexplored is the northeast tower, but they can find no access. A suggestion from Early leads them to use the small iron key on a secret door in the ceiling of the room beneath the tower. There they find the brothel’s secret treasury – a chest with thousands of silver and gold coins and other loot, as well as the other half of the spiral key.

Emeris assumes that with the rhodintor dead, they might be able to leave the Pythoness House. They find the wall of force is indeed no longer there. Although eager to explore whatever is beneath the old keep and hopefully find the weapons of chaos and the allkey, they know they will be better off if they can sell their loot and stock up on more gear before proceeding. They retire to the Dragonsfire Inn until morning.


Next: The companions prepare to explore beneath the Pythoness House! Will they find reward or disaster?

Random Elanian Factoid: Rastor is a massive liontaur weaponsmith who runs a shop in the Undercity Market that specializes in masterwork and magic weapons. Having worked with magic weapons for years, he can look at any armament, heft it, swing it a few times, and tell its exact magic enhancement. He can even identify some other special qualities of weapons. He does this for his customer’s at no charge – if he cannot identify it, he refers folk to Myraeth’s Oddities.

Episode XIV: Night of Dissolution, Act I -- The Pythoness House II (Juliar 8-9)

And so the ghost of Taunell, the undead cleric of the Holy Emperor who haunts the Pythoness House’s gatehouse, attacks Dziga with his corrupting touch. It also attempts to possess him, declaring while he could not protect the keep from the “red-cowled priests,” he would protect it from all others. Dziga flees the gatehouse with Vatex to join the others. When Saral sees that Taunell is a fellow cleric of the Holy Order of Vigoor, she diplomatically convinces him that fighting them is pointless and they mean him no harm.

Taunell speaks of the other spirit in the house, which he calls the “chaos spirit,” who he claims guards whatever is below the house. He can see everything in the house except the under-levels. He gives them a few hints about the secrets of the house – there is a spiral key broken into two pieces – one is possessed by something called “the Cobbled Man” and the other is stored in the northeast tower. He speaks of another key that a woman dropped from the rooftop garden long ago. Finally, he says he is cursed to possess the gatehouse because of his sin of anger, and he can only be freed by the recitation of a certain prayer, but he cannot remember which one it is.

The group splits up. Vatex, Early, and Dziga explore an old dining room and another boudoir on the second floor. There they are attacked by tiny animated angel figurines made of crystal, but Vatex’s flurry of blades makes short work of them. Otherwise, they find little of interest other than some gems. Vatex meets his owl companion at the window and sends it flying around the keep. When it returns, Vatex can feel that it is disturbed by something it had sensed above them somewhere.

Emeris and Saral return to the courtyard and climb a narrow staircase to an old well, trying to find the key to which Taunell had referred. When Emeris disturbs the well’s waters with a rope, an ooze-like undead spirit emerges and tries to drag them down. It proves resistant to Emeris’ shadow magic, but Saral’s holy power destroys the thing. Emeris tries to lower Saral into the well to search, but his knot fails and she falls in. The well is clogged with old lumber and masonry and trash and has nothing of value. Saral is unable to get out of the 50-foot deep well and uses Emeris' potion of levitation. They find no key, but from this vantage point they can see another outer ledge which appears accessible from the fourth storey.

They ascend to the third floor, where a massive brawl breaks out when they are attacked en masse by rat swarms and dire rats, one of which appeared corrupted by some fiendish element. The battle was joined by ratlords, wielding dragon pistols and swords, riding two particularly huge dire rats as mounts. Dziga came close to death but eventually they won, with carnage spread all over the third floor. The two ratlords appeared to be worshippers of the Rat God, although the companions had earlier learned there was in fact no Rat God – there was only Abhoth, one of the so-called “Ancients”.



Further exploration takes them to the fourth level, where they search Maquent’s old chamber. They read her journal and learn more of the Pythoness House’s sordid history. It is confirmed that Radanna, one of the proprietors, worked with the Crimson Coil cult and hid weapons of chaos beneath the keep. It was intended that they be used to serve chaos on the “Night of Dissolution”. This is the second reference to this enigmatic event that they have come across. At one point, it is even said that the chaos cultists brought to the house an “earthbound demon”, a creation of the Ancients. This demon brought more fiendish creatures from the Dark Reliquary to serve the goals of cult. Only when the Knights of the Pale attacked the place was all this brought to an end.

Across the hall they find Radanna’s chamber – which is still inhabited by Radanna. She has become a hate-filled skeleton warrior, accompanied by a heavily-armed entourage of other skeletons. She laughs disturbingly as the companions’ blades hack her apart, while Saral channels the Emperor’s power to discorporate most of the weaker undead foes.



With that afternoon of heavy fighting, the group is exhausted and low on resources. They decide to take the rest of the day off and sell off some of their loot. To their unpleasant surprise, they find a wall of force is blocking the main entrance, trapping them inside! Left with no choice but to rest in the Pythoness House, the group retreats to the gatehouse, where they replenish magic and sleep off some of their injuries. By the time they are ready to continue, it past midnight. For the last eight hours, they have heard the strange voice from earlier whispering eerie phrases, like “Chaos is the key,” “I must feed,” and “Come to me…”

It is time to move on.

Next time: The companions face more horrors left behind by the Crimson Coil!

Random Elanian Factoid: The Knights of the Pale is the organization that assaulted the chaos followers and demons at the Pythoness House a year ago. They are a sixteen-member group dedicated to the elimination of fiends and evil spellcasters in the city. They have an Imperial Charter and are allied with the celestials at the Pale Tower and the anti-undead Keepers of the Veil.

Episode XIII: Night of Dissolution, Act I -- The Pythoness House I (Juliar 8)

It rains heavily on this dark day, the day Emeris the shadowcaster, Vatex the urban ranger, Dziga the rogue, and Early the warblade-fighter enter the Pythoness House in search of the weapons of chaos and Neveran’s allkey. Additionally, they are joined by Emeris’ new acquaintance from the Imperial University, a geeky cleric of the Emperor dedicated to lore, named SARAL. She seems easily distracted and carries a huge crossbow.



Located in Oldtown, the House is actually an eight-storey square keep. Since the Knights of the Pale attacked the place two years ago, it has been abandoned. Or has it? The four of them enter through the main entrance to a large courtyard, with surrounding walls so high it almost seems like an interior chamber with no roof. They enter the keep itself and hear a voice both outside and inside their mind, saying “Come to me…” Inside, everything is covered in dust and grime and cobwebs.





They look around the main floor and are ambushed by ratlings throwing powder bombs and knives. A terrible ratbrute charges from hiding behind a curtain and nearly slays Early in its assault. Dziga nearly cripples the brute with sneak attacks and Emeris brings it down with disabling shadow energy. Vatex and Sarel dispatch the ratlings. After the fight, they explore and find a statue of an evil looking fat man which appears to hide something beneath it. Although no amount of strength they can will move it, they notice a curious indentation in its belly.


They search a trio of former boudoirs, one of which seeming strangely clean and well kept and is inhabited by three lusty prostitutes. Dziga questions them then the illusion dissolves, revealing the whores are wights. One manages to wrap its hands around Dziga’s throat, choking away his very life energy. Quick action by the others saved him, as the whore wight would not have let go lest it or Dziga had been destroyed. In another boudoir, an old candle holder suddenly flies at Early and cuts him above the eye.

On the western landing they find a disgusting former kitchen inhabited by hundreds of diseased rats which immediately swarm the group. One of Early’s Vajra maneuvers killed a few hundred in one stroke and made easier the task of scattering the rest. Across from the kitchen was a door to the western tower, the third level of which contained a large jar full of dark yellow liquid, a book called “The Philosophy of Fate”, and a candle with the word “Segginal” carved into it. They spoke with word “Segginal” before the fat man statue and the shadows around them stirred slightly in response. Emeris and Vatex took a look at the book and found it to be cursed, damaging their very minds merely by reading the first word on the first page. They left behind the jar as Dziga had a suspicion it contained old urine.



On the second level, Dziga and Vatex explore the gatehouse while Emeris and Early watche their back. There, a table covered in old weapons is somehow hurled at Dziga. Annoyed, he starts tossing the weapons out the window so he can explore without having the house’s spirits throw sharp things at him. A ghost of a cleric of the Emperor manifests before him suddenly. Dziga asks if it is Segginal, instead it calls itself Taunell, servant of the Emperor. With that proclamation, it attacks Dziga.

Next: The Pythoness House is haunted by spirits, infested by rats, and...what else?

Episode XII: Shilukar's Lair II (Juliar 1-7)

Most of the companions are grievously wounded and Emeris accepts Shilukar’s offer to negotiate. The dark elf seems to have lighter skin than the average dark elf and carries an assortment of weird tools and devices at his belt. He seems frank while he elaborates on why he wants the protection of Castle Shard. He says he has many enemies who wish to stop his experiments, and he has been forced to use the gnolls as protection. He wants to live in Castle Shard so that he may pursue his experiments in peace, for no one would dare assault him if he is under Lord Zavere and Lady Rill’s protection. He says that if he can live there, he can be rid of the gnolls. Ravaan is the Beast God and is the father of BRUGUL and Angash, and for some reason it is because of him that they serve the dark elf. He also cryptically says that he is the key to transforming Abbercrombe, and if he is killed or hurt restoring the man will be impossible. The group is sent away to deliver the information to Castle Shard.



Dziga, Vatex, Early, and Emeris stop by the Ghostly Minstrel to discuss the current situation over a few drinks. Dziga and Vatex want to kill Shilukar. Early wants to kill the fiendish blue gnolls. Emeris wants to see what happens if they play both sides to their own best advantage. They are unsure of what to make of Helmut’s prophecies, anticipating the “black rain” to cause trouble for divine spellcasters and a possible connection between Helmut and Shilukar. They are interrupted by some excitement about a bold paladin of the Emperor proclaiming he is going to enter Jabel Shammer due to an item that grants immunity to disintegration. Unfortunately, the plan does not work and the man disappears in a cloud of dust as he flies towards the evil fortress at the top of the spire.

Emeris reads the historical book from the university about the runebearer heroes. It is a florid text that describes the many exploits of the eight legendary heroes, such as the slaying of great wyrms, demon lords, and the Dread One himself. Darkstar had attained divinity and was worshipped by many as the epitome of evil, but such was the power of the god-like runeheroes. The runebearers champions were also responsible for the defeat of two of the most powerful servants of the mysterious Ancients, Mrathrach and Vladaam. Mrathrach shares its name name of both a huge sinkhole by Aelric’s hometown, and the strange game at the White House. Vladaam shares its name with the notorious Elanian noble family of House Vladaam.

Later, Dziga and Vatex return to the Temple of the Rat God. They find it empty. The chaositech gargoyle has been removed and the idol of Abhoth seems to have melted into the ground. That night, Dziga dreams once again of the huge empty city and this time finds his way into a library of mythic proportions, with thousands if not millions of books twice the size of a man. Within this building, he finds a strange statuette of a star-headed…thing. He is not sure what it is, but when he wakes up he finds it still in his hand.



From Saharasahla, the group learns more about the Ancients (also known as the Galchutt, the Hylden Lords, the Lords of Chaos, the Natharlu’carna, even the “Creators” to some). They are mysterious outsiders, beyond godlike in power, alien in thought and deed, who crave only pure destruction and chaos. When Saharasahla sees the star-headed thing that Dziga has, he is clearly disturbed and censures the rogue for touching the Abhoth idol, banishing him from the library. Additionally, the shadowcaster gives Emeris the minor task of acquiring anti-sleep drugs from a Shuul agent named RINNER.

Early tells Hitomi about their discoveries at Helmut’s house. For now, her hunt for Vermillion will continue and she plots for when Helmut returns in a few weeks. She continues to wonder why Helmut wants the runechildren dead.

At Castle Shard, Zavere is ultimately forced to accept Shilukar’s offer. He has the company deliver the message, and when they do the dark elf is delighted. He also offers them a mission of his own. He says he will pay them each an amount equal to the bounty on his head in exchange for the head of a Shuul scientist named DR FEAGUS. The Shuul are a group dedicated to law and order, the Empire, and the resurgence of technology, with connections to the Temple of Vexander and the Sorn organization of techno-magi. Shilukar says they are secretly funded by the Killraven Crime League, and Dr Feagus is engineering anti-chaos monsters and a machine that will supposedly be capable of destroying all the chaositech in the city. Shilukar believes he must be stopped.

The group accepts the mission. Shilukar tells them of a rumor that an old chaos cult hid weapons that were strong against the forces of law and order in a building called the Pythoness House. Emeris is immediately summoned by Saharasahla via the thoughtstone. The old shadowcaster tells of women named MAQUENT and RADANNA who ran a strange brothel that also offered fortune-telling during copulation. The place was a front for a bizarre cult called the Crimson Coil. The leader of the cult, named KHYRON, gave Maquent one of Neveran’s allkeys as a gift. And their brothel was called the Pythoness House. The Knights of the Pale attacked the place three years ago and drove out or killed the cultists and demons and undead. He also speaks of fate and destiny -- how Emeris was destined to meet the old shadowcaster, and he is apparently destined to go to the Pythoness House.

Before visiting the Pythoness House, the group takes a few days to train and rest and study. Early refines his connection to the Vajra with Hitomi’s help through meditation and exercise. He also gives Itumar some more training, and learns the young man has some rather fiery anti-Empire sentiments and had a pamphlet from an anti-Empire group called the Brotherhood of Elan. Emeris reads more of the Book of Eidon and learns more about the metaphysics of shadow. Dziga has not had any dreams of the giant city in many nights. And Lord Zavere offers each one in the group a friendship band, a sign of their good relationship with Castle Shard.

Next: The companions enter the Pythoness House, seeking the weapons of chaos and the allkey of Neveran.

Episode XI: The End of the Trail II / Shilukar's Lair I (Juliar 1)

After leaving the Temple Observatory of the Watcher of the Skies, Aelric leaves the group to rest. Despite the Temple of Ashe’s magical healing, he has not fully recovered from his encounter with the chaos beast and the last few days have been exhausting. This leaves Early and Emeris to head for Dziga’s apartment. In order to break into Helmut Itlstein’s house, they will need the rogue’s skills. Dziga decides to go along – not to mention, he needs to get his alchemy lab equipment back from the Darkwater hideout somehow.

While the next step is to find out where Helmut lives, Emeris receives a sending from Lady Rill, summoning the group to Castle Shard at once. There they meet with Lord Zavere, whose usual calm composure is nervous and distraught. Rill has not been able to unravel the mysterious magic holding Lord Abbercrombe in his stasis. That morning, they had received a message from Shilukar. The dark elf was offering the restorative for Abbercrombe in exchange for Castle Shard’s protection, and they have been given two days to decide. Zavere insinuates that he wants the companions to find Shilukar within two days and get the restorative from him. Zavere tells them to work with another “associate” of theirs, an elven urban ranger named VATEX who has relevant skills.

Together, the four of them start their hunt. After a few hours, they learn that Shilukar sometimes uses a fence named AMMEL DAR. They also ask around the Temple District and find the location of Helmut’s residence. They break into the residence and find a couple of Fate Weavers, the sorcerer MENASTER and the fighter JAMILA. (A third person, a man named URLIN, was seen leaving the house before they broke in.) Jamila is killed in the melee and Dziga and Emeris torture information out of Menaster. He reveals that Phon is hidden in a secret room in the house, and that they are making a mistake by rescuing Phon, for her baby cannot live. Emeris kills the man and the group finds Phon heavily sedated but otherwise healthy and pregnant. They are surprised by a large magical table that animates and attacks them, but they trash it. Emeris searches Helmut’s office and takes a stack of notes on the Watcher’s prophecies and signs. They then haul Phon back St. Gustav’s and leave her in Fabitor’s care.

The companions then head to the Manticore’s Plate, a tavern where Ammel Dar hands out. While waiting, Emeris reviews the strange prophecies in Helmut’s notes. Many are unintelligible without accompanying interpretation. Some are specific:

> “A test of will, a test of faith, the children of the New Gods are Silenced by the Black Rain.” When the black rain comes, wielders of divine power will lose their connection to their gods. At this time, Helmut plans to attack the Holy Palace of Elan (home of the Prince of the Holy Order of Vigoor and headquarters of the Knights of the Dawn).
> “The Dark Traveller will find the Golden Man. But the Idol of Ravaan brings doom.” This is accompanied by a map of the Guildman District identifying Shilukar’s lair hidden beneath a junkyard. But who or what is Ravaan?
> Another prophecy mentions Dreta Phantas. They can make no sense of it, but Vatex tells them Dreta Phantas was the legendary city of the lunar elves of Moonsilver Forest, which was reputedly completely spirited away by dark elves several thousands of years ago.
> Finally, they find the most detailed notes surround the rune children. It is said that the appearance of the runebearers will bring disaster to the city, and any child conceived by Helmut will be a runebearer. This analysis accompanies the following disturbing verse:

They who are not dead, they who can eternally lie
Dreaming within the earth until the initiation of a Strange Aeon
When it becomes necessary to utter a Word
The whole planet will be bathed in blood

Ammel Dar no longer matters. With the location of Shilukar’s lair, the group heads to the scrap yard. They find a hidden door leading underground into a portion of Ghul’s labyrinth. A difficult battle against Shilukar’s gnoll minions unfolds. The companions are tested by gnoll warriors, their hyena pets, and a powerful cleric named NYRATHAH. Emeris controlls the battlefield with shadow magic while Early and Dziga cut and shoot down foes, but Dziga is held by the fierce gnoll cleric’s magic. Nyrathah is brought down but the situation grows direr when a huge fiendish blue gnoll with a greataxe called ANGASH enters the battle. The brutal fight pauses only when Shilukar arrives with another squad of gnolls, and another huge blue one that seems every bit as fierce as the male but it is female and wears armor.



“If you kill her brother, she will fight you,” Shilukar says. “Perhaps it would be better if we negotiated.”

Interlude

Aelric the favored soul of Vazdah, Dziga the rogue, Early the warblade-fighter, and Emeris the draconic shadowcaster had investigated the attack on Phon Quartermain for weeks and only now had discovered the identity of "Methul Watcher" -- he is Helmut Itlstein, High Priest of the Watcher of the Skies and leader of the Republican Movement. It is somehow related to the runebearer children, Dullin Balacazar and the eastern swordswoman's little brother.

Meanwhile, in their assault on the Temple of the Rat God, they had stumbled upon some sort of plot related to the chaos cults and something called the "Night of Dissolution". There is no Rat God -- it is merely a front for the worshipping of one of the Ancients, known as "Abhoth". Dziga's contact with Abhoth's idol seems to have changed him somehow... The demons of the Dark Reliquary may be involved. What are the Ancients, and what are their worshipers planning?

At the same time, Emeris had come in contact with the strange old shadowcaster Saharasahla, who was interested in acquiring a complete copy of the Book of Inverted Shadows. What power is contained in that ancient tome's missing page? And what of the mysterious, shadowy key found beneath Derby's house?

Finally, they had also become contractors for the Lords of Castle Shard. Lord Zavere and Lady Rill will surely wish to strike out against the dark elf Shilukar, who hides somewhere in the city...

Episode X: The End of the Trail I (Junar 28-Juliar 1)

Further exploration of Anamethe/Ephraim’s hideout beneath Derby’s house must wait, for Aelric requires immediate magical assistance to cure the condition inflicted by the chaos beast. The company leaves Derby’s house and make a midnight stop at the Temple of Ashe, where the priests take care of Aelric for the next 24 hours. Dziga heads to his girlfriend’s house to visit her. Emeris the shadowcaster and Early the fighter-turned-warblade return to the docks to get some rest at the Darkwater hideout.



Upon arrival, something is immediately wrong. Hans, Bort, Abdar, Kerris, and even their boss, Darusa, had all been killed by stealthily executed twin sneak attacks. An attack by Vai assassins! Furthermore, it seemed the assassins were being stalked by the Pyrnese swordswoman for whom they had been searching! Emeris is enraged by the death of Darusa, and swears vengeance. Darusa had brought him in when Emeris was in the city with no job prospects and no place to live, and had always treated him fairly. Joining forces with the eastern woman, the Vai are torn apart in a quick melee fuelled by vengeful bloodlust. On the assassins’ bodies, the characters find a magical globe containing an image of Darusa, Emeris, and Early.



They speak with the young swordswoman, eager to hear what she has to say. She is beautiful and graceful but the hunger for revenge burns in her eyes. Her name is Hitomi, and she is trying to find a gun-wielding Vai assassin known as VERMILLION. She explains that this exceptionally youthful looking, green-haired, red-eyed assassin travelled thousands of miles to West Pyrna to murder her twelve-year old brother. He was apparently sent by…Methul Watcher! Finding no leads on Methul Watcher, Hitomi began hunting the Vai (not an easy task) hoping to find Vermillion. That led her to confront the Vai in the brutal attack on the Darkwater smugglers. Of the Vai, she knows that they are led by the TWIN LORDS KEPER, possibly the two greatest assassins in the Empire. Their hideout is somewhere beneath the Warrens, and they have connections to the undead-worshipping Forsaken.

The three of them consider further connections. Hitomi’s little brother had a rune on his face, as did Dullin Balacazar (whom Dziga had protected from another Vai). Did Phon bear such a rune? Darkwater is declared finished, and the hideout abandoned -- it is too dangerous to remain. Emeris and Early meet up with Aelric and get rooms at the low-profile Dragonsfire Inn, where Hitomi is staying.

The next few days are spent investigating. They speak with many people: Saharasahla, Zophas, Gandorf, Judge Rahl, and a professor at the Imperial University named BELSKY. They were referred to another professor, a shoal elf named SHAR, but he was out of town, and they sought information from Lord Zavere and Lady Rill but they were too busy working on the restoration of Lord Abbercrombe. Additionally, they visited Chasthamus Isle in the Necropolis, home of the great druid ANDACH, where they spoke with a huge talking lion named SAMUH. All in all, they learn the following:

> The runes are characters from a written language called the Elder Script, which is recognized as such by some specialist scholars. However, no known person can read the script. It was used tens of thousands of years ago, when ancient peoples worshipped the Elder Gods. (Belsky also mentions something called the “Enhasa Prison Theory” although he is too impatient to elaborate.)
> Thousands of years ago, the runebearers were quite common (one in four people bore runes), and marked people with a special aptitude in things such as fighting ability, arcane might, and so on. The great heroes who defeated Darkstar were all runebearers. Fewer runebearers were born as time passed and eventually they disappeared. Some say it was related to Enhasa’s second moon disappearing, but others say Enhasa never had a second moon.
> The Vai’s most high-profile clients are the Balacazars, the Killraven Crime League, and House Vladaam.
> Methul Watcher is bogus name. There is no listing of that name in the City Registry and no criminal connections have heard of such a person.
> Archanfel, leader of the demons of the Dark Reliquary, is something other than a demon and "arguably worse" than one.



Emeris speaks with Saharasahla. The old sage takes the strange shadow key and stores it in a safe. Emeris asks to read a copy of the Book of Inverted Shadows, but Saharasahla says he is not ready. To grapple with the concepts of the Book of Inverted Shadows at a premature level of understanding could cause insanity or worse. Instead, the sage provides the young shadowcaster with the Book of Eidon, an introductory tome of shadow metaphysics.

Fabitor finally returns from a mission for his deity, and reveals that he has discovered the identity of Phon’s lover – Helmut Itlstein, High Priest of Watcher of the Skies and leader of the Republican movement. Fabitor considers him one of the most dangerous men in the city. What is Helmut’s motivation in all this?



The characters visit the Temple Observatory and learn about the Watcher of the Skies and his priesthood. Using methods prescribed in their holy texts and the magic of their massive telescope, the clergy looks for special formations of celestial bodies and translates these into prophecy. Helmut’s skill with translating the prophecies is regarded as the greatest of all the Watcher’s followers. It turns out Helmut’s is away from Elan and will be gone for several weeks. Early, Emeris, and Aelric decide they will need Dziga to rejoin them – they plan on breaking into Helmut’s house while he is away. They must first find out where he lives...

Next: The characters break into Helmut's house, and Shilukar offers to make a deal with Castle Shard.