Ultimate Justice (2COT12)
- Part of Episode: The Riddle of the Covenant (2COT1)
- Part of Season: A Time For Discovery (2COT)
- Part of Saga: The Coming of Twilight
Session took place on 10/2/2010.
Story
Session begins on 6 Ches 1322.
Act 1: "Oh great. Vampires."
Having used Natasha's Imaskari timepiece to travel to the year 1322, the party appears in the bedchambers of one Nyressa Flass, Zulkir of Necromancy, and notable vampire. Many vampires lie languidly about, sleeping away the day. The arrival of the PCs disturbs them.
A battle ensues, and the party fights a retreat, carving through the vampires to reach the exit. It was assumed there were no casualties, as the vampires turned to mist and sought their coffins upon being destroyed.
Boring a hole through the outer wall (via Disintegrating Blade), the PCs escaped Ghanisi and made good their escape. That is, until a wyvern caught up to them, bearing them down to earth and trying to dissolve them into goo. Instead, the wyvern was dissolved.
The party escaped High Thay and made their way to Eltabbar.
Act 2: "I am called Radduk."
The party shacks up in Eltabbar, renting a room at an inn near the Covenant Guild Hall. They keep watch, to determine if it will be unguarded at some point.
That night, Talrendis sneaks out to infiltrate the Guild Hall. However, en route, he encounters a gang of ruffians accosting a young woman. She is apparently trying to flee from a Red Wizard and his knight, but the gang won't let her pass.
Battle is joined, as the party intervenes to save the young woman from the Red Wizard, who turns out to be none other than a young Vaclav Radduk. They defeat the wizard, harming only his projected image, and flee to the countryside.
There, they wait out the night in secure shelters. Keket and Raithen argue about relationship matters, while Talrendis tries to counsel Raithen, unwittingly laying bare his true feelings, right in front of Natasha.
By morning, they return to Eltabbar. The young woman, apparently Vladimira Yhelbruna, future leader of the Wychlaran, takes them to a safe hideout, a place of like-minded people who resist the Red Wizards and try to rescue slaves and the downtrodden from Thay. It turns out their safehouse is located directly under the Guild Hall.
But it isn't so safe. Radduk tracked her, or possibly the PCs, right back to the lair. In the company of his master, Kel'vik Flass, he confronted the rebels and laid them low. However, at the crucial moment, he betrayed his master, destroying him, and setting free Yhelbruna and her rebel friends. He left her only with his name.
Act 3: Back to the Future
The party's time journey came to an abrupt stop, as inevitables of Time came to "reject" them, booting them back to 1381. They reappeared in the same place, back in their own time.
Now inside the Guild Hall, they were able to investigate it without tripping the entry wards. Upstairs, they found the remains of their battle with the hall's defenders...and the many secret, interesting things that the hooded ones wouldn't let them see.
They removed the coverings to find 12 glass containers, each with relics of an individual, marked by one of the symbols in the letter. In some, they found masks, such as those worn by the Wychlaran, or the red robes and wands of a Red Wizard. In some others, there were daggers, rings, signature magic items, and the like.
The centerpiece of the room turned out to be a great, circular table, its surface engraved with the symbol of the Covenant, including the 12 marks of its founders. Looking over it, on a nearby wall, is a massive painting of the founders, seated at the table, capped by the Oath of the Covenant: "Life, liberty, and justice for all: so we swear by the Art."
The Hooded Ones appeared to confront them, but their secrets had already been laid bare. They revealed their identities: Vaclav Radduk, Yaphyll, and Nythra Yekatrinovna.
Seated around the table, the party listened as Radduk explained the history of the Covenant. It began on that night in 1322. Radduk wouldn't see Yhelbruna again for 5 years, and when they met again, they renewed efforts within Thay to undo the wickedness of the Red Wizards, and to free their slaves. Much came of their union.
By 1338, many had joined their cause. One among them, Vasilisa Radov, the young daughter of Yhelbruna, championed the idea of forming an organization dedicated to fighting the abuse of magical power, the institution of slavery, and the corruption in government throughout the Unapproachable East. And so, in 1338, the Covenant was formed. Its original members were:
- Vaclav Radduk, Red Wizard
- Vladimira Yhelbruna, Hathran
- Wilhelmina Petrovna, ex-Hathran, exiled for seeking the tutelage of a Red Wizard
- Nythra Yekatrinova, Ethran, servant of Yhelbruna
- Lazar Betroska, Thayan rogue and ex-mercenary
- Vasilisa Radov, Yhelbruna's daughter, a woman of no great magical talent, but more than enough heart
He explained that others would join later; a total of 6 would swear by the oath:
- Piotr von Durzig, mage and treasure hunter of the Moonsea
- Xae Elrinath, Zakharan-born Thayan fire sorceress and devotee of Kossuth
- Ardanis Starsong, Aglarondan Yuir-elven bard/ranger
- Aznar Thrul, a young, charismatic Red Wizard
- Yaphyll, a mysterious young Red Wizardess gifted with divinations
- Uksar Valik, ex-Vremyonni, exiled for forbidden male worship of the Goddess
In the end, he said, the organization was taken down by Szass Tam. For all of their manipulations, they had made great strides in removing the old guard from power--but this only created an opportunity for an even more ruthless and wicked faction, led by Tam, to seize control of the Zulkirs, and ruin their hopes for a free Thay.
Not all was lost, of course. Yaphyll and Aznar Thrul had infiltrated the ranks of the Zulkirs, and Yhelbruna would become the most respected Othlor amongst the Wychlaran. And of course, the Empress would ultimately destroy the Red Wizard and Hathran organizations, a mixed blessing for Rashemen, but a godsend for Thay.
With all that had happened, all the pain the Covenant survivors had endured, Radduk preferred to leave all things as they were. The Covenant, he explained, no longer had any meaning, and its oaths had been broken. Best to let it die with its founders.
Yaphyll, however, counseled the party, and Ani in particular, to look deeper into the Covenant's history, both to understand her own heritage, and to determine who is responsible for the death threats upon her and the rest of the Covenant.
The party returns to Aglarond to consult with the King, by way of Ani's tower. However, something horrible happens to Ani in the Mirror Room, and the one that returns to the party isn't the one that went to check on Natalia...
Rewards
- Vampires and Wyvern: 6,000 xp each
- Radduk, Winter, and knight: 3,370 xp each
New total: 117,000 xp
(Treasure debt: 115 gp. To be filled in later.)
