Session 016 - Thieves' Guild

Before Magister Eldrin begins handing out resources for the students to create their staves, he asks for Kat and her entourage to stay after the lesson. After the students have left, the party joins Eldrin at his desk for a cup of tea. He reveals that he's heard a lot about Kat through letters from his daughter Brea. Soon Eldrin fetches two items from his shelves and present them to Kat; a beautiful staff of white wood capped with twin wings reminiscent of the Silverwing crest and a scroll. This staff was crafted by Brea as a gift and the scroll is so Kat can finish the staff with the final spell. Kat picks up the staff with a warm smile and mentions just how much her master spoils her.

Eldrin congratulates Kat on being named the heir to house Silverwing before continuing to explain that her father claimed to have been sick to explain his previous behavior. Furthermore, the entire Silverwing family has been invited to the Gralton ball which is the reason Eldrin thought he might find Kat in the city at all. Still processing the trove of information, Kat says she will meet with her family at the ball and agrees to come to Eldrin for help if she needs it.

The party follow the streets north after leaving the school and come to Faithmason Square which they presume contains the temple of Iomedae. There are multiple residential buildings throughout and the first temples they come across are dedicated to Milani and Nethys with the first being a modest temple and the second a larger building resembling a library. With their previous experience with Milani's Thorns, the party goes to archive of Nethys.

Outside the door to the archive is a mage reading a tome while blocking the entryway. Athe's multiple attempts to get the man's attention are unsuccessful and he only looks up from his tome when Kat summons a light to block his reading. He smiles at the show of magic and invites her into the archive after explaining that the only ones allowed to enter must either show their disposition to magic or offer a magical item to be added to the archive. After making sure everyone had a means of entrance, the party continues inside.

Frantically searching through piles of documents at the main desk is Scholar Priest Isaiah. When the party first speaks to him, he mistakes them as auditors from the greater archive. After correcting him and offering their aid, Isaiah reveals that a very important tome is missing and he suspects it has been stolen. He offers them magical items for the assistance and tells them that the tome they are looking for is All-Seeing Eye: The Pursuit of Magic Above All. The party soon finds tracks leading to the doors and further follows them outside and near the entrance to Milani's temple.

The temple has seems to have been abandoned and the doors locked. Through the windows they can see a man sleeping in one of the pews. Athe deftly picks the lock and proceeds into the temple that looks especially well maintained despite being abandoned. They wake the man, assuring him that they mean no harm but have some questions they hope he can answer. The man introduces himself as Howard and explains that he once ran a business in gathering and preparing firewood but has recently been made destitute after insulting councilman Hadal Arevardo, one of Gralton's nobles.

Gralton's governor Kestri Cherlone allows trials to be resolved via combat and it is one such trial that Hadal used against Howard. With little to no combat experience and against Hadal's champion, Howard lost and his punishment resulted in his family being imprisoned until he can pay 300 gold pieces for their freedom. Having lost his family and business, he has taken shelter within Milani's temple after it was abandoned. The reason it was abandoned is that the temple's clergy lost their power from Milani.

The party offers to find a way to free his family before wishing him well and continuing with their current investigation. After leaving the temple, Athe hears distant murmuring and traces it to the nearby well. After tying some lengths of rope together, they descend through the well and find themselves within the sewers under Gralton. They find more locked doors and behind one of which voices can be heard. Athe quickly picks the lock and sneaks into the room with Thaniel to listen in on the conversation while the others wait outside. Two halflings and a half-orc are are discussing what they should do after one of them had been injured.

After deciding they aren't an immediate threat, Athe reveals herself and hands the open lock over when questioned as to how she entered. After agreeing to heal their friend's wounds, the rest of the party enters the room. Thaniel approaches and uses his magical gloves to heal the wounds while conversation is made. They introduce themselves as Maven, Hancock, and Meyer; members of the Thieves' Guild of which Maven is the guildmaster.

The party agrees to clear the sewerways of the creatures that block the thieves' path in exchange for the stolen tome. Maven sends the other members to disarm the traps they have laid throughout the place while he offers them some information of what creatures they have found down there. When the traps are disarmed the party proceeds through the sewer. They soon encounter and defeat a Gibbering Mouther before finding a Basilisk and Giant Crawling Hand to slay. They finish exploring the sewers and find some pups that they instruct to return to Thorn. With the danger resolved, the party returns to the thieves and receives the tome before climbing the rope back to the street.

They return the tome to Isaiah and are rewarded with an armor potency rune that The Austere soon has absorbed into the armor Avoh forms. The sun has set by this point and the party decide to find an inn to spend the night after asking Isaiah for directions to Iomedae's temple. They return to the market district and spend the night at a familiar inn.

As the others sleep throughout the night, The Austere keeps himself busy after he enjoyed the short rest he needed. It's in these quiet moments of the night that he hears someone open a door and walk outside. He follows to find Opalneria sitting on the stairs and decides to take a seat next to her. Knowing that he has lived for a long time, Opal asks him how it feels to outlive all those you knew and what it means to him to be remembered. Questions that he ponders for the consideration they're due before answering with what he's learned from his life.

Erastus 22nd, 4724

With the new day's dawn, Opal parts with the party to do some shopping while the others work on getting Thaniel's curse cured at the temple. They follow Isaiah's directions out of the city gates and travel to the temple and the large cemetary it features outside of its walls. The group decide to take a seat inside and wait for a priest to return.

The hallowed halls soon offer Thaniel a vision in which he finds himself within just outside a confessional booth. He sits inside and draws the curtain when a voice speaks to him from the other side and tells him of his past and his sin.

A large mirror appears before him and shows Thaniel as he once was; a power angel with large wings sprouting from his back as he wields a mighty weapon in Iomedae's name. The vision ends as suddenly as it began as a old priest walks up the aisle and stands behind the pulpit before asking for anyone to come up that needs his healing. Thaniel stands and approaches the old man. The man's eyes glimmer in recognition before two Hellknights adorned in the iconic black armor and carrying heavy metal chains draws the attention of everyone within the temple.

They loudly proclaim that they are here to arrest the convicted traitor Thaniel for deserting Iomedae's army.