- The party started in town as they fled from the encounter with Beatrice and Cherry in the one of market in the Grey Citadel.
- They met Kate who was talking to an old blind man
- She claimed that he was full of wisdom and was the leader of the revolution.
- The old man, who never offered his name nor did anyone ask his name, engaged in banter with the party. Through the discussions, he offered these insights/wisdom:
- “I am old and blind—I have been many things and I will be many things- but one constant is that I am free…….and I am everywhere—-“
- “Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things. This very moment, I am changing the way of doing things.”
- “Alcohol may be man’s worst enemy, but Scriptures says love your enemy. So, how shall I love alcohol?” He holds out his hands.
- “One who marries for love alone may have bad days but will always have good nights.”
- “Nothing happens by chance, my friend, nothing… there is no such thing as luck. There is a meaning behind every little thing. Part for you, part for me, may not see it all real clear right now, but we will, before long.” {DM humor: I know – I read the DM’s 150 page outline}
- “A revolution is not an apple that falls when ripe—you have to make it fall.”
- “Personal transformation can and does have global effects. As we go, so goes Vala, for Vala is us. The revolution that will save Vala is ultimately a personal one.”
- “The seed of revolution is repression.”
- “When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be free.”
- “An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools.”
- “It is easy to take freedom for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.”
- “I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in the morning, That’s as good as they’re going to feel all day.”
- “You look at me and think, I am an old drunk – you judge me in your mind… you think me a fool do you note? Is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt?”
- “Fate leads the willing and drags along the unwilling.”
- “How a person masters his fate is more important than what his fate is.”
- “Wherever a man may happen to turn, whatever a man may undertake, he will always end up by returning to the path which nature has marked out for him.”
- “When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty. And that is why the Wizard’s First Rule is so important.”
- “Wizard’s First Rule: people are stupid. Given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it’s true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People’s heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool.”
The Dharan Empire uses the First Rule even now—the People need an enemy to feel a sense of purpose- a sense of unity. It’s easy to lead people when they have a sense of purpose. Sense of purpose is more important by far than the truth. In fact, truth has no bearing in this. I would ask you, what is the Dharan Empire here and why did the demons show up when they did? Was it that the Grey Cloak’s disappearance did something to bring demons? What say you? I say, that the Dharan Empire is here and provided the enemy and using this enemy, they control the people providing them with an enemy, other than himself, a sense of purpose. People are stupid; they want to believe, so they do.”
- A black cat crawled out of the sewer and brought a dead rat to the blind man
- Jade arrived and tried to get the male members of the party to visit the bath-house—she used the promise of various spa treatments to boost stats to 25 for 24-hours.
- No party member took her up on her offer
- After the old man finished his “wisdom,” Kate again tried to recruit people for the revolution against the D’Haran Empire.
- An orphan girl grabs the dead rat and starts to eat it—Argone intervenes and gives her 5 gold and he tells her to get a room and a bath.
- Jade overhears this and offers to care for the orphan at the bathhouse. Argone issues some threats to Jade but does not stop her from taking the girl to the bathhouse.
- Next, the Crimson Cloaks run into the party and they are upset that Sky Writing spell was cast (secretly by Avari) that insult them.
- Yelm has an encounter with Argone and they both learn that the other has passed the Dragon’s Challenge. They discuss their responsibilities and roles and Yelm states that he will not draw steel against Argone because they are blood brothers.
- The party banters with the Crimson Cloaks and learns that Sir Douglas Roxy believes he has a claim to the throne.
- The party returns to the Inn and meets with the Black Cat who states in a private room that he is a messenger for Teak.
- He states that the Bone King has been awakened but the party needs to get Elinda’s book that she hid first before taking on the Bone King. He explains the traps to the party and states that they need to find special rings.
- That night, the party each has a nightmare
- Masked enemies surround them — they hear “it’s the end for you….”
- The party is attached with knives from multiple directions all aimed at your hearts
- Jaego – he points towards the keep
- “There do I wait in the City of the Dead
- “Here do they trade for years of my soul
- “There do I wait, one last thing to be said
- “If only you knew what I know
- “There do I wait in the City of the Dead
- “Where Ankev did fight for his soul
- “There do I wait, one last thing to be said
- “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
- At this point in the dream, the knives rip your heart of our your chest, and the creatures rush off into the darkness with your heart and runs off into the darkness
- You wake up in a cold sweat.
- The next morning, the party heads to the Elinda’s tower and easily navigates the remaining traps.
- They find a lot of coins and jewelry and eventually find Elinda’s library, which has been ransacked.
- They eventually find the rings which are 12-inches across. After some trial and error, they release that when a ring is placed on the ground, you can see to another location, evidently where the other ring is. They see a small house on a grass hill in the woods.
- Argone tosses Feng through (he was in skunk form) and Kriick jumps through as well but falls unconscious.
- Demons appear and one of them cast Hold Person on Kriick.
- Avari uses his Genie Vessel and drops into the ring and emerges from his ring once inside. He brings the etc. ring with him.
- The other demons swarm towards Avari.
- Feng casts spike growth slowing down some of the demons.
- Avari casts shield and is barely hit.
- Meanwhile, back in the tower, the others are watching through the ring and scurry around in the tower and find potions of shrinking.
- They drink and start jumping into the ring.
- During the fight, the dragon necklaces on Argone, Avari and River (although she is not in the fight) glow and then go out.
- Feng and Kriick’s necklaces glow and they learn that a Box of Orden has been opened!
- Loo (blue-gray dragon) reports to Feng that the good dragons are gone– destroyed!
- Blaze casts a spell through the dragon necklace breaking Kriick’s hold person spell. She tell criticized him for doing amazing feats of danger in the dragon challenge but succumbing to a simple hold person spell. After the berating, she tells Kriick that the evil dragons (and really all dragons) needed him.
- Session ends.
