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<blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 9021317" data-attributes="member: 6816692"><p><strong><em>a war for the throne</em></strong> </p><p></p><p>We rush through the hallways until we reach an opening that leads us to the northern park. Once we take a step outside, we see both a row of cannons protected by a mass of ghostly undead and a lantern glowing in a familiar purple hue. The lantern is guarded by more undead, a group of Danoran gunmen, and a golem. For a moment, both Auryn and Carlyle are overwhelmed by the view of the sheer amount of attackers and the brute force. But then again, we've seen what Danor was able to amass in Methia. As time is short, we risk splitting up our forces: Auryn suggests to take over the cannons while Carlyle agrees to take care of the lantern.</p><p></p><p>Auryn dons her mask of the Court to make herself invisible and get closer to to the cannoneers. From this point of advantage, she casts a sleeping spell to stop the shelling. She then starts her pallavi of Nirvana's blossoming, entering a defensive stance to fend off the undead until she summons the divine light of Srasama to paralyze the spirits. She then destroys the undead with fireballs.</p><p></p><p>Carlyle, meanwhile, focuses directly on the lantern in the garden and destroys it with a targeted disintegration spell. This brightens the area up a bit, even though he immediately attracts the attention of the guards. He then hides himself with an improved invisibility spell and attacks the golem. The riflemen, unable to locate Carlyle, then bombard the area around the golem extensively, while the golem shoots at where it believes its target to be. Carlyle escapes both attacks fleet-footed and then takes care of them one by one. By then, Auryn's column of light appears nearby, and the ghosts are caught in it. Being paralyzed as well, they are no longer a real threat and easily disposed of.</p><p></p><p>We return to the throne room to report our findings back to King Aodhan and the rest of the defenders, but realize that there must be more of these lanterns due to the still present planar shift. As the king is still well guarded, he sends us to look for the next lantern. So we activate planar sensing and get a hunch that it should be somewhere above us. At the same time, we are also being informed that Asrabey must be somewhere in the palace. We are surprised that Torfield Palace of all would be the place he'd travel to after we left him in Trekhom, but agree that he would be a more than welcome reinforcement. Carlyle tries to reach the Dreadnaught using his telepathy, but fails at first as Asrabey is simply out of range. However, Shealis suggests that she and Harkover Lee try to enhance his range of telepathy by linking up with him and thus are able to inform Asrabey of the situation and entrust him with the search for yet another lantern.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(65, 168, 95)">(What a surprise! We really thought he'd still be hanging around in Trekholm, probably dissing Bhalu whenever possible)</span></p><p></p><p>To go after the Lantern above, we climb a secret staircase to the roof of the palace. As expected,we spot the lantern placed neatly on top of the roof. To our surprise, we also see the shadow of Amielle Latimer further away on the roof, shooting at Danoran gunmen from afar. We secure the lantern quite easily, but are fired upon by Amielle, who mistakes us for more attackers. Auryn projects a quick illusion into the sky, which declares that we are RHC, not Danorans, whereupon Amielle briefly waves at us, and then concentrates her fire on the Danorans again. We are more than glad that Amielle kept her opposition against Nicodemus and agree to talk to her and possibly welcome her into our resistance once this attack has been fended off.</p><p></p><p>We switch off this lantern instead of destroying it, as having one intact example would be of great use for our engineers. Having a sudden intuition, Carlyle proposes to pour some of the essence of the Borenbog into the lantern as a test. He then activates the mechanism again, hoping to maybe get a connection to our allies in the Unseen Court, as he knows that the Palace in Clover is right at the same spot as Torfield Palace.</p><p></p><p>To our pleasure, the plan works as intended, as the lantern now projects this part of the palace into the Dreaming, straight at the Unseen Court. We also see more lanterns in the southern garden by the Titan Shrine and the Unseen Garden from our spot at roof. While we quickly rush back down,we almost collide with Karest and Laryna, who were both in a hefty verbal exchange and are surprised to see the two of us return so soon.</p><p></p><p>We consider this to be a lucky coincidence, because now we can actually show the two courts what means our enemies have at their disposal. Also, we can fall back on the striking power of not one, but two Archfey. We inform Karest and Laryna quickly on what happened and how they got here, and both are horrified by both the existence of this tech and the cowardly attack on the Waking Court. So they are easily persuaded to take care of one of the two lanterns.</p><p></p><p>We both then go to the Titan Shrine to deal with the second lantern to the south. So we set off in a sprint to get to the lantern and engage in battle with its guards. But just as swords collide, we hear something tremendous happening in the palace. We look back north, and, for a moment, see Amielle standing in front of one of the exits. She sees us and tries to shout something in our direction, but then she is suddenly engulfed in a torrent of acid. To our shock, Amielle dissolves on the spot. Fearing that whatever creature would be lingering there was able to dispose of Amielle so easily could now be in its way towards the King, we decide that Carlyle will continue to take care of the lantern on his own while Auryn would hurry back to the throne room to protect King Aodhan.</p><p></p><p>Carlyle takes on the defenders one by one and finishes them off with some lightning fast teleportation attacks. He then collects the fusiliers' grenades, forms a pile and detonates one of the grenades before also rushing towards the palace.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Auryn is attacked by huge Witchoil jaguars as she enters the corridors of the palace again, but manages to get one of the beasts on her side. She convinces the rest with a spell that violence will only cause them more suffering and then promises them that someone will take care of their ongoing pain if only they'd behave peacefully.</p><p><span style="color: rgb(65, 168, 95)"></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(65, 168, 95)">(charm monster, serenity + speak with animals. Nothing too fancy, just a bit of clever combination</span>)</p><p></p><p>Fortunately, the Jaguars cease to attack her. Auryn then storms into the throne room and sees a man, several ghosts and an actual undead Dragon Tyrant who are about to corner the King and his bodyguards. The man turns out to be Professor Bugge, a necromantic disciple of the Voice of Rot who had been expelled from Pardwright University years before due to his experiments. She immediately suspects that it was he who resurrected the Tyrant Venkio who had formerly been in the palace.</p><p><span style="color: rgb(65, 168, 95)"></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(65, 168, 95)">(“So he's basically Kel'Thuzad?” I asked Tiz in amusement. For those who don't know the guy: Kel had once been a prominent archmage in Dalaran, center of all magical studies, and he was expelled once the Council had found out that he was taking his experiments of necromancy too far. He later formed a cult, raised some undead including frostwyrm/dracoliches and eventually became the right hand of the Lich King)</span></p><p></p><p>This very same Tyrant is now about to spew acid at a shield held up by Shealis to protect the king. All the while, a red dragon, who she presumes to be the true form of Harkover Lee, is in melee with Venkio, biting at the undead dragon's wings. Then Auryn's eyes widen as she sees what once was Dame Jillian, who lies on the ground partially melted by acid.</p><p></p><p>Auryn immediately charges at Venkio and calls out to him, trying to challenge the Tyrant that might be still inside.</p><p></p><p>“Venkio! Here you stand, and believe that you are the biggest, meanest Tyrant of all dragonkind. And still you are so, so much smaller than Gradiax, the Steel Lord! I doubt that you come even close to him!”</p><p></p><p>As she had planned, Venkio turns his head to look upon the new challenger. But what Auryn didn't intend is the effect that her speech also spurs Teraklir. She raises her head proudly, throws aside the shield and looks fiercely at Venkio.</p><p></p><p>“You are right, that one is no match for a dragon like Gradiax. Nor his daughter. I am Teraklir, heiress of Gradiax, and I will show you what a true dragon is made of!, she roars before transforming into her dragon form.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(65, 168, 95)">(Didn't see that coming. Of course she didn't want the teen dragon to risk her life so directly. Still a great moment for Teraklir and her development)</span></p><p></p><p>Venkio meanwhile seems to acknowledge dragons more than humans and so he focuses on Harkover and Teraklir.</p><p></p><p>Carlyle arrives at the throne room a few moments later. No moment to soon as right at that moment the red dragon collapses due to his massive injuries and transforms back into Harkover Lee.</p><p></p><p>“No!” Auryn screams, and rushes to the Principal Minister's side. Fortunately, a quick examination reveals to her that Lee is merely unconscious. Carlyle all the while sees the threat that is the mad Professor and strikes down Professor Bugge with a mighty blow. He then takes care of the ghosts as he passes by them. He then asks Srasama for her healing blessing, which this time even breathes new life into Dame Jillian.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(65, 168, 95)">(Technically she couldn't die at that time, if we understood that correctly. And I was really glad that Harkover survived the attack. He's such a </span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(65, 168, 95)">great NPC)</span></p><p></p><p>This time, the dissolving spirits don't unite with Carlyle but are swallowed up by Venkio who grows in both size and mental prowess. Fearing for the safety of the king and Teraklir, Auryn again challenges Venkio about possibly not wanting to deal with "baby dragons" (sorry Tera...), which makes quite an impression on the proud dragon. When Venkio finally turns on her, Auryn defends herself against his powerful attacks and acid breath. As soon as Carlyle is able to join her, the two coordinate their attacks on Venkio and are finally able to slay the dragon once again.</p><p><span style="color: rgb(65, 168, 95)"></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(65, 168, 95)">(I see a pattern here with RangerWickett's adventures and animating dragon skeletons on display. Though Syana's resurrection was more impressive and painful. At least in my group. But then again, she has had so much more history...)</span></p><p></p><p>So all that's left to do is to switch off one last lantern, which we deal with together. As the pale light goes out, we take a deep breath as the nightmare is finally over.</p><p>“So much for fate, visions and 'no future beyond today'. Seems like we did it, Gabriel.” Auryn announces with relief.</p><p></p><p>Gabriel nods with quite the optimism. “There will always be a future for us. For all of us. And I swear that I will give everything I have to make that future into our reality.”, he promises.</p><p></p><p>“Me too. Our future is in our own hands, and no Obscurati can change anything about it.”, she says with a warm smile.</p><p></p><p>We turn to head back to the throne room. Shortly afterwards, the lantern on the roof shatters and the fey disappear again, as the lantern was apparently not intended to direct to to the Dreaming. Which is a bit unfortunate, as we wanted to specifically keep this one intact, but we surely can't have it all.</p><p></p><p>On our way, we also make sure that Andrei and the civilians are safe (nothing bad happened down there). When we return to King Aodhan, we tell to those present that the Bleak Gate nightmare has now come to an end, even though the sheer thought of the past attacks makes us all shiver. In any case, we are glad that our King has survived all of this unscathed.</p><p></p><p>Reinforcements in the form of soldiers and Lauryn Cyneburg gradually arrive and we discuss how to proceed next. The fact that Danor had planned and almost succeeded in stabbing us in the heart still remains and we are now once again in open warfare with our old enemy.</p><p></p><p>Dame Jillian (who is still recovering) informs us that she had brief contact with a surprisingly friendly ghost named Amielle Latimer,who wanted to warn us that Flint is in acute danger before she passed away. Once again, we are very worried and suspect that a Danoran fleet may be heading towards our home. Harkover Lee is clearly quicker on his feet again and thanks us for our support and care. He then takes both Carlyle and Auryn aside, and, with his familiar smirk, shakes both our hands.</p><p></p><p>“Inatch, the Hex-Eater. A pleasure to introduce myself officially.”</p><p></p><p></p><p>Harkover Lee then turns to Auryn. “And excuse me for being overly harsh to you before. It was only for the best-”</p><p></p><p>“...of Risur.”, she finishes with an understanding nod.</p><p></p><p>“Making yourself more familiar with dear Harkover, I see. Good.”, King Aodhan says as he joins our group once again. He then informs us that he had sent out a fleet to sack Elba as retaliation for the death of his sister. But to his misfortune, he had received no more news from the fleet after they had set sail. And to make matters worse, the commander of this fleet was none other than freshly promoted Admiral Dawkins. And just as he thought, this makes especially Auryn pretty anxious for the safety of her friend. </p><p></p><p>We learn from Lauryn that the railway line to Flint has been interrupted and know that there is no other safe way of communication to Flint. So the only way left would be to go there in personvia the Wild Hunt. Riffian, who we quickly call to the discussion, also agrees to take the volunteer intervention force to Flint, even though he, his riders and steeds still need a few hours rest.</p><p></p><p>So we agree to use the time to make preparations and get things settled. Auryn decides to spend some time with Harkover Lee and get more information from Lauryn Cyneburg, while Carlyle approaches King Aodhan. He asks the King to to talk privately, as he is not sure about the King's background for his decision regarding the succession. He fears himself to be the only feasible candidate at that perilous time and not who Aodhan would have chosen had he not been under duress. Aodhan reaffirms his decision, revealing that the years are beginning to wear on him and that - even apart from the looming danger - he needs a trustworthy person to lead Risur.</p><p></p><p>“I understand, your majesty. And I am honored that you see me fit to be your successor. But I... how do I put this... I don't know if I am ready for this task. How does one know if he is ready to become monarch?”</p><p></p><p>Aodhan laughs gently, being eerily reminded of the situation as a whole.</p><p></p><p></p><p>“Let me tell you a secret, dear Gabriel Carlyle: If, for one, have never felt 'ready' in my entire life. I've always wondered if I would be able to fill in the shoes my predecessor left me. But I promise you this: When you feel ready, whenever your reign may begin, should I be still alive at that point, I will always be available as an advisor if you need me. And I will only resign when you feel safe.”</p><p></p><p>He then takes a deep breath before adding: “And please, just call me Aodhan. No need for formalities. We are peers now.”</p><p></p><p>The two stroll through the Noble Gallery during the conversation. But as they pass, they are suddenly attacked without warning by a contingent of witchoil-animated undead Porteurs du Mort with mechanical dragons that seem to have been waiting only for the King to appear close by. Carlyle, recognizing the danger, uses his connection to time itself to give the time he has to King Aodhan.</p><p></p><p>“This is dire. We need Auryn. We won't survive without her. Get her and come back to me as quickly as possible”, Gabriel tells Aodhan mentally and prepares to fend off the assassins on his own.</p><p></p><p>King Aodhan takes a last look at Carlyle before he agrees to his plan and sprints through the gallery. Meanwhile, he mentally alerts Auryn who is trying to get a sending spell to Admiral Dawkins and closes the gallery behind Aodhan with a wall of ice.</p><p></p><p>Carlyle then faces the vengeful Porteurs and their golem dragons alone.</p><p></p><p></p><p>“Now we're alone, just as I planned. Just show me all you've got.”, he taunts them as moves to the wall, turning towards the attackers. Meanwhile, he tells Auryn mentally that he and Aodhan have been under attack and that the King will approach her with further orders. Aodhan reaches Auryn just in time to tell her to hurry with him to Carlyle immediately, as he needs her and there are some assassins left in the corridors of the Palace. Auryn immediately leaves all other tasks behind and follows Aodhan to the wall of ice. When she sees Gabriel fighting the Porteurs, she teleports directly behind the ice wall, leaving a stunned king behind, and comes to her partner's aid. This time she has an easy time dealing with the Porteurs, as she puts the remaining mechanical dragon under her <em>apparent master </em>spell and then lures the Porteurs to her with another spell. This enables Carlyle to knock them out one by one as they approach Auryn's enthralling voice blindly.</p><p><span style="color: rgb(65, 168, 95)"></span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(65, 168, 95)">(How much you can achieve with one simple lie. Carlyle wouldn't have needed Auryn, but he rightfully suspected that the Porteurs would try to assassinate King Aodhan, so he wanted the King to be out of his way. What he did was - after he won initiative – that he'd transfer his “time” -a full round action – to Aodhan to let him escape. They then both altered Auryn, giving her the feeling of being needed while keeping Aodhan safe. And yep, this meant that Tiz didn't manage to kill off Aodhan, even if he tried really hard to make Carlyle King on the spot.)</span></p><p></p><p>We knock out the porteurs and ask the royal guards to take them custody and question them appropriately once they wake up later. Then we both check up on King Aodhan only to find him unscathed. The King lauds the both of us for our excellent teamwork. Auryn replies that this was no big deal for her, and that she'd do anything for both the King and his successor.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgb(65, 168, 95)">(Meanwhile Carlyle bit his tongue, obviously...)</span></p><p></p><p>She then returns the subject back to the missing ships that were sent to Elba. To find out what has become of the ships, we first try sending a message, but again only get an obviously intercepted reply. So Auryn and Carlyle dare try a direct contact to Admiral Dawkins via the connection to Srasama (just as they 'd done so during the time when they had to deal with Tyler and the Old Goat), while Andrei leads the civilians out of the bunker. This contact attempt also proves to be extremely difficult and at first we only encounter burning border of the threshold between the Waking and the Dreaming again. But then we get a clearer picture as we are able to locate our dear friend. There, we realize that Dawkins must be lying half unconscious on the coast of Elba amidst several shattered ships.</p><p></p><p>This sight almost breaks Auryn's heart, but she is glad to see that Dawkins miraculously managed to survive whatever had happened to them.</p><p></p><p>“Morris, can you hear me?”, she desperately ass her friend. “Wake up, please. We need you. Risur needs you. Don't go, please... wake up!”, she begs him, hoping he'd wake up and stay alive.</p><p></p><p>As she tells Gabriel about his dire state, both try to transfer all their remaining power to him. And indeed Morris seems to respond, even if he is only able to send us picture of hat has happened. He gives us the impression of an ambush by submarines and many fallen comrades.</p><p></p><p>“It was a trap, Auryn. Please, don't come here. Don't send ships. Stay safe.”, he urges us mentally, his impression being terrifyingly weak.</p><p></p><p>“Shh, don't say that. Relax, stay calm. We'll come rescue you. I promise. Just keep your strength.”, Auryn says in response, tears swelling up.</p><p></p><p>“I don't matter now, dear”, he responds. “I was ordered to attack... don't trust... the Deva... please...”, he says before the connection fades into nothingness. And we get that he means none other than Governor Stanfield.</p><p>We deliver this depressing news to the King and advise him to stop him sending barques down the river towards Flint as "the Deva" already knows about this route. Since the Wild Hunt still needs rest, we decide to also seek rest, even if it'd be for a short time, and use the remaining time individually. Carlyle in particular seems to continue to seek the King's advice and he expresses relief that Aodhan once again reinforces his decision to name him successor and that he does not have to consider him to be a "mere contingency". Auryn is equally supportive of this decision, obviously believing that Carlyle will be up to the task and that he'd be the one who knows Risur better than most.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lylandra, post: 9021317, member: 6816692"] [B][I]a war for the throne[/I][/B] We rush through the hallways until we reach an opening that leads us to the northern park. Once we take a step outside, we see both a row of cannons protected by a mass of ghostly undead and a lantern glowing in a familiar purple hue. The lantern is guarded by more undead, a group of Danoran gunmen, and a golem. For a moment, both Auryn and Carlyle are overwhelmed by the view of the sheer amount of attackers and the brute force. But then again, we've seen what Danor was able to amass in Methia. As time is short, we risk splitting up our forces: Auryn suggests to take over the cannons while Carlyle agrees to take care of the lantern. Auryn dons her mask of the Court to make herself invisible and get closer to to the cannoneers. From this point of advantage, she casts a sleeping spell to stop the shelling. She then starts her pallavi of Nirvana's blossoming, entering a defensive stance to fend off the undead until she summons the divine light of Srasama to paralyze the spirits. She then destroys the undead with fireballs. Carlyle, meanwhile, focuses directly on the lantern in the garden and destroys it with a targeted disintegration spell. This brightens the area up a bit, even though he immediately attracts the attention of the guards. He then hides himself with an improved invisibility spell and attacks the golem. The riflemen, unable to locate Carlyle, then bombard the area around the golem extensively, while the golem shoots at where it believes its target to be. Carlyle escapes both attacks fleet-footed and then takes care of them one by one. By then, Auryn's column of light appears nearby, and the ghosts are caught in it. Being paralyzed as well, they are no longer a real threat and easily disposed of. We return to the throne room to report our findings back to King Aodhan and the rest of the defenders, but realize that there must be more of these lanterns due to the still present planar shift. As the king is still well guarded, he sends us to look for the next lantern. So we activate planar sensing and get a hunch that it should be somewhere above us. At the same time, we are also being informed that Asrabey must be somewhere in the palace. We are surprised that Torfield Palace of all would be the place he'd travel to after we left him in Trekhom, but agree that he would be a more than welcome reinforcement. Carlyle tries to reach the Dreadnaught using his telepathy, but fails at first as Asrabey is simply out of range. However, Shealis suggests that she and Harkover Lee try to enhance his range of telepathy by linking up with him and thus are able to inform Asrabey of the situation and entrust him with the search for yet another lantern. [COLOR=rgb(65, 168, 95)](What a surprise! We really thought he'd still be hanging around in Trekholm, probably dissing Bhalu whenever possible)[/COLOR] To go after the Lantern above, we climb a secret staircase to the roof of the palace. As expected,we spot the lantern placed neatly on top of the roof. To our surprise, we also see the shadow of Amielle Latimer further away on the roof, shooting at Danoran gunmen from afar. We secure the lantern quite easily, but are fired upon by Amielle, who mistakes us for more attackers. Auryn projects a quick illusion into the sky, which declares that we are RHC, not Danorans, whereupon Amielle briefly waves at us, and then concentrates her fire on the Danorans again. We are more than glad that Amielle kept her opposition against Nicodemus and agree to talk to her and possibly welcome her into our resistance once this attack has been fended off. We switch off this lantern instead of destroying it, as having one intact example would be of great use for our engineers. Having a sudden intuition, Carlyle proposes to pour some of the essence of the Borenbog into the lantern as a test. He then activates the mechanism again, hoping to maybe get a connection to our allies in the Unseen Court, as he knows that the Palace in Clover is right at the same spot as Torfield Palace. To our pleasure, the plan works as intended, as the lantern now projects this part of the palace into the Dreaming, straight at the Unseen Court. We also see more lanterns in the southern garden by the Titan Shrine and the Unseen Garden from our spot at roof. While we quickly rush back down,we almost collide with Karest and Laryna, who were both in a hefty verbal exchange and are surprised to see the two of us return so soon. We consider this to be a lucky coincidence, because now we can actually show the two courts what means our enemies have at their disposal. Also, we can fall back on the striking power of not one, but two Archfey. We inform Karest and Laryna quickly on what happened and how they got here, and both are horrified by both the existence of this tech and the cowardly attack on the Waking Court. So they are easily persuaded to take care of one of the two lanterns. We both then go to the Titan Shrine to deal with the second lantern to the south. So we set off in a sprint to get to the lantern and engage in battle with its guards. But just as swords collide, we hear something tremendous happening in the palace. We look back north, and, for a moment, see Amielle standing in front of one of the exits. She sees us and tries to shout something in our direction, but then she is suddenly engulfed in a torrent of acid. To our shock, Amielle dissolves on the spot. Fearing that whatever creature would be lingering there was able to dispose of Amielle so easily could now be in its way towards the King, we decide that Carlyle will continue to take care of the lantern on his own while Auryn would hurry back to the throne room to protect King Aodhan. Carlyle takes on the defenders one by one and finishes them off with some lightning fast teleportation attacks. He then collects the fusiliers' grenades, forms a pile and detonates one of the grenades before also rushing towards the palace. Meanwhile, Auryn is attacked by huge Witchoil jaguars as she enters the corridors of the palace again, but manages to get one of the beasts on her side. She convinces the rest with a spell that violence will only cause them more suffering and then promises them that someone will take care of their ongoing pain if only they'd behave peacefully. [COLOR=rgb(65, 168, 95)] (charm monster, serenity + speak with animals. Nothing too fancy, just a bit of clever combination[/COLOR]) Fortunately, the Jaguars cease to attack her. Auryn then storms into the throne room and sees a man, several ghosts and an actual undead Dragon Tyrant who are about to corner the King and his bodyguards. The man turns out to be Professor Bugge, a necromantic disciple of the Voice of Rot who had been expelled from Pardwright University years before due to his experiments. She immediately suspects that it was he who resurrected the Tyrant Venkio who had formerly been in the palace. [COLOR=rgb(65, 168, 95)] (“So he's basically Kel'Thuzad?” I asked Tiz in amusement. For those who don't know the guy: Kel had once been a prominent archmage in Dalaran, center of all magical studies, and he was expelled once the Council had found out that he was taking his experiments of necromancy too far. He later formed a cult, raised some undead including frostwyrm/dracoliches and eventually became the right hand of the Lich King)[/COLOR] This very same Tyrant is now about to spew acid at a shield held up by Shealis to protect the king. All the while, a red dragon, who she presumes to be the true form of Harkover Lee, is in melee with Venkio, biting at the undead dragon's wings. Then Auryn's eyes widen as she sees what once was Dame Jillian, who lies on the ground partially melted by acid. Auryn immediately charges at Venkio and calls out to him, trying to challenge the Tyrant that might be still inside. “Venkio! Here you stand, and believe that you are the biggest, meanest Tyrant of all dragonkind. And still you are so, so much smaller than Gradiax, the Steel Lord! I doubt that you come even close to him!” As she had planned, Venkio turns his head to look upon the new challenger. But what Auryn didn't intend is the effect that her speech also spurs Teraklir. She raises her head proudly, throws aside the shield and looks fiercely at Venkio. “You are right, that one is no match for a dragon like Gradiax. Nor his daughter. I am Teraklir, heiress of Gradiax, and I will show you what a true dragon is made of!, she roars before transforming into her dragon form. [COLOR=rgb(65, 168, 95)](Didn't see that coming. Of course she didn't want the teen dragon to risk her life so directly. Still a great moment for Teraklir and her development)[/COLOR] Venkio meanwhile seems to acknowledge dragons more than humans and so he focuses on Harkover and Teraklir. Carlyle arrives at the throne room a few moments later. No moment to soon as right at that moment the red dragon collapses due to his massive injuries and transforms back into Harkover Lee. “No!” Auryn screams, and rushes to the Principal Minister's side. Fortunately, a quick examination reveals to her that Lee is merely unconscious. Carlyle all the while sees the threat that is the mad Professor and strikes down Professor Bugge with a mighty blow. He then takes care of the ghosts as he passes by them. He then asks Srasama for her healing blessing, which this time even breathes new life into Dame Jillian. [COLOR=rgb(65, 168, 95)](Technically she couldn't die at that time, if we understood that correctly. And I was really glad that Harkover survived the attack. He's such a great NPC)[/COLOR] This time, the dissolving spirits don't unite with Carlyle but are swallowed up by Venkio who grows in both size and mental prowess. Fearing for the safety of the king and Teraklir, Auryn again challenges Venkio about possibly not wanting to deal with "baby dragons" (sorry Tera...), which makes quite an impression on the proud dragon. When Venkio finally turns on her, Auryn defends herself against his powerful attacks and acid breath. As soon as Carlyle is able to join her, the two coordinate their attacks on Venkio and are finally able to slay the dragon once again. [COLOR=rgb(65, 168, 95)] (I see a pattern here with RangerWickett's adventures and animating dragon skeletons on display. Though Syana's resurrection was more impressive and painful. At least in my group. But then again, she has had so much more history...)[/COLOR] So all that's left to do is to switch off one last lantern, which we deal with together. As the pale light goes out, we take a deep breath as the nightmare is finally over. “So much for fate, visions and 'no future beyond today'. Seems like we did it, Gabriel.” Auryn announces with relief. Gabriel nods with quite the optimism. “There will always be a future for us. For all of us. And I swear that I will give everything I have to make that future into our reality.”, he promises. “Me too. Our future is in our own hands, and no Obscurati can change anything about it.”, she says with a warm smile. We turn to head back to the throne room. Shortly afterwards, the lantern on the roof shatters and the fey disappear again, as the lantern was apparently not intended to direct to to the Dreaming. Which is a bit unfortunate, as we wanted to specifically keep this one intact, but we surely can't have it all. On our way, we also make sure that Andrei and the civilians are safe (nothing bad happened down there). When we return to King Aodhan, we tell to those present that the Bleak Gate nightmare has now come to an end, even though the sheer thought of the past attacks makes us all shiver. In any case, we are glad that our King has survived all of this unscathed. Reinforcements in the form of soldiers and Lauryn Cyneburg gradually arrive and we discuss how to proceed next. The fact that Danor had planned and almost succeeded in stabbing us in the heart still remains and we are now once again in open warfare with our old enemy. Dame Jillian (who is still recovering) informs us that she had brief contact with a surprisingly friendly ghost named Amielle Latimer,who wanted to warn us that Flint is in acute danger before she passed away. Once again, we are very worried and suspect that a Danoran fleet may be heading towards our home. Harkover Lee is clearly quicker on his feet again and thanks us for our support and care. He then takes both Carlyle and Auryn aside, and, with his familiar smirk, shakes both our hands. “Inatch, the Hex-Eater. A pleasure to introduce myself officially.” Harkover Lee then turns to Auryn. “And excuse me for being overly harsh to you before. It was only for the best-” “...of Risur.”, she finishes with an understanding nod. “Making yourself more familiar with dear Harkover, I see. Good.”, King Aodhan says as he joins our group once again. He then informs us that he had sent out a fleet to sack Elba as retaliation for the death of his sister. But to his misfortune, he had received no more news from the fleet after they had set sail. And to make matters worse, the commander of this fleet was none other than freshly promoted Admiral Dawkins. And just as he thought, this makes especially Auryn pretty anxious for the safety of her friend. We learn from Lauryn that the railway line to Flint has been interrupted and know that there is no other safe way of communication to Flint. So the only way left would be to go there in personvia the Wild Hunt. Riffian, who we quickly call to the discussion, also agrees to take the volunteer intervention force to Flint, even though he, his riders and steeds still need a few hours rest. So we agree to use the time to make preparations and get things settled. Auryn decides to spend some time with Harkover Lee and get more information from Lauryn Cyneburg, while Carlyle approaches King Aodhan. He asks the King to to talk privately, as he is not sure about the King's background for his decision regarding the succession. He fears himself to be the only feasible candidate at that perilous time and not who Aodhan would have chosen had he not been under duress. Aodhan reaffirms his decision, revealing that the years are beginning to wear on him and that - even apart from the looming danger - he needs a trustworthy person to lead Risur. “I understand, your majesty. And I am honored that you see me fit to be your successor. But I... how do I put this... I don't know if I am ready for this task. How does one know if he is ready to become monarch?” Aodhan laughs gently, being eerily reminded of the situation as a whole. “Let me tell you a secret, dear Gabriel Carlyle: If, for one, have never felt 'ready' in my entire life. I've always wondered if I would be able to fill in the shoes my predecessor left me. But I promise you this: When you feel ready, whenever your reign may begin, should I be still alive at that point, I will always be available as an advisor if you need me. And I will only resign when you feel safe.” He then takes a deep breath before adding: “And please, just call me Aodhan. No need for formalities. We are peers now.” The two stroll through the Noble Gallery during the conversation. But as they pass, they are suddenly attacked without warning by a contingent of witchoil-animated undead Porteurs du Mort with mechanical dragons that seem to have been waiting only for the King to appear close by. Carlyle, recognizing the danger, uses his connection to time itself to give the time he has to King Aodhan. “This is dire. We need Auryn. We won't survive without her. Get her and come back to me as quickly as possible”, Gabriel tells Aodhan mentally and prepares to fend off the assassins on his own. King Aodhan takes a last look at Carlyle before he agrees to his plan and sprints through the gallery. Meanwhile, he mentally alerts Auryn who is trying to get a sending spell to Admiral Dawkins and closes the gallery behind Aodhan with a wall of ice. Carlyle then faces the vengeful Porteurs and their golem dragons alone. “Now we're alone, just as I planned. Just show me all you've got.”, he taunts them as moves to the wall, turning towards the attackers. Meanwhile, he tells Auryn mentally that he and Aodhan have been under attack and that the King will approach her with further orders. Aodhan reaches Auryn just in time to tell her to hurry with him to Carlyle immediately, as he needs her and there are some assassins left in the corridors of the Palace. Auryn immediately leaves all other tasks behind and follows Aodhan to the wall of ice. When she sees Gabriel fighting the Porteurs, she teleports directly behind the ice wall, leaving a stunned king behind, and comes to her partner's aid. This time she has an easy time dealing with the Porteurs, as she puts the remaining mechanical dragon under her [I]apparent master [/I]spell and then lures the Porteurs to her with another spell. This enables Carlyle to knock them out one by one as they approach Auryn's enthralling voice blindly. [COLOR=rgb(65, 168, 95)] (How much you can achieve with one simple lie. Carlyle wouldn't have needed Auryn, but he rightfully suspected that the Porteurs would try to assassinate King Aodhan, so he wanted the King to be out of his way. What he did was - after he won initiative – that he'd transfer his “time” -a full round action – to Aodhan to let him escape. They then both altered Auryn, giving her the feeling of being needed while keeping Aodhan safe. And yep, this meant that Tiz didn't manage to kill off Aodhan, even if he tried really hard to make Carlyle King on the spot.)[/COLOR] We knock out the porteurs and ask the royal guards to take them custody and question them appropriately once they wake up later. Then we both check up on King Aodhan only to find him unscathed. The King lauds the both of us for our excellent teamwork. Auryn replies that this was no big deal for her, and that she'd do anything for both the King and his successor. [COLOR=rgb(65, 168, 95)](Meanwhile Carlyle bit his tongue, obviously...)[/COLOR] She then returns the subject back to the missing ships that were sent to Elba. To find out what has become of the ships, we first try sending a message, but again only get an obviously intercepted reply. So Auryn and Carlyle dare try a direct contact to Admiral Dawkins via the connection to Srasama (just as they 'd done so during the time when they had to deal with Tyler and the Old Goat), while Andrei leads the civilians out of the bunker. This contact attempt also proves to be extremely difficult and at first we only encounter burning border of the threshold between the Waking and the Dreaming again. But then we get a clearer picture as we are able to locate our dear friend. There, we realize that Dawkins must be lying half unconscious on the coast of Elba amidst several shattered ships. This sight almost breaks Auryn's heart, but she is glad to see that Dawkins miraculously managed to survive whatever had happened to them. “Morris, can you hear me?”, she desperately ass her friend. “Wake up, please. We need you. Risur needs you. Don't go, please... wake up!”, she begs him, hoping he'd wake up and stay alive. As she tells Gabriel about his dire state, both try to transfer all their remaining power to him. And indeed Morris seems to respond, even if he is only able to send us picture of hat has happened. He gives us the impression of an ambush by submarines and many fallen comrades. “It was a trap, Auryn. Please, don't come here. Don't send ships. Stay safe.”, he urges us mentally, his impression being terrifyingly weak. “Shh, don't say that. Relax, stay calm. We'll come rescue you. I promise. Just keep your strength.”, Auryn says in response, tears swelling up. “I don't matter now, dear”, he responds. “I was ordered to attack... don't trust... the Deva... please...”, he says before the connection fades into nothingness. And we get that he means none other than Governor Stanfield. We deliver this depressing news to the King and advise him to stop him sending barques down the river towards Flint as "the Deva" already knows about this route. Since the Wild Hunt still needs rest, we decide to also seek rest, even if it'd be for a short time, and use the remaining time individually. Carlyle in particular seems to continue to seek the King's advice and he expresses relief that Aodhan once again reinforces his decision to name him successor and that he does not have to consider him to be a "mere contingency". Auryn is equally supportive of this decision, obviously believing that Carlyle will be up to the task and that he'd be the one who knows Risur better than most. [/QUOTE]
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