Session 9: The New Queen

24th day of Breeze In Sun Descending, Year of the Priest's Defiance
Arriving at Protos' compound, Po summons a planar ally to make sure Amanda indeed is in there. She is. The Guardians spend hours scoping out the compound, figuring out who goes in and out and whatnot. At some point, Po is noticed by the guards and they come out to find out why he is hanging around, but he manages to diffuse their uneasiness so they leave again, thinking he is a weirdo.


At evening, they swing by Argul to hear how things are going. He is working hard, and is close to a breakthrough about the page they have copied from the 3 books. 


25th day of Breeze In Sun Descending, Year of the Priest's Defiance
At night, the Guardians of Hope stage a break-in. They run into some resistance, fighting several guards, but quickly penetrate the house's defenses and find a secret passage-way to a cellar, where they encounter Protos with his lackeys and V'dala (eladrin psion twin, bodyguard of Re'gar) and Amanda. Early in the fight, V'dala uses a circle of arcane symbols to teleport away with Amanda, leaving Protos to face the Guardians on his own. It was a tough fight, but the Guardians managed to capture Protos, an immensely fat tiefling, but also a powerful psion. 


A good amount of torture revealed that Protos, Re'gar, some templars, the Iron Rats and the Toothcutters were trying to kill Tithian and install another ruler. The Guardians also find a lot of notes about their plans to kill Tithian and who is part of it. Then Protos was killed in a suspicious way by Aram. 


The Guardians then escaped the compound by jumping off the 3rd story roof, although things did not go as smoothly as planned, when both Po and Dante didn't manage to clear the wall, but instead landed on the wrong side. But eventually they all got away, when Tic-Tac drew away the guards and out-ran them in the city, before meeting up back at the Fallen Dragon Inn with the others.


The Guardians slept most of the day. Late afternoon, while getting some food, Vrylar comes in disguise and warns the Guardians that just about everyone from Tyr's underworld was out to get them. Based on the new-found information, the Guardians decide to make Amanda's old house their new base of operations. 


Reviewing the notes found at Protos', Po and Dante figure out that there is another compound, outside Tyr, where Protos has been summoned quite a few times. The notes indicate that whoever is in the compound has been coordinating things inside Tyr. 


The Guardians head out of Tyr.


26th day of Breeze In Sun Descending, Year of the Priest's Defiance
After about 3 hours, they arrive to what appears to be a completely abandoned compound. Po has a bad feeling about the place, and sends his planar ally to find out where Amanda is. She is not inside, but instead 3½ miles NE in a bedroom. He wants to go get her immediately, but the others want to investigate this compound. 


Inside the main building, they discover a huge room with a throne. As they approach it, a small wall falls down, blocking their exit. A Sand Golem forms and attacks them while traps harass them. Unfortunately Po is stuck on the outside, fighting to find the opening mechanism so that he can get in and help his friends. Luckily for all, he manages to find it eventually, and gets back in just in time to help slay the sand golem who has almost decimated the Guardians. 


After a break, they head down the stairs, deeper into the building. They arrive at a door, where they can hear a man screaming as if in unimaginable pain. As they pick the lock and enter the room, they find nothing but a dead man (rib-cage split open) laying on a slab of stone, and no exits. A thorough search of all walls, ceiling, slab, floor and even the air reveals nothing.


Continuing on, they arrive to the final room, where they encounter an elemental mage (fire and lightning tattoos) and his magical viper, whom they deal with easily. His notes confirms all that they found out at Protos'  and denotes as well some templars by name and mentions a place in Tyr, an abandoned noble estate, as a hideout. 


Early in the morning, the Guardians return to Tyr, only to find the gates closed. The guards have been told to let no-one out, but since they are going in, they are allowed inside. 


On the way through down, towards Amanda's, they are jumped by some Toothcutters, but the thieves prove no match for the Guardians of Hope. 


Once at Amanda's, they crash for some hours in order to regain some strength. They swing by Argul, who begs them to give him more from the books. He claims the information is pertaining to how Dark Sun came to be an arid wasteland, information that could rock the world. 


After Argul, they head back to Amanda's old place, where they hang out until night.


27th day of Breeze In Sun Descending, Year of the Priest's Defiance
In order to be the first to meet with the King, they get in early, and wait in line. After 6-7 hours of waiting, Templar Ariktus comes out of the palace and informs everyone waiting that King Tithian won't be doing his normal audience today. When the Guardians mention the plot against the king to him, they are immediately escorted to the palace. There they tell everything to the templars, and in turn learn that the King is already dead. 


With the templars too busy investigating their own and trying to avoid anarchy again, the Guardians figure that its up to them to handle Re'gar and whoever else is left. They get a warrant for Re'gar, and then head to the abandoned noble estate. On the way they run into some Iron Rats, but they do not either pose any problems to the Guardians. 


At the estate, a chock awaits them. It seems Amanda is in reality the daughter of late King Kalak, and she is determined to become the next (sorcerer)queen of Tyr. She doesn't want the Guardians to be hurt, but can't have them stand in her way either, so she asks them to lay down the weapons and be captive for a while. There is much talking back and forth, but eventually Tic-Tac grows tired of the double-cross and tosses a dagger at one of the templars there with Amanda. 


The battle starts, Amanda quickly slips out of the room, leaving through a curtain, and soon the Guardians of Hope find themselves in a battle for their lives, facing 3 templars and 3 of their guards. They manage to defeat them, but not without paying a very high price. 


Dante and Aram lay dead on the floor. Rest in Peace.


Aside from the sword Aram was carrying, the only thing of interest they find is 1500 gold bits.