Session 29: The Purple P***y

5th day of Winter, Year 185 of Vecna

After a good night's rest, the Guardians were once again ready to brave the perils of the Hill Giants' Steading. Sneaking past the prison area, the Guardians eventually found an ancient-looking temple with an altar. As they approached the altar, they started to be affected by evil magic that forced them to fight among each other. Having noticed an odd purple rift suspended over the altar, Tic-Tac dove in and pulled out a ebony rod with a dragon claw as head. That stopped the magic of the altar.

As soon as he pulled it out, Tic-Tac was overwhelmed with pictures and information.

The six items of power (rod of dragons, sword of demons, ring of travel, medallion of necromancy, ring of illusion and gem of divination) belonged to Amir Zel Bardin, a mage of legend from the earliest days of Athas. Said to be immensely powerful, even so powerful as to aspire to godhood, Amir ruled an empire which the likes Athas has never seen since. Then one day, he disappeared, never to be heard from again. His empire quickly fell apart, part taken over by the sorcerer kings who was rumoured to rule somewhere down south.
Ever since, some of his items of power have resurfaced. Easily recognisable for those who know what to look for, they are speculated to hold a small fraction of Amir’s essence and power. It is said that the closer the items are, the more power their wielders can use.
The rod of dragons shows where the nearest part is, until attuned with said part.

Tic-Tac saw Heian, with the sword at his side.

That prompted some very strong reactions. Could they trust Heian? Could they trust Garix? Could anyone really be trusted? Should they try to get the next part? Etc. 

In the end they decided to attune the two parts (rod and sword) and got a vision of an elf wearing crown (circlet) and sitting with the medallion on a throne made by a living tree. 

They then left the Steading through the tunnels made by the umberhulks they ran into. First Heian got lost, but Henry managed to find the way above ground, and soon the Guardians were heading back to Presidio.

9th day of Winter, Year 185 of Vecna 

Arriving at Presidio, they crashed at Christobal's for a night. They learned that the noble-but-not-noble man had been looking for them again, and there was also a message to Jelastra from the Shadow. Also, Garix was a rookie adventurer about 10 years ago, where Christobal took him under his wings. Christobal had been good friends with his father. So Garix was hired to find out more about the elven "king".

Before doing anything else, they went to see the Lord General Raul Sarazin, to inform of the plot. By now, the General had learned that the orc horde was about 300.000 strong, a number which might pose a significant problem, so the emperor's army had been called up for backup. 

The Lord General confirmed what the giant letter had mentioned. There was something fishy going on. The army probably had allies inside the wall. Guards had been dieing more often in a certain part of the sewers, and the Lord General asked the Guardians to go down and check it out. They weren't too happy about it, but decided to do it none the less.

While at the palace, they met with an elven ambassador (Sundew?) and got some more info about the elven king, Jasra Leafblower, who controls the northern part of the Forest of Dreams, south of Presidio. They also met Victoria, the Lord General's much younger and very pretty wife.