As part of his star-pact, Berekhan goes out to study the stars during the course of the evening. When he does, he finds Dayman hiding under the stairs, and brings the coward into the house with them. Berekhan then seeks out an actual bed and settles down for the evening. The rest of the party sleeps in Lucan's living room, keeping a close watch for any threats. Though creaky and drafty, the house remains still throughout the course of the night, and they awake safely in the morning.
The next day, they decide, after some discussion, to return to Urlsav to retrieve Erevan and make their way back to Zaimier to claim their reward, if possible. (Dayman doesn't exactly come willingly, but he is unable to escape.) This requires them to travel back up the river to Cornosis; however, Kriv is able to summon them some phantom steeds and they are able to make better time going overland, and in fact reach Cornosis in only a day and a half.
In Cornosis, they come to the temple of Avandra there once more, and pass through to Urlsav. In Urlsav, they break the unhappy news of Maivera's apparent death to Maxé. Though saddened, he takes comfort that Maivera died serving Bahamut, defending friends. Kriv, though, hangs onto the hope that Maivera might still be alive, and asks Maxé to assist her in doing a Sending ritual. They are unable to contact Maivera, though.
Collecting Erevan, the party makes their way back to the temple of Avandra in Urlsav. The chatty elf priests there strike up another conversation with them, and on their suggestion, they teleport this time to Summercrest, putting them that much closer to Zaimier. However, they still have a two-week journey through largely unsettled forest ahead of them, and it is late in the day. They elect to stay in an inn overnight.
As they are settling in for the evening, a knock is heard at the door. They ask who it is, and Maivera's voice responds! The party fills a thrill of hope and excitement, but they are also immediately suspicious and wary. They do not open the door right away, questioning the voice, trying to determine if it is actually Maivera. The voice asserts her identity numerous times, and finally they open the door. It indeeds looks like Maivera, but the party is not convinced. Rougi is particularly suspicious, fearing there is something duplicitous about her. Kriv ends up casting Discern Lies, and some of Maivera's statements, especially those about her identity, appear to be lies. Yet the person in front of them swears up and down, earnestly, that she is indeed Maivera. She gives evidence that seems sound, and can't be caught in an obvious lie.
After long debate, the party decides to return to Urlsav to get Maxé to test this person's claims (much to Kava's exasperation). 'Maivera' allows herself to be bound and tied to Dayman and Erevan, and marched to the temple of Avandra for the trip. However, as they approach it, Berekhan attempts to intimidate 'Maivera' with talk of Maxé's power and integrity as a cleric, and his long relationship with the real Maivera. Her show of confidence rapidly deteriorates, and then suddenly she disappears! The cord binding her to Dayman is cut, and within moments there is no trace of her.
Disgruntled, the party returns to the inn and sleeps the night, which passes without further incident. The next morning, they go down into the tavern to have some breakfast, prisoners in tow. As they are eating, the bartender attempts to strike up a conversation with them, but the party is in a hurry. As they turn to leave, he throws out after them, "By the way, Cabal has come to respect you as enemies, but would like you to be his allies."
The party's is of course a bit thrown, and immediately on their guard. The man introduces himself as Corrigon and says that Cabal sent him to make an offer - stop seeking to bring him to Vondal, and come and work for him instead. The party is actually somewhat amenable to the offer; they know they will be paid, and can probably convince Vondal to take Erevan and Dayman as enough. They do however want some assurances that Cabal is not going to require them to do things they aren't comfortable with (primarily murder). To this, Corrigon is evasive, and basically says Cabal expects a pledge of loyalty without equivocation. The party asks for some time to consider the offer, but Corrigon says that he has to know right now. After a few frustrating exchanges, Kriv says she would like to cast Hand of Fate to know what course of action to take. Corrigon is agreeable, but says he wants to go with them to wherever she goes to cast the ritual.
The seven of them (Corrigon, the party, and the bound Dayman and Erevan) slip into an alley behind the tavern, where Kriv casts Hand of Fate. It recommends that she return to Vondal, and reject Cabal's offer. The party decides to follow this recommendation, and tell Corrigon as much. To which, he sighs, and declares, "So be it then."
At this, Dayman's and Erevan's bonds fall away, and they attack!
A chaotic battle erupts in the confines of the alley. Corrigon actually falls early on, sliced to pieces by the fury of Kava's greataxe. The party is puzzled by Erevan's escape and Dayman's sudden boldness, but are not reluctant to lay into them. Very quickly though, two townspeople that were just wandering the street also whip out weapons and rush into the fray. In the heat of the battle, one of them, as well as Erevan, disappear. Rougi tries to slip through the fight to track down his prisoner, and finds some of his footprints leading off, but can find no other trace. However, before the battle ends, two more 'townspeople' come to replace them.
Kriv pushes her way out of the alley, and lets loose a blast of lightning breath, scorching one of their enemies badly. However, behind him was standing another townsperson. She had figured this was one of their enemies in disguise, and had not been careful to avoid him. When the smoke cleared though, she saw this townsperson on the ground, unarmed, innocent, and dead. A dark pall settled on her heart, and though she fought on bravely, she was horrified by what she had done.
In between fierce blows, the party demanded from Dayman why he was doing this. He claimed he was being controlled, that this wasn't his idea, but he did not stop attacking. Even after he was K.O.-ed, and then healed, he only began to attack once more. Finally, they were forced to cut him down for good.
It was a wearing and confusing battle, and the party was spent by its end. Berekhan's spells had all but expended themselves, and Kava was beginning to weaken under the enemy's blows. But in the end, Corrigon, Dayman, and three 'townspeople' lay defeated at their feet. And then the most extraordinary thing happened - their appearances all changed, and they came to look like gray-skinned humanoids that resembled in no way the people they had been just seconds ago. Dayman was not Dayman at all, he had been an imposter! Kava realized their enemies were all dopplegangers.
The party wanted answers. They stuffed Corrigon's corpse into Jaden's leftover bag of holding, and made their way back to Urlsav through Avandra's teleportation circle. Once there, they compelled Maxé and Kriv to cast Speak With Dead. All in all they got three questions, and learned that Cabal was currently in Zaimier, and that Dayman and Erevan are dead, and their corpses lie in their beds at the inn in Summercrest. The party returns to the inn to find that Corrigon had not been able to deceive them in death. Dayman and Erevan's remains had already been discovered. It looked like the doppelgangers had gotten to their prisoners at some point, killed them, and taken their places in order to strike at the critical moment.
Somewhere between dejected and furious, the party realized that after all this effort, they had only corpses to bring back to Vondal. They decided they were going to return to Zaimier though, if only to find Cabal.
Rewards
XP: 450 each
Money: 600 gp (150 each)
Treasure:
- Amulet of False Life +2 (Player's Handbook p. 249)
- Flute of the Dancing Satyr (Player's Handbook 2 p. 210)
Carved from wood and inscribed with arcane glyphs, this flute can play a tune of speed and elegance.
Level 6 Wondrous Item, worth 1,800 gp
Power (Encounter): Move Action. You shift 2 squares, and each ally within 5 squares of your destination space can shift 1 square as a free action.
