Weeks had passed while the group was in the Feywild, though thanks to some time-dilation bullshit they’d only been there for a few hours.
Immediately upon their return, Bailiff provided formal attire and masks, and they were whisked away to the 6th Tier for Czerna’s Masquerade.
Flashing the tickets they’d purloined from the Heliodynes’ mansion, the party was nevertheless searched for weapons and such on their way in. Thankfully, Firuzeh was able to dissuade the security guard from wanting to leaf through her book, as a guard being disintegrated would probably cause something of a fuss.
Upon arriving and seeing the spread, the three each noticed a person of particular interest to them. Cranzalar, heading to the bar, made conversation with a somewhat-out-of-his-depth Redford, who was there in an attempt to drum up business.
Vi met Dry Land’s new second in command, a halfling woman named Nicobar Tippler, who was masquerading as a tall person; punching the air, constantly speaking into a sending stone, and announcing her status as ‘that bitch’. Between threatening to dunk on the party, she offered them free gift bags – ‘Containing a free magical gift, and you even get to keep the bag!’
The party obtained an Orb of Slope Detection (when placed on a slope, it will roll in the direction of the incline), a Belt of Disguise Self (the creature wearing the belt can disguise themselves as any creature that’s wearing the belt), and a Flask of Giant Strength (when opened, increases the creature’s STR to 25 (requires STR 26 to open)).
They also received a bag of holding each.
Uzi was very interested in the guy staffing the candyfloss machine. Something about him just set off alarm bells in her head, but she couldn’t get him to confess any wrongdoing. She also covered her whole arm in candyfloss.
And the Royals arrived.
Czerna first, descending a flight of stairs that hadn’t been there a moment ago. Next, Rosso, who came straight to where the party stood at the buffet table. Cranzalar brazenly started chatting with him, but wasn’t able to discern anything they could use against him before he wandered off to the bar.
After this, the candyfloss guy excused himself, before returning with robes and a new mask – Argat, the royal known for his hospital on the 4th tier. He has something of a fondness for experiments, and it seemed this had been one of them.
Uzi, freaking out just slightly, attempted to hide under the buffet table. She was greeted by Zelena, who sort of nodded in acknowledgement before going back to the stack of pizzas she’d absconded with.
‘There’s fuckin’ Royals everywhere,’ said Uzi, emerging from beneath the tablecloth.
Cranzalar was still all business. He marched up to the throng of admirers around Czerna, and asked if she’d care to dance.
He was immediately escorted from the premises for his audacity ROLLED A NATURAL TWENTY ON HIS PERSUASION CHECK, and with a smile, Czerna accepted.
Unfortunately, Cranzalar had two left feet, both of which having claws on them. Czerna ended up leading the dance, and the dynamic this facilitated meant she was much more closed off with her answers than she might have been.
As this went on, Uzi attempted to apologise to Argat, in an effort to smooth things out later on. He stated that apologising now she knew he was Royal was the worst kind of backpedalling, and the whole reason he performs social experiments like that one. The guy’s just an asshole, y’know?
Cranzalar and Czerna’s dance came to an end with the clichéd dip-and-smooch, but they both had masks on so there weren’t any actual mouths involved. And that was the point when Mavi arrived.
He’d dried off since his last encounter with the party, and had a woman in a white tux and kitsune mask as his +1. Unfortunately his got a crit on his perception check, and recognised Uzi almost immediately. As he spoke in hushed tones with Argat – ‘The ones who murdered Lilla are here’ – the woman in the tux revealed herself to be Diafani.
Her plan was to kill as many royals as she could before her cover was blown. Uzi tried frantically to change her mind, but by this time Vi and Cranzalar had moved to try and pull Uzi out.
Using Thaumaturgy and Druidcraft, they began creating ominous tremors and blowing out the lights – this had its intended effect of spurring the Royals into action.
Unfortunately, before moving to investigate, Mavi used Power Word: Stun to take Uzi out of the equation. The encounter that followed quickly became a desperate attempt to escape, as Mavi used Mass Suggestion to have each guest remove their mask.
He, Rosso, and Czerna advanced on Cranzalar and Vi. With Cranzalar blasting them away with thunderous power, and Vi using Confusion, they were able to slow down Mavi and Rosso enough that they couldn’t get close – but Czerna kept going. She flickered, just slightly, whenever she was hit.
She trapped Cranzalar in a whirling Mental Prison of gnashing mouths.
Meanwhile, Uzi had shrugged off the stun, and was pleading with Diafani for backup… but ostensibly she couldn’t get through to her. Diafani was too focused on her cover, and her mission.
Cranzalar had been shouting for Vi and Uzi to escape, and Uzi primed a Dimension Door – she and another creature could teleport away, to safety. But Vi refused, so that Uzi could use it to pull Cranzalar out. She Wild Shaped into a mouse, and with Uzi’s sorcerously-twinned Haste spell she was able to scurry off to their meeting point outside.
With a last ‘Fuck you’ to Diafani, Uzi sprinted to Cranzalar, and grabbed him. With her, he could escape Czerna’s spell.
But unfortunately, Mental prison is internal – it’s not enough to slip between the bars. Cranzalar took massive damage from passing through the walls, and when he and Uzi appeared in the street outside, the cleric tumbled to the ground.
Cranzalar had died.
The following hours were hard for Vi and Firuzeh, as they flew back down to their base, and tried to think of ways to reverse Cranzalar’s death.
Bailiff suggested placing him somewhere cold, to try and stave off the decay, while they tried to find someone powerful enough to raise the dead. The surviving members of the party kept watch, slumped against the wall.
Cranzalar’s soul, though, had encountered his god, Eadro. Eadro was warping, changing into something monstrous. His only worshippers left in Floodwall just knew him as the Leviathan. Cranzalar would need to fight his way back.
When almost a day had passed in the cold basement room of the Regicider Hideout, Cranzalar’s eyes snapped open.
Roll History 