A Capital Idea

Last week, the party arrived at Peloria, the capital of the Pelan Empire. Because of the danger Clockwork's geas posed, they skulked into the town under cover of night to make sure he wouldn't be compelled to act by the geas before they could cure him. Then they went shopping for a few hours. During this time, Deekin performed a ritual to contact his master, Faren, who might be able to remove Clockwork's geas. He found that Faren was back in the capital, and the shops were starting to close for the night, so the party regathered. Together, they ventured into the wizard's guild to save their... colleague.

In the strange and highly magical tower that the wizard's guild called home, the party discovered that Faren was the archmage of the guild. He quickly appraised Clockwork's condition and informed the party that he could, in fact, detect and remove the geas. The party quickly agreed, and after getting properly cozy with the various books he kept lying around, they watched as he destroyed the powerful geas afflicting Clockwork. Very shortly, Clockwork was freed from his magical compulsion to destroy the kingdom (and returned to his customary level of jerkishness). He was also left crippled and wracked with pain from lingering effects of the geas, which was unpleasant for everyone involved, but especially for Faren's eardrums.

While Clockwork recovered in an infirmary in the wizard's tower, the rest of the party tried to get some sleep in an inn. When they woke up, they found a note from the hero that saved the town of Tristen from goblins: Silk! He had discovered that they had arrived in town, and requested a conversation. The party investigated what he had been up to (by talking to the first person they met) and discovered that he was also responsible for saving many people pursuing the Rite of Maturity from the bands of assassins Zedar had hired.

Before pursuing this, the party returned to Faren to find the price of his aid. His demand was simple: destroy Zedar. He warned the party that Zedar had been pursuing dark and terrible acts of necromancy designed to strip his soul from his body, leaving him a virtually unkillable husk of his former self. The party appreciated the removal of any ambiguity about whether killing him was morally justified, which would otherwise have been a significant ethical quandry. They quickly agreed to attack Zedar, and Faren agreed that they would be teleported near his tower.

The party then traveled to Silk's house, which was just a stone's throw from the palace. In addition to being his usual (possibly demonic, if you're Krunch) self, he was interested in their activities, and they told him about how they were going to go attack Zedar. He was immediately interested, and agreed to help them - on the condition that he could take charge of reporting the success of their mission to the town and king upon their return. It was really in everyone's best interests, after all; with his reputation behind it, the destruction of Zedar would surely bring plentiful rewards to those who participated in that great and heroic act. The party readily agreed, as they had every other time they met anyone remotely interesting who could join their group, and went to meet with Faren. The ritual was ready, and the party - including Deekin, Muerdoc, and Silk - set out to defeat Zedar. Show up this week to see how that works out for them!

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Sir Patty Cakes Talbot Clockwork Sia Krunch Theodolus