As the group arrives at the Titan and Thar Amphala (the city on top of the Titan) excavations, they see some bandits who, upon seeing them and the constructs, run the fuck off. The walk through the ruins, Stubby kicking a toe and taking some stone from it to experiment with later, and find nothing of real consequence, so they head on to the dragon.
Upon reaching the broken clockwork dragon, the constructs leave them and return to the city.
The group is surprised to find a well cared for gravestone with the name RYO YELMOIRA carved into it. Ryo. The spymaster. While taking that in, and investigating the dragon and the grave, someone shoots at them.
Stubby and Tāmari shout out that they’re friends, “Vox Minimus!” That catches the attention of the shooter… None other than Victor Von Vasselhiem! Alive!
Victor has been in hiding all this time. Everything Ivan said was true but Victor realized the only way to stop the Empress was to kill Ryo. He did so, and his granddaughter Vanya took Ryo’s place. She’s a wizard trained by the Cerberus Assembly and was trained to be a Volstrucker (nb: this story takes place about 10 years after the end of CR Campaign 2, which means Trent is in jail). She left them (or quit, Victor wasn’t 100% clear) and returned home to help her grandfather.
Victor explains the last time he saw her, Vanya (as Ryo) had just returned from a trip and come back on the last ship from Wildemount … the same ship Rinn was on. And in fact, Vanya/Ryo had given Victor a drawing of Rinn, saying he was the last clue to destroying the magical pyre of fire. That pyre is disguising the fact that the Empress is using a beacon to make herself basically immortal.
Tāmarai figured out very quickly what that meant.
The good news was that Victor had a plan, and some mathemagic to back it up, and could use the broken gem from his dragon with another powerful gem (a large amount of residium or maybe something pre-calamity would do), and with some power from spells turn it into a liquid. That liquid has to be poured into the base of the pyre in order to stop it.
After some negotiation, and a revelation that Victor has a ring of disguise (like the hat thereof, only a ring – presumably stolen from the Cerberus Assembly by Vanya seeing as she has one too), the adventurers agree to help make the liquid and they will delve into the underpinnings of the Bastion of the Platinum Dragon. Victor will travel to New Vasselheim using his ring and prepare them for a revolution.
Loot Acquired
- 1 cubic foot of titan stone – Bag of Holding
- 1 drawing of Rinn (by Vanya von Vasselheim) – Rinn
Players
- Rinn Shrike – Half-elf Sorcerer/Rogue (Storm Sorcery)
- Stubby – Half-elf Artificer/Artillerist
- Tāmarai Shikomi – Gnome Bard (College of Lore)
- Fisch – Bear Fighter (regular NPC)