The Way of the Wicked Summary (Act 4)

 --ACT FOUR--

-The party set up a base and bedrooms in the horn, with Nalethar taking up residence in the sanctum as she was able to perform the ritual. Meanwhile Dave was doing wonders with traps. A lot of traps. So many in fact that very few adventuring parties actually made it into the horn. Also when Grumblejack sat with Nalethar during the ritual he was compelled to drink the unholy water from the statue which revealed his daemonic heritage and he grew long horns and bat-like wings.

-Viktor then had the bright idea of capturing a dire tiger who's existence they'd heard about from the rumour mill in Farholde. The rumours spoke of a tiger named One-Eye who's growl sounded like the word revenge and who had established a lair by the lake to the east. Undeterred by it's reputation and confident in his druidic affinity with animals, Viktor set out with the rest of the party and found it's lair. However the tiger was nowhere to be found so Viktor set up camp in the lair, determined to wait for its return. Unfortunately after night had fallen, the tiger that had been lurking hidden in it's lair the whole time leapt on the free meal that had walked in and sat down in front of it. In the darkness they stood no chance and Viktor was eviscerated by the teeth and claws of the apex predator in the area. Aided by Dave's attempts to calm the beast with some fish he'd caught the rest of the party managed to flee.

-Surprisingly undeterred by the loss of one of the original party members the group carried on as usual until a couple of weeks later where Dave was struck with an idea. He went to the abbey in town to collect the bounty for a missing nun that had perished in an attack on the horn. Unfortunately he forgot to hide his alignment so was surrounded and clubbed almost unconscious by one round of the nun's attacks. At this point he heard a roaring as a giant beast leapt into the fray and took down the nuns in his way before escaping to safety with Dave. The beast then morphed into a slender bespectacled half-elf who introduced himself as Dr. Spectre and the monster as Boot. Dave nicknamed the newcomer Specs much to Specs' dismay and agreed to bring him into the fold to compensate for the loss of Viktor.

-Dr. Spectre made himself at home in the horn and set up a lab for experiments that the rest of the party were quite happy not knowing the details of. He also created a great many potions for the party to use in their endeavors. In particular his and Dave's expertise in alchemy and blacksmithing allowed them to repair the alchemical golem. This golem turned out to be a unnerving killing machine named Artephius who they quickly set to guard the third floor alone after a few too many boggards went missing.

-After a few quiet weeks the party realised that the messages from the Seventh Knot weren't coming through and went to investigate with Trik. They found out a Hangman Tree was responsible and had been eating several adventurers and messengers who were on their way to the Horn. Midas challenged the Hangman Tree to leave them alone but got too close and was grappled by the numerous vines and branches. Inches away from becoming the Tree's next meal Nalethar channeled a cold spell into the ground and paralyzed the Tree's roots just in time. This proved an effective threat and combined with the promised delivery of more adventurers to consume, the Tree agreed to act somewhat as a guardian of the Horn for the party.

-After a few quieter weeks, only troubled by the rumours of a High Inquisitor and possibly a dragon in the area, the party heard something unsettling thanks to their boggard spies. The Abbey was sending a messenger to the capital asking for aid regarding the Horn after having found out Asmodeans were involved. Obviously this wouldn't do and the party came up with a solid plan to pickpocket the messenger at the docks just before she got on the boat. Unfortunately several natural 1's later from Dave and one from Midas resulted in Nalethar left alone on the dock to despair at her parties incompetence whilst Dave and Midas stowed away on the boat, determined to rectify the situation when darkness fell.

-So much later when darkness fell Midas and Dave snuck out of their hiding spot to find the messenger's cabin. After acquiring a disguise from the kitchen thanks to Midas' surprisingly good bluff check and despite another natural 1 from Dave the two made it unhampered into the messenger's cabin and quickly assassinated her before she could call for help. Pleased with having finally stopped the message the two suddenly realised that they were 6 hours out to sea as stowaways on a boat. They both decided that the only course of action was to stage a mutiny.

-Step 1 of the mutiny was to spread rumours of the Captain not having the money to pay the crew and sow dissent. Most crew members didn't want to talk to Midas on account of him shouting "Hello, fellow Mitrans!" at anyone who looked at him. Fortunately Dave's run of bad luck was over as he did a fantastic job of manipulating the crew. After getting the word out that the Captain didn't have the money they had to make it true so Dave broke into the Captain's quarters and hid the gold away where he could retrieve it later. Then they did a good job of orchestrating a mob against the Captain with Dave demanding to see the money and Midas punching random people to add an element of chaos. The crew were outraged to find the claims to be true and chained up the now unconscious Captain and First Mate. Midas was then democratically nominated to be the new Captain due to all other candidates suddenly finding themselves unconscious in unrelated circumstances. The new Captain Midas then went and got drunk whilst Dave capably navigated the ship back to Farholde. After sending the crew off to the inn they sailed their new ship to the lake near the Horn for future use.

-While this was going on, Dr. Spectre came up with a plan of his own to salvage the situation and had headed to the Abbey. Alas he too forgot to hide his alignment and got jumped by the nuns, resulting in him being dragged off to the dungeons. Nalethar, finding herself alone, sought out the Baron and Trik for help in rescuing Specs before he gave away the plan. They were discussing possibilites before they were interrupted by two pyres containing half of the Seventh Knot and a proclamation from the High Inquisitor that all Asmodeans involved would also share the same fate. Spurred on by this the Baron and Nalethar combined their spellcasting prowess to teleport into the dungeon where they were face to face with a bruised and battered Dr. Spectre chained to the wall. Unfortunately the high inquisitor and the Abbess were also there and a very close fight ensued. The highlight was Grumblejack shouting "This is Sparta!" and kicking the High Inquisitor down a spiked pit that Nalethar created. Trik, incensed by the loss of his brother, launched several near suicidal attacks before being knocked unconscious. Eventually they teleported out, triumphant but on their last legs.

-The party reunited at last at the horn having somewhat rescued the situation, although down the assistance of the Seventh Knot with two members being dead, Elise having fled and Trik not knowing what to after the loss of his brother and just tagging along with Nalethar.

-Needing to recruit additional help, Dave had been slowly working on trying to convert One-Eye into an ally. His research had led him to find that One-Eye used to be a companion of an Iraen druid before they were attacked by a group of mercenaries from Farholde, leaving the druid dead and the Tiger half blind. Seeing this as the revenge that One-Eye sought he tracked down the mercenaries and led them to One-Eye who exacted his revenge and came to trust Dave. Later the party combined efforts and managed to remove the dagger still buried in One-Eye's scar, turning him into a true companion and ally.

-A few weeks later, after making a little money on the side from carrying out assassinations set by Lady Shalyn Marsten, the party heard some terrible news. The Baron's manor had been attacked by a silver dragon and he was missing, presumed dead. Shocked at this loss the party decided to check the manor themselves to find signs of the Baron's fate. They found claw marks and ice aplenty showing a chase through the manor that led to the bedroom. Inside they found an empty lockbox and signs of several devastating blows from a dragon in a confined space. Nalethar also detected a strong magic aura coming from one of the corners giving them just enough notice to dodge the frost breath of the dragon lying in wait, invisible. The party then fled through the manor, desperate to escape, throwing everything at it to slow it down. Midas gave the dragon the speech from Gurren Lagann to intimidate it, Nalethar showed off her aerial expertise, Dave cleverly bluffed and tricked it into going the wrong way and Specs threw everything alchemical that he could find in his pockets at it. Thanks to their combined efforts the party just managed to escape by diving out of the window and running to safety.

-The parties woes were not over yet though as soon they were attacked by a group of knights on horseback and a paladin who flew straight through the front door, cunningly bypassing all the traps. Midas, confident in his abilities, stood his ground and readied his nodachi against the oncoming force. However for the first time in his life Midas came off on the worse end of a scrap as being on the end of a cavaliers charge can be devastating. Surrounded on all sides by knights and despite Grumblejack doing what he could, Midas finally caved under all the blows and died. As things were looking hopeless, Dave and Specs, accompanied by their boggard minions and One-Eye led the charge from a secret passage and gave a damn good account of themselves. Nalethar, accompanied by Hexor and Vexor led a flank attack with spells and claws alike. Despite all, the party were still without Midas and Specs also perished on the end of a charge from the cavalier before she was finally brought down. Dave held his own for as long as he could against the paladin but Grumblejack was inconsolable at the loss of Midas and couldn't offer the support Dave needed so Dave was rendered unconscious by the battering blows from the paladin and knights. This had brought just enough time however for One-Eye and Hexor and Vexor's claws to take their toll on the knights bringing the fight to an end just in time. They also managed to capture the paladin alive which was crucial given that they needed him for the finale of the ritual.

-As the ritual drew to a close things looked bleak for the party, being down two members. They got quite the pleasant surprise however when Dr. Spectre rose from the dead. Acting on the Baron's orders and foresight, Majid had talked his way into the horn at night and, utilising a scroll and a couple of potions, had brought Dr. Spectre back. The party then decided to go and recruit another member from Farholde. Their was only one place in Farholde where they might find someone willing to join in a ritual summoning a daemon which was a very shady bar/brothel in the middle of the surrounding marshland. As they were ordering drinks at the bar and Dave put forth a challenge to recruit a new member, they heard a crash from above as a burly sailor came through the ceiling and landed on the bar. Looking up they saw a woman dressed as a courtesan staring down at the man with a look of absolute fury. She nimbly jumped down and, thinking quickly, Dave offered her a job judging by what had just happened that she wasn't overly happy with her current one. She introduced herself as Shinobu and revealed that she was working for Tiadora to gather information to assist with Thorn's plans. An anonymous note passed to her revealed Tiadora was happy with her initiative and encouraged her to join the party, which she did.

-Right at the end of the ritual, the party all holed up in the Sanctum, determined to finish the ritual no matter what. The final obstacle was the silver dragon, Argossarian. On the dawn of the final day he attacked, accompanied by the son of Balentyne's Lord Commander, Sir Richard Havelyn. The fight was incredibly well fought by the party. Shinobu enveloped the paladin in black tentacles and rendered him unable to escape, Dave hit two devastating blows with his homemade balista, Nalethar exploited the dragon's weakness to fire by sending multiple fireballs which did incredible damage and Dr. Spectre transformed into Boot and fought desperately in close quarters against the dragon, managing to hold him in place just long enough for the others to do what they had to do. The fight was not without a hitch however, as before the paladin was overcome by tendrils, he and the dragon took out One-Eye who had leapt into close quarters to protect Dave. Worryingly, after the dragon and the paladin had been defeated, as the party went to investigate the body of the paladin the body was teleported out of the Horn. Such an action could only have been carried out by someone who was scrying the whole thing and had great magical power at their disposal.

-With the dragon defeated, the party completed the ritual and at long last called forth Vetra Kali. As the ritual stated, they gave it all three of it's eyes restoring it to full strength however Vetra Kali was bound to grant them a request for each eye they gave it. Their first request was to do them no harm, preventing Vetra Kali from devouring them. Their second request was for the Tears of Achlys which it handed over with a carrion cackle, thus completing their mission. Their third request came from the parties decision that they didn't want a daemon lord of pestilence free, it was too much of a loose cannon. In a manner worthy of Asmodeus, Shinobu managed to use the third request to banish Vetra Kali and turn it against Mitra. Vetra Kali obviously wasn't too pleased with this double cross and brought the horn down on top of them. Thanks to Hexor and Vexor they managed to escape just in time and found themselves standing outside a giant pile of rubble, victorious.

-They notified Thorn and Tiadora appeared, rewarding them with gems and handing them a letter from Thorn which detailed their next assignment, to go to Ghastenhall and then the holiest place in Talingarde, the Vale of Valtaerna. They were to lead the bugbear horde against the greatest Cathedral of Mitra and leave the Vale behind in ashes.