#11 - Into the Vault

Reunited with the others, the PCs spoke again with Kyress and her group. They were deciding exactly who would go where—the gnomes, Wenrick, the disturbed Aundairian would go with the professor—when the sentries called out that winged shapes appeared in the sky. Indeed, rounding the corner of the mountain was a wyvern.

It had only been a matter of time. The PCs had declined the offer of the cloaked stranger who visited them aboard the Sky Talon—the offer to take the Emperor's Key off their hands and end all pursuit. Now, the man-who-was-not-a-man and his allies, had probably come for it. Whoever they were. A shapechanger, an exoriate half-orc, cultists of the Dragon Below. And apparently a whole Host-damned flight of wyverns.

There was no more time for discussion. The groups said their terse farewells and spread out. Rendar, Cyzicus, Cypher, Xoma, Magnus, Doongul, and Halbazar set out toward the site of the crashed Talon in order to draw the attention of the approaching wyverns, while Kyress, the hobgoblins, and the gnomes set out down toward the bottom of the ruined city. Before separating, the professor reluctantly gave them a map she had of the Governor's Vault: the inner fortress of the palace that once sat atop the top tier of Paluur Draal when the city was part of the old Dhakaani Empire.

Two wyverns shot out over the city. As they neared, one turned back and flew the way it had come. The other descended and engaged, and a battle soon ensued. The rider, a human who wielded a lightning-spewing wand, seemed unafraid of the greater numbers. Lashing with electricity, he wounded the PCs but slew none of them. In turn, slowly, they brought him down by killing the wyvern with a series of attacks. Once downed, the rider tried to flee, but he was swiftly cut down.

The rider was human with elvish blood, that was clear, and in searching his body the PCs discovered that he bore the Mark of Storm! House Lyrandar bore that mark. Another dragonmarked heir—allied with the Dragon Below? Not a good sign. When attempting to pry the wand from the dead man's hand, Xoma found himself shocked by its power. While Cypher had a quick look at the defensive matrix infused in the wand, seeing a dragonshard was set into its base, Xoma simply set to work cutting off the dead man's arm so he could still take the wand with him.

Xoma is like that.

On their way back up the city, something much more than wyverns appeared in the sky from the north: a whole new airship. This one was sculpted like a kraken—denoting as a vessel belonging to, or at least commissioned for, House Lyrandar. The kraken was their symbol. Flanking the airship were two wyverns.

The PCs reached the entrance to the Governor's Vaults and went in, seeking shelter from the eyes of the airship. They waited and consulted the map, wary of the trap indicated in its first junction. When the airship came into view from the entrance corridor, they followed Cypher and Xoma, who searched the darkness of the hallways for further danger. They needed to find a secure place to rest, not quite ready for another fight.

When they discovered an illusory secret door, they soon found a guard chamber and made camp. Hours passed and they lingered in the dark, waiting, quiet. Magnus slept while Cypher examined the dragonshard wand in the dimmed light of a hooded lantern. The others dozed or just kept still. Or, like Cyzicus and Doongul, took up a sentry position.

But before they could get sufficient rest, they were disturbed by the sound of intruders to the vault. Distant, shouted voices near the entrance. Then, from the sounds of it, the triggering of a trap—the loud, banging, metal-on-stone of heavy weights hitting solid ground. Angry shouts and metallic barks followed.

A short while later, Doongul and Cyzicus spotted a pair of iron defenders stalking by the illusionary wall, clearly searching for someone.