Chapter 1, Part III: Platinum Citadel
The party spent the rest of the day playing games to earn enough tickets to clean the prize booth out of prizes. Xerxes and Nohki rode the boar for a few hours straight, Vance and Drez spent their time honing their skills at the Solana Toss, Firebrook sharpened his mind against the trivia game, and Bartholomew drank the reigning drinking contest champion under the table, landing them all a sizeable sum of tickets to purchase a good handful of magical items.
Of note, the group all purchased some kinds of starter sets, Vance grabbed the Hat of disguises and the bag of tricks. Xerxes landed himself a pair of boots of false tracks. Bartholomew scoops up the Wand of Pigeon Summoning. Firebrook selected a new pet, the Earworm. Nohki selected a feather token at random, which wound up being a Tree feather token. And Drez purchased the Pipe of Smoke Monsters, which brought him great joy. They all pooled their resources and purchased a few more items, none more powerful (or expensive) than the bag of holding to keep all of their new goodies that would, no doubt, be completely forgotten about within a few sessions.
Exhausted from their shopping excursion, Drez led the party back to the inn just outside the Citadel. As they made their way through the streets, the festivities fading with the setting sun, they noticed the tail end of one of the day's theatric performances of "The Night of Salvation," a dramatic re-enactment of the moment when Fynali was saved by the quick work of two gods. They arrive just in time to see the conclusion of the play-- the part of the story where Brio, dying, gives his powers and shield over to the Warden who then smites Solana.
Brio is depicted as an older man with white hair and a pearlescent white-ish/silverish suit that catches the light like a sun. He has a golden crown on his head, a circlet with seven stars, the center of which is the largest with the others getting progressively smaller the further away from the center they go. He carries a shield emblazoned with seven golden birds
The Warden is a youth with a too big metal helmet loose on their head. The helm sports a mohawk of short bronze tufts from the front all the way down the back of the neck, and sharp, flat spikes of protection jutting down the sides of the wearer's face and past their jaw. They wear a multicolored metallic tabard with leather armor underneath. Once they receive the shield from Brio, the young actor is replaced by that of an older, more muscular one with broad, spiked metal armor underneath the tabard instead of the more lean leather kind. The detailing and width of the shoulder armor is reminiscent of that of the Sentinels standing guard around Platinum city.
Firebrook's eyes remained on Solana as something flashed through his memories. Vance, too, slipped down memory lane, recalling his family of traveling performers as he appreciated the craftsmanship of the actors before him.
Drez bid the crew goodnight and headed off to the guest house on the grounds of the citadel.
The next morning, Drez gave his report to the Chancellor: these five adventurers were trustworthy and good to each other. They worked well together and welcomed him to the group easily. Satisfied, the Chancellor bid Drez to collect the party and help them find their way to the citadel.
At the gates, the party presented their Letter of Entrance to the paladin who was standing guard at the archway.
The Chancellor met the party at the entrance to the citadel and welcomed them inside, bringing them through the entryway and the long great hallway to the cozy yet regal sitting room where he began to read them into the situation.
"I believe that the six of you are connected by something bigger than the rest of us. But I would like to be certain before I give you any further information, as knowing any more than you do would put you in grave danger. But I do understand why you might be hesitant to trust me, or to go any further down the almiraj hole. But if you can find it in your heart to trust me, then there is a very special item that I would ask you to retrieve and bring back here.
"There is an island off the coast of Iridea, between this continent and an island known as Tempestua, named as such due to the violent storms that have kept the world out there for as long as anyone can remember. I will not ask you to brave that island, but the smaller one, Conclave Island, is the destination that you seek. There are a series of ruins, and inside an item of vast importance to the safety of Fynali.
"I will ask of you to use these new powers, if you have indeed been given them. At the center of these ruins is where you should find this item. You will know it when you see it. If you can collect it and bring it back to me, there will be no doubt that you have been chosen by the gods to receive the knowledge I have been the keeper of for the length of my long life. You will need to take a boat in order to make it to the island. Due east of here is the town of Shoalbank where many of the villagers make their living as fishermen. I would suggest you head that way."
The party debated amongst themselves about whether this was a quest they would like to take on. Firebrook attempted to get the Chancellor to grease the wheels, so to speak, but when Lady Selkath arrived in the room to vouch for Chancellor Ulrich Darling, he was swayed by his trust in her and her encouragement to assist with their newly discovered powers.
They were given a letter that, once given to Uhfritz McGillacutty, the harbormaster in Shoalbank, would allow them access to a boat to get them to Conclave Island.
Readying themselves for the journey ahead, the party headed out of Platinum city for the journey to Shoalbank and the start of the adventure of a lifetime.