Chapter 8, Part II: The Professor's Plan
Seeing the devastation caused by the Order at his parents' house, Vance had a thought that the Order might possess some way of identifying those who were chosen. He theorized that either the Order was looking for him, or it was possible his Uncle had been chosen as well, though he felt that may have been too coincidental, having two chosen in the same family.
When they showed Xerxes the piece of porcelain they found near the body in the forest, Xerxes recognized it immediately as a piece of the Masked Man's mask.
hat night, they group stayed at the cottage and Drez, deep in a trance, had a haunting dream about hunting a deer, unable to hit it. As he struggled, he felt his leg burn. When he awoke, the sensation was gone.
Xerxes, sensing urgency, cast Sending to Izzy Goodchild. She replied back to him: "Strange stuff going on with the lake. Grimm is missing, and we think Verastin is involved. The new Archon is ruthless. Get here soon. Izz."
Aboard their trusty wagon, the banner reading Talons' Treats flapping against the side of the carriage as it reached speed, Xerxes sat up front with BOJO and discussed their love lives. BOJO asked Xerxes, and the rest of the Talons, to help him propose.
Dr. Hoo spotted a woman up ahead, rummaging through a broken-down cart. The woman, who introduced herself as Myrna, claimed that a large ape had attacked her wagon.
Xerxes inquired about her origins, and she mentioned she was from Lugsha. Surprised, Xerxes asked how she could live there with the poison veil. Myrna seemed puzzled and said she knew nothing about the poison veil. When asked what year it was, she replied, "643." She had curly brown hair, wore a green dress with a red tunic, and worn leather boots.
They informed her that the current year was 999 EoW and that poison had overtaken the area she was from. Myrna seemed distressed and picked up something, mentioning she needed a drink. She offered it to the Talons, and Tagg, Nohki, and Xerxes took a sip. Both Nohki and Xerxes resisted the dominate person spell, while Tagg saved with the help of Nova and his Bugbear nature.
Xerxes noted that Myrna didn't look old. Tagg tried to intimidate her, causing her to become confused and upset. Suddenly, she transformed into a Ghast and attacked Xerxes.
The battle commenced. When Nohki killed the Ghast, he was afflicted with Sewer Plague, which Xerxes promptly cured using Lesser Restoration. Xerxes kept the Ghast's tongue as a trophy.
When they arrived at the gates of Brimhold, they noticed a large number of agons, merchants, people, and carriages being turned away. Vance persuaded the guard to let him and the wagon in by claiming he was with the Platinum Talons. Inside, they observed the town bustling with military activities. BOJO led them to Hildar's parents' house, where they noticed a plate used in the house but found nothing else amiss.
While Tagg was hanging out in the wagon, a sudden thud hit the top, causing it to rock back and forth briefly. Xerxes and BOJO rushed down the stairs, followed by Drez and the rest of the party. They found Professor Pluveria, an Aarakocra, perched on top of the wagon.
Xerxes demanded to know why Pluveria had been keeping tabs on them. Pluveria revealed he would disclose more information if the Talons agreed to help him. He wanted them to convince Ouglana to abandon the mission to destroy the poison veil, or to at least amend it to save lives that he felt were surely going to be lost if the Order deployed the plan exactly as it was.
Pluveria informed them that the Order had airships armed with a weapon to eliminate the poison veil. The weapon was a concentrated gelatinous fire. Chieftain Ouglana, the Harvestman, Pluveria, high-ranking Gragtharian generals, and high-ranking Order members had all been in the room within the last few days, trying to discuss the best course of action. The Chieftain seemed set on the plan the Order had proposed.
Drez asked Pluveria if he believed the Order could destroy the poison veil. Pluveria confirmed that the weapon was indeed potent enough. BOJO showed Pluveria a picture of Hildar, asking if he had seen her, and telling him that they had heard she had joined up with the Order. Pluveria identified her, not as an Order member, but as one of Chieftain Ouglana's officers. Tagg caught a glimpse of the photo as BOJO flashed it, and recognized the young woman as Veyla the Impaler, the half-orc woman he had fought with in the Warehouse in Yurdrok just a few days ago.
Pluveria then conversed with Tagg about his parents, his demeanor nervous and hard for Tagg to pinpoint without knowing the man very well. Xerxes inquired about Professor Dinoth Argent. Pluveria showed the group a stack of magic paper that he had that could send a message out into the world. Tagg sent a message to his parents on the magic paper but received no response. Pluveria noted that the person would need to be able to use magic for the papers to work effectively.
BOJO and the boys then discussed preparations for his marriage proposal and strategized on how to convince Ouglana to change the current plan. Pluveria revealed to Drez that the group responsible for the mark on his leg was a faction that had broken off from the Order and had been working for some time to bring the Order down. He mentioned that there was an old woman of sorts in a hut on an island just off the shore of Brimhold named Gyama who might have more information about the mark and the group associated with it.
The group, having the rest of the day to explore the city before they needed to rest and report to the Grand Fortress in the morning, searched for the AGI but found it had been turned into a barracks to house the Gragtharian army. Betty, the AGI concierge, was visibly stressed, running around frantically and attempting to replace things that had been moved or broken by the quartered soldiers. She was able to provide a map to Drez, the group's cartographer, which he then shared with the group. They noticed a passage to the Underdark on the map, which Betty explained was a recent development since the legend of Vola and the alliance with the Underdark about twenty-some years ago. There was an embassy in Brimhold which held an elevator that led to the Underdark
Seeing this got the Talons' wheels turning. Drez suggested they might be able to go under the poison veil to reach its source, though they may need more information before they tried to stage any type of attack through the Underdark. He also suggested, before the day was up, that they visit Gyama to see if he could learn more about the mark he had acquired on the S.S. Tincture. Xerxes said they also needed to make sure they thought through how they wanted to approach Chieftain Ouglana, and to come up with a plan that had a chance of mitigating some of the death that, following the Order's plan, was set to be extensive and inevitable.