The Heroes Strike Back

"Skeetz" leans close and mutters, I've been through too much and lost too many friends to have it thrown away by someone who's taken to stroking grubs and tentacles.
He ambushed us on the road. Never saw anyone fight like him. Not sure why he's challenging Gardren to a drinking contest when he could probably take out the whole room. But I got the feeling some of the boys wouldn't be too quick to jump in.

Ander narrows his eyes at the apparently surrendering guard and shift his mark to this new target. He decides not to fire unless the man makes a move to sound the alarm.

Ryvid requests a refill, quaffing it down as soon as it's filled "I've had worse. That's two to one."

Jusssticccce findssss usss all. I give you a ssssingle choice and not much time to anssswer. Do you want to die like your brotherssss and facccce Lendysss with your life'ssss actionsss assss they sssstand, or would you like the opportunity to live another day by facccing the punishment available to ussss right now?

ANDER, PAGEFLAP, TORDEN & SULPRAX

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The last Night Blade is eager to cooperate, even gives you keys to the cages. You promptly lock him up. From his person you can acquire the usual Night Blade gear, but also a compact war horn, presumably for sounding an alarm.

Where to next, rescue team?

KIT & RYVID

---

Kit doesn't get a good sense of how far Schneider's loyalty would stretch, but you surmise if he knows about it fermenting and hasn't told the boss, he's probably considering it as an option. He turns his attention to the drinking contest.

Ryvid takes another swig of magically-cleansed wine. The glowing masses once again swell with radiance as the cup activates its magic. They seem to be beating now, like hearts.

All of the Night Blades are again taken aback by the pulsing masses. One approaches the Night Lord

"Lord Gardren, the ... things on the back of your chair - ah, sorry - throne, what is happening?"

The Night Lord responds as he fills his second cup.

"Yes, something is indeed happening - the birth of a new era is at hand, my brothers! This is what all my work has been leading to. All of my sacrifices!" Gardren's right hand slams down on the arm rest of his chair, while the left traces over the many burn scars of his wrecked face.

He cheers with his cup "To a new age!" and drowns it in a continuous gulp.

Ryvid fills his third cup "Aye, a new age." and tosses it back, downing it all.

Kit looks at the Blight with widening eyes as it begins to pulse with each drink Ryvid takes. His stomach flops as the realization hits him that he's seen this before. He edges closer to Ryvid, hoping to signal the contestant in some way that he needs to stop. Uh, Nightlord, uh, sir? he begins timidly in Skeetz's voice. Those, uh, things don't look too friendly. Maybe we should do something about it.

Pageflap rubs the chin of his beak, looking at the horn. He sees a big potential for a trap in it.

He starts heading to the stairs, trying to see if there's a window or opening to signal to Kit and Ryvid that the prisoners are free.

Realizing that he will not be able to signal Ryvid without alerting the Night Lord, Kit decides to take another approach. Moving closer to the Night Lord, he draws upon the power his fey patrons instilled in him, addressing the leader and those closest to him. Can't you see that this throbbing mass is a danger to us all? His voice is still that of Skeetz, but it has become more reasoned and sure of itself. None of us are safe while these things surround us. They must be destroyed before they kill us all. You have to kill them.EDIT:

The Night Lord is pouring his third cup of wine when Skeetz Kit speaks up. Kit's Fey powers sweep over the Night Lord and his two closest henchmen. There is a visible softening of their features, as if forgetting all reasons why they doubted Skeetz's loyalty.

"No old friend, you are wrong, but I don't blame you!" Gardren says as he stands to take you by shoulder in an embrace of comradeship, his gruesome, mangled face made all the more horrific as it twists into a smile in the blazing firelight.

"We are about to accomplish something that no one has done in two thousands of years! This very night, these spores" - he gestures to the glowing masses - "will open the gates to our ancestral home."

He pauses, looking for understanding in your eyes...

"That's right, old friend. Sorrow. This is the beginning of the end of our exile. Emissaries of Mother Sorrow will cross the Void and help us establish this site as a permanent link between Arkasia and Sorrow."

"Do you understand what this means to me, old friend? All of my suffering in this life ... it was not for nothing! It was for a purpose! In this very valley where they left me to burn, I will found a new empire - my empire - and I will lead us back to Sorrow's promised fields! And no one will stand in my way."

Unfortunately the expenditure of this magical ability also resonates with the masses, which begin throbbing more intently than ever, their viridian glow becoming bright enough that you have to squint to look at it directly.

Reaching into his sleeve, Pageflap pulls out the weasel. Seeing it on the ground, the weasel heads towardsto the keep and tries to find a gap it can squeeze into to get inside, with Pageflap looking in through its eyes and ears. It is as stealthy as it can be.

Pageflap's weasel scurries through an arrow slit and into the keep. Extending his senses through his familiar, Pageflap witnesses the scene in the feast hall from the shadows, undetected. He sees the brightly glowing masses which he recognizes from beneath the inn, sees Ryvid with the magic cup, sees Kit as Skeetz trying to influence the Night Lord, and then witnesses the Night Lord's response.

Ryvid begins pouring his fourth tankard before hearing the mention of Mother Sorrow, causing him to overfill and spill a bit over his hands, snapping him back. His head shoots up to the Night Lord "Who...is Mother Sorrow?"

Though deaf and blind to his own senses, Pageflap begins mimicking every sound he hears to the rest of the party.