The Battle at the Portal
Arc 5.
The portal chamber
Beyond the double doors: a large cavern, a Derro portal at the far end, a great many Derro, and prisoners. Zarah sensed a Master Monk on the other side.
The Derro tried to activate the portal, and through it, briefly, a mind flayer.
Kvothe destroyed the portal with Stormcaller before it could fully open, cutting off reinforcements. Without them the Derro were finished.
Among the prisoners: Jaylin, and three other spellcasters — Atun, Bern and Heinrich.
Zarah's duel
One of the Derro was a Master of the Mantis — a monk of considerable skill, covered in mystical tattoos. Zarah fought him alone and won.
The moment she landed the final blow, the tattoos left his skin and moved onto hers. She became Master of the Mantis whether she had asked for it or not. The surviving Derro were visibly shaken to see their champion fall.
Bogani and the City of the Glass Pool
After the fight, a deep gnome named Bogani stepped out of the wall and explained what the portal was for.
It led to the City of the Glass Pool, where mind flayers, kuo-toa and Derro had already taken dozens of prisoners. He did not know why. He was certain it was not good.
He offered to speak to his priestess, Felani, in Rockhome, and told the party to meet him in seven days.
At the second meeting he added more: the alliance between the three peoples is real, a new portal will probably be built, and the Deep Dragon that took the Sunken Grove months ago can turn incorporeal. He left a rock outside the doors as a warning marker.
A fight in the night
Back at the keep the guards reported goblin and spider activity. Atun told them prisoners had been sacrificed to a woman in the underground lake to buy passage — almost certainly a hag.
The party took the rescued spellcasters to Fallcrest. That night they were attacked by unknown assailants and killed all of them. One was Markus. Agatha took his Flail of Fear off the body. They looted the corpses and hid them.
Business, and a bad homecoming
- Jaylin was returned to the Septarch
- Gems collected from Thistle; ritual components commissioned
- The Septarch asked them to check on Gardbury Abbey. They declined.
- Banner reported that Sharwyn and Braford had gone to Fastormel to look into a strange mist
- Freya rejoined, returning a borrowed wand
At Broken Spire Keep the gate was off its hinges and the food stores were gone — goblins. The hidden treasure was untouched. A bugbear watched them from the treeline and withdrew when approached.
The deep gnomes' price
At the double doors, Bogani brought his superiors' terms: prove yourselves by destroying a tribe of twelve trolls that had overrun the deep gnome mushroom farms.
The party went deeper with him, talked it over, and decided they were not ready. Bogani agreed, without complaint, to check back every seven days for four weeks.