Blood and Shadow

is the third episode of Exandria Unlimited: Calamity, the third installment of the Exandria Unlimited series of miniseries. Confronted with how deep Avalir's corruption runs, the Ring of Brass must face hard truths about themselves as impossible choices are made and lines are both drawn and sundered.

Part I
The Ring of Brass faces Lacrytia Hollow and her undead guard. Lacrytia asks the party what they're doing there, and Laerryn tells her they're checking on the descent and asks her the same. Cerrit notices the people on the rooftops vanishing, and communicates this over Rary's Telepathic Bond to the rest of the party. Lacrytia is joined by Milus Phren, the Magister who had imposed on Nydas earlier that morning, but Cerrit also notices that Milus seems to be moving oddly, in a way indicative of a much larger person. Loquatius tries to diffuse the situation by asking Milus for an interview, but Milus tells him to wait until tomorrow. Cerrit flies up, which triggers initiative.

Nydas asks his party members what to do, and Zerxus shouts "SUBDUE THEM" telepatically. Nydas summons the draconic spirit of Sha'korzhan, the dragon that once guarded the horde of the Golden Scythe, and gets on his back, then successfully attacks Milus Phren twice. The dragon then attacks Milus, but misses. The disguise of Milus drops, revealing a massive devil with a venomous tail. Patia throws a Fireball at Lacrytia and her guard; Lacrytia vanishes before it hits, but her guard is destroyed. Patia then runs for cover. The devil then attacks and hits Nydas. Zerxus notices the Spellguard, and as he does, Lacrytia shouts at them to kill everyone but "Keep the blood of the Master's chosen - he lives!" Cerrit is attacked by Findras Lightbringer, one of the Spellguard, and takes damage though he resists or dodges much of it. Another attacks Loquatius twice - Laerryn's ward protects him the first time, and Zerxus's Aura of the Guardian the second. Cerrit attacks Findras, causing him to drop Haste, and realizes he is not being controlled but is doing this of his own volition.

Loquatius attempts to Dominate Person on the devil, but fails; he inspires Zerxus. Lacrytia then appears and creates a massive, bony hand that grasps Nydas. She does not Blink out, but does cast Mirror Image. Zerxus then attacks Findras, nearly killing him with massive blows and smites, then flies on Tempus so that his auras will cover as many of his allies as possible. Lacrytia then shouts in Infernal, and Zerxus finds he can understand it. She calls for k'nauthi - the puppet clerics of Betrayer Gods - and for Xartaza. Xartaza, an erinyes, appears. She attacks Zerxus, but cannot hit him.

Two mages then surround Cerrit, who is in the air: one forcesg disadvantage on the save and the other casts Detect Thoughts, getting all of Cerrit's information on the Vespin Chloras case. They then jump off the tower. Two fireballs hit much of the rest of the party, though most take half damage. Findras is killed and Laerryn's Arcane Ward is spent. The k'nauthi cast Spiritual Weapon and attack the draconic spirit. The k'nauthi all have infernal runes on their arms, and their lips have been cut off. The Ring of Brass realizes that the k'nauthi had been waiting in nearby buildings for the fight.

Laerryn joins Patia, out of the range of Counterspell, and casts Reverse Gravity. All in range other than the devil, including Lacrytia, fail, although Nydas and Sha'korzhan are still in flight. Nydas casts Freedom of Movement to get out of the grasp of the skeletal hand, and then sends the dragon to grapple Lacrytia. It succeeds, despite the mirror images. Nydas then successfully attacks her and drags her out of range of the Reverse Gravity. Patia casts Haste on Zerxus, who gets a call from Sashara Drake, Captain of the Chancellor's guard, reporting an attack on the Meridian Labyrinth. At the same time, Laerryn gets a call from Callum Staffwright telling her that there have been attacks or power losses on some of the eldritch batteries and that the Arboreal Calix is requesting 30% of the city's power. Laerryn tells him to kill the stopgap. As she does so, the devil and the erinyes both cough up blood. The devil still manages to kill Sha'korzhan, and catches Lacrytia as she falls. Nydas reaches for the devil and succeeds.

Cerrit realizes that there is no way to recover the information the mages took, and instead kills one of the mages still in combat. He also realizes that this fight is not a distraction, despite the other ongoing attacks, and stays to engage. Loquatius, Laerryn, and Patia discuss what they can do, now that that they understand both the scope of the attacks and that they do have allies elsewhere in the city. Loquatius then casts Psychic Lance on the devil, who fails and in doing so becomes incapacitated and falls. So do Lacrytia and Nydas, but she lands safely and Patia casts Feather Fall on Nydas. Loquatius then runs towards the two wizards. Lacrytia attempts to cast Finger of Death on Patia, but Laerryn Counterspells it and Lacrytia's attempt to Counterspell that fails. Patia tells Laerryn she's her best friend as Lacrytia blinks back out.

Zerxus attacks the devil and hits it for all three attacks, getting the HDYWTDT on the devil that had disguised itself as Milus Phren. As he does, he hears a voice call his name, but cannot place it. Xartaza attacks Zerxus and as she does, the party sees that Zerxus's eyes appear full of starlight. She stabs through his armor, and once her sword is covered in his blood, leaves. Zerxus attacks her as she does and damages her, but does not stop her; she asks him to remember her name and tells him it will be an honor to serve him.

Once she leaves, the mages begin to Fly away, but the k'nauthi remain and attack Loquatius, who forces them to miss with Silvery Barbs. Laerryn drops Reverse Gravity, killing a number of k'nauthi with falling damage, and casts Dimension Door to bring her and Loquatius to the helm. Nydas uses Detect Thoughts to store the memories of one of the mages still present, since Lacrytia is not available, and prepares for Tempus and Zerxus to pick him up. Patia holds Otiluke's Resilient Sphere in the center of the battlefield for Lacrytia. Some attacks on Nydas fail, and Cerrit goes to look through the window into the helm, and sees the dead body of Akami Rowe next to a shattered helm. He shoots a crossbow and gets the HDYWTDT on the mage next to Nydas.

Lacrytia then appears before Patia and tells her she's always hated her. She tries to Counterspell the sphere, but Zerxus Counterspells her and the spell takes effect. Lacrytia had been holding Circle of Death and, thanks to a high Arcana check from Patia, instead casts it within the sphere where it reverberates and kills her with necrotic damage. Patia tells Lacrytia's corpse that she'd always hated her too. The k'nauthi try to flee but the party kills them, and Nydas executes the mages who attempt to surrender for their traitorous actions.

Ring of Brass

 * Cerrit Agrupnin
 * Laerryn Coramar-Seelie
 * Loquatius Seelie
 * Nydas Okiro
 * Patia Por'co
 * Zerxus Ilerez
 * Tempus

New

 * Findras
 * Imyr Por'co (in a vision)
 * Sashara Drake (via sending stone)
 * Xartaza

Returning

 * Akami Rowe (corpse)
 * Asmodeus
 * Callum Staffwright
 * Dweomer
 * Elmenore (in a vision)
 * Lacrytia Hollow
 * Milus Phren
 * Orwyn (corpse)
 * Vespin Chloras