Assault on the Palace

Staring up at the massive Imperial Palace from their hiding spot in Isao’s wagon, Zhustin felt his mouth go dry. “So … what’s the plan?” he finally asked, his voice cracking. There was a long silence. Then the silence broke like a dam, and everyone started talking at once.

“How many guards can there be?” Nicki asked flippantly. “Surely you guys can handle them.” The others didn’t even bother to reply. Zhustin went nervously through his inventory of spells, wondering how many he’d have left by the time they reached the Jade Regent.

“We can just teleport straight into the castle,” Bella said confidently. “No we can’t!” Sandru countered testily. “Ameiko can’t teleport with the Seal.”

More ideas got batted about. “Can Ameiko turn Gaseous while she’s carrying the seal?” Sandoval asked. Heads turned. “I don’t see why not,” Zhustin replied after some thought. Sandoval nodded. “What if we all turned Gaseous, floated across the moats, and slipped in through one of the arrow slits in the walls?” The group gave this some thought. “Taking on Gaseous Form doesn’t make you invisible – the guards would still see us crossing,” Marie countered. “Not if we’re hidden in a fog bank!” It was Bella, and she already had her Horn of Fog out, eager to put it to use once more.

Now it was Nicki’s turn to worry about spells. He didn’t want to waste all his spell slots on boring Gaseous Forms for everyone when he could be using them for loud, flashy Evocation spells. Plus he eyed the long distance up to the elevated castle, and seriously doubted that Bella could accurately direct her moving fog bank to get them where they needed to go. Others were apparently having the same doubts.

Zhustin offered up an alternate plan. He pointed to the guard tower at the far eastern end of the market place across the first moat. “What if a few of us teleported into there, took out the guards, and then Ameiko and the others snuck over to join us. Then we’d only have to get up the cliffs and directly across the inner moat in Gaseous Form.” The group discussed variations on this plan for some time, but it seemed to have several difficulties without enough advantages.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Sawyer suddenly snarled, grabbing Nicki by the scruff of the neck. The sorcerer had been about to slip out the back of the wagon. He gave Sawyer a dark look, but resisted the strong urge to fry him. “I’m getting bored,” he whined. “Let’s do something already!”

“If we waited until dark, they probably wouldn’t notice someone in Gaseous Form crossing to the castle, especially if it was just a couple of people.” Everyone turned to Marie, who was staring thoughtfully up at the fortress walls. “Most of us could Dimension Door through the arrow slits in that tower, there,” she continued, pointing to the nearby southwest corner of the Palace. “Once we’ve subdued the guards, Ameiko could float across in Gaseous Form to join us, and we’d be inside without having to fight our way in.”

Isao was fidgeting nervously in the wagon seat. He’d been listening to their debate on tactics, and wondering just how this group had managed to survive this long. Now he turned, his voice near panic. “We can’t stay here until nightfall! We’ve already been here too long. The guards will notice this wagon just sitting here, and then we’ll be done for!”

Everyone realized Isao was right, but they weren’t overly concerned. At Bella’s direction, everyone climbed back down into their Portable Hole. Then Isao drove to a more secluded spot on the island, removed the cloth containing the Hole from the bottom of the wagon, and laid it beneath a large bush, pulling some branches across it to hide it from sight without closing the Hole and cutting off their air supply. (These islands nearest the Imperial Palace held the homes of high court officials, but many of them now seemed abandoned. Apparently being a member of the Jade Regent’s court was a job with a high turnover rate.)

The group passed several uncomfortable hours crammed into the confines of the Portable Hole, but finally the sun set and they climbed out to execute their plan. They waited until they could see dim yellow light shining through the arrow slits at the top of the closest tower. Nicki cast Gaseous Form on himself and Ameiko, and they began their slow crossing, counting on the watchful guards not to notice some traces of mist wafting through the night air. Sandoval and Zhustin gathered the others around them, and on the count of three cast Dimension Door.

They found themselves in a small square room, elbow-to-elbow with the pair of Typhoon Guards who’d been shooting the breeze a moment before. The two kuwa oni were taken completely by surprise, and Bella’s sword to the kidney didn’t help matters. Sandoval and Sawyer added strikes of their own, as Marie and Zhustin jostled to get out of the others’ way, adding to the guards’ confusion. Before the guards could recover, Sawyer hit again, and as his target reeled from Suishen’s strike, Sandru stabbed him in the back. The oni was starting to crumple as Shinjiro delivered a hard punch to the throat, then spun to deliver a lightning-fast pair of punches to his partner. That oni managed to slash Sandoval once with its katana before Bella stepped up and went into osterizer mode. Everyone else cursed as they wiped the oni’s blood off their faces.

Marie used the room’s lantern to signal to Ameiko and Nicki that it was safe, and a few minutes later the pair drifted through one of the arrow slits and re-materialized. By this time, Bella had already lifted the trapdoor in the room’s floor, and found a ladder that led down to an identical room below them. She pulled on her Gloves of Reconnaissance and laid them against one of the tower walls, hoping to see what was beyond them, but whatever magic prevented scrying from outside the Palace apparently also worked on its walls, and she could sense nothing.

The group climbed down the ladder into the lower room. Like the top room, its only exit was through a trapdoor in the floor. Nicki hung back in the upper tower. “Be with you in a minute!” he chirped. After a short delay, he clambered down the ladder – followed by a clattering pair of skeletons, clad in Typhoon Guard armor. “I figured we’d need all the help we can get,” he explained cheerfully to the others’ eye-rolls.

Bella cautiously lifted the trapdoor. It led down into a similarly shaped square room. It, too, was empty, but unlike the first two it had a closed door leading north, and a stone staircase leading down. As the group quietly descended, Bella went to the top of the staircase; she could hear voices from below. The language was unrecognizable, but the tone was clear: bored guards killing time.

Signaling for the others to stay quiet, she moved to the door and eased it open. She found herself looking into a bustling dining hall. A dozen low tables were arranged in neat rows, surrounded by small cushions. Numerous servants scurried back and forth from a trio of large charcoal ovens, where cooks worked furiously preparing food.

Over half a dozen Typhoon Guards were scattered about the room, but none of them were eating. A single enormously corpulent ogre mage sat at one of the tables, consuming food almost as fast as the servants could bring it to him. Despite the rate at which his stuffed the food down his gullet, the expression of ecstasy on his face indicated he truly enjoyed the food he was consuming.

Bella eased the door shut, and a whispered conference ensued. “Why should we fight him if we don’t have to?” Sawyer asked. “Why not go down and look for another way?”

“We’re on the second floor of the castle now,” Nicki countered. “Isao told us the throne room is on the third floor. If we go down, we’ll still have to come back up.”

“But maybe not through the dining room,” Sawyer countered. “Maybe we can find a way we can sneak through without fighting.” Nicki marveled at Sawyer’s new-found discretion, but the others seemed to be in agreement, so he gave in. Marie cast Silence on a coin, and placed it by the door, to mask any sounds of combat from below.

Bella quaffed a Potion of Invisibility and crept down the stairs. She found another square guardroom, this one with doors leading both north and east. Another pair of Typhoon Guards lounged about, oblivious as the rogue took up position behind them, her swords at the ready. A moment later, Sawyer came charging down the stairs. As the guards turned to face him, Bella stabbed visciously. Then everything went silent, as a brass coin came bouncing down the stairs after the fighter.

The fight was short and vicious. Sawyer leaped off the stairs and impaled the other guard, followed by Sandoval and Shinjiro. The guards’ mouths were stretched open, screaming alarms that would never be heard, thanks to Marie’s Silenced coin. Swords flashed, fists, feet, and blood flew, and both guards hit the floor. Sawyer tossed the coin back up the stairs, and Marie replaced it to muffle any sounds coming up from below.

Once everyone had filed down the stairs, Bella cautiously opened each of the tower doors in turn. Each led to an empty hallway ending in another closed door. They were in. Where now?

The PCs earned 7,315 XP for the night, putting them at 563,891 XP, with 635,000 required for level 15. We’ll be back at Leo’s next week.