PART 18
(Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20)
A.C. 225.05- CORIANDER
The Arcadian Navy Stalker Dracontyr pulls into port, under the watchful guns of the Neo Panjandran Empire. The Praetorian captain on shore is surprised to see... Empress Dima aboard? Wasn't she in the Fort? Dima announces how she negotiated the rescue of the crew of the Red Tide after a near fatal encounter with a meteor destroyed their ship.
The Praetorian captain, following her Empress' orders, agrees to a prisoner exchange. The Red Tide's human crew come ashore, traded for Animas prisoners who board the Dracontyr.
The rescued pay no heed as a nearby doomsayer cries out... "See? The sky is falling! Our end is at hand!"
Suno-Arcadia OST-Running Rum Drunk.mp3
Meanwhile, our crew realize they'll need human disguises to enter Coriander. Before anyone can stop him, Tara casts a Metamorphosis spell.
Tara becomes a perfect match for Gramblarr, much to the confusion of actual Gramblarr.
Purket is turned into a young Dr. Ossuary, now uncomfortably tall and awkward.
Griff is turned into "Timofee", a boy even shorter than Griff!
Unfortunately, the spell is so powerful it incapacitates Tara / Gramblarr. Squalor opts to carry him, but struggles to keep up with the group as they go ashore.
Cap'n and the crew of the Dracontyr decide to leave Coriander while they still can. Mayne stays aboard with his share of the giant coins.
Unfortunately, the other Dima sets out from the Fort in her wagon... the crew need to get off the streets quick!
They duck into Ossuary's Oddities, a new but dubious looking shop.
Inside, imitation artifacts and tchotchkes everywhere, right down to the sauran temple wallpaper.
"Timofee" approaches the counter and demands to purchase ammunition and a bottle of Gin.
Madame Charlatine, the shopkeep, suggests something else: "Just in, the latest Fur Feather Friends merchandise: Griff costumes!"
"Timofee" tries on the cheap costume. "Hey look everyone... I'm Griff."
Charlatine confronts Purket next. "And who are you supposed to be?"
"Oh, uh, I'm the new impersonator that Dr. Ossuary hired to fill in for him. Look, I've already earned a whole... 6 silver coins for the shop!"
Suddenly, a CRASH! as the bookshelf Dima was trying to hide behind topples! The other shop assistant, Danya, rushes over to help.
"Oh wait, "Empress Dima"? Come back to grace our shop with your presence? Can you even remember me this time?"
Dima replies informally. "Wait, Danya? Danya Mandrake, is that you? Please, help me outta this thing."
Finally, Squalor makes it to the shop and bursts through the door, carrying a paralyzed and disguised Tara.
He helps lift the bookcase off Dima.
Madame Charlatine sees Dima, and is shocked. "Your grace! You, I, wow, we are blessed to have you visit again! Was the painting to your satisfaction?"
Before Dima can answer, a trap door opens, and Sticky the Lizard pops up, holding a chunk of glowing Vitriol.
"Madame, deh new shtock of Vitwiol is here, where do you want... OH MAH GAWSH, it's da Emp-wess! UH... you nevuh thsaw meeee... Byeeee!" and drops the Vitriol before vanishing below. Dima breaks the awkward silence: "Uh yeah, me and my crew could use a restroom break. Downstairs? Great, we'll be right back." Purket snatches the Vitriol, the only legitimate artifact in the store, and the crew head downstairs.
Moments after the crew vacate the shop, Dr. Ossuary comes in the front door. "Hey hey, Charlatine! How's business? What'd I miss?"
Meanwhile in the basement stockroom, Dima tries to introduce the crew to Danya. "Wait, you mean these people are actually Animas? Lemme guess... the short one is... Griff." Danya explains that the other Dima, who didn't even recognize her, bought an ancient painting from the shop that was supposedly painted by Dima's great grandmother, Cassandra Agrippa. The painting is probably in the Fort by now. Danya also knows her brother Gora is being held in the same Fort.
Before Dima can even get Danya caught up on everything that has happened, Paddywinks the Wizard enters the stockroom with more supplies, sees Dima, and almost runs! Griff yells in his boyish voice for Paddy to stay. With Paddy is Gaius, the crew's old Pack animal, loaded with supplies for the growing underground resistance. The crew contribute some of their substantial new wealth to the cause.
The crew then make contact with Goad, the Rat Ogre, who knows a secret way into the fort.
Suno-Arcadia OST-Finders Creepers.mp3
First stop: the Donjon below the fort, where they can find Gora. Dima and the crew file past other prisoners who jeer, or demand to be let out.
"Hey Empress, here for my reprieve? Hey, who's your weird friends?"
The crew reach a heavy gate at the end where Gora should be. Squalor tears the entire gate off the wall!
Gora staggers out. "And who the hell are you supposed to be? Typical- rescued by an old man, an impostor, and a little kid."
Danya confronts her brother. "I know dad made you do terrible things. Isn't it time to think for yourself now?"
Gora sees Dima and sneers "Oh, the great Empress Dima, come to check on me? Why haven't you executed me already?"
Dima responds: "That's not me pretending to be Empress. And we need your help to stop Morgren Mandrake."
Gora has been watching the guards for months, and knows their routine. He suggests the crew use the old drainage system to get out.
As the crew slide down, Griff-Timofee is so small that he falls through a crack! Purket manages to pull him out, despite the awkwardness of young Ossuary's body.
The crew find an oubliette that might be where the painting was stashed, and force their way inside.
The painting waits inside, covered by a tarp amongst old debris.
Dima: "Why was this painting so important to the so-called Empress?"
Danya: "You- I mean, the other you just kept staring at this painting, like it had some secret message."
Griff: "And I guess they didn't want anyone else to see it, so they stashed it down here."
Suddenly the crew hear a Praetorian patrol coming!
They quickly hide amongst the junk, except Squalor, who just... falls over. The guards enter. "Huh, this is new. Another weird piece of junk for the Princess. Well, that explains the noises. C'mon, we got rounds to keep."
Safe, the crew uncover the painting- an impressionist portrayal of a comet, streaking towards a river city. Coriander?
The crew draw on their combined lore: Cassandra Agrippa, Dima's great grandmother, claimed to paint pictures of "the future". Nobody took her seriously... but rumour says if you count the brush strokes, it tells you what year the painting would happen. Griff counts... "4,225. Wait, by the old calendar, that's... this year! Why... why would the Empress willingly stay in Coriander, if it's gonna get hit by a comet?!"
With even more questions than answers, the crew make their way out of the Fort. Their exit deposits them in the sewers... Purket and Squalor see a familiar looking table. "Wow, it's still here! This is awesome!" Gora retorts "You people are just... (sigh). Can we get out of this disgusting place already?"
The crew agree that, if they could get inside Cassandra's Estate somehow, they might find more treasures- er, clues. Dima hides herself in rags, so not to scare away a Piscene that Purket and Squalor manage to coax from the waters. Tara translates its burbling message: "They know a way into the feeding area from here. But they say the tides are strange today..."
Famously, in her will, Cassandra's Estate was left to her "cats", including several large predators and other strange beasts. For the last 200 years, the estate managers have followed her wishes, feeding the beasts daily. Many of Coriander's elite pay to watch...
Of course, the crew emerge from the sewers into the estate courtyard right at feeding time! They manage to hide from the spectators, but the beasts can sense them, and begin to investigate...
Suno-Arcadia OST-Fool's Errand.mp3
Then suddenly, winged creatures burst out of the pit below for their feeding. Drakewyrms of all shapes and sizes snap at the spectators, and each other, hungry for their dinner! The spectators flee, and feeding time ends.
Now's their chance! The crew make a mad dash for the closing portal, and everyone makes it... except Purket and Squalor!
Purket can't help but explore the abandoned, off-limits remains of Cassandra's Estate. Little remains but a ruined Manse. Squalor follows. But they find the ruins infested by Mimics- aberrant creatures disguised as treasure...
As Squalor and Purket smash and dodge the Mimics, the ancient ruins collapse, plunging them into the catacombs below! They survive the fall, but find themselves surrounded by Drakewyrms...
The rest of the crew enter the Drakewyrm nest, marvelling at all the creatures while trying to avoid their enthusiastic, snapping jaws. Not true dragons, the miniature majestic creatures still evoke wonder- and fear.
One Drakewyrm evocative of the Void Dragon makes a tasty snack of the Mimics.
As the crew regroup, Griff has a vision- a searing bright flash, and a gleaming golden Dragon stands before him. But this time, it's not just a vision- everyone witnesses the scintilating image before them! It could only be Theia, Dragon of light. Her rippling form seems almost translucent as she speaks: "Finally- visitors! You simply must do me a favor. Deep in the Manse is a golden, winged Panzer. You must find it- and destroy it." The vision fades away...
The crew explore in stunned silence, probing deeper into the under-ruins of Cassandra's Estate.
Suno-Arcadia OST-Dulcet Hammers.mp3
Then, a massive gallery, filled with paintings! They marvel at portraits of Panjandran Empresses- Kasha, Cassandra, Cassiopea, Andrea. Even Gora is begrudginly impressed by the history.
Then, massive paintings by Cassandra. The first, titled Kasha's Inheritance, shows the battle between Kasha and Kairos, the War Dragon. Gora counts the strokes: 3633, over 600 years ago, at the birth of the Panjandran empire.
Next is an alarmingly familiar scene: The Trap, or Girl Und Panzer. It is clearly the Skurge and Dima, from Gora's failed attempt to take the Skurge. The brush stroke date confirms: 4224, just a few months ago! How did Cassandra, over 400 years ago, know to paint this?
The next painting has fallen face down. The crew struggle to raise it into position on the wall...
...revealing an astonishing painting, Introspection, capturing this EXACT moment!
At first, Purket thinks it must be a hall of mirrors... but all his flapping and ducking are not replicated in the painting. It is literally a captured moment in time. The crew are stunned- Animas didn't even exist when this was painted. Truly Cassandra must have had prophetic visions that drove her stunning but baffling works.
The next painting, Death To Undeath. Two horrific combatants, backlit by a hellish glare... Could it be Ghast and Ossus, from the song "Of Dracontyr and Death?" Gora strains to count the brush strokes, but can't fix a date. It could be in the past, or... the future... or perhaps both?
Moving on, the crew find an unframed canvas trapped under a toppled bookshelf. Freeing it reveals another familiar sight... It's the same scene captured in the Druvan Shadowlands gallery, of the Panjandran uprising against the Druvans. This one done in Cassandra's impressionist style, titled The Instigator.
Then the crew make the connection: just like the Druvan painting, standing in the background, a man that could only be Ghaustus Gundrake, the first Lord of the Ossuary. And remarkably similar to the spectre of Gora's father...
As the crew leave the gallery, minds reeling, they approach a round chamber and witness a portrait- and its shocking caption...
The Wedding of Cassandra Agrippa and Vander Mandrake
Cassandra was married to... a Mandrake? Was this an attempt by the Mandrakes to take control of the empire? And if so, what happened to Vander?
As the crew ponder, they find the chamber beyond starkly empty, but for two gleaming, winged panzers. A plaque identifies them as wedding gifts for Cassandra and Vander. One silver, one gold, poised as for a battle, but eerily motionless...
ON TO PART 19!
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