Session 42: The Eyes of Viridian Gaze Report

The Patrol returned to the elven capital of Eladriel and the neighborhood known as "Valentine's Flag". There they meet the Lord Chamberlain of the Palace of Ash, Estadir who has promised to give them a few precious moments with Cabron Elf-King in exchange for the magical "Ring of the Secret Heart" that they acquired in the last adventure.

While waiting for their meeting, they encounter Sly Spenser, the tiefling merchant and fence who operates out of their home base, the Bayani-Sun Casino. He is also on business in Eladriel and says that he can introduce them to "The Enigmatic Eye". An underworld figure who deals in magical goods with a "suspicious" provenance. They agree to meet him.

When they give him the ring, Estadir says that he can deliver the Diary of Lord Xerthas Shadowbane that they recovered a few weeks prior. They decline to share the information with Estadir, saying that it is only for the ears of the King. The Lord Chamberlain is visibly annoyed, but does indeed set up the meeting with Cabron.

After their meeting they explore the neighborhood, named after Valentine, King of Vampires. The vampire king is considered a hero by younger elves. He was an ally of the elves during the War Against the Far Realm and is considered a savior of elvenkind.

After meeting Estadir, they go to their meeting with "The Eye" only to discover that his sobriquet is quite literal. The "Enigmatic Eye" turns out to be a beholder with a high-pitched voice, lots of money, and a suspicious disposition. He offers a more direct line to expensive magic items for the Patrollers.

They agree to the offer and take advantage of one-time deals at discount prices. They buy and sell a variety of magic items with The Eye. Oyxuuysi Oyxuys invests 4,000 gp with The Eye for a potential return or favor in the future.

The next day they meet with Cabron, Elf-King as he is in the midst of his wedding ceremony preparations. They discover that he is wedding the Baron Niamhi Silversång. She will be the Royal Consort, but not an official wife since she is not a full-blooded elf. Nevertheless Cabron is thrilled.

The party discloses their discovery that the vampire Lord Xerthas betrayed Valentine at the behest of Cabron's father, Thirion Elf-King. He creates a psychic screen around them to discuss the matter without Estadir listening in.

Cabron is disturbed by the news but also unsurprised. He points out that Estadir was also his father's Chamberlain and may know things that he isn't telling Cabron. D'Wat attempts a surface reading of the king's mind and faces a significant mental power. Cabron declares, "You shall not take liberties with the royal mind."

D'wat apologizes profusely and manages to make enough amends that the King is no longer angry with them. He invites them to his wedding and lets them know that Estadir has another mission for them.

They talk to Estadir and he tells them about a green dragon that has been long established in Hartshome Forest. The dragon has reawakened after decades of sleep and he would like the Patrol to investigate.

They leave for that portion of the forest, the Veil of Leaves, and come upon the dragon's lair carved into the face of a cliff. They realize that it's shaped like an enormous petrified beholder. As they approach, they are well aware that they are being watched.

They make their way through the suspiciously shaped and empty chambers of the dragon's lair. Thirteen steps into the Ethereal Plane and begins a ghostly surveillance of the lair. The Patrol enters an arcane library where they encounter a pair of patrons perusing the books.

After a few moments of conversation, they come under psychic attack and realize that the patrons are actually mind flayers. They begin a pitched battle with the flayers as Thirteen pokes around the rest of the lair. Their unfortunate tendency to open doors and be loud brings in hordes of mind flayers and their minions into the battle.

The severely depleted patrollers finally mop up their aberrant enemies and prepare to enter the dragon's main chamber. They investigate the areas around them and see evidence of heavy use of divination magic. The chamber above them is full of magic mirrors, crystal balls, and scrying pools. The library they are in is full of detailed notes about the comings and goings of the world's rich and powerful. They see an interesting volume named, "The Secrets of Thirion Elf-King".

D'Wat uses his elemental earth ring to open a tunnel through the wall of the library.

They see the green dragon waiting for them. It has been mutated by it's long association with the mind flayers and is covered with all-seeing eyes that take in everything around it. "I've been waiting for you." and the green dragon breathes out a cloud of poisonous gas that overwhelms the entire Patrol. Oyx and Thirteen immediately go down. D'wat is severely injured. The poison is noxious enough that it even damages T-R01D's soulforged body. T-R01d prepares to go down fighting as D'Wat tries to figure out how to get out with as many of his friends as he can.

As the dying Oyx fades into oblivion, he reaches out through D'Wat's telepathic link, dragonborn to dragon. "Oh great one, I am dying but I was just learning what it means to be truly powerful. As one of your blood, I beg you to spare us and teach me the true ways of our kind."

The green dragon pauses and takes in the destruction in the next room. It says, "Throw down your weapons and perhaps we can parley." T-R01d and D'Wat cease fighting and the dragon tells them it's story.

"You may call me Viridian Gaze for my true name is not for such as you. In my search for knowledge, the mind flayers have served me for many decades. Together we have gathered the secrets of this world and of others."

"But I have recently come to suspect that the illithids have been simply preparing me for their own purpose. Now that you have slain them and destroyed their nest, the mental fog they had me under has faded."

"They seek to turn me into a being that will serve them, a host for their elder brain that dwells somewhere below this forest. Further, that would make me the perfect source of power for the mechanical Tiamat that stirs in the land of Kaneyama."

"You have done me this service, so now I will do one for you. Do not raise your hands against me and, for the sake of my small kin among you, I will not eat you, delicious though you seem." "For as long as our eyes look in the same direction, you may serve me."

The Pit Patrol licks their wounds and prepares to return to Eladriel to report what they have discovered.