Early in the morning, the party is all given tunics in the regalia of King Agrilus to wear as they will be serving as personal guards during the visit of King Jotun of Dactris. Last minute study of the Wizard Yosombi’s journal divulges the names of the ultroloth they encountered in the astral plane: C’thanubaal. The party debates whether to contact it to let it know about the crown of command that it wants belonging to King Jotun, but they opt to wait and see, at least until after the arrival.
King Agrilus and his knights, and the party wait in front of the town to greet King Jotun’s retinue. There is a crowd of commoners gathered too. King Agrilus is rather nervous being without his Rod of rulership. After King Agrilus’ greeting, the crowd gives a polite clap, but then King Jotun gives a rousing speech praising the land and the gracious people who welcomed him, and the crowd erupts into cheers (obviously spurred on by the charm induced by the crown of command). Terren succumbs to this too, but Ix dispels the effect.
During the ride through the town and up to the castle, the two Kings lead the way, followed by Prince Hanum of Dactris and Pricess Seppora, then Zi-Mab the visiting king’s wizard and Ix. Zi-mab is intensely curious about why King Agrilus’ usual wizard is not here and why Ix is taking his place. Also, why King Agrilus appeared without his Rod. Ix deflects most questions and manages to convince her that King Agrilus is not using his rod in order to not steal attention away from the prince and princess at this time of their wedding. Ix brags a little about being from Barovia where his party slew Strahd and opened up the mists (stretching the truth just a little as he joined the party after that). They discuss the local customs (as Ix is new here, and Zi-mab finds the local religion curious, and kind of quaint). Zi-mab mentions she has had occasion to try “speak with dead” in this valley and it did not work.
The wizards survey the castle together, to make sure the wards in place are secure. Nothing should be able to teleport in, and any entrance other than the front gate is alarmed. There is a small feast the night before the wedding where the party tries to convince Jotun to not wear his crown at the wedding tomorrow. He will consider it. Before bed, Ix thinks to setup an alarm in the shop cellar where they discovered a teleportation circle (the owner has left town).
The next day there are the final preparations for the wedding. About a thousand townsfolk journey up the mountain to the dome cathedral overlooking the town. Thick low clouds have gathered in the valley. Inside, it is stepped like an amphitheater but all the way around, with the orb of Aster sitting on a plinth in the middle. King Jotun does leave his crown outside with his champion and personal guard. First, there is a service worshipping Aster, and during this the orb shines brightly, lighting up the entire inside of the dome. Zi-mab is rather surprised at this, commenting that maybe there is more to this local religion than she thought. The party knows about the history of the orb and is wondering whether the spells of protection on the orb are being unwound. The prince and princess are wed, and there is much rejoicing as cheers go up for the kingdoms uniting.
That evening there is a big feast to celebrate in the town square. There are a hundred tables setup for commoners and a big stage setup for the royalty to feast at. Guards are right behind them, and at all the entrances to the square. During the middle of the feast, a fog cloud suddenly appears around the royalty table. Terren hears the deep flap of a very large bird above them, and Nagwen sees a shadow in the cloud and takes a shot, and hits! Swooping down are 3 large rocs with a cloud, fire and frost giant on them. Julius reacts quickly, dispelling the fog cloud. The rocs are travelling at maximum speed, swooping down to the table and continuing at top speed. One attempts to snatch King Agrilus, however Valrick had a ill Portent to dispense (today it was a roll of 1, that could be substituted into anyone’s roll) and the bird instead snatched the table, sending both the table, the roc, and the cloud giant riding it directly into the crowd of commoners in the middle of the square. The second roc grabs King Jotun, and keeps flying, the third bird alongside it.
Zi-mab uses dimension door to get to her king, and clings onto the roc, ready to teleport him out. However Ix casts wall of force in a line between the two birds, just ahead of them, so that their wings will hit the wall edge-on, potentially crippling them. The rocs are sent spinning to the ground, the giants on them unseated, and Zi-mab smashes into a table. The body of King Jotun is torn in two, as the roc had clenched tight to his shoulders and head, while the lower half was ripped free as the bird catapulted into the crowd of feasting locals.
The fighters in the party descend upon the closest roc, and the cloud giant, peppering them with arrows, cleaving them with axes, with some support of Nagwen’s acid spewing drake and Ix’s haste. Zi-mab is furious and casts disintegrate at the cloud giant. It loses an arm, but is still alive. It returns the favor with it’s flail, as does a nearby frost giant, and Zi-mab dies. Valrick manages to trip one of the rocs as it tries to take off, and the party manages to finish off the closest two rocs. Serma notices that here in the town, the her soul-stealing ax is having a little difficulty in pulling in the souls of the creatures that she kills. The third roc is just fleeing (the one with a fire giant and the head of King Jotun clutches in it’s claw). The heavily wounded frost giant remaining sees this and surrenders.
Even at half speed, the roc can fly faster than the party can chase, but Ix drops haste and casts fly on Nagwen, who can see in the dark and shoot at up to 600’ range! He manages to get several shots into the roc before it is out of range, and it crashes in the woods across the river. However two more rocs swoop out the clouds to come to the rescue of the fire giant. Upon reaching the dead bird, Nagwen sees that the crown of command was taken, but the head of the king was still there. The town square is in chaos but soldiers are organised to line the town walls and stand ready for any further attack.
The party requests two diamonds to be fetched by the steward to use in a raise dead ritual. Julius places the head and body of King Jotun together and performs the ritual. The body heals, however neither King Jotun or Zi-mab are able to be raised… Their souls are unavailable. Perhaps it’s the orb sucking the souls in?
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