View source for The Emptiness of Quaitha

{{Season|
|name=The Emptiness of Quaitha
|season=[[The Knights of Eaton]]
|episode=12
|year= 1755 Winter
|location=[[Larkos]], [[Kandorr]], [[Quaitha]]
|cast= <br />
* [[Flanagan of Osgud]]
* [[Margaret Kelleck]]
* [[Simon Aylay Windsor]]
* [[Tasselhof Kelleck]]
* [[Zorn Kelleck]]
|npc= <br />
* [[Cecyl il-Alagir | Grindstone]]
* [[Grespin Kelleck]]
* [[Slova the Pale]]
* [[Tenim il-Gathyr]]
|previously=[[Castaways of the Karad Archipelago]]
|next=[[The Battle of Greendale]]
|previousseason=[[The Thuzuulan Heresy]]
}}''The group ventures deep into the city of Quaitha, which has been evacuated due to a growing pestilence that affects the Ashakre.''

==Story==

===Act One: Hard Winter at Orasi===

The group returns to Kandorr to find the port closed to travel.  A pestilence is growing in the land and many small villages have died from it.  Garn, fearful of the prior sickness that [[Bloodlusting | brought Kandorr City to its knees and cost him his dear brother Gregory]], does not want to take any chances—he has abandoned the city himself and travelled to [[Erelaan]], appointing  [[Grespin Kelleck]] as Steward of the City in his absence.  Grespin cannot permit Margaret and the others to enter, so they travel south to [[Saliford]] in [[Greendale]] where they part ways with Zorn.  Zorn returns to his ancestral home, pleased that the pestilence has not yet arrived there.  He sends orders to his subjects to quarantine their towns and avoid travel.  Margaret charters the ''[[Knife in the Water]]'' for the return trip to Larkos, where they rest and make plans to travel first to the city of [[Quaitha]] in Keldoras and then to Erelaan.  Flanagan parts ways with this captain and accompanies Simon, Margaret, and Tasselhof north to the Ashakré mountain city and home of [[Astor Bloodfiend | Astor]].

They arrive at Orasi as that city, suddenly bustling and alive, makes preparations for winter and take up residence at ''[[The Journeyman's Hearth]]''.  Margaret is met by [[Cecyl il-Alagir | Grindstone]], who welcomes her on behalf of the Bloodfellows and apprises the group of what has come to pass since their last sojourn in Orasi:

The mystical pestilence that afflicted Larkos and Eaton made its way west during the summer and took a heavy toll on Quaith and its outlying towns—the scores of dead drew the attention of the carrion dragon [[Malindril]], to whom this misfortune is a banquet.  She left her lair at [[Morengiliath]] and made her way to Quaitha, where the dead outnumber the living, to feast.  Those families who could, migrated to Orasi and a skeleton crew of noblemen, guards and laborers remained behind in Quaith to secure that fair city.  Malindril has since had her fill and returned to her lair, but not before making off with the body of the Doma of Quaith.  Astor volunteered to lead a recovery team a fortnight ago.  Since his departure a massive snowstorm blew in from the north, signaling the onset of a harsh winter.  Another week passes with no word of Astor's progress and the team provisions itself for the trek to Quaitha.

===Act Two: Ice Gate and Snow Serpent Stair===

Though the snow is heavy, the trade road from Orasi to Quaitha is well-tended and broad.  The group makes good time with their horses and pack mules and Flanagan, whose years spent in Osgud make him the most experienced with winter travel, ably leads them up the foothills and into the mountains proper.  They travel by day and by nightfall they find shelter where they may—typically in abandoned homes made empty by the plague, occasionally in alehouses along the way.  The snowfall thickens, slowing their progress and hindering visibility.  On the fourth day since leaving the inn they arrive at the Ice Gate, which is lightly guarded by Ashakre soldiers led by [[Velwyn il-Gathyr | Velwyn's]] youngest brother [[Tenim il-Gathyr]].  Tenim provides the group shelter and feeds them, warning them that the way to Quaitha is perilous and the city itself no place for the unfit or infirm.  Simon apprises him of Margaret's attempt to seek out Astor and Tenim, unwilling to lose any of his men, agrees them pass into the city and gives them with a scroll that will allow them passage into the city.  They remain at the Ice Gate for the evening and in the morning begin their journey up the winding stone stair.

By mid-day they are halfway up the stair but patches of frozen ice made movement so treacherous that they must lead their pack mules by hand.  Tasselhof spots a small unit of crag trolls and he shouts out to the others, who take up arms and position themselves for combat.  The fight is brief but costly—during the heat of struggle the howls and  sharp reports of steel on stone echo off the mountain walls and within seconds a mass of snow above them shears off and an avalanche comes bearing down on them.  Margaret orders the group clear and holds their foes off, while Simon pulls Flanagan to safety with seconds to spare.  The massive wall of snow pours down behind them, hurling the crag trolls and the pack mules to their deaths.  With their supplies gone, the group can only hope to find succor in the city—they move up the stairs and arrive at the great gate shortly before sunset.

===Act Three: The Harrowed City===

It is immediately apparent something is wrong.  The great gate is wide open, and drifts of snow have breached the main hall.  They enter and find Ashakre recently slain in the antechamber.  Simon notes the wounds were made by  the telltale bolts of crag trolls and he surmises they have been dead for no more than a day.  Margaret orders the group to tread lightly and they stalk deeper into the mountain chambers.  They find more dead Ashakre and evidence of a great battle near the armory.  A constant murmur draws Tas's attention and he leads the group towards the noise: the crag trolls are amassed in a massive galley kitchen.

None of the group speaks Trollish, but the trolls seem to be gathered to receive orders from a large one standing in front of a dying hearth.  The group watches silently from atop a flight of stairs and Flanagan and Margaret immediately formulate a plan.  They quietly roll a massive barrel of oil from the larder and give it a shove, sending it spinning down the stairs and crashing open on the hard stone floor.  Simon hurls a fireball and the kitchen instantly roils in hot flame and Flanagan swings the massive door shut and bars it.  The company of trolls dies by flame and suffocation.

Margaret leads the team deeper into the city, where they encounter and slay those crag trolls who strayed from their main group.  They reach the temple floor, where Margaret finds a chapel devoted to Yllion and enters it while Tas stands guard at the door.  Inside she kneels and prays for the dead and asks for guidance in her search for Astor.  Flanagan continues to the lower floor and enters the armory, where he takes a [[Kraitilyn the Bone-Cleaver | finely-crafted greatsword]] from a rack and replaces it with his own.  Simon spies a secret door in the temple of Moloth that hides a small antechamber containing an ornate well hewn from white stone.  The water shimmers and glows and he scoops the silver well cup into it and drinks deeply, feeling immediately invigorated and refreshed.  He fills his goatskin with the water and brings it out to share with the others.

Their rests comes to an end when Tas spies a massive shadow moving in the upper levels.  They hear a massive bulk climbing along the outer rim of the atrium walls and Margaret realizes it is Malindril, prowling the halls and consuming the dead.  Flanagan recalls the route they've taken and suggests Malindril is likely headed towards the kitchen, where a great feast awaits her.  They continue their descent with great haste.

Two levels down they find Grindstone's smithy, filled with all manner of weapons, armor and contraptions of unknown design.  Simon approaches a tall sculpture forged from steel, shaped like an armored humanoid with multiple arms.  He traces along the ornate runework of the torso and it whirrs and winks to life, small pinpoints of blue fire glow from beneath its broad helm.  It moves to Margaret, plucks her scroll of safe passage from her pack, and appears to read it.  After a moment it rolls the parchment up and returns it to her and stands at attention before her.

"Grindstone's own [[Tin Man]]," Simon marvels.

"If you can understand me, follow us," Margaret orders.  The Tin Man heavily stalks behind the group as they continue their descent into the belly of the mountain.

===Act Four: The Sacred Hatchery===

Simon detects great magics amassed at the doors of the sacred [[Hatchery of Quaitha]] and Tas can see down the great hall that the doors are shut and the way is blocked by makeshift barricades manned by a squadron of Ashakre knights.  Margaret presents her name and her relation to Astor and throws the scroll over the barricade.  After a brief time the group is permitted to climb over.  There they meet Aitha, who is charged with safeguarding the Hatchery, and she reports that Malindril devoured some of the eggs therein but was chased off days ago.  In the last two days they have repelled multiple attacks from the crag trolls and now their barricade houses the remaining survivors left in Quaitha.  They've set up a refugee camp and their scouts range the upper levels for food.  Margaret gives Aitha the provisions they have raided since entering Quaitha and she permits them passage into the Hatchery under her guard.

The hatchery is patrolled by an honor guard and presently many of them are cleaning up the debris left by Malindril's plundering.  They walk past the massive room, past the nursery, and into the long stable hall where there lies one slumbering dragon: [[Slova the Pale]].  She immediately recognizes the scent of the group and her eyes open.  As they approach she surveys them across the distance with an aloof gaze.  Aitha whispers to the group that Astor insisted on going on his mission without her, so the young dragon is likely petulant.

Simon [[On Velaxian Way#Act Three: The Poachers | again]] approaches Slova, genuflecting and showering her with great praise and she is again satisfied with his display.  Margaret speaks through Simon and requests assistance in tracking down Astor, which Slova is eager to do.  She permits Simon and Margaret to mount her and she climbs up along the rough rock face of the stable and into one of the cavernous portals leading to the cliffs high above.  Once outside she surveys the land and leaps into the sky, flapping her massive wings and steering towards Morengiliath.  Outside the dead city they spy a team of men fleeing a larger force—it is Astor and two others carrying a body wrapped in linen, chased down by a platoon of crag trolls.  Slova lands among the trolls and bellows forth a deadly spray of ice.  Half of them are killed in this surprise attack and the others rout and flee in all directions.  Simon coaxes her to relent and she heeds.  Margaret dismounts and approaches Astor and they embrace; Simon notes that Slova bristles and lets out a low growl at this and he soothes her with calming platitudes.

Simon dismounts and helps Astor lash the body of the Doma of Quaith to Slova, while he orders his fellow Ashakre soldiers to accompany Simon and Margaret to a nearby fortress ruin and wait there for him to return with horsemen and their fellow adventurers.  Slova nods and launches off back to Quaitha and the four make their way to the shelter, where they spend the evening and the following day.  That afternoon a squad of horsemen led by Flanagan and Tas arrive, with Astor and Slova high above.  Flanagan informs Margaret that Slova flushed out Malindril, wounding the carrion dragon in the process, and that fresh reinforcements arrived from [[Otharos]].

Margaret welcomes Astor to accompany them and he joins them as they continue on to Erelaan.  Slova elects to remain at Quaith, tend to the younglings there, and track down Malindril should she return.  She presents Margaret and Simon each with a gift: a magic item to summon her once should they meet with peril.

==Meta==
===Game notes=== 
* This pestilence is believed to be a mutated form of the earlier sickness released upon Kandorr by the druids of Dellforth, since gone out of control and spreading across the land.

===Plot Points===

====Points Awarded====
* 4 points for all

=====Season Pool=====
* 48 points
[[Category:Adventure]]
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