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Boven - een bibliotheek met een gast - die is raar en mag zijn gang gaan.
Top - een mistige gang leidt naar de slaapkamer van de draak - een permanente "private sanctum" blijkbaar! Hierbinnen zijn plekken om met de consorten te praten - een mooi boompje, een koele poel en een standbeeld van een zesarmige godin in kleermakerszit. Bij binnenkomst begint er iemand te klappen - Dessiter wacht op onze helden.
Hij feliciteert de Knoop en legt wat uit: (Even knip-plak van een voorbeeldgesprek voor de snelheid!)
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As soon as the victory is won, the sound of one person clapping their hands resounds and echoes through the dragon’s great hall. Dessiter strolls into the chamber and bows, “My lords, ‘tis well done. You are once more victorious. It is a shame that your victory will be so short lived.”
Presumably someone will ask him what he means and at that moment, he explains. “It is my sad and unwelcome duty to report that you are betrayed. When this mission is complete, I know for certain that you will receive an invitation to visit Cardinal Thorn in his secret fortress far to the north. He named it the Agathium, the place of agony, in parody of the great palace of the House of Darius – the Adarium. He will summon you to his throne and there he will destroy you.”
If asked why, he shakes his head. “Paranoia has seized his mind and driven the Cardinal to madness. He has grown to fear you. He is terrified that you rise too quickly and someday soon you will supplant him. With every victory, with every deed, he sees the future more and more clearly. It is a future where he is no longer master of the Knot of Thorns.”
Q: How do you know this? A: “I have heard it from the lips of the master himself. Even now, he sets the trap. If you go to the Agathium at my dear sister’s invitation, you will die.”
Q: Your sister? A: “Tiadora. We share a bond ... uncommon amongst devils.”
Q: Tiadora is against us as well? A: “Tiadora is bound by spell and oath to the master. As long as he lives and possesses control of her, she will do his bidding. I doubt she bears you any true malice. She is simply following orders. But if you could free her from Thorn, she would be useful ally.”
Q: Why should we trust you? A: “A just question, my lords. In this time of treachery and dark maneuvering, you should trust no one. I come to you with counsel and a warning. Tiadora has already given you the clay seal. When you break it, she will visit you once more and when she does she will offer to take you to the Agathium. If you do not believe me, then by all means, go.
“In a way, though you do not trust me, I am trusting you. There is nothing stopping you from betraying me to Cardinal Thorn besides the truth of my warning. No, if I wanted you dead, far easier to do nothing.
“But you know my warning is true, don’t you? You can sense your master’s growing distrust of you. Once he appeared to you in person, did he not?. Now he sends only proxies. Why would he do this unless fear of your magnificent power builds up within him?
“The truth is that he was worried about you since you held the Horn for seven months. That worry turned into genuine fear when you slew Ara Mathra. And now you are poised to gain the service of Chargammon the Black. Who can blame him for being a little nervous.”
Q: Why do you help us? A: “I care not one wit which of you rules Talingarde. I would see my infernal master restored to the prominence he deserves and I fear that the Cardinal Thorn is no longer capable of the deed. He is beset by doubts and gripped by fears. This is not the manner of an Asmodean conqueror.
“In you, I see an alternative. In you, my lords, I see a band far stronger than Cardinal Thorn ever was. You will complete Thorn’s plan and return Talingarde to the hands of my master. You will be lords of a new realm where my master is honored above all other gods.”
Q: If you truly think he is unworthy, why don’t you kill him? A: “I am but a lowly servant of my dark master, my lords. He has given me much, but he has not seen fit to make me powerful enough to deal with one as mighty as the great Cardinal Adrastus Thorn.”
Q: Fears and doubts? What fears and doubts? A: Bronwyn of Balentyne was truly a beauty without compare. She was so beautiful, she captured the heart of a Cardinal of the Church of Mitra named Samuel Havelyn. Samuel became obsessed with her and she, alas, fell in love with Samuel’s brother, Lord Thomas of Havelyn. Such a tragedy. They had one child before Bronwyn died in childbirth – a son named Richard. Thar child has now grown to manhood and become a paladin.
Cardinal Thorn should be hunting this paladin to the ends of the earth. But he cannot bear to murder his nephew, the last remaining vestige of his beloved Bronwyn’s blood. Yes, Cardinal Adrastus Thorn is Samuel Havelyn. And though he never forgave his brother Thomas (even sending you to kill him), he has also never stopped loving Bronwyn. Love clouds his judgment. Love has made him weak. The Paladin threatens our plans. He has left the side of the king and quests to destroy the Tears of Achlys.He rebuilds his band and hunts my master’s followers from one end of Talingarde to the other. And yet, Thorn does nothing.
Q: So what you have us do? A: You honor me, O great lords, by asking my counsel. Complete your mission. Slay the King. But refuse the summons. Instead, you must find the Cardinal’s heart. Perhaps you have guessed by now, that the Cardinal is not a living man. By the might of my master, he is reborn – a lich. Like all liches, he is bound to a phylactery. While that survives, Thorn is undefeatable. Find it and you will be able to finally defeat the Cardinal. And then you shall be the master.
Q: Where is his phylactery? A: “Cardinal Thorn keeps that secret, my lords. I cannot say now where it is, but I promise you, I will not cease to search for it. If it can be found, I will accomplish the deed.
Q: Wait! I signed a contract! I can’t kill Thorn, can I? A: “Ah, yes. Now we come to the crux of the matter. It is true that you are bound by the Pact of Thorns. To break an oath to my dark master is a serious matter. Even if there are no reprecussions while you live, when you eventually die, well what did the contract say? “Let they who violate this compact suffer all the wrath of Hell unending?” Not pleasant to be sure. But fear not. I have found a loophole.
Q: And that is? A: “My lords, know that if it were up to me, I would tell you immediately. However, I am bound by my dark lord to first demand a task of you. Within the Adarium is a powerful enemy of my lord – Brigit of the Brijidine. She moves against us. Slay her and then I shall rid you of your burden. When the king and Brigit are dead, we shall speak again.”
When finished, he bows and teleports away. |