"Murderer!" is the fifteenth episode of High Rollers.
- Previous episode: "Trial of Strength!"
- Next Episode: "The Performance!"
Having come through the Trial of Strength the group plus the lone standing tiefling watch as several secret doors in the walls open, and guards of the Broken Sky file in. They head to the people lying around the room who aren't dead and begin stabilizing them, eventually carting them off. The group is approached by five more guards being led by Victoria, who tells the group they did well and they need to follow her because Varresh wishes to speak to them. The guards move in behind them and they are led after her through one of these doors and up some stairs back into the catacombs, through an old portcullis, and through into the corridor they saw when Jiǔtóu, Trell and Loben entered into these secret tunnels. They head back towards the large temple where they saw Varresh kick the tiefling down into a pit, outside of which are guards with everyone's gear. Victoria tells them that while they will still be under guard until properly initiated, they will be permitted their things back now. Victoria then tells Loben that while he was a prisoner previously, his magical display has made them reconsider past actions, and she is sure an agreement can be reached if he is prepared to help the Broken Sky. Loben only grunts and Victoria says that what's to come might convince him otherwise. She opens the doors and inside the audience chamber and temple contains Varresh and six armed guards, with an eight foot tall object next to him covered in a cloth. Victoria gestures them to go in, then closes the door behind them. Varresh greets the group and informs them that an enchantment on the temple staunches wounds, so the people they fought should be okay with medical aid. Unless they were forced into burning coals. After Wald's interruptions throw him off his game a touch, Varresh announces that the trial tested their strength and teamwork and says that they will now be granted an audience with the leader of the Broken Sky. He pulls the cloth from the object and they now see it's a mirror with a beautifully carved frame, and Varresh tells them that during their one-on-one audience they are to show the leader respect and address her by 'Her Majesty'.
He steps back and tells Trell that he shall be the first to have his audience. Trell steps forward and through the mirror he gazes upon an opulent palace and a woman of unparalleled beauty, white & silver hair and blue skin, making notes in a book. She place sit down and looks through her own mirror, one that seems to be smaller then the one on this end. She asks Trell's name and he gives it respectfully. She asks him why he wants to join and Trell, after thinking for a second, says he seeks power. She asks if he feels the Broken Sky can give this, and he says that the group seem to be on the right path which pleases her. She also discerns that Trellimar does not get his power from wizardry or sorcery, and says that people like Varresh are a heavier hand then she'd like but a necessary evil. She then asks if he wants to ask any questions, but Trell says that he has all the answers he needs which seems to please her. Loben is told to go next and he steps up, seeing the same woman through the mirror. She once again asks for his name and his reason for being here, and Loben introduces himself and replies that he has been swept up in events just trying to get his research back. She apologises for his rough treatment, once again called Varresh a necessary evil. She says that the Broken Sky do not set out to be thugs, rather people trying to make the empire what it should be and that they will need people like himself to help them. At this Loben asks if the tieflings' treatment was also a part of that, or the torture, but she claims not to have any idea of those things happening. She says she will speak to Varresh immediately about such a thing. She also claims to have an interest in the Lightfall as well, showing off a Dawn Shard she wears around her neck, a chunk of Peylor's Light that enhances magic instead of dampening it. She wants someone on her side to help her understand the power of it and Fall Shards, and Loben says that while he has no interest in the Broken Sky he has interest in the Dawn Shard and she suggests they become allies of convenience until she can show him what she truly is aiming for. She promises to return his notes to him if he joins and provide him with whatever he needs to continue his research, and Loben merely bows to her and leaves the mirror.
Jiǔtóu is next and she too steps up to see the princess on the other side. Again she gives her name when asked for it, and tells the princess that she wishes to join because she seeks revenge on the champion, Korak. When she gives the why the princess expresses sorrow for her because she too has been separated from her family for a long time, and says that the champion is not who he pretends to be. She tells Jiǔtóu that joining the Broken Sky will give her a chance at revenge, and Jiǔtóu says that she could also seek revenge against Varresh for murdering a tiefling earlier in front of her. Again confused the princess asks about the tieflings, and Jiǔtóu tells her that she witnessed Varresh drop the tiefling into the pit before the Trial of Strength because Sheng refused to join. She again says she will speak to Varresh and punish him, but that he is a necessary evil in all this. Jiǔtóu then brings up Vixanis Kell, the drow woman they found slaughtered and left as a message for them to stop interfering with matters. The princess simply says she will investigate this killing further and thanks Jiǔtóu for bringing this to her attention. Upon being asked how she seeks to complete her goal, the princess says that first the Dawn Republic must be shown to be idiotic, and then Korak brought to justice. She feels that he cannot run a kingdom and is ignoring not only crime in his own cities, but the threat from other kingdoms. To her he has done nothing but be incompetent. Jiǔtóu says that they must expose him first, but the princess only says she will think on this and asks for the next person to step forward. Finally Wald is sent forward, but when he gets to the mirror the princess seems confused and asks what this is. She asks who Wald is, why he is cloaked in an illusion. Wald introduces himself but the princess says she can see through his magic disguise, but Wald simply states that it worked on the security. She asks why he's put on a disguise and calls him 'Lightborn' and Wald simply states he's done it to 'test', but also because his friends are here and he can't let the Broken Sky kill them. She says that he is walking into things he does not understand, but admits that he must have some skill to have made it through the trials. 'Wald' says that he wants to protect his friends from corruption and the princess asks if he understands the Broken Sky, and 'Wald' says yes, calling the group they are currently with "delightful company". she begins to get angry and calls him "insignificant" but 'Wald' interrupts her to say she is hurting him, and she grows angrier still. 'Wald' takes the opportunity to tell her to maintain her composure because she is royalty and she raises a hand to cast the Suggestion spell to get 'Wald' to shut up, but he shakes it off easily. He apologises to her but the fact that he is still speaking causes her to get more frustrated, and he asks how she can rule if she isn't even able to handle him. With that the mirror shatters, 'Wald' rolling out of the way and Varresh angry and confused at what has just happened. There is then an explosion from behind the closed door to the back of the group, as Elora arrives with a squad of Guilded Arms mercenaries to raid the Brewery and the hidden Broken Sky safehouse. The double doors burst open as the loyal Talis'Val guards enter the room with Elora in tow, as well as two other people - Cassandra, a female human paladin and Korak, the red-gold dragonborn champion. Korak bellows to the Broken Sky to surrender and they will not be harmed, and 'Wald' drops his disguise revealing that he was Cam all along.
Cam readies a dagger to go after the first Broken Sky member to attack his friends, Elora notching an arrow and preparing to fire on any enemy that approaches her or the others. Trell charges his Eldritch Blast to attack if the Broken Sky do, and Cassandra orders her men to leave Varresh to Korak and Victoria to her. Jiǔtóu is the first to take an actual action as Korak's red-gold scales set off memories, she screams "MURDERER!" at him and charges at the dragonborn without entirely knowing what it is she is going to do. When she reaches him she strikes at Korak with her guandao but it bounces off Korak's golden armour, taking the dragonborn by surprise. She then proceeds to recklessly swing at Korak, catching him with a punch to the face. The Guilded Arms split up two ways, three each way and take cover behind some stone pews and start firing crossbow bolts at the Broken Sky members. Some of the Broken Sky members take bolts but start getting into cover too, and Varresh notices Jiǔtóu's attack on Korak and encouraging her that they can together take the red-gold dragonborn down also charges the champion. He misses with his first two attacks, but the third is a nearly critical hit that is just about stopped from doing as much damage by Korak's armour. He then turns to three of the Guilded Arms and breathes a line of lightning at them, taking them immediately out of the fight. Victoria decides to leave, opening a hidden door and heading out of the room. Loben feels conflicted, his desire to help the party warring with his need to get back his notes and research, and eventually he decides to follow Victoria out seeing her at the end of a passage opening another hidden door. Korak tries uses his shield to push Jiǔtóu away from him and strikes at Varresh, calling to Elora to gather her friends to get them out of here. He also tells his men to go after Victoria, saying he will handle Varresh. As the Broken Sky guards shoot, Cam runs forward and tries to tell Jiǔtóu this is not the time. Elora also goes to try and pull the tiefling away from Korak, with each of them grabbing an arm and pulling an enraged Jiǔtóu away from the champion. However for the moment they can't decide which exit to take, with Cam wanting to go through the secret entrance and Elora back through the double doors. Trellimar meanwhile decides to follow Loben through the secret entrance despite Elora shouting for him to follow them through the double doors.
Cam decides to follow Elora's plan and the two of them begin to pull Jiǔtóu away through the double doors, while Trellimar continues to run after Victoria and into a burial chamber the Broken Sky have turned into an office. Victoria is there hastily scooping papers and books into a bag from a desk, she turns to see Trell and tells him that they need to go - she knows another entrance. Trellimar thinks for a moment then uses Eldritch Blast on her, catching her from behind. Cassandra runs down past Loben after Victoria. Jiǔtóu manages to break free of her friends in her rage and runs back forward to grapple Korak from behind, but fails as Korak merely flexes his arms to get her off and calls to Elora to get Jiǔtóu under control so he can fight Varresh. Varresh cuts Korak across the face, but Korak fends off the second blow with his shield. Victoria shoots more lightning at Trellimar and hits the drow squarely, knocking him down. Cassandra uses her shield to protect Loben from the end of the blast and the two hear Trellimar's body hit the floor ahead. Loben decides to use Shocking Grasp on the paladin standing over him, but her armour seems to divert it mostly away from her body although she does give him a very confused look. Korak uses an elbow to catch Jiǔtóu in the face, trying to knock her out or at least away from him, and scores another hit on Varresh. The Broken Sky guards continue to fight the Guilded Arms that remain. Cam goes up to Jiǔtóu and casts Charm Person on her, telling the tiefling that this isn't the time to be fighting Korak and to follow him out, moving back towards Elora as he does. Elora decides to wait and see what Jiǔtóu does and drag her out if she does not come towards Cam. Cassandra is still confused about Loben attacking her and decides the gnome must be with the Broken Sky, and attacks the gnome in such a way that she seems trying to only knock him out - not kill him - and Loben falls unconscious. Jiǔtóu meanwhile finds herself being shocked out of her rage by the feelings of seeing Cam as her closest ally; she looks back to see Korak fighting Varresh and notices that the other tiefling has made their way up to the Guilded Arms for safety, and in her confusion she does nothing but stand there wondering what is happening. Elora gently approaches and takes her hand, leading her away from the fight and the tiefling does nothing to stop her.
Meanwhile the Guilded Arms are finding themselves being surrounded by the Broken Arms guards as they try to fight them off, and Varresh lands another blow upon Korak. Korak fights back by breathing a cone of flame at Varresh which also catches some of the Broken Sky guards too, which removes 3 of those guards from the fight and badly hurts Varresh. This gives the rest of the Guilded Arms the opening they need to dispatch the other 3 Broken Sky guards, and they grab the other tiefling and begin to make their way out with him. Cam uses the Immoveable Rod to secure Jiǔtóu, and asks Elora about where Trell and Loben are as the two of them lead their tiefling friend out. Having seen where Trell and Loben went, Elora runs back for them getting hit by Varresh as she moves past the two dragonborn. Reaching the passage she sees both Trell and Loben out, and Cassandra about to bend down over Trellimar. Running forward she is informed by the paladin that she has Trellimar, that Loben attacked her, and that Victoria seems to have escaped via a teleportation spell. Trellimar is brought back up by Cassandra's Lay On Hands ability, and when asked if he knows where Victoria went he says that he was too busy being electrocuted. Standing, Trellimar searches and finds a lever behind a loose stone, and pulling it reveals another set of corridors, secret doors and a meeting room through which it seems Victoria has probably fled. Varresh goes to shoulder barge Korak, but Korak grabs hold of the blue dragonborn and sends him flying and his sword bouncing along the floor. Elora uses Cure Wounds on Loben and tells the gnome that Victoria has his notes, they need to go after her, and then scolds him for attempting an attack on Cassandra. Trell and Cassandra take off down the new corridor after Victoria, coming to the open doors on the other side of the meeting room, and Trell's keen hearing tells him which way Victoria is which he points out to Cassandra. Jiǔtóu is still confused and asks first where the other tiefling is, seeing him being covered by the Guilded Arms as they come up behind her, then about Varresh, seeing the blue dragonborn on the floor after Korak's throw. Seeing this she says she will yield and goes with Cam willingly, though still unhappy about the situation. Varresh stands, and finding himself without his sword, runs to the pit and jumps down it to escape. Loben, having heard what Elora said and realising with his little legs he can't keep up, goes "Carry me!" to the elf and clings to her. Korak puts away his weapons and shield and gives the order for the people around him to get out of there, following them down the corridor.
Elora wild-shapes into a direwolf and goes after Trellimar and Cassandra, Loben riding on her back. Trell and Cassandra continue to pursue Victoria, Cass hearing stone scraping to tell her which way the spellcaster went. They round a corner to find Victoria sliding open another stone door and Trellimar immediately goes to Elcritch Blast her, knocking her about a little. Cassandra throws her greatsword at Victoria in frustration but just misses, and Victoria flees through the door down another corridor. At this moment a purple direwolf being ridden by a pink-haired gnome streaks past them after Victoria, and Loben hops off to fire off a Ray of Frost. This freezes Victoria's leg to the ground and she eventually passes out from the exhaustion, damage and stress.
The fight over, Cassandra first clarifies that the direwolf is Elora with Tell, before moving forward to pick up and carry the unconscious Victoria. Trellimar takes the bag of notes and, once they get back to the office, sees that a few of the notes were left behind. With a quick look Loben identifies his notes. They rejoin the others in the temple and find more of the Guilded Arms and the city guards arresting Broken Sky members there, with some members being electrocuted by their tattoos knocking them out. In the Brewery the gnome investigator from before is interrogating the owner of the Black Valley Brewery and gives the group a cheerful thumbs-up as they pass him, seeing at least one of the missing tieflings is with them. Korak is pulled away from the group by scribes and officers wanting details and so the party is led to the Guild Quarter on his orders, as he says he wishes to speak to them later. He seems to especially want to talk with Jiǔtóu to clear things up. Elora quickly takes him aside and briefly informs him that Jiǔtóu has a bad history with the dragonborn, and believes him to be the murderer of her family. Korak says he will speak to them in private. Meanwhile Cassandra has Victoria cuffed and tells Loben that next time she will not hesitate to hurt him, Loben merely says it has nothing to do with anything else but what the princess had and this being his only chance to get his hands on one. Cassandra tells him to speak with the others on this and he is led away from her. The group is then escorted to the Guild Quarters with a guard escort, past the crowd of townspeople that has now gathered as Broken Sky members are being loaded into covered wagons. As they walk away Jiǔtóu sees the two remaining tieflings being reunited and having their wounds treated, and she goes over to speak to them. She apologises for not stopping Varresh from killing Sheng, and they confess that at first because she was not a prisoner they were unsure if she could be trusted. When asked why the Broken Sky wanted them to join, they confess that they were students of martial arts and were hoping to start a school to teach self-defence. Word had gotten around and so the Broken Sky wanted these people as part of their group to teach the Broken Sky to fight without weapons. Jiǔtóu then gives them 5 gold to go towards their school and rejoins the party as they move out.
At the Guild Quarter they are led to a suite of rooms, with Loben trying to follow Cassandra as Victoria is taken to the dungeons but being stopped after a while. They are left alone for a bit to recover, being brought food and water if they request it. Cam passes out on one of the beds for a while, Jiǔtóu sits on a bunk in the corner thinking, Granamyr reunites with Trellimar, and Loben waits to be able to speak with the Captain to go talmk with Victoria. Eventually there is a knock at the door, and a greying-haired dwarf who has come to fetch them for an audience with Korak. They follow him to a large office through some double doors where they find Korak writing some documents, which he quickly finishes up as he sees the party. Cassandra is also in the room, snacking on some fruit, along with a human man who looks thuggish but wears the colours of the Guilded Arms. Korak introduces the other two to the party, and Cam decides to distract himself from sniggered at Dermot Vigil's name by making sure Jiǔtóu doesn't spring forth to attack again. Jiǔtóu however just stares at the dragonborn. The doors are closed behind them and Korak begins to go into the reasons why he asked them here, firstly to learn all he can from them about the Broken Sky situation, and secondly to address Jiǔtóu's accusations against him. Jiǔtóu introduces herself and Korak asks her to speak plainly, but she refuses to do so at the moment. He says that they need to get this out in the open, but Jiǔtóu simply wants to hear about the Broken Sky from his perspective first. So Korak tells them that the Broken Sky started by disrupting small businesses, proving elusive for the guards of towns. It was harder to know about them while they were outside the capital but since they came to Talis'Val, they have learned that they follow a 'princess' and are stockpiling resources they have stolen. They also seem well-funded and have the Talis'Val Thieves Guild under their employ or command. Jiǔtóu then says that the princess claims Korak to not be fit to lead, that he is short-sighted - to which Korak simply says that would at least be a motive for what she is doing. Korak asks what he should do then, because his title as Champion doesn't mean he has power, for he gave that over to the Council of Guilds when he finished building Talis'Val. Cam casts Guidance on himself, and Dermot pulls out some hand crossbows to point them at the cleric. Cassandra identifies it as a minor and harmless spell though so he puts them away. Korak then brings the subject back to Jiǔtóu's accusations against him, asking if maybe she is mistaken to his identity. Jiǔtóu simply replies that she has done well to recognise the dragonborn in red and gold, even if he does not seem to remember her or her parents who he killed. There is a moment of silence and Korak is confused for a moment before seeming to realise something and asking her how old she is, and Jiǔtóu gives him her real age, not the one she is physically. Korak does some mental calculations and then realises something, which confuses Cassandra and Dermot. Korak then announces that Jiǔtóu is telling the truth, but that she is also not correct. Jiǔtóu says "liar!" but he holds up a hand and continues to explain, saying that she should hear his story first.
He then asks what they know of Bresseras, and Cam replies "Nothing". Korak feels it is a similar tale for most in the room and most dragonborn keep details of their homeland a secret or are ashamed of it, then asks what they know of dragons. Elora knows something of them, most are still asleep even after the Lightfall, and that they come in two types: Chromatics and Metallics. Korak tells them that the same is true for Dragonborn, they come in Chromats and Metallics. The first Wyrmking was a noble Gold Dragonborn, but the Chromats sowed seeds of discord and took over from the Metallics by removing power from any they could until eventually a Black Dragonborn female who was his wife slayed the Wyrmking. Since then only Chromats have ever ruled in Bresseras, with Metallics treated as second-class. Korak's father was Wyrmking, but he was greedy and so Korak is not his only son. He is in fact, a twin, and his mother a Golden Dragonborn servant he desired. Korak took after his mother, while his brother took after their father. The brother was his father's favourite, with Korak and his mother beaten and tortured. One day, unable to take the cruelty of his father and brother, he pulled a knife on a guard who had been ordered to drag a girl away that his brother fancied. He then tried to attack his father but ended up arrested for treason, blamed for the deaths of servants who his brother had in fact killed. Where he was ordered to be executed, he demanded the ancient right of trial by combat and lasted ten years to earn his freedom in exile from Bresseras. He ended up in the Dawn Republic shortly after the Lightfall, making a name for himself by defeating monsters and saving people. When these people asked for his name, he did not want to give his actual name which meant "weak, worthless" in his own Dragonborn language. So he gave the name of 'Korak' which meant "son of the kingdom", the name of his brother. Because of this, he feels that the dragonborn Jiǔtóu is seeking is not himself, but his brother. He apologises for his brother's actions, but cannot offer anything else to her unless she wishes to seek revenge on him instead of his brother. Jiǔtóu asks how she can believe him, and Korak says she cannot. He hopes that she can trust his words, as he has tried to be a good man and different from his father and brother as much as possible. He said that he had hoped to one day leave Talis'Val to go back to Bresseras and challenge for the throne, but as of yet that day hasn't come. He says that since she lost her parents seventeen years ago, he would have still been fighting for his freedom in the arena. Jiǔtóu then asks if all the time she spent fighting for this moment, for the tieflings killed by the dragonborn, was it for nothing? Korak says no and that he hopes to echo her noble quest, he also says that Chromats were responsible for the enslavement of tieflings as they feared the Demon King's return. Metallics had since waned on seeing tieflings in that way, but with no power were unable to stop the Chromats' actions against the tieflings. Cam then says that they need to find the twin, who Korak thinks is likely Wyrmking of Bresseras by now, and tells Jiǔtóu that is probably where her revenge needs to take place. Jiǔtóu protests that she is one tiefling, she cannot bring down a kingdom, but Korak points out that he alone played a massive part in rebuilding the Dawn Republic. She too can do amazing things, and while he cannot help himself now, he has people he can point them towards to grow strong so that together they can take Bresseras from the Chromats. He also says that they can stay here and he will do his best to make himself available for them.
Jiǔtóu walks forward and holds out her arm with her jade bangle and tells him to swear on the names of her parents that he is not the one who killed them. Korak moves around the desk, and on one knee and with his blade held against his side swears to Jiǔtóu not only on the names of her parents but that of his own mother's that he was not the one. She pulls her arm back and he resheathes his sword and stands back up, and Jiǔtóu walks away. He then asks the group what they learned of the Broken Sky, and Elora tells him that the princess' name was Felania. Cam tells Korak that she was beautiful, they saw her through the mirror, and that she had magical abilities. Cam then gives a description, helped by Trellimar. Elora adds that the tattoos seem connected to her, and also seem to knock out agents who might be saying too much. Elora then gives them a list of other names they got from Dmitriv. Korak then speaks to Loben, who has been quiet, and Loben says he has only one question - is he the Captain? Confused Korak says he is in charge of many forces, and Loben asks when he can go talk to Victoria. Loben then says that Felania had something he'd been looking for all his life, a Dawn Shard, and he wants it. Korak says that they have recovered some of his notes and that he'd like the gnome to stay here to continue his research, but Loben proposes that because the Broken Sky don't know if he's on their side or not he wants to talk to Victoria to find a way to get to Felania. Korak notes that while he wouldn't usually encourage it, he thinks Loben and Dermot should talk to see if this plan can be made useful. With that Korak says that tomorrow is a feast that some of them are attending and dismisses them. As they leave Cam nudges Loben to one side to ask if the gnome knows anything about his Lightborn powers, but the gnome says he primarily researches the shards. However Cassandra overhears and seems interested in the conversation, which leads to Cam running away.
