"Treachery Revealed!" is the second episode of High Rollers.
- Previous episode: "The Adventure Begins!"
- Next Episode: "That's So Raven!"
Having succeeded in summoning the spirit of Queen Ayandris, Jiǔtóu attempts to appease her by displaying the circlet of the Queen's daughter, which, contrary to expectation, enrages the phantom. Trellimar tries to calm her down by explaining that they mean no harm, speaking in elven to show her respect, which seems to work somewhat. Meanwhile, Cam sneaks towards the sarcophagus and, after dodging an attack from the spirit, pulls the cursed mace out of the tomb. To his teammates' horror, he then uses it to destroy the bones of Ayandris' daughter that lay in the sarcophagus, believing them to be the remains of Ayandris herself. This provokes the spirit into a full-blown, murderous rage and she immediately shifts her attention from Jiǔtóu to Cam.
Jiǔtóu debates on trying to pass off Elora as the queen's daughter, but upon remembering that they aren't of the same clan, she decides to stand her ground and appeal to the queen, to no avail. Accusing them of being liars and murderers, Ayandris sweeps through Cam, pulling at his very life essence. Trellimar tries again, calling Cam an imbecile, but asserting that they are genuinely attempting to help; to this, Ayandris snarls that Cam has desecrated her daughter's body, just as the dryad has desecrated her tomb.
Ayandris then commands Cam to put back the mace, which Trellimar seconds. However, Cam instead disguises himself as a goblin, claiming it was his true form all along and that he came with the group precisely so he could destroy the daughter's remains. Ayandris falls for the ruse, following which Cam drops the mace and runs out of the chamber. Elora attempts to pick up the weapon and place it back into the sarcophagus, but upon touching the mace, she experiences visions of Ayandris' daughter fighting the chieftain and eventually slaying him. Once she regains her bearings, she immediately drops the club into the tomb; with the spirit having calmed down, Elora asks what they can do to help her.
Ayandris explains that she was awakened by the bloodshed carried out by Gulthia, whose origins were more sinister than the group had been led to believe. She continues, saying that the dryad has caused a tree to grow in Ayandris' burial chamber, and if it grows to full power, a seed will be born that'll fulfill "Gulthian's legacy". Ayandris agrees to help the group if they put a stop to Gulthia's ritual. After Jiǔtóu places the circlet on the daughter's sarcophagus, Ayandris retreats back into the shadows, leaving the group to mull over this new information.
The Queen's words led Elora to remember an old tale, that of the vampire Gulthian, who was staked through the heart by a hero. However, Gulthian's essence seeped into the stake, causing it to grow into a tree, from which the "daughters of Gulthian", corrupt and evil dryads, were born. This, combined with the protection spell that had been cast on Jiǔtóu fading ahead of time, fully convinces the party that Gulthia manipulated them. A man's scream then echoes through the temple, leading the group, with Cam at the front, to dash back towards the main chamber. There, they find Tomas' dead body being held up by a vine creature, with Gulthia drinking the caravan master's blood from a wooden bowl.
Having noticed the group's arrival, she prepares to have one of her vines take control of Tomas' body, but Cam reacts quickly and throws a dagger, interrupting her spell before she can cast it. Her face contorting with anger, Gulthia orders her vine creature to deal with them, following which she and Renwyn step through a large door, thanks to the latter's Druidcraft magic. Trellimar runs past his teammates and prepares to Eldritch Blast the creature, but notices another being emerge behind him. The new arrival launches a spray of needles at Trellimar that severely wound him. Before he collapses, he casts Hellish Rebuke, setting his attacker ablaze. Seeing her teammate fall, Elora quickly shoots an arrow into the creature, finishing it off, before running over to Trellimar and using his potion to heal him.
Jiǔtóu rushes into the main chamber and strikes at the plant creature, but her attacks are shrugged off. In retaliation, the monster attempts to ensnare Jiǔtóu, and then Trellimar and Elora; the first dodges out of the way, while the other two manage to tear themself free from the vines. The group steadily whittles away at the vine creature's health, with Cam eventually finishing it off by stabbing it in the crotch. They then walk up to the large stone door, which Elora opens using the same Druidcraft magic.
The party stealthily makes their way down into Ayandris' burial chamber, where they find a giant tree with polished black bark, as well as Gulthia and Renwyn. The former is chanting in a sinister language, while the latter can only look on in regret. The party goes back and forth on what to do, but their whispering alerts Gulthia, who commands Renwyn to attack them. Elora pleads with him and manages to get through to the druid, breaking Gulthia's control over him. Renwyn then turns and strikes the dryad, who had resumed chanting; the two briefly clash, but end up tumbling into the tree, which absorbs them both.
The tree shudders and seems to come to life; Jiǔtóu reacts first and throws her torch at the tree, managing to set part of it on fire. She then darts over to a nearby pillar, while Elora, having determined there is a struggle going on within the tree, shouts for Ayandris. The tree then retaliates and smashes the pillar Jiǔtóu is hiding behind, causing a piece of debris to crash onto her leg. After two haphazard attacks from Cam and Trellimar, Ayandris appears, but is unable to harm Gulthia's spirit due to it being locked into battle with Renwyn's.
In an attempt to get Renwyn out, Jiǔtóu runs up to the tree and places her hands upon its bark, causing her spirit to be absorbed as well. Inside the tree, she can make out the silhouettes of Renwyn and Gulthia, and strikes at the latter with her fists, driving the dryad away from Renwyn. Elora and Trellimar attempt to follow Jiǔtóu's example, but both fail to properly connect and merge with it. Cam succeeds, however, and appears inside the tree next to Jiǔtóu. Although he is unaware of it, his hair has suddenly begun glowing and he radiates hope and courage. Cam then summons two daggers into being and throws them at Gulthia, who explodes into golden light and disintegrates. Renwyn thanks them for their aid, but elects to stay and destroy the tree from within, while Jiǔtóu and Cam's spirits return to their bodies.
With Gulthia defeated, the tree shrinks back into a small seed and Queen Ayandris's original appearance is restored. She thanks the group for having vanquished the evil and gifts Elora with a crystal vial. Cam, having explained his previous goblin ruse as a curse that had been lifted thanks to Ayandris, receives the mace, which the spirit believes will be safer in his hands. After healing the party, Ayandris' form dissipates, being at peace once more. Elora quickly druidcrafts a flower and places it on Ayandris' sarcophagus, while Jiǔtóu pockets Gulthia's seed, following which the group makes their way towards the exit.
Walking through the tunnel, they eventually find themselves in a natural cave located at the foot of a hill. A statue near the mouth of the cave appears to have been pushed aside to allow access. Outside, the group discovers the remnants of a campsite; Cam picks up an abandoned journal and upon reading it, realises it is Renwyn's. They then opt to move the statue back into place, so that the underground complex is properly hidden again.
Elora surveys the area and spots a village in the distance, a few hours of travel away. Meanwhile, Cam tries to find out more about his new travelling companions, but they're quick to criticize him for his actions inside the temple, particularly what he did to the remains of Ayandris' daughter. He apologizes and then continues on about the Bucklands, the group of travelling entertainers he was a part of. Cam explains he had to leave them because he was requested to perform at a quite prestigious venue in Talis'val, which Korak, the Champion of the Dawn Republic, will be attending. At the mention of Korak, Jiǔtóu becomes interested and quite adamantly insists she be made part of Cam's performance; they eventually settle on her being his bodyguard. Elora responds that she's going to the same city, in the hopes of finding one of her father's friends, while Trellimar evasively replies that he's "looking for something".
Jiǔtóu, deciding they're wasting time, is about to leave and travel towards the village, but Elora convinces her that it would be better to rest inside the cave and set out tomorrow. The next day, the group awakens and prepares to head out; before leaving, Cam stares somewhat forlornly at an old dagger, but quickly reverts back into his chipper persona. After some hours of walking, during which they pass by the exceptionally tall wheat fields that the village, named Tallfield, is known for, the party reaches the entrance.
The entrance guards, who look young and nervous, react noticeably hostile to their arrival and regard Trellimar in particular with suspicion. They ask him if he's "with the other one" and, when pressed, reveal that a drow woman had reportedly been killing the locals and will likely be executed for it. Elora assures the guards they don't mean any harm, convincing them to let the group inside, though one of them does join them as an escort. In town, they see an angry mob gathered around make-shift gallows, where the drow woman is tied to a wooden pole. Prompted by Cam, the party's escort explains that she was found sneaking around the village and people believed she was the one responsible for all the recent deaths. He adds that another murder was committed last night, even though the drow had been locked up, so he doesn't believe she's the killer.
The marshall, who is stood atop the stage along with the reeve and the drow, shouts that he will not execute someone without proper evidence. The group decides to go and speak with the men in charge, but Trellimar is noticed by the mob, which quickly becomes nervous at his presence. The reeve tells them to calm down, following which the marshall calls for some guards to disperse the crowd. Afterwards, the reeve comes down from the stage and speaks with the group, telling them that some force is keeping the villagers trapped here - if anyone tries to leave, whether at night or during the day, they are killed. The party agrees to try and solve the problem, since they are now stuck as well.
Jiǔtóu believes they should interrogate the drow woman and see what she knows, while Elora hopes to look at the bodies and perhaps find clues as to how they were killed. The group decides to speak with the drow first and walks towards the gallows - Jiǔtóu is quite frustrated with the scenario which she's landed in, since there's no tieflings in Tallfield, but she stays with the others because she needs Cam to get to Korak.
The drow woman cannot tell them much, as she was simply passing by the village and apprehended by the paranoid guards. Trellimar asks what she's doing on the surface, to which she dubiously replies that she's "scouting". Though he's suspicious, Trellimar is slightly more inclined to trust her word when she introduces herself as Vixanis of House Kel; he recognizes the House as one of the few that survived the attack on the Underdark and is currently allied with dwarves. She ridicules the village people for believing she's the culprit, as the victims run out on their own, apparently seeing loved ones, and their bodies always have deep claw marks on them.
At this, Elora decides to head to the temple of Pelor, where the bodies are being stored. Trellimar attempts to interrogate Vixanis further using his telepathy, which she is perturbed by. After Trellimar identifies himself as a drow of House Aleath, she reveals that she was on a scouting mission to find a dwarven thief that stole an artifact. He manages to get a description of the dwarf by reading her thoughts and then ceases the telepathic conversation. Meanwhile, Jiǔtóu and Elora examine one of the bodies, but find little blood, leading them to conclude his heart must have been beating very fast at the time of death. Since the corpse doesn't appear to have been eaten, Elora believes it wasn't an animal - Jiǔtóu adds to this that the villagers are being lured out with visions, so whoever the culprit is, they must have magic.
