The Tyranny of Ghosts_ Legacy of Dhakaan - Don Bassingthwaite [3]
Ashi, to her own surprise, was left unharmed following her imprisonment. A daring attack by Midian freed her, but the gnome confessed that after being captured by Makka, he’d given her up for his own life and freedom. Worse, he’d also betrayed Geth and Tenquis, having uncovered Tenquis’s identity and guessing that Geth had taken refuge with the artificer. The shifter and the tiefling were also Tariic’s prisoners.
Encountering Ekhaas on her way to rescue Ashi, they descended deeper into the dungeon and discovered that Geth and Tenquis had been tortured by Tariic in the belief that Geth had stolen the Rod of Kings. Geth hadn’t, but before their capture he and Tenquis had devised a way to track the rod and had found its location—Chetiin had somehow hidden the stolen rod in Haruuc’s sealed tomb! Although Geth had resisted torture, Tenquis had not. The lhesh’s allies were already on their way to the tomb.
Chetiin’s appearance drove Geth into a rage, but the mystery of the goblin’s apparent treachery was solved as Aruget arrived (also with the intent of rescuing the prisoners). Just as Aruget was an agent of Breland, Midian was an agent of the gnome nation of Zilargo, and the gnomes were manipulating events for their own benefit. Midian had assassinated Haruuc in disguise as Chetiin, when it appeared Haruuc would become a tyrant, not realizing the rod’s curse was to blame. He’d donned the disguise again to steal the rod and discredit Chetiin after discovering the goblin had survived his initial attack.
The need to retrieve the rod before Tariic could was more important than Midian’s guilt or innocence, however. Slipping out of Khaar Mbar’ost, the heroes hurried to Haruuc’s tomb, where they discovered Makka and Pradoor overseeing bugbear workers attempting to break through the tomb’s massive door. Midian had previously slipped into the tomb through a natural shaft in the rock, but no one trusted him enough to allow him to go back in on his own. Ekhaas, Ashi, and Aruget distracted Makka and the workers, while Tenquis used artificer magic to open the tomb so that Geth, Chetiin, and Midian could enter and retrieve the rod.
But Midian escaped and ran for his own secret entrance to the tomb, betraying them all yet again. Geth, Chetiin, and Tenquis opened the door and beat Midian into the tomb but were unable to retrieve the rod before he began sniping at them with a crossbow retrieved from a hidden cache. Chetiin sneaked up to Midian, and while the goblin and the gnome struggled, Geth retrieved the rod. As he climbed out of the tomb, he was ambushed by Makka, who had returned. Seizing the rod from Geth, Makka and Pradoor rode back to Khaar Mbar’ost and Tariic.
Geth came up with a desperate plan—another assassination. Forced to spare Midian in spite of his continued treachery, they returned to Khaar Mbar’ost and found Tariic, rod already in hand, waiting alongside the warlords of his court to greet Dagii as he marched into the city. Geth and the others worked their way through the gathered crowd until Midian could strike Tariic with a poisoned crossbow bolt, killing him. As the crowd scattered, Geth, Chetiin, and Ashi leaped onto the platform to retrieve the fallen rod—only to find that Tariic had outwitted them. In death, the lhesh’s body transformed into that of Ko, the changeling. The rod they had risked themselves to retrieve was the false one. Tariic, the true rod in his grasp, appeared and ordered the assembled Darguuls to seize the traitors.
The heroes found themselves surrounded by Darguul warlords and commoners caught up in the irresistible power of the Rod of Kings. Aruget and Midian disappeared into the crowd. Ekhaas, confronted by Dagii, briefly believed herself rescued, only to realize that Dagii had also succumbed to the rod’s power. Tenquis, left beyond the crowd, rode to their rescue, parting the mob with horses for the heroes to ride to freedom.
Or almost all the heroes. Makka