After a bit of hiatus, back to Gorgos!
Our heroes have, after killing Apep, the massive serpent guardian of Queen Uzoma of Gorgos, fallen back to the leech-farm they visited earlier in the day. They pause outside and Imani goes in. Sounds of chaos and violence ensue, and the leech-farm is theirs.
The heroes spend the rest of the night fortifying their position. Eithne casts and delays a spell that will create a hill and a trench around the front of the building, and Thanos rigs up a system to flood that trench with leech-filled water. Imani rallies the slaves of the leech-farm and convinces them to take up arms - no mean feat, considering how cowed and degraded the men of this country are. Akala searches the farm manager's quarters and finds no indication that the palace knows where they are, so that's good, at least.
The next morning, Thanos summons up a boar rat and everyone else digs in, awaiting a siege. About noon, a lone runner approaches the building, and the characters recognize him as one of the slaves that carted them around yesterday (and that they cured of that horrible leech-rash). Heaving in exhaustion, having run all the way from Ogara, he informs the heroes that a contingent of sorcerers from the Dardanus Institute have arrived on Gorgos seeking answers for an "act of war."
Thanos, himself a former student at the Institute, figures that if this were actually a verifiable act of war, Dardanus would have just retaliated. They do, after all, have a lot of magic on their side. The slave informs them that the contingent is waiting to meet with Queen Uzoma (she is in prayer today). The heroes talk this out amongst themselves, and Imani decides that she really would like to know what's going on - this could very well concern them, even if they don't understand how.
Imani, Thanos, and a group of slaves trudge to Ogara and into the palace. They are met by very confused guards, who have been ordered to confine Imani to quarters if she returns, but Imani asks if they really want to do that? The guards do not, and show her to the Dardanus folks.
The four instructors are, as all senior members at the Institute, sexless, hairless, and completely devoid of pigment. Imani introduces herself and Thanos, and they talk about what happened. The mages show Imani the incident - a group of students suddenly heard discordant chimes in the air, and then buildings near them just collapsed. One of the mages suspects a Jinn, but the others poo-poo the idea ("haven't seen a Jinn in years").
Imani tries to dodge the question of whether she knows what happened (she knows Eithne's magic when she hears it), and steers the conversation to the nation of Gorgos and the impending regime change. Over the course of the conversation, the mages of Dardanus come to believe that Imani, with the assistance of Queen Nyavinghi and an uprising from within Gorgos, could depose Uzoma and take over. If that happens, would she be willing to enter into some treaties with Dardanus? Treaties involving non-aggression, military alliance, and non-interference with their government? Imani agrees, and the mages decide that they will help the characters by thwarting magic from Gorgos, but not provide direct military assistance (it'll be easier to keep their involvement secret that way, which means if the heroes lose they're not exposed).
This agreement made, Imani and Thanos move to leave. They are initially blocked by a contingent of guards, but Imani threatens her way past them, and they head back to the leech-farm. They explain the situation to Akala and Eithne, and settle in to await the war in the dawn.
As they're talking, one of the slaves interrupts them and tells them that a patrol of Gorgons is riding their way. Next session, we'll see how the heroes handle this...
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