The party turns to reclaiming Hilde's resources for the Inkeri. They go to the Voss Greencake mine, where they find a manifestation of the Blackwells emperor Krohn in the mine's salt palace. He tells them the story of Lahar, that he is also the Caliphate Malik, and that he's hunting the Caliphate's Ninety-Nine gods. Krohn attacks the party because Ord testified against him in al-Watan, but the party fights him to a draw.
Now that Beowolf had survived the animal spirit challenge on Kerava Glacier, the party returned to the Byrthing Clan camp. Byrthing Clan's chief Ferja said he was satisfied with Beowolf's initiation into the Inkeri religion and accepted Beowolf as the Inkeri leader.
The Shaman Kajal now suggested that the party turn to reclaiming Hilde's resources for the Inkeri. Ferja suggested taking back a Greencake mine from the Blackwells, near the abandoned Inkeri settlement Voss, or an abandoned guano cave near the Welkin settlement of Gravning. But just as Ferja had sent the party to the animal spirit challenge on Kerava Glacier without telling them no other Inkeri had survived, he now declined to mention that other Inkeri had already died trying to reclaim the guano cave.
He suggested they take a Byrthing Clan guide, Olin. Since Ferja had accepted Beowolf as the Inkeri leader, Beowolf also ordered several hundred Byrthing Clan warriors to come with them. These included Ferja's son Leutwin, who had spoken against Beowolf in Game 19.They headed for the Voss Greencake mine first, with Olin leading the way. They found Voss and the mine without incident, and entered the mine.
They find a freight elevator right inside the mine entrance. They take it down, and at the bottom they find a main tunnel about two stories high. The entire tunnel seems to be carved from the salt with the light green color that Greencake is centrifuged out of. At the height of a second level metal catwalks run along the sides of the tunnel. There are many smallish side tunnels running off of the main tunnel, both on the first story and the second story from the catwalks; some side tunnels are only about half height, and the folks working in them are crouched. On both levels there are tracks for the mining carts, those in the inactive side tunnels are out of repair. In some places there are steel or timber arches supporting the salt ceiling.
Occasionally in here you see miners working. They have the look of forced labor, and they don't seem to care that you're here. The main tunnel is about half of a mile long, and you think you hear the sound of centrifuges coming from the end.
At end of the main tunnel, they found a cross-tunnel that went both left and right. The sound came from the left, and going that way, they found a room full of centrifuges. Backtracking and going right, they found a palace carved entirely out of salt. Searching inside the salt palace, they soon came to a chapel with a high ceiling.
When the party comes into the chapel, they see a lean man sitting in flowing white flowing robes and a tall, white, fan-like headdress. The white fabric contrasts with the skin on his face and hands, which is very dark. He turns toward the party and looks at them for a moment.
He looks at Beowolf, saying that he would have been disappointed if the Inkeri hadn't sent a Hero to avenge their previous failed raiding party. But although you're led by an Inkeri, you're not an Inkeri party. No, you're hugely more interesting than that. You're the party that killed Lahar in the divine prison. And so we enter each others' story in a most captivating way - let me tell you how.
He stands and you can see that his white robes go all the way to the floor and his white sleeves cover his hands completely. He says, I am Krohn, or more accurately, a manifestation or shadow of Krohn, the immortal emperor of Blackwells.
Thousands of years ago, the god Gradska and I had each become powerful because of the power source we'd captured - Gradska in Hollin and myself in Blackwells, so the Caliphate's Ninety-Nine wanted us both eliminated. Thinking to play me, they approached me and suggested that I attack Gradska, a suggestion that I embraced. I went to Hilde to find Mirtis - a devil and great evil. Together, we traveled under Mirtis's black cloud to High Hill in Hollin.
There at Gradska's temple, Mirtis and I wiped out Gradska's adepts. We continued to Gradska's sanctuary, where we found him, and I sent Mirtis against him. Gradska called on his angel of death, Kidu, who arrived in his usual beautiful nimbus. But when Kidu arrived, Mirtis had already taken Gradska's form, and Kidu couldn't distinguish between the two. He questioned both but was still unable to distinguish between them, so was forced to stand aside while the two Gradskas fought. When one Gradska had killed the other, Kidu couldn't bet that the survivor was the real Gradska. So, he chained the survivor and built the divine prison Narshasa, imprisoning him there, and calling him Lahar, meaning "unknown." Thus the Lahar you killed was Mirtis - or Gradska. And it was a killing that will go down in legend.
But returning to my own ancient tale, with the head of the snake dead or in prison, it was easy to kill the body - Gradska's church. The Kirsi had been greatly wronged by Gradska, and over the centuries they replaced the newborns of the Gradskan clerics with their own changeling children, eventually taking control of the Gradska religion this way and strangling it. Today no member of the Gradskan religion survives - and you eliminated the possibility that even Gradska himself survives.
As for myself and the Ninety-Nine, there were never my rivals the way that Gradska was. Now with no possibility that Gradska could aid the Ninety-Nine, I returned to the Caliphate, killing those few of the Ninety-Nine I found there. The rest of the Ninety-Nine went into hiding, and I set myself up as the One, the Malik.
And so Ord, you would know me as a manifestation of Malak Ghaniy Ibn al-Malik, the Malik of the Caliphate, who you testified against in al-Watan. Of course the Malak Ghaniy Ibn al-Malik who was executed was just one of my manifestations; another manifestation, my "cousin," now wages war against the Caliph nobility to take back my rightful place.
I'm sorry that in return for your candor you were exiled from your home. Also, I'm sorry that I've been slow in hunting you, but of course hundreds of scholars testified against me, and besides hunting them I already have my hands full hunting the Ninety-Nine."
So as I said at the beginning, our stories have crossed in a way that I find totally fascinating. Really, I've had so much joy contemplating the turn of events and your brilliance in killing Lahar. So, before I destroy the four of you, I would be thrilled to answer any questions the four of you might have.
He raises a hand and a salt door slams shut behind you.
Krohn had these stats, except that he could hover instead of flying clumsily. He also had the additional powers Lightning Burst, Choke, and Summon Devils.
Krohn flew out of range of the party's attacks and attacked them from above. Ord's spirit companion Waifa gave him the power of flight, but Krohn kept Ord out of the air repeatedly by knocking him prone with Hellfire Ray. On the other hand, the party was able to withstand his attacks, so we wrapped up with the fight at an apparent standstill, to be resolved in the next game.
Kelly wrote complex and specific backstories for his characters Prosper and Ord. One of the hardest parts of the campaign for me was creating material that would be consistent with Kelly's backstories, but still add something new and surprising. Krohn's story in this game is an example.
Krohn said he didn't know whether Lahar was Gradska or Mirtis, but in retrospect, Lahar's identity is pretty clear from the party's encounters with him in Game 20.
The Welkin settlement near the guano cave was called Gravning in this game, but mistakenly changed to Albrecht in the next game.
