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Sisyphean Attempts at Self-Improvement #1097365 added September 14, 2025 at 4:02pm
Restrictions: None
A Rebuilding Season
The morning after the Battle of Kyriel, you wait for Azura to call you in for a meeting of the city leaders who remain. At breakfast, Thogun is notified by Ezra that his Sanctuary’s hireling quit some time ago. In all the chaos of the past few weeks, Ezra hasn’t had a chance to find a replacement (or maintain the Sanctuary), but if Thogun wants to make a list of things he’d like done, Azura is sending some construction workers out to help make repairs and improvements to Harborcrest Keep. Ezra also suggests some additional improvements to the keep, including moving the entrance to the dungeon out of the basement and into one of the towers where it’ll be less of a security risk.
Meanwhile, Reggie puts on his gauntlets and teleports to Korrigan’s lair, where he notes that the bronze dragon still has not returned. But he does find a magical trail that leads him to a small lofty alcove that Korrigan has remodeled from a storage room to a half-storage room, half guest room for Reggie to stay whenever he pleases. He also gives Reggie a viewing crystal that shows something that has him eager to return to the orphanage where he was raised.
At his Sanctuary, Thogun is shocked to find that it’s not a mess at all; it’s better than ever, thanks to Kinea and an old Earth Genasi man who Kinea affectionately calls Ozzie. The old man used to tend to the Temple of Riazsa and took up caring for this Sanctuary as a way of keeping busy. Tho answers their questions about Kord and gives Ozzie a job as the Sanctuary’s new hireling, which earns him respect and affection from Kinea... which is interrupted by Ezra notifying them that Azura is ready to meet.
On the way to the meeting, Krinn awkwardly thanks you for saving his life; he’s grateful, but seems to really be struggling with understanding why he was spared when others like Nestis were not. During the meeting, you learn that Azura is constituting a new City Council and offers Harborcrest one of the seats, joining herself, Odette Auclair, Dallon Dumont, and Big-E’s father Elgin as the other permanent members. She also offers you expanded land holdings, and noble titles for each of you.
During the meeting, you discuss the two primary threats: (1) the potential return of Ar’unath, for which Elgin offers a demon hunter point of contact in Grybek Moor who may be able to give you all more information that could help, and (2) the pirates of Isalis who have apparently coalesced under a single banner and will likely take advantage of Kyriel’s weakened state. Odette agrees to send emissaries out to nearby settlements and those along the river’s trade routes to try and source new citizens and additional security while the city rebuilds.
While considering what to do Antonio seems a little distraught by something that just occurred to him, and Elgin tells Big-E that he’s retiring from the adventuring lifestyle and settling down to help run the Kyriel City Council. He encourages Big-E to stay with him, so they can spend more time together. Big-E feels like he needs to honor his mother’s memory by continuing on, so Elgin gets him another Sending Stone to use during his travels.
In order to help your bastion safeguard your new lands, Azura has arranged for you to receive an additional barrack (now two total, upgraded to Vast Barracks which can each hold 25 defenders), four Vast Stables (capable of holding a total of 24 large animals), a finished Training Area, and two additional Special Facilities of your choice, which you elect to be a Gaming Hall and a Theater. Of the 57 mercenaries remaining in your employ, 50 of them accept job offers as your new bastion defenders, and the other seven begin to learn sailing so as to operate your growing fleet of ships.
Kinea and Ozzie happily tell Thogun that the residents of Norwood have decided to stay in Kyriel, and that she met a very nice Goliath bartender named Hobb who invited them all over for free meals and drinks to celebrate surviving the battle, and welcome the residents of Norwood. At The Trusty Table, you discover Everard and Thayer bragging to everyone about how they know the Heroes of Harborcrest. You show them up, learn that Ar’unath is referred to as “Lord of the 19th” (presumably meaning he reigns over the 19th layer of The Abyss) and then focus on calling out Hobb for hiding out in Wakefield during the battle. You finish out the evening by Reggie going Giant’s Might in the shoulder-to-shoulder overcrowded tavern and Big-E bringing down the house with an epic rendition of “Demons” by Imagine Dragons.
You ultimately decide to take a couple of weeks to head back to your home region in the foothills of the Jeresian Mountains so that Reggie and Antonio can handle some personal business.
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830 words
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