Creatures in a Paladin's Tomb

[RedMage125]

So...my 4e game is about to come to an interesting point, and I just thought I'd fish for some ideas that otherwise may not have occured to me.

Here's the situation:
The players are about to travel to a continent of Dragonborn, ruled over by dragons (place has a kind of Oriental Adventures theme, with true dragons as daimyos over dragonborn samurai, nobles, and commoners), called The Drakkensrad. They are searching for the blade of a legendary paladin, which involves breaking into his tomb and retrieving the pieces.

The legend of this paladin: Legend speaks of a famous knight of Bahamut, whose name has been lost to history. He is known now only as The Platinum Champion. It was said that he was marked with the favor of Bahamut his whole life, and was a mighty Paladin and Platinum Knight. In the legend, he had a brother, also a knight, whose name is also no longer remembered. Over time, the Champion's deeds garnered much fame, and jealousy grew in his borther's heart. Jealousy grew, and deepened, and turned to hate. The Champion's brother fell to the influence of Falazure, the Night Dragon, and became a Death Knight. He is known now to history only as The Bone Knight, and after his treason was discovered, his name was stricken from all records (hence why his name is unknown). The Bone Knight raised a great army of undead to assault the city of Mount Argent, the center of Bahamut's faith in Drakkensari lands. The Platinum Champion met his former brother in combat during the battle, and so fierce was their conflict, that all other combatants gave them a wide berth. As the sun set and darkness crept in, the Bone Knight's power grew. Just before the sun set completely behind the horizon, the Bone Knight struck a massive blow. But the Champion intercepted this blow, and there was a great explosion of radiant and necrotic energy. When it was gone, only the Champion's blade, broken clean in two, remained. Bereft of their general, the undead army faltered, and was wiped out by the remaining paladins. Even with no body to bury, the knights created a grand tomb to honor his memory, and his blade was placed in his sarcophagus. The blade itself was reputed to be a divine gift from Bahamut. A righteous weapon to combat Evil.
The party hears this tale from an NPC Paladin of Bahamut in human lands. The party has helped him, and taken quests from him a few times already. He is very popular in his home city, and is gradually intorducing new means of protecting the people. He is very zealous in his quest to protect his people from evil. He has recieved a visitation from an angel of Bahamut, who has told him that if he could recover this blade, it could be reforged, and it would be a great symbol of the favor of Bahamut upon him, strengthening the faith of Bahamut in his city, bringing in new converts to the faith, and creating a new Platinum Age of enlightenment and Good.
The kicker: The blade in the tomb is not that of the Platinum Champion, but rather, the broken rune weapon of the Bone Knight, who was banished to the Shadowfell in the explosion. The Bone Knight has sought the recovery of his sword, but has been unable to penetrate the tomb to recover it, as he is nearly powerless without it. When the party is in the Drakkensrad, they will find an old and decrepit dragonborn scholar who helps them to find the tomb, in exchange for the chance to study the blade. The scholar is, of course, the Bone Knight, who can restore his weapon with a touch, thus restoring him to full power.

And the twist: The "angel" that has visited the Paladin is a disguised succubus. His control over the city gradually grows more and more overt, and creates a new order in the city. In an effort to "protect" people from sin, he begins a very harsh and strict regime, eventually becoming an oppressive dictator, all in the name of "good". The succubus serves the Evil god of Tyranny, Rulership and Fear in my world (named Bridenal), and seeks to turn him into a harsh tyrant. I expect a pretty sweet battle once the party discovers this. All part of my master plan to devise a Lawful Good antagonist.

So...what I'm looking for is approriate challenges, including monsters, for a tomb of a Paladin of Bahamut. The party includes LG, Good, and Unaligned people, 2 of whom worship Bahamut. Keep in mind, they believe that they are acting with Bahamut's blessing to recieve this sword, so defeating the tomb's guardians should not faze them.

Party will be level 9 or 10 when they get to this tomb. I expect the culmination of this story arc will be the transition to Paragon Tier. So I'm looking for challenges in the level 7-13 range (maybe as high as 14 for the end of the tomb). I figure Angels are a good choice, as they are Unaligned. Some constructs are also good. I'm willing to entertain some of the monsters in this tomb being "vermin" of sorts that have creeped into the tomb since it was sealed (such as oozes). But I'm trying to avoid putting anything actually evil in there, unless I can come up with a good reason why it would be in a paladin's tomb. Also, trying to avoid anything that would require food to survive, as the tomb is pretty much sealed.

So things like eidolons, angels, golems, oozes. I have a DDI subscription, and will be looking for stuff of this kind in the online tools over the next few days. Just wondered if anyone had any ideas or suggestions of some things in this level range that are appropriate and cool.

By the way, the real twist to the whole story: Despite the fact that the Platinum Champion is always depicted in murals as a dragonborn, he was not. He was a Deva. The Drakensari people recognized him for what he was, a chosen herald of Bahamut. His "brother" was obviously not a blood relation, but they were as close as brothers. He died in the explosion that shattered the Bone Knight's sword, and started a new incarnation somewhere else, leaving no body behind. His sword was swept into the shadowfell with the Bone Knight, and I plan (later in Paragon tier) for the party to eventually recover the true blade. The sword will be one of the kinds of weapons that can also function as a holy symbol (crusaders weapon or the like). The party cleric is a Deva Cleric of Bahamut (Wis/Cha, uses holy symbols). When he touches it, memories of his past life come flooding back to him, and he finally realizes that HE was the Platinum Champion in a former life.
Dun...Dun...DUUUUUUUUNNNN!!

[GPuzzle]

Whoa. Plotwise, whoa. This thing is awesome.

But expect your players to hate you during the middle of the campaign.

Encounter-wise?

Black hole into the Shadowfell as soon as they give the blade to the scholar, from round 2 on, every extra round they take increases the DC for a skill challenge (Religion/History/Arcana should be the most obvious, but if they can come up with something else, go for it) to turn the black hole into a white hole and propel them into the scholar's house, now devastated.

[Yakk]

First, the weapon is the Bone Knight's weapon. The tomb that they thought was sanctified to good is actually a shrine to evil.

Did the people who put the weapon in the tomb know it was evil, or did they think it was the shards of the champions weapon?

If they knew it was evil, the tomb is a double seal. Seal to keep evil things from getting in and getting the weapon, and a seal to keep the evil in.

So the outside of the tomb should be besieged by evil creatures. Then a ring of "good and holy" defenders.

Past that ring, there should be a mixture of corrupted "good and holy" defenders and somewhat corrupted "neutral" creatures like oozes.

The angel should be imposing a test on the PCs. A test of virtue (the LG character who is is a priest of Bahamut can pass that) (don't let evil things in the tomb!), a test of wisdom (they must know what they are doing), and a test of valor (a battle against a summoned angel, lesser than the one that is imposing the tests).

If the builders of the tomb did not know that it was evil, there is a twist. The tomb would be designed to keep evil out -- but evil has seeped into it from its very heart! Again, we have the possibly evil exterior besiegers, the ring of still intact (mostly) protection (slightly breached, which is how the bone knight found the sword), and then the corrupted inner sanctum.

The inner corruption can be explained as a breach in the defences of the tomb in this case easier. They can see where creatures from the outside have broken some of the seals, and the half-crazed angelic defenders have been wounded. Little do the PCs suspect that it was actually the inside that corrupted the defenders...

[Inevitability]

First, AWESOME story you got there.

As for encounters, 3.5 had 'deathless', basically undead, but they weren't inherently evil. A couple of the most loyal soldiers of the paladin may have been buried in the tomb, and risen as pseudo-undead to guard the tomb against anything that may disturb it. They may even be aware of the evilness of the sword, and see the PC's as evildoers. The PC's are trying to give an ancient evil undead abomination his sword back, after all.

For the soldiers, give them each an aura associated with a virtue, and make the battle easier if the PC's fight them according to that virtue.
For example:

Aura of charity, Aura 5: Creatures in the aura who grant an ally the ability to spend an healing surge regain 5 hit points.

Note that the soldiers should be able to benefit from each others' auras as well, so if you're using this aura, let one of the other soldiers be a healer.

[RedMage125]

Whoa. Plotwise, whoa. This thing is awesome.

But expect your players to hate you during the middle of the campaign.

Encounter-wise?

Black hole into the Shadowfell as soon as they give the blade to the scholar, from round 2 on, every extra round they take increases the DC for a skill challenge (Religion/History/Arcana should be the most obvious, but if they can come up with something else, go for it) to turn the black hole into a white hole and propel them into the scholar's house, now devastated.
Thanks for the compliment.

I don't expect them to hate me, the knowledge that it's the Bone Knight's weapon is kind of "secret lore of the Platinum Order" stuff.

That suggestion doesn't help much, as I am looking for help with what's IN the tomb, before they get the blade. Once they get it out, the scholar touches it, restores it, and reveals himself as the Bone Knight. After that he basically says something to the effect of "thanks for the much-needed assistance. As a reward, I'll let you live", and disappears into the Shadowfell to become a villain later in Paragon. So that story arc's gonna end with them knowing that they unwittingly released a great evil on the world, but not getting to correct it right away. In fact, shortly after that, a contingent of the Drakkensari Platinum Knights arrives, and basically kicks them out of the country "You've done enough", is about what they're gonna get told.

Maybe they will hate me.

First, the weapon is the Bone Knight's weapon. The tomb that they thought was sanctified to good is actually a shrine to evil.
No, that's not right. It's still the Tomb of the Platinum Knight. The legend says that it's his blade in there, only a handful of the order knew it was not, and they swore to keep that secret, passing that knowledge down to only a handful of successors. The primary purpose of the place is to honor the Champion, and protect "his remains" from defilement. The secret purpose is to keep evil out of the tomb, to prevent the Bone Knight's minions from retrieving the blade. But it's not a "shrine to evil". Maybe a "vault to keep evil locked away", but I'm explicitly trying to avoid evil things in the tomb.


The angel should be imposing a test on the PCs. A test of virtue (the LG character who is is a priest of Bahamut can pass that) (don't let evil things in the tomb!), a test of wisdom (they must know what they are doing), and a test of valor (a battle against a summoned angel, lesser than the one that is imposing the tests).
Hmmm...I like the idea of a series of tests...but at the same time, that almost implies that someone was meant to eventually break in and retrieve the blade. That is not the tomb's purpose. The guardians are there to keep EVERYONE out.


The inner corruption can be explained as a breach in the defences of the tomb in this case easier. They can see where creatures from the outside have broken some of the seals, and the half-crazed angelic defenders have been wounded. Little do the PCs suspect that it was actually the inside that corrupted the defenders...
Lol, they're already dealt with "crazed, corrupted angels", I'm running them through Madness At Gardmore Abbey now. I'm wanting to run them against angels in full control of their faculties. Once they realize the true nature of the blade (i.e. they've inadvertently restored the Bone Knight), I want them to be hit with the realization that they broke into the tomb of a champion of Good, slew the tomb guardians, and unleashed an evil into the world.


First, AWESOME story you got there.
Thanks, I'm pretty proud of it. Even more proud that I was able to tie it in to one my my PCs' background. Most of my players gave me a little backstory (the shadar-kai invoker gave me the most), but the guy playing the deva gave me very little. In fact, his character just started this incarnation 2 years ago (I think he was tickled by the thought of his character only being 2 years old), so he didn't give himself much room and sort of gave me free reign to do what I wanted involving his past lives.


As for encounters, 3.5 had 'deathless', basically undead, but they weren't inherently evil. A couple of the most loyal soldiers of the paladin may have been buried in the tomb, and risen as pseudo-undead to guard the tomb against anything that may disturb it. They may even be aware of the evilness of the sword, and see the PC's as evildoers. The PC's are trying to give an ancient evil undead abomination his sword back, after all.
You're not going to believe this, but I've already done something like that.
[spolier]When I ran 3.5, I had a LN god of the dead, Vorador, who was a guardian of the dead, much like Kelemvor in Forgotten Realms. The full details of my conversion to 4e are here (http://community.wizards.com/content/forum-topic/2615726). Short version is: that god was killed, and his portfolio taken by a CE god of death and undeath. Well, the Doomguides (Vorador's paladin order) had a motherhouse in a city called Riva, which is now an undead-haunted ruin. My players had to travel to the Doomguide motherhouse on a quest to get into the libraries and retrieve some of the Doomguides' texts on hunting undead. While there, they found, in the catacombs a Deathless Guardian (actually the former Paladin of Vorador PC I had in a 3.5e game). See, the order used a ritual to tun their greatest heroes into deathless after they died. They were to serve a period of 100 years, and be allowed to return to their rest. The last one was still in service when his god was killed, and no new clergy to make a new guardian, so he's served for 500 years. As deathless cannot normally sustain their existence without a constant influx of positive energy (like Eberron's Deathless Court and their manifest zone to Irian), he expected his existence to eventually fade. However, the holy symbol, hammer, and armor he wears are Artifacts, and contain the last divine essence of Vorador. As such, they sustain his existence. When the party encountered him, he was trying to keep Thanatos' minions out of the catacombs. The servants of the Reaper wanted to violate the bodies of Vorador's greatest heroes and create powerful undead "Can you imagine the horrors such a blasphemy would create?"[/spoiler]


For the soldiers, give them each an aura associated with a virtue, and make the battle easier if the PC's fight them according to that virtue.
For example:

Aura of charity, Aura 5: Creatures in the aura who grant an ally the ability to spend an healing surge regain 5 hit points.

Note that the soldiers should be able to benefit from each others' auras as well, so if you're using this aura, let one of the other soldiers be a healer.
That's a neat idea. Maybe do all 7 Cardinal Virtues?
Peace, ?
Temperance, ?
Charity, you have covered.
Contentment, ?
Humility, ?
Chastity, ?
Diligence, perhaps when someone in the aura attacks the same target they did last round, they get a +1 bonus

[GPuzzle]

Thanks for the compliment.

I don't expect them to hate me, the knowledge that it's the Bone Knight's weapon is kind of "secret lore of the Platinum Order" stuff.

That suggestion doesn't help much, as I am looking for help with what's IN the tomb, before they get the blade. Once they get it out, the scholar touches it, restores it, and reveals himself as the Bone Knight. After that he basically says something to the effect of "thanks for the much-needed assistance. As a reward, I'll let you live", and disappears into the Shadowfell to become a villain later in Paragon. So that story arc's gonna end with them knowing that they unwittingly released a great evil on the world, but not getting to correct it right away. In fact, shortly after that, a contingent of the Drakkensari Platinum Knights arrives, and basically kicks them out of the country "You've done enough", is about what they're gonna get told.

Maybe they will hate me.


Well, uhm, why not give a much more epic fight rather than that end of "I'll let you live?" It fits much more the purpose of ending the story arc. And it makes your players feel much more badass.

[RedMage125]

Well, uhm, why not give a much more epic fight rather than that end of "I'll let you live?" It fits much more the purpose of ending the story arc. And it makes your players feel much more badass.

I want something in the tomb to be a badass fight. My goal in this venture is to have heroic tier end on kind of a "downer note" (like the end of Empire Strikes Back). The purpose of which is to galvanize the heroes for Paragon tier. In Paragon, they will be dealing with greater threats, ones that span continents, as opposed to individual cities. It also establishes a major villain of the tier, whihc will lead into Epic tier's eventual conflict with Thanatos himself.

[GPuzzle]

I want something in the tomb to be a badass fight. My goal in this venture is to have heroic tier end on kind of a "downer note" (like the end of Empire Strikes Back). The purpose of which is to galvanize the heroes for Paragon tier. In Paragon, they will be dealing with greater threats, ones that span continents, as opposed to individual cities. It also establishes a major villain of the tier, whihc will lead into Epic tier's eventual conflict with Thanatos himself.

It's not a downer note. It's a cliffhanger, and a bad one at that. After all, badass fight, complete mission - wait, THAT'S the ending? Only that? No badass fight? Only "what will happen in the next tier? Follow us on Saturday for more of *insert campaign name here*"

Seriously, that's not a downer ending.

[RedMage125]

It's not a downer note. It's a cliffhanger, and a bad one at that. After all, badass fight, complete mission - wait, THAT'S the ending? Only that? No badass fight? Only "what will happen in the next tier? Follow us on Saturday for more of *insert campaign name here*"

Seriously, that's not a downer ending.

I know my players. I've been playing with them for over a year. They're going to feel responsible for releasing the Bone Knight on the world.

Back on topic, though: no ideas for monsters with which to fill this tomb? I was thinking of the eidolon in the MM1, maybe some other late-heroic to early-paragon golems or other constructs.

[Yakk]

Ok then.

So, the Tomb is a shrine to the dead paladin. It is also a containment device for the artifact of evil power (the dead paladin can serve in death as he did in life by having his Tomb stand guard).

However, the Tomb may not stand forever. If the bad guys learn that the weapon is there, it could be broken into and its guards defeated. With this knowledge, of course there needs to be a "back door" to get the artifact out so it can be secreted away somewhere else. Alternatively, maybe someone figures out how to destroy it.

Hence the angel's trials.

The sword could also be more powerful than they realized: hence some corruption where it has turned some of the innermost guardians to its side, and they try to break the sword out.

Now, only a handful know that what it was for. Maybe even the guardian angel doesn't know why it is guarding the tomb, or why passing some tests is enough to get in.

The fact that one of the PCs is both divine power sourced via bahamut, and turns out to be the champion reincarnated (!) means that the angel, if looking at the party and searching their soul to find out if they are worthy of breaking the seal, will say "duh".

The other tests -- of wisdom and valor -- would be in an attempt to make sure that the party isn't being duped. The Bone Knight however is smart, and worked out the answer to the test of wisdom -- he provides the party with the "right" answer in a way that they will only realize afterwards was a clue.

Something like:
Q: What is the eternal mission of the Champion's Tomb?
A: To stand forever vigilant against evil within the heart.
The "evil within the heart" is of course the bone sword. The Bone Knight tells the PCs that the question is:
Q: What is the eternal mission of the Champion?
and you hand out a piece of paper with that written on it with the answer. The Angel, when he does the test of wisdom, asks the real question (With "'s Tomb" at the end).

Toss on some fluff about how the Champion's mission was as much against corruption of his followers as it was against great evil outside, or a temptation that the Champion had to eternally defeat.

As an extra clue, the final chamber where the sword fragments lie should be heart-shaped and a battle scene against "evil creatures who managed to reach the center of the sanctum" (but actually guardians corrupted by the artifact of evil). (The heart should be damaged by said evil creatures, so maybe one lobe is collapsed).

So I'd do it:
Outside: Haunted swamp. Corrupt shadow-swamp creatures. Random encounters on the way, and a reason why they cannot simply retreat and recover: no room for a long rest anywhere nearby.

Outer Edge of Tomb: Undead besieging Tomb. Ruined fortifications. Fight past or sneak past.

Inner Edge of Tomb: Deathless guardians, defending against said undead, saying "noone may pass". Pearly white fortifications, with signs of corruption (crystal lights, but some have turned green and sickly, etc).

Great Seal: Greater Angel. "Who dares? Who is worthy?" Issues the 3 tests of Virtue (they pass because one of them is the champion reborn), Wisdom (the password and answer) and Valor (fight an angelic host that the guardian summons).

The seal is a huge round door. Part of it is cracked, and drips with ichor.

Past the Great Seal: Trail of corruption leads inward. Guardian statues ask for password (PCs do not know it) and attack.

Chamber of Light: Huge chamber. Light everywhere. Glowing trees. Black corrupted trail, with sickly trees attached, leading to a shrine. Part of shrine is damaged. No encounter, just atmosphere.

Heart of the Shrine: Room is full of life. Half of the room is full of glowing plants and shining crystal -- the other, twisted monsterous plants and vines. Glowing white crystal in middle of room contains the shards of the weapon. It is surrounded mostly by the "good" plants, but a vine of darkness has touched it and pulses with evil energy.

A Dryad, her right arm turned into a skeleton, rests in a pool. She looks up, her eyes half mad in pain, and says "not safe, not safe, go, go" and plants on both sides attack the party. She rambles more as the fight continues.

As the plants are defeated, the blood flows from the Dryad. She dies when the Plants are defeated (if attacked, she draws life from the Plants, and if removed from the room, she dies).

Once the Plants are dead, the crystal sphere falls and shatters, and they can retrieve the weapon.

Of course what is really going on is that the Dryad is containing the evil weapon. Some of it has managed to escape, corrupting a fraction of the plants. This reached the seal, did some damage, but was stopped by the Guardian Angel.

Meanwhile, the Bone Knight has besieged the location from the outside using what minions he has left.

The outer guardians where awakened by the siege, and will attack anything trying to break in.

The Guardian Angel is a strong defence, but the wisdom/virtue test is intended to make sure that there is a back door in in case things are going badly. The Bone Knight between the PC's as patsies and working out the Wisdom puzzle is exploiting that back door.

The guardian statues inside are another layer of protection. The PCs don't know the password, as the Bone Knight doesn't either. They should use radiant based attacks alot (which would be extra-effective against undead, but less so against PCs). At least one should be vulnerable to radiant damage (again, not something they expect attackers to have, and why the PCs have it easy).

Of these encounters, the guardian statues can be cut, as it advances the plot the least.

[RedMage125]

I dig it.

A lot.

I'll post back here once I finalize what's in the tomb, let y'all know what I went with.

[RedMage125]

Not Thread Necromancy b/c it's my thread and I said I'd be back, lol.

So, what I decided to go with was a multi-part dungeon themed in some way for each variety of metallic dragon. For the theme, I went with 4 factors for each dragon.
1)The metal that is the dragon's namesake.
2)The Dragon type's "role" (Skirmisher, Lurker, etc.).
3)The energy type of the dragon's breath weapon.
4)The secondary effect of the breath weapon (push, pull, immobilize, etc.)

The layout of the dungeon centered around an octagonal room, each side containing a door. Each door had a plate on it of a specific kind of metal. Each door was also locked (Thievery DC 26). The lock itself was made of a metal that corresponded to the key needed to open it without picking the lock. Each room was lit by braziers made of (or plated with) the relevant metal.

The party enters the tomb via the "Iron" room (Iron being the weakest of all metallic dragons). After navigating the Iron room's challenge, they obtained the Iron Key and entered the Octagon. In the octagonal chamber, there was an adamantine statue of Bahamut (the PCs were so freaked out that they hugged the walls every time they traversed the room). The statue's base contained 8 slots, each big enough for one of the keys.

Now, there are 12 varieties of metallic dragons, not 8. So I had to combine a few in their respective chambers. Also, the "Mithril" room was beyond the gold one. With 9 rooms around the center, the tomb itself is a nod to Bahamut's father Io, called The Ninefold Dragon.

The chambers went as follows:
Iron - Crushing Wall Trap (DMG2). Iron dragons are Lurkers, so a trap seemed appropriate. Also, the moving walls were made of iron.
Copper - 2 Angels of Battle, 1 Gray Angel (reflavored). All these angels are Skirmishers, like a Copper dragon.
Silver - 3 Ice Archons, 2 Ice Gargoyles. The cold analogy to a Silver dragon's breath weapon.
Gold - 1 Chain Guardian, 2 Helmed Horrors, 4 Angels of Valor. Chain Guardian (flavored as gilded chains) are Controllers, like a Gold dragon, the others all use fire.
Steel - 1 Eidolon, 5 Runic Statues. Steel dragons are Controllers, like the Eidolon, and the overpowering "force" of a Runic Statue is analogous to the dragon's breath.
Mithril - 2 Angels of Protection, 1 Fallen Angel of Winter (reflavored a bit), 4 Angel of Valor Cohorts. The theme here is "radiant" like the breath weapon
Bronze - 2 Bronze Warders. They're made of bronze...simple.
Brass - 1 Dragon Simulacrum (trap from Dra2), 2 Warforged Knights, 1 WF Flamepriest, 1 WF Destroyer. Brass are artillery, like the trap, and the destroyer, which also uses push effects, like the dragon's breath.
Mercury/Cobalt - Electrified Floor Trap (DMG), 3 Cobalt Serpents, 3 Explosive Scythejaws. Mercury dragons are lurkers, hence the trap and scythejaws, and use poison, like the serpents, which are made of cobalt, as a nod to that dragon type.
Adamantine/Orium - The "Bahamut" statue in the center. Once all 8 (everything but Mithril) keys are inserted into the statue, another panel opens up for the mithril key, which activates the statue. I used an Adult Orium Dragon for the monster, but flavored it as an animated statue made of adamantine.

Once the statue is destroyed (it explodes, close burst 2, pretty minimal damage), it is revealed that the statue was standing atop, and therefore blocking a moving platform down to the lower chamber.

The lower chamber is another octagon, but each side is an alcove with a scene from the Platinum Champion's life. one of them contained the sarcophagus.

Like the legend stated, no remains were in the sarcophagus, only the sword broken in two. Little did the party know, that activating the dragon triggered an alarm back in the city, and as they exited the tomb, a contingent of knights, led by a gold dragon, were flying towards them across the plain.

Having little time, the wizened scholar asked to be able to examine the sword before the knights showed up and made them put it back, as the party promised him they would do before he showed them the tomb. They handed over the sword, which he of course restored with a touch, revealing himself to be the Bone Knight. He thanked them for their "excellent service", and as a reward, not only let them live, but "allowed" them to face the punishment for their crime with honor.

Furious at the party, the gold dragon and the knights were about to imprison the party, but for the arrival of the daimyo of Mt. Argent, Lord Agerathyx (Garagantuan female silver dragon). Lord Agerathyx listened to their tale of how they believed themselves to be acting on Bahamut's orders, and how the Bone Knight tricked them (the false name he gave them as his scholar identity was Eruzalaf, which is Falazure spelled backwards). The lord listened, accepted their word as truth (they were honest), and did not imprison them, but did banish them from the Empire. When the party asked to stay to try and fix their mistake, she told them "You've done enough".

Why did the dragon release them? Not just plot advancement (that, too). Lord Agerathyx was a young wyrmling during the Platinum Champion's lifetime. And Devas bear the same facial markings in all of their incarnations. She recognized the party cleric as the reincarnation of the Champion, and allowed him and his party to go free. The Bone Knight did not recognize him, not knowing enough about Devas and their particular life cycle peculiarities.