After knocking off Kharnzeel, lots of people had enough xp to train. After much discussion, Zenig dropped his crossbow proficiency, specialized in long spear, learned to read Western Common, and became a 4th-level ranger. Nomistrus again tried to get Beeel to learn to read, but it's not likely to happen before he gets another proficiency slot. Kelmin trained for 5th level in both fighter and mage and decided to become Ganeth's first official follower (or first official stay-at-home henchperson).
Nomistrus examined the Helibane on the altar and learned that her name was Thylena, she came from Banzeel, and she made a pact that let her gain levels especially quickly doing jobs of mutual benefit to Helibane and the devils. Now that she's longer tied to the devils, all the memories and levels are gone (she's intrinsically 7th), but she's technically uncorrupted.
Nomistrus also managed to extract some information from Kharnzeel's remains, though he warned that much of what he had was speculation:
The evil we are dealing with is notoriously resistant to divination. The forces we call `Asmodeus' hide in logical cracks. Some say that the word `Asmodeus' is actually a logical inconsistency. Without getting into the philosophical details, let's just say that this faction of devils is analogous to division-by-zero errors in theology.
As you speculated, Kharnzeel had his fingers in several pies, including (but not limited to): the disappearance of Streck, the kidnapping of Lord Rogtubbins, the kidnapping of Tremere, the Cloudlands, the Thin Man... etc.
As you know, Kharnzeel was involved in several dealings with the Nirduk Clan, and also financed them with loans. At some point, he revealed to Clan Leader Streck the existance of the fabled `Eightfold Path'. The Eightfold Path is supposedly a challenging journey that mortals may make in exchange for great power. I believe that Streck embarked (fatally) on this journey.
Kharnzeel (as the Leader of the Banzeel Revolutionaries) met with Tubbins several times to discuss anti-Empire plans for the Western war. At some point, Tubbins got suspicious and decided to follow Kharnzeel. Unfortunately, he was led into a trap -- an extradimensional dwelling that was a no-win scenario. There is strong evidence that a clone of Lord Rogtubbins was made, but we don't think that it has (as yet) been activated.
We believe that Kharnzeel's role in the revolution was subtle. By providing a seed for revolutionary sentiments to crystallize around, Kharnzeel could ensure that the revolutionary efforts were being channeled towards useful ends. If the Empire had tried to bottle up the revolutionaries entirely, it might have caused too much unrest. This way, the revolutionaries felt that they were doing something, but Kharnzeel could ensure that no real damage was done. Kharnzeel was also responsible for getting the mage that you know as the Thin Man to defect from his previous position.
Kharnzeel was a prominent player in the Banzeeel war council and personally contracted Drakos, the dragon mage and other people. He may have been involved in diverting you to Dustplane -- hard to tell. However, we do know that Kharnzeel's son, also a mage, was deeply embroiled with the Lifeblood elves. Discussions with Shabana have revealed that her old master was Kharnzeel's son (aka the guy in the elfskin cloak).
My personal belief is that the Consortium has a heavy Asmodeus involvement. If so, Kharnzeel was most certainly involved. Kharnzeel's soul has been Imprisoned -- by Lord Rogthermal, we believe. His body is with us, and will be "purified" on the altar. The loss of Kharnzeel is a big blow to evil. Had he been regrown, we would have been in a lot of trouble -- although it's unclear how they would have recovered his soul.
Kharnzeel was originally a priest out in the desert and came South many years ago. He seems to have had a particular fascination (not hatred) with elves. Kharnzeel had some special interest in both Streck and Ganeth. I believe that he may have interceded in Ganeth's favor in discussions with the Consortium. Kharnzeel considered Ganeth to be an asset to his (unspecified) plans.
Kharnzeel has made unspecified deals with the Shorin clan. As for G's impersonator, I believe that Kharnzeel was impersonating G in Banzeel. However, my divinations reveal that there may be other ex-Barshens in that area also (in hiding?). It appears that Lord Rogthermal was aided by someone who could be interpreted as being an "elderly Barshen".
(Ganeth was quite surprised to hear that there were genuine Barshens roaming around anywhere. He thought that the "elderly Barshen" could conceivably be Demos Remen, G's old tutor and something of a rebel; at last report, he was a political prisoner in Auramkil but would have been released when Queen Henazeen came to power there.)
Kharnzeel was also involved in diverting people to fight the spiders in Silverton. He had a personal interest in the city for some reason, and also felt it made a convenient diversion. I believe that he was responsible for hiring anti-spider people, such as your associate Yves, and creating anti-Rakni propaganda.
The Nirduk vault requires a power source for operation. I am speculating that it's some kind of magnetic power source. Anyway, buried under that plateau are some old ruins -- which one of these days we would like to explore -- that may conceal such a power source. The vault may be able to draw and store the power at that location. I believe that the vault will go dormant, now that it is no longer connected to such a power source.
(Everyone was sure this meant the space inside would become inaccessible. Nomistrus had no speculation regarding what would happen to anything inside.)
I can't tell whether the yagnoloth was Streck's or Kharnzeel's. Unfortunately, it could have been either.
(Thorongil asked whether the yagnoloth could have been instructed to lie about the restrictions it was under, since it pretty clearly couldn't leave the plane it was sitting on. Nomistrus knew that it couldn't have lied about its rules to whoever summoned it, but whether it could lie to its victims was an open question.)
Kharnzeel could be credited with making Tiger into Tiger. The name refers to an ancient ritual... Are you familiar with the Tiger monks? Monks go through a rigorous training regimen in order to gain exceptional powers. Some sects of monks believe that deep inside every human lies a repressed `animal' side. When awakened carefully, this `animal spirit' can be tapped to create fierce warriors. The Tiger Monks approached all of this very conservatively. "Tiger" the bandit has been initiating his bandits in similar rituals, but more aggressively. At the root of all this lie some Eastern demonology tomes, which Kharnzeel may have procured for Tiger. I speculated that these "rituals" were a gateway into lycanthropy -- but I have no proof.
If you recall, the Tiger monks were fanatically opposed to intoxicants etc. This was because they did not want the "human" part of themselves to lose control. Tiger's gang is rumored to be perpetually drunk. I suspect that the change in style is because Tiger is a strong believer in Chaos, while the Tiger Monks were very Lawful. The exact location of Tiger's gang is not known, it's fairly clear that they are somewhat SouthWest of Lord Rogtymark's keep. I believe that these bandits are supposed to have an enhanced sense of smell -- maybe they will be susceptible to gas attacks.
On whether Kharnzeel was behind the kholsa/astral tentacle/killer flying sheep business:
I think so, but I can't be sure. My readings on that were quite unclear. I worry that there may be another (Asmo?) person involved in that matter, and that they may be still out in the West, inciting bandits.
On whether Kharnzeel was involved with the githyanki:
I believe that he had some problems with githyanki -- don't know the details. Maybe a deal went sour.
On whether the war was, in retrospect, a wise idea:With the West basically nonexistent and the East in turmoil, Auramkil had a chance to become a major player again, simply because they had the resources to do it. But with the internal frictions there (bad blood between the human and elven populations, good high elves driven into hiding by demiloths, elven separatist movements, disputes between the Queen and the nobles, and so forth), it seemed that some faction with a knack for creating infighting might be making sure Auramkil wouldn't do much on the side of the good guys (which they nominally are). The three deity wannabes (Hajmola, Rakni, and the Shade Lord) could also try to grab a chunk of loose energy, and all three were known to have a presence in Auramkil. (Nomistrus had even heard rumors that the spiders were planning to take over in Auramkil, though they were unverified and he wasn't sure why they'd want to.)
As a pacifict, I do not like the thought of war. However, Evil is worse than war. What the Westerners did was recklessly brave, and bizarrely, tactically unexpected. At this time, while I feel terribly sad for the loss of so many that I respected, nurtured and prayed for, I feel that the future will judge the Western sacrifice to be a great victory for Good. It is important that future generations remember -- and act upon -- the events that happened.
- Lorcan:
- "By my (limited) observations, the Easterners seem generally better organized than the Westerners, so may be better able to mobilize themselves to exploit the aftermath."
- Beeel:
- "What would it mean for the East to exploit the situation? Do they want to invade a lightly populated farming area infested by bandits and a few competent adventurers?"
- Nomistrus:
- "Exactly. Brilliant, in a morbid way, isn't it?"
Nomistrus examined Zenig on the altar and found that he had no soul and the spirit of a spider. There was also a larval wasp spirit embedded in the spider spirit (like the sort of wasp that lays eggs in a paralyzed spider's body). Nomistrus was unable to learn any of Zenig's history, so how he got to be a Whitemoon-sponsored devanoid is anyone's guess.
A quick examination of the book revealed that it was a Neutral tome for charm, controlling, and dominating spiders, and possibly more. It was created by wizards a long time ago.
Frankel started training Zenig, Beeel spent some time playing wom with Lorcan, and the elves sat down with Streck's history tomes. (G also took this time to learn to speak Southern Common.) The information fell into two major themes:
According to the information at the Hollerith Library, the Zzifls were associated with twelve stars spaced equally around the equator. According to some, each star was embedded in a constellation embodying a particular theme. It was unclear whether those constellations were present, since the star chart didn't seem well-designed as a book. But if one took out all the pages and was sufficiently meticulous, they'd probably combine into one big star chart with lots of interesting stuff. Nomistrus decided that this task would be a suitable penance for Lorcan and the gnomish engineer.
A few weeks later, Lord Rogtubbins finished coming back from the dead. His goals for the near future were gathering intelligence on Auramkil (his and Ylena's first planned stop) and Marakeel, making contact with Lord Rogthermal, and rescuing Tremere. Rogtubbins met the never party members and was particularly interested in Lorcan.