Having defeated the two mages from the Magerony, The Rectifiers continued on their way up a long stairwell leading to the exit of the sewers. They came to a door with strands of moonlight streaming through the small window. The door was locked, stopping the group in their tracks. With a bit of trouble and bruising, Maron eventually shoved it off its hinges. The party found themselves a short ways uphill and away from the city proper of Navis.
The party spied a cobblestone path leading up to the hill on which the manor sat, but their only options to read it were to cut through the untamed tropical woods or sneak through part of the city being patrolled by “Turner’s” men. They opted to cut through the vegetation with Maron slicing away in the lead. While braving the woods, they found more of the strange golden-green sludge littered on the ground.
Nearly halfway through, Maron was ensnared by a slimy vine. It seemed to be constricting him as if it were sentient. Gale recognized the plant as a constrictor, a deadly plant that spews out a corrosive toxin if cut. The party had Maron wait where he was, for if he moved, the grip grew tighter, while they journeyed off to investigate. Guided by Audrea’s light in the darkness, they eventually found where the hoop-like vine retreated into the earth. The soil was soft. While trying to investigate a way to disrupt the constrictor, Audrea was ensnared at the wrist herself. With a lot of cautious thinking, Gale eventually decided to chop away at the tendrils with her scimitar. Though it cost her her scimitar, and some of the bystanders pieces of their armor, Audrea and Maron were eventually freed from the constrictor. The Rectifiers brushed themselves off and continued on their way to the manor.
At the gated entrance of the manor, The Rectifiers saw two more of the cloaked goblins standing guard. They seemed to be fairly similar to the ones in the sewer. They also began to see strange roots stretching out from the house going toward the city down below. The roots were immense, stretching over the gate and walls of the manor, breaking through the cobblestone path, and tearing through boards of the manor itself. Every so often, a dim light would pulsate through the roots, originating from the manor.
Once on the grounds of the manor, the group split into two groups. One group went in on the bottom floor of the manor while the other scaled up a root to reach the balcony. The group that scaled the root seemed to have strange behavior as they regrouped. Those that touched the root seemed to feel an immense urge to steal from one another. Despite this, they continued inside.
Inside the manor, they found more roots stretching out from the grand oak door on the second floor. The adjacent wings of the house were boarded up and seemingly abandoned. With a clear target in sight, The Rectifiers made their way through the large door.
What lie inside was not at all what The Rectifiers expected to find in the pirate haven of a city. A gangrenous orb of green and gold light sat suspended between stalagmites and stalactites of membrane. From these membranes, the roots materialized and stretched out toward the city. Every so often, the strange heart seemed to beat and send out the light they noticed outside. In front of the orb stood a blonde woman garbed in a long dark coat. The coat had red dragon wing pauldrons. She also wore dark red metal greaves and gauntlets. On her back was a golden metal staff. The hat she wore was similar to the mages in the sewer. On her coat was the symbol of the Founders.
She introduced herself in a calm, arrogant tone as Mageroness Lillian. At her sides were more of the strange large-mouthed demons. She seemed to be familiar with the party, calling some of them by name. She explained that what sat in front of them was a Heart of Greed, which had been corrupting the city for some time. This explained why the city suddenly erupted in pirate activity in recent years. Quite aware of the paradigm she was now in, Lillian refused to be the “evildoer explaining her grand plan”. She would not say what purpose the Magerony had in Navis, but she added that she thinks the Heart had served its purpose for long enough. With that, the group entered battle for the first time with a Lesser Mageroness wielding “greed magic”, or so Lillian said.
Throughout the battle, Lillian called on truly powerful spells, seemingly even stronger versions of the spells the mages in the sewers had used. The spells again seemed to be affected by gold or sap it away. To add to her apparent strength, she had three “greed demons” tethered to her at once, whereas the lesser mages only managed one.
Before Maron could deal what he was sure would be the final blow to the Mageroness, a large demonic hand erupted from the Heart of Greed, grasping Lillian entirely off her feet. She struggled against it, saying she was not finished here, that she could still defeat them. The hand seemed to ignore her and retracted into the heart itself, vanishing alongside Lillian. The Rectifiers began to tend to their wounds while deciding what to do with this source of corruption…