The Paragons listened to Lokth as he explained that he received a letter detailing that Carla had been taken. The kidnappers promised that Carla would not be harmed “permanently” as long as the Paragons threw their Finale matches. Lokth added that he has had one of his scouts following Carla from a distance during the Festival, and that the scout had a good lead on where she was being kept. The Paragons did not even entertain leaving Carla to the kidnappers, so they agreed to help Lokth and met up with his scout just outside of a southern gate leading out of Illeta.
The scout led them to a small village of Illeta for a short stroll on the plains. The village was mostly quiet as it was the middle of the night. The scout pointed out the two-story house where he believed Carla was being held. While casing the house to plan their rescue, the party agreed to have the scout standby in the village in case someone tried to flee, and they discovered a strange specter guarding the back door. The specter glowed green and gold, had a portly appearance, and seemed to be fiddling with bronze tokens on a table in front of it. The Paragons opted to scale the side of the building and enter an unlit room on the second level.
Once inside, the Paragons found themselves in an empty bedroom. They snuck around the second level, finding a large bedroom with voices within, as well as another bedroom with light spilling out from beneath the door. Vespello and Arturo investigated the small bedroom first, finding a sleeping mage within. The mage had a wooden staff with an eye carved into the side. Arturo crept up to the mage while Vespello went for the staff. With lethal grace, Arturo quickly dispatched the mage with his dagger while Vespello snatched the staff to be safe. Once the mage’s blood had been spent, they noticed the gold-green light from the specter below fading. Vespello kept the mage’s staff while they regrouped to attack the main bedroom.
Once the doors were thrown open, the Paragons found a handful of mercenaries, seemingly led by a female mage. This mage had a similar staff as the other. Carla was bound and gagged in a chair nearby. Talking went nowhere, so battle ensued. The mage used strange specter-like spells similar to the other mage who had summoned the portly specter, but the Paragons emerged victorious, not without the help of Carla, who was freed by Gabriel in the midst of the fight. Though they tried to question a mercenary they kept alive, before he could reveal anything meaningful, his eyes melted into liquid silver and his body went limp.
Lokth’s scout arrived to ensure Carla was unharmed, though she seemed annoyed by his presence. On the way back to Illeta proper, Carla explained she ventured toward the Mage Order of Illeta after the fourth day of the Festival. She explained Avus’s amulet reminded her of a fairy tale her father used to tell her as a child. The fairy tale was from a strange book allegedly penned by former King Thalend’s father, Tyop, or the strange name he is accredited with, Tycustos Opopulus. Carla explained Tyop guarded the book with his life, claiming it was from the Second Doom and before, though all of its writings were in unknown languages. The legends from the Third Doom claimed Korrin and the Blood Heroes were able to translate a handful of the passages that helped them defeat the Doomking. Carla changed subject, saying she digressed, explaining that each city should have a copy of the same book, but she was ambushed in the Order’s library by the mercenaries. The Paragons agreed to help Carla look into the book again after their first bout.
Once back at the Drunken Frond, Carla was reunited with Lokth. They mentioned Carla’s fairy tale and book to Lokth, who seemed angered that Carla shared that information with anyone else. He warned the Paragons that book is dangerous and to tread lightly. Carla elected to stay in the Paragons’ suite.
The group awoke the next morning to a bored knock on the door, which turned out to be Madison, a member of the Queensguard. She had bags under her eyes and seemed very uninterested in being there. She explained each group in the Grand Finale was assigned an escort from the Queensguard, while one was escorted by Avus. After Madison had answered their questions tersely while enjoying several ales from their enchanted bar, she quickly began her escort.
Once they reached the Festival plaza, Madison spotted Calathan with a group of five others. She mentioned to the Paragons that those five were their first match, she also added that Calathan was creepy. She didn’t expand much further but clearly had a dislike for the Mageron man.
After Madison left the Paragons with the other groups as she ascended to the VIP box, a member from the five Calathan escorted introduced himself. His name was Lyle. He had long black hair and a sword at his hip. He introduced each member of his own group, Raine, a blue-haired pixie mage, Melody, a pink-haired pixie mage, Hershel, a red-haired human wielding a sword and shield, and Crow, a dark-haired man holding a bow. Lyle explained his group was known as the Mythic Tale and wished the Paragons good luck.
Once every group had been introduced to the crowd by Ronotte, Ronotte told the first two combatants to ready themselves. After the Paragons and Mythic Tale had taken their positions, the battle began to the roaring applause of a full coliseum.
The battle was harrowing, Mythic Tale using powerful magic and sleight-of-hand tricks. Eventually, the Paragons emerged victorious. Mythic Tale were good sports, congratulating the Paragons as they exited the arena grounds. Once they were back in the coliseum tunnel, Carla met up with them to begin their trek to the Mage Order while the other groups finished round one…