//------------------------------//
// Baldur's Redux: Discovery in Lyran's Hold 
// Story: Dark Alliance: A Kirin's Tale 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

After talking with Jherek, and getting a bit of rest after making sure their supplies were ready for whatever they might find in Lyran's Hold, or the surrounding area for that matter, Rain and her friends departed from Baldur's Gate under the cover of darkness, since there was no telling how many enemies might be watching them. In order to get to their destination they had been provided with horses and supplies, since the caravans were a bad idea considering how many watched those people, and while Rain had no idea how to ride one she knew that she would learn in time, due to how quickly she had done so in the past. With the Forest of Wyrms being a fair distance away from Baldur's Gate, roughly five days riding at a good speed that didn't wreck havoc on their steeds, they got underway without wasting time and Dorn found that, despite Rain's odd body, she was able to follow what he and the others did. It was good, since they didn't want to leave anyone behind, not that it mattered since she happened to be the best fighter of them all and if she was left behind, and attacked, he knew that her attackers would be dead in no time, be it from her skills or Shadow's assistance.

While they traveled, however, Rain kept her eyes and ears open for anything that might interfere with their mission, since the Zhentarim would be seeking to delay them so they could get their hands on the Orb of Thunder, not to mention any other artifacts Jherek wanted them to claim.

When Rain and her friends finally arrived at the Forest of Wyrms, as they were the ones leading the way, she found that an ambush was, in fact, waiting for them, where a good number of hobgoblins stood ready to kill them, in addition to giant humanoid creatures who had two heads and carried two clubs into battle. The ettins, as her friends called them, were an interesting change of pace as they moved quicker than their allies, swinging their weapons far faster as well, but where they were lacking seemed to be in the mental capacity, as Rain ran circles around one and confused it. With that in mind it was far too easy for them to get away with killing the ettins, because all they had to do was figure out how to confuse one before bringing their target down, even using one to hurt another one that ended with the pair killing each other. As for the hobgoblins, however, they were nothing new and the group knew how to deal with these sorts of enemies, meaning it wasn't long before the first ambush group was taken care of and everyone kept their guards up in case more happened to appear in their path.

"Hopefully they do better than that." Rain remarked, mostly to herself since the others might think she was cursing them with bad luck, though she wanted to see what the Zhentarim had to throw against them, mostly so she could deprive the organization of their toys, making it easier for jherek and the other Harpers to move and investigate the areas that they watched over.

As they moved through the forest, carefully approaching the tower that was Lyran's Hold, the group found several more hobgoblins and a few ettin standing in their way, all spread out for some odd reason, allowing them and their horses to make their towards their final destination. Rain was convinced that there was some dark power inside the tower, it just screamed that as she stared up at it's seemingly dark marble walls, and she could tell that the others were eager to see all of the dangers that had to be inside the structure, even though they could spy the peak from down here. She was also a tad bit interested in the fact that there was a machine that allowed one to either study the weather or control it, where it had to be the latter given what Jherek had told them about it, though it made her eager to see what sort of device was up there and the artifact they were here for. The only shocking part was that they were able to get through the rest of the forest without more enemies closing in on them, meaning there were either fewer enemies here than she thought, or the darkness in the tower caused other creatures to steer clear of it, something that was confirmed as their horses started to panic after a certain point.

With that discovery Rain found a good hiding place for them, just in the off chance that the Zhentarim showed up while they were inside the tower, though once their steeds were hidden she and the others approached the door and entered Lyran's Hold, find that the floor was made out of tiles in a grid pattern, the walls were made out of marble, and there were a few bits of furniture around them.

"So this is Lyran's Hold... interesting." Allessia remarked, which was true, all of them found the place to be interesting, or at least to some degree, before she found a suit of what appeared to be brass armor come to life before marching towards the area that they were currently standing in.

As her friends took down the first animated armor, however, Rain found that there were more further ahead and prepared for battle, even though this told her that either the owner of the tower was powerful enough to animate the various suits of armor or there was a dark force here doing the deed. The animated armors weren't very tough, as it took three blows to take one of them down, though even with that in mind everyone stayed close, keeping an eye out for additional tricks or even any traps that might have been left in the distant past. Borador came to their rescue once more as he used his focused eyes to locate the various traps that happened to be all over the power, as in small spike traps from the ground, fireball launchers on top of pedestals, and even spinning blades from some of the walls. Of course such a thing meant that they had to move at a slower pace than they were used to, but Rain thought it was a good thing since there was no telling what might be in the depths of this place and going too fast would just harm them in the end.

One of the paths they could take brought them right to a raised walkway that ended in a sealed bronze door, with a lone pedestal in front of it, which seemed to need a specific key for them to open the way, to which the group turned back and went down another path so they could find the key, since Rain was sure that was their true destination. Doing that also revealed a new foe to them, as in animated furniture, as the benches, chairs, and even books came to life to attack them, meaning someone really didn't want them here, but Rain wanted them to show up so they could have a conversation, as a brief chat might set everything right. Her reasoning for that was because it was clear that whoever was in control of these animated creatures just wanted to be left alone, meaning there might be a chance for them to talk, convince them to let them take the Orb of Thunder, and leave whoever was here to their business. Of course if it was someone plotting to do all sorts of harm to Baldur's Gate, or the rest of the land, that idea would fail in the end, but even then she was hoping for a chance to converse with whoever was here, before rushing blindly into more danger.

The only thing that was different between this fight and their previous ones was the fact that Shadow was mostly looking for the path forward, instead of actually fighting, as Rain had discovered that her claws and teeth didn't do much in the grand scheme of things and changed her role for the time being.

Eventually they found a path leading to the second floor, in a totally different area than the sealed door they had found not that long ago, though as Rain and her friends discovered it was identical to the one below them, as there was nothing different for them to worry about. It was almost a disappointment, given that each new area seemed to have new foes or obstacles to overcome, causing Rain to resist the urge to sigh as they continued to move through the floor, since new and interesting challenges were an enjoyable part of their various adventures. The others were fine with this sort of thing since there were a fair amount of chests for them to loot, giving them more treasure and even a few better weapons, though it was the furthest thing from her mind as Rain focused on another being that was lurking on this level. It wasn't the armor or the furniture that was coming after them, rather it seemed to be the puppeteer that was controlling them, likely a mage of some incredible skill, which only made her wonder why she hadn't been approached yet, given that everyone seemed to be after her power.

It took a bit of time for them to discover anything interesting, but when they did Rain found that it was a study that had to be where she felt the remnants of the one who owned the tower in the past, full of scrolls, books, and all sorts of tomes on a variety of subjects, though as Ysuran touched a scroll, and Borador opened the other door, Rain turned and found a floating robed figure, an undead of sorts, had appeared out of thing air.

"Congratulations, intruders, on reaching this point in my home, for I am Lyran." the undead stated, where it sounded like he was both pleased with their progress and annoyed that they had reached this area, one that he had secured heavily in the past by Rain's guess, while everyone else turned to focus on him as they kept themselves at the ready, "You are the first, and only, intruders to have found my private sanctum... a shame that it will be the last great accomplishment that all of you will every make."

"Look, we don't want any trouble. We just came for the Orb of Thunder." Rain said, because if she could convince him of their intentions, that they weren't here to harm him or his research, or whatever it was Lyran was trying to do, she might be able to save them some time and get out of here with only the item they were looking for, "Maybe we can make some sort of deal?"

"...No..." Lyran replied, where Rain was sure that it sounded like he had considered it, instead of refusing outright, but as he said that he called forth a staff and two spheres, showing that he was going to attack them until they were dead and gone, though in that instant, as the others started to flee, she made her move as well.

Her first move was to parry the staff and Lyran's spheres, using her magic to keep them at bay while the onyx blade kept his staff in place, surprising him in the process as he focused on the fact that she was a unique being, though Rain was grateful for the powerful blade, since it was helping her once again. Once Rain heard a signal, coming from Shadow to tell her that they were a fair enough distance away, she broke the engagement and rushed out of the study, tracking down the others as Ysuran told them that they had to find the basement, as he was sure one existed. In that moment she came to understand what was on the scrolls that had set Lyran off, it contained the information to destroy him, as there was a part of his still living body somewhere in the basement and, if they could destroy his phylactery, since he was a lich, they could destroy him. He was also positive that what they were looking for, the key to the locked door, might be contained in the very urn that would be the phylactery, causing Rain to briefly wonder how he knew this before deciding not to bother with this right now, they had a creature to destroy before claiming their prize.

All of them were, of course, annoyed that Lyran didn't want to bargain with them, since they were only here for the Orb of Thunder, but now that he knew what they were after he made a number of attempts to kill them all, forcing them to slash and blast their way through the various enemies that were in their way, until they came to what appeared to be the lowest level of Lyran's Hold.

"You have gone too far, mortals, and so your lives will end here, just as mine did!" Lyran stated, his tone telling them that he was annoyed with them evading his attempts to kill them, all while Rain found that there were a number of urns resting all over the basement cellar, or whatever he called this part of his domain, meaning his phylactery could be anywhere and they would waste time looking for it.

"Look, before you mention that you want us all dead, wouldn't it benefit you to study something entirely new?" Rain asked, as her unique nature was her ultimate bargaining tool with certain people, because there was no one like her in the entire world, as far as she and everyone else could tell, where she found that Lyran paused in his movements as he glared at her for a time, "I'm an unknown species... wouldn't it be worth your while to keep someone like me alive so you can study my origins, possibly even find out where I'm from, instead of ending my life?"

Lyran floated over to where she was standing, taking a moment to actually look at Shadow this time around, where it was hard to tell if he was surprised or not that there was a friendly displacer beast with Rain, before he focused on her, truly studying her form as he raised a hand to his bony chin. In that moment he agreed with her remark, she was far to unique to simply destroy, so to study her he decided to make a phylactery that could be moved without being seen, hence why he removed the barriers around most of the jars and beckoned down one of the paths, telling one of them to find a jar with a more golden inlay. Ysuran found it not a few seconds later and returned with it, where Lyran weaved his magic around it and transformed it into a signet ring, with a symbol representing a crescent moon and staff, that he gifted to Rain and let her place it on her right pointer finger as he explained that he'd have a ghostly form for a long time as he studied her, but, more importantly, it was a new key to the door. As they started to make their way back to the sealed door he explained that the lock was keyed to his hand, or rather it had been until his spell, so now it would open and close according to the key's bearer, meaning they could now recover the Orb of Thunder and then seal this place so no one else could enter it in the future.

Sure enough Rain found that the door opened when she used the new key on it, allowing them to walk up a long set of stairs before reaching the peak of the tower, where it only took them a few moments to locate the Orb of Thunder, an orb that was the size of the undead one Rain had crushed, and that it had enormous topazes in it.

"So the dog of the Harpers has claimed the Orb. Hand it over." a familiar voice stated, where Rain turned and found that Sleyvas, of all people, was now standing in the center of the peak of the tower, flanked by two dark guards that seemed to be members of the Zhentarim, before he paused as he realized who he was speaking to, "You?! You died with the Tower!"

"Reports of my death have been highly exaggerated... but you know, it's a shame that you're a member of the Zhentarim, Sleyvas, because that means your dead." Rain said, where she walked down the steps for a moment and drew her blade before flashing through the air, allowing the others to watch as she slashed through the two dark knights as she turned on the lizardman, only for her to stop nearby as her foes were reduced to a pile of limbs, "A pity. Come on, let's get back to Jherek and tell him the news."

The discovery that the Zhentarim were hot on their tail, in the search for the four important artifacts, told her that they needed to move faster than before, least their foes find and recover something that Jherek wanted, though it also made her eager for whatever might happen next..