Learning To Spell

Dara 16, 6639 - A'chiad 4, 6640

The Party:

• Rig Bigny, Gnomish Beastmaster
  • Flit, bat familiar
  • Clench, Wardog War-Badger
  • Midnight, Panther
  • Noona, Lion
  • Faufe Yitaw, Dogwere (Badgerwere?)
    • Rawf, Wardog familiar
    • Aroof, Wardog familiar
  • Llarm Paphyra, Elvish Polydoctorate
    • The Metal Man, construct
• Caranthir, Human Leader of Men
  • Rhea Trueheart, Elvish Nightblade
  • Lucille "Luce" Burwood, Fighter
  • Elenora Garrard, White Mage
  • Gimli Trollriver, Dwarven Fury
• Gróin of Norston, Dwarven Sapper (retired)
• Laurita Gomez, Priestess
  • Herman Thorpe, Ectomancer
    • Baelnar Grimtor, Dwarven Sapper
• Crolack, Thrassian Gladiator
  • Kurt Steinbacke, Dwarven Deep Monk
• Mor Gibs, Wonderworker (on hiatus)
• Saphira Moonstone, Gold Skinscribe
  • Pentzkin Singletossle Pocketspringer, gnomish beastmaster
  • Alun Tsornyl, Sylph Ranger
• Te'a Tsuki Megumi, Elven Polydoctorate (on hiatus)
  • Harvey Usagi, Rabbitwere
• Fayleen Ross, Darklord (on hiatus)
  • Zai-car, Zaharan Ruinguard
• Aingeal Bàs Eleonara, Witch

After spending some time in Elven Las Vegas, checking out temples and relaxing in the garishly bright lights, the party decided to return home for some general maintenance - making sure their cities were kept up, and in Caranthir's case, scoping out a new realm to rule. The first stop was the old mansion of Lady Dracul; there, they found a variety of somewhat jovial bandits and ruffians. Inside, they found the house redecorated in a much more militaristic style. They were introduced to Baron Vostvos, a towering, gruff man, and as it turns out, cousin to Lady Dracul. He re-took her lands from the invaders after some "trouble at home" left the place mostly unguarded.

That trouble was, in fact, Quetgar, who had been hired to wipe out the royal houses of those that attacked them. Of the four, two survived, and two were wiped out; the first that was wiped out was little more than a ghost town. Without a town guard (paid for by a ruler), there was nothing to stop the near-weekly bandit raids. At this point, almost anything not nailed down was already stolen. The second decimated city, a little farther east, was still kept up; a seneschal was trying to keep the place in hand. The poor man's wife met Caranthir at the gates, and was immediately cut down, having been mistaken for an ogre. Neither the town guard nor her husband were much upset. The seneschal, realizing someone else was going to take over, was all too happy to leave. Caranthir paid the town guard to restock, and vowed to return with the rest of his... well, everything.

That taken care of, they returned to the strange elf-city, and learned a little of what the mage they hired had found: namely, a list of information on the Old Gods, most of which they had found already, but with a few new things, specifically that this Chaos was mentioned as one of the Old Gods, and was possibly the reason for the cataclysms in the first place. Returning to the Temple of Chaos, Saphira managed to solve the riddle. They entered the code, and walked down the steps into the tomb-like interior...

At the bottom of the stairs, a well-hewn door stood; pushing it open, the party found themselves in a well-lit hallway, clean and almost homey. There were seven doors in the hall: three on each side, and another at the end of the hall. Door number 1, first on the left, contained a small library, though the text was entirely unreadable, even with a Helm of Comprehension. Across the hall behind door number 2 was another library; this one, at least, had understandable books. Interestingly, the books started as written in stone, then continued on animal hide, then treated leather, and eventually well-bound, hardcover, paper books. The books seemed deceptively small; after reading several minutes, no progress was made towards the end, as if the pages were enchanted to contain more than physically possible. Reading parts of the various books revealed nothing more than a dry narration of someone, as if the writer had simply watched someone all day and wrote down every action they took.

At the other end of the hall, doors 5, 6, and 7 were opened; door 7 opened into utter blackness. And, worse, the other door slammed shut. Doors 5 and 6 each contained shelf after shelf of tiny lights, some glowing brightly, some dimly, some gold, some white/gray, and some purple. Aingeal decided to go poke one of the lights, and found herself the victim of a life-drain spell! Luckily, it was only temporary. She poked around some more, and realized that each point of light was a tiny spell - and that by touching it, she not only experienced it, but gained an innate knowledge of that spell!

Saphira, eager to test out a hypothesis, began poking other spells, and managed to call an Efreeti! She bid it only to return to its plane. Which it attempted, only to blast itself into nothingness! It seems nothing can teleport, plane shift, or otherwise exit this area. Saphira was somewhat upset by accidentally ordering the creature to destroy itself... However, not so upset she didn't keep poking. After some non-starters, including a Cancellation spell that cancelled all her tattoos, she poked what may well be the last thing she'll ever poke - a spell of Tempral Stasis! While the spellcaster has the option of adding a trigger to end the stasis, she was unfortunately already under its influence before she could do so, which trapped her in a timeless shell...

Door 5, it appeared, contained divine spells, while door 6 contained arcane spells.

Meanwhile, doors 3 and 4 were opened, each revealing treasure! The room beyond door 4 was filled with carefully organized coins and gems, while the room behind door number 3 was filled with various magical items.

• XP from encounters:
  • Ogre-like wife of the seneschal (5)
• XP from treasure: none
• Total XP earned: 5
• XP per PC: 1
• XP per Henchthing: 0