TerraDave
5ever, or until 2024
Last edited:
Bart said:Dear Buckthorn,
I hope this finds you well.
Again, I must apologize for my absence in the Well of Demons. I allowed myself to be consumed by a distraction that drove me to the edge of my mind and has now consumed much of my personnel fortune.
However, I know believe that this was not all in vein. I hope you can trust me enough to embark on another adventure, one that will take you across much of the known lands and bring us to one of the most infamous sites in them.
I can add little more know. One must be careful with these things. But great wealth and fortune await, as does the defeat of an old evil that may not be as bound as some thought.
It is my hope that Forge at least and perhaps Lucian can still be found in Thunderspire. It would also be nice to find another healer. So hard to keep a good healer. If you can gather them, please take them to Northall. At the Hare and Cap, on the Street of Scribes, I will make further contact.
Fear note, brave Halfling! All that is asked is a trip to a near city and a chance to reunite with old friends.
With Sincerity
Bart
[/sblock]Bart said:Dear Buckthorn
If my most expensive divinations are correct, you have gathered our companions and are wondering what this is all about.
I have taken the initiative, and will be on my way to Borovostok. I encourage you to meet me there. For in the nearby wildlands is one of the great ruins that has challenged treasure seekers and lore hunters for centuries. I believe I know where it is, and more importantly that we can survive the adventure!
And I have grown concerned that something stirs, something in the dark and shadow. It has haunted me
But enough of that. You must act in most trust of what I say, clearly a daunting proposal. However, we did have fine adventures and saved one another many times. I hope that is enough to undertake what I ask.
To start, find a ship heading to Borovostok. It will be much faster then overland travel.
With Sincerity
Bart
[/sblock]Buckthorn said:Regarding Paldemar, Buckthorn will explain to Nar-Heru and Ghen about the party's adventures in the Thunderspire and Seven-Pillared Hall - and will recap briefly how he, Rafa, Bart, Forge, and Zhuva (he pauses for a moment as he mentions his fallen friends) had braved the labyrinths of the Thunderspire fighting Druegar, Gnolls, skeletal minotaurs, and other nasty beasties in an effort to find and free slaves (including Buckthorn's kin) who had been taken prisoner. He will explain how the party found and defeatedKalerelKrand in the Chamber of Eyes. He will also tell the party of Paldemar's treachery and how Oronator, the Masked Mage of Saruun of the Seven-Pillared Hall, had given the party a reward for tracking down and bringing Paldemar, the Mage to justice.
He will explain how Paldemar was behind the mischief in the Seven-Pillared hall and had apparently been engaged in some horrible ritual which Zhuva believed was an attempt to reconstitute the Well of Demons and the Temple to Bhahamet and how Paldemar had tried to kill the party when we started to thwart his heinous plans.
Buckthorn will recount how the party tracked Paldemar to the shrine of Vecna and how they slew him there in a brutal battle that left two of their comrades dead. Buckthorn will mention that the vision of the skull that he saw in a crystal orb, which turned out to be somewhat of a premonition of the disembodied skull of the demi-lich, had appeared when Buckthorn touched a crystal orb in the study of an evil mage named Paldemar.
'Possibly including strange means to access the Shadow parts of the Aether' (looks at Lucian)
'Could be a great draw for those that knew of it and its possessor'
(he then looks at both tiefling and elf...)
The Reward: The 400 gp, for salvaging the Siren, owned by Adolphus Brandt, captained by Tellard, that sailed from Northall to Borivostok and stopped in Dussleburg. One option is finding a portal to Borivostok, but that, if at all possible, may be expensive, and do you really want to go back? Short of that, (or just sailing back) it may be possible to send a message by courier or herald (or other means). The Brandt’s may also have a trading network, with agents in various cities. It should be noted however that those (of you) most able to follow up on these possible leads have shown limited interest in doing so. Of course, as your gold slowly runs down…who knows.
Lucian: ah yes, the many rare and expensive ways...the easiest is through the Shadow and Fey...There is also “astral projection”...More intriguing are ships and other vehicles that can sale that distant sea.
Opening a planar portal may be the trick. But it takes a great deal of rare and expensive kit (components), a right powerful wizard or rare and expensive scroll, and, again, you have got to have some idea of where to go (the sigils or keys for the distant portal). You are short pretty much across the board here.
Finally, there are the legendary and of rumored links to other worlds where your own two feet can take you. And it is the City of Doors, right…(make a streetwise check for bonus information).
The sounds ofthe forest begin to shift around you, subtly at first but then with increasing intensity. You can almost hear words in the songs ofthe birds and whispers in the rustling leaves ofthe trees. Ahead of you, a number of trees wow together in a sing1e clump, as though shunning the company ofthe rest of theforest. Their branches cross and meld overhead, forming a perfect arch, wide enoughfor two horses side by side.
There's magie here; you can sense it. The arch of branches sways gently as though touched by a breeze, but no wind blows past you. Theforest is clear, but when you
peer through the arch, the trees are faintly obscured by a thin yet pervasive mist. Surely, what lies through the arch of branches is another location-perhaps even another world.
You feel a sudden lurch, as though you were falling, but the feeling passes even as you find yourself tensing up. You're standing on a narrow trail, which runs through thick grass.
The air is redolent with the scent of greenery. Trees loom over you, with vines and heavy foliage strung between them. Everything seems abnormally clear: Colors are
brighter, sounds are sharper, and objects-for lack of any better way of thinking about it-are more real.
As you emerge from the passage, you see two paths stretching away from you; each is surrounded by high grass and thick trees. You hear the sound of rushing water somewhere to the east, but trees block sight of it. A clifface, composed of the same stone as the ridge you passed through, rises to the north. From here, you cannot see what lies atop it.