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Tizbiz Zeitgeist Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Tizbiz" data-source="post: 7251152" data-attributes="member: 6874057"><p>Recap 12</p><p></p><p>This morning, Carlyle seems to have problems with orienting and his perception of distance. As we read about the symptoms of the distortion of dilatation (or “distant madness”), we deduce that maybe our colleague fell victim to this sickness as well. We guess that maybe touching the artifact of Simon Langfield could have triggered the distortion, as Carlyle remembers the strange vision he had when he tried to pick up the staff. As we've read in the press that the doctors of Flint can control or soften the symptoms of the disease, we suggest that Carlyle should visit a doctor as soon as possible. After all, he'd need his sense of direction for his job as an RHC agent and it would be far too dangerous for him to go on missions when he's constantly running into things.</p><p>(<span style="color: #008000">Now where is that sweet Dr. von Recklinghausen when you need him? Also, Dilatationsdistortion is such a great word!</span>) (<span style="color: #0000FF">I loved the idea of the disease but did resist to toy with it too much.</span>)</p><p></p><p>But before we can send Carlyle off, he insists that we take care of the stuff that can be done in our office. We already asked for data about the motion profiles of the other distortion victims and now it's time to analyze it. We see an overlap in movement parallel to the new underground line, down the main road in Central all the way to the harbor. With this data, we ask Kaja Stewart about her preferred trade spots. And they just happen to overlap with our victim's profiles! Same thing is true for the timing of the first outbreak of distortion of dilatation: It all began when Kaja first started her black market sales. (<span style="color: #0000FF">evil grin</span>)</p><p></p><p>Kaja swears that she didn't know her artifacts would curse or infect people and she says she never intended to harm anyone. We kind of believe her, but insist that she stays in our custody as our conspirator-enemies could be interested in her. We also ask her about a Col. Sebastian Harlock from the Flint military academy, but she doesn't know anyone of that name. We need more information about that guy...</p><p></p><p>Afterwards, we report about our mole extermination progress to Chief Inspectress Saxby. We tell her that we still don't know what they did to Doro, but we're certain to have stopped the leakage of information. We try to give her tips on how to increase RHC security and maybe handle the ever growing interest of the reporters (<span style="color: #008000">after all, she didn't seem too fond of all the attention they would give us</span>), but she rebuffs us harshly, saying that she does know how to handle her office and the press, thank you. </p><p></p><p>(<span style="color: #008000">We both were shocked to see her react so harshly, even rude. On a second thought it was totally in character for her as she wouldn't want her authority undermined even the tiniest bit</span>) (<span style="color: #0000FF">yes, indeed!!!</span>)</p><p></p><p>Before we leave the RHC, Auryn apologizes to Carlyle for invading his privacy yesterday. She says she's used to handle her problems alone and just wanted to explain what was wrong with her and then everything that worried her just kept on erupting. Carlyle just waves the matter aside as if nothing happened at all. (<span style="color: #008000">Well, he was a butler and maybe has been in the very same situation a lot of times in the past</span>)</p><p></p><p>Next, we carefully help Carlyle to get to a doctor. We find the address of a specialist for mood disorders in North Shore and lead him there. We then try to get an early examination as we suspect he might have distortion of dilatation and just happens to be an RHC agent on an important and very urgent mission, but he's told he'd still have to wait. So Auryn leaves her colleague in the doctor's care and sees what can be done without Carlyle's involvement. </p><p></p><p>First, she's heading to Dawkins for a private chat. She tells her friend that they found clues about Kasvarina and her fate and that things look rather grim. She says that she and Carlyle would like to contact Asrabey in that matter, as he'd surely like to hear about his wife's whereabouts. For this, she prepared a letter to the Eladrin warrior which includes a part of the dress' cloth we found by the dead body of A.G. The letter says that we found this cloth in Flint and that it might belong to Kasvarina, but we don't mention Leone Quintal or Kasvarina's abduction as we hope to trade this further information for Nathan Jierre. And the Tielfing's knowledge of the planes might come in handy in the matters of the bleak gate travel technology. Morris Dawkins promises to get the letter delivered to the court, but states that he doesn't know how the fey would react on it. </p><p>(<span style="color: #008000">So maybe this mighty Eladrin warrior could be a great ally in our feud against Quintal. Time to put this flaming weaponry against Mr. metalbender!</span>) (<span style="color: #0000ff">I feel so sorry for Quintal. The poor guy will be in trouble soon.</span>)</p><p></p><p>He then shows Auryn a short article about the upcoming engagement and possible wedding of a certain Cecilia Fordren and Guy Goodson. To his surprise, Auryn already knows about this event. She says that she's been thinking about Fordren a lot lately and that she's come to the conclusion that she cannot simply eliminate her nemesis. At least not in Flint or Risur. Doing so would risk everything she cares for, her existence, her freedom. And she says that she doesn't think the guy would be worth such a sacrifice. Instead she wants to triumph in the “true way of Vekesh” to win a first victory against him. She repeats the statements about Fordren being only a man and having no power over her she's given Carlyle the evening before and Dawkins seems to understand. He adds that should she kill Fordren one day, she shouldn't do it for selfish reasons, but because he's a slaver who might hurt others for his own gain. She agrees to this argument, but says that her emotions are pretty strong and her need for revenge of him doesn't really stem from altruistic impulses. </p><p>(<span style="color: #008000">There was this tiny misunderstanding between Morris and Auryn where Morris hinted that Fordren might take other Eladrin or... people as captives while Auryn was certain that he'd only be after his Charusheela. She does know that Fordren's workers face a fate similar to slavery though and she often jokes about importing the institution of the Executores dola Liberta to Risur</span>)</p><p></p><p>After her friendly exchange, Auryn heads to the embassy of Ber. There she asks for a conversation with Wolmi Heffanita, her dear friend and fellow student. Wolmi seems quite happy to see one of the two RHC agents again who helped her make a claim on her chieftain's lineage. She thanks Auryn and the RHC for their help before she finally hands her over the notebook of Toni Starke which she had used to support her claim. Auryn then asks about ancient artifacts and gives a rough description and sketches of the items she found on Kaja. </p><p></p><p>Wolmi explains that these artifacts show true signs of ancient orcish symbolism. She says that she knows these symbols from old totems in the High Bayou or in the berian swamps. As the young minotaur seems honestly interested in the items, Auryn promises her to be among the first to see them “live” should they eventually find them. Wolmi asks her to proceed her search with caution, as the artifacts could be cursed as well. Auryn agrees and adds that she already suspected a curse which is why the RHC should handle the search in the first place.</p><p></p><p>After leaving the embassy, Auryn then heads to the museum of natural history to meet curator Hans Weber. Weber seems to be occupied with examining some extravagant Docker art he cannot really wrap his head around, so he asks Auryn which of the three abstract artworks to add to his exhibition. As Auryn is no specialist for avantgarde art (<span style="color: #008000">dance and music, yes, but her own art is traditional Eladrin style</span>), she suggests to... maybe ask a Docker artist? </p><p></p><p>She then asks him about the artifacts and Weber instantly recognized their description from a notebook. He goes off to fetch it and then shows her a lot of sketches of ancient artifacts which were promised to the museum. He goes on to explain that there had been an excavation in the High Bayou which ended in a disaster and that the artifacts found in the expedition were somehow lost and never arrived at the museum. </p><p></p><p>Weber mentions that only the expedition's leader, a Dr. Meredith from Slate University returned back alive. He mentions that Dr. Meredith might be in her guest quarters at Pardwright and that the expedition was funded by a certain Mr. Bergeron. Auryn asks whether this man happens to be a tiefling and surprised Weber confirms her thesis. (<span style="color: #008000">Kaja's / Macbannin's contact had been a tiefling after all</span>). She thanks the curator for his information, but adds that the RHC will have to check the artifacts for any kind of curse or similar magic effect before handing them over to anyone. She hints that they are currently haunted by the curse of Apet which is what might cause the distortion of dilatation disease.</p><p></p><p>As she returns to the doctor, Carlyle is about to be released home. They tell him that he should take some herbal pills and restrain from any kind of stressful activity. Needless to say that the deva seems pretty miserable. He just got a prescribed vacation! And he's basically unable to work unless he wants to risk his health. Auryn tells her colleague of the information she gathered in the mean time and she tries to cheer Carlyle up by suggesting that they could visit this Dr. Meredith. After all, chatting doesn't really qualify as stressful activity. (<span style="color: #0000FF">The doctor did not really know what causes the disease but did what they usually do.</span>) </p><p></p><p>They visit Dr. Meredith in the guest wing of Pardwright. She turns out to be a quite young archaeologist who seems both very nervous and afraid of what happened. Nevertheless, she agrees to tell us what happened to her and her expedition. </p><p></p><p>She tells us that Bergeron funded the expedition and helped her find experts who'd support her during the excavation. They found an ancient complex in the High Bayou where they stumbled across several ancient artifacts which they sent back home. Much later they found a golden disc deep inside the structure. They then waited until a group of specialists arrived who carefully removed the disc. Then some people started showing symptoms of what would be later known as distortion of dilatation. She herself departed after a while to fetch some supplies and was shocked to see that everyone was dead when she returned. She then felt an urgent need to flee and returned back to Flint. </p><p></p><p>We ask her about the ancient civilizations that might have built the structure and the people they depicted in their murals and Meredith tells us that she once read the name Egal the shimmering, a kind of demon lord of the golden legion, on an ancient scroll.</p><p></p><p>We assume that the Tiefling who confronted MacBannin with his artifacts and who -according to Kaja– was called out for “breaching the protocol” by the mayor was Bergeron. This way, Macbannin could have gotten his hands on them and this is how they finally ended with Kaja. As Beregeron seems to have gone into hiding, we plan to follow the only clue we have left: the complex in the High Bayou. We offer Meredith to accompany us there as she could really help us with all her knowledge, but she's just too afraid to go there again. (<span style="color: #0000FF">Somehow the players asumed, if Katja could not find Bergeron he must be out of reach. Maybe my fault?</span>)</p><p></p><p>We plan to depart the next morning. Carlyle is very concerned about his health and he fears that he might endanger Margit and Auryn when he walks directly into the swamp or activates a trap or something similar. Margit asks him about the doctor's diagnosis and offers him to try to cure him the next morning. Carlyle thanks her for trying to help him, even if he fears the worst. (<span style="color: #0000FF">The condition was not intended to cripple the players. This was going downhill so i had to do something about it.</span>)</p><p></p><p>We are all relieved to see that our medical specialist actually succeeds with her magic. She tells us that it was unusually hard to cure her colleague, but she guesses that she could perform this procedure again.</p><p>(<span style="color: #008000">No, we both didn't think that a simple cure disease would help against a curse-like madness. Thanks, Margit!</span>) (<span style="color: #0000FF">evil grin</span>)</p><p></p><p>As we prepare for our trip to the Bayou, Auryn jokes about Carlyle being afraid to catch Eladrin diseases and this is why he doesn't want to come close to her. Margit gives her a good laugh, but Carlyle responds that he just isn't used to close comradeship anymore. He once had a group of people in the Crisillyir military he could trust and with whom he was close, but that was 500 years ago. He thinks that maybe team 3 could form such a band of brothers (<span style="color: #008000">or rather, sisters?</span>) in time, but they shouldn't expect him to do the first steps in such a direction. He's been a butler too long, so he's used to reacting and staying in the background. </p><p></p><p>He then tells Auryn that he does appreciate the help of others (<span style="color: #008000">as with his magic studies</span>) and that he had troubles getting back to his old life and his own identity after his two reincarnations. He somehow ended up on the streets among the homeless where he felt comfortable and safe. These people, who had nothing for themselves, cared for him two times in very different cities and their sense for community touched him deeply. This is why he has a heart for the poor and homeless and he tries to help those who live in his neighborhood. They also share information they pick up on the streets with him. </p><p></p><p>So he asks Auryn to look out for him on the streets of Flint should he ever happen to die again. Even if he hopes that this day will never come again. Auryn is surprised to hear about this very unusual side of Carlyle, but thanks him for his trust. She promises to not let him end up as a hobo should he die and be reincarnated, but she also thinks that he's strong enough to survive the dangers of being an RHC agent.</p><p></p><p>So together we take the morning express to Bole and head to the small town of Agate from there. Agate is known for its high quality silk and as Auryn is still in need of a proper dress for the upcoming royal wedding, she plans to shop for raw materials there. She learns that the famous silk is harvested from huge spiders which live in the Bayou. We rent a room in a pension and have a chat with Jack (<span style="color: #008000">or Jacqueline</span>)(<span style="color: #0000FF">too many males in premade adventures, so i have a habit to use male names for some females as a pun. And i change some NPCs gender. Thanks, Lylanda for telling me years ago!</span>), the pension's owner. She tells us that she had other guests a week ago and that these guys were two dwarves, two tieflings and two city-dwellers. She thought them to be big game hunters, but the didn't return from the bayou with game, but one big, hidden object. We believe that the group might have taken the object and possibly other artifacts from the excavation site.</p><p></p><p>The next morning we head to a small pier to rent some boats for our journey through the Bayou. As Margit remembers stories about the sleeping titan, we agree that it'd be wise to please her. So we use the second boat for the traditional sacrifice of... chickens for the Voice of Rot!</p><p>In addition, Carlyle prepares his special anti-mosquito mixture to protect us from possible bloodsuckers and stingers (<span style="color: #008000">Thanks, Mr. Carlyle!</span>). (<span style="color: #0000FF">The players had worries that the chickens might attract predators and i had plenty of fun teasing them.</span>)</p><p></p><p>At some time during our rowing, we realize that one of our sacrificial chickens has gone missing. And after a while we perceive that our boat has somehow gotten heavier. As we suspect that maybe something invisible has entered our boat, we use detect magic and indeed find an illusion aura under one of the benches. It turns out that an invisible faerie dragon invaded our boat and took one of the chickens for breakfast. After we call out to him, he turns visible and congratulates us on our wise decision to bring the tribute to the old lady. (<span style="color: #0000FF">and the wise decision to provide him with free meals</span>)</p><p></p><p>It turns out that the small dragon is a rather cute fellow who's pretty adapt at evocation magic. After a well-aimed lightning bolt, Auryn calls him Flying Spark (Funkenflug) (<span style="color: #0000ff">"Flying of Sparks" or "Sparks flying" is a more precise translation</span>) and he doesn't object. He offers to guide us through the foggy bayou if we share some of our chickens with him (<span style="color: #008000">the Voice surely doesn't mind!</span>). As he has seen the complex first hand, we agree to this deal. (<span style="color: #0000FF">Lylandras reaction was as predicted: "can we keep him?" *grin*</span>) </p><p></p><p>We finally come along some landmarks: golden-red cloth wrapped around dead trees which Auryn finds eerily beautiful (<span style="color: #008000">don't question a fey's taste</span>). They lead us to a very old ziggurat with engraved walls. There, armies of humanoids and monsters are depicted and they seem to battle each others. In front of the ziggurat we find three corpses of people who probably died weeks ago. We carefully examine their bodies and find that someone has moved them around, possibly while they were doing the same research we do right now....</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tizbiz, post: 7251152, member: 6874057"] Recap 12 This morning, Carlyle seems to have problems with orienting and his perception of distance. As we read about the symptoms of the distortion of dilatation (or “distant madness”), we deduce that maybe our colleague fell victim to this sickness as well. We guess that maybe touching the artifact of Simon Langfield could have triggered the distortion, as Carlyle remembers the strange vision he had when he tried to pick up the staff. As we've read in the press that the doctors of Flint can control or soften the symptoms of the disease, we suggest that Carlyle should visit a doctor as soon as possible. After all, he'd need his sense of direction for his job as an RHC agent and it would be far too dangerous for him to go on missions when he's constantly running into things. ([COLOR=#008000]Now where is that sweet Dr. von Recklinghausen when you need him? Also, Dilatationsdistortion is such a great word![/COLOR]) ([COLOR=#0000FF]I loved the idea of the disease but did resist to toy with it too much.[/COLOR]) But before we can send Carlyle off, he insists that we take care of the stuff that can be done in our office. We already asked for data about the motion profiles of the other distortion victims and now it's time to analyze it. We see an overlap in movement parallel to the new underground line, down the main road in Central all the way to the harbor. With this data, we ask Kaja Stewart about her preferred trade spots. And they just happen to overlap with our victim's profiles! Same thing is true for the timing of the first outbreak of distortion of dilatation: It all began when Kaja first started her black market sales. ([COLOR=#0000FF]evil grin[/COLOR]) Kaja swears that she didn't know her artifacts would curse or infect people and she says she never intended to harm anyone. We kind of believe her, but insist that she stays in our custody as our conspirator-enemies could be interested in her. We also ask her about a Col. Sebastian Harlock from the Flint military academy, but she doesn't know anyone of that name. We need more information about that guy... Afterwards, we report about our mole extermination progress to Chief Inspectress Saxby. We tell her that we still don't know what they did to Doro, but we're certain to have stopped the leakage of information. We try to give her tips on how to increase RHC security and maybe handle the ever growing interest of the reporters ([COLOR=#008000]after all, she didn't seem too fond of all the attention they would give us[/COLOR]), but she rebuffs us harshly, saying that she does know how to handle her office and the press, thank you. ([COLOR=#008000]We both were shocked to see her react so harshly, even rude. On a second thought it was totally in character for her as she wouldn't want her authority undermined even the tiniest bit[/COLOR]) ([COLOR=#0000FF]yes, indeed!!![/COLOR]) Before we leave the RHC, Auryn apologizes to Carlyle for invading his privacy yesterday. She says she's used to handle her problems alone and just wanted to explain what was wrong with her and then everything that worried her just kept on erupting. Carlyle just waves the matter aside as if nothing happened at all. ([COLOR=#008000]Well, he was a butler and maybe has been in the very same situation a lot of times in the past[/COLOR]) Next, we carefully help Carlyle to get to a doctor. We find the address of a specialist for mood disorders in North Shore and lead him there. We then try to get an early examination as we suspect he might have distortion of dilatation and just happens to be an RHC agent on an important and very urgent mission, but he's told he'd still have to wait. So Auryn leaves her colleague in the doctor's care and sees what can be done without Carlyle's involvement. First, she's heading to Dawkins for a private chat. She tells her friend that they found clues about Kasvarina and her fate and that things look rather grim. She says that she and Carlyle would like to contact Asrabey in that matter, as he'd surely like to hear about his wife's whereabouts. For this, she prepared a letter to the Eladrin warrior which includes a part of the dress' cloth we found by the dead body of A.G. The letter says that we found this cloth in Flint and that it might belong to Kasvarina, but we don't mention Leone Quintal or Kasvarina's abduction as we hope to trade this further information for Nathan Jierre. And the Tielfing's knowledge of the planes might come in handy in the matters of the bleak gate travel technology. Morris Dawkins promises to get the letter delivered to the court, but states that he doesn't know how the fey would react on it. ([COLOR=#008000]So maybe this mighty Eladrin warrior could be a great ally in our feud against Quintal. Time to put this flaming weaponry against Mr. metalbender![/COLOR]) ([COLOR=#0000ff]I feel so sorry for Quintal. The poor guy will be in trouble soon.[/COLOR]) He then shows Auryn a short article about the upcoming engagement and possible wedding of a certain Cecilia Fordren and Guy Goodson. To his surprise, Auryn already knows about this event. She says that she's been thinking about Fordren a lot lately and that she's come to the conclusion that she cannot simply eliminate her nemesis. At least not in Flint or Risur. Doing so would risk everything she cares for, her existence, her freedom. And she says that she doesn't think the guy would be worth such a sacrifice. Instead she wants to triumph in the “true way of Vekesh” to win a first victory against him. She repeats the statements about Fordren being only a man and having no power over her she's given Carlyle the evening before and Dawkins seems to understand. He adds that should she kill Fordren one day, she shouldn't do it for selfish reasons, but because he's a slaver who might hurt others for his own gain. She agrees to this argument, but says that her emotions are pretty strong and her need for revenge of him doesn't really stem from altruistic impulses. ([COLOR=#008000]There was this tiny misunderstanding between Morris and Auryn where Morris hinted that Fordren might take other Eladrin or... people as captives while Auryn was certain that he'd only be after his Charusheela. She does know that Fordren's workers face a fate similar to slavery though and she often jokes about importing the institution of the Executores dola Liberta to Risur[/COLOR]) After her friendly exchange, Auryn heads to the embassy of Ber. There she asks for a conversation with Wolmi Heffanita, her dear friend and fellow student. Wolmi seems quite happy to see one of the two RHC agents again who helped her make a claim on her chieftain's lineage. She thanks Auryn and the RHC for their help before she finally hands her over the notebook of Toni Starke which she had used to support her claim. Auryn then asks about ancient artifacts and gives a rough description and sketches of the items she found on Kaja. Wolmi explains that these artifacts show true signs of ancient orcish symbolism. She says that she knows these symbols from old totems in the High Bayou or in the berian swamps. As the young minotaur seems honestly interested in the items, Auryn promises her to be among the first to see them “live” should they eventually find them. Wolmi asks her to proceed her search with caution, as the artifacts could be cursed as well. Auryn agrees and adds that she already suspected a curse which is why the RHC should handle the search in the first place. After leaving the embassy, Auryn then heads to the museum of natural history to meet curator Hans Weber. Weber seems to be occupied with examining some extravagant Docker art he cannot really wrap his head around, so he asks Auryn which of the three abstract artworks to add to his exhibition. As Auryn is no specialist for avantgarde art ([COLOR=#008000]dance and music, yes, but her own art is traditional Eladrin style[/COLOR]), she suggests to... maybe ask a Docker artist? She then asks him about the artifacts and Weber instantly recognized their description from a notebook. He goes off to fetch it and then shows her a lot of sketches of ancient artifacts which were promised to the museum. He goes on to explain that there had been an excavation in the High Bayou which ended in a disaster and that the artifacts found in the expedition were somehow lost and never arrived at the museum. Weber mentions that only the expedition's leader, a Dr. Meredith from Slate University returned back alive. He mentions that Dr. Meredith might be in her guest quarters at Pardwright and that the expedition was funded by a certain Mr. Bergeron. Auryn asks whether this man happens to be a tiefling and surprised Weber confirms her thesis. ([COLOR=#008000]Kaja's / Macbannin's contact had been a tiefling after all[/COLOR]). She thanks the curator for his information, but adds that the RHC will have to check the artifacts for any kind of curse or similar magic effect before handing them over to anyone. She hints that they are currently haunted by the curse of Apet which is what might cause the distortion of dilatation disease. As she returns to the doctor, Carlyle is about to be released home. They tell him that he should take some herbal pills and restrain from any kind of stressful activity. Needless to say that the deva seems pretty miserable. He just got a prescribed vacation! And he's basically unable to work unless he wants to risk his health. Auryn tells her colleague of the information she gathered in the mean time and she tries to cheer Carlyle up by suggesting that they could visit this Dr. Meredith. After all, chatting doesn't really qualify as stressful activity. ([COLOR=#0000FF]The doctor did not really know what causes the disease but did what they usually do.[/COLOR]) They visit Dr. Meredith in the guest wing of Pardwright. She turns out to be a quite young archaeologist who seems both very nervous and afraid of what happened. Nevertheless, she agrees to tell us what happened to her and her expedition. She tells us that Bergeron funded the expedition and helped her find experts who'd support her during the excavation. They found an ancient complex in the High Bayou where they stumbled across several ancient artifacts which they sent back home. Much later they found a golden disc deep inside the structure. They then waited until a group of specialists arrived who carefully removed the disc. Then some people started showing symptoms of what would be later known as distortion of dilatation. She herself departed after a while to fetch some supplies and was shocked to see that everyone was dead when she returned. She then felt an urgent need to flee and returned back to Flint. We ask her about the ancient civilizations that might have built the structure and the people they depicted in their murals and Meredith tells us that she once read the name Egal the shimmering, a kind of demon lord of the golden legion, on an ancient scroll. We assume that the Tiefling who confronted MacBannin with his artifacts and who -according to Kaja– was called out for “breaching the protocol” by the mayor was Bergeron. This way, Macbannin could have gotten his hands on them and this is how they finally ended with Kaja. As Beregeron seems to have gone into hiding, we plan to follow the only clue we have left: the complex in the High Bayou. We offer Meredith to accompany us there as she could really help us with all her knowledge, but she's just too afraid to go there again. ([COLOR=#0000FF]Somehow the players asumed, if Katja could not find Bergeron he must be out of reach. Maybe my fault?[/COLOR]) We plan to depart the next morning. Carlyle is very concerned about his health and he fears that he might endanger Margit and Auryn when he walks directly into the swamp or activates a trap or something similar. Margit asks him about the doctor's diagnosis and offers him to try to cure him the next morning. Carlyle thanks her for trying to help him, even if he fears the worst. ([COLOR=#0000FF]The condition was not intended to cripple the players. This was going downhill so i had to do something about it.[/COLOR]) We are all relieved to see that our medical specialist actually succeeds with her magic. She tells us that it was unusually hard to cure her colleague, but she guesses that she could perform this procedure again. ([COLOR=#008000]No, we both didn't think that a simple cure disease would help against a curse-like madness. Thanks, Margit![/COLOR]) ([COLOR=#0000FF]evil grin[/COLOR]) As we prepare for our trip to the Bayou, Auryn jokes about Carlyle being afraid to catch Eladrin diseases and this is why he doesn't want to come close to her. Margit gives her a good laugh, but Carlyle responds that he just isn't used to close comradeship anymore. He once had a group of people in the Crisillyir military he could trust and with whom he was close, but that was 500 years ago. He thinks that maybe team 3 could form such a band of brothers ([COLOR=#008000]or rather, sisters?[/COLOR]) in time, but they shouldn't expect him to do the first steps in such a direction. He's been a butler too long, so he's used to reacting and staying in the background. He then tells Auryn that he does appreciate the help of others ([COLOR=#008000]as with his magic studies[/COLOR]) and that he had troubles getting back to his old life and his own identity after his two reincarnations. He somehow ended up on the streets among the homeless where he felt comfortable and safe. These people, who had nothing for themselves, cared for him two times in very different cities and their sense for community touched him deeply. This is why he has a heart for the poor and homeless and he tries to help those who live in his neighborhood. They also share information they pick up on the streets with him. So he asks Auryn to look out for him on the streets of Flint should he ever happen to die again. Even if he hopes that this day will never come again. Auryn is surprised to hear about this very unusual side of Carlyle, but thanks him for his trust. She promises to not let him end up as a hobo should he die and be reincarnated, but she also thinks that he's strong enough to survive the dangers of being an RHC agent. So together we take the morning express to Bole and head to the small town of Agate from there. Agate is known for its high quality silk and as Auryn is still in need of a proper dress for the upcoming royal wedding, she plans to shop for raw materials there. She learns that the famous silk is harvested from huge spiders which live in the Bayou. We rent a room in a pension and have a chat with Jack ([COLOR=#008000]or Jacqueline[/COLOR])([COLOR=#0000FF]too many males in premade adventures, so i have a habit to use male names for some females as a pun. And i change some NPCs gender. Thanks, Lylanda for telling me years ago![/COLOR]), the pension's owner. She tells us that she had other guests a week ago and that these guys were two dwarves, two tieflings and two city-dwellers. She thought them to be big game hunters, but the didn't return from the bayou with game, but one big, hidden object. We believe that the group might have taken the object and possibly other artifacts from the excavation site. The next morning we head to a small pier to rent some boats for our journey through the Bayou. As Margit remembers stories about the sleeping titan, we agree that it'd be wise to please her. So we use the second boat for the traditional sacrifice of... chickens for the Voice of Rot! In addition, Carlyle prepares his special anti-mosquito mixture to protect us from possible bloodsuckers and stingers ([COLOR=#008000]Thanks, Mr. Carlyle![/COLOR]). ([COLOR=#0000FF]The players had worries that the chickens might attract predators and i had plenty of fun teasing them.[/COLOR]) At some time during our rowing, we realize that one of our sacrificial chickens has gone missing. And after a while we perceive that our boat has somehow gotten heavier. As we suspect that maybe something invisible has entered our boat, we use detect magic and indeed find an illusion aura under one of the benches. It turns out that an invisible faerie dragon invaded our boat and took one of the chickens for breakfast. After we call out to him, he turns visible and congratulates us on our wise decision to bring the tribute to the old lady. ([COLOR=#0000FF]and the wise decision to provide him with free meals[/COLOR]) It turns out that the small dragon is a rather cute fellow who's pretty adapt at evocation magic. After a well-aimed lightning bolt, Auryn calls him Flying Spark (Funkenflug) ([COLOR=#0000ff]"Flying of Sparks" or "Sparks flying" is a more precise translation[/COLOR]) and he doesn't object. He offers to guide us through the foggy bayou if we share some of our chickens with him ([COLOR=#008000]the Voice surely doesn't mind![/COLOR]). As he has seen the complex first hand, we agree to this deal. ([COLOR=#0000FF]Lylandras reaction was as predicted: "can we keep him?" *grin*[/COLOR]) We finally come along some landmarks: golden-red cloth wrapped around dead trees which Auryn finds eerily beautiful ([COLOR=#008000]don't question a fey's taste[/COLOR]). They lead us to a very old ziggurat with engraved walls. There, armies of humanoids and monsters are depicted and they seem to battle each others. In front of the ziggurat we find three corpses of people who probably died weeks ago. We carefully examine their bodies and find that someone has moved them around, possibly while they were doing the same research we do right now.... [/QUOTE]
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