So, poorer by over a thousand gold, we return to our previous position, in the very same clearing. The main difference this time, aside from my lighter purse, is that the shifter is already in the boat. We’ve got a few new tricks up our sleeve now, in case there are more basilisks or other petrifying beasts.
This was the f irst time I’d had to take control of the air elemental in the boat. Not easy – Fel handles it with much greater skill, and thus less balking by the air elemental, than I do. Nevertheless I got the boat to the ground, where Page and Jill loaded our statuary in by main force. Let this be a reminder that I need to scribe Tauric Might into my spellbook someday. I mean, really, what kind of transmuter am I without this most classic of spells? I suspect that it would be a great help to both Page and Jill.
We reached Graywall without incident, as much by luck as anything else – at least we knew enough to distinguish it from the Great Crag. I took the boat down about a half-mile from the city, hoping that would be far enough to avoid notice. I certainly don’t feel up to fighting the hordes of Droaam just now – maybe they’ll wait until we’re done with our current mission. Maeve, Page, and I walked to the city, approaching from the east. It is said in Breland that Graywall is divided into a human half, in the east, and a monstrous half in the west, and that we would find no welcome on the wrong side of that line. The gate was guarded by a mixed force of humans and orcs, all bearing the insignia of House Deneith. I spoke at length with one of the humans and received directions and advice – he mentioned a wizard named Reynard du Sable, who dwells and works in a tower near the Arena. I think it takes remarkable chutzpah to name oneself “The Black Fox” and still expect people to trust you in any measure. He also recommended accomodations within the city.
On our way there, we had an even more surprising encounter. Maeve spotted a hand dipping into her purse – not, incidentally, the home of most of our coin – and turned to face the filcher. She found herself staring into Dark’s face – the same hobgoblin who helped us recover the axe back in Sharn. She didn’t take back the coin, but said, “You were offering to buy us a drink.” So we stepped into the nearest bar (that’s Maeve for you) and had a little chat. He seemed just as surprised to see us as we were to see him, which is remarkable. Page was baffled by these proceedings, but it didn’t seem like the best of all possible times to explain. So I found myself cutting a new deal with Dark – not the most reassuring of practices, but I think I’d rather have Fel back than worry about the basilisk skins that I promised him. In exchange, Dark agreed to say two words to Reynard du Sable on our behalf and get us bumped up in his appointment book. He further explained that Reynard tends to talk to guests as a member of the predominant race of that group; possibly he is a changeling, or just a really bored transmuter. We made plans to meet Dark back at the same bar the next morning, with our strikingly realistic artwork in tow. On our way back to the boat, we found a wheelbarrow for our use. I also told Page the story of our earlier encounter with Dark. I wonder what he thinks of this – I really don’t grasp his views of ethics, and his reactions are impossible for me to read.
Graywall is an interesting place, though I’ve no interest in sticking around a moment longer than we absolutely must. The city is built almost entirely of stone. Not, mind you, stone from a quarry, as such. As far as I can tell, Graywall was literally built out of petrified bodies. They are mortared together in a particularly cunning fashion, but one that is deeply disturbing to look upon. I’m accustomed to seeing goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears roam freely in Sharn, kept out of only the more upscale establishments. It unnerved me a bit to see the same applied to medusae, mind flayers, and other things in this city, not that I strayed far into the other half of the city.
The next morning, we met up with Dark and he led us to Reynard’s tower – Jill stayed behind to guard the boat. Reynard’s servant brought us tea as we waited, and I had a little time to look around. He eventually made his entrance, with a creature Maeve called an “alchemical golem” in tow. It was as much like a walking sack of nonspecific alchemy as a creature could possibly be. Reynard appeared to be human. We negotiated for the spell he would use to fix Fel. He offered both a transmutation of Stone to Flesh and a possibly chancier but less expensive Unweave Enchantment. I opted for the former, reasoning that it would be better to pay more money and not risk having to pay a second time. Fel was returned to us for about the price I had expected. Reynard also offered to sell us fingers on leather thongs, which are exactly as disturbing to look at as my description makes them sound. He explained that the fingers would suffer the effect of any one petrification that was used against the wearer. The finger could then be returned to flesh and reused. I think it says something about what I’ve seen and done in the past months that I merely balked at this, without refusing outright. Maeve was the only one of us to flatly refuse. Fel and I paid some of the cost in expended magic items, which are apparently of some use to him – I need to look into the idea – and I paid cash for the rest of the price. I have to admit that two hundred gold per finger seems like too good of a deal to be real, but I find myself inclined to trust Reynard… there’s clearly something wrong with me.
Fel was surprised to awaken in an unfamiliar setting, but we explained as much as we could on the way back to the boat. He took the helm again and we returned to the clearing that I mentioned earlier. So here we are, a few days later and much poorer.
Some questions that remain:
Dark’s appearance here is too much of a coincidence for me to believe. Is he following us? Yet his surprise seemed genuine – unless he was just surprised to get caught, and has been following us some time now. How could I unearth more information on him without being painfully obvious? Will the fingers that Reynard sent us actually protect us? Will the basilisk corpses still be there, or have I signed us up to go basilisk hunting?
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I've now reposted all previous entries. There will be a new one sometime around Thursday of next week. I am told that Jill's player is dropping out of the campaign for bellydancing lessons; this makes me sad, because Jill seemed like a cool character (and the player is fun to have around as well). I hope that yet another new player may join us, but this remains to be seen.
As a teaser for the next entry, I'll just say three words: flying ice baboons. Oh, the mayhem.
Haven
