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Story Hour
Erkonin (Campaign #1) [Session 46: Making Deals with Devils is Stupid as well as Bad]
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<blockquote data-quote="prabe" data-source="post: 8178516" data-attributes="member: 7016699"><p>Session 28: We Made It Back To Embernook!</p><p></p><p>Dramatis Personae:</p><p></p><p>Mo - Goliath Bard (College of Lore)</p><p>Orryk - Forest Gnome Monk (Way of the Four Elements, variant)</p><p>Fiona - Half-Elf Wizard (Evoker)/Cleric (Knowledge)</p><p>Taman - Human (variant) Rogue (Inquisitive)/Ranger</p><p>Joybell - Forest Gnome Paladin (Oath of the Ancients)</p><p>Thneed - Wood Elf Ranger (Hunter Conclave)</p><p></p><p>GM - Everyone Else</p><p></p><p></p><p>30 Sicklin 748 (Campaign day 61) (immediately after)</p><p></p><p>We began where we left off -- on the trail half-way between Callallah and the Cave of the Masks with Sorla the were-bear. Surrounded by the bodies of eight Masks.</p><p></p><p>We started looting and searching the bodies -- aside from standard Mask equipment (longsword, longbow, arrows, shield) we didn’t find anything of interest. We weren’t expecting them to have coinage (we’ve never found an individual Mask with coinage) but we were kind of hoping that maybe we’d find some information or clues. We took the equipment and Mo made sure we put all the masks in the bag as well. Then we burned the bodies.</p><p></p><p>We proceeded to the bonfire location, where we’d fought seven Masks, and searched with the same results. While the rest of us were looting bodies and building the pyre, Fiona cast detect magic so she could take a look at the box of tiles. They were in fact magical, gently so, with an aura of conjuration magic, appropriate for teleportation magic.</p><p></p><p>Once all of those bodies were burning, we headed to the Cave of the Masks. While the others searched inside, Joybell and Thneed worked on dragging the bodies outside the cave and making a pyre. Everyone else searched in the cave. From the cots and the general level of tracks in the cave, it was clear that the cave has been occupied more or less continuously by some number of Masks. There was evidence of traffic into and out of the cave. Fiona cast another detect magic and saw a bit of residual magic, sparking and clearly shorting out and draining away -- conjuration again. Nothing evil, just now badly broken.</p><p></p><p>We then went to Callallah. As we approached the village, we saw some people still out harvesting -- 3 kids on the shoulders of the dumb-giants picking apples and pears, 7 adults in the fields cutting the grain with scythes. One of the dumb-giants was being used as a beast of burden, carrying bundles of cut wheat to a cart.</p><p></p><p>Mo took one of the masks out of the bag of holding and threw it toward the workers -- unfortunately it didn’t fly as he expected and it landed well short. So he took another one and used a mage hand spell to throw it in front of some of the workers.</p><p></p><p>The rest of the party sort of stared at him.</p><p></p><p>Mo: What? Is this not a common greeting?</p><p></p><p>The villagers turned to look in our direction.</p><p></p><p>Mo: Hey! How’s it going? We killed all the Masks.</p><p></p><p>The villagers continued to stare.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Hello.</p><p></p><p>One of the villagers in the field, a young man in his early 20s, came our way.</p><p></p><p>Mo: Your town is free now.</p><p>Joybell, to Mo: I think you’re getting ahead of the narrative.</p><p></p><p>As the villagers approached it became clear that these were the same ones Taman had talked to earlier.</p><p></p><p>Young Man, whose name turned out to be Orl, looking at Taman: You’re not a lone traveler.</p><p></p><p>Orryk started pulling masks out of the bag of holding, eventually accumulating a pile of 34 of them.</p><p></p><p>Orryk: We want to talk about these.</p><p>Orl: That’s going to be my dad, Wilm.</p><p></p><p>Orl led us toward the town. As we walked, Joybell made small talk with Orl about the fields and orchards we passed. What looked like a bumper crop of fruit and grain and other horticultural crops was the normal production for Callallah every year.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: How’s life in the village?</p><p>Orl: Mostly not too bad.</p><p>Thneed: Where do the friendly giants come from?</p><p>Orl: My dad can explain that.</p><p></p><p>Joybell went back to chattering.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Do you have livestock?</p><p>Orl: Chickens. Some farmers raise pigs. We keep two or three horses for the cart.</p><p>Mo: One cart for the whole town? What’s it for?</p><p>Orl: Every once in a while, someone will take a cartload of produce out of the valley to trade for things we don’t have here.</p><p></p><p>We noticed as we walked through the scattered forest trees among the orchards and fields, that only the domesticated plants were doing especially well -- the apples had a bumper crop, but there were a normal number of acorns on the oak trees.</p><p></p><p>We got to the town and found that it had 12 dwelling compounds, some with multiple buildings, obviously housing multi-generational families. We passed a horse barn/carriage house and something that looked like a bar or restaurant.</p><p></p><p>Mo: There’s always a bar.</p><p></p><p>All the people we saw in the village were human.</p><p></p><p>Orl took us to one of the compounds -- we saw twelve children under the age of 10. Five pairs of twins, not identical twins. (Note: I had assumed that the twin births were all identical twin births, but that is not a correct assumption. Kids just are always born in pairs.)</p><p></p><p>In an office or working space, we were introduced to Orl’s father Wilm Orter.</p><p></p><p>Wilm: How are you doing?</p><p>Orryk: We’re good.</p><p></p><p>Then he started pulling masks out of the bag of holding. 35 of them.</p><p></p><p>Mo: You had a Mask problem. You don’t any more. Are you happy there are no more Masks?</p><p>Wilm: Life without the Masks seems like it would be nice, but I haven’t contemplated it.</p><p></p><p>Joybell proceeded to explain why we’d come to kill the Masks - that we hadn’t actually come to liberate Callallah, we’d come to stop them from kidnapping children like the Orc orphans (taken to be vivisected), we’d come to stop them from destroying other villages and special places like the Wold. As we got closer, we realized that we would also be stopping them from kidnapping the children of Callallah to make them into more Masks.</p><p></p><p>Joybell made sure that Wilm understood that their children were the Masks, transformed, and we’d killed a lot of them.</p><p></p><p>Wilm: We tried not to think about it, but we knew.</p><p></p><p>He said that every couple of years, the Masks would come and take one of each pair of twins between the ages of 8 and 12. They’d come from the cave with a cart and return with the children to the cave. About two weeks later the Masks would return with the broken ones -- their minds would be irreparably broken and their bodies would just keep growing and growing and growing. Those grew up to become the dumb giants the town used as beasts of burden.</p><p></p><p>We asked if anyone from the village had been to the Cave to see what was there when the Masks weren’t in town. He said that his grandfather told a story from the time of his own grandfather (Wilm’s great-great grandfather) about a group of villagers who got it into their heads to do something about the Masks. They went into the cave and did something, broke something. It took three months for the Masks to come back, but they did come back.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Did your grandfather say if they came back by the road or on the trail from the cave?</p><p>Wilm: They came back from the cave.</p><p></p><p>We asked if there was a place we could eat and sleep in the village. Wilm said he would go and talk to the Brewers and Hostlers. We were taken to a parlor and waited there for about an hour. By the time Wilm came back we could smell cooking smells wafting in through the window.</p><p></p><p>Wilm: The Hostlers are more than happy to clear space for you in the horse barn. And the Brewers are cooking and will provide you with food and beverage.</p><p></p><p>We thanked him and went first to Brewers -- the restaurant and bar we’d seen. There were some of the villagers there eating the good food -- chicken and vegetables and a sort of stew. The bar offered, in addition to beer and hard liquor, cider, perry, cysers, meads and other delicious beverages.</p><p></p><p>Mo spotted a couple of people in a corner puffing on pipes and went to talk to them. He made small talk and made a trade of a pouch of the smoking stuff he’d brought with him for a pouch of the locally grown tobacco.</p><p></p><p>Smoker: I’ve only ever smoked what we grow here. I’m interested to see what else is out there.</p><p></p><p>Thneed basically gorged herself on the beautiful fruit, mostly pears and apples at this time in the season.</p><p></p><p>Joybell, uncharacteristically, stayed quiet. She just watched and listened to the people in the village to see how they were reacting to us -- where they afraid or uncomfortable or unhappy. Mostly they were curious and she didn’t hear them talking at all about the Masks being gone.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Maybe Wilm Orter didn’t tell them about that. Which makes sense -- we have three months to follow through on destroying the Forge and taking down Steeltear. If we fail, the Masks will be back.</p><p>Thneed: It would put him in an awkward position.</p><p></p><p>We then began to talk about how we could get back here quickly if we needed to return in a hurry to finish the job. Or to return to protect the village and re-destroy the circle in the cave. Joybell suddenly remembered the letter opener she has from Thalith’s office in Embernook and went to talk to Mr. Brewer, the barkeep.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Can I buy a spoon or something from you? As a souvenir. Also, I’d like to get a small keg of mead for us to have on our travels.</p><p></p><p>Brewer left into the back room and came back a bit later with a spoon, which he handed to her with a bit of puzzlement, and a small pony keg. One of the ends of the keg was labeled “First Fruit 720” (note - it is currently the year 748).</p><p></p><p>Brewer: This was a birthday brewing for someone who will never live to drink it. You may have it.</p><p>Joybell, overwhelmed: I wish I had something as wonderful to give you in exchange.</p><p>Brewer: You have.</p><p></p><p>Joybell went back to our table feeling even more overwhelmed.</p><p></p><p>Mo, who was pretty thoroughly wasted at this point, got frustrated because we hadn’t learned anything new in the town, at least nothing that would tell us where to go to find the Forge and destroy it. So he went out wandering around the town drunkenly looking for clues.</p><p></p><p>Joybell and Fiona went walking around the town as well, though not with Mo -- Fiona cast detect magic and we walked around to see if anything pinged.</p><p></p><p>The answer to that was yes -- the frame over the top of the well that the winch and bucket attached to was intensely magical -- to the point of being a strong magical item itself. The essence was of transmutation magic. So Fiona spent 10 minutes with her books casting identify, with Joybell patiently waiting, and learned that the magic of the well house was that all humans, domestic animals, and crop plants were vastly more productive.</p><p></p><p>As Fiona was learning this, Mo stumbled past.</p><p></p><p>Mo: A lemon tree!</p><p></p><p>Eventually we all gathered in the barn, where Fiona cast her tiny hut and we slept the sleep of the genuinely exhausted.</p><p></p><p>The night passed without incident.</p><p></p><p></p><p>1 Rippenin 748 (Campaign day 62)</p><p></p><p>The next morning we woke up and before we emerged to possibly interact with the townsfolk, we discussed our plans. We had some disagreement over the larger strategy for taking out the Forge of Masks and Steeltear -- Orryk did not (and does not) want to go through a teleportation circle to wherever the outgoing symbols in the Cave were dialing without some way of seeing what’s there. Joybell doesn’t want to leave the work unfinished so that in three months the Masks come back for the villagers and their children again. To Joybell, teleporting in blind is clearly not a good idea and not our best approach but if it is the only approach we have, then needs must.</p><p></p><p>We decided to set that question aside for a while and just deal with the next step or two.</p><p></p><p>Fiona used a sending spell to communicate with Tulmor.</p><p></p><p>Fiona: We’re ready for pickup. In Dunimar Mountains in Callallah. Do we need to go to Pelsoreen? We have info about the Masks.</p><p>Tulmor, after a long pause: Don’t know Callallah. Pelsoreen or Ov. I’ll talk to Barnett.</p><p></p><p>Joybell looked at the map in her bag, but wasn’t certain where we were.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Rangers -- do your ranger naughty word. Are we closer to Ov or Pelsoreen?</p><p></p><p>After a bit of discussion, and the doing of ranger naughty word, it was determined that we were closer to Pelsoreen.</p><p></p><p>Sigh.</p><p></p><p>We decided to get to the road by way of visiting Tarck, rather than going out of town by the main road. We knew that Sorla was keeping an eye on the town, and hoped she’d catch up to us or run into us or find us as we left.</p><p></p><p>We left town without further ado -- as we passed from fields and orchards into the wild forest we called her name a few times. Joybell spent the next couple of hours asking all the squirrels we ran into if they’d seen a bear. One of them eventually said that it had seen a bear but it didn’t know which way the bear went because it had run away and hid.</p><p></p><p>About an hour after that, we ran into Sorla in her human form. She asked us if we’d found anything.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: We know the address, so to speak, of a teleportation circle, but not the actual physical location of it.</p><p></p><p>We asked her to take us to Tarck and she agreed to do so.</p><p></p><p>The rest of the day of travel, and the following night, passed without incident.</p><p></p><p></p><p>2 Rippenin 748 (Campaign day 63)</p><p></p><p>We got to Tarck’s clearing around mid-day.</p><p></p><p>Tarck: Oh, you again!</p><p>Joybell: We killed a lot of Masks.</p><p>Mo: We’re trying to get back to Pelsoreen. Do you have any way to get us there more quickly?</p><p>Tarck: I don’t have a lot of getting places magic. I spend most of my time rooted to the ground.</p><p></p><p>Joybell asked him about the teleportation circle and if he’d seen runes like that before. Taman drew them on the ground so Tarck could see them. But Tarck didn’t recognize them. We asked if there would be a shortcut or a shorter way than going by road.</p><p></p><p>Tarck: Hmmm….</p><p></p><p>Then he fell into the silence of deep thought.</p><p></p><p>While he was pondering, Joybell and Thneed made a flower garland and draped it around Tarck’s trunk and lower branches.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Do you want to help, Orryk?</p><p>Orryk: No.</p><p>Joybell: But you’re a forest gnome!</p><p>Orryk: You kids have fun.</p><p></p><p>While Tarck was still engaged in his slow, deliberate treant ratiocinations, Joybel and Thneed finished their garland so Joybell started climbing Tarck, beginning just with sort of inching up the roots and then finding a low hanging branch to climb onto. She was moving slowly and carefully, trying not to be noticed too much.</p><p></p><p>Which totally didn’t work.</p><p></p><p>Tarck: What are you doing, Small?</p><p>Joybell: Just climbing. Is that okay?</p><p>Tarck: Oh. Okay.</p><p></p><p>With permission, Joybell just kept climbing up up up until she was at the very highest branches that could support her weight.</p><p></p><p>Tarck, after a long stretch of thought: I think I can help. I have seen a druid or two from the Primal Atoll come through here. One of them grabbed a sapling to plant on their island. This was thirty years ago. Maybe more like fifty. Time’s a little slippery. I believe that if they planted it, it should be large enough.</p><p></p><p>He said he could cast transport via plants, which Irlua had used for us when we were at the Primal Atoll, to get us there. We agreed readily and Joybell started trying to climb down from her high perch up in the treant. After almost falling, Mo cast a rope trick right next to her and she was able to climb down the rope.</p><p></p><p>Orryk: We have a rope of climbing.</p><p>Mo: Oh. Right.</p><p></p><p>Once Joybell was back on the ground, Tarck did some mumbling and moved a few of his branches and opened a portal in one of the trees surrounding his glade. We hustled through the tree, with Joybell explaining to Thneed about the Atoll as we went through.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: They’re these awesome elemental druids that live on an island just a few hours from Pelsoreen. It’s beautiful and there’s a portal to the elemental plane of fire there.</p><p></p><p>We emerged in a grove of plants not native to the sub-tropical climate of the Atoll, carefully managed and watched over by the druids both to keep them alive and to keep them from invading the rest of the island. A young novice tending the grove saw us all pop out, bristling with weapons and with a rather large wolf. She dropped her tools and ran away toward the village.</p><p></p><p>Orryk, calling after her: Tell Irlua the gnomes are here.</p><p></p><p>We started walking along the path toward the village, looking as non-threatening as possible. Joybell even got off Scooby and walked alongside, to make herself look less threatening.</p><p></p><p>Irlua greeted us at the edge of the village. We told her that Tarck the treant in the eastern Dunimar Mountains transported us to the island.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Are there any boats in the docks that could take us to Pelsoreen.</p><p>Irlua: No.</p><p>Joybell: Do you have any way of getting in touch with Pelsoreen to get a boat?</p><p>Irlua: Do you want to go to Pelsoreen?</p><p>Joybell: Well, no. Not actually. But it’s our next step on the way to Embernook.</p><p>Irlua: I can get you to Embernook. There’s a large tree in Soul’s Rest.</p><p></p><p>Well, excellent then.</p><p></p><p>Joybell thanked her and asked if there was anything we could do for her.</p><p></p><p>Irlua: There is something you could do for the Primal Atoll.</p><p></p><p>(Taman: Here comes the side-quest.</p><p>Mo: We asked for homework…)</p><p></p><p>Irlua: There is an important staff in New Arvai, Adnorga's Staff, in the School of the World. We need it here.</p><p>Taman: Why do you need it?</p><p>Irlua: It was stolen from another druidic circle.</p><p>Mo: Can we have a bit more of a description?</p><p>Irlua: It is an ebony staff that has ivory inlays. It is immensely helpful to druids and that I know of not at all helpful to anyone else. It is like a Staff of Power, but Shadowy, and for druids. We have asked them for its return but they will not return it.</p><p>Joybell: What circle was it taken from?</p><p>Irlua: The Umbral Circle. They were in New Arvai. They were of a sect of planar druids that protect from extra-planar threats.</p><p>Orryk: What happened to the circle?</p><p>Irlua: If you can find that out, that would be helpful. They were focused on protecting from threats from the Shadowfell.</p><p>Joybell: Is it okay if we deal with our current situation first? That one is kind of a ticking bomb…</p><p>Irlua: You will probably need to improve yourselves before going to the School of the World to steal something.</p><p></p><p>We took a moment to consider the fact that we have a name from the School of the World in New Arvai -- one of the librarians was mentioned in The Keeper of Secrets’ letter to Jornas (found when we got the second Crazy Book that we gave to the Keeper of Secrets) -- Elledrian. Nicolana’s letter told Jornas to ask him if the Raven Queen knows where he is. At least a few party members read that as a threat. And the Raven Queen is the ruler of the Shadowfell.</p><p></p><p>So there seems to be something of a connection there. There’s a missing druidic circle that protects against the Shadowfell. An item from that circle is in the possession of a magical college (and library) that has someone working for it who has some connection to the Raven Queen, possibly not a good one. And the library won’t give it up to other druids.</p><p></p><p>There were also all of the shadowpools making portals to the Shadowfell around Embernook, the warlocks of Orcus, and the wights and deathlock wights and undead and other nastinesses a few months ago. Which might indicate that things are stirring in the Shadowfell.</p><p></p><p>After a bit of discussion, we agreed to take on the task of retrieving Adnorga’s Staff for the druids when we were more powerful.</p><p></p><p>Then Irlua sent us traveling by plant into a grove in Soul’s Rest in Embernook. Joybell was radiating excitement at being back in a nice city again.</p><p></p><p>We headed to Tulmor & Barnett’s place, but split into two groups when we got to Centerkeep. Joybell wanted to go to check in with Chief Ullar Truehammer and the guards, and also to get Thneed an armband if possible. Joybell, Mo, Thneed and Taman were Team Guards. Orryk and Fiona were, as usual, Team Library.</p><p></p><p>In the guard house, we found Chief Truehammer sitting at his desk.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Hello! We’re back!</p><p>Truehammer: Oh, gawds.</p><p></p><p>Our first order of business was to get a guard armband for Thneed. And to explain to her what it was and what it meant.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: We’re guards. Sort of special duty guards. They’ll contact us if they need us.</p><p></p><p>We started talking to Truehammer about the Masks. Taman asked if they operated out of Embernook. We understood that Pelsoreen was unique (and uniquely awful) in that they were free to operate so openly, with a storefront and everything.</p><p></p><p>Taman: It seems like it would be hard for them to operate here in Embernook because of Administrator Alighieri.</p><p>Joybell: Yeah, he’d know. For sure.</p><p>Truehammer: I don’t think he’d allow child kidnappers and assassins to operate in the city.</p><p>Mo: We’ve reached the end of our investigative prowess. We have the sigils for a teleportation circle and a name, Turnik Steeltear.</p><p>Truehammer: I didn’t know there were any duergar left.</p><p>Joybell: You recognize that as a duergar name?</p><p></p><p>Truehammer said that he did. He also said that it might be possible for a duergar or two to have survived the Fiend Wars and subsequent clean-up of the fiends in their underdark cities, but that he didn’t think it possible that their culture had survived.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: We think he’s operating somewhere in or under the Dunimar Mountains. If you come up with any information that would help us localize him please let us know.</p><p></p><p>He agreed to think about it and let us know if he came up with anything.</p><p></p><p>Joybell then asked Truehammer if he knew of anyone who could make plate armor for her. He recommended a dwarf blacksmith in Allacross named Ernin Brightforge. He has some rock gnome assistants in the shop, so he definitely has the right mindset to make armor for a very small gnome.</p><p></p><p>We thanked the Chief and headed to the Tulmor and Barnett’s.</p><p></p><p>Team Library had gone there directly, of course. When they were standing outside the door, Fiona cast a sending spell to Tulmor.</p><p></p><p>Fiona: We’re ready for a pickup. But you should check your door first.</p><p></p><p>Tulmor answered the door and was surprised to see them there.</p><p></p><p>Orryk: We found some people who were good with plants.</p><p>Tulmor: That makes sense…</p><p>Orryk: Glad to see the city is still standing.</p><p>Tulmor: Us too. How can we help you?</p><p>Orryk: We have the runes for a circle, but want to know where we’re going.</p><p></p><p>Orryk described the circle setup in the Cave of Masks, showing Tulmor the box of runes.</p><p></p><p>Tulmor: That is not familiar magic to me.</p><p>Orryk: Would Barnett know?</p><p>Tulmor: He’s here. We can ask.</p><p>Fiona: How’s he doing?</p><p>Tulmor: He’s not so obsessed with Harl’s library as he was. But he’s gotten prone to recklessness.</p><p>Fiona: Reckless how?</p><p>Tulmor: He doesn’t seem to care what happens to him. He doesn’t seem to care what kind of danger he puts himself in.</p><p></p><p>She went to get Barnett and when they returned, Orryk and Fiona explained again the circle at the Cave and showed him the tiles.</p><p></p><p>Barnett: That sounds like high ritual stuff. Using a ritual, you can make a regular teleportation circle in a day, pretty easily if you know what you’re doing.. Something like that would have taken longer to make, and been … less easy..</p><p>Orryk: Can we find out what’s on the other side at a specific address?</p><p></p><p>Barnett said he would think about it. Fiona and Orryk both got the sense that he might be planning to do something really stupid…</p><p></p><p>At about that time, Team Guards arrived.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Hi! I found a line on a blacksmith to make my armor. So we can go find the Masks.</p><p></p><p>Joybell asked Tulmor and Barnett if they knew where duergar used to be in the Dunimar Mountains. Both of the wizards agreed with Truehammer that they thought duergar were extinct now.</p><p></p><p>They said that the Amorr River (the one that flows into Embernook from the south (under the Spans and Allacross) comes out of the Dunimar Mountains. The headwaters of that river are near (or perhaps at) an entrance to the underdark that may go to a duergar city that existed before the Fiend Wars.</p><p></p><p>Joybell took a look at her map to see where that might be.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: That’s right near where the Wold was!! Like maybe a few days of travel only. At least a few days on the road, and then going into the mountains. But it’s close! We could check on the Wold, see if the Mother Tree is still alive. Or if anyone has come back. I could find my friend Wren.</p><p>Orryk: Finding Steeltear by just walking into the underdark and fighting our way through everything that lives there to go to some unknown place is not a good plan.</p><p>Joybell: Yeah, it’s definitely not our first choice. But it’s something, if the teleportation circle lead doesn’t work out. And we could go to the Wold and see if the Mother Tree is still alive!</p><p></p><p>Barnett said he’d see what he could do about finding out what’s on the other side of that teleportation circle before we go through.</p><p></p><p>We left then. Just outside their place, Fiona cast another sending spell to Tulmor.</p><p></p><p>Fiona: Barnett seemed to have ideas about teleportation circle. Keep an eye on him.</p><p>Tulmor: Crap.</p><p></p><p>Fiona, Mo and Taman went to the Pewter Oar to get rooms for the people who stay there. Also to read or get drunk, according to inclination.</p><p></p><p>Joybell, Orryk and Thneed went to Allacross to find Ernin Brightforge, with a stop at the guard house to sell all the mundane stuff we’d collected.</p><p></p><p>We found the smith’s shop pretty quickly once we got to Allacross.</p><p></p><p>Joybell: Hi! I’m looking for plate armor! I have this and this.</p><p></p><p>As she spoke, without pausing, she took the hobgoblin plate armor from where she’d strapped it to Scooby and Orryk pulled the bullette plates out of the bag of holding.</p><p></p><p>Joybell, without stopping even for breath: Maybe you can make armor for Scooby too. This is Scooby. Actually, this is Darkmoon Moonstone Happyhowl, Defender of Henge and Wold. But he’ll respond to Scooby. Especially if you say it in gnomish.</p><p></p><p>Ernin Brightforge blinked for a moment, then one of the rock gnome assistants came forward with a suit of armor slightly too large for Joybell (who is small even by gnome standards) and did some holding up, and measuring, and more holding up.</p><p></p><p>Gnome: I think we can make something that will fit you.</p><p>Brightforge: It’ll take a week. With this stuff as down payment, it’ll cost 700gp.</p><p>Joybell: Sold!</p><p></p><p>She handed him the money.</p><p></p><p>They discussed the armor for Scooby, but Joybell decided against pursuing that because no one has ever attacked Scooby before and armor for him will weigh a lot and sort of bog him down. The bulette plates went back into the bag of holding.</p><p></p><p>Treasure:</p><p></p><p>Sold from the Bag of Holding to the Embernook Guards:</p><p></p><p>1 greatsword</p><p>30 longbows</p><p>28 longswords</p><p>20 shields</p><p>13 chain mail</p><p>1 half plate.</p><p></p><p>We get a total of 1947 gp, 5 sp. That splits to 324 gp, 5 sp each. 5 sp left over.</p><p></p><p>Party Kitty update: (With the 5sp from the sale of mundane items from the Bag of Holding added)</p><p></p><p>4 pp, 3 gp, 10 sp, and 16 cp.</p><p></p><p>Magic Items in the Bag of Holding:</p><p></p><p>Potion of Force Resistance</p><p>Potion of Radiance Resistance</p><p>3 doses of Keoghtom's Ointment</p><p>Candle of the Deep</p><p>Gloves of Swimming and Climbing</p><p>Immovable Rod</p><p>Gauntlets of Ogre Strength</p><p>Rope of Climbing (Mo may have this at the moment)</p><p></p><p>The Candle of the Deep, the Gloves of Swimming and Climbing and the Gauntlets of Ogre Strength are designated to possibly trade in to the guard for more useful items.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="prabe, post: 8178516, member: 7016699"] Session 28: We Made It Back To Embernook! Dramatis Personae: Mo - Goliath Bard (College of Lore) Orryk - Forest Gnome Monk (Way of the Four Elements, variant) Fiona - Half-Elf Wizard (Evoker)/Cleric (Knowledge) Taman - Human (variant) Rogue (Inquisitive)/Ranger Joybell - Forest Gnome Paladin (Oath of the Ancients) Thneed - Wood Elf Ranger (Hunter Conclave) GM - Everyone Else 30 Sicklin 748 (Campaign day 61) (immediately after) We began where we left off -- on the trail half-way between Callallah and the Cave of the Masks with Sorla the were-bear. Surrounded by the bodies of eight Masks. We started looting and searching the bodies -- aside from standard Mask equipment (longsword, longbow, arrows, shield) we didn’t find anything of interest. We weren’t expecting them to have coinage (we’ve never found an individual Mask with coinage) but we were kind of hoping that maybe we’d find some information or clues. We took the equipment and Mo made sure we put all the masks in the bag as well. Then we burned the bodies. We proceeded to the bonfire location, where we’d fought seven Masks, and searched with the same results. While the rest of us were looting bodies and building the pyre, Fiona cast detect magic so she could take a look at the box of tiles. They were in fact magical, gently so, with an aura of conjuration magic, appropriate for teleportation magic. Once all of those bodies were burning, we headed to the Cave of the Masks. While the others searched inside, Joybell and Thneed worked on dragging the bodies outside the cave and making a pyre. Everyone else searched in the cave. From the cots and the general level of tracks in the cave, it was clear that the cave has been occupied more or less continuously by some number of Masks. There was evidence of traffic into and out of the cave. Fiona cast another detect magic and saw a bit of residual magic, sparking and clearly shorting out and draining away -- conjuration again. Nothing evil, just now badly broken. We then went to Callallah. As we approached the village, we saw some people still out harvesting -- 3 kids on the shoulders of the dumb-giants picking apples and pears, 7 adults in the fields cutting the grain with scythes. One of the dumb-giants was being used as a beast of burden, carrying bundles of cut wheat to a cart. Mo took one of the masks out of the bag of holding and threw it toward the workers -- unfortunately it didn’t fly as he expected and it landed well short. So he took another one and used a mage hand spell to throw it in front of some of the workers. The rest of the party sort of stared at him. Mo: What? Is this not a common greeting? The villagers turned to look in our direction. Mo: Hey! How’s it going? We killed all the Masks. The villagers continued to stare. Joybell: Hello. One of the villagers in the field, a young man in his early 20s, came our way. Mo: Your town is free now. Joybell, to Mo: I think you’re getting ahead of the narrative. As the villagers approached it became clear that these were the same ones Taman had talked to earlier. Young Man, whose name turned out to be Orl, looking at Taman: You’re not a lone traveler. Orryk started pulling masks out of the bag of holding, eventually accumulating a pile of 34 of them. Orryk: We want to talk about these. Orl: That’s going to be my dad, Wilm. Orl led us toward the town. As we walked, Joybell made small talk with Orl about the fields and orchards we passed. What looked like a bumper crop of fruit and grain and other horticultural crops was the normal production for Callallah every year. Joybell: How’s life in the village? Orl: Mostly not too bad. Thneed: Where do the friendly giants come from? Orl: My dad can explain that. Joybell went back to chattering. Joybell: Do you have livestock? Orl: Chickens. Some farmers raise pigs. We keep two or three horses for the cart. Mo: One cart for the whole town? What’s it for? Orl: Every once in a while, someone will take a cartload of produce out of the valley to trade for things we don’t have here. We noticed as we walked through the scattered forest trees among the orchards and fields, that only the domesticated plants were doing especially well -- the apples had a bumper crop, but there were a normal number of acorns on the oak trees. We got to the town and found that it had 12 dwelling compounds, some with multiple buildings, obviously housing multi-generational families. We passed a horse barn/carriage house and something that looked like a bar or restaurant. Mo: There’s always a bar. All the people we saw in the village were human. Orl took us to one of the compounds -- we saw twelve children under the age of 10. Five pairs of twins, not identical twins. (Note: I had assumed that the twin births were all identical twin births, but that is not a correct assumption. Kids just are always born in pairs.) In an office or working space, we were introduced to Orl’s father Wilm Orter. Wilm: How are you doing? Orryk: We’re good. Then he started pulling masks out of the bag of holding. 35 of them. Mo: You had a Mask problem. You don’t any more. Are you happy there are no more Masks? Wilm: Life without the Masks seems like it would be nice, but I haven’t contemplated it. Joybell proceeded to explain why we’d come to kill the Masks - that we hadn’t actually come to liberate Callallah, we’d come to stop them from kidnapping children like the Orc orphans (taken to be vivisected), we’d come to stop them from destroying other villages and special places like the Wold. As we got closer, we realized that we would also be stopping them from kidnapping the children of Callallah to make them into more Masks. Joybell made sure that Wilm understood that their children were the Masks, transformed, and we’d killed a lot of them. Wilm: We tried not to think about it, but we knew. He said that every couple of years, the Masks would come and take one of each pair of twins between the ages of 8 and 12. They’d come from the cave with a cart and return with the children to the cave. About two weeks later the Masks would return with the broken ones -- their minds would be irreparably broken and their bodies would just keep growing and growing and growing. Those grew up to become the dumb giants the town used as beasts of burden. We asked if anyone from the village had been to the Cave to see what was there when the Masks weren’t in town. He said that his grandfather told a story from the time of his own grandfather (Wilm’s great-great grandfather) about a group of villagers who got it into their heads to do something about the Masks. They went into the cave and did something, broke something. It took three months for the Masks to come back, but they did come back. Joybell: Did your grandfather say if they came back by the road or on the trail from the cave? Wilm: They came back from the cave. We asked if there was a place we could eat and sleep in the village. Wilm said he would go and talk to the Brewers and Hostlers. We were taken to a parlor and waited there for about an hour. By the time Wilm came back we could smell cooking smells wafting in through the window. Wilm: The Hostlers are more than happy to clear space for you in the horse barn. And the Brewers are cooking and will provide you with food and beverage. We thanked him and went first to Brewers -- the restaurant and bar we’d seen. There were some of the villagers there eating the good food -- chicken and vegetables and a sort of stew. The bar offered, in addition to beer and hard liquor, cider, perry, cysers, meads and other delicious beverages. Mo spotted a couple of people in a corner puffing on pipes and went to talk to them. He made small talk and made a trade of a pouch of the smoking stuff he’d brought with him for a pouch of the locally grown tobacco. Smoker: I’ve only ever smoked what we grow here. I’m interested to see what else is out there. Thneed basically gorged herself on the beautiful fruit, mostly pears and apples at this time in the season. Joybell, uncharacteristically, stayed quiet. She just watched and listened to the people in the village to see how they were reacting to us -- where they afraid or uncomfortable or unhappy. Mostly they were curious and she didn’t hear them talking at all about the Masks being gone. Joybell: Maybe Wilm Orter didn’t tell them about that. Which makes sense -- we have three months to follow through on destroying the Forge and taking down Steeltear. If we fail, the Masks will be back. Thneed: It would put him in an awkward position. We then began to talk about how we could get back here quickly if we needed to return in a hurry to finish the job. Or to return to protect the village and re-destroy the circle in the cave. Joybell suddenly remembered the letter opener she has from Thalith’s office in Embernook and went to talk to Mr. Brewer, the barkeep. Joybell: Can I buy a spoon or something from you? As a souvenir. Also, I’d like to get a small keg of mead for us to have on our travels. Brewer left into the back room and came back a bit later with a spoon, which he handed to her with a bit of puzzlement, and a small pony keg. One of the ends of the keg was labeled “First Fruit 720” (note - it is currently the year 748). Brewer: This was a birthday brewing for someone who will never live to drink it. You may have it. Joybell, overwhelmed: I wish I had something as wonderful to give you in exchange. Brewer: You have. Joybell went back to our table feeling even more overwhelmed. Mo, who was pretty thoroughly wasted at this point, got frustrated because we hadn’t learned anything new in the town, at least nothing that would tell us where to go to find the Forge and destroy it. So he went out wandering around the town drunkenly looking for clues. Joybell and Fiona went walking around the town as well, though not with Mo -- Fiona cast detect magic and we walked around to see if anything pinged. The answer to that was yes -- the frame over the top of the well that the winch and bucket attached to was intensely magical -- to the point of being a strong magical item itself. The essence was of transmutation magic. So Fiona spent 10 minutes with her books casting identify, with Joybell patiently waiting, and learned that the magic of the well house was that all humans, domestic animals, and crop plants were vastly more productive. As Fiona was learning this, Mo stumbled past. Mo: A lemon tree! Eventually we all gathered in the barn, where Fiona cast her tiny hut and we slept the sleep of the genuinely exhausted. The night passed without incident. 1 Rippenin 748 (Campaign day 62) The next morning we woke up and before we emerged to possibly interact with the townsfolk, we discussed our plans. We had some disagreement over the larger strategy for taking out the Forge of Masks and Steeltear -- Orryk did not (and does not) want to go through a teleportation circle to wherever the outgoing symbols in the Cave were dialing without some way of seeing what’s there. Joybell doesn’t want to leave the work unfinished so that in three months the Masks come back for the villagers and their children again. To Joybell, teleporting in blind is clearly not a good idea and not our best approach but if it is the only approach we have, then needs must. We decided to set that question aside for a while and just deal with the next step or two. Fiona used a sending spell to communicate with Tulmor. Fiona: We’re ready for pickup. In Dunimar Mountains in Callallah. Do we need to go to Pelsoreen? We have info about the Masks. Tulmor, after a long pause: Don’t know Callallah. Pelsoreen or Ov. I’ll talk to Barnett. Joybell looked at the map in her bag, but wasn’t certain where we were. Joybell: Rangers -- do your ranger naughty word. Are we closer to Ov or Pelsoreen? After a bit of discussion, and the doing of ranger naughty word, it was determined that we were closer to Pelsoreen. Sigh. We decided to get to the road by way of visiting Tarck, rather than going out of town by the main road. We knew that Sorla was keeping an eye on the town, and hoped she’d catch up to us or run into us or find us as we left. We left town without further ado -- as we passed from fields and orchards into the wild forest we called her name a few times. Joybell spent the next couple of hours asking all the squirrels we ran into if they’d seen a bear. One of them eventually said that it had seen a bear but it didn’t know which way the bear went because it had run away and hid. About an hour after that, we ran into Sorla in her human form. She asked us if we’d found anything. Joybell: We know the address, so to speak, of a teleportation circle, but not the actual physical location of it. We asked her to take us to Tarck and she agreed to do so. The rest of the day of travel, and the following night, passed without incident. 2 Rippenin 748 (Campaign day 63) We got to Tarck’s clearing around mid-day. Tarck: Oh, you again! Joybell: We killed a lot of Masks. Mo: We’re trying to get back to Pelsoreen. Do you have any way to get us there more quickly? Tarck: I don’t have a lot of getting places magic. I spend most of my time rooted to the ground. Joybell asked him about the teleportation circle and if he’d seen runes like that before. Taman drew them on the ground so Tarck could see them. But Tarck didn’t recognize them. We asked if there would be a shortcut or a shorter way than going by road. Tarck: Hmmm…. Then he fell into the silence of deep thought. While he was pondering, Joybell and Thneed made a flower garland and draped it around Tarck’s trunk and lower branches. Joybell: Do you want to help, Orryk? Orryk: No. Joybell: But you’re a forest gnome! Orryk: You kids have fun. While Tarck was still engaged in his slow, deliberate treant ratiocinations, Joybel and Thneed finished their garland so Joybell started climbing Tarck, beginning just with sort of inching up the roots and then finding a low hanging branch to climb onto. She was moving slowly and carefully, trying not to be noticed too much. Which totally didn’t work. Tarck: What are you doing, Small? Joybell: Just climbing. Is that okay? Tarck: Oh. Okay. With permission, Joybell just kept climbing up up up until she was at the very highest branches that could support her weight. Tarck, after a long stretch of thought: I think I can help. I have seen a druid or two from the Primal Atoll come through here. One of them grabbed a sapling to plant on their island. This was thirty years ago. Maybe more like fifty. Time’s a little slippery. I believe that if they planted it, it should be large enough. He said he could cast transport via plants, which Irlua had used for us when we were at the Primal Atoll, to get us there. We agreed readily and Joybell started trying to climb down from her high perch up in the treant. After almost falling, Mo cast a rope trick right next to her and she was able to climb down the rope. Orryk: We have a rope of climbing. Mo: Oh. Right. Once Joybell was back on the ground, Tarck did some mumbling and moved a few of his branches and opened a portal in one of the trees surrounding his glade. We hustled through the tree, with Joybell explaining to Thneed about the Atoll as we went through. Joybell: They’re these awesome elemental druids that live on an island just a few hours from Pelsoreen. It’s beautiful and there’s a portal to the elemental plane of fire there. We emerged in a grove of plants not native to the sub-tropical climate of the Atoll, carefully managed and watched over by the druids both to keep them alive and to keep them from invading the rest of the island. A young novice tending the grove saw us all pop out, bristling with weapons and with a rather large wolf. She dropped her tools and ran away toward the village. Orryk, calling after her: Tell Irlua the gnomes are here. We started walking along the path toward the village, looking as non-threatening as possible. Joybell even got off Scooby and walked alongside, to make herself look less threatening. Irlua greeted us at the edge of the village. We told her that Tarck the treant in the eastern Dunimar Mountains transported us to the island. Joybell: Are there any boats in the docks that could take us to Pelsoreen. Irlua: No. Joybell: Do you have any way of getting in touch with Pelsoreen to get a boat? Irlua: Do you want to go to Pelsoreen? Joybell: Well, no. Not actually. But it’s our next step on the way to Embernook. Irlua: I can get you to Embernook. There’s a large tree in Soul’s Rest. Well, excellent then. Joybell thanked her and asked if there was anything we could do for her. Irlua: There is something you could do for the Primal Atoll. (Taman: Here comes the side-quest. Mo: We asked for homework…) Irlua: There is an important staff in New Arvai, Adnorga's Staff, in the School of the World. We need it here. Taman: Why do you need it? Irlua: It was stolen from another druidic circle. Mo: Can we have a bit more of a description? Irlua: It is an ebony staff that has ivory inlays. It is immensely helpful to druids and that I know of not at all helpful to anyone else. It is like a Staff of Power, but Shadowy, and for druids. We have asked them for its return but they will not return it. Joybell: What circle was it taken from? Irlua: The Umbral Circle. They were in New Arvai. They were of a sect of planar druids that protect from extra-planar threats. Orryk: What happened to the circle? Irlua: If you can find that out, that would be helpful. They were focused on protecting from threats from the Shadowfell. Joybell: Is it okay if we deal with our current situation first? That one is kind of a ticking bomb… Irlua: You will probably need to improve yourselves before going to the School of the World to steal something. We took a moment to consider the fact that we have a name from the School of the World in New Arvai -- one of the librarians was mentioned in The Keeper of Secrets’ letter to Jornas (found when we got the second Crazy Book that we gave to the Keeper of Secrets) -- Elledrian. Nicolana’s letter told Jornas to ask him if the Raven Queen knows where he is. At least a few party members read that as a threat. And the Raven Queen is the ruler of the Shadowfell. So there seems to be something of a connection there. There’s a missing druidic circle that protects against the Shadowfell. An item from that circle is in the possession of a magical college (and library) that has someone working for it who has some connection to the Raven Queen, possibly not a good one. And the library won’t give it up to other druids. There were also all of the shadowpools making portals to the Shadowfell around Embernook, the warlocks of Orcus, and the wights and deathlock wights and undead and other nastinesses a few months ago. Which might indicate that things are stirring in the Shadowfell. After a bit of discussion, we agreed to take on the task of retrieving Adnorga’s Staff for the druids when we were more powerful. Then Irlua sent us traveling by plant into a grove in Soul’s Rest in Embernook. Joybell was radiating excitement at being back in a nice city again. We headed to Tulmor & Barnett’s place, but split into two groups when we got to Centerkeep. Joybell wanted to go to check in with Chief Ullar Truehammer and the guards, and also to get Thneed an armband if possible. Joybell, Mo, Thneed and Taman were Team Guards. Orryk and Fiona were, as usual, Team Library. In the guard house, we found Chief Truehammer sitting at his desk. Joybell: Hello! We’re back! Truehammer: Oh, gawds. Our first order of business was to get a guard armband for Thneed. And to explain to her what it was and what it meant. Joybell: We’re guards. Sort of special duty guards. They’ll contact us if they need us. We started talking to Truehammer about the Masks. Taman asked if they operated out of Embernook. We understood that Pelsoreen was unique (and uniquely awful) in that they were free to operate so openly, with a storefront and everything. Taman: It seems like it would be hard for them to operate here in Embernook because of Administrator Alighieri. Joybell: Yeah, he’d know. For sure. Truehammer: I don’t think he’d allow child kidnappers and assassins to operate in the city. Mo: We’ve reached the end of our investigative prowess. We have the sigils for a teleportation circle and a name, Turnik Steeltear. Truehammer: I didn’t know there were any duergar left. Joybell: You recognize that as a duergar name? Truehammer said that he did. He also said that it might be possible for a duergar or two to have survived the Fiend Wars and subsequent clean-up of the fiends in their underdark cities, but that he didn’t think it possible that their culture had survived. Joybell: We think he’s operating somewhere in or under the Dunimar Mountains. If you come up with any information that would help us localize him please let us know. He agreed to think about it and let us know if he came up with anything. Joybell then asked Truehammer if he knew of anyone who could make plate armor for her. He recommended a dwarf blacksmith in Allacross named Ernin Brightforge. He has some rock gnome assistants in the shop, so he definitely has the right mindset to make armor for a very small gnome. We thanked the Chief and headed to the Tulmor and Barnett’s. Team Library had gone there directly, of course. When they were standing outside the door, Fiona cast a sending spell to Tulmor. Fiona: We’re ready for a pickup. But you should check your door first. Tulmor answered the door and was surprised to see them there. Orryk: We found some people who were good with plants. Tulmor: That makes sense… Orryk: Glad to see the city is still standing. Tulmor: Us too. How can we help you? Orryk: We have the runes for a circle, but want to know where we’re going. Orryk described the circle setup in the Cave of Masks, showing Tulmor the box of runes. Tulmor: That is not familiar magic to me. Orryk: Would Barnett know? Tulmor: He’s here. We can ask. Fiona: How’s he doing? Tulmor: He’s not so obsessed with Harl’s library as he was. But he’s gotten prone to recklessness. Fiona: Reckless how? Tulmor: He doesn’t seem to care what happens to him. He doesn’t seem to care what kind of danger he puts himself in. She went to get Barnett and when they returned, Orryk and Fiona explained again the circle at the Cave and showed him the tiles. Barnett: That sounds like high ritual stuff. Using a ritual, you can make a regular teleportation circle in a day, pretty easily if you know what you’re doing.. Something like that would have taken longer to make, and been … less easy.. Orryk: Can we find out what’s on the other side at a specific address? Barnett said he would think about it. Fiona and Orryk both got the sense that he might be planning to do something really stupid… At about that time, Team Guards arrived. Joybell: Hi! I found a line on a blacksmith to make my armor. So we can go find the Masks. Joybell asked Tulmor and Barnett if they knew where duergar used to be in the Dunimar Mountains. Both of the wizards agreed with Truehammer that they thought duergar were extinct now. They said that the Amorr River (the one that flows into Embernook from the south (under the Spans and Allacross) comes out of the Dunimar Mountains. The headwaters of that river are near (or perhaps at) an entrance to the underdark that may go to a duergar city that existed before the Fiend Wars. Joybell took a look at her map to see where that might be. Joybell: That’s right near where the Wold was!! Like maybe a few days of travel only. At least a few days on the road, and then going into the mountains. But it’s close! We could check on the Wold, see if the Mother Tree is still alive. Or if anyone has come back. I could find my friend Wren. Orryk: Finding Steeltear by just walking into the underdark and fighting our way through everything that lives there to go to some unknown place is not a good plan. Joybell: Yeah, it’s definitely not our first choice. But it’s something, if the teleportation circle lead doesn’t work out. And we could go to the Wold and see if the Mother Tree is still alive! Barnett said he’d see what he could do about finding out what’s on the other side of that teleportation circle before we go through. We left then. Just outside their place, Fiona cast another sending spell to Tulmor. Fiona: Barnett seemed to have ideas about teleportation circle. Keep an eye on him. Tulmor: Crap. Fiona, Mo and Taman went to the Pewter Oar to get rooms for the people who stay there. Also to read or get drunk, according to inclination. Joybell, Orryk and Thneed went to Allacross to find Ernin Brightforge, with a stop at the guard house to sell all the mundane stuff we’d collected. We found the smith’s shop pretty quickly once we got to Allacross. Joybell: Hi! I’m looking for plate armor! I have this and this. As she spoke, without pausing, she took the hobgoblin plate armor from where she’d strapped it to Scooby and Orryk pulled the bullette plates out of the bag of holding. Joybell, without stopping even for breath: Maybe you can make armor for Scooby too. This is Scooby. Actually, this is Darkmoon Moonstone Happyhowl, Defender of Henge and Wold. But he’ll respond to Scooby. Especially if you say it in gnomish. Ernin Brightforge blinked for a moment, then one of the rock gnome assistants came forward with a suit of armor slightly too large for Joybell (who is small even by gnome standards) and did some holding up, and measuring, and more holding up. Gnome: I think we can make something that will fit you. Brightforge: It’ll take a week. With this stuff as down payment, it’ll cost 700gp. Joybell: Sold! She handed him the money. They discussed the armor for Scooby, but Joybell decided against pursuing that because no one has ever attacked Scooby before and armor for him will weigh a lot and sort of bog him down. The bulette plates went back into the bag of holding. Treasure: Sold from the Bag of Holding to the Embernook Guards: 1 greatsword 30 longbows 28 longswords 20 shields 13 chain mail 1 half plate. We get a total of 1947 gp, 5 sp. That splits to 324 gp, 5 sp each. 5 sp left over. Party Kitty update: (With the 5sp from the sale of mundane items from the Bag of Holding added) 4 pp, 3 gp, 10 sp, and 16 cp. Magic Items in the Bag of Holding: Potion of Force Resistance Potion of Radiance Resistance 3 doses of Keoghtom's Ointment Candle of the Deep Gloves of Swimming and Climbing Immovable Rod Gauntlets of Ogre Strength Rope of Climbing (Mo may have this at the moment) The Candle of the Deep, the Gloves of Swimming and Climbing and the Gauntlets of Ogre Strength are designated to possibly trade in to the guard for more useful items. [/QUOTE]
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Erkonin (Campaign #1) [Session 46: Making Deals with Devils is Stupid as well as Bad]
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