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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Morrow" data-source="post: 789754" data-attributes="member: 301">AtE Session 9The party is understandably nervous about turning their blood over to a relative stranger a second time.  However, Auntie Annie does seem to have compelling reasons to help them.  At Thar’s request, Foleful casts a divination to determine if they will have cause to regret giving Auntie Annie their blood.  The response is a resounding no, so the party agrees to risk it.After some discussion the party agrees that their next step will require research at the extensive Gulg library.  They have questions about sympathetic magic, mind control, and lycanthropy which they cannot answer without the library’s resources.Thar inquires what Auntie Annie wants in return for her help.  Annie reveals that she is no longer allowed to enter the Gulg library and says if the party will share notes taken at the library about sympathetic magic with her she will pay 1,000 gp toward a library membership and prepare something to neutralize the effects of sympathetic magic based mind control.  Talks with Auntie Annie to provide some insight into her personality.  When asked if her studies make her family proud she says, “All evidence points to the contrary, but we’ll see.”She also mentions, “I love what I do and I think I’m pretty good at it… I’ve been slaving way at this for a while.”Atarax detects a feeling that she is being held back and asks her if there is some higher station she would like to reach.  Auntie Annie reveals that she belongs to an order, and the Order has ranks.  She feels that she is being held back, not given the respect she deserves.Auntie Annie reveals that the library is run by a small private organization headed by Azrael the Bugbear.  Something of a board of trustees, they oversee admissions to the library and the acquisition of new works.  She instructs the party to return soon with what they’ve discovered.Next the party approaches the one remaining magic item broker in town, Zane.  First they must pass a series of tests administered by Zane’s assistant, Fred.  They must touch a glowing blue sphere which apparently reveals whether they are telling the truth when asked questions about their intentions.  Fred seems satisfied that they do not intend to cheat them or sell cursed items, so the party is allowed to see Zane.  Zane proves to be a half drow.  He clearly has considerable experience with magic items, as one would expect.  After some wrangling he agrees to trade Atarax’s cloak of charisma (which he will soon be replacing with the more potent cloak being resized by Auntie Annie) and Rhuun’s rapier for a shortsword  of comparable enchantment and wand of cure light wounds.  The party, tries to get a better deal, but Zane is the only game in town and they desperately need to get Rhuun a more appropriate weapon.Zane also brings up the subject of a commission which Atarax had accepted from Zane’s competitor, the now dead bugbear trader named Smedley.  Atarax reveals that most of his companions were killed attempting to fulfill the commission to bring back the poison sacs of gargantuan spiders in the Hellmouth.  Zane reveals that he has taken over some of Smedley’s clients and he now needs the poison sacs to fill an order.  He presses the party to take the job, offering considerable reward, but the party has other concerns.  They promise to consider the matter and let him know when they return for the sword in a couple days.Next they find an orcish smith who agrees, for a small fee, to size down a magical chain shirt that Rhuun took from the bugbear she beheaded a few weeks before.Finally, the party reaches the library.  They have agreed that the prohibitive cost of membership means that they can only afford for a single party member to enter.  Foleful is elected, much to Moroku’s regret.  Foleful negotiates with the doorman and it quickly becomes clear that the highest level of membership, Archmage status, is considerably more expensive than Auntie Annie had lead them to believe.  Usually one must posses a lower level of membership for some time before advancing to Archmage status, and the fees for bypassing the normal procedure are considerable.  Auntie Annie had suggested that the costs would be around 2,000 gp.  The party ends up paying almost 3,500 gp before Foleful is admitted.The rest of the party goes away, their purses nearly empty.  They desperately hope that Foleful’s research proves worthwhile.Inside, Foleful goes through an extensive and sometimes painful process of examination before his membership is accepted.  Eventually he is cleared and admitted to the library with full Archmage privileges.  He spends the rest of the day pursuing personal research in the comparative theology section.  He finds the information on comparative creation stories to be quite extensive, and never gets around to researching any of the party’s questions.</blockquote>

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