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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Morrow" data-source="post: 789937" data-attributes="member: 301">The rest of the party quickly parts ways.  Most of them head toward goblintown while Atarax heads off to work his magic in orctown.  He manages to find an orc who remembers knowing Zorn about a year ago in Freetown.  At that time Zorn had worked as a guard for Bump, the head of the orctown section of Freetown.  His training as a monk made him somewhat unusual, but Zorn had not been a particularly impressive fighter or particularly well respected by his fellow orcs.Shortly before Atarax’s informant had left Freetown for Gulg, Zorn had been promoted, perhaps because of his friendship with Hargok, an orcish warrior who had shown up out of nowhere and quickly become popular among the orcs of Freetown.  Hargok had been good with an axe and had told good stories, but Atarax’s informant could not remember any particular reason why he had been so popular.While Atarax gathered information Thar made contact with the goblin clerics of Gulg.  It quickly became apparent that Thar was more powerful than any of the clerics of Maglibuyet in Gulg.  Moreover, none of them had received any visions from their god.  Thar makes overtures to Kooluk, the highest ranking cleric of Kaldeki in Gulg, and by all accounts the most powerful cleric of any god in goblintown.  However, he receives a curt message that Kooluk is very busy and doesn’t have time to meet with him.Thar does manage to find a cleric of Maglibuyet who left Freetown about a year ago.  The cleric remembers when Bloody Pulp had showed up in town shortly before he left.  The cleric reports that Bloody Pulp had, “Always known the right thing to say,” and had proved very popular, even with Dicey, the leader of the goblins in Freetown.14th of CharderThe party stays in goblintown over night at a place that Atarax and Foleful had stayed during their last trip to the city.  Thar’s contacts are able to put Foleful in touch with Smudgy, a young goblin wizard who has just learned his first spells.  Foleful immediately declares that Smudgy is his new apprentice and returns with him to the library.Due to his Archmage status Foleful is allowed to bring a single apprentice with him into the library, and he immediately sets the young goblin to work taking notes he dictates from the library’s sympathetic and ritual magic collection.Foleful learns that the blood of a creature drained during its dying breath is particularly potent and can be used to great effect by those with a command of sympathetic magic and necromancy.  He soon finds the story of a drow warrior of legendary power who wielded a great black spiked chain.  The drow had apparently defeated a solar in single combat.  However, after the battle, at the height of his power, the drow had been stabbed in the back by his companion, an assassin.  The assassin had caught the drow warriors blood in a vessel.  Just as the warrior was passing the threshold between life and death, the assassin gathered that particularly potent blood in a separate container.  From those last few drops of blood taken at the moment of death a sympathetic mage working for the assassin had managed to craft five Potions of Paragon Perfection, a concoction said to grant the Strength of the tarrasque, the wisdom of a dragon, and the speed of a quickling.Foleful finds many formulas and additional information about sympathetic magic which Smudgy takes down for Auntie Annie.  However, his efforts to find a way to charm large numbers of people over a long period of time through sympathetic magic proves fruitless.Atarax spends the day in Bugbeartown.  After much searching he discovers several bugbears who had been in Freetown the previous year.  Careful questioning reveals that about a year ago a new bugbear named Skylock had joined the bugbear community in Freetown.  He was very well liked, but for some reason he was unpopular with the higher ranking bugbears.  Gariarch in particular didn’t like him, although Skylock tried very hard to ingratiate himself with the bugbear leadership.Much to his amusement Atarax also discovers that the reason that Gariarch hated clerics is that he, like Foleful, was a secular humanoidist.  Under other circumstances it seems possible that Gariarch and the party might have been natural, if uneasy, allies.15th of CharderThe party starts the day by visiting Auntie Annie.  Foleful tells her what he discovered about necromancy and sympathetic magic and relates the story of the drow warrior.  He also turns over copies of his notes, much to Auntie Annie’s delight.Auntie Annie gives Atarax his newly fitted cloak and gives each party member two potions.  The first is to be taken before returning to Freetown. The second should be taken when the party feels an assault on their minds.  It will help prevent any form of mind control, but will prove particularly effective against mind control derived from sympathetic magic.  The potion will retain its efficiency for a month, and should be used before then.Auntie Annie also gives Krikara a small pouch of dust and instructs her to throw it in Auntie Em’s face.  She explains that the powder is made from a lock of Auntie Em’s hair and should break any charm.Foleful then returns to the library and begins research in the enchantment room, particularly the mind control subsection.   He reads up on the Mass Charm enchantment and the magic item known as a Rod of Rulership.  His research reveals that the Rod of Rulership is often crafted using components from creatures who can themselves charm.Foleful turns his attention to creatures with the ability to charm: Nymphs, many creatures from the lower planes including Devils (particularly Erinyes) and Demons (particularly Succubi), Barghests, Vapor Boars…The last two catch his attention.  Barghests are shapeshifting creatures that often disguise themselves as goblins.  Greater Barghests can take on a form almost eight feet tall and three hundred pounds.  Not unlike the strange bugbear form that Egor took on in Foleful’s thought capture.Vapor Boars are multi-legged, tentacled, blue dog-like creatures that exist in the deep Hellmouth.  Their potent mind control abilities allow them to charm whole villages.  In fact, Foleful remembers the cat-demons mentioning seeing creatures that matched the vapor boars description in the Hellmouth.Reminded of the Rakshasas, Foleful looks them up.  He discovers that, as the party had discovered, they are highly resistant to weapons and effectively immune to magic.  He discovers that a cleric of purest good can bless a crossbow bolt to do serious damage to Rakshasas, not much help in the middle of the Underdark.The party meets up that evening and Foleful makes his report.  Atarax makes the suggestion that the Barghests, with their soul sucking Eeevil, would be natural allies for followers of Nerull.The party returns to Auntie Annie’s shop.  Krikara asks what to do if, after being released from magical compulsion, Auntie Em demands that they prove that Auntie Annie sent them.  Auntie Annie advises that Krikara tell Auntie Em about the time the sisters killed ten bugbears and played tug-of-war with their large intestines.  The party describes Foleful’s research and begin discussing theories.  They suggest that Vapor Boar and Attach blood could provide the basis for the mind control and strength effects that they have observed.  Auntie Annie agrees that it is theoretically possible, but that still does not explain how the magics remain effective over an extended period of time.  A single dying creature could only provide a small amount of blood necessary to create the effects the party describes.  The Evil Genius would require nearly limitless supplies of blood in order to effect the sheer number of humanoids involved.The party begins throwing around theories.  This is clearly beyond the realm of regular extension magic.  A time stop effect might keep the dying creature at the moment of death, but there would be no way to harvest the blood.Then Krikara has a breakthrough.</blockquote>

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