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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SurfMonkey01" data-source="post: 1483553" data-attributes="member: 1898">1: Nothing Important Happened Today, part threeIt had been a long time since the young man had seen another person, let alone the light of day.  The only contact he had, day in and day out, was his jailer: a powerful troll by the name of Adirwec.  At least twice a day, if not more, the troll would come to “check” on him.  More often than not, a chain was involved.    Today, however, looked to be different.  For as the young man lifted his head to investigate a sound he had just heard, he found five individuals – four men and one women – materializing in the center of his cell!    “There he is,” the tall albino one said.  “We should get him out of here.”  The albino turned towards the muscular knight-looking one.  “Tiny, go with him.”    Another man – this one grey-skinned and wearing blue wizard robes, handed the boy a ring.  “Here, take this,” he said.  “Tiny, get close to him.  You two get to go visit the clerics of Mystra until we’re done here.”  The grey-skinned man waved his hands in strange motions and muttered unintelligible words, and the young man felt himself begin to slowly fade away…    “Alright, folks,” Anciano said.  “Time to find us a troll and –"  He let his sentence trail off as a sound from outside the cell could be heard: that of a door creaking open.    Mourgram leaned against the door and looked through the tiny opening in its center.  “It’s the troll!”    Quietly, the four friends assumed their positions.  Aranna moved towards the back corner of the cell, knocking her longbow with several arrows.  Azek faded into the very shadows that blanketed the walls.  Anciano stationed himself to the side of the doorway.  And Mourgram held his stance in the center of the room, preparing himself for a spellcasting.    The cell door swung open, and the troll immediately bellowed in rage as he realized these four strangers were not his prisoner.  Before he could do anything else, however, Azek’s short sword was buried in his side and Mourgram had begun the incantations of his chosen spellcasting.    A wave of energy seemed to roll from the tiefling’s hands and wash of Adirwec, who immediately felt its pull.  A sudden rush of fear overwhelmed the troll, along with an uncontrollable urge – to run away, as fast as he could.    The troll turned and ran.    Aranna loosed her arrows, all of them striking true and burying themselves into the troll’s back.  Anciano sprung into a spellcasting of his own – several balls of electrical energy appeared at his feet, and at his command rolled towards the troll.  The electrical balls trapped the troll in the corner, and within seconds he had fallen.    Nodding to one another, the quartet set out down the winding hallways, searching for clues as to why the young man had been held here or who his captors were.  Azek led the way, his trained eye constantly on the lookout for traps.  After a time, their wanderings brought them to a warped wooden door.  From the other side, dozens of chittering little voices could be heard speaking in the draconic tongue.    “Kobolds,” Azek announced.  Cautiously, he swung the door open.  The chamber was not very large, and contained almost nothing to speak of.  It only contents were a large pile of gold and gems, and the two-dozen kobolds that were currently “swimming” in it.  Mourgram, however, saw that the room contained at least one surprise.    “The back wall is fake,” he announced – mere seconds too late.    A mighty roar came from “behind” the wall, and a hideous form literally stepped through it.  Standing over eight feet tall, it was a horrid insect-like creature with a pair of terrifying pinchers instead of hands: an Umber Hulk.    Azek immediately sprang into action, tumbling and rolling through the sea of now-frightened kobolds.  Coming to his feet next to the Umber Hulk, he drew both of his swords and buried them deep into the creature’s side.  The horrid beast squealed in pain, and then struck the dark elf with both of its pinchers, locking him in a powerful grip.  When Azek could not break free, the beast bit deeply into his shoulder.     Aranna loosed several arrows from her bow, burying two of them deep into the beast’s chest.  It again cried out in pain, this time dropping Azek.  Anciano swung his sword towards the Umber Hulk, and five streaks of multi-colored energy arced from the sword into the creature, striking it down.    The frightened kobolds attempted to escape, but were easily slain.  Mourgram produced a magical bag from his travel pack and loaded the treasure into it, hoping they would have time to sort it out later.  Meanwhile, Aranna attempted to patch Azek’s wounds as best she could.  He would be fine for the time being, but he would require professional care when they returned home.    Over the next several hours, they explored every square inch of the underground tunnels, finding no evidence of either the boy’s true nature or why he was there.  Soon they had only two rooms left to search – and they could clearly hear a humming coming from one of them.    Opening the door, they found the chamber to be almost completely empty.  It only contents were a small stone slab situated in the room’s center, and a glowing magical orb which rested on the slab.  To Mourgram’s sight, however, the orb was revealed to be nothing more than an illusion.    Azek squinted his eyes for a second, trying to get a better look at the room’s far wall.  “There’s something over there,” he announced.  Approaching the back wall, he found a tiny seam in the stone.  Feeling the wall around the seam, he triggered a switch, and the hidden wall panel opened.  Revealed behind this panel was the source of the humming: the true magical orb.    Perfectly round and no bigger than a crystal ball, the orb was gold in color and seemed to carry the auras of every variety of magic.  Although they could not be sure until they studied it in detail, Anciano and Mourgram were fairly sure they were looking at a fabled Orb of Dragonkind.  Carefully, the tiefling loaded it into his magical storage bag.    Azek was about to open his mouth to speak when a loud creaking noise could be heard from the next room: the door had just been opened.  As quietly as he could, the dark elf pushed the door to the room they currently occupied shut.  Through the small opening in the door, they could see a round creature with a dozen eyestalks protruding from the top – a beholder -- floating past… Once the beholder was clear of the doorway, Azek swung the heavy chamber door open once more.  Aranna loosed several more of her arrows at the aberration, striking it twice.  Azek vanished into the shadows once more and emerged behind the beholder, sinking his blades deep into its back.  Enraged, the creature turned to face the dark elf – and that was when Mourgram and Anciano appeared within the space the creature had last been looking at.  Several of the beast’s eyestalks began firing their powerful magical rays at it attackers, but none of them struck their intended targets.  Anciano entered into another spellcasting, and the beholder fell to the ground, its movements sluggish – almost as if its strength had been completely sapped.  Two more arrows from Aranna, and it was finished.  The boy’s captors had all been slain.Hours later, the quartet had returned to the temple of Mystra in Waterdeep.  Upon arrival, they were informed that the young man had been receiving the finest possible care, and that he was going to be fine.  Tiny had voiced their concerns about the lad’s lineage to the high cleric, and he had agreed to do everything in his power to find out the truth.  The friends were encouraged to rest for the evening, and they would be informed of any finding in the morning. At first light, the companions were awakened by a young page who informed them that the high cleric had uncovered the answers which they sought.  Gathering up their belongings, they returned to the temple. “I have been able to concretely determine the young man’s lineage,” the high cleric began.  “Part of the child’s bloodline is partially-diluted elven blood.  And the other part is indeed the bloodline of former King Azoun IV.  This young man is indeed an heir to throne of Cormyr.”  He sighed.  “Although I believe he may need some more time to recover from his ordeal, I know that the situation in Cormyr is dire and that he may be able to restore some order there.  Thus, I am releasing him into your care.  Whether he is ready for it or not, I sense that this young man has quite a destiny to fulfill.”    Before they left the temple, Mourgram had used the ring to let Vanderghast know they were coming.  The wizard had requested that they meet him not at his cabin, but rather just outside of Suzail.    “Welcome back!”  Vanderghast turned towards the young man.  “It’s an honor to meet you.  We have so much to do, and so little time in which to do it.  I certainly hope you’re ready.”    “So, what now?”  Anciano asked.    “Well, I was hoping you wouldn’t mind allowing our new friend and me to stay at your college for a time.  It’s one of the most secure places I can think of, and it gives us a quiet place where I can teach our young friend here everything he needs to know for what comes next.”    “And what does come next?”  Aranna inquired.    Vanderghast offered her a half-smile.  “Now, my dear, we save Cormyr.”</blockquote>

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