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Message: <blockquote data-quote="nerdytenor" data-source="post: 4407749" data-attributes="member: 74526">At Elloen's houseYou arrive at a small house. Dardus approaches slowly, with a look of dread mixed with resignation. He knocks."Elloen? Elloen, are you there?" He waits a moment, and calls out again, slightly louder. "Elloen, though it pains me to bother you, we must talk. The future of our town may depend on it.""Fine," says a steely voice, nearly half a minute later. "The door is not locked."You follow closely behind Dardus as he opens the door, the dragonborn among you stooping to fit under the doorframe. You see a small, ill-kempt room. There is a small stove, a table, two chairs, and a desk, with various mundane objects on it. There is a straw bed in the corner. Elloen, a short, pale woman with fair hair sits behind the desk. She has deep lines under her eyes, and some of her hair has turned grey, even black in places. Clearly Mardrick's disappearance has made a mark on her.Upon seeing that Dardus is not alone, her complexion shifts to scarlet. "What is the meaning of this? What strange folk do you bring to my home, and at a time such as this," she cries."Elloen," Dardus says gently, "these brave souls are here to rescue Mardrick.""Rescue? How can you rescue a man who is already dead?" Her angry demeanor is briefly overtaken by short, pathetic sobs.Dardus edges towards the desk, placing his hand over hers for a moment, before it is jerked away. "Elloen, I realize how difficult this must be. But how can you possibly know he is dead?""Our... life rings," she sputters between sobs. She raises her other hand, pointing at what appears to be a normal ring. After Dardus fails to react, she says, with some irritation "Oh Dardus, you always were so provincial. Life rings are bound together with magic. Mardrick made a pair for us when he first began his studies of the arcane.  They both glow a soft blue, as long as both of the wearers remain... alive..." Once more, she falls into her staccato sobs.Dardus pales a bit after hearing this. "Then it is as I feared. Still, we must recover what little of his work we can. It is all we have.""Ha. We have nothing then. Never did know what he was doing," she says, with a sneer. "What good is it?""Elloen, it is the only hope we have. We must try.""Fine. Fine! What do I care? Go on your fools errand, then." Increasingly angry, she throws up her hands. "Why bother me with this at all? Or do you enjoy tormenting grieving widows?"Clearly hurt, but attempting to hide it, Dardus keeps his gentle tone. "Elloen, in order to help the search party," he says, gesturing towards you, "we need you to lend us whatever magical tools or notes he had."Incredulous, she stands up. "Outrageous! And besides, there's really nothing for you here. No, nothing at all! Look - look." She shows you around, gesticulating wildly. There  does not appear to be anything of any note in the house. "He always brought everything with him! None of his papers are here, and all of his idiotic 'magical' machinery is gone too!"Just then, all of your eyes are drawn to the desk. A small lump of stone you had all assumed to be a paperweight begins to emit a very low hum, and a dark purple halo can be seen towards the top. Seconds later, it becomes inanimate again."Elloen... what is... that?"Very quickly, she grabs the stone. "Oh I don't know, another one of his stupid experiments I suppose. It lights up like that every once in a while. About as useless as a broken lamp.""Elloen," Dardus intones, "this might be a clue for our adventurers. Would you consider lending it to them?""I've had enough taken from me. Enough! Leave me be!" She clutches the stone to her breast, sobbing.[sblock=OOC]Skill challenge. Your goal is to get the strange stone and/or life ring from Elloen if possible.Potential skills involved - arcana, diplomacy, intimidate, insight.Please see the out of character thread (<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=237320&page=2" target="_blank">http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=237320&page=2</a>) for details on how I will handle die rolls.[/sblock]</blockquote>

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