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Message: <blockquote data-quote="shilsen" data-source="post: 2983565" data-attributes="member: 198">Handled over email:In Sharn:Gareth visits the Cathedral in an attempt to obtain some extra magical supplies. Though the Archierophant is not present, he gets to speak to one of the priests who are currently available. After hearing about the request, the latter says that the temple has a very small number of restoration scrolls, since only the Archierophant has the ability to create them, and he cannot give them away without her express permission. He does, however, provide Gareth with three scrolls of lesser restoration. He also tells Gareth that his best bet for restoration magic is the House Jorasco headquarters in Dragon Towers, though they do not generally sell such magic in item form. The patient needs to be present for one of their healers to heal him. Gareth thanks the priest and heads back to Trillia’s home, stopping at the Deneith enclave to check on Lalia. There, he is informed that Lalia and Tasra are both expected back three days later. They are currently in Wroat as part of the security for Queen Aurala’s visit to Breland to meet King Boranel. Meanwhile, Korm and Luna visit Carosten Park and speak to Surr’kal about what has happened. He is more than a little horrified at the news, though it’s hard to say whether that’s more because they lost Nameless or the Key. After some thought, he says that he will perform a Gatekeeper ritual for the entire group the next morning, which will give them added protection. Korm tells Luna on the way back to Trillia’s that this is not normally done for non-Gatekeepers. Trillia returns four hours after she left, looking quite tired. She says, “Lots to report. Most importantly, I managed to scry Nameless successfully, and he’s alive. He was in a big circular room, with ceiling crystals, that pink covering on the walls, a sphincter - all that stuff we saw before. There were four slabs in there and Nameless was lying on one, completely stripped down. The slab had that pinkish material covering it and there were strips of it over his feet, hands and mouth like they’d grown there. I studied him for a few minutes and he never made a move, so I assume he was still unconscious. Just when the spell was about to end, a mind flayer and a dolgaunt came in. The dolgaunt looked just like the one that came along with the wagon-mimic, and the mind flayer looked a lot like the one we fought, with a big deformed eye and one empty socket, but its tentacles were intact. Neither of them noticed the sensor from the spell [OOC: I rolled two natural 1s on their Int checks!]. The mind flayer said to the dolgaunt, “Wake him,” and it went over to Nameless. I couldn’t see what it was doing from the angle I had, but I did see it wrap a tentacle around his head and then the damn spell ended. But at least we know he’s alive.”Trillia stops, takes a deep breath and then reaches into her haversack. She starts pulling out packets and putting them on a nearby table. Scrolls roll out of one and another clinks softly. As she puts them down, she explains, “I disposed of most of the items we found, some to the Guild and some to reliable people I know. I presume you wouldn’t mind, since we’ll need a lot of magical backup to safely get in there, grab Nameless and get out. I picked up a LOT of stuff and would have got more if it had been readily available.” She chuckles, a little of her usual good humor reasserting itself, and says, “Let’s just say there are a lot of people at the Guild who’re feeling a lot richer suddenly.”Having taken out all that she brought back, Trillia sits down and looks around the room. “All of you can stay here tonight and tomorrow early morning I’ll scry Nameless’s location one more time and we can leave as soon as I’m done. Does that sound good? Or as good as things can, under the circumstances.”About half an hour after Trillia returns, there is a new arrival at her house. This one is Dala Arand. Not only does she look well under the weather, but she also looks extremely upset. As soon as she is inside and alone with all of you, she bursts out, “What the hell did you guys do with the Key? I’ve been feeling like crap since yesterday and trying to work out where the hell you went!”The adventurers explain what happened, which naturally doesn’t improve Dala’s state of mind. “You lost the bloody Shard? Oh, that’s just great!” After a little yelling, she manages to calm herself a bit. Trillia explains that they will be heading back there to hopefully rescue Nameless and return with the Shard. After all, it is not just Dala who has a link to it but everyone else here besides Trillia. As if to underscore her words, all of the Angels’s tattoos grow warm and begin to throb slowly. There is the usual accompanying urge to be near the Shard, but no attendant pain or feeling of illness, perhaps because not enough time has passed or because they are trying to recover it.After a little more discussion, Dala leaves, saying that she will return at the same time next evening. After she leaves, Gareth says, “I still argue that I should be the one holding onto the Shard. I'm a little less squishy then Nameless, and by the grace of the Silver Flame I am able to resist harmful spells and poisons. I think maybe after this incident, we will change who is holding onto it.” “That's up to you all to decide,” says Trillia, “But you have a point, Gareth. Though Nameless does have the advantage of being able to end up 500 feet or 500 miles away in a couple of seconds, when needed. At least when he’s not being licked by a walking wagon, that is. I wonder how much the Silver Flame protects against that.”She looks across at Luna, and adds, “Might not be a bad idea to have you carry it. When you’re in animal form it would meld into you, so somebody couldn’t take it off you without actually killing you. And you seem able to absorb horrible amounts of damage in that bear form of yours. Of course, this is all academic till we recover it.”With Trillia's words to Luna, Gareth's eyes go wide, “Hm. I think I can speak for all of us that we think that would be a bad idea. Luna is more likely to give it away to someone then have them try and kill her for it.”Meanwhile, in Yarkuun Draal:Nameless awakes, feeling incredibly weak. Though he does not know it, he’s in the chamber Trillia saw him in. The first thing he sees is a dolgaunt leaning over him, which he recognizes as the messenger from Naxaliyen. And the first thing he feels is the solid strips of material wrapped around his ankles/feet, wrists/hands and throat/mouth. The thick material makes it almost impossible to move and prevents speech, though it doesn’t interfere with his breathing. The dolgaunt, which has both tentacles wrapped around the top of Nameless’s head, unwraps them and steps back. Behind the dolgaunt stands a mind flayer, dressed in long robes. Though it has a missing eyesocket and one much larger, deformed yellow eye, like the spellcasting mind flayer did, this one is slightly taller and its tentacles are whole. It gazes at Nameless for a few seconds and then says, in goblin, “You have caused great damage, but I will find a way for you to remedy it. A pity your friends escaped. Still, you may prove interesting enough on your own. I believe you are a mighty mage, by your people’s standards. Let me see now.”It steps forward, tentacles waving, and lets out a gurgling laugh as it advances, “No, don’t bother to stand or speak on my behalf.” Reaching Nameless, it leans over and takes his head in both hands. Two of the tentacles place themselves at his nostrils and two at his ear holes.The mind flayer tightens its grip on Nameless’s skull and says, in a tone of amused anticipation, “Let’s see what secrets you have for Naxaliyen.” And then the tentacles burrow their way through the various orifices. There is a long moment of more excruciating pain than Nameless has ever felt, as he feels the tentacles making their way through his ears and nostrils, and he struggles involuntarily, but the combination of the restraints and Naxaliyen’s grip make it futile. Even the accompanying scream provides no relief, since it is muffled by the band over his mouth.Strangely, the pain dies away after a few seconds, to be replaced by a dull ache. Within it, Nameless can still feel the tentacles. There is a moment of pressure as the tentacles reach his brain, and then Nameless has the indescribable feeling of them digging into his brain. Naxaliyen sighs with obscene satisfaction and closes its single eye.As it does so, Nameless has the fairly unique experience of actually seeing his life flash before his eyes. Naxaliyen’s face fades from his eyes and instead, everything that he has experienced begins to flash before his vision, starting at his last memory of the battle and working backwards. The memories flash faster and faster, until they are an indistinct blur, but Nameless somehow remains perfectly aware of what he’s seeing. And so, he realizes, is Naxaliyen.Within a few seconds, Naxliyen ‘rewinds’ Nameless’s memories all the way back to the events on the island near Xen’drik. When the memories hit the encounter with the daelkyr, Naxaliyen stops and opens his eye, surprise obvious on even his inhuman face. Then the surprise is replaced by a combination of amusement and glee. “You are more singular than I thought, human. So you have this Key. And you know how to use it. Excellent!” He turns his head to look at another slab, jerking Nameless painfully (since the tentacles are still attached to him), and gazes at it. Nameless’s equipment is carefully arranged on it, including the unopened box with the Key in it. Naxaliyen turns back to Nameless. “But how do you know how to use it? And why are part of your memories hidden even from you? And there is something else there. Show me, human.” He leans in and again closes his eye. Nameless feels a sense of renewed pressure in his head and the memories begin to flow backwards again. They slide backwards, reversing through his adventures with the other Angels in Sharn and elsewhere, back through his experiences from the War’s end to the fall of Cyre two years ago, until they reach his last conscious memory – walking out of the mists of death around the newly created Mournland. The memories end immediately.Naxaliyen opens his eye, this time irritation shining in it. “This will not do,” he mutters and then closes it again. As he concentrates, his brow ripples back and forth. The pressure in Nameless’s head builds up until it is back to being pain, even worse than when Naxaliyen first attached his tentacles. Inside his head, he has a vision of a locked, mental gate, with the mind flayer pounding at it with waves of ever-increasing mental force. Nameless’s vision blurs. Just as he is about to black out, there is an almost audible ‘crack’ and the mental barrier flies open. Whatever was hidden within floods out, and as the pain recedes, Nameless remembers. Everything.</blockquote>

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