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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 975028" data-attributes="member: 1210">The Weapon"You are aware of Felenga, of course.  He is dangerous.  He is from-" the Master of Darkhold glances at Lester and Malford- "a realm before.  And he is very tricky."Angelfire has poured himself some beer and is drinking.  The party is taking their ease on the couches of the chamber.  "Why did he come here?" asks Malford."He took samples," the Master replies.  He face is expressionless.  "I believe he seeks to fashion a key so that he can seek Darkhold out at will.""What would happen if he came in after you?""He would be imprisoned."  The Master of Darkhold pauses, his eyes narrowing.  "You cannot fight him without a powerful weapon.  You must find one.  I will aid you.  When you leave here, you will find it if you look for the hands.  You need only follow the path before you.""Is that where the weapon is?""The body with the hands held the weapon.""What can you tell us about it?""Only that it is in the Far Realms.  The hands will lead the way.""In the-!" Horbin exclaims, choking on his words.The Master of Darkhold gives them room to rest, food, drink.  Lester is nervous; what will this weapon be, how long will it take, and most importantly- will it satisfy his geas to work against the Temple of Elemental Evil?  It is for the purpose of overthrowing Felenga, so- he hopes- it counts.  It does, he tells himself, sweating slightly.After a luxurious night's rest, the party leaves Darkhold.  A strange place, with a strange Master- possessed of strange powers.  They exit back into the subterranean realm they had come from.  Taking the Master of Darkhold at his word, they head along the underground path they are on, and after an uneventful few minutes they are beset by some sort of incorporeal beast that grabs at them with its ghost touch tentacles, dematerializes them and drags them into the stone, and releases them, dealing significant damage to them as they're shunted from the stone.  Darting from within the floor and walls, the bizarre spectral lurker cannot stand up to the readied attacks of our heroes en masse, and is finally driven away.  A search of its lair turns up a skeleton with strangely disfigured hands, the fingers stretched and curled in weird waves.  Clearly, this is what the Master of Darkhold was talking about.  Among other things, the body bears a staff and a weird skull mask.  They return with the loot to Var in order to have Orbius' perfect identify them; this reveals the staff to be a staff of earth and stone, which Malford claims, and the mask to be a mask of the skull, which goes to Drelvin.Lester has been struck by an idea for the last little while; now he tries it out, casting lesser planar ally to summon Turfi the aerial servant mortal hunter.  In a howl of wind, the aerial servant appears, visible to the L through his ability to perceive elementals."Will you serve me, Turfi?" Lester cries."If you pay my price," Turfi answers in Auran.  Lester's ability to speak with elementals sees him through."I ask you to kill your counterpart, Lendivo!" the L announces dramatically.  "What is your price?""In return, you must kill your companions!""Um, no, that's not a good deal.  All right, then you must answer our questions for an hour!""For each question you ask, you must sacrifice a sentient being.""Gah!  Never mind, you're dismissed!"  Turfi vanishes, and Lester grumbles to himself.  "Well, I tried," he mutters.Sybele, who was with him in case of mischief nods agreement.  "You did.  Thanks for trying."The group sips at Angelfire's flask of tiley.  Malford's simulacrum gets really drunk and rants about killing illithids.  Jezebel takes a drink after receiving mixed signals of approval from the party and her mother, and promptly passes out.  In the morning she awakens feeling awful, and the simulacrum of Malford approaches her about learning magic.  "You have dragon blood, after all," he points out.  "You should be a capable sorcerer."Sometime around noon, Malford's lamassu cohort Charleston casts speak with dead on the body with the warped hands.What is the most powerful weapon you've seen in the Far Realms?  --the Deleter, comes a whispy voice, hoarse from the grave.Where in the Far Realms is it?  --UnknownWho holds it or controls it?  --Unknown"Curses," he mutters."It's a start," Orbius says confidently.  "Tonight I'll commune."Malford again proposes that the party go to kill the illithids that plague the svirfneblin they met, but Lester emphasizes again the immediacy of his geas.  "Maybe we can do it on the way back," Malford says.  "I understand about geasa... and maybe I can help you remove it.  I'm gonna need some samples."That night, Orbius communes with Boccob.Is the Deleter the weapon of the Master of Darkhold was referring to?  Seems likely.Where in the Far Realms is it specifically located?  It moves.What creature or force has it?  Unknown.How will it help us?  Unknown.Where can we find a cleric strong enough to resurrect the bones?  The Halls of Heaven.Where will the Deleter be in 10 hours?  Unknown.Where is it right now?  Beyond the Veils of Madness.What is the best way to find it?  Seek Olaf's Book.Where specifically can we find this book?  The Halls of Greypeak.Where are these halls?  On Arba.Has the Temple of Elemental Evil resurrected Lareth?  No.Who besides Felenga would know where his phylactery is?  His familiar.What is his familiar's name?  Mr. Grab.Is Mr. Grab always with Felenga?  Yes.What is Mr. Grab?  A handWhat's the best strategic location to strike at the Temple of Elemental Evil?  Their portals.What do we need to do to destroy their portals?  Destroy the orb.Is the Queen wise to Malford's shenanigans?  Yes.A divination follows, seeking advice on where to find Arba.Seek the portal at Makon, comes the celestial whisper to Horbin.  "That's the same city that had the scroll of true resurrection that Galador guided me to!" exclaims Lester.  "I'll bet there's lots of loot in there somewhere, but it's huge!"A little more research and another divination lead them to the Prince's Library, which lies in ruins.  Beneath it they find a secret door and a strange, pearlescent portal.  Orbius suggests the party take a little time to do some divinations before venturing through it.  He sits for a while and uses a legend lore spell to learn a little ditty:A way in but not outTo a place inspiring doubtA place where magic fadesWhere strength rules the raidsWhere iron is the masterHe wins who is the fasterWhere spells will not prevail Where madness pounds a nailWhere Ruin rules the landWith an iron handWhere escape is only foundIn the Halls of the Unbound"Er, that sounds like a low magic world to me," Orbius says, disgruntled.  "And one that it's hard to escape from.""Clearly," Malford says, "we should do more divinations before going through that portal.""Tomorrow," the Eye agrees.The party trumps back to Var. Next Time: A little more about Arba, and Angelfire has a strange little problem!</blockquote>

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