In reply to Sunna (msg # 101):

Holly adds,"Well, looking locally, that might be the interpretation, but you have to look at it wider than that. It may be that a great evil is harming people we don't know, and will never meet, but are within the awareness of the gods. To balance it all out, Obad-Hai may grant Harj special insight into the source of the disease and Harj may heal more through it."

Holly considers for a moment, and adds more, "Also, the balance is not always instant. For something truly evil, or good, or destructive or life bringing there might not be a way to balance it out today, or even tomorrow. Sometimes the gods wait ages, at least from our point of view to rebalance the world." Holly shrugs her shoulders and says, "Which for some is hard to accept. To them Balance is constant equality. In reality it a balancing game where you don't want to over compensate or not do anything. At least, that is how I see it. Everything has a purpose in keeping the balance, even murders and atrocities like the Ogres trolls the goblins grow."
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:16, Fri 15 May 2015.

With all the talk of Shrines of Unnature, Adiel decides to ask the group about their previous encounter. "You said you visited a shrine like this before. What was it like? And did you manage to remove its powers?"

In reply to Holly (msg # 102):

Sunna thinks about Hollys words for several moments, then nods slowly. "I guess it's difficult to see that something needs years, if not longer, to be balanced out. And it's worse when it's something good that will lead to something evil some time. But I think I'm beginning to understand your way of thinking. Thank you for that, Holly."


OOC: I've read about the shrine but Sunna wasn't there when I remember correctly.

In reply to Adiel (msg # 103):

Holly gave Adiel the best explanation she could to the question of the shrine. "Well, we were lucky in finding one only just created. We destroyed the creatures growing in the ground, those that have grown to full size here and are truly horrible. For the stonework we destroyed what we could, and passed on its location to Tora and others to be aware of. We were lucky to get it early. Not so lucky this time I am afraid."

Adiel nods, as if this is what he expected to hear. "I'm glad you destroyed the creatures and avoided the location afterward. However, the power of a shrine does not come from its stonework or architecture. You could level a shrine completely, and the ground would retain its power, a power that comes from its patron deity."

"If the tales tell me true, the only way to take away the power of an evil god's shrine is to consecrate it to another god, usually a god of goodness, healing, and mercy. Most of the stories tell of priests or priestesses of Pelor--or sometimes Ehlonna--doing this sort of consecration, but I wondered if a Druid might be able to." He looks at Holly curiously. To Adiel, the Druids are one of the few true mysteries of the world--sometimes he feels that he understands faeries and goblins better than Druids.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:13, Mon 29 June 2015.

"Well, at the time we didn't have a priest on hand, so we did the best we could. Telling the Elders leaves it to them to bring in priests. As to the druids, well I don't know whether we could consecrating ground as technically it all belongs to Obad-Hai in some part at least" Holly answers, aware there is a little interest in her vocation from Adiel, but also aware there was a lot she didn't know about the ways of her fellow druids. When it was necessary, she had always found someone to lead her to the next stage, like when Erma had appeared and explained the trick in changing herself into an animal.

Adiel nods, eyebrows raising slightly. In retrospect, it makes sense that one young druid wouldn't know all their secrets, but he had never thought about levels of knowledge and secrecy within their ranks before.

Going over the group's treasure, Adiel puts some thought into what part of him considers the greatest treasure of all: the books. He decides to make a suggestion to the group, "Some of these would make excellent gifts to our friends and allies. We should give the book on item enchanting to Coal. After seeing what the dress did to Cordelia's powers, I wish we'd taken the dress to Coal, too... but it did save us a hefty tax." Adiel shakes his head, ambivalent. "I thought perhaps we could give the epic story to the Proctor and the children's stories to the Harper's guild."

"I hope the dress keeps her thoughts from other things for a while", Sunna answers. She's not too happy with what Cordelia did to test the powers of the dress, either.

"That's a splendid idea! Though I hope to be able to write down some more notes about the epic stories before giving it away. We could also discuss the magic writings with Coal at some point.
But let me ask: why the Epic Stories for the Proctor? I can understand that he's not much into Childrens Tales, but... does he appreciate fiction?"

Adiel nods. "I don't know about his appreciation for storytelling, but the Proctor is quite the book collector. He might even appreciate the book whose author was insane, as an interesting oddity. Unless that book has some hidden clue to the mind of some member of the Sowell family, it's unlikely to be of any use to us."

He shifts his weight slightly, thinking, before speaking again. "I like him personally, but he is also a powerful ally. Your foray into the tower amassed a fortune; we can afford to give him a small gift, to honor him and the relationship between Triplefang and Ferisedan. Nothing so expensive as to be seen as tribute paid for protection, but something of symbolic and personal value to him."

Holly take some time on the way back to the gate and the time inside the city to question Adiel about his knowledge of Gremlins.

"You seem to know something of the Gremlins Adiel. What can you tell us about them? I assume they are nocturnal, since that is when GLumr found them."

"Rankor Heights has had a problem with gremlins for some time, especially in the mines. They are invulnerable to most attacks. I have heard legends of dwarven holy men who can slay them, as well as a mighty hero with a hammer who could crush them." Adiel's eyes flicker to Mord, wondering if the Tome of Legends has made him strong enough to do such a thing. "They're certainly otherworldly. It's possible that Sunna's bow could slay them. Fortunately, they seem more interested in destroying property and playing pranks than in anything truly deadly."

Holly vaguely remembers Snow saying something about Gremlins in Rankor Heights after your last visit.

Mord simply replied by flexing his prodigious biceps, pointing at each in turn.  "Massive hammers.  Built-in.
You know, I don't know exactly what the book did, but I feel even more impressively powerful than before even.  Like after you've taken a patrol of goblins single-handedly, or run the ladyfavour house."

The barbarian considered how he felt about such matters, and his shrug and satisfied smile seemed to reveal at least a lack of concern.

"So what's the plan then - back to the city, change some coin so we don't have to break heads, then go hunting gremlins where Glumr can recall them?  Probably should go back to the Playground and ask the ladies why they boxed Scot.  Might be part of the same issue.

"Course, it could just be that Glumr's under other city effects and we need time away from cities.  Couldn't blame that.  Hey, what did the priests say about fixing Scot?"

Adiel raises an eyebrow. "Mord, from their boxing of Scot we can deduce exactly one thing: that the staff at the Playground is sane. Only one deeply acclimatized to strangeness would treat him with anything but fear in his present form. Thankfully, a cure is at hand."

"Shall we bring a gift for Genessa tonight? The epic fiction or the childrens' stories, perhaps?"

"It would be a really nice gesture. I think she'd like the epic fiction better."

Adiel nods. "I expect you're right. Would you like to present the gift to her, Sunna? I can represent the Triplefang to the guild, but I didn't actually find the books."

Holly gathers everyone together to discuss the nights proposed hunt for Glumr's Gremlins. "So Adiel has provided us with some information on them, but what do we really know about Gremlins and how do we fight them if we need to? What are their strengths and weakenesses, and how do stay safe?"

"It was interesting to hear the harpers' thoughts on the gremlins," says Adiel. "Honestly, I don't know whether they are otherworldly pranksters we might be able to reason with, or pests or monsters to be slain. I'd be at least as interested in studying them as fighting them."

"Trolls are among the deadliest forces known to our region," Adiel begins, deciding to more fully explain to his cousins more the tremendous threat they face. "Whether through common goblin magic or the dark magic of their priests, I cannot be certain, but they are magically grown from the earth. Based on what you found at the shrine near Goldenpoint, they seem to use goblins as some kind of seed. Our whole group, together, might fall before a single troll, and would be slaughtered by two or more. Giselle was wise to avoid them. Fortunately, they are very slow."

"Trolls heal merely by touching the earth. They have no special weakness like an ice or fire elemental has, and they are far stronger even than Mord, and more than twice as tall." He eyes his mighty cousin speculatively. "Even your newfound powers may not be a match for such a powerful monster. I don't know what you are capable of, now."

"To win the coming war, we will need to devise some way to destroy trolls. Perhaps an enormous pit filled with sap and hay, to keep them from touching the earth. Or an army of golems. Or powerful magic yet unknown to us." Adiel shakes his head. "I don't know, yet. But you can imagine how I felt when I saw a golem with Jacob."

Holly," Adiel says. "Do you have the power to talk with trees or animals that might have seen what sort of monster it is, with the power to turn living beings to stone? We're not prepared to face such a monster, but if we knew what it was... such creatures are the stuff of legends--dark dragons and gorgons and demon kings. A basilisk probably would have eaten the stone, so it's probably not that."

"I think if we return that way I can at least try. I don't know the creatures you mentioned, other than the stories I was told when I grew up, but you are right, if we know what we face, then we can prepare, or stay out of its reach. The marsh isn't a friendly place, so perhaps a tree or plant would be the best source."

Although they saw large stones, shaped like humans, Holly was unsure if others smaller creatures were in a similar state.

"I had a thought about that, from when I saw one earlier this winter.  If they could be held off the ground, it would take their strength, you said?"  Mord nodded speculatively, even as he chortled a grin at Adiel's comment about being mightier than Mord.  "Larger they may be, but mightier never.

"I do feel a grand legend would be waiting for a mighty warrior that held a troll off the ground, crushing him, or letting his allies - all mighty - dispatch it while he prevented its healing.

"Good talk, Adiel.

"The turning to stone thing I'm less inclined.  I want them to be crafting statues of me, not turning me into one.  My arms are strong enough as to crush stone," Mord loosed a hearty mirth that he had been restraining.

"So we need to find a way to levitate the troll off the ground, so it cannot regenerate, and then batter it from afar. OK, thats something we can plan for, until then I suggest we just run. My spells won't trap it due to its strength, as it will simply pull through any plants that try and bind it. We need to find a way to work out its weaknesses, either by capturing one, or finding a new site and taking on the growing ones. We have the potential to try out fire and ice on those, and find out what is most effective. Perhaps acid would work. It burns through flesh easily enough when someone spills it, and leaves a nasty scar if not treated magically, perhaps that will work. Or perhaps striking it with a lightning bolt. Not sure how we would call one down on a particular target, but I suspect some casters might be able to do it. Let me think on that one. If it needs the earth to regenerate, perhaps we can drown it in water. If it doesn't need air to breath, we might not be successful, but we probably need to work out how to hurt them before there are too many of them. Another option is targetting the seeds. If it is a particular type or skillset that the goblin needs to allow it to seed a troll, perhaps we can target them instead. Remove the problem before it starts"

All the thinking was starting to give Holly a headache, so she simply added, "Perhaps we could ask around and find out all we can about the tales about trolls. Perhaps the clerics of Pelor have some information, or the wise people of the tribe. Lets go out and ask, then come back and find some links."