So, while the party discusses their plans on how to locate treasure, Twiggy and Myarra park the metal crab inside the foyer of the tower and the rest of you go inside for an early dinner.

No clue. We'd have to test it in a safe place.

Once back inside and probably meeting in the dining area again,

So, we have several options on locating treasure. One is the mine with the Skeleton Dragon, but I think we'll get killed there unless we're prepared. Two is finding these diggers and their Troll problem? Three is using the metal crab to go into the river like Myarra suggested and look for spilled loot that might have fallen out of the ship? Four is digging in the tower again to find treasure. I can identify the shield, the raven figurine and the coin to see if they're worth anything. Five. We go visit Hanns in the library to see if he knows of any treasures. And lastly, we tell HER that we have information on the Dragon Orb and will trade the information for places that have treasure. She might be interested in knowing about that and the fact that we're interested in getting rid of the skeleton dragon in the mine.

Kali, sitting inside at the table had a simple fare of fruit and a light bwine in front of her. Even in this place she was starting to call home, it was clear she was still less comfortable inside than out. Sitting there, she looked stiff, almost formal and uncomfortable.

As Nolan finished, she spoke. "I don't think the mine with the skeletal dragon is an option for now....As much as i hate undead, and they are an abomination to nature itself, if we faced it now, we would die and teh problem would remain."

She took a bite of an apple. I think a day or two here would do us good...speak to this librarian....Hanns, was it? Maybe as that happens Twiggy and Myarra can explore the lake for possible sites. Then we can decide where to go from there. As to telling 'her', whoever it is, that i leave to you all."

Aliana was enjoying a hearty meal, and nodding.
"I'll concede that the skeletal dragon might be something to put off until a later date.  And if the 'her' is whom I think it is, then I definitely don't wish to involve her.  I would vote to help the diggers, but I'll go along with the group."

Byron sits next to Kali as they eat.  His meal more substantial than Kali's as Twiggy tries to steal half of it as well.

I agree the skeletal dragon is going to have to wait.  Hopefully, that is one of the things Hanns can give us some information on to be better prepared for it.  After the library I'm ok with whatever else the group decides.  Although talking to Her and trying to get Her to do anything to help us is something I'm totally against.

Byron swats Twiggy's hand for the third time and glares at him.

Go get your own second meal and keep your hands out of mine.

Byron looks at Myarra.

Can you lock him in that metal crab and leave him there for a long while to find out how much air that thing holds?

And how would you leave him in it when the controls are inside the thing? Anyways, I'm just throwing up ideas for everyone. If we go speak with Hanns, let's come up with some questions to ask him. I really don't want to disturb the Lizard folk living around the area with our presence. We should also wait for Roenthelm before going anywhere.

Twiggy frowns at Byron and sticks out his tongue then mumbles  "See if I let you hide behind my crab." still snatching a piece of bacon before moving over to behind Kali "So who is HER?"

Having wandered off from the others, annoyed at Twiggy and Myarra, Amara went to the room of the viewing crystals. They needed to know more about the undead dragon.

First, though, she took out the vial of honey, at which her little hummingbird flittered out of her robe, cheeped, and then ate. "Flicka, if you think I'm in danger, go get Nolan. I need to scry."

The hummingbird cheeped again, circling her head once, then landing to eat more honey until full, then flitted back into her robe.

Amara went over and touched the crystal, intending to scry on the undead dragon.

HER name is Satin, but that's a name she uses while in Humanoid form. Satin is the largest Green Dragon I've ever seen and she seems highly knowledgeable about things, so I'm thinking she might be a Great Wyrm and probably responsible for the destruction of Myth Jannath or at least had a hand in it. In her humanoid form, she's very beautiful and likes to walk among people like she was one of them. I honestly think she's just bored. She probably knows where everything is in this forest, but if you want to know anything, it comes at a price.

A price that I don't think is worth paying.  I've met the bitch.

Amara PM

Myarra shows far less effects from the tower than she use to.  But then she always had shone a remarkable resistance the tower when it came to stuffing her face with a platter full of meet (after a nice long hot bath).

"People come first.  Let's get Roen safely back with us.  But if that doesn't take all of us, then Twiggy and I can explore the river.  Given the size of the crab, I'd say there's at least enough air for an hour.  Maybe more.  And I think Nolan would be best suited for talking with Hanns, although he shouldn't go alone.

Besides, he and I really should start making plans for the wedding."

Byron chuckles and teases his friend.

Myarra, who are you getting married to?  Twiggy??

Aliana, sipping some water, did a spit take

"Nolan, of course," Myarra replies as if this is the most obvious thing in the world.

Twiggy looks at Myarra, feinting being upset, "I guess that make me chopped liver, not everyones liking. I am so heartbroken. I keep the crab in the divorce though."

After a while, Amara joins the others again. She looks a bit drained as she has the magic provide her with some hearty soup. She sits down with the others, taking a few bites as she listens to them teasing each other. She speaks, turning back toward more serious topics.

"I used the crystal to scry on the mine. They are using slaves - no surprise - but that includes children - dozens. People are already dying from overwork and from injuries. I did not scry long, but in the area I scryed, the entrance where I would assume the most guards would be, I only counted 10. I saw no obvious trace of dragons, but one of the tunnels is big enough for a large dragon.

Is there a reason we should not go now? If we delay, more will die."

"No offense intended, my dear Twigster," Myarra tells the hin with a smile.  "If you'd courted me as relentlessly as Nolan has, I'd have given your proposal just as much consideration."

She turns more serious at Amara's news.  "Nolan thinks we're not ready to take on an undead dragon just yet.   Do you think we could block the dragon's tunnel?  Keep it contained long enough to kill the guards and rescue the people?"

"It seems like something where if we have a fast escape, we might be able to snatch and grab before the dragon is summoned." She gets some paper and a pen, sketching the beginnings of a map. "And they might be able to provide more details that could help us know when we are ready."

See game map U

Married? That can't happen until I reach Tier 4 of the tower and I can't even reach Tier 3 yet. So, if you're willing to wait, sure, I'll marry you. Usually, it's the women being chased by the men, so this is a twist of tradition.

Turning to Amara,

Unless you want to bring Lord Dhelt here and show him the proof, we need to be better equipped to face a Blue Dragon. That metal crab is worthless against it. It might as well be a lightning rod. I'm definitely sorry about the people who are trapped there, but I don't want to be one of them.

Byron looks over at Amara.


Amara, did you get a feel for how many people are actually forced into this situation?  I would suspect the number of guards and "bosses" are a lot higher than 10.   It would just depend on the number of "slaves" though.

Kali, silent for a bit, thought about the cave. I have some.magic that may slow a dragon down, but not enough to slow him enough to give us enough time. to move that much earth to trap him.and delay for saving them..."

She bit her lip in thought

Twiggy smiles at Myarra "I hope Nolan doesn't get to broken hearted when I woo you." the halfling then playfully batts his eyes at her and giggles.

"As for the people and dragon, I am sure it will only emerge if we mess with its operation. We would have to scout around, maybe find some dwarves and gnomes to collapse the tunnels it can emerge from."

Twiggy, you are going to be hard pressed to find a significant number of dwarves or gnomes around here.

"Dozens of prisoners in that area - probably hundreds in total," Amara said. "I'm not talkinga bout necessarily taking on the dragon - I'm talking about a hit and run to get the prisoners out."

I agree with a hit and run to try and free as many as we can if we go that route.

Twiggy thinks "What is the weaknesses of a undead dragon? Is there any way we can get a better layout of the land before we go? Hit and run is a good idea but if the dragon comes out we have to be ready for that. Plus, dwarves love precious metals and we may be able to enlist some of their help. If we knew where to find them."

"I can try scrying again later," Amara said, though she didn't wish to. She was quite familiar with death - had been raised in the horrors of the Underdark - but she tried to avoid thinking of situations such as those at the mine.

Hit and run tactics will only alert them and bring more guards. They will also try and find us. Do you want them to do hit and run tactics here on the villagers?

Byron glares at Twiggy as he steals another piece of bacon and tries to hide.  However his glare is short lived as he turns to Nolan with some questions.

Nolan, have you ever heard of a sword that was useful against undead dragons.  A long time ago, I remember Amos briefly talking about bane of dragon swords.  I only thought they were a legend, but could one be crafted or does one exist?  I suppose that might be a question for Hanns.

"I have a dragon bane sword," Myarra points out.

"Bunch of dwarven ghosts made it for me."  She pauses then adds, "Seriously.  Nolan can vouch for it.

But it's not like instant death or anything useful, it just makes it a bit easier to carve them up.  And I have no idea if it has any effect on undead dragons.

If we can't do anything now, then let's concentrate on getting to the point where we can as quickly as we can.  I know it won't do them any good if we die in the process, but I'm not thrilled with the idea of doing nothing."

To Nolan she adds,

"Seriously?  You propose to me and then tell me I have to wait a few years?  Seems a bit unkind.  I mean your bridal gifts were impressive enough that I was willing to overlook some of the minor customs, but maybe I should make you go ask my father's permission after all."

"Then perhaps, if we think they will so reciprocate, we make a trap for them here. If they try to hit and run, we find a way to bog them down so we can take them out." Amara replied.

Twiggy listens but has little to add. He is actually worried about fighting such a creature. "We should learn more about this dragon first. Although I want to help these people we still need more time and to be prepared. If we could get the slaves out I could use the water geiser to flood the tunnels and stop the operation."

Myarra, I think our marriage traditions may be a bit mixed up, which is understandable. We come from different places and I've seen a lot in the 700 + years I've been alive. I'm not being unkind and if you wish for me to ask your father, I'm sure the entity in the tower can point me in the right direction. But, like I said, I can't get married until I reach Tier 4 of my wizard career, which will take some time. If you wish to wait, then good. If not, I understand.

Turning back to the party,

I can make all sorts of things that can help us fight an undead dragon. I just need time, money and materials. And remember. The Cult of the Dragon is a powerful organization. They are more powerful than us and have more financial backing than we can imagine. We need to tread lightly or we could lose everything. We may think we know who they are, but they definitely know who some of you are and that's dangerous.

"Then what is your suggestion?"

I think we should plan on taking out the mine and free the slaves. That will put a big dent in the Cults' resources. But to do that, we need to go elsewhere to look for money. And to get all those slaves to safety, we'll need transport. We can't have sick/injured people wandering around in that dangerous area. So, we need money to make items to defeat an undead dragon and money to fix that ship and then learn how to use the thing safely.

Nolan, I'm not objecting to being prepared to take out the mine and free the slaves.  I just hope that we don't spend so much time preparing that we sacrifice them for the last bit of silver or whatever else is being mined in the mine for the coffers of the cult.

"That's a lot of money," Amara responded. "With the iron golems and our other resources, do you not think we could set up a trap here? Hit and run, freeing as many slaves as possible - and perhaps even obtaining some of the silver. Have a trap ready here, and then fortify it further for if they do come after us?"

OK, let me ask this. Let's say we find the mine, kill the enemy and free the slaves. What then? How are we going to take slaves to safety? Just tell them they're free and let them go? Take them back to Triel or Hill's Edge? Hill's Edge is probably the headquarters for this operation so Triel doesn't look bad. This is very risky if we're not prepared.

Twiggy slices a piece of sweet bread and points out "Even worse, if we go about asking questions we will have to be sure they are not agents of the dragon cult. Those turds seem to be placed everywhere."

We could do all sorts of stuff to help the village out, but right now, I don't think the Cult knows where we live. Once they do, we'll need to do something.

Well part of that planning can be done by informing Rufus and Lorrik amongst some other villagers.

Byron swipes the slice of bread out of Twiggy's hand and takes a bite before continuing.

Twiggy does bring up a good point about informants for the cultists being everywhere. That is something we will need to keep in mind as well.

As well as Oona, Khayyim Vedim and Kalur Blackleaf. All three of them, as well as Rufus, have access to the tower if they need to bring the villagers in here. Remember, not even SHE could get in here, so they will be safe if there is a siege on Daak.

I wish Lennox was still here with us to help.  His contacts would be very useful as well.

There are many people I wish were here to help, Byron. You don't know her, but there was a sweet girl named Kimora that was with us for a time. That reminds me. Did anyone find out when Roenthelm is coming back? We really need to make plans.

"I miss Kimmy a lot," Myarra agrees.

"Frankly, I just don't know what to do.  I don't want the slaves to suffer a moment longer.  But if we go now, we'd probably fail, and that would just make matters worse, because nobody else is going to do anything, and then the cult would have a free hand to do whatever they want.

I hate situations that can't be fixed by just hitting them with a sword.

I wish the Mariasha could be fixed faster, but wishes don't have any effect on reality.  Unless you have one of the rings, or a genie. But she certainly would make it easier to transport a lot of people to safety.

While we're deciding what to do, should I talk to the villagers about getting some replacement timber?  We're surrounded by forests, and have some expert woodworkers that might just be willing to help.  It, at least, would be a start."

Kali sat quietly, thinking of the druids she called her family, then looked around. She had another family now....one she would protect.her gaze finishing on Byron, she couldn't help but smile. "People come and go from our lives, but you will see them again. as long as you keep them close, they won't be far away."

Twiggy looks at Nolan "Can you make those dimensional doors that transport people?"

Yes, but it doesn't go that far. I can also Teleport, but I can't transport many people. Only 3 and I'm still having trouble getting to the spot I want.

"Perhaps we need to finish fixing the last Stone of Balance first," Amara suggested. That might help them with transporting to appropriate places.

OK, I heard it was being used in a garden or something like that. Do we know where this place is? I think we should just wait for Roenthelm to get here and then go visit Hanns and ask him a flood of questions.

If I remember correctly, it is being used as a paver stone in a garden somewhere.  I just don't remember where off the top of my head.  Regardless I think a trip to visit Hanns is the first thing and the best thing we can do at the moment.  We can ask him more about the location of the last stone of balance as well other upcoming problems we intend to deal with in the immediate future.

I agree. I'll go use the crystal to find Roenthelm. Anyone want to volunteer to peel me off of it after I start smoking?

"No, you won't. I'm the only one who can use it safely, Nolan. You know that. If you feel we must find Roenthelm now, then I will do it."

Those of you interested to watch the Crystal follow Amara and Nolan into the basement to the room containing the Pink Crystal that you have used to scry. Flica flies out again and lands on top of the door to perch as Nolan, and who ever wanted to follow, watches Amara touch the crystal and concentrate on where Roenthelm was located. You can see Roenthelm on the back of a wagon with a couple people heading N/E towards Soubar. They should be there by the end of the day. If he doesn't stay too long in Soubar, he should make it to Daak late afternoon on the 228.

Amara continued to scry...

Roenthelm and the 2 men are talking and laughing, but you can't hear them. Looking in the back of the wagon, the crystal shows dozens of bags and judging from the clothes of the men, you would guess farmers probably going to town to sell some of their crop.

Amara reports what she sees for the others.

Then she shifts her focus, scrying on the last of the Stones of Balance that needs to be reset. They had looked before, but she wanted to see what, if anything, about the situation had changed.

The view in the crystal changes to a small, well tended garden like you saw before. The Stone of Balance is being used as a Paver-stone. The surrounding area is on the edge of the forest, with a Tree branch hut the keeper of the garden possibly lives in. You see an old man with a rake tending the garden, but he seems a bit off somehow. You really can't focus on him.

Amara realizes that she can't focus on the man, so she tried instead to focus on the hut. There might be clues about him in that hut.

She moves over to the hut and tries to peer inside, but just like the old man, she can't focus beyond the doorway. There is definitely something wrong here....

Amara let go. She didn't understand why the crystal didn't burn her like it did others, and she didn't want to abuse that. "I can't focus on the man or the house. Somehow, he is protected. I don't know if its a spell or something innate but... I think he's some sort of outsider..."

Twiggy watches on and listens "Are there any animals in the area. I have heard animals stay clear of evil outsiders, besides ravens. They are just imps in disquise."

That could possibly be. Scrying on something usually means it's on this plane of existence, so if you can't see something clearly, it means it's really not there. If that makes any sense? Until we find out more, I think we should skip visiting that garden. I find it highly suspicious that such a being just so happens to be living near one of the Stones of Balance.

"There is something odd going on, agreed," Amara replied. "Yet the benefit could also be great, could it not?" she asked Nolan.

Twiggy thinks of the tree demon they fought and shudders "What if just one of us goes and says hello? You can send me there to sees what happens. Just a helpless halfling lost in the woods."

We have a lot of things we can do, but visiting an unknown being that the stone can't see is not at the top of my list of things to do. I'm going to practice some of my new spells. I think we should wait for Roenthelm to get here and then visit Hanns. So, why don't all of you come up with a list of things to ask him, so we won't be wasting his time when we get there.

Currently around 7:30pm-ish time.

I still have to practice my spells, so I could always get Roenthelm and be back in a few minutes. That would make things much quicker for us.

Nolan leaves the basement and heads for the door that leads outside. Passing by the dining hall, Nolan calls out to the people in there,

I'm going to get Roenthelm. Hopefully, I'll be back in a few minutes.

Once outside, Nolan casts a spell and in a blink of an eye, he's gone.

Kali sat quietly, her thoughts her own absently as the group discussed the next step in their plan.

Twiggy chuckles "We should have given him a grocery list for the farmers."

It was more than 5 minutes. It was more like 35 minutes, but Nolan does return back to Daak with Roenthelm. He was only about a mile off his course in the middle of a farmer's field. Him and Roenthelm walk back to the tiny village and into the tower again. By then, the Girls went to the nice bath tub to soak in the warm waters.

It's pushing 9pm-ish.

"Well Nolan, traveling by teleportation with you was definitely interesting. I see what you mean now that you need more practice. I'm just happy that we didn't end up in a tree or 50 feet up in the air."

I'm working on that. I figure 2 miles away is still better than 50. We're going to visit a friend tomorrow and based off what he has to say, we'll plan for our next mission to try and hinder the Dragon Cult. We needed you here and didn't want to wait another 2 days for you to get here. How was your missions with Vernon? I'm assuming successful since you were traveling back here to meet up with us.

"I felt like a messenger boy. We found an old woman in town, then we found a farmer's buried coins to help his family, then we visited some grave diggers looking for treasure when we saw the smoke in the fields. Very amusing to do little good deeds for the common man."

When told what the ghost was saying (Since Nolan wasn't holding the ring),

You can see in the ground to see if anything is there? That is quite interesting to know and we could actually help out each other Vernon. We are in need of treasure and if you can help us find it, I'd be willing to save a full portion for you and if we talk to the right people, Lord Dhelt in particular, I'm sure he'd know somebody that can Resurrect you from the dead and then you can talk to your wife in person, perhaps win her heart again and get married?

"Yes, my missions were successful, thanks to Vernon, and I could spend the rest of my life doing errands for the dead, that's for sure. But, my skills are needed with you guys in dealing with the Cult of the Dragon. Bringing them to justice is far more important than a farmer looking for his buried coins."

Roen then tells Nolan what Vernon said, then handed him the ring,

"That is a nice gesture, Nolan, but the Gods might not like it. Vernon has been laid to rest, so to speak, but it's a grey area with him being a ghost. A Resurrect spell is very serious and very expensive, but in the end, it's up to Vernon."

So, the party rests for the night while discussing plans on what they want to do next. The party is back together and the tower has "confirmed" that Vernon is not evil, or else he wouldn't have made it inside at all. Ashara has taken a liking to Amara and enjoys the bath with the ladies. The rest of the night is uneventful....

You wake up the next day.

"You all realize that this magical tower is full of ghosts, right? What tis this place? Some kind of school?" Vernon asks the party when they are assembled in the dining hall "Ghosts all over the place reading books."

Kali, again opting to sleep outside, slept within the tree, listening to Raieylan snore away. The panther had grown comfortable here and when at the tower, was truely relaxed. Kali felt the same around the tower....even though she hated enclosed spaces she to.erased the tower in small amounts of time.

The next morning rose and she came in the tower and sat down, eating a pear as Vernon spoke, listening.

Myarra joins the others in the dinning hall, twisting and smoothing bits of her clothing and armor.  "I think I'm gaining weight.  Too much food and not enough exercise.  It will be good to get back on the road.  I can only hope we get ambushed a couple of times."

This speech, however, didn't stop her from digging into a platter of eggs, sausage, fried potatoes, and heavily buttered bread.

Kali ate her pear and spoke, a slight smile on her face. "If you ate less meat and fried food, you wouldn't have an issue of squeezing into your armor my dear. eat some fruit and greens every so often.....who knows, you may even like them"

"I do eat them.  A lot of them in fact.  The animals I'm eating right now ate a ton of them and, you know, passed their goodness on to me.  They did a lot of hard work, and deserve the praise."

Kali looked at her with an almost motherly look. You eat like that and i'll need a blacksmith to widen your armor. Keep it up and you'll give Twiggy a run for his money. Or i could force Raie to chase you around....That will burn some of the extra.....well, extra off."

it's clear she was having fun

Aliana sat with her meal to break her fast, and although it was a more human style repast like Myarra had, with eggs,  sausage,  and potatoes,  it was considerably smaller than the winged warrior.
She smiled
"If it's exercise you wish, my friend,  I'm always looking for a sparring partner.   I'm primarily an archer, but it's important to keep up my sword skills"

Twiggy had a huge pile of gravy on bisquits covered in jam. Through a big bite he told the ladies "That is why I wear mithril chainmail, it is form fitting. Even my belly. " he then washes down his bite with a swig of berry juice. Clearing his throat "And there is nothing wrong with a lady with curves, I think the humans call it volumptious. Such an interestingly lovely word if you ask me."

Aliana nodded thoughtfully
"Elves tend towards being slender,  certainly,  and you almost never see a plump elf, though that might be due to traditional elven diets and exercise,  rather than metabolism.   I, myself,  have been called 'voluptuous for an elf', one presumes because of my human influenced diet and former sedentary lifestyle as a librarian. "
Aliana was indeed rather curvy for an elf, though still less so than the average human woman.

Byron smiles as his friends tease and talk with each other.  Enjoying his breakfast as well that is along the lines of Aliana's, but with an apple as well.

I prefer a good fight to sparring as it sharpens the senses as well as helps keep one in better shape.  However, I'm willing to spar with any of you or all of you if you want.

Byron swats Twiggy's hand away from his drink as he reaches for it to finish off the last of the milk in the cup.

Keep your hands out of my food you little ling.

Twiggy takes the slap of his right hand as he snatches a biscuit off of Byron's plate with his left "You need to work on your sense of misdirection more." as he dips thebisquit in his gravy "Which might not be a bad idea for dealing with the silver mines."

Turning to Aliana "You look quite lovely my dear, the curves suit you. Years ago I did meet a very healthy elven cleric of Selune deep in the forest outside of Cormyr. She was so pretty with long brown hair and very "volumptious", weird thing was that I saw her turn into a small grizzly bear on full moons but she wasnt a druid.

Aliana smiled at the halfling's compliment,  nodding
"Ah, yes, the clerics of The Moon Maiden have a...particularly unusual connection to the moon, certainly "

"Best I've ever gotten was pudgy," Myarra says, although she doesn't appear to be particularly put out about it.

"Or maybe it was plump.  Still, I had to admire his courage.  And, during my first year in Dales, I have to admit I did hit the ale a bit hard, so he wasn't totally wrong.  Parts of me, both good and bad, got about 50% larger than they are now.  When I started getting winded half-way through a fight I knew I had to do something about it."

Roen came into the dining area after helping the farmers of the village. He sat down next to Myarra, but didn't eat any food. Upon hearing about a mine, Roen spoke up.



"Are you referring to the mine that the Orc mentioned? Did you happen to find the place while I was away?"

Amara still preferred the cuisine she had grown up with - in this case crispy beetles. She looked up at Vernon quizzically. "Really? Do they talk to you? That doesn't seem aligned with what most ghosts do when they remain on the mortal plane - have they chosen this voluntarily?"

Nolan announced to the party that he and Vernon had made a deal,

Vernon is now officially a member of the party. He will get an equal share of the treasure and his opinions will be heard like the rest of us. He is excited with the fact that he could be Resurrected and hates the Dragon Cult more than us. Once we have collected the right amount of funds to bring him back to life, we will do so.

Byron looks over at Nolan and replies in a matter of fact of tone.

Ok.  Vernon certainly has skills and talents that we can use.

Aliana nodded,  smiling
"That's wonderful!  i look forward to working with him on a regular basis, and can't wait to someday meet him in the flesh"

Amara can still see Vernon without the ring,

"To tell ya the truth, little lady, I don't know. I stuck around for some reason, so I'm guessin' they be doin' the same." Vernon replied "I was talkin' with several of them....mostly students and a couple teachers...found out all sorts of stuff."

Twiggy nods "Sounds like a good idea, especially coming back to life. Do you think if we go the silver mine Vernon can scout the place undetected and safely in his current form."

"I tested that theory, Twiggy. His maximum range, based off his ties with his ring, is about 200 feet." Roen explained "So, unless somebody went into the mine while invisible, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to scout much. And from what Nolan was telling me of the mines, they sound very dangerous."

Twiggy thinks "Or maybe Nolan polymorphs me into a rat and I take the ring with me. Orcs don't eat rats do they?"

Kali smiles at Twiggy's thought. "I could just as easily turn into a bird...a sparrow or something small. fly in, let him look around and fly out."

Byron replies to Kali's suggestion with some nervous protectiveness in his voice.

I think a bat would be a better choice as bats can be common to caves, but sparrows aren't.

Twiggy thinks and asks "Is there any way to telepathically stay in contact with you so if something happens we can cause a diversion to help you out."

Amara was genuinely interested, "What sorts of things? Can they see us?"

If we really want to spy on the mines, I suggest we have Amara use the crystal again. For some strange reason, it doesn't suck the life from her like it does me. That way, we're safe here and we'll know everything that's happening there. We also need to go visit Hanns after everyone has had breakfast.

"They be students and teachers wandering around doing what they be doing." Vernon replied "And Yes, they see you when they want to."

Amara smiled and winked at Vernon. "Well, of course. The Sword Maiden expects that. You're welcome to join me some time."

She sighs at Nolan's statement. She feels like sometime the crystal is going to hit her like it hits others - she just doesn't know when. "Very well."

"We really need to get to those mines and free the people, but I agree that we should get information in a safe manner. I'd gladly take the place of any of those poor souls in there, but the Cult won't do that. I'd end up in there with everyone else and that won't help us."

If we're ready to go, let's go visit Hanns. I'm very interested in what he might say.

I've got some questions of my own to ask him.  They don't concern the group or the cult.  They just concern my past although I don't think I have anything to worry about.

Byron readies himself for the trip to the library.

Kali stands, ready to go and meet the mysterious figure of hanns that the group had talked abaout

"Who be Hanns?" Vernon asked Amara "And who be the Sword Maiden?"

"The Sword Maiden? That is Eilistrae, the good goddess of the Drow, of creativity, moonlight, and the sword." Amara answers Vernon. "As for Hanns, come with us, and you will see."

Twiggy rubbs his belly and hops up from the table "First to Hanns and then to scry on the mines. Can anyone use the scry ball or how does that work?"

"So far, of those who have tried that we know, I am the only one who can use it safely."

"If you want to try, make sure you let me know first so I can pry your smoking unconscious body off the crystal before you actually dissolve in flames.

Or not, your choice.  I'm not one to order anyone about."

Sister Aliana looked at Myarra with a wry smile and rolled eyes, and spoke
"While i would have put it a bit more delicately,  I'll agree with our winged friend here that it would be good to have a lookout, just in case.  I'll happily help as well "

Twiggy smiles at Myarra "I will try but Byron can't be near. The smell of cooked halflings will be wonderful and you know he eats everything."

I don't like my meat well done.  So you don't have anything to worry about when you start to fry.

After eating breakfast, the party hikes the 1/2 mile to the waystone where the 3 Golems stand guard. You all hold hands, Nolan speaks the magical words of transport, the flash of light and then you're at the Hub. The sudden appearance of the party scares off wild animals eating the bodies of the Orcs and Ogres, but other than that, this place hasn't been disturbed since the last time you were here.

Nolan directs the Golems to stand guard there, he picks the Library selection and in a flash, you're all back in the Library of Hanns.

Please refer to Game Map 5

The library looks the same as when you were here last. The tables still have the books you looked through for reference of various information and locations. Once you step away from the Waystone and step into the main room, the spirit of Hanns manifests in front of you.

"Welcome back, Nolan. I see you've brought the gang back this time. It's good to see you again, Roen. I know you don't remember me. I was alive back then. And Kalliyan, oh my! You did make it back! But, don't fuss over me. You're probably already confused, but that will change since one of the rips in the veil was closed up. Only 19 more to go! Ha ha! So, how can I help all of you?"

Hanns, you answered one of my unanswered questions.  Now I've got one for you.  Who's Ruby?

Twiggy tails off from the group looking for old maps, preferably ones showing ones of lost cities of dwarves or elves.

"Ruby. Ruby? I'm sorry, but I don't know anyone by that name. That's an odd question, Byron. Can you give me more information?"

Somehow some girl in Triel named Ruby thinks that I'm her husband.  I seriously doubt that.  I knew an Amber from Triel, but never anyone named Ruby.

Myarra frowned at the exchange, but looked interested, none the less.

"You have a wife in Triel?  Do you have wives in other towns?  Is this some harem you're planning on adding Kalli to?"

"Triel? I'm assuming that is a village? Why would you think that I would know anything about some girl named Ruby from a place that I've never heard of?"

Byron replies to Myarra in a sarcastic tone.

Not funny Myarra.

Byron turns to Hanns in a much more polite tone.

Ok, that makes a little sense, except that you seem to know a lot about us.  We did not enter the tear when we fixed the stone of balance and dealt with Mazmular.

'It was to me', Myarra says under her breath.

"Did you say there were 19 more tears that need to be fixed?  That's a lot of chances for us to get unstuck in time.   For that matter, are the tears all the same way?  Do they all go back in time, or do some of them go forward?  Could we use one to go back and while there, use another to return?"

"I don't even know what any of this means. I only know the gods protect everyone on Faerun with a magical barrier to protect us from the outside. Kind of like a child in a playpen, simply. But, one of us did enter the tear."

Roenthelm looks at Nolan.

"Hey mate. How come you be visible and I'm not? How come Amara can see me without touching me ring? Also, I thought Ruby be that poor chap that Roen beat up on the broken bridge."

I didn't enter the tear. I tapped into it using Mystra's help. We were successful and the tear was sealed. End of story. Now, I have some questions and they don't have anything to do with women in some farm town. The hub has three selections labeled "Mine". Can you show us on our map where these mines are located? Also, we are searching for treasure so we can stop the Dragon Cult from using slaves in a mine to help their cause. If our information is correct, there is an undead Blue Dragon inside protecting the location.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:15, Mon 03 May 2021.

Kali was suprised by hand, but outwards, she just smiled at him and nodded. "Staying with these people, I've learnt to expect unusual." she told the librarian

Twiggy just listens, as he flips through the books and maps, not having anything to add.

Amara sighed. "Byron, I recommend you not worry about Ruby. Whatever may or may not have happened, it doesn't matter. Could just as easily have been someone insane."

"Wow, you guys talk alot. One question at a time, please. Can't you see that I'm dead?" Hanns chuckles



"Yes, 19. You're alive, you can't feel them like I can. Your friend here hasn't been dead long enough to feel it yet. The tears are NOT the same way. Just like the one you all closed, you got very lucky with that. I honestly can't say you're in the same reality as before. As to where they go? Who knows? I would advise not going near them and let the gods do their work."



"I have no clue, my ghostly friend. I'm just happy that I can still be seen and help somebody with the library. I just wish the other library wasn't in Lyran's Tower. Lyran was a friend of mine and I was deeply saddened when he turned to the dark side."



"I'm not going to argue with you Nolan. Only the Gods truly know about the Weave. As for the "Mine" selections, let's see your map and I'll point to you where they are."

Game Map T has been removed and Forest map has been added here:
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"An undead Blue Dragon is guarding a mine for the Cult. Why am I not surprised? I'm assuming you want to find something to aid you in this fight?"

"We cannot hope to succeed against the undead dragon if we do not have some sort of help, whether an item or an ally." Amara affirmed Hanns' assessment.

Interesting. We know of the mines in the middle of the forest. We had some undead encounters in there while riding on the magical mine cart, but I didn't know there was a waystone there. And the mine West of Daak. I completely forgot about that one. Last I remember, it's filled with all sorts of humanoids. And the last mine. It makes me smile to know where it's at. Amara can look for the waystone while using the Scrying Crystal in the tower. As for treasures, we'd like to know of any locations where there might have been a treasury for the community, such as the Senate and the temples. I'm sure the Temples won't mind that we use their treasures to fight off the Cult.

"Hanns, you know of Lyran's Hold? It's not a tower anymore. It's just a ruin with creepy fog, undead that come out of rooms and a mirror that trapped me inside for a numbers of years. There are passages that lead to barriers that we can't cross and the place has a very disturbing feeling, like the shadows are watching you. I heard a rumor many years ago that adventurers such as ourselves, went in there and killed Lyran, but why do I get the feeling this is not true?"

"And unusual is what we need, if we're to defeat the Cult of the Dragon. I don't see Diamond Cloud. Where is she?"



"Well, I honestly don't know of any allies. I was relieved that Nolan was still alive."



"I'm assuming one of these mine locations is what you're looking for? As for what's in them, I have no clue. Using the Scrying Crystal in the Daak tower would be a good idea to find out what's in there, though. But, yes, the Senate had a treasury in their vault, but I have no clue if it's still there. As for the temples, all religious faiths hoard treasures, but again, I have no clue if it's still there. I'll mark the locations of the Senate Building and the Temples on your map."



"I'd prefer not to talk about him. Last time he was here, he killed dozens of the poor lizardfolk for disturbing his silence while he was reading books in here. He is undead now and I suggest avoiding him at all costs unless you can destroy a Lich. Thank the Gods he doesn't ally himself with the Dragon Cult."

Amara considered, "Do you think that there might be a way to turn Lyran against the Dragon Cult? Pit one evil against another?"

"Who is Diamond Cloud, sir?" Myarra asks.  "I'm unfamiliar with that name.  Was she with us when you met us in the past?"

Let him do his own thing right now, Amara. That's information that we have that the Cult doesn't have. I don't want the attention of 2 evil sides because one of them knows what's in our tower. We now have plenty of information and possible locations for treasure, so I think we should return to the tower, have you look through the crystal to see if anything is in the Senate building, then go there and have Vernon look around underground to find anything useful.

Nolan stops suddenly and has a look on his face as he turns to Hanns again,

How come when I use the crystal, I feel like it's draining my energy, but it does nothing to Amara?

"If we can do it right, we don't ever gain the attention of either of the two evil sides. We focus them on each other."

"I honestly don't think I could do such a thing and would advise you against it. The last thing I need is for him to come here and destroy my library."



"I guess I might be a little early then, if you don't know who she is." Hanns said as he sadly looked at Kalliyan "In life, everything gets old, even Raieylan. And that's all I will say about that."



"Really? You haven't figured that out yet? But, I totally understand why. But, so it won't hurt other party members, it's attuned to Females."

"Well, Hanns, it was good seeing you again for the first time?" Roen chuckled "We have plans on rescuing slaves in the mines in the hills and the information you helped us with will go a long way to doing that. We thank you for your help and I'm sure we'll be back again sometime."

"It's okay, sir," Myarra tells Hanns with a smile.  "There's far more that I don't know than I ever will know.  So I just roll with it.  I'll learn about her, or not, as we go along.

Once we closed the rifts, I thought we'd changed the future.  But with 19 more opportunities, perhaps we'll meet in the past after all."

Twiggy takes out his journal and draws maps listening to them talk in the background.

Nolan didn't even think that the scrying crystal would even do such a thing as attune to a gender. He thought it was strange that the tower masters would do such a thing to students, but figured it might have been a lesson that he somehow forgot. He looked at the map Twiggy was playing around with and figured the party had what they needed for the moment,

Yes, we thank you, Hanns. I'm sure we'll be back soon with more questions.

Turning to the party,

Does anyone have anything else to ask Hanns? If not, we're going back to the tower.

Two more questions Hanns.  One, do you have any idea where the 19 remaining tears are?  Two, is one of those remaining tears near the last stone of balance?

Byron asks his two questions then looks at Kali with concern in his eyes for what Hanns said to her about the big cat.

After explaining which "Stones of Balance" the party has found, Hanns confirms that a Tear in the Weave is also located near the East Stone of Balance, which he confirms is Sector 4 on the Waystone Hub selection.

"If the Stone of Balance is not functioning like you said....being used as s paverstone, the Waystone won't work there, which is a good thing. I wouldn't want to accidently run into whatever you've seen there or have beings from another plane use it. That area used to be the testing grounds for Wizards and Priests who were doing powerful spells such as Plane Shifting. The grounds there seemed to make the spells easier, so that's why the Stone of Balance was created there. I don't know much details about it because I'm just a librarian, but I'm figuring the being you think you see there needs to be sent back where it comes from, then the Stone of Balance needs to be restored, which will restore the Waystone and close the Tear.

As for the remaining tears, I know of a couple. Lyran's Hold is a tear. You'd need to kill Lyran in his Tower for the tear to close, which would technically close with you in it. Also, this place you're standing in is a tear. That's why I'm still around. I can travel from tear to tear, but you obviously know how dangerous it can be, so I don't."

That's good to know and left for another day, even after we explore the old Graveyard. Where is that on our map, by the way? I seem to remember Roenthelm wanting to go back there and restore the place. From what we saw, it looked in pretty poor shape.

Hanns pointed to the location of the cemetery on Twiggy's map.

Map has been updated. Black "C" is the location of the cemetery.
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"I'm sure the spirits of the past would really appreciate it if the place was cleaned up. Just beware of the things that did it in the first place. Undead are easy to predict. You have to watch out for the live ones."

"It's a shame that people have to rob the dead, so they can feed themselves for another day. I will do my best to clean that place up, but I can't do it by myself, so I hope my friends will help me when the time comes."

"You are a good man, Roenthelm. I'm sure Ilmater is proud of you." Hanns said before turning to the group again "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Kali, quiet throughout the whole interaction, nods. "I will help you where I can Roenthelm. Deceration of places where people rest are not right...those who lived their lives deserve rest in peace."

"Thank you, sir.  I have nothing more to ask.  We'll either see you again in the future, or in the past.

Roen, of course I'll help however I can.  It's just a shame that people out here don't take proper care of their dead.  It should be obvious that sticking them in the ground and hoping for the best is just asking for trouble."

Twiggy marks the cemetery location down with a few notes "Don't worry Roen, I will help you too."

I'm good as well, Hanns. Thank you again for your knowledge.

With all the new information gained from Hanns, the party uses the waystone to leave the old library and transports back to the hub. The Golems animate again but settle down when Nolan is recognized. Then you use the Waystone again and transport back to Daak. Off in the distance, you can see the little village with the Black Tower and the various farmers tending their fields.

You've been gone maybe 2 hours. The walk back to the tower is uneventful and you're left with a bunch of new information to think about as you head inside to discuss what you all want to do next.

"I thank you Myarra. You're too kind. I know there won't be treasures for your reward, but the gods reward good deeds in other ways.

So, I'm assuming we're going to look for treasures that can help us get what we need to defeat an Undead Dragon? I don't like the idea of leaving those poor souls there, but I agree that we need something to aid us, or else our work might be in vain."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:42, Wed 19 May 2021.

"I be kinda excited to go on an adventure again!" Vernon said to Amara "What is this scrying crystal Nolan be talkin about?"

"You can come with me," Amara replies to Vernon. "I will go to the Crystal and use it again." She was relieved, quite frankly, to have learned that the Crystal was attuned to women rather than that there was something more insidious going on.

She heads to the scrying room.

I think we should all go down there and witness this. I'm interested in what she's going to see.

Nolan was a bit annoyed that the scrying crystal was geared towards women, especially since this tower was technically a school for both genders who were here to learn something.

Twiggy liked that idea but had to joke "I wonder if the crystal is atuned to wo.en because the men kept taking peeks at women when they changed? "

Byron looks at Kali after Nolan suggests following Amara.  He wanted to spend some time alone with his friend to discuss a variety of things.  However, he knew how important the information Amara could get from the crystal was to the group's overall goals.

"Then what's to stop the women from peeping on the men?" Roen laughed "All of you are funny and that's why I like you. We're going to use a very powerful item and you think about seeing others naked. It makes me wonder if the creator of the crystal thought the same thing?"

Amara smiles slightly to herself, but remained quiet as she went to the scrying room. Men always thought that women were so like them, just in reverse. Amara was quite aware that wasn't true, but was amused at the banter.

"Alright, what questions do you all believe would be best for me to scry?"

Nolan just rolled his eyes and sighed at the conversation,

Look for the Waystone that leads to the mine in the Trielta Hills. That's what we can use to get the prisoners out of the mine if it's still there and still functions. We don't want to be transporting right into the middle of something like we did at the Hub.

"Agreed. We need to make sure we can even get there. Hopefully, it's safe. Also, I think we should probably move the bodies from the hub. Don't want the prisoners to be frightened anymore than they already are."

Amara nodded to Nolan, reached out, and touched the crystal gently. "Show me the Waystone closest to the mine in the Trielta Hills."

Twiggy joked with Roen "Of course they would scry on men, they need to know which one is the right "fit"." and gave a mischivious smile. Watching the ball he asks "Try to find us an area to watch their patrol routes in relitive safety. When we go in it will be hard and fast so as not to alert them."

Roen chuckled at Twiggy's remark, but stayed away from Myarra,

"My mother would've smacked me for saying something like that. You better watch what you say here. The ladies here are armed to the teeth!"

When Amara touched the crystal, Roen watched to see what would happen.

The image takes Amara, and those who are watching, up into the sky, the tower getting smaller as you gain altitude. Then it moves to the South and all you see is green from the tops of the trees of the forest. Then it stops and does a 360 view before descending down until it reaches the destination. Whoever is looking can see a group of rocks not too far from the mine entrance...perhaps 200 feet to the south of the entrance.

Selection 67 has been added
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This was the first time Kali had seen the crystal and its use, and despite that, she stayed close to Byron, a conserved look in her face. She was a being if nature, so arcane magic was different to her. Some made her curious...some scared.

She looked on as the image came to rocks with the mi e entrance. Her breath slowed as she grasped Byrons arm more for support than anything.

Byron watches Amara with concern on his face for his friend.  He knew that even she had concerns about the long term effects of using the crystal.  He was not at all surprised by Kali grasping his arm. He glanced over at her before looking back at Amara.  Not saying anything as Nolan and Amara were a lot smarter and probably a lot wiser than he about what to look for as well as what to ask to see from the crystal.

Vernon thought it was amusing to see people scared of the scrying crystal when they were traveling about with a ghost and using a magical transporter to take them all over the forest.

Myarra also watches the proceedings.  She's, if anything, more relaxed now that she knows Amara isn't going to catch on fire.  It's strange how one can get used to anything, given a little bit of time.

"Well, we won't need the Mariasha at least.  That's one less thing we'll have to take care of before we attack.  And one less thing I'll have to worry about.  I'd hate to get her all fixed up and then get her wrecked trying to pull off a rescue."

Amara first 'walks' the image toward the rock grouping, to see if that would be a good area for cover, if needed. Then she 'walks' the image toward the entrance, looking for any signs of use and for traps.

"If you can, try and find out where the dragon is," Myarra suggests.  "It would be best if we could wall it up, at least temporarily, while we get everyone out and deal with as many of the guards as possible."

Twiggy watches he movements using the crystal and wonders if he could trick this magical device into thinking he is a female to use it or if that is still far off of his using magical devices abilities.

Any other information we get on the area right now will be different later on, so we shouldn't waste our time focusing on the mine. We'll just get angry at what we see and then be even more upset that we can't do anything about it. We should look at the temples next.

"We will likely need to go into the mines. We need a map," Amara replies.

Amara looks around with the scrying Crystal to get a feel of the area, but she doesn't see anything out of the ordinary. There are bushes and various other rock formations around the area, but since it's not on the trail, there isn't much traffic near here except for some old animal tracks. Once you make your way to the trail leading to the mine entrance, you see 6 armed guards at the cave entrance. As for using the waystone and sneaking inside the mine? That's not going to happen unless you were invisible.

"The dragon's lair is also likely to be fixed.  It would be nice to know which tunnel to avoid or brick up.

And at least we know we can get very close before they detect us.  Surprise is always best when you're doing the one surprising.

But I do agree with Nolan that we're not ready to attack them yet.

Just a question though.  Can dragons tell when they're being spied on?"

Spied upon? It would depend on the intelligence of the dragon, I think and its instincts of magic. But, I would say it's pretty difficult. I've never been able to detect if anyone has scried on me before, but Dragons are much more magical than a human wizard.

"I only ask because of the care we need to take when referring to the Great Green Grumpy Girl.  I was a little worried that an undead one might be able to see or feel us in some similar way."

Amara continues to direct the scrying down the tunnels so that they can map them and be ready to navigate them if it becomes necessary.

Amara scries into the mine and for a couple of you, this is the first time you've seen it. Typical mines are dirty and dangerous and they care about their workers. This one is a slave mine and they don't care about anyone. If they die, they die. They'll just throw their bodies into a pile and find another slave to take over their work. The conditions here are horrible. Area 1 is still the guard area and nothing has changed. Area 2 has 2 dozen bodies now. Area 3 hasn't changed. Area 4 is a crying boy, perhaps 7 or 8 years old, trying to shake his Father awake, who's obviously dead. There is a cultist yelling at the kid and laughing. Area 5 looks to be some sort of processing center? At least a dozen slaves are breaking down big rocks into smaller rocks and a Hill Giant slave is smashing the rocks into powder. Once silver ore has been identified, it is crushed into a fine powder. Silver is commonly extracted from the powdered ore by smelting or chemical leaching. 3 cultists are using liquids to do this, so smelting might be in a different area.

OOC: Nolan is the only one with enough Knowledge (Arch. & Eng.), so he explains to the party what is going on in this area.

+++++

The mine map has already been created, but Amara wishes to continue to map the place Game Map U.

Area 1 is the guard area
Area 2 is the dead bodies. At least 2 dozen of them. Mixed races
Area 3 is a group of slaves with some children.
Area 4 is the slave kid trying to wake up his Father
Area 5 is Ore processing center?

Aliana's elven eyes fill with tears

Kali can feel the muscles in Byron's arm tense up at the scene of the child trying to wake his father.  Anyone who looks at him sees his eyes water up and his face harden in both sympathy and anger at the situation.

It takes all of Byron's self control not to say anything so as to disturb Amara.  The information is much more important to the good of humanity than Byron's feelings for a helpless child.

Nolan doesn't say a word about the cruelty. He already told the party that watching this was going to be hard on some people. He just stares at the crystal, studying the details of the area and explains the process of separating the silver from the rock.

OOC: I'm sorry and sad to say that Nolan is much much smarter than I'll ever be.

The rocks are smashed to a fine grain and then the chemicals are added to separate the silver from the granite. The silver is much heavier and stays on the bottom while the rock dust floats away. Then the silver dust is collected and melted into cubes, bars, coins. It's not a difficult process to do. It's just dirty and dangerous.

Twiggy stands there, clenching his hands not knowing what else to do. He never thought it was so bad...

Myarra stands still, staring expressionlessly into the crystal.  It's not that she's unaffected by the scenes, but given that she and Amara had both grown up in the underdark, this was hardly the first or even the hundredth example of casual cruelty she'd experienced in her life.

And while they still had to wait until they were prepared to take on the the slavers, the mission had become more than just "save the innocents".  "Punish the guilty" was going to feel so much better once she got them in her grasp.

Amara was disturbed by the pain and suffering for no good reason. When she had fled the Underdark, she had in part fled these things.

She pressed on with the scrying, continuing down the biggest tunnel. Most likely, the smaller tunnels were the individual mining tunnels, where there were far more examples of cruelty. Guard and resources were likely to be positioned near where the tunnels connected to the main shaft. But the main shaft should take them to any other major resources - and likely to the dragon itself.

Roen wasn't happy at all watching what Amara was doing with the scrying crystal. Getting a slight advantage over the enemy wasn't worth watching what was happening to the poor souls inside that awful place.

"Well, I'm afraid that I must leave and go to the mines. I can't just stand here and watch this and do nothing about it. I was willing to delay this until you had the proper magics to defeat the dragon, but spying like this is not worth the lives of those poor souls trapped in there. Even if I start a ruckus at the mine entrance, that will at least alert the guards and stop the cruelty inside for a bit."

Sister Aliana winced at the pious human's declaration, and nodded
"If you go, I'll go with you, my friend.  It's the least I can do."

Byron sympathized with Roen and would go with him.  However, he wanted to gather some more information first.  The better information the group had, the better their chance of survival and the better their chance of successfully freeing the slaves.

And this is what I told you would happen! Nolan yelled at the party We were supposed to look to see if the waystone was still there, not look in the mine. These deaths are not on us, even if we know about them!

Nolan getting angry is a very rare sight, but he quickly settles down,

I'll admit that we should have looked here when we were ready to take this place on, not before. The images are disturbing and it makes me feel horrible to know what's happening in here, but we can't do anything about it now. We know and if we go now to try and stop it, we'll be those people being tortured and killed.

"Everyone calm down," Myarra snapped at the sudden outburst.

"We have to do this scouting.  We have to find out what we're facing.  It is absolutely critical to know what it is we're preparing for so that we're not wasting time and end up getting wiped out by surprise anyway.

This is Evil.  You all know it exists.  And this mine is hardly the only place where people are suffering and dying.  If you can't stand to watch, that's fine, walk away and wait for us outside.  Caring for innocent life is not a weakness and I will never think any less of you.

But we are not going now.  Nolan is correct.  Anyone that does will die or be added to the slaves.  The suffering will continue and you will have thrown your lives away for nothing.

And, when we do go after them, we won't have your strength to aid us.  Going now only serves Evil.  Think about that."

Sister Aliana nodded,  looking properly chastised

"If we don't know the situation of the guards, we can't win," Amara snapped, with only half attention. "And the biggest possible enemy is the dragon. We need to find it. Then I will scry again for the Waystone.

The best thing you can do for these people is to prepare. If you run in their unprepared, sure, you might save them pain for a minute, but in the end their fate will be the same. So take what you see and prepare. Buy potions or wands of curing, find ways to make your fighting more powerful, whatever it is you need to do to prepare."

She continued moving forward, looking for the dragon.

Twiggy watches things unfold "If we had a way to be in contact with the miners we could get assistance from them too."

"We already found the stone in the fields." Vernon said to Amara about the waystone But, I agree with Nolan. There was no point in looking here until we were prepared to come here. It's now caused pain and misery."

Nolan gave Vernon's ring back to Byron.

I'll be in my Lab. Somebody come and get me when you're done here.

Nolan leaves the Crystal Room and goes to his lab on the 2nd floor.

Myarra shakes her head sadly.

Let's just finish this. The sooner we know what we're facing, the sooner we'll know what we need to buy, and the sooner we'll know just how much money we're going to need to do that."

She peers closely at the crystal as Amara continues to scry, looking for traps, chokepoints, guard stations, and most importantly, signs of a dragon.

Amara continued to scry down the tunnel and even though there were people complaining, she was enjoying herself with this crystal. It's very powerful. As she looks around, all the people aren't stationed at particular spots. There are wandering guards and slaves doing their work. Area 6 is another guard post with a bell to ring for emergencies. There are 4 "warrior" guards playing cards. Area 7 has very bright lights going to the North, but what really interests Amara is the large cavern she scries. Area 8 is a very large cavern with plenty of light to see 7 cultist priests chanting. You assuming their chanting, but you can't hear anything. That's when you realize that throughout this whole time, there was no sound. But, as you get closer, you see a very large Skeletal Dragon with bits and pieces of Blue scales still stuck to it. It's lying on a large pile of "treasure". There's all sorts of stuff there, including coins and gems and other various objects a dragon might desire.


Area 1 is the guard area
Area 2 is the dead bodies. At least 2 dozen of them. Mixed races
Area 3 is a group of slaves with some children.
Area 4 is the slave kid trying to wake up his Father
Area 5 is Ore processing center?
Area 6 is another guard area
Area 7 is a T crossing with very bright lights to the North
Area 8 is where the skeletal dragon is

Game Map U has been updated
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:50, Wed 02 June 2021.

Twiggy steps closer to the crystal "Can you look up to make sure there is no other way out? We may can collapse the tunnel trapping the dragon inside."

"Many dragons can burrow," Amara says, trying to guess the age of the dragon before it died, knowing they were more powerful the larger and older they were. She also looks more closely at the seven clerics, trying to determine their likely strength.

Myarra considers what they're seeing.

"I know Brass dragons can dig.  Do they ever make a mess re-arranging a dune.  But I don't know about Greens.  And I know nothing about undead ones of any color.

But if they can't dig very well, then I say we drop the ceiling on the tunnel, or wall it up, or seal it in some other way.  That would give us the time we need to deal with the guards.

And why are the priests chanting?  Is that to keep the dragon under control? Keep it from falling apart?  Keep it from attacking them?  If we can silence the priests, what does that do to the dragon?"

Twiggy sees the scales on the dragon and asks out loud "I wonder if they are chanting to try and finish or secure the undead process. With those scsles still clinging, it can't have underwent the process that long ago. I don't know exactly how the ritual works but I am sure it takes awhile and multiple times. Kind of like you can't make a powerful magic item in a day. Soooo, if we can drop the ceiling on them it may stop the process, snyone know any dwarven engineers or gnome tinkerers?

Vernon listened to the conversation in awe and added a comment of his own....

"Why don't we steal their wagons of loot and hit them where it hurts, mates? They'll not blame the slaves. They'll send guards out to find us and when they don't come back, they'll send more and more."

Byron seething with anger at the scene finally turns away from it.  The venom in his voice is obvious that he would really like to kick the Cult in the backside for real, but is smart enough to know that trying to do so now would be a worthless loss of life.

Myarra, where is this so called battle training room I was told about for practice?  I  want to kick some Cultist butt, even if it is only in practice for the moment.

Amara paused to focus on the cultists to determine what they were doing.


20:28, Today: Amara rolled 39 using 1d20+19.  spellcraft.

Kali watches the scene as it unfolds, her face a mask of sorrow. When the scene comes to tbe undead dragon, she visibility shudders. Druid's are beings of nature, and to see a perversion like an undead was bad enough, but an undead dragon, something magical, chilled her to the core.

"Taking out the cult might not effect the abomination, but it will lessen its hold on things. if we can trap it, deal with the cult and get those people safe, that will be a boon for the land. The dracolich must be destroyed when we have the power, but we are beyond that....the cult we can though."

She places a hand on Byron's arm, her voice warm. "Keep your focus...we need your advice on tactics here Byron. I know it's hard, but for those people, we must succeed." Byron is close enough to notice a single tear running down Kali's cheek

Kali can still feel the tension in Byron.  He smiles at her with some of the venom draining off, but not the tension.

I'm going to kill every damned cultist I find that doesn't surrender and beg for mercy.  I've had enough of such unneeded suffering in the world.  It is one thing for storms to ruin crops that families want and need to harvest to make it through the coming winter.  It is quite a different thing to watch those damned animals laugh at a kid who has lost his parent and likely his only living relative because they are both slaves.

Byron pauses for a moment glaring back at the crystal.

May the gods let me meet Nelson Centauri on the road.  He's not going to get the chance to surrender and beg for mercy when I next see him.

Kali nodded at Byron, but held no smile - just a look of consern. "He deserves nothing less,  but we need to help those people first."

Byron looks over and sees a hard edge to her eyes. "...and rest assured, I meet any of the cultists, they may not get the chance to surrender. Their actions pervert nature, and everything in my power, they will know just how upset nature is."

Twiggy looked at Byron with a little smile, scary on his cherub face, but there "I guess that will the day we disagree, if the cultists beg for mercy or surrender they will still die that day. You can do it quick and mercyful or I will. They used deception to trap me in that mirror do long that everyone I knew are now turned to dust. I will not see them pervert anything else in this realm."

The little halfling reaches into one of his back pockets and pulls a flask out then takes a swig, a very long one. With a few deep breaths he calms down and adresses Vernon's suggestion "Only problem with that tactic is that if we anger the dragon it will escape. We need to see if it can burrow and spend money on hiring dwarven engineers to drop the ceiling on it."

Byron glares at Twiggy. More from his own anger and not Twiggy's comments.

Twiggy, you try to kill them while they are alive and begging me for mercy, I'll kick your ass too.

Byron pauses for a moment to calm down even more before continuing.

If I don't see anything that's another story entirely.

"I don't think we should be killing anyone. The culprits need to be taken prisoner, so justice can be done. The prisoners need to be the witnesses and if nothing happens, the townsfolk will see just how bad the Centauri's are and rise up against him. You can't get a town angry when there's nobody to get angry at."

Roen, with Nelson it is now personal.  I'm going to take pleasure in dealing out his punishment my way.

Amara didn't get a chance to focus on the chanting, when it stopped and the cultists began to look around and one individual began giving orders. Even the skeletal Dragon was roused from it's slumber. So, your question has been answered. Scrying can be detected.

"What kind of punishment would you be doing to yourself? Is it really worth it? Bringing him to face justice will make more than just you happy."

Nelson's punishment is going to be death.  He wants to help the Cult.  Well, he's forfeited his life after that.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:09, Wed 09 June 2021.

Twiggy looks at The ball "I think they know they are being watched and now would be a good time to cut the scrying off.

Amara was focusing on getting out of there, backing away and out the caves, but the Dragon Bones quickly got up and started moving toward the party, the Cultists quickly moving out of the way. Once at the entrance of the mine, Cultists stopped the Colossal bone pile as the party got a glimpse of how big the Blue Dragon Skeleton was...

Game Map 0 has been updated

Amara stops concentrating on the Crystal and the image of the mine disappears.....

"Well, that be excitin'....what do we do next?" Vernon laughed

Amara frowned as she shut down the scrying. "Some are too dangerous to allow to live. But how do we fight a dracolich like that? Even the golems are not likely to do much against that thing."

"I'm seeing 2 ways.

The first is we sneak in invisibly, use magic to collapse the tunnel, and trap the dragon in his lair.  Preferably something the priests can't just dispel.

We then kill as many bad guys as we can, as quickly as we can, grab the slaves and run for it.  By the time the dragon gets out we'll be gone.

The second is we find some magic that makes us invisible and stay invisible.  We sneak in quietly and assassinate just the bad guys that we have to but, again, as quickly as we can, grab the slaves, and run for it.

Both involve magic, so I leave it up our smart folk to figure out the details.  If, in fact, it's even possible.

Or to come up with something that I haven't thought of, which I'm sure is probably what will happen.

The problem is, ultimately, as long as there is silver in the mine, and the dragon to protect it, they'll just get more slaves and start it up again.

That, unfortunately, I haven't got a clever solution for, short of, you know, one of those wishing spells to turn all the silver into normal rock."

Sister Aliana nodded thoughtfully
"I don't have invisibility magic, since Oghma is more about seeing all, but i have access to magic that can shape stone"

"Invisibility, I can handle," Amara said.

"Aye, little lady. What be a Dracolich?"

"A dracolich is a powerful undead dragon. But, thinking back, I don't think it's probably a dracolich yet - but likely want to be one. Which likely further presses the need to handle this more quickly rather than late."

Myarra frowns in confusion.   "Why don't you think it's a dracolich yet?  It was a skeletal dragon and moving around.

Would it be easier to kill now?  And, if so, a little easier or a lot easier?"

"Well, a dracolich would probably be relatively minorly easier to kill - the first time. The problem with a dracolich is that if you don't also destroy their phylactery, they will reanimate again. So you'll have to kill them again and again and again until you find and destroy an item that could be as small as a ring hidden somewhere in the world. So overall, much harder."

OoC: I wasn't given specifics on what it is that made it seem to her it wasn't a dracolich yet - Amara would be happy to mention that if there was something specific. Amara wouldn't ignore that part, but I'm not sure how to answer it.

Kali, silently listening but concerned about Byron and his anger, looks at Myarra. “Getting in I’ll take some work, but collapsing the tunnel, I might be able to help with. Nature and all.” At the discussion of the dragon, she shuddered at the mention of a dracolich. One of the most evil and perverted things, her eyes hardened.m“If it is yet a dracolich, the sooner we take care of it, the better….once it reaches that stage, it’s power will be immeasurable “

"But, as Amara said, killing one for good requires finding its philodendron.  And as long as it exists, they're just going to keep dragging in more slaves no matter how many we save.  So, how do we find this soul-hiding thing-a-ma-jig?"

Twiggy listens not knowing anything about undead dragons, but "How about we go capture a member of the cult of the dragon and get them to tell us how one is made. I know they are everywhere."

"It's not a dracolich yet - but I think has the power to become one. Which is why we should figure out a way to handle it sooner rather than later."

"I'm not familiar with these Dracoliches, but to me it looked like a big pile of moving bones. I'm assuming that if it was a Dracolich, it would be capable of all sorts of magical feats?"
This message was last edited by the player at 14:18, Sun 20 June 2021.

Byron listens to the others talk with anger still flowing through him.  He doesn't move far away from Kali.  Her words helping to relieve the anger in him.

"Yes, any lich, including a dracolich, retains access to magical abilities."

"Aye, Dragons have power. I didn't get a good look at the bones in the crystal. Did it look like it has magic powers, lass?" Vernon asked Amara

Amara frowned slightly, "Most likely, but I am not certain." She turned to look thoughtfully at Vernon. "I wonder if all undead can see you?"

"I don't know, lass. Ghosts be seein me just fine. You be thinkin of bones here?"

"Now that we've seen what's happening in the mines, what's your next move, Amara? Going there now would cause a lot of trouble, as they know something is amiss. It was not a good idea to spy on them until you were ready to go right then. I hope it was worth it. Many people are going to die now."

Roen shakes his head in sadness and turns around and heads back up the stairs.

"If our mapping is correct, I'll ask Nolan to take me to the Triel Mine via the waystone, so those metal statues don't attack me. It was nice knowing all of you."

"By all means, Roen," Myarra snaps back. "Do go commit suicide.  It won't help anybody, but at least you'll die feeling smug.

We can't very well be ready to go until we've prepared.  And we can't prepare if we don't know what's waiting for us.  We're not talking about going out and kicking the ass of some orc-band.  We're dealing with the cult and a bloody undead dragon.

But, sure, I understand that whining about reality is so much easier than dealing with it."

She turns back to the others.

"Does anybody have any actual suggestions that might actually help?  I made a number.  I'm sure they all have problems, but we need to start somewhere.

What are we going to do, and what do we need in order to do it?

We should go find Nolan now that we're finished here.  Maybe he'll have some ideas."

Byron growls at Roen.

I don't like it any better than you.  However, suicide is not the way to solve the problem.

Byron turns to look Myarra.

I think he took off for his lab, so who knows when he will come out of there unless one of you ladies can get him out of there.  I have no magic ability, I'm just the muscle to bash the cult's head into a bloody pulp when you guys tell me when and where.

Venom dripping from Byron's voice as he continues.

Culver and Nelson are the exceptions, next time I see either of them, they are dead regardless of where we meet them.

Aliana bit her lip anxiously.  She had no words of wisdom for her friends, though she wished she had

"Well, we're not getting anywhere here.  Amara, let's go find Nolan and see if he'll help.  I can get people back into the main tower, but I'll need you to get into the labs.

Because if you want to get with the killing and the rescuing, then somebody better come up with something that even vaguely resembles a plan."

Byron turns to Kali.

I need some fresh air.  Lets take walk around the village.  I need to clear my head to think before we start making plans and I agree to something really stupid.

Hoping the others, especially Amara, will follow, Myarra heads back to the main tower, looking for Nolan.

Kali looked at Byron and nodded. "I prefer fresh air to enclosed spaces....the weeks here and you all have made this place tolerable, but we're it not I would be like a tiger in a cage."

She followed Byron from the room and tower

Amara's brilliant blue eyes flashed at Roenthelm as she held back what she wanted to say. It was clear she was not saying what she wanted to say, and her voice was as harsh and cold as ice as she replied to Roenthelm. "Most likely, no one will die who was not already going to die anyway. It's just that now you know about it. And now we have the information to start forming a plan. We did not know if we could fight them until we scryed, and if we would have been able to fight them, we could potentially have saved lives. I don't care if you have some sort of complex and want to sacrifice yourself for others - but if you head off now, they'll capture you, either torture you or enchant you - perhaps both, and you'll give them all your knowledge of us. At which point, any element of surprise we might have, any chance at winning, will be gone. And all will die. So you going now is the absolute worst possible idea."

She turned, icely following Myarra without another word.

Twiggy looks at Roen "There is something we can do to help these locals right now before you go kill yourself. They said a troll has been terrorizing the countryside and I think a few of us can handle that while the smarter ones figure out a plan."

As Byron and Kali walk around the village, the anger and bitterness leave him slowly.

The job of the strong is to protect and help those weaker than they are whenever possible.  I wonder who's land that damned mine is on or near.  I would bet it would be Centauri's land.  Probably not on it, but it close by and far enough from Lord Dehlt's so as to go unnoticed by him.  Amara is right we need to come up with a good plan or it will be a suicide mission for all of us.

I have a little more self control and self preservation than Roen, or I'd be mounting up Charger right now and off to the mines with him to help him.  I cannot bear to see any kid suffer like that one in the images.  This thinking and planning stuff is something I'm not used to.  Nolan must be rubbing off on me some. Just don't tell him I said that.

Byron pauses for a moment before stopping and looking directly at Kali.

How old is Raieylan?

Kali listened to Byron as they walked, allowing a smile at the insight. "Wisdom of your friends is rubbing off on you...perish the thought" Her tone had a hint of teasing, but also pride as well.

At the question, she had a perplexed look. "I don't exactly know...i've known him for five years now.....I'm guessing he's about eight years old. Why is that?'

Roenthelm looks very embarrassed now, after listening to Amara.

"I didn't think of that. I'm sorry."

Byron is thoughtful for a moment before replying.  Genuine concern in his voice as he replies.

I was just curious.  I have no idea how long a big cat can live for.  I've seen smaller house cats live for a couple of years to 10 years before I left home to make my way in the world.  I hope nothing will happen to him as I like him even when he thinks I make a good pillow, and just so long as he doesn't make a meal of me.

Twiggy chuckles at Roen "Don't feel bad, that is why we are together, to keep each other in check. And if you haven't learned by now, Amara (and the rest of the ladies) are usually right. Just don't tell Kali I said that or Byron will get all jealous of me." Twiggy chuckles some more thinking of picking on Byron "So do you want to do some good now and go hunt some trolls? We just need some oil and torches. Maybe enlist our meat shield to do his chopping thing..."

Myarra continues up into the tower in search of Nolan.

Amara sighed. "Roenthelm, you are a good man. It is good to empathize and help those weaker. But to do the most good, we have to act not just intelligently, but also cunningly."

She went with Myarra to go find Nolan, knowing only those with magic could get to many areas.

The Druid smiled. “Cats like Raie tend to live about 15 to 20 years, unless something happens earlier. So, I think you’ll have him harassing you for a while yet…”  She looks forward, a little fear in her eyes. “…unless you leave before then.”

Byron smiles at Kali even as he playfully teases her.  She can still her the concern and sincerity in his voice.

I hope he's around for a long time.  I like him even if he thinks I'm trying to steal you from him.

The Druid had a slight blush. “As long as your true to him and me, he will not harm you. He’s a protective beast, and anyone who has him on their side is lucky….I know I am.” She looked at Byron. “….and as for stealing me away, you know that will never happen. Wherever I am, he will go, and gods help any who stand in his way.”

She kept walking, looking forward. “Why would he think that you would steal me away?”

Byron smiles as he replies to Kali.

Two reasons. One, he is very protective of you.  Two, I think he might be a little jealous of me.

There wasn't much left to do, so the party goes back up stairs to the dining room, while Amara and Myarra go to the second floor, where they find Nolan working on some sort of project(s), while a Magic Mouth spell is counting down from 100. Kalliyan and Byron walk around the village, talking small talk and flirting around with each other. At the mention of stealing Kali away, they both hear a squeaking giggle, but when they look around, they don't see anyone....

Upon seeing Amara and Myarra enter the Lab, Nolan assumes that the party has made a decision on their next destination. He was in the middle of a magical experiment and once he was at a good stopping point, Nolan speaks,

Where are we going?

Kali smiled as she walked. "He's always been protective of me...thats no shock to anyone here - is as plain to see as his black fur. As for the jelousy, why would you think that. H ehas been my companin for years now...he knows me better than anyone, sometimes i think even myself."

Byron smiles back at Kali as they continue their walk.

Simply, because I sense that he wishes he could talk to you like I am right now.  I still remember the guarded look in his eyes when we first met.

Byron continues talking with a hint of teasing in his voice now.

I think he trusts me about as far as you could throw me.  I also think he is ok with me being around you.  As long as we are where others can see us.

The druid giggled as she walked. "What makes you think he and i don't communicate? We talk all the time. It's like i know his thoughts and he knows mine. No, he doesn't wish to be you, he is happy being him. No, he's guarded because he knows my history. He's a big brother, always watching out for me."

She looked at him again. "As for trust, i think he trusts you mote than most humans. any others he would have torn apart by now...he just likes to know i'm safe, and di think he's getting that when i'm around you, i am. He knows that should danger happen, you would give your life to protect me....or any of your friends."

"Well we're going to need money, of course." Myarra replies to Nolan.

"Lots of it.  No surprise there."

She's a bit uncomfortable in the magical labs and tries to stay as far away from anything breakable as possible.

"We scryed the mines and have a good idea of what's waiting for us."

She gives him a brief rundown of the layout, the guards, the location of the dragon, its appearance and that of the three priests.

"The priests could tell that someone was scrying them.  That was pretty obvious, but Amara stopped as soon as they started looking around.  They'll be on guard for a while, but by the time we're ready, they should have relaxed a bit.

But we still need a decent plan for attacking them.  We have a couple of ideas on how to rescue as many of the slaves as possible, but that's not going to be enough.  As long as that silver is there, and they have an undead dragon to protect it, they'll just keep on dragging in new slaves, no matter how many we rescue, or guards we kill.  Even if we wipe out the entire Centauri family, the cult isn't going to give up on that kind of wealth.

If we can't kill the dragon, is there any way of destroying the silver?  I've heard of Wish spells, but I don't know if they could do it, or how much they'd cost.  Otherwise we need to collapse the dragon's chamber at the very least.  Maybe collapse the whole mine or find some way of filling it in.  No matter what, that's going to require lots of expensive magic.

At least with a waystone right next to the mine, we don't have to get the Mariasha flying immediately, so that's one good bit of news."

She slowly winds down and shrugs.

"So, we need a plan, magic, and money to pay for it.

You said there were places where we might find buried treasure.  I'm thinking that should be our first step while we're figuring out exactly what to spend it on."

"I just feel that I should be doing something about the mine, now that I know what's happening in there. All those poor people suffering and now they're threatened by Trolls? I think we should go back to Elturel and enlist a trusted member of Lord Dhelt, so he can witness what we're found out and that will be the Lord's proof to send an army or something to stop all of this."

In reply to Myarra (msg # 272):

Anyone with considerable power may detect somebody scrying on them. I don't think it's happened to me or Amara because of the tower. Did you scry on the Temples or the Senate chambers? That's where Hanns said we might find treasures. As for the mine itself, that's a delicate matter. We destroy the place and we'll have every Druid hindering our movements in the Forest, but if we don't destroy it, the Cult will just rebuild. I'd rather fight the Cult, than the Druids.

Amara cocked her head. She didn't think Nolan had any significant connection with the druids. "We scryed the mine, to find the undead dragon and see what it was, as well as any guards or anything else we need to understand to attack about the layout." Amara replied. "Are you on such terms with the druid that you think you could convince them to help us?"

Quite the opposite, actually. I'm more afraid of the ground or a tree trying to eat me than an animated Dragon Skeleton. I try to be on friendly terms with the druids because I don't want Elementals trying to tear down the tower. And what I mean by friendly is that I try not to piss them off.

But, I think the Temples and the Senate Chambers should be scried for dangers. Then we visit the area and the Ghost Vernon can look for treasure like he said he could. I'm sure the Druids won't give us any resistance if they know we're going to fight the Dragon in the mines.

In reply to Kalliyan (msg # 271):

Byron and Kalliyan continue walking around the village and walk by some of the burnt out ruins and they hear the squeaky little voice again, but when they look around, they don't see anything. They just hear a squeaking giggle from among the burnt out ruins...

Kali narrows her eyes as she hears the voice and giggling. "Seems we aren't alone." She muttered

Twiggy nods in understanding to Roen "We will get to the prisoners in the cave Roen but it has to wait. What good would it do to free the prisoners just to have the bone dragon, the cult, or orcs destroy the town they flee to. We can not provide constant protection for everybody. We will help them but we will need to be able to free the prisoners, kill the orcs, the cult members, and the dragon in one swing That my friend takes time and planning. To do anything before ewould put them on gaurd and we will lose our suprise.

This troll though was told to us by the treasure hunters digging up magic items in the battlefield, about a day's walk from here. It is nothing but farmers so we are definately going to have to demand fresh sweet cakes and warm milk for reward." On that comment the halfling's stomach rumbles "See now I am hungry again. I am sure Nolan needs something from the troll for his magical experements too."

Byron chuckles softly and smiles at Kali.  Then calls out:

You better watch out for who you spy on.  You don't know who or what is watching you as you spy on others.  The big cat is very very protective of his girl.

Byron continues in a much quieter voice.

I'd bet it is a little girl with nothing better to do other than to get in trouble for telling stories about others.

"What exactly do you want me to look for when scrying the Temples and Senate Chambers?"

Well, the four Temples are the Temple of Lathander, Temple of Arvoreen, Temple of Corellon Larethian and the Temple of Moradin. I think they should be scried, along with the Senate Chambers, to make sure we're not transporting into the middle of something dangerous, like Green Dragons or another group of Humanoids.

Byron and Kalliyan look around the burnt ruins of part of the village. Some of the places have been reclaimed and rebuilt by the village farmers, but the majority still lies abandoned. The two of you wander around here looking/searching for the little voice you're sure is a little child playing tricks on you, but you don't find anything. You look in one spot, and the voice/giggle is at another. You're not stupid. You notice that you're getting further and further away from the tower....

+++++

So, while Roenthelm, Aliana, Vernon and Twiggy are busy talking in the dining hall about what to do next, Nolan, Amara and Myarra come back down stairs, grab all of you and you head back down into the basement to try and scry on the crystal again. The four Temples Hanns mentioned  are the Temple of Lathander, Temple of Arvoreen, Temple of Corellon Larethian and the Temple of Moradin. All of them are located on your map. Amara scries these 4 locations to see if they have any danger, but they seem to be safe. But, the Senate Chambers are quite busy with Cult of the Dragon activity!

You see that you are in an old ruin and there are Cult Members wandering around, as if this place was now turned into some kind of head quarters...

As she walks she leans in and whispers into byrons ear as if to say something romantic with a slight smile. “Keep me walking..,,I want to check something.” She mutters something in her sylvan togune, feeling the flow of magic around her.

<OOC: casts detect magic >

Byron smiles at Kali and replies in his normal voice.

Anything for you my love.

He places his hand on the small of her back and gently guides her along in a way to not screw up her concentration, but making everything appear normal to anyone watching.

"Seems like the Dragon Cult is all over the place. I think we should go to the temples, since they look pretty much abandoned. The Senate chambers might have treasure that you all need, but good luck finding it."

"I agree.  The temples don't appear to be that dangerous, not that I'm naïve enough to think them safe, but they could very well have treasures that were left behind.

The senate would require significant battles with the cult, which would be counterproductive right now."

Twiggy watches the crystal ball and his hands itch at seeing the cult but knows there are more important things to do "Well Roen, I know I can do one thing good and that is search for treasures. If we get in the rooms, I should be able to locate any hidden areas. I memorize detect magic to help me locate any items. If others can memorize detect magic or secret doors then we could probably be in and out of there before the cult even knew.

Yeah, No, we're not going to the Senate Chambers. Too much activity there. We'll go to the abandoned temples and have a look around. Let's gather everyone together, pack up some food and go exploring.

"I'm set whenever the others are."

So, the group inside the tower gathers some food for the day from the food dispenser and head on outside to get Byron and Kalliyan. Once outside, they call for the couple...

Byron and Kalliyan continued to look for the hidden voice, but magics doesn't help....at first. Kalliyan thought she saw something with a faint glow peeking around the corner of one of the ruined buildings. It was very low to the ground, so she thought somebody might be laying down, so she and Byron quickly ran over there, but when they arrived, whatever/whoever was gone....then they hear the party calling out for them....

"So, again, does anyone have an actual plan?  Or even 12% of a plan? We're going to get money.  Fine.  I'm all for that.  For what?  I can't wait to get the Mariasha back in the air, but with a waystone right next to the mine, she's really not necessary to saving those people.

How do we kill an undead dragon?  How do we keep the cult from just coming back with another bunch of slaves?  Money is of limited use if we don't know what we're going to spend it on.

Don't get me wrong, I love me some action, but right now our plan seems to be: Step 1, get money.  Step 3, Triumph over the cult.  I just think there ought to be a Step 2 in there somewhere."

Byron looks at Myarra.

Step 2?  I thought it was Step 1 Get money and needed equipment.  Step 2 Crush the Cult.  Step 3 End of story.  You mean there is supposed to be something between Get money and equipment and crush the cult?

Byron turns more thoughtful and looks at Nolan.

I suspect that I will need a more powerful sword if or when we have to face that damned undead dragon.

Kali, still preoccupied with the sound following her and Byron, was only half listening to the others. When the talk of a plan came up she smiled. “Myarra my dear….aren’t your plans limited to killing or scaring people until they soil themselves?”

"I have limited knowledge in magical items and their uses, but I suggest that you all get magics that help against undead. I remember when I was a kid in Saradush. There was an undead problem from the hills. The local priest pulled out a mace and it was rumored to kill undead with one hit. You need something like that. With the Dragon gone, the Cult will hopefully think twice about reopening the mine with slave labor without their dragon protection."

"Kalli, darling, that is indeed what I'm infamous for.  And if I could make a skeletal dragon soil itself, my name would certainly go down in the ballads for a thousand years or more.

But, alas, I don't think I'm going to be able to pull that off.

And Byron, dear, Crush the Cult is the bit that needs a bit of work.  I'd love to think we could just rush in, kill the bad guys, save the good guys, and exit to applause and cheers.

But what's going to happen after we leave?  The cult moves back in with more slaves.  I don't believe they'll just walk away from all that silver.

And even if we do kill the dragon, what's to stop them from just reanimating another pile of bones?

But Roen is right, undead killing weapons does sound like a really good idea.  Unfortunately, my sword is enchanted against living dragons, not dead ones.

But is that the plan, then?  Buy undead killing weapons? And then just hit the bad guys until they stop moving?"

Amara was tiring from all the scrying. It wasn't physically draining, but rather mentally. She scryed for as long as she dared on the Senate Chamber with the significant cult activity, looking for clues as to their plans and potential areas for weakness.

She agreed with Myarra, but wasn't certain the best plan. She considered briefly if maybe they should try to infiltrate the Cult. But she and Twiggy were probably the only ones with the skills necessary, but were too distinctive in appearance. The others all had their strengths, but subterfuge and bluffing, not to mention being able to turn a blind eye to pain and suffering for the greater good, were not among the strengths of the others.

"We should capture at least one of the higher ranking members, and interrogate them."

"If we can grab one, that would be a big help," Myarra agrees.

"As for the undead weapons, we could always hit up the big temples, especially Lathander.  While they probably wouldn't give us anything, we might be able to convince them to lend us something if they knew we were going after an undead dragon and the cult.  We might have to leave some money as collateral, or even make an actual donation, but it might be a way to get some items temporarily a lot cheaper and easier than trying to buy them outright."

Twiggy likes the idea of capturing a cult member "I say we start on step 1 and everything else will start to fall into place. if the cult is gathering in that area they must be looking for something too."

"I'm always ready to fight the Cult"

"Wouldn't the senate chambers hold the most precious treasures? Assuming that something is there at all, of course. I'm sure money has been found, but what are the chances of it surviving this long without it being found?"

There is no guarantee we'll find anything. We're taking a chance by searching the area. So, technically, we're just like those archeologists you talked with a couple days ago, except they have Troll problems and we have Dragon Cult problems. But, talking with the temple of Lathander might help.

After listening to Amara,

If we plan on doing that, we'd better be careful so we aren't identified. Then this said person needs to be arrested and delivered to Lord Dhelt. I think I've met him before, but I don't remember where.

Twiggy nods "Should we leave first thing in the morning? We can prepare detect magic spells to help locate any hidden magical items."

The only thing I might deliver to Lord Dehlt at the moment is Culver's head.  However, I'm not sure I'm going to do that.

Byron pauses for a moment before continuing in a more thoughtful manner.

In the mean time what do we need now to explore these senate chambers and what exactly are we looking for?  If I can't find it or can't read it or whatever, I can always stand guard while you guys look.

"Not the senate chambers.  Those are crawling with the cult.  There's no point in picking major fights with them if we don't know there's anything to be gotten.

We're going to the temples first, get money, buy what we need to fight the dragon, and go save the slaves.  And capture a few cult members to get information from.

We can take on the cult directly after that."

"Agreed, we need to start small," Amara said. "Otherwise, we might show our strength too much, and they would better prepare for us - and might defeat us."

Myarra nods agreement.  "We also aren't in any way prepared to take on the unknown numbers and strengths that the cult would have in the old senate.  We'd be facing the same, perhaps greater danger, than just assaulting the mines directly.

Let's hit the temples, grab some loot, buy some stuff, and then hit the mines.  We can put the cult next in line on our hit list."

The Druid nodded in agreement to the women and their plan.

"This is going to be fun. It makes me feel like I be alive again."

Amara smiled at Vernon.

OK, I was already planning on us going now, so I took the liberty of packing us food for the day. So, let's go. Daylight is burning.

Nolan starts walking to the forest to use the Waystone.

Myarra holds back a few seconds, not wanting to appear too eager to hurry after the mage.  But then, once she's confident that her dignity is safely assured, hurries off after the mage.

Amara follows as well.

Twiggy grabs his bag and Fitz before catching up with tje others.

Kali, always prepared, grabs her sachet and begins walking, the panther, seeing them as a group, snorts from his tree perch and jumps down, following.

Byron walks beside Kali.  His mind changing gears from planning and thinking to concentrating on combat should the need arise.

I figure we'll just go in order of the hub, starting with the Temple of Lathander. We'll clear the area to make sure it's safe, then search the ruins up top, while Vernon searches below ground like you guys told me when he did it at the Tower. That place might also be an option since you guys did recover some treasure from there.

Once the party arrives at the Daak waystone, he says the transport words when everyone is ready.

Be ready, in case we get caught up in the middle of a fight again.

The group arrives at the Daak Waystone with the Iron Golems protecting it. You each hold hands and Nolan speaks the command word and instantly, you're at the Hub. The whole place smells horrible with all the dead bodies of the humanoids you killed. You scare away some wild animals who were having lunch, but other than that, nothing is happening here. Nolan selects the first temple on the list, you hold hands again and in an instant, you're at the Temple of Lathander. The place is a giant ruin.

Please refer to Selection 57 for the Temple Picture
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There is a small graveyard that has been disrupted many times over the years and the Temple itself is not secure at all. The ceiling rotted away years ago and only 3 walls stand. Myarra flies around to get a better view, but there's not much to see here. You all find signs of previous camps and it seems like a good place since it's at the edge of the forest. Perfect for treasure hunters to set up a base. You completely search the area and come up with nothing. If there was any treasure in the graves, it's long since been looted.

"Aye, there be ghosts here everyone. I count 5. They might be upset if I start looking for treasure. A couple of them look like priests."

"It's not why we came," Myarra tells Vernon, once his words are relayed to her, "but ask the priests if there are any relics or other items that have been hidden away that should be returned to the city temple?  I'll swear whatever oath they would like that, if they trust us, I will see them safely returned."

Aliana nodded in agreement
"Yes, the ghosts shouldn't be burdened with guard duty if they don't need to.    They did enough in life"

Roen looked at the ruins and felt sadness. Even the graves were in ruin. He walked to the nearest one and tried burying what he could and made the tombstone straight again, while the party was searching for treasures. He didn't blame anyone for this desecration because he'd only be guessing. He just wanted to make things look nice again.

Wait a minute. If there are ghosts here, we should ask them who has come here and then try to help them. Remember, this is a Temple dedicated to Lathander. We can't just barge in here and take what we want. I don't want the wrath of the Gods on my butt.

Twiggy stays silent for a bit , not knowing what to say, especially since there is nothing of value. Thinking for a moment about the ghosts he speaks out loud for Vernon to hear "Lathander's dogma involved life and he hated the undead. Tell them about why we are here and what we are trying to get to destroy the undead dragon. Maybe they can help us."

Byron remains quiet as he is not much of a strategic thinker, but more of a tactical one.  So he stays alert for trouble to keep his friends safe.

"So, what are we doin'? I don't want to be upsettin' any Gods, since I be dead and all..."

Kali, uncomfortable with the thought of ghosts, stood by Byron tense.

Raieylan, clearly on edge, paced the ground with a low growl in front of them.

Nolan turned to the group,

We may not have the time to be thorough here, but I have a feeling that if we're going to get any help or luck at the Temples, we can't just do a nice quick search and hope we find something and then tear the place apart if we do find something to get it. Like I said before, I don't want the Gods on our bad side. Vernon is going to be very helpful here and I don't want anything happening to him because of the Gods holding a grudge of one of their fallen temples. So, we're going to take this slow and see if we can help these ghosts.

Turning around in a circle,

I don't know where you are Vernon, but can you tell us about the ghosts that you see? And have any of them taken notice of us? That's who we wish to speak to first, if they'll talk.

"Yes, let us see if we can help these ghosts. And perhaps they can help us.

We need some manner to move against the cult, and they might have knowledge to help us."

Twiggy will let these guys help the ghosts as he knows the cult is around "I am going to search the outlying areas, make sure there isn't anyone lurking nearby. I won't be to far." Twiggy then tells Fitz to stay before he eases to the side of the building and roads to blend with the shadows.  He goes about three hundred feet out and starts doing a premeter check.He stops every now and then to listen to his surroundings and search for any goodies that may look interesting.

"Aye, I be seein' an Orc, a farmer, a woman, a warrior and a priest. The Orc be going through the walls like he be on guard duty, the farmer be standing next to Roen watching him, the woman looking at the sun, the warrior be wandering around and the priest be talking to nobody. None of them be lookin' at us. Who should I talk to first?"

Byron continues to look around for threats to the group.  He can't see or hear Vernon as someone else has Vernon's Ring.

Sister Aliana also didn't have the ring that connected her to Vernon, but she knew that he could at least hear her.
"Vernon, I don't know if this helps, but if you see someone who looks learned, like a sage, wizard, priest, or scholar, they might have more information, on average."

The elven priestess was showing her own biases, she knew, as a priestess of the God oF Knowledge and Books, but she hoped it was good advice regardless.

"I suggest the farmer, who has taken an interest in us first. Then if anyone else has taken an interest them. Or, if no one has, the priest next." Amara responds to the ghost.

I'd be interested in what the Orc knows. Strange to see an Orcish ghost, but I agree with Amara. Ask the farmer questions.

Turning to the rest of the group,

Keep an eye on things while we're dealing with ghosts. Make sure Twiggy is OK. The crystal showed this place to be deserted, but things change.

Twiggy eases around the rubble through the area trying to blend in to the background.  He still stops every now and then to listen for any odd sounds and look around for areas of interest.

Twiggy used his skills and blended in with the countryside to try and see if the party was alone. He could hear the normal sounds of the forest around him, but other than that, nothing seems to be amiss.

The rest of the group not paying attention to Nolan and Amara wander around the ruins looking for anything. Aliana looks for tracks and finds mostly animals and some booted prints, but they are weeks old.

Aliana will repirt her findings to the group

Vernon "walks" on over to the farmer and gets his attention and starts speaking to him.

"Aye, Master Farmer. Me name's Vernon and I be a ghost like you. What's your name and why you still be around?"

Vernon turns to Amara and Nolan and speaks,

"His name be Miles and Roen be burying a friend of his. He still be around because the graveyard be upset."

Turning away from them,

"Who dug up the graveyard and why? If the graveyard be fixed up again, you'll rest easy?"

Vernon turns to Amara and Nolan and speaks,

"He say treasure hunters dig up bodies to look for loot and if the place is cleaned up, he will rest easy again."

Amara relays Vernon's words to the others. Then she speaks to Vernon, "When did these treasure hunters last come by? If they're still coming by periodically, then it wouldn't do much good to get it fixed up. But certainly you can tell him that we are here, in part, to ensure that other body is appropriately buried."

She considered for a moment, "As you know, Vernon, we came to look for anything that might help us - knowledge or material items - and to prevent current pain and suffering. Certainly I think we're all happy to help, but we would likely prioritize the living over the dead - with no offense. Unless he can offer us something that could help us in the upcoming battle?"

"The Orc be excited to hear about battle. I guess he knows what you be sayin'" Vernon chuckled "But the farmer says they came a couple days ago."

After hearing Aliana's report that nobody has been here in awhile, Nolan thought about it for a second,

Ask the farmer what year it is. Aliana says nobody has been here in weeks.

Twiggy continues his peremeter sweep inspecting things as he goes.

"What did the raiders look like? How many of them were there?" Amara asked Vernon, as she wondered if an angry, battle-hungry orc could potentially help fight another undead...

"The raiders looked like ruffians. Typical highwaymen looking for easy prey." Vernon answered to Amara "But, we have a problem, Nolan. The farmer say the year be 1360. That's 12 years ago. He also wants to know why we be here? There's no treasure. The graves have already been looted."

Twiggy is vigilant in making sure the area is safe, as he slowly makes his way around the perimeter. The complex and the area around it seem to be pretty secure, but things change pretty quick in the Forest of Wyrms. Aliana looks for tracks further out, but they're just as old as what she's found before. Byron and Kalliyan wander off to one area of the complex, but the Panther seems a bit on edge, but there are several ghosts in the area. Roenthelm completes the grave in front of him and it looks nice now.

"The priest is now with us and says Roen did an ad...ad..mir..able job. I'm thinking that's good, yes?"

Vernon describes the priest wearing old brown robes, human, looks to be in his 50's? greyish brown hair and beard and wearing a holy symbol of Lathander.

Admirable, yes. Ask the farmer what his name is and what we can do to help him? Then ask the priest what his name is, along with the year that he died.

"His name be Miles and he says that putting him and his friends and family back in their graves and cleaning the place up would give him peace."

Vernon then talks to the priest,

"His name be Father Thames. He came here with other members of his temple to start restoring this place and was killed by a Green Dragon and eaten. He say that was 1309. He said that he will rest when this temple has been restored."

Once twiggy is satisfied that there is noting close he goes back to the others "All is clear that I could tell. Have you figured out what we need to do to put the spirits to rest?"

"Please tell them that we are here to learn more about a cult that is killing innocent people, and which includes an undead dragon. We would appreciate any information that they have, especially about the undead dragon, and any resources that could help us in this battle to save innocent lives," Amara said first to Vernon.

She nodded at Twiggy, "Setting the graveyard back to right, restoring the temple, and such, yes. But we have not found information to help those still living first."

Nolan doesn't have anything to add at the moment. Amara's request is good enough for now, so Nolan waits and listens.

Vernon talks to the ghosts of the Farmer and the Priest and then tells the party,

"They don't know of any undead dragon. They only know of a Green Dragon that is very alive that comes by here every couple of weeks. As for any special treasures this Temple might have had, they know nothing about it."

Roen continues to try and tidy up the cemetery to make it look nice again. He figures that while the party are talking to the ghosts and looking for treasure, he would do this.

Given that Myarra doesn't deal with ghosts, she pitches in to help Roen with the graves.  She has no problem with the dead ... as long as they stay that way.  And fetching, hauling, and carrying are her strong points ... along with her sense of humor.

"How big is the green dragon? When did it last come by? And does it ever come with anyone else?"

Vernon asks the farmer and the priest to describe the size of the Green Dragon and it didn't sound good. By the measurements they were describing, it sounds like a Mature Adult.

"It's big. Probably big enough to destroy this temple."

<darkblue>"When did it last come by? Is there any chance it could now be the undead dragon?"<darkblue>