"I'm happy to see you smiling, Nolan, but I find your humor a little disturbing." Roen laughed back

"Myarra, don't forget the two breastplates. I'm no expert on determining value on things, but I'm sure that Adamantine is expensive."

Roen was ready to finish off exploring the Temple and since he was carrying Krelm's bones, he decided to tell the tale of why the party was collecting treasures to the ghost. He was sure if Krelm had any questions, Vernon would let him know.

In reply to Nolan (msg # 923):

Aliana shrugged
"I can summon a long sword of celestial energy to poke around, if that seems helpful,  Nolan"

I don't have a hammer, but I could hit one with a burst of flame.

Byron replies with a chuckle to Nolan before continuing in a more serious and thoughtful tone.

It is dark outside.  So either we go home now, or we spend the night here resting before resuming our exploration in the morning.  If we spend the night, then we assume a regular watch like we do when we are travelling out in world outside.

"Krelm say the statues might be guardians protectin' the mines down below. He say they look like Moradin. He also say the area to the North-East be where the temple Dwarves sleep. He used to sleep there. He say there be no traps there when he be alive, but the only one he knew be the stairs."

"If we need to use the crystal to check out the mines, then we're not going to finish exploring this place tonight.  We might as well come back tomorrow once we know how much more we need to do.

Besides, I have something I need to take care of back in Daak.  Might not be able to finish it tonight either, but I'm feeling a real itch to get started.  I'm thinking Mystra's screwing around with me again.  I know she only has my best interests at heart, but I kind of need to bitch about it anyway."

"Is Krelm okay if we go back for the night without re-blocking the entrance? We can re-block it when we finish, but I think until then, we want to be able to come and go - or stay down here." Amara said. "I'm fine with scrying, I'm fine continuing our search for a while. And laying Krelm to rest."

"Should we go with some traditional camouflage to hide the entrance,  or should we do something magical, like shaping the stone?"

It just needs to keep people and creatures out for a few hours.  If you can stone shape some thin layer of stone to seal it up and then remove it in the morning, that would be fine.  We can do a permanent job of blocking it up once we're finished.

But we won't know how much we need to explore, nor can we lay Krelm to rest until Amara can scry the mines below and find out what we're dealing with.

We could also just have some people stay here and camp near the doorway overnight while Amara and I go back to Daak.

OK, who wants to stay and who wants to go? I'm for covering up the entrance with a Stone Shape and coming back tomorrow. If I can see down in the mines and have enough information to Teleport, we can have Krelm in his tomb before lunch tomorrow.

Twiggy nods "If we can avoid the gaurdians then that is a good thing. What if we finish this level and try to teleport into the mines tommorrow."

"At this point, I don't think we're all needed.  Stay away from the guardian statues and you'll probably have just traps to deal with.  And Twiggy is more useful there than I am.

I'm willing to go back for the evening.  I recommended Amara do the same for the scrying.  And, if I get Mystra's blessing on my project, I'd like to have Aliana or Kali come with me, but, again, that's not guaranteed.

What about the rest of you?"

"Yes, it sounds as if it would be best if I go," Amara agreed.

"I'm going to try to use the crystal myself.  And as the only person that can use it safely, I'll feel a lot better if you're there.  And if something goes wrong, you can pry me loose and put out the flames."

I don't think it'll come to that. I'm beginning to think it's attuned to females and the more powerful you get, the easier it is to use. But anyways, let's go home for the night. We'll leave Krelm here so he can tell us if anything happened during the night.

The party leaves Krelm in the "throne" room, which he says he hasn't seen in a really long time, so he doesn't mind being left behind. Then the entrance is covered for the night, the party figuring that the dead owlbears will get more attention of the wildlife than an entrance to a long abandoned temple dedicated to Moradin. Once outside, Kalliyan looks at the sky and moon and figures it's pushing 10 pm. You travel using the waystone, arrive at the hub and scare away more wild animals eating the dead. It really smells here now. You make it back to Daak with no problems and enter the tower for the night. You may not have found magical stuff to sell in Soubar, but the Adamantine items will still fetch some serious coin.

-----------
What does everyone plan on doing? Nolan, Amara and Myarra plan on using the Pink Scrying crystal in the basement to get information they need. I'm sure Twiggy will be enjoying the food dispenser. What about the rest of you?

Seeing that it's the middle of the night, Roen gets a small glass of water to drink before heading to an empty bed. He was curious to see what would appear on the crystal, but resting his head on a soft pillow sounded better.

Amara stops to get a drink first - drow mushroom whiskey - before heading to the scrying room and beginning the scrying.

Myarra desperately wants a drink.  Even drow mushroom whiskey sounds pretty good.  But if she's going to brave the crystal, she figures that she really should keep a clear head.

She accompanies Amara down to the chamber and takes up her guardian position where she can quietly observe what's going on and intervene if necessary.  Not that Amara has ever had any real problems with the crystal.

Once Amara has finished, she'll hand the wizard her emergency supplies: her heavy crowbar and a thick blanket for beating out flames.

"I'm going to try a scrying.  I'd rather you did it for me, but I think it's something Mystra wants me to do for myself.  If I succeed, fine.  If I catch fire, I'll chalk it down to vanity and ask you for a favor."

Then, taking a deep breath, and wondering if it's too late to go grab a drink first, she'll put her hands on the crystal and will it to show where she can find her heart's desire.

After watching Amara and learning what he could, Nolan was a bit surprised that Myarra wanted to use the Crystal. He was joking when he suggested it, but didn't say anything as he observed.

Twiggy makes himself a huge sandwich using a whole loaf of bread, meats, cheeses, and all the fixings. He then gets a big slice of cake and some redberry juice before goung to the scrying room to eat and watch the show.

Byron grabs some fresh fruit and cold water for dinner before going to bed.  Knowing he's going to have to be alert tomorrow. He will accompany Kali and Raieylan if they want to make a quick patrol around the tower and/or village.

Byron and Kali wander outside to do a quick patrol around the tower/village, but the villagers on guard duty inform the pair that everything is fine. Kali is pretty sure that Raieylan would have informed her if something was amiss. So, after their quick patrol, they go off to sleep for the night. Aliana and Roenthelm have already gone to bed for the night, but Twiggy hangs out with Nolan, both observing Amara and Myarra scry with the Pink Scrying Crystal in the basement. Twiggy offers Nolan a piece of sandwich, but takes it back when the wizard isn't even paying attention to him.

Amara is first to scry, looking inside the Temple of Moradin. She quickly goes through the place again to make sure nothing wandered in, finds Krelm's bones and continues searching the rest of the complex to save time tomorrow. (Map is now complete.) She then goes to the room with the "Statues" and remembering that the entrance to the mines was below, she focuses down and goes through the rock and goes down a long shaft to the bottom (100 feet) It appears that the dwarves have made a modified Floating Disk similar to Tenser's Floating Disk that currently seals up the floor in the Temple. It's unknown how they operate it, though.

The bottom of the shaft comes into a cavern of mined rock. You can see this because of an entrance off to the side that is well lit. Stone stairs lead into the crypt while various passages lead off into the unknown in the cavern. Looking in the crypt, it's a pretty typical sight with sarcophaguses and various carvings on the wall depicting stories of the lives of the dwarves that lie here. There is also a Dwarf at a stone desk inside the Crypt, reading a book from a shelf that holds many books. You assume some kind of guard or Crypt Keeper.

So, you know what lies ahead of you down there as Amara finishes her Scrying.

Myarra takes up the mantle now as Amara teaches her what to do. Touch the crystal, think of what you want to see and guide yourself with the images on the crystal when you see them. Nolan has a disgusted look on his face because every time he uses the crystal, he starts smoking as the crystal drains the energy out of him, as well as any man that has used it in the past. Myarra complies with the instruction, and an image of a Lynx cat appears in the forest. It comes and goes because of Myarra's inexperience with Scrying, but Amara tells her to keep her focus. The feline appears to be living near a small riverbed in some rocks that has formed a small lynx-sized cave. The moon light shows a small, ruined stone tower and you all swear the area is humming...

That's when Myarra lets go of the crystal because she started getting nauseous, which is typical for first time users. At least she didn't catch on fire, like she thought she was.

Game Map 0 shows the Lynx Myarra found.

OK, I got a pretty good look and I think I can use a Dimension Door spell to get down there. I'll bring Byron, Roenthelm and Twiggy with me. Byron has Vernon's ring so he can talk to Krelm and Roenthelm can carry Krelm's bones into the crypt. Twiggy can talk with the Dwarf in there.

Turning to Myarra,

All of that to find a Lynx? I would've thought you'd want some kind of flying creature since you want to be a sky pirate? No way in hell that thing is going to let you pick it up and fly around with it.

Kali wanders happily in the open air, raieylan padding on one side, Byron nously clunking in his armor the other - two men so different, but in some ways the same. She smiled as her and Byron settled to sleep for the night, he druid sat up and looked at the stars for a bit.

Raieylan, knowing her companion, rest his head down with a yawn and drifted off to sleep.

Kali sat for a bit, watching the stars, her expression hiding her thoughts. "Byron....do you ever wonder what your life would be if you went a different path?"

Amara makes sure that during her scrying, she explores absolutely as much as possible. She is surprised to see what is most likely some sort of undead guard or crypt keeper. She continues to scry to read the books and see if she can learn anything about him.