Galadel smiles at Inas' comment, but answers somewhat more seriously,  "Evil, for all its bravado, deep down knows it is evil and in its shame, seeks to hide in the deep, dark places of the world.  Thank you for the blessing High Priest Lightbringer, we shall likely need it.  The three visitors of the Order who were captured, can you tell us more of them, if we are to look for them, it would help to know who they were and what they looked like, anything that would help us identify them when we find them"

Saliq smiled politely at the priest, even if he shared Inas' concerns. Truthfully while he respected Pelor and his church he did quite feel comfrtable here. His patron goddess had always been the lady of the moon, known to the citizen of Stormhaven as Sehanine. It the temple of the sun it was hard not to feel things were a shade too bright.

"Hrothgar is the leader of his crusade. He is a Cleric of Pelor. His two loyal men-at-arms are Galafried and Walafried, twin brothers. Both capable warriors. There were others in their company, but sadly, these men and women were slain during the assault."

The Lightbringer provides physical descriptions of each man.

Hrothgar is a human male in his mid to late 30's, already beginning to bald so he keeps his dark hair cropped very short. The left side of his face is badly scarred, a token from a battle against a pack of hellhounds.

Galafried and Walafried are twins and both are pale with curly red hair and freckled skin. These men hail from the Northern Kingdoms and speak with the distinct accent of those cold lands.

This is Rath's first visit to Pelor's grand temple in Stormhaven. To him, familiar with the rustic shrines and the much less affluent temples scattered through the towns and villages surrounding the city, it seems strange and off-putting, a lofty, brilliant place -- no doubt suited to the god of the sun, but not a place suited to the men and women who most need to feel Pelor's warmth. He shrugs. Pelor's light shines on the rich and the poor alike, the wicked and the righteous. All are equally far from the True Sun, and all cast long shadows.

Rath has some difficulty not gawking at the colored glass above him, but his mind is working over some dark thoughts that he's not quite ready to put into words. Not, at least, in the presence of the Lightbringer.

"Thank you, we will do what we can to recover these brave men, and the discs.  I would like to extend an offer to the brave acolytes who went after the enemy to help us in this endeavor, at least for the first part.  It might make them feel good and give them valuable experiences.  We cannot guarantee total safety but they may hold back at the caverns for awhile, I could even make them unseen, and it could help us by saving time in finding the caverns and perhaps making use of what healing they possess before they come back to report our initial findings and resistance.  I thank you again, we have preparations and other places to visit before we embark...." he glances around at his mostly silent and uncomfortable new comrades..."I think...". 

Once Galadel has excused them to make the preparations and they are outside the hearing of the Lightbringer, Rath speaks freely but quietly. "Not a stretch to make connections between this trog raid and the Sir Kisslips naga. Might be they were riled up by the Invincible Sun. You all want to start at the Cliffs, or head through the sewers?"

Rath is already ticking off a list of necessaries for the expedition: fresh rope, lamps, a brace or two of javelins (since a longbow won't be of much good in a sewer), extra water skins, extra boots and clean socks, perhaps something pungent and nose-killing from the apothecary ... .

Almost as if reading the mind of the warrior, Galadel, walking along with the others pulls three light colored leather pouches and three dark colored pouches from his pack.  Each tightly closed.  "During my time at the Guild, I made these for you..." he hands over one of each color to Rath, Inas, and Ben.   "Inside each light pouch is a coin with continual light cast on both sides, and the dark pouch has coin with continual darkness on both sides.  They will each create a circle of either bright daylight or complete darkness about 30 feet in all directions.  If you take both out at the same time, they will negate each other and also dispel the magic on the coins, I can make more but it takes time I hope they will prove helpful to you. "

Rath smirks and tucks away the pouches. "Heh. Thanks."

"Thank you, Galadel."

After a moment:

"Much as I'd prefer not to go in the sewers, the sewers seem like more of a back door than the cliffs, don't you think?"

Ben takes the proffered pouch, examining the clever packaging, making the choice obvious between them.

But not obvious enough.

Ben takes the thread dangling from the dark pouch and ties a double knot into the end of each strand, allowing him to distinguish between them should he be made invisible again.

Pulling two that opposed each others purchase would, if he understood Galadel correctly, kill the magic in the coin, so he would be very careful with them.

"Many thanks, handy indeed," he says in gratitude to his mage friend.

Through his contacts in the thieves guild, Ben learns that the attack was in no way orchestrated by any within the guild. At least none have claimed responsibility, and likely for good cause. It turns out the thieves guild is quite critical of temple burglaries in general, especially as it relates to temple relics. The thieves guild primarily operates protection rackets as their main source of income, to include a few high profile operations among the various temples.

As to possible methods of ingress and egress, the sewer routes are well known guild members, and after a little probing, Ben learns some addition information which may prove useful. While mentioning the fact troglodytes may have been involved, Ben learns of a section of sewer not too distant from the temple district, with a little known access point to the Darkness Below. Troglodytes have sometimes been spotted within the sewers of this area, known as the Sinuous Tunnels among those who frequent the area.

Ben is given general directions to reach the Sinuous Tunnels and told the area supposedly extends deeper into the Darkness Below, and is primarily occupied by grimlocks, but there have been reports of some sort of turf war between troglodytes and grimlocks occurring within these tunnels, which reportedly extend several miles beneath Stormhaven.

Ben shares his anger that others would deem to invade guild turf. "Smelly bastards," he offers in regards to the Troglodytes. The with obvious humor in his voice implies more that he is offended at the competition in the field of odiferousness than anything else.

After the usual request for 'aid in the defense of the honor of the guild' in whatever form they might offer, he makes for his meeting with the others, promising (if they would like) to carve the guild sigil on any of guilty he finds.

Galadel inquires with his contacts at the Wizards Guild hoping to glean any pertinent information about the temple attack. The presence of a sorcerer in the troglodytes' ranks is of concern, particularly if there is a renegade high level wizard operating within the city, but nobody knows anything more about the matter. Troglodytes are not known to have faculty with arcane magic, so it begs the question as to how has enjoined their cause?

As to the stench, spells such as Gust of Wind might be useful, a guild member offers. That won't neutralize the stench, but it might direct it elsewhere?

As to the Slithering Overlord. This name is unknown. Perhaps a demon of some sort, one of them suggests, or a High Priestess of a cult of Zehir?

Galadel finds scant mention of the Order of the Invincible Sun in the library, save for what is already known. The battle against the naga is too recent to turn up anything. Digging through the library, Galadel finds a brief mention of a naga dwelling in a cave within the Cliffs of Abandon, backing up information they have previously heard.

Finally, when Galadel approaches Talanyn, the Keeper of Lore about the possibility for trading scrolls for illusionist scrolls, Talanyn reminds Galadel of Guild Rules and states he has a right to sell any scrolls to the guild for established rates, and he can then use these proceeds to purchase other scrolls.

"Well just think about how popular you'll be once you deal with those... er... smelly bastards," Saliq said to Ben after they reunited.

Saliq, after some hesitation had decided to join the Wizard's Guild and accompanied Galadel to the building. While he let his friend research Saliq interviewed for membership and tactfully inquired if any other illusionists were members. If not - or if he was the most senior of his specialty - it might be up to him train the new generation.

On reaching the Wizards Guild, Gal is surprised but seems very pleased to hear Saliq is planning to join.  He will give Saliq a very quick tour of the areas he knows, although newly joined he is only acquainted with the major rooms himself.  Before leaving to do the research, he stops Saliq. And hands him a scroll tube.

"I had planned to do this myself today, but if you are a member, you will have the same opportunity to do it and better understanding of what you need.  Inside you will find two scrolls from the fifth order I got from our last encounter.  The Guild masters will explain the policies, but I checked and you could sell these to the Guild and buy two third and one fourth level scrolls of your own for an equal value.  I would have been just guessing what you would like, based on what I haven't seen you cast...best you do this.  I'll be here in the library when you are ready".


Once completed, he admits that he has found precious little to be of help, but passes along to the others all he learned.

"If we are going to seek out these Sinuous Tunnels in the morning, I could make Ben invisible tonight, it would save me the spell tomorrow, if fact, I could make four of us invisible. Might make meeting up in the morning a bit tricky..." he smiles.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:15, Mon 22 Feb 2016.

"I have traveled and fought with people who kept to cover.  While not fully invisible we were nearly so.  And even for those familiar with and trained in the effort it is a difficult endeavor.  I fear it may cause us more problems than it will solve.  We can try -- but we might be better off leaving one or two of us visible so that everyone has an ever-present reference point."

being invisible is almost Ben's favorite thing. He agrees.

"OK, catch up with me before we head off to rest Ben and I'll cast the spell.  Anything special we need to get for our...." he hesitates...thinking perhaps it best they don't speak too openly about their plans. "next destination?  Extra oil, ropes, I plan to buy a few things, I could pick up others".

Ben shares whatever he learned from the guild about the best ways to get down into the underneath and find the troglodytes. [Private to GM: Without revealing anything the guild expected him to keep secret, if there was anything. ]

Ben leads the party to a rusty sewer grate located in an alleyway behind the temple. The grate is bent out of shape and large enough for even the largest of party members to pass through with little difficulty. The distinct Stormhavian odor wafts up from the open passage. Peering into the sewer, the party sees a narrow channel with a narrow ribbon of fetid water barely flowing down its center.

The tunnel leads away to the north and south. Ben recalls the passage they seek likes to the north.

Assuming Ben in invisible, he will creep out in front of the others, and try to get a sense of the passage forward...

"I've smelled worse," Rath grunts. He lights up a torch and slips past the grate, following Ben, and making all due efforts to avoid stepping in the slimy fluid.

"Offal rhymes with awful."

Inas smiles at his little joke.

Galadel moves to follow the brave scout and two warriors into the sewers, catching a facefull of stench.  The young half-elf hesitates, he face suddenly strained.  It was true what Inas had said, surely the undead smelled worse, but they were not so overwhelming, the young mans stomach flips over a few times and he swallows as he concentrates on acclimating to the scent.  It takes several minutes, but finally his breathing becomes more regular and he follows the others.

Saliq follows, his expression queasy, though whether because of the odour or the danger is unclear.

"I miss Eagle but I doubt he would have enjoyed a trip through the sewers."