Soon Aerin was reuniting with her friends and new companions, curious about the results of Tseran's magic, she asked "So, what do we have? Any plans?"

The remains of their lunch were duly taken away and desserts and beverages were offered, including kaeth and chocolate.


OOC: Let me know if you need anything.

 "I was rather hoping that someone with greater social grace than myself would undertake to ask after the dwarf with the plaited beard who accompanied our noble quarry to their chambers... Finding out who this individual was would enable us to attempt to contact them..." Tseran explains, once the question is put to him.

"I will take that task. " Orophear said as he stood and walked back to the common room looking for the woman he had paid earlier for the room.

Ethel was busy dealing with other customers, but when she had a chance, she heard Orophear's question and description, and nodded. 'Yes, that's Dorn Crownshield alright. No other dwarf has that many braids.'

Orophear nodded with what he thought might be the answers.
"This might be a long shot but did they leave anything behind when they had occupied the room?"

Ethel shook her head. 'Only a mess of plates and tankards.'

 "Good, I'm afraid the one part of the job of investigation I have never possessed an aptitude for is interaction." Tseran admits as Orophear volunteers and heads off to gather the necessary details before swinging back to the others, patiently waiting for him to return.

With a slight bow of his head and a giving over of a gold piece for the information, Orophear moved back to the room with his companions where he relayed the information that this was indeed the dwarf they were looking for.

"If we can find an item of theirs we could attempt to scry them. If none of us have that ability maybe there is someone in the city." Kaijn suggests.

"We did get the portrait of Haldyn's son, wouldn't that suffice for the spell?" Aerin suggested.

 "If you didn't mind there being a respectable chance of failure, not to mention that it's a difficult spell with prohibitive requirements. Can we not first attempt to contact this dwarven gentleman Mr Mithrandir has discovered the identity of before turning to the arcane once again?" Tseran replies, which may seem like an odd statement coming from a professional diviner but on the other hand, there's no sense getting lazy.

Lady Maelarra, who had until now being quietly finishing her lunch and patiently waiting while the others discussed their plans, spoke up at this point. 'The problem is that, although Calaunt had a goodly population of dwarves, they have the option of escaping the, ahem, oppressive atmosphere,' She meant the heat, stench, and actual oppression, of course, 'By heading below the earth. If we can but find a dwarf mercenary, or even the Foamy Beard tavern where they congregate, we can ask for "Dorn Crownshield". But the Bearded Folk enjoy their obscurity and underground culture.'

She drained her wine, and noted 'But remember Aerin reported the stablemaster said the girl left with five horses and one pony – six people, five humans and a dwarf, surely. Dorn left Calaunt with the scions, I'd wager... Mister Tseran determined they followed a map to ruins in the mountains, but there are enough of those. If we can learn where they obtained the map or what it purported to show, we might have enough to follow them. Or we could investigate the movements of the other scions involved.'

The priestess rose, concluding 'In any case, it seems we're finished here. Let us be off and go dwarf-spotting, or map-hunting. However, I may leave you on your own for a time – I have business to attend to at the shrine of Waukeen.'
This message was last edited by the player at 08:57, Sat 29 Sept 2018.

Aerin listened to the Merchant's Friend intently, she had come to a similar conclusion, she just didn't dare to share it, yet. "Seems as good to me as anything else. Why don't we get up and talk to the dwarves then?" she asked her companions, old and new, hoping they would agree.

 "Ahhhh, I had not recalled that detail. It does then make matters troublesome, but as you say if the map can be identified then the ruin can be located, and with some haste. Are there particular traders in unmagical antiquities and old parchments in this city who might present a possible source for such information?" Tseran asks, looking about the group but, failing all else quite happy to go with Aerin's suggestion.

"Perhaps there is a local map maker we might check with after speaking to the dwarves if they did not give them the map itself. " Orophear said as he stood and prepared himself to leave.

Maelarra stepped away briefly to pay Ethel for the meal. It was certainly nice having a priestess of Waukeen with the purse of Procampur to pay for expenses, if not the bribes. Mae made a blessing upon the establishment, briefly discussed business and the changing state of the hospitality industry, and made a few discreet inquiries of her own.

When she returned and walked with the adventurers out of the Mocking Maiden, she listed several local scholars and map dealers, from her own research and what she'd learned from Ethel. 'First, there's Halbar's Bookshop: Minsker Halbar is reputed to be the most accomplished mage in Calaunt, for what that's worth, though he's getting on in years. He sells all manner of tomes and scrolls.'

'Second, Tanshiver's Corner: Tanshiver the Bard is a noted sage, with a speciality in Dragon Reach folklore. If he doesn't know, he might tell you who does.'

'Third, Old Mot, a disreputable seller of bric-a-brac, antiques, things that have fallen off the backs of wagons with no questions asked and, at times, treasure maps.'

'Fourth, perhaps, Moonsilver House: Selûne is a goddess of wanderers, so they necessarily have a goodly collection of maps and traveller's tales, even if they are perfectly happy to get lost before they are found.'

 "Then we should visit these individuals, the sooner this is done the sooner we may have ourselves a lead." Tseran assesses, rubbing his hands together with eagerness for the off!

 ---

 And since we seem to be losing peoples attention, for all that I like a good mystery (shush, I do alright, I'm just grumpy!) perhaps we could make a few die rolls on this one and get people moving to where they can punch things - or whatever their preferences are. ^_^

OOC: That's fine. Someone can just roll a Gather Information check and I'll hurry you through to the source of the map.

And so the companions set out to gather the necessary intel...

ooc: Aerin's really not the best choice when it comes to gather info checks...

12:42, Today: Aerin of Damar rolled 14 using 1d20+4.  Gather Info.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:44, Wed 06 Dec 2017.

OOC: That's fine, with a +2 from Maelarra's Aid Another it comes to 16, just beating DC 15. It takes five hours and the time is now dusk.

The companions visited the various sages and booksellers in the order that Maelarra had named them, taking them on a not-so-grand tour of the dismal city.

Halbar's Bookshop on Wendering Way was well known to Tseran after his time in Calaunt, being a haven of lore of all kinds and the odd tome on the Invisible Art, and something of a sanctuary to the oppressed mages of the city. It was a place to whisper news and warnings behind the stacks, or pin up missing wizards posters. Unfortunately, none of the furtive customers knew anything, and if old Minsker Halbar, greatest wizard of Calaunt, had sold any maps recently, then he certainly couldn't remember, his memory not being what it once was, you understand, though back in the day, thius being before the Time of Troubles, but you youngsters wouldn't remember that, he could memorize a dozen spells in a single sitting, yes... To change the subject, they bought a detailed map of the northern Vast and its ranges, and while it showed a few old ruins, none were of particular note.

Moving hurriedly on to Tanshiver's Corner on Turncobble Street, Tanshiver "the Bard" Brynleaf turned out not be a bard at all, at least not the famously magical kind, more of a freelance minstrel, sage, and news-man. He had keen interest in the reasons for the adventurers' research, quizzing them with so many clarifying queries that one had to wonder who was questioning who.

Steering the conversation back on track, when they asked about maps of the Troll Mountains and the Earthfast Mountains that sprawled over the northern Vast, and what still-hidden ruins might lie there, he gave a quick overview of the history of the Vast, from the ancient orc nation of Vastar; the brief dwarf kingdom of Roldilar, the Realm of Glimmering Swords; and the rise and fall of dozens of petty human cities and kingdoms, built on orcish and dwarven ruins, which had settled more-or-less into their current arrangement. Any one of those could have left ruins in the northern mountains, names and locations lost to the tide of history and conflict. The most famous lost castles were the Hollow Mountain, or Mount Grimmerfang, the orcish capital; and the deeply buried dwarven royal court of Roldilar. They had never been found.

Then, when they asked about treasure maps to such lost ruins being sold recently, Tanshiver shook his head gave a very disheartening response. 'No doubt Old Mot's been selling fake treasure maps again...' The practice had recently seen a revival – it wasn't so long ago, Aerin recalled, that Alamondh, the ambitious Hamayarch of Procampur, had tried to empty the city of adventurers by distributing fake treasure maps luring them away to the town of Maerstar.

So, at last they came to Moistly Antiques (the 'i' had been persistently added by some vandal, no matter how often it had been scrubbed off), finding a rough-looking shop full of furniture, bric-a-brac, and alleged antiques. The door was locked and no shopkeeper, Old Mot or otherwise, was in evidence.

By now, after an afternoon spent in research and hiking the streets, the sun had slunk down to the horizon, almost past the city walls and roofs, and casting the street in long shadows. Clouds had rolled in, and there was about to be a little bracing dampness in the air.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:05, Sun 10 Dec 2017.

 There are certain natural rules in this world, certain imperatives that must be discharged though the heavens themselves rain down fire or the earth itself shatters asunder... A salmon will cross half the world to return to one specific river, a butterfly might fly three thousand miles to breed... and a mage in a book store is going to come out with a heavier pack and a lighter purse.

 Tseran for example, seems to largely forget what he's supposed to be doing within moments of entering Halbars and comes out with a number of slim folios, a hefty tome or two and a couple of compendium collections which he tucks into his pack* and he hardly seems to acknowledge arriving at Tanshivers, so caught up is he in his purchases but he's mostly back with the land of the living by the time the group arrives at Moistly Antiques and he's perfectly prepared to rap his knuckles on the door in insistent fashion if no-one else looks about to do so.

 ---

 * So it was a big, fancy book store. I've just ticked off 100gp then. ^_^

OOC: Feel free to treat those books as two masterwork tools (PHB p130–131), each giving a +2 circumstance bonus (non-stacking) on a specific Knowledge check. For example, Cuthbert the Unready's monograph "Mind Over Muscle" would give +2 circumstance on Knowledge (psionics), while Volo's Guide to the Vast will give +2 circumstance bonus on Knowledge (geography [the Vast]).

Tseran knocked on the door, but there was no response from within. Although the other shopkeeps were closing up at this time, with some very secure doors and shutters, it seemed Old Mot had left much too early.

'It seems a poor way to do business, not being open.' the Waukeenar priestess remarked, peering through a grimy window. 'Rubbish selection anyway...'

Aerin tagged along, never too interested with the literature that wizards seemed to feed upon. Until a thought hit her and she asked the proprietor of the bookstore for texts which dealt with the Iron Dragon, or at least mentioned the fabled creature.

At Aerin's question, Halbar seemed to stir from his senility, protesting sharply that he'd never heard of an Iron Dragon, and what's more, there was no such as an Iron Dragon. Even Maelarra looked a little perturbed.