The air is still and heavy as the morning sun shines through the shutters of Feathergale Spire. Despite the early hour the heat seems to radiate from stone of the tower. The swirling mists in the valley below seem almost like steam, boiling out of a heated cauldron.

Aside from the stirrings of the party who conquered the air cultists here, all is still within the Spire.

Mayon groans as he awakens, as he slept fitfully. Though he has no memories of any particular dreams, he has the distinct impression that his patron is not pleased with him. He doesn't feel as rejuvenated as he should.

---

Jak earns Inspiration for completing his second "secret mission", clearing out the raiders who he swore to stop attacking nearby hamlets and caravans!

Mayon's crummy hp roll has to have an in-world explanation, right? =)

What's next?
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:20, Sat 11 Aug 2018.

Jak finished up last watch and began waking people. Then he wandered off - well, not wandered, really. He knew exactly where he was going. He headed down to the stables to check in on Sharpwind and make sure she was okay, had food, was brushed if she needed to be, and anything else he could think of - but mainly making sure she was okay.

Then he began to thoroughly search Thurl's room and the other knight's at the top-most rooms, working his way down until the rest of the party informed him they were ready to go or what the consensus on a plan was.

Jak wakes before the others, and spends a fair amount of time rooting through the knight's chambers and the supplies strewn about the stables. With a flash of insight, he realizes these all must be stolen goods, from the "knights'" raiding parties.

Some of the items are ruined, but others seem to be in good condition.

---

Jak finds 12 feathered cloaks and enough gold in the knights' chests to increase the Day 7 per-PC payout to 149 gp/apiece. There's also a laundry list of stolen goods available from the stables - see below.

Here's an updated list of everything to be distributed to everyone's character sheets, plus the stuff that's also available to be claimed/investigated:

Treasure to be distributed:
- 149 gp each to all (including Alnessa)
- Thurl's ring, a feather-patterned golden ring set with a garnet - 250gp
- Potion of Heroism: For 1 hour after drinking it, you gain 10 Temporary Hit Points that last for 1 hour. For the same Duration, you are under the effect of the bless spell (no Concentration required). This blue potion bubbles and steams as if boiling.
- Spell scroll: unidentified
- Spell scroll: Skywrite - Jak is the only one in the party currently who can cast this, because he's a bard.

In addition, there are some items that aren't necessarily treasure per se, but that the group did acquire and would be good to distribute to folks' character sheets:
- 2 keys recovered from Qarbo's corpse in the Standing Stone monastery
- 4 trade bars from Mirabar worth 5 gp each, found in the tunnels below Red Larch
- Monk garb, recovered from monks in the Standing Stone monastery - 9 robes & masks

There's also the question about the magic dagger Reszur, whether Morg or Zora should carry that by default - if Zora's keeping the magic dagger we should probably move the description to her character sheet.


Other stuff available at the Spire - will be left behind unless claimed:
From the stables - items in good enough working order to use:
- 5 healing potions
- shovel
- empty chest
- portable ram
- 10 iron spikes
- hooded lantern
- hunting trap
- abacus
- robes
- vial of unidentified liquid
- grappling hook

From the armory:
- 3 longswords
- 3 suits of scale mail w/ matching helmets (one dwarf sized)
- 4 shields
- 4 longbows
- 4 quivers of 20 arrows each

From the knights's rooms:
- 12 feathered cloaks
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:04, Mon 13 Aug 2018.

After waking and eating, Morg takes a piton and starts scraping off the mountain-peak-shaped chevron insignia and dwarven rune on his shield, muttering "[Language unknown: Ceteen ncomev ro herintvir me for m butversan astoulure thuhe it usntuteteend us loenad taitie iellus...]" under his breath.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:46, Mon 13 Aug 2018.

"If you're going to swear, might as well make it so we can all understand," she joked at Morg after she'd taken time to pray and eat. She helped herself to a longsword to compliment her morning star and reszur.

"Are you sure you don't want this back?" she asked Morg, indicating the dagger. "It is quite a lovely weapon."

Alnessa steeled herself, peeking over the window ledge and into the castle. She dangled high above the grounds below, her bare feet gripping the rough stone, but she didn't mind. Climbing something so high was new to her, and the challenge had been worth it.

Seeing it clear, she pulled herself up the rest of the way, the lithe Elf slipping through the human-sized window and into the castle proper. Her features were hidden by the hood over her head and the scarf around her mouth, and though she carried a spear on her back, she made no move to pull it out. There was no need to fight just yet. Not until she got a better lay of the place. Hearing far off voices, she crept closer, curious. Once she found a good vantage point, she would hunker down and observe, looking for the one called Savra.

OOC: Hi everyone! Didn't know how to push my way into the game, so I hope you don't mind if she spies on Zora, Morg and company go over their loot!

Alnessa'Elbrani rolled 25 using 1d20+7 with rolls of 18.  stealth.

Mayon rubs his forehead, exhausted and irritable from a restless night. Apparently his patron wasn't too thrilled with his actions, though there wasn't exactly a lot he could do on his own. Fey just didn't understand mortal limitations, it seemed.

"I'd like to get that other scroll looked at if we get the chance. Can't figure it out myself, unfortunately." He says with a sigh. "The blue potion's got some effects that would be more useful for Morg or Zora, I think. And we can each take a healing potion. Might be nice in an emergency.

Jak smiled at Sharpwind and gave her one last pet before he turned and began gathering all the things he had found in to a pile. There was no way he could carry it all himself, of course. He shook his head slightly at the 'raiding' the 'knights' had done. He scoffed ot himself. Knight, indeed. Just airborne bandits! Rude hosts, too!

He began making trips while the others were still waking up to pile the stuff in the room for them to look at. He was still at as Morg ate, which earned him a stink-eye. "Good t'see ya up an' lazin' 'bout. Don't mind me, just gath'rin' everythin' t'gether for you, yer majesty." He flashed a wicked grin at the group.

He finally finished up and collapsed in to a heap against a wall just a short distance from the pile of goods. "Also...found...money..." He sat there, catching his breath.

"You can hold on to Dweeble's dagger for now," Morg says to Zora, "it might help against that river pirate who may know where your Shadowkeel fella is."

"Do we secure this tower as a stronghold, keep looking for the delegation, or do something else?" he says, looking thru Jak's loot.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:21, Tue 14 Aug 2018.

Huet opens the door to his chamber, already fully armored, as the group gathers recovered goods together from the rest of the tower. A brief scowl flits across his face at the sight of the loot, but it is gone in an instant.

"Prithee," he begins, rubbing his eyes. "what doth my rescuers plan to do from hither?"

Jak shrugged. "Well....I mean....this place DOES have a nice stable already set up for Sharpwind, which is cool....but I'm dubious of our holdin' this place if we leave for any amount o'time."

He thought about things, but Huet entered and spoke. Jak's face scrunched up a bit at the weird language the knight used. "Um...We may go hither an' yon, but we are discussin' right now." He grinned, and then looked at his compatriots. "I mean we have stuff we should get t'doin', but...havin' a place t'hole up ain't bad."

"I agree, a place to hole up would be ideal. We should search it thoroughly though (or have we already?) I'd hate to have any unpleasant discoveries."

She shrugged at Morg. "I want to pursue Shadowkeel of course, but I feel we should have a place to call home before we launch new raids."

The group spends some time pawing through loot collected from various areas around the Spire. Hauling it into the Great Hall was a chore, but at least now it was all collected together.

During a pause in the conversation, a soft sneeze echos from the stairwell.

---

Alnessa was the one who sneezed - in case I wasn't being obvious enough! =D

@Zora yup, you can assume you've thoroughly searched the Spire at this point, though if there's any particular additional investigation you want to make feel free to post that.

To move things along I'm going to suggest the following loot split based on the discussion I've seen so far - this is really up to the PCs to decide however, so if the group wants to change this at all please feel free to discuss/post changes.

Treasure to be distributed to everyone:
- 149 gp each to all (including Alnessa)
- Potion of Healing
- Monk garb, recovered from monks in the Standing Stone monastery
- 1 feathered cloak, recovered from Feathergale Spire

Treasure to be given to individuals:
- Potion of Heroism --> Zora
- Spell scroll: unidentified --> Mayon
- Spell scroll: Skywrite --> Jak
- 2 keys recovered from Qarbo's corpse in the Standing Stone monastery --> Morg
- 4 trade bars from Mirabar worth 5 gp each, found in the tunnels below Red Larch --> Zora
- Longsword --> Zora
- Longbow & up to 4 quivers of arrows --> Alnessa
- Thurl's ring, a feather-patterned golden ring set with a garnet - 250gp --> Jak
- other stuff --> left behind

Alnessa wasn't used to dust, especially the dusty dust of closed confines and buildings made of stone. So when the sneeze overtook her, she was just as surprised as the rest of them, sneezing right into her scarf loud enough to echo off the walls.

But it didn't matter. These people were interlopers, and these speaks of making camp here and raiding, they had to be bandits! So without missing a beat, the young Elf jumped to her feet, spear in hand and stepped out of the shadows. "Hold, bandits! What have you done to the inhabitants of this monastery! Where is the one called Savra?" she demanded as harshly as she could, though the words came out in the sing-song cadence of an Elf.

She turned towards the newcomer in shock and alarm. Seeing she was alone, or hoping she was, she looked over the new girl's compact, graceful form. She looked formidable, but not so much that Zora was in full battle mode. Not yet at least.

"Guess we missed a spot," she muttered to herself about the thoroughness of their search of the spire.

"You want to field the Savra question?" she asked her companion.

"The double-crossing knights were the bandits." Morg says. "Well, except for Savha and fancy-pants Huet, who helped us."

"You're not with the Sacred Stone Monastery, right?" he says, looking at her green cloak. He holds out an empty hand, "My name's Morg."

"Savra seems to have left sometime during the night, I'm afraid. The rest of the folk here were, as they say, the bandits who forced us to defend ourselves." Mayon says, holding up his hands in hopes of defusing the situation.

"I am Mayon Graycross. Perhaps you can tell us what brings you here yourself?" He adds, somewhat more calmly.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:01, Sat 18 Aug 2018.

Alnessa took a step back when Mayon held out his hand, her eyes narrowing at the half-human. "Stay back," she said, waving her spear in their general direction. But she did lower it when they assured her that they were not bandits, and that Savra was not here. She let out a frustrated sigh, her graceful body rising up to her full height as she dropped her battle-stance.

"My apologies. The road has been long, and I have not met many non-elves, or learned of your strange ways," she said, slipping her spear back into its scabbard on her back. Even without the weapon, she was sure she could defend herself. She pulled down her scarf, revealing the youthful, beautiful face of a Wood Elf. "I am Alnessa'Elbrani, of High Forest," she said, a fist to her heart and a bow to her head. "I am looking for the half-human Savra. She may be connected to the disappearance of human homesteaders who were allies of my clan. Last I heard, she was here."

Jak raised an eyebrow as the person sneezed and then burst in on them with a spear. He turned to look at them but otherwise didn't react. There was only one of them, after all, and many of his group. He shook his head as the others explained.

He smirked. "Yeah, she was here last we knew, too - but 'parently not any more." He raised an eyebrow at her again. "Uh huh." Pause. "Half-human, huh? Nice." The tone of his words made it clear he didn't think it was nice at all.

He paused ."Hey, how'd you get in here? Just curious since we may have security issues with this place still."

"Yes, half-human. An Elf with human blood. Is that not what they are called in human languages?" Alnessa said, raising an eyebrow of her own. These humans were so strange. Still. she persevered. Savra had been here, and perhaps these confusing humans, dwarves and half-humans would bring her to some answers. "How did I get in? I climbed," she answered simply, with a very human shrug.

She looked back at Mayon. "That is frustrating news, kinsman. I hoped she would have answers. Why did she leave? And why are you here? What happened to the original inhabitants?"

(OOC: I already know, so no need to write a summary. Someone can just write something like "He/She explained what had happened" and I'll be fine.)

Asano studies the letter recovered from Thurl's chamber, and looks up at mention of Savra. "I think Savra got in over her head here," Asano muses. "She hoped to somehow find a weapon, or allies, against Bastian Thermandar. But from her comments and actions I think she found herself helping with things she should not have been doing..."

The half-elf holds out the parchment in his hand. "This letter mentions recovery of prisoners from the Black Earth cult, the monks in the Sacred Stone monastery. Those prisoners could have been captured from anywhere, presumably, but something..." He trails off. "Savra told me that she had seen some members of the Mirabar delegation and that Elessina was among them." A pained expression crosses his face, and he continues quickly. "I wonder if the captives from the letter had any connection with the missing delegation? If so, Elessina might be among them. And they may be prisoners of the Air Cult."

Huet looks uncomfortable during the discussion of Savra, but says nothing. Eventually he moves to the window and looks out on the valley below.

Jak smirked at the elf and restrained himself shaking his head again. The elf seemed a bit...snobby? Elitist? Maybe a touch racist? But that could all be perception, or misperception on his part. After all, humans were the ones who had likely created the term 'half-elf' but he didn't know for sure. "I've always heard humans an' elves both call 'em 'half-elves' personally." He shrugged his shoulders.

She climbed in? That...seemed intense. She must be one hell of a climber.

To Asano's words he frowned slightly. "Wait...these guys here recovered prisoners from those monks, an' they might've been part o'the missin' delegation?" He looked around. "We didn't find any prisoners here. Dunno who this 'Air Cult' is though..." One eyebrow went up and he looked annoyed. "ANOTHER group we gotta deal with? Man. No rest for the wicked."

"If the feathergale knights weren't an air cult, I don't know what is," she muttered angrily. She looked at Huet looking uncomfortable in the corner.

"You! knight. What do you know of air cults? And of Savra's mission?"

---

12:55, Today: Secret Roll: Zora Jilkina rolled 14 using 1d20+6 with rolls of 8.  insight on huet, is he hiding something?