"I am not familiar with timekeeping on this plane, and the passage of time in the feywild is not some that is consistent nor do we pay it much mind. I have heard that there is not a lot of congruity between the two planes either. "

Francis nods his agreement to the last assertion.

Francis asks to inspect the sprite's wing injuries, which he does, then he exclaims that it is as if they were never there. Does some minor magicking and explains that he doesn't understand it, but that there is nothing to restore. It would be like restoring wings onto a human. Then he expresses his regret to the sprite.

He asks to learn more about what an Evernaut is.

The sprite explains that it is a divine blessing bestowed by the Seelie court upon a select few for special services. It allows them to travel more easily between the planes and if they die, they will reform back in the Feywild, at the place of the blessing. He will retain much of his skills and identity, but will forget anything that happened outside of the feywild. The last time he reformed he was accused of high crimes against the throne and sentenced to eternal imprisonment. He escaped, but he knows if he reforms there again he will be imprisoned. He doesn't know what his crime was or if he committed it. His goal was to find those things out, but was captured by the dark wizard. He was on his was to the mountains of Yath believing that it was near there that he last died.

Francis quirks an eyebrow then fetches an atlas, flipping through the pages. He surmised that due to the nomenclature of Yath and the information he has of the Boccob temple you went to, that the Sprite was down there for 60+ years.

ooc: I already posted, but it didn't work somehow.  This upsets me a little. Now I have to remember what I already typed up.

"Well I was about to ask why you didn't just commit suicide to be reformed in the Feywild, but I see that you are in quite a predicament.  Would your wings come back if you were reformed? 60 years is not so long that you wouldn't remember the city of Neverwinter, so at least you have some idea of where you are now.

Francis, could you point out the Yath mountains on my map? Perhaps if there is another scrying location near there I could accompany the Evernaut.  What is it we should call you Evernaut?"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 21:37, Sat 24 Mar 2018.

Ok, Yath was just a word that came to mind which I used as a placeholder, as such...

Francis tells you that is an alternate name used by orcs for the Lost Peaks in the High Forest (see map). He describes the High Forest as mostly untamed wilderness with a lot of sylvan creatures, reclusive wood elves, and Boccob knows what else.

He tells you that is a site of interest at Lothen, City of the Silver Spires, a once great city marking the the southern border of Siluvanede which was a sun elf kingdom. It was the center of study and knowledge of the kingdom. It is now ancient ruins. It is located near the foothills of the Lost Peaks along the southern border of the Dessarin River whose headwaters are formed from the Lost Peaks.

The sprite tells you that you can call him Sevinnuhb.

Francis hands you a familiar envelope containing the deed. I compared it to other documents of the region and it appears to be authentic. I believe it to be penned by someone bearing a close familial kinship to you, then signed by someone else, presumably an official. The divinations did not reveal a sense of deceit about it.

It is near heresy to recommend destroying any record, and may be illegal in that country, but more prudent men might suggest that. I am not sure I would be able to let go of the mystery if it were me. You might be able to sell in on the black market, but dealings there often prove fatal if you are not already woven into the fabric.

Was there another location I already committed to visit?  I was under the impression that there was one near Neverwinter, and one near Luskan.

That is correct. But he went ahead with the deed business anyway. You are free to pursue any or none.

Saran takes the deed back from Francis.

"Thank you very much.  I shall keep it closely guarded until I have determined what to do with it. I believe I am already committed to place scrying coins near my home in Luskan.  I may need to visit there anyway.  If I may use the library, I would also like to take some time for study, and to get some supplies.

Sevinnuhb, it is a little less than a 10 days travel to Luskan.  I would be ready to travel with you to the Lost Peaks in about a month if you like.  You may wait for me here, or I would be happy of the company if would care to travel with me to Luskin.  Of course you are free to set out on your own if you prefer, to which I take no offense, and will wish you safety and success on your journey."

Saran would like to study/copy the spells that he can from the spell book he found, add some others as well (list to come, will need to sell some gems I think), and research the markings from the zombies.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:23, Tue 03 Apr 2018.

OK, as I understand it, I have to copy the spells from the other spell book in my own shorthand to be able to prepare and use them.  I can also only copy spells for which I have slots.  That means the only useful spell in the book for me right now is Mage Armor.

Assuming there are enough resources in the library that I can basically get a hold of any spell I want, I put the following down in my spellbook. I get divination spells for half price.


If I don't have any spell at my disposal to learn, then I'll copy over the Mage Armor spell from the traveling spellbook I found for 50 gp and 2 hours.

Do I need to roll anything for researching the zombie markings?

Hold on though.  I'm now thinking about supplies I might need.  But I don't think I need any... What about traveling with a group or wagon train or something to Luskan.  How much might that cost?

I am going to make a ruling here. You are not required to transcribe a spell in order to learn it and use it in the future. So, you can learn a spell from another spellbook and prepare it (or ritual cast it) using that spellbook.

For cost, it will be the total normal amount to learn and copy, minus the amount it would take to copy one of your own spells into a new spell book:

2 hours; 50gp - 1 hour; 10gp

So, you can learn a spell from another spellbook (and sunsequently prepare it using that spellbook) by spending 1 hr and 40gp.

Also, I believe you have some scrolls which you can choose to copy into a spellbook.

Disguise Self(1st), Chill Touch(C), True Strike(C), Minor Illusion(C), Prestidigitation(C), Illusory Script(1st), Chromatic Orb(1st), Misty Step(2nd)

I like the idea of being able to have cantrips in a spell book, afterall, they exist as scrolls, but I have to think more about the balance of them. Cantrips are really useful, hence they are very limited for each class. I think I will either make them copyable into spellbooks and they can take up one of your allotted number of spells you can prepare (if you prepare it), and require a spell slot to cast. So, basically treat it like a level one spell. That might be too steep though... I will have to think about it. Maybe they are only castable by scroll, so you can copy it onto a scroll (for some nominal amount) then you can cast them that way. What's your take?

You can copy those spells from Francis for 25gp each, which he tells you is the minimum that the Library allows them to share spells for, "Or rather, that is the amount I must pass on to them when such services are rendered for spells of the first order. Any less and I would either be paying out of my own pocket, or robbing Boccob!" He tells you that most mages in the library charge 50gp for common 1st level spells, and 100gp for the rarer sort. Other mages simply don't have interest in it, or charge much higher prices, either out of hubris for their particular notation of the spells, or just to deflect people.

Sevinnuhb says, "I think I can trust you. Let's make a deal, I will help you on your travels, and you will help me clear my name."

Francis grins and says, "One would think that after what Saran did for you, that you owe him a debt. But I know that is not your way. Faerie: always the dealmakers!" Then Francis laughs as Sevinnuhb looks slightly confused.

Sevinnuhb is fine with waiting for you. He inquires of Francis where he might read some books about potion-making and where he might learn about restoring his wings.

Francis tells you that, although he doesn't know exactly what you will find at any of the locations, he suspects that the Lost Peaks area is significantly more dangerous.

Roll an investigation check about the markings.

You will have to make a couple rolls to find out about wagon travel people. An investigation check, then a Persuasion check to see if/when and how much.

I may have missed it, but you may have forgotten to put the Scholar's Cap (I believe I called it) on your inventory.

Looks like I did miss the cap, but it has now been added.  Can you remind me what needs to be attuned to?  I can only attune to 3 things at once, right?

For cantrips from the spellbook.  I feel like I’m a bit too tired to think well right now, but it seems like taking a spell slot is costly enough to me, without also having to have it prepared.  Maybe you have to read it which takes an action and a bonus action, and it takes a level 1 spell slot.  Having to have it take up space on your prepared spell list seems to me costly enough that it will just never happen. But anything less than a 1st level spell slot is probably too cheap.

Also the existence of scrolls seems odd to me.  They seem pretty costly to make.  Someone who can make one can already cast the spell, so there’s little incentive to make one for oneself.  The cost involved in making one seems prohibitive enough that not many people would want to buy one either.  Probably cheaper to just higher the spell caster in most cases.  And in order to use it very well you have to kind of already be at a point where you could pretty much cast it anyway.  Why would anyone ever make a spell scroll?

So basically any 1st level spell for 25 gp?  Let me think about that...

And some rolls.
Investigation roll for zombie markings research: 20 (modified)
Investigation roll for wagon training: 23
Persuasion for wagoneering: 5

Scrolls
The straight book values are:

0: 25 - 50
1: 25 - 50
2: 51 - 250
3: 51 - 250
4: 251 - 2,500
5: 251 - 2,500
6: 2,501 - 25,000
7: 2,501 - 25,000
8: 2,501 - 25,000
9: 25,001 - 50,000

I would tweak these to make it more of a nice curve. I would agree the prices are steep. I would guess that when you compare them either to the cost of similar wands, staffs, other magical devices, or just hiring spellcasting, it becomes even more ridiculous. The Rarity of scrolls should probably be moved down a step, in my opinion. That would go a long way fixing the prices.

If you got a really good deal on a scroll of Fireball (50gp) that would be worth it. The wish spell states that you can wish for an object that is worth 25,000gp, which is the low end cost of the scroll. There are some other serious potential drawbacks of casting Wish, though, so the scroll would be quite a bit more expensive.

The worth of scrolls is that you can cast them above your allotted slots, which is pretty big. Also that you don't have to prepare those spells. Also that you can cast about your level. It is flexibility you are paying for. Let's say a group of level 1 adventurers finds a cave with 10 Bugbears in it. How much would it be worth to buy a scroll of fireball which would incinerate many of them of them with average damage and leave the rest easy to finish off (for the sake of argument, this is our party from Questland and the scroll reading check is bolstered by guidance and bardic inspiration). That ends up being 2,000xp. I'd pay 250gp for that.

As far as who would make them, I would say that the typical dnd economics should apply that making the scroll costs half as much as the sale value.

I'll have to think more about cantrips. I think casting it out of a spellbook seems reasonable with a spell slot. It may still be too steep though.

What if you had to prepare it, but you could cast it at will?

The Cap and Earring require attunement. The Earring has the harmonious property though, so it only takes 1 minute to attune.

That might be a fair trade.  That actually seems pretty good to me.  I think it makes a lot of sense, common sense wise.  It doesn't seem too unbalanced to me, but I could maybe see some arguments there.



That is another thing Saran will do while in town.  Though he doesn't fancy the aesthetic of it, he would get his ears pierced to gain the benefit.  Attune to both.  Doesn't always wear the cap, but puts it on when he needs the benefit, and sometimes just to wear it.

Also if he would do the earring thing before the persuasion check, so that makes it a 6 instead of a 5... Or for a reroll that would be... uhhh 3...

And I think both earrings require attunement, so I think the two earrings and the cap puts Saran at his attunement limit.

Yeah, I forgot about the Nerconominail.

Maybe something like you can only prepare one extra cantrip or something though.  I dunno seems like a tricky problem.  I'd be okay if you want to try something and then say later that it isn't working and take it away or change it.

Or maybe you can just switch out your cantrips. This makes the most sense to me, so you always have the number of cantrips available to use as per your class, but they can change. It is definitely an increase to power, but I think it is one that makes sense. I will have to think more.

You determine that the markings are some stylized version of Aklo, the language of the dead. There isn't enough research about it here to begin to decipher it... Though I suppose it could be done with magic... I would say that because it is a copy of the original text, and because it is more like random runes instead of full expressions, you can read it. Francis suggests that it could be that it is not meant to be terms, but rather the script of Aklo could be more so a hieroglyphic type language, so the symbols are meant to be their own disconnected representations, rather than to convey any message.

You find a wagon train going to Luskan, right at the right time, but the leader of the company says,

"Sorry, Chap, I don't know you and ya have no bonafides. I hire guards to protect us from strangers. I don't welcome them along."

He offers a small pause out of politeness, but if you let it lapse the conversation will be over and he will turn away.

In reply to GM (msg # 329):

"Sir, that is certainly reasonable and, and I must respect your discretion. I realize that taking me into the party incurs a small, but significant risk.  However, I would be willing to compensate commensurate to that small added risk, and I give you my word that I will do my best to see us safely to our destination."

I also have a 17 and 16 portent that I might apply here if it would be helpful.  I think as a character it is only prudent to seek safer passage with a group, but as a player I am wondering if I might rather just go by myself.

Player characters have a way of always meeting challenges equal to their ability to overcome the challenges.

"Money does talk. I suppose in this way you are merely paying for the use of my guards on the trip. Fair enough. The will be one silver a day, paid up front."

OOC: I will need to figure out what that works out to.

This interaction uses up your 16. Did we decide how long you are in town? I think you could do all your spelling in a day. Research maybe one more day. Supplies and looking into caravan 1 day. Anything else?

In Sevinnuhb's downtime he is working on a bow, special quiver, and coming up with alchemist supplies (inexplicably). Francis has found him a small workspace in his the Observatorium.

Things to do before setting off to Luskan:

Pierce ears (cost?)
Attune to cap, and both earrings
copy spells: comprehend languages, identify, feather fall, mage armor
copy spell cost: 100 gp
obtain pearl for identify spell: 100 gp
research zombie markings
secure travel (1 gp if it takes 10 days)

My understanding of ear piercing is that you just need to do it with a sterile needle, then keep something that isn't oxidizing in the hole until it heals. I am going to say that Spare the dying basically closes wounds, so as long as your not a wuss yi7 can just do it with the earrings and Francis can cantrip the holes closed.

How you doing for money? I haven't paid much attention to your fortunes. By the way, precious stones are what they are, they are not worth something and you sell them for something else.

Is the last time you got experience for the fungi?

I think it was. So let's say:

50xp for 2nd zom
100xp for quest complete

Ok, how about I trade two gems for the pearl.  I have equivalent 170.35 gp in coins.  I also have a gold necklace worth 50 gp.  I could sell that if needed.  Spending 100 gp on spell scribing leaves me with 70.35 gp.  spending 10 sp on travel leaves me 69.35.

I now have xp at 575.

Seems a shame not to have that last 25xp... I was feeling like you should be lvl 2 for longer, but I am also an advocate for lvls 1-3 being quick. I guess it would make sense for you to gain lvl 2 spells while in a library...

I am thinking that overcoming the well, is worth that. Also, bringing the Sprite back and reviving him. I originally had these things, but I wanted to be stingy with the level up for some reason.

So, you total should now be 625xp. Go ahead and lvl.