Farrukh rolls out of bed mostly well rested.
"You know, that mithral stuff is surprisingly comfortable. It's kinda like a bed that molds to your body whenever you move. I recommend it."
"So, we were going to rescue the animals, and then I was going to...dammit. I still can't remember."
"You really sleep in that?" Astraden asks incredulously. "God, you must have a spine like iron."
"Yeah, I wanted to give it a try. The mail was pretty comfortable, but I was iffy on the Breastplate. But this stuff is nice. I got a better sleep than I have in a while. Was starting to get neck pains from these super soft mattresses."
”You did real good this morning Red. You’re not going to be muscling out of any holds anytime soon but you’re quick. With the right leverage a little strength goes a long way.”
Carina blushes. "Thanks... still, you've got to consider the fact that I'm wrestling, well, you." She gives Tanith's muscles an appreciative look. "I think the odds may be slightly stacked in your favour when it comes to holds."
And I swear you enjoyed the whole thing a little too much. Not that I'm complaining, mind you...
"Headache's gone, even though someone interrupted my sleep. How can you deal with someone having so little trust in you?"
"I manage. Somehow." Carina sighs. "She tends to get like that when she has no idea what I've been getting up to for a while..."
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Astraden remains unable to identify the bone-metal rod.
Ring: Magic but unknown
+1 mithral dagger
Smenk's Armor: Magic but unknown
S-Shaped Wand: Wand of Expeditious Retreat (10 charges)
Masterwork chain shirts: +1 chain shirts
Myrianaas's Mace: Magic but unknown
Twitching chains: 80 gp.
Griffon: Magic but unknown
Beholder Eye Jar: 100 gp.
Jar of Whispers: Magic but unknown. When opened, Astraden hears her own voice muttering indistinctly. Otherwise, it has no particular effect. It might be worth 100 gp just as a curiosity.
Eben Doll: This could serve as the focus for certain dark rituals, but on its own has no power. Astraden believes that whatever it might have been used for has already been done. That said, she has no idea where the spines come from—the doll might fetch as much as 50 gp. Again, as a curiosity.
Golden Talisman: Periapt of health.
Formulae Book:
1st — Reduce person, cure light wounds, shield, bomber's eye, true strike
2nd — Fox's cunning, lesser restoration, protection from arrows
3rd — Gaseous form, cure serious wounds, amplify elixir
In addition, the alchemist Discoveries here are explained in depth and are now available to Carina, should she ever want either of them.
The chained tome is clearly magic, but the specifics are impossible to determine. The chains are high-quality, though. By chain standards.
The four blank books labeled "Unspeakable Tome" are blank and might go for 40 gp as a set, purely for the nice paper.
Finally, Astraden examines the book entitled, "That Which Walks That Ought To Crawl: The Devourer of Minds". She opens it, and beholds the very first word.
She is suddenly wracked with a bizarre and terrifying feeling. It feels as if the book is pulling at her, drawing something away from her and leaving only fog.
Eben, Rodrigo and Farrukh head back down to the sewers. They find Fassash's lair empty. Stranger still, they find only one very scrawny cow remaining (along with the rotting, fly-buzzing corpse of a half-eaten drow in the pigs' trough).
Sombra returns to Rodrigo to report that Fassash is not, in fact, gone. She's up ahead in what was once Zyrxog's domain, going through a bunch of books and papers.
As everyone else starts filing out, Astraden clears a space for her spell.
"Naga's up in Zyrxog's library. We should just grab the poor cow and leave," Rodrigo says. Sombra flits back up his pant leg, disappearing.
Tanith laughs when Carina's competitive spirit shows itself. "Well the octopins and chokers out there are pretty strong too. My point is you're going to have to wrestle smart."
"Not that mind seeing you squirm", he adds with a smirk. "You know I'd never hurt you. The stuff out there we've been fighting - they won't think twice."
"I know, I know." Carina scratches her head. "I plan to--believe me."
"Still, I think I can wriggle out of a normal hold now. And being able to squirm out of your grip without cheating would be the perfect final test." She wiggles about in her chair and smiles.
Maybe there's some sort of extract I can research that can give me an edge...
"Hoo boy. I was kinda hoping to use the scrying pool again, but yeah, let's just take the cow and get gone. Fassash probably ate the pig." He glances down at the partly-eaten drow. "At least it got to die on a full stomach..."
"Maybe tonight", Tanith laughs while sopping up the rest of the grease on his plate. "Weren't you saying something about cooking up an extract to help you make sense of the rest of the loot?"
"I don't know about tonight, to be honest... I don't think I'm good enough to do that yet." Carina blushes and looks down at her plate. "But on the subject of extracts, I've brewed several, in fact." Carina produces four flasks containing a white opaque fluid. "I think I've got time to go over the rest of the loot Astraden hasn't ID'ed."
Armor: +1 studded leather armor.
Mace: +1 vicious heavy mace.
Griffon: Bronze Griffon Figurine of Wondrous Power
Carina remains unable to identify the rod.
Tanith watches Carina work in relative silence.
"So what do you see?" he asks when the process looks like it's finished. "Anything good?"
Carina wrinkles her nose. "We've got a ring that puts up a protective field around someone..." She moves the gold ring to the side. "...some lightly enchanted studded leathers from Smenk..." She sets the armour set aside. "...a mace that hurts you slightly less than the guy on the wrong end of it..." She moves Myrianaas' mace to the side. "...and a figurine that will summon a griffon twice a week for 6 hours per use."
"No idea what the hell this is, though." She pokes the metal-and-bone rod.
Astraden explains each formula to Carina, using her divine vision to parse out their meanings. "And I think here Elsaroth talked about how to create those void bombs he used when we first entered," she says, pointing out the passage on that topic.
Astraden's spirit has toughened from its time in the celestial realms, and she manages to pull herself back from the pages. Looking up at the others, she stammers out, "Do not read this."
During the trip around town to sell off Zyrxog's spoils, the priestess stops and buys a pouch of diamond dust, and also sells off her old crossbow and bolts. Once the sales have been made, she heads up to her room to begin her spells.
The first spell is one of obscuration: A simple incantation to mask her location and doings to any scrying Zyrxog may have active. Then, she begins her sendings to Marinn and Svenser. The casting for each is a drawn-out meditative ritual, completed with a request for Olidammara's help in transmitting the message.
To Marinn: "In a bit of trouble with a mind flayer. Get a cleric to cast mind shielding on you if you can."
To Svenser: "Hey bro. This is a spell. Dunno how you're doing but anyway watch out for mind flayers and try and get some magic protection on yourself."
She then turns herself translucent and slips outside, moving east along the row and then crossing back west towards Wake's Construction. She opens the front door, if it is unlocked, and dismisses the spell as soon as she's inside. "Rillikandren!" she calls.
Meals today 0.5 gp
Silver dust 50 gp
Stabling and feed yesterday and today 1.10 gp
Selling crossbow and bolts +167.8
Total: +115 gp
When Astraden starts explaining Elsaroth's extracts, Carina's eyes widen and her mouth starts to water. "gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme" She mumbles as she snatches up the formula book.
She takes Astraden's warning against reading the other book seriously after seeing what it nearly does to her. "...right. Leaving that one alone, definitely."
"We'll have to figure out what this chained one is at some point too," Astraden says. "And yeah, no idea what the spear thing does. Probably just a pretty good weapon."
”Red and I can swing by the Wee Jas temple after we’re done visiting Gattel. If anyone can figure out that thing does it’ll be them, right?”
Carina nods. "I hope so--now I HAVE to know what this thing is." She holds up the metal & bone rod.
After cleaning his plate and cleaning up some, Tanith enjoys and good stretch and climbs to feet. ”Well let’s get going Red. We need to make good time if we’re going to finish those errands and get you back here in time for lunch with your mother.”
Astraden explains each formula to Carina, using her divine vision to parse out their meanings. "And I think here Elsaroth talked about how to create those void bombs he used when we first entered," she says, pointing out the passage on that topic.
Astraden's spirit has toughened from its time in the celestial realms, and she manages to pull herself back from the pages. Looking up at the others, she stammers out, "Do not read this."
To Marinn: "In a bit of trouble with a mind flayer. Get a cleric to cast mind shielding on you if you can."
Response: "What? What's a mind flayer? Astraden, you need to get yourself together. Your escapades aren't just putting yourself in trouble anymore, it sounds like you're—"
To Svenser: "Hey bro. This is a spell. Dunno how you're doing but anyway watch out for mind flayers and try and get some magic protection on yourself."
"Geez, Astraden, bless the Sun Father that you're okay! Captain still mutters about you. He followed you into those caves when you ran, and his—"
The trio herd the milk cow out of the lair without much difficulty. The poor creature seems extremely eager to leave.
Getting it out of the sewers is trickier, though.
Astraden enters Wake's Construction. The warehouse is fairly empty right now, but she does see three men and one woman carrying blocks of stone onto a cart. They look over when they see Astraden.
"Yes?" one of them says. It's difficult to recognize him, since it's been so long, but Astraden believes that this is Rillikandren. He doesn't seem to recognize her.
Tanith and Carina drop by Gattel's house in Clerksburg. A dark-skinned man roughly Gattel's age opens the door. "Good morning," he says, looking puzzled for a moment. He blinks. "Oh, of course! You're the Kordian, and the alchemist! Gattel told me all about you. You're here to see him?"
Tanith beams at being recognized by the clerk. "If he's not too busy", the big man answers. "Let him know that it's important."
Carina stops before the clerk's door. "How is Gattel doing these days?"
"As well as can be expected, I suppose." The man turns and calls out, "Gattel, some friends here to see you!"
A moment later, Gattel emerges. He smiles wanly as he recognizes the pair, but hand rests on the pommel of the shortsword at his side. "Carina, I recall that you have a sharp memory. What was the first thing I said to you all when the cleric brought me back?"
"You asked if I knew that my bard friend was a fraud." Carina looks at the shortsword.
Gattel's smile relaxes, and his hand drops to his side. "It's good to see the both of you. How are you? I see you've already met my husband, Jerobel. Jerobel, this is Carina and Tanith, of course."
"Pleased to meet you." Jerobel reaches forward and shakes Carina's hand, then Tanith's. "Been a weird week."
"I'd introduce you to my mother," Gattel continues, "but she's resting right now, and I'm guessing this isn't a visit for pleasure." The tax collector frowns. "Is something wrong?"
Carina is a bit surprised to learn Gattel is married, but shakes Jerobel's hand all the same. "A pleasure, sir."
"I'd introduce you to my mother," Gattel continues, "but she's resting right now, and I'm guessing this isn't a visit for pleasure." The tax collector frowns. "Is something wrong?"
Carina nods. "Yes... we came here to warn you there's a mind flayer mage on the loose. We clashed with him under the city, but he escaped and I'm convinced he's going to be out for revenge, starting with our allies and loved ones."
Her throat tightens a little.
Tanith shakes Jerobel’s hand heartily. ”Good to meet you. I don’t know how much Gattel’s told you but your husband’s a hero.”
"I'd introduce you to my mother," Gattel continues, "but she's resting right now, and I'm guessing this isn't a visit for pleasure." The tax collector frowns. "Is something wrong?"
"I don't know if he's going to lump you in with us for the humiliation we handed him but he knows you and he might come after you to get to us."
Astraden clears her throat, buying time to look her brother up and down.
Finally, she looks him in the eyes. "It's been a long time, brother."
"It was no news to us," Jerobel says, chuckling.
His and Gattel's moods turn more somber as Carina and Tanith explain the situation.
"I see," Gattel says. "Well, you did what you had to do. Best of luck with the mind flayer. We'll be careful, but in all honesty, it might be better if you don't visit us for a bit. At least, not so obviously. The less we're seen associating, the less likely this 'mind flayer' is to see us as targets."
"What is a mind flayer?" Jerobel asks.
Rillikandren blinks. "...excuse me?"
"Can I talk to you alone?" she asks, indicating the other workers. "It'll just be a minute."
Rillikandren shares a look with his coworkers, then nods. "Sure, Miss."
He and Astraden head into a side room. He looks perplexed, but also a little fascinated—there's a vague spark of recognition in his eyes.
”Sorry”, Tanith offers. ”I know you probably just want to leave all this craziness behind but we thought you should know what we’re dealing with.”
”We were also hoping you might know something about a Lord Rakian. We found some papers in the sewers that make it look like the mindflayer and the dopplergangers are or were working for him.”
Speaking lowly, Astraden keeps her hands away from the pommels of any of her weapons, and lays the old Cairn Hills accent on thick. "I'm Astraden. Got into some real bad s*$+ and ended up in this body. The s%#& is still sort of ongoing and there's a mind flayer now after me and my friends, which means all my family is in danger. I've already told Marinn and Svenser, and besides you there's no one left. Basically, I need you to keep a watchful eye out. Avoid going into strange neighborhoods, and if you feel any twinges like someone's trying to enchant you, come ask for me in the Crooked House. But only if you really think some s@%&'s going down. I don't want the mind flayer to know I have any family left, and that means no contact with any of you three without spells to keep scrying off me. That all clear?"
Rodrigo will just dimension door the cow out of the sewer once that becomes an issue.
Rillikandren's eyes widen. "A-Astraden? But—gods, it's been ages. I hadn't heard of you in years, and suddenly three weeks ago Marinn sends me a letter saying you showed up and saved everyone's lives. She thinks you're working some sort of play. What are you mixed up in now?"
"Who? Do you mean Lord Raknian?" Gattel blinks. "Well, he's director of the Champion's Games. He himself held the belt for a while, I think. I'm too busy to really follow the Games nowadays, but I do know he's always been very friendly to those in the government. The City Watch head, Etin Derecs, has a long history of collaborating with Raknian when the Games are having trouble finding a suitable monster for the beast battle. They're good friends, or at least decent associates. It's the sole decent thing Derecs does for this city. The Champion's Games are a huge economic boost for Greyhawk."
"Lord Raknian was really involved in all this?" Jerobel asks. "A well-loved man of the Free City. Hard to believe he'd get mixed up in anything this dark."
"Well, it's a really long story, but we've been beating down cultists and doppelgangers and tons of monsters, for like two months now or something. Seems like the trail of corruption doesn't ever end, and lately we've had people directly targeting us instead of just problems we need to go solve. Plus there's something about an "Age of Worms" that like, druids and giants have been warning me about. Marinn . . . we fought some lizardfolk, I think, and some zombie things. Kept 'em from chewing up Lambere." She shrugs. "Marinn's not wrong, though - this play is very good money."
She turns towards the main of the warehouse, but still speaks quietly. "Speaking of which, could I contract someone here to go work on a house up by Diamond Lake? There's an abandoned place out there, and I've got a good start on it, but I just don't have the time any more. I've got plenty of money for it."
"I suppose it's possible Zyrog set it all up but if any part of it's true we've got to get close enough to learn more. If you think about it, well-loved public figure is the perfect place for a cult leader to be. Can you tell us more about Etin Derecs? From the way you talk about him I gather he's a real piece of work."
Tanith pauses to ponder the information further. "Wait, isn't the Champion's Games coming up soon?"
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Carina lets Tanith do the talking, but perks up at the mention of the Champion's Games. "Yeah, we saw some flyers for them yesterday--I didn't see when the Games would begin, but..."
She shakes her head. "Anyway: if Raknian is the director of the Champion's Games, he'll be presiding over them. If he's the next lead we've got, we'll need some way of getting to him--like entering the Games ourselves, if it comes to that."
Those words give Carina chills. Dammit, I'm a doctor, not a gladiator... adventuring life takes really weird turns sometimes.
Rillikandran frowns. "Well...alright. As for the job, I can get you in touch with my boss. It'll cost extra for the trip, but if you can afford it...Thanks for the heads-up, Astraden. It's nice to see family, even considering all this mess."
"They start in less than a week, I think." Gattel purses his lips. "As for entering the Games, I don't think that would be possible. Even if you could get a patron to sponsor you—and that itself isn't really easy—most of those who might have wanted to invest have already chosen their gladiators. You may have to work something else out.
"Etin Derecs is Chief Constable and Warden of the Citadel. I can't be too explicit, since I'm sort of employed by him, but he's generally regarded as a bit...amoral. If you want to get something or someone into the city that shouldn't be in here, a few coins dropped in the right pocket can do the trick."
The group spends about an hour searching before it becomes apparent that they are totally lost.
Deciding to just cut through the knot, Rodrigo teleports himself, the group and the cow straight up out of the sewers.
They appear in the middle of a crowded restaurant. The walls are covered with elaborate mosaics, and the tables are covered with extremely expensive-looking food. The servers seem to be wearing suits embroidered with gold and silver threads.
”Even if none of us can get in as fighters, attending as spectators would get us pretty close to Raknian. That might be all we need”, Tanith suggest.
Carina looks down at her feet, feeling a bit silly. "Perhaps."
Astraden glances back at her leather-aproned sibling with a bit of a smirk. "It's good to see you too. But damn I never thought you'd be so short."
"I'll talk to your boss - 'Wake,' is he? If there's a chance, you might wanna volunteer for that trip. Get out of the city, and away from where old 'Zyrxog' - that's the mind flayer's name - is likely to find you. Our relationship, as far as everyone else here is concerned, is just acquaintances who met in a tea shop." The priestess strides towards the boss's office, moving quickly without the weight of her backpack and mithral links.