"We have the Celeriton Key."
"What's that? and why do we want it? By the way, my name's Varian. My companions and I just broke out jail over there. I don't suppose you could fill us in on who you all are and what's going on here and what those creatures were?"
There are 2 moderate auras, 1 faint aura, and a few lingering auras (the lingering auras are likely do to this having been used as an arcane bond item for Mayor Doyle). You know the property responsible for the faint aura is transmutation based, but the school of the two moderate auras elude you for the moment.
Lyrralt gives a deep bow and a friendly smile.
"Lyrralt Calil of Andoran. It is good to see some friendly faces. Do you know exactly what is going on here and if it has anything to do with the writings of a D'Argent Sol?"
Sunny simply lays where the last monster and herself have fallen.
"I think I broke somat...." She says weakly.
Varian walks over and does a cure moderate wounds on Sunny, touching her lightly as the spell goes off.
Varian pauses and looks down at his own wounds and shrugs, casting the same spell on himself a moment later.
Sunny's demeanor and attitude brighten considerably as her wounds heal and Varian's spell effects south her ills. She sits up and smiles,
"Thank'e!" She says, even as she gets to her feet and again lifts her bundle, coming over to talk to the new people.
"Hey-YA there. Tha' name be 'Sunny'. Who might yourself be an' whut's been goin' on?" She asks.
The cane functions as a +1 light mace. It has some transformative property, but it only seem to affect the head of the cane.
The head in its current form looks like a primitively sculpted face, with fat locks of hair blown back... or some kind of tentacles...
You are very close to figuring it out...
"Can someone with some arcane knowledge help me a little with this? It seems to act as an enchanted light mace with a tentacled face."
He sighs deeply.
"I don't think I have ever exerted myself as much magically before"
"Let me see if I can assist a little." Varian casts detect magic and also examines the item, hoping he can lend his opinion and knowledge to aid Corum
Noticing the thumb-sized worn area high on the shaft of the item, Varian is able to find the hidden activation to transform the head. The face turns upward, and the hair/tentacles spread radially like a sunflower. As the cane transforms in Varian's hand, Corum sees what he needs to determine the properties of the item.
"That is the symbol my employer sent us out here to locate. I think he mostly meant literature and writings, but I am sure this would be of interest to him as well. Also, of interest to them as well was a cube shaped artifact. Do any of you know anything like that?"
After showing Corum what he discovered, Varian hands the cane back to him. "Nice item... I'm sure you can make good use of it, yes?"
Zed turns and removes his mask, revealing the long scar traveling down his left eye "So, I think introductions are in order. I'm Zed, apparently a sub-par infiltrator"
"Varian Forrester, oracle, servant of Abadar and forgemaster. Nice to meet you all, and fight at your sides against these abominations, whatever they are."
Suny smiles brightly, "Hey-YA there!" (^_^) She calls, replies in greeting.
Corum laughs: "With this, I can determine if anyone is lying. A powerful bit of magic. Thank you Mr. Forrester, you know your magic. I am a magister and servant of Abadar too."
"So who is this hapless fellow you bested to get that item, and what is his relationship with these abominations we killed? And why were we imprisoned nearby?"
Zed gets an amused look on his face at Corum's comment "Really? That's quite a claim"
His expression gets more serious "I have the same curiosities as Varian, I like to know who my enemies are and why"
The large sized human approaches the new group and raises his hat as he introduces himself, "Howdy Mates, the names Braxton Raith, brewing and selling goods is what I do. Ah broke out of prison aye been their before, haha." As he says that he pats two metal mugs on his belt.
He suddenly notices Errik not around, [b]"Damn, without Errik we are further behind these Ugos." He kicks a close creature a few times then takes a drink from one of his many flasks and pours some on the ground for his missing comrade. He mutters under his breath, "Why did you have to go missing, now I can't go back and get that damn burglars treasure." After the thrashing he goes back to the group of jail birds and Corum, "So elf, what do you think we should do now?"
Sunny points to herself and thence to Corum, though she quickly works out which Elf Braxton is talking too by the direction of his gaze.
Lyrralt suddenly gets a solemn expression on his face.
"By US I meant there was a group of people hired to come out here and search for some writings of D'Argent Sol and perhaps find a cube shaped artifact. We were ambushed and I was the only one to survive it seems. That cane bears the symbol of Sol.Does anyone know more about this and can fill me in?"
Sunny listens intently to Lyrralt's words then kneels down and pulls the 'hood' from the top of her bundle, revealing a second Elf lass.
"Well...we's can all-a-ways ask some one." She says brightly and proceeds to try and wake up the sleeping beauty.
The knocked out bundled elf moans... she struggles weakly to open her blackened and swollen eyes and focus. "Wha-" She sees who has woken her and she droops again, and lets her head roll - turning her face away from Sunny. "You.. still here?"
- - - -
Meanwhile off to the west, the humans and dwarf escapees have exited the mill, and appear to be preparing a nearby cart. One of them seems to have procured a couple horses from somewhere on or around the estate during your battle. He leaves one horse with the those prepping the cart, then rides over toward you.
"Heard em comin from down below. Covered the door down to the dark dwarves... Bimnil and the others are getting transport for the injured ready. I'm riding ahead to town. I'll get the warden before I get to my family... to let them know I am alive."
Sunny gently hugs the bundled Elf, whispering consolingly to her. Sunny looks to the others in the group.
"Does any one have some more soothin' magic? Some potions ta' help heal some one's ills?" She asks. "I has shiney left over with ta' pay fer people's efforts." She adds. At the approaching fellows words Sunny frowns a little.
"Folks should, perhaps, be lookin' ta' doin' more'n just closin' that door..." She opines.
"Are you sure you want to heal that ... thing... whatever it is?"
Sunny nods back at Varian,
"Aye! Then, we can show tha' lass we dun't mean no harm. Win their trust an' get 'em ta' help us in our adventures." (^_^)
"I think it's a mistake, but if you're sure, and with the warning, you may need to put it down again, permanently... just so you know."
Varian uses his wand on the creature that looks like Sunny.
Sunny raises an eyebrow.
"Um...rilly...?" She looks at her bundle.
"I rilly dun't think ye be takin' me ideas seriously, here."
"It's not that I'm not taking you seriously, just warning you that you might be disappointed... we don't know what these things are capable of or how they are disposed to act... "
The bound elf regains some color... the dark circles under her eyes fade. She coughs and spits. She glances at the grossness she just spit out... before looking toward Varian and Sunny.
As she speaks she begins to regain more strength, and sound less like Sunny...
"Ewww. Ugh. Brought me back, eh? Cap'n Swordhands is right, Chippy. Doyle and the Derro did some wild tinkerin' in our brainpans to make us pass for humans and elfans, but as lie here on the edge of death... oooh the sweet tentacled chaos on the cusp of the void. A vague exaltation... a feeling like an aboleth rubbin my belly. I know what I am, and I am not the skin you see."
Zed croushes down to face her "I'm all ears, what are you"
She tries to laugh, but winces... her tone continues to go oddly back and forth between folksy and grave. "Good question... I was once one'a them things over there, but Doyle froze us somehow in our current forms... copies of you all. Derro mindwiper stole the knowledge from us... the ability to change forms. Doyle had a plan, something bout befriending the linguist, but then he went batty. Started showin his hand, and getting into scrums with his original... that Sirius Horth fella. Too much time spent in the academy if y'ask me."
Sunny continues to hug and encourage the Elf lass' words while trying to make her feel less gross.
The Sunny copy sees Sunny look to Varian, and shakes her head "Save your magic, and your coddling... Grrr. You should go... if you had any idea of the ridiculous number of duergar underneath you... Horth's angry dead... and the Crone... You all are squattin smack dab in the middle of a meatgrinder. If you want answers take the Mayor with you, but get going... you got about six hours before the sun starts to go down."
Bimnil and the other escapees finish harnessing the horse to the cart, and begin to head toward you. Bimnil the dwarf takes the reins. The injured human is riding, as is the bound copy of Zed - sitting with a bag tied over his head for good measure. Bimnil pulls the cart up to you, and nods a greeting.
Zed nods to the Sunny copy "Thank you, we will heed your advice"
Sunny frowns "So...We's gona go an' warn peoples...Right?" She asks of her companions.
"Spend our shine on stuffs an' then get right back int'a takin' care of this 'Crone' thing, hey?" Sunny gets ready to heft Suny up into the wagon
Zed puts his chin between his thumb and forefinger "I'm used to shock or infiltration teams, I'm not ready for full scale war"
"Damn, the linguist be our buddy, we best hustle to the town. Most of the people are themselves, but to make sure you lot are whatcha you look like have a bite of this food here." With that comment Braxton opens a bag containing some beef jerky.
"Is this some kind of test? The copies don't or can't eat?" Varian looks somewhat skeptical.. but sighs and takes a piece of the jerky, eats it.
"Satisfied?"
"I would prefer finer food, but when you need to know who your friends are, this will do."
Corum takes a bite of the beef jerky. He may be even getting to like it!
Sunny happily takes and chews on some of the jerky. Then takes some more and tries to offer some to the other Elf.
With some one else help she picks up 'Suny'.
"So...off to town to see about gettin' more stuffs fer whut's awaitin' down in'a dark?" She asks
"Mmm" Bimnil the dwarf makes a sound of approval, and continues as the cart is loaded. "Good... good to know someone has experience with these things. I don't suppose any of you have happened to have read the book "The Faceless Stalker"? I have not, but the solid food thing is what I recall of it when one of my colleagues explained an allusion to it... " The injured worker riding in the cart starts looking nervously behind him. Bimnil's story, though not really delaying heading out, seems to be making him more anxious.
Bimnil continues, after looking over his shoulder to see if the load is secure. "It was not jerky in the situation which elicited the reference, but sugary nutrolls I constantly offered to my fellow library lumps. You see, my aunt made them every day for hours on end. She was a fine dwarven old lass, but a bit simple."
Lyrralt takes a piece of the jerky. Looks it over before taking a bite.
Zed takes out a piece, and after watching Varian eat it he takes a bite as well "That's good information to have, although perhaps we can find a way to know who each other are that's a little quicker"
Sunny frowns at Suny's seeming refusal to eat. She snuggles up against the other Elf lass in the bag of the wagon.
"Here, not ta' worry. We'll find a way ta' make things right a'tween us."
The Sunny copy eats the jerky offered to her, and swallows. "What you say might be true for those Ugothols... That was one of my first original memories. Doyle feeding us... He seemed quite pleased with such a simple thing... something I remembered doing countless times in my implanted memories."
She shakes her head "No not implanted... I think I took them. I just wasn't me when I did that... er I was me but now I'm you... but not really." She screws up her face like she is starting to hurt her own brain.