"Hmm, this spell is complex. Dalton, I think you should take a look at it."
"Since the old man's bedridden I'm gunna see if I can find someone in town strong enough to remove that curse. Is someone gunna stay here with him?"
"I will stay."
Ianna will be restoring more of his strength.
Bjorkus leaves Dalton’s father in Ianna’s care and exits for the city. Outside he hits the streets, touching base with the various contacts he’s made in Wasco.
"Hold a moment, Bjorkus."
Throughout the night, Dalton was attempting to piece together the nature of the puzzle that stood against them. Undead. Plans. Indestructable. Enchanting spells ... banishment .... abandonment. There were many variables, but they did not align in a particular direction at the moment. They would need guidance.
"It seems to me whomever would cast such a curse upon you had reason to leave you alive and potent - just restricted. As such, the prison is also your freedom." Dalton scratched his head. "Think about it like this. If you were a mage powerful enough to hex Koriat, you likely could have killed him outright. Leaving him alive was done because he has some purpose, but him talking about whatever prohibitive subjects was too risky - hence the curse being of that nature. Were the caster seeking to permanently cripple his spellcasting, she or he could do precisely that." Dalton paused. "Even I could accomplish such a paralyzing attack."
"This means you have some part to play for this party, father, alive but silent. Should you cease to be the latter though, the former might shift in priorities for the hexor." The transmuter looked to Toramin and Ianna. "Though I was raised by nobility, perhaps you two can speak to this better than I; are there not circumstances where the death of a powerful, albeit loathed citizen of notable status would draw more unwanted circumstances than the simple muting of such a person?"
"I fear that is the snare my father is subject to, and given his disposition to rail against the forces that bind him - as we saw outside of down - I must say the removal of the curse will mean he is not just unmuzzled, but apt to make quite some noise." He looked to Koriat. "That noise could be your doom if the silence was indeed predicate to your survival by the hexor. It is the price of your life, the limited freedom you have."
Thinking back to the Aestherics, Dalton felt some answers could be gathered. "Our ... colleagues have quite a few pearls of wisdom to import about many subjects we've stumbled upon as of late, I'd say. Perhaps we should pay them a visit?"
"We are not nobility. . ." Toramin begins to protest before being cut off by his sister.
"Brother, please don't be pedantic. We are members of the dwarven elite. The heights of dwarven political power are peopled with our family and the peers of our family. So, yes, you are correct that we are members of the 'central families', but it's also useful to remember that that is closest analog to nobility in the common tongue."
He must still be smarting from Dalton's comment about being the heir. He isn't actually this obtuse.
Ianna turns to Dalton.
"I have never heard of such circumstances. If someone has committed actions that require them to be severed from the community, then they are. If they are so powerful that they could not be successfully severed, then they are executed. But there are powerful people who are not liked her remain within the community because their use mitigates their less pleasant qualities.
But, the elven court is much different, or so we hear.
I think this is the best decision. I was worries about subverting lawful authority without the appropriate context, though I do not want your father to suffer. No matter his crimes, he should still be provided the chance to flourish.
I am curious to meet these mysterious colleagues of yours."
Bjorkus nods in understanding. "He's your old man. It's your call."
Bjorkus nods in understanding. "He's your old man. It's your call."
"Actually, I'd like for him to decide. I can pay. Would you like to see the healer or not?"
Dalton turned to Koriat and waited.
"He may no longer have the capacity to choose that."
"He may no longer have the capacity to choose that."
"Perhaps, but if he does, I would like to afford him the option."
"As good as my limbs feel now, it would be prudent to see a more powerful healer to double check the work." He gives a small smile directed at Ianna.
Rilka feels her lie and slight bending of the truth fail almost as soon as the words are out of her mouth. She shakes her head slightly as Dalton claims Koriat as his father. If words gets back to Malan, there might be trouble. ”Well,” she tells the kistune, ”sorry for trying to get past you with a ruse. It wasn’t personal. I’ll be more honest next time.” She stretches out her hand for shaking.
”That is a well reasoned argument, Dalton. I hadn’t considered some of those points. A question: if this spell is broken, would the party that bound it to your father be aware of that?
“As for our colleagues, I’d like to spend a little more time investigating this before asking them for aid. Finding a powerful healer here should be a good place to start. And libraries and sages,” she adds with a nod to Toramin.
Something didn't quite add-up with his father's response. In theory, such a confirmation should injure him further, given the conjecture of the spell's previous effect. Yet...
Try as he might, the wizard couldn't place his finger on what bothered him. He looked at Koriat. He is far stronger than I. We alone cannot make heads or tails of this, and Malan is about. Looking for a healer of such potency may turn heads. Though that act was necessary, a potential conflict arising could clam-up information.
It was time to appeal to the Aestherics for illumination. That dragon-sword should provide a hint of leverage too.
"The healing will be a process, father. However," Dalton withdrew a few scrolls from his bag of holding. "Someone learned enough in magical healing should recognize the value of these writings. If they are not enough to fully cover your care, I can provide more. You can critique my glyphs and serifs if you like when you're better," he added with a smile.
"In the meantime, I have someone I need to get in touch with. Ianna, would you mind heading off with my father? Your knowledge of healing puts the rest of us to shame, and you would be best-suited for knowing if the care purchased would be of the appropriate kind."
He cast his gaze about the group. "I would prefer it if at least one of you stayed with me."
Ianna smiles brightly at Koriat's suggestions.
"Of course, I'm relatively young. Getting a second opinion would be wise given my inexperience."
She nods at Dalton. "I would be happy to accompany him. May I speak with you in the hall first?"
When they are both in the hall, she explains that she believes his father is trying to fight the Geas.
"I am happy to stay."
Ianna asks the inn keeper who the most powerful priest or priestess in the city is -- who is willing to aid those in need.
This morning the purple-designed kitsune is tending the bar. "The most powerful? Liandoli, I would bet. She's a half-elf shaman who sings the trees into buildings and keeps the great creatures of the forest at bay. You can find her at the archaic tree on the southern outskirts."
"Thank you."
Ianna leads Koriat to find Liandoli.
Bjorkus tags along with Ianna and Koriat to meet the healer.
”While we’re there I’m gunna ask how much she’d charge to mend this” he explains while displaying the slave brand burned across a section of one massive bicep.
The party follows Ianna to the archaic tree, following directs carved into the massive roots to find an easily walkable path up and around the tree. At the bottom of the high branches is a reverend-looking half-elf who is sitting a foot off the tree limbs with her eyes closed in a stance of meditation. She has flowers and branches adorning herself and her hair, and a majestic hawk is resting on her shoulder. As the party arrives she opens her eyes to look at them, and it looks like her eyes are fully dilated and unnervingly piercing. She gives a gentle smile and floats back down to the tree. "Welcome. What brings you to the heart of Wasco?"
Ianna gives the shaman a respectful bow.
"This man suffers from a curse that sapped his strength. I do not have the strength allow my goddess to reach powerfully enough into this world to remove it. I restored him the best I could, but I hope that you could help us."
Liandoli examines Koriat, whose gaze is focused out into the distance. After a moment she nods. "A strong curse indeed. One that meddles with the mind of the individual, and if they resist it, both the mind and the body are wasted. Although I suspect you already knew that." The hawk gives a loud cry, almost startling so in contrast with how quietly Liandoli talks, and she gives a sorrowful look. "Sky Father help you, this magic is even beyond my abilities. This man has gained the enmity of a truly powerful being."
Once the others had left, it was clear to those remaining Dalton was visibly agitated. "Toramin," he began, "I don't fully trust my father. Even with the healing potentially removing his restriction to speak freely, there's something that just doesn't sit right with me about him." He thought back to the armorer's story. "I would like to know the truth behind Malan's story, but I fear a visit now would cause only conflict."
He withdrew the emerald from his pocket. "I was thinking it was high time we'd contacted our employers. They did seem anxious to learn about Bjorkus's sword, and I'm sure one of them might be able to help narrow down the series of words father uttered into something more intelligible. Like "Malose". Though I think the name is dark in origin, it must be quite ancient."
Clearing his throat, he changed gears for the Gearsmith slightly. "Would you like to keep good Ianna sheltered from the Aestherics?"
"Some information, if you don't mind. I seek your council as a skilled mage. How would one go about altering an element to damage even that which was nearly impervious to it? Such as a fireball to damage a fire elemental?"
Bjorkus is disappointed to hear that the wild elven woman can’t treat Koriat’s condition. ”They say you’re the best healer in town. If you can’t help him do you know anyone that can?”
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Never before has the party heard Tiasar actually happy to be talking about something, he has always been very dour. But at this talk he opens up like a book. "Well normally divine casters have the edge on arcane casters on that matter, for some of their spells such as flame strike result directly from divine power instead of elemental power. Arcane casters usually manipulate the energy they are using to be something else, such as admixture evocers or through metamagic. But what you're talking about is something else entirely. Interestingly enough, it has less to do about manipulating the spell and more to do with manipulating the nature of the creature being targeted. A much simpler example would be if your task was to break a cup of water. An impossible task, since liquid cannot be 'broken'. However, if you freeze it, the resulting ice can now be broken. What you are speaking is much more complex and difficult, but relies on the same principal."
"As far as I am aware, I am the most powerful spellcaster in Wasco. I am aware of a few incredibly powerful healers among the elves and I would imagine the dwarves would have somebody, and even the human settlements if you looked in the right places, however..." She gives a sad look. "Not only is this spell beyond my abilities...it's significantly beyond my abilities. And in order to break something like this you need to be marginally more powerful than the original caster, and to find somebody who is marginally more powerful than the spell I detect on this elf...would be something from the ages of the gods."
Dalton felt ashamed the now-obvious adjustment to the other end of the equation hadn't been considered by him. "However, in terms of practicality, would the ability to adjust the nature of the object before, in my conjecture, incinerating it be immensely more work than just using, say, ice?"
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Tiasar chuckles and shakes his head. "It's a rarely used technique only used by specialists who have spent most of their research on a particular element. They gain greater potency with that element than another caster, but are less able with others. More damage, less versatility. I prefer the latter, but that's just me. For a short answer to your question: yes, it is significantly more work than just using an ice spell."
"If you can't help him directly and don't anyone that can, maybe you can help us in another way. Can you figure out what exactly the curse is keepin' him from doin' or talkin' about?"
"Can you figure out what exactly the curse is keepin' him from doin' or talkin' about?"
Toramin turns his god-given sight onto Koriat. While I don't think he means Dalton harm, I do not trust the story we have been told.
"There is more than one way to break a curse. Wizards have an easier solution in wish craft. Do you know anyone who can cast Limited Wish?"
~Last Night~
Toramin detects the presence of evil and continues focusing. He picks up a spell as the source of the evil, then the overwhelming power of it throws him back against the wall.
"Not anybody in Wasco. I am sorry I could not be more help."
"I cannot say I entirely disagree, Dalton. The spell on him was laid by a potent evil it seems. Its power is still overwhelming. Your father might not be a wicked man, but he is caught up in the plans of something very wicked. Something that had cause to let him live.
I agree. I think it is time our vacation draw to a close.
I do not see how we could keep her from them if she travels with us."
”We came here for the elf but maybe you can help me with something”, the bull explains. ”I got this brand in Akropash. I don’t mind a good scar but I’d rather leave those days behind me. You think you can do anything about it?”
Bjorkus holds his mammoth arm up and flexes so the angry mark burned into his hairy flesh is fully visible.
Liandoli looks at the scar with sympathy. "I know what this mark means, and I know the pain it bears. For such a task, I will cast the spell for a favor in return: do something good for nature the next time the chance arises. Heal an injured bird, plant a tree, just some small kindness for nature." If Bjorkus agrees, she meditates for fifteen minutes them beckons Bjorkus over. The hawk ruffles his feathers as the half elf weaves a spell, and Bjorkus feels the skin under his scar crawl and itch. It starts bulging outwards, then simply falls off to reveal healthy pink skin underneath, smooth as a babe's.
Bjorkus considers the request for a moment and then grunts and nods in agreement. ”You got a deal.”
”Thanks”, he offers as he stares in wonder in the smooth flesh where the brand was seconds ago.
"I must say, Tiasar, I agree with you. Versatility is the spice of magic. That's why I'm a transmuter, but I'm not here to start any arguments," Dalton replied with a chuckle in his voice. "How go things in Andril? No major problems after the shakeups around there?"
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Tiasar goes back to his dour self. "Politics are getting out of hand, particularly with Brumik. The brief economic collapse of Xilres shifted their fickle alliances and we're trying to put the pieces back together. Andril always gets its nose in one thing or another. Anyways, I'm sure you didn't contact me just to get the news and banter about magical theories. Did you need something?"