Sadly, nothing helps. It seems like you simply haven't found them yet and you're no closer to getting a description....
What to do with 4 hours?
Bibi: Stuff
Carrufikus: ???
Elena: ???
Noroc: ???
Peldur: ???
Talborel: ???
Carrufikus spends his time running around outside looking for butterflies. He is attempting to rejuvenate his sense of wonder, play, and atonement with Desna as he prepares to return to the dark and looming abomination vaults.
What to do with 4 hours?
Bibi: Stuff
Carrufikus: Bombadilling
Elena: ???
Noroc: ???
Peldur: ???
Talborel: ???
After bringing all the tomes to Morlibint, Elena sets down to the task of studying the various tomes that they brought back. She works through them slowly, trying to ensure she doesn't miss anything, and jots down notes for herself as she reads.
What to do with 4 hours?
Bibi: Stuff
Carrufikus: Bombadilling
Elena: Books
Noroc: ???
Peldur: ???
Talborel: ???
Elena looks over the trio of texts:
Belorra's notes seem to be about how the Gauntlight ACTUALLY works. It'll take a solid 8 hours to really get anything out of it.
Before she retires for the night Elena seeks out the others. She's tired, but there's a degree of excitement in her tone when she speaks. "Some of these tomes are horrible, and I think it best they stay out of circulation. One tome in particular will take a great deal more time for me to sort out. And that doesn't even account for Belcorra's notes, which are written in a foreign language. But I see an opportunity for progress."
She rubs at her tired eyes before continuing. "I'm going to need at least 4 days to muddle all this out. Three of which will be dedicated to Belcorra's journal, as I'll need to employ magic to comprehend the text. If you'll allow me that before returning to Gauntlight, I think we can go in with a great deal more purpose."
"Plus, you'll all get a well-deserved break from that grim place. Eat, drink, be merry," she says this with a smile to the group.
Peldur spends the afternoon checking all of his bolt holes and relaxing. He meets up with the others for dinner.
Take whatever time you need, Elena.
What to do with 4 hours?
Bibi: Stuff
Carrufikus: Bombadilling
Elena: Books
Noroc: ???
Peldur: Inventory cycling.
Talborel: ???
What to do with 4 days of downtime?
Bibi: ???
Carrufikus: ???
Elena: Books
Noroc: ???
Peldur: ???
Talborel: ???
"Other things you can do are poke around the NPCs and potentially unearth side quests."
I like this one. Do you need any rolls? :-)
Diplomacy (Gather Information) One roll per day.
+1 at Crooks Nook
”Take whatever time you need, Elena. I’m going to go around visiting people and try to be helpful.”
Carrufikus walks the streets of Otari cheerfully socializing with the locals and spending some time teaching the children about stars, traveling, and butterflies.
Bibi: Word on the street
Carrufikus: Words on the street + Earn Income
Elena: Books
Noroc: ???
Peldur: ???
Talborel: ???
Bibi pokes around, catching wind that Brelda Venkervale of the Rowdy Rockfish lost her son a little while ago. No one knows how, where, or why, but now that you've spent time in the Gauntlight... You wonder if something nefarious happened to him there.
Day 1: While researching your upcoming lessons, you learn that centuries ago an expatriate of Neb passed through on the way to Absalom. Supposedly he made a discovery - or maybe designed himself - a ritual that could return an undead creature to life...
Day 2: Carmen Rajani has been EXTRA cantankerous of late.
Carrufikus gives some lessons at the Inkleholtz Manor. It pays off as he earns 15 Silver in just two days!
Peldur spends the next few days at The Crow's Cask, sampling all the new concoctions Magiloy has been brewing.
Peldur offers up his services: 8 Copper, 8 Copper, 5 Silver, 5 Silver: 1.16 Gp
Bibi: Word on the street
Carrufikus: Words on the street + Earn Income
Elena: Books
Noroc: ???
Peldur: Drinking
Talborel: ???
Bibi will join Peldur at the Crow's Cask for the other 3 days, using her knowledge of brewing to give Magiloy some ideas, test with Peldur--and will serve drinks to the patrons as well, talking up some of the less-sold, but still good, brews.
Bibi spends day two sampling more than helping, but still earns a bit o'coin: 5 Sp, 8 CP, 5 Sp
What to do with 4 days of downtime?
Bibi: Word on the street
Carrufikus: Words on the street + Earn Income
Elena: Books
Noroc: ???
Peldur: Drinking
Talborel: ???
On Day 4, as the group meets for dinner prepping to delve the next day, Bibi shares some information...
Bibi pokes around, catching wind that Brelda Venkervale of the Rowdy Rockfish lost her son a little while ago. No one knows how, where, or why, but now that you've spent time in the Gauntlight... You wonder if something nefarious happened to him there.
Bibi will also spend some time with Brelda, both to comfort her if possible and to get anything about the boy she might use to track him down/identify him
9 Calistril
for Healing is half speed
10 Calistril
Recovered
Pledur and Noroc suffer a bit the next day, but not so much that they don't recover.
Bibi: Word on the street
Carrufikus: Words on the street + Earn Income
Elena: Books
Noroc: ???
Peldur: Drinking
Talborel: ???
Tal spends a day buying/selling.
3 days earning income... Does Morbilant need some reshelving, purchasing, organizing? Library Lore is +7
While he doesn't have a specific need, he is happy to pay out a stipend for the help. Tal's skills prove to be quite valuable, and Morlibint pays him 15 silver for the work!
It takes two days back in town before Noroc feels well enough to visit Wrab on another quick-as-possible touch base — Living dead. Everywhere. Ghouls trying to dine on human flesh. Enough to turn your stomach! — before spending a day working on the old man's lumber problems.
Noroc's mind is elsewhere while working, and it shows. He only earns 3 silver and 2 copper
The morning of 13 Calistril 4721 AR is cool, but clear.
Armed with terrible knowledge and terrible purpose now, the party reconnects with Augrael to head back into the Gauntlight....
Over the four days Elena is kept busy.
Regardless, unless she gets into a fight the next two days the curse should pass.
9 Calistril, 4721AR
The first day she spends holed up in a room, studying The Whispering Reeds. It takes her the full day, and during that time she stops only to urinate. When she joins the others for supper, her words convey a deep exhaustion. "I can tell you that one of the books we found is... troubling. The magic within it, though intended to help the reader, is an unintentional tool for followers of the Outer Goddess Nhimbaloth. Though I believe all knowledge is important, this tome should probably be destroyed. But... we can't. At least, not yet because doing so will release a magic that can curse the individual. So for now... I will hold onto this."
She takes a spoonful of the fish stew served at the Rowdy Rockfish, swallows, and lets out a sigh. "I'll get to Belcorra's journal and notes tomorrow, but the magic I have will only last so long. I may use the extra time to... sleep."
10 Calistril, 4721AR
Elena is slow to rise the next morning, with sleep being a battle of logic versus nightmare through the deep hours of the night. When she sits up that morning, the first thing she sees is the heavy tome: The Whispering Reeds.
Doing her best to put what she learned out of mind, she fetches herself a drink and begins her arcane preparations. Most of her mental headspace is committed to a spell that allows her to comprehend unknown languages. And after three hours of using that magic to read Belcorra's papers and journal, the spells end. So instead she jots down notes and begins writing a letter that she does not finish.
When the group once more gets together she shares some of her findings. "So I've learned a bit about Belcorra, as this definitely seems to be a journal of hers. She was born into the wealthy Haruvex family in Absalom. And though it was a secret, the family have a strong aberrant bloodline and a devotion to Nhimbaloth."
"She was born in 4213 AR. In 4219 AR, when Belcorra was six years of age, the secret sacrifices her family were performing became known, and they were forced to flee Absalom. They went to Andoran, and having abandoned their fortune lived in poverty. This was obviously hard for Belcorra, and a hatred for Absalom blossomed. What's more, her family continued to impress upon her this idea that she was Nhimbaloth's chosen one,"
Having shared what she knows thus far, she answers a few questions but begs off early to bed. She gives the hefty tome a baleful look before falling asleep.
11 Calistril, 4721AR
Another dream-filled sleep greets Elena, causing her to toss and turn throughout the night. She wakes to a body covered in sweat. Still, she wastes no time and jumps right into her research once more, ending the afternoon with more writing in a letter.
At dinner she continues to share what she's learned. "By 4230 AR Belcorra, who is at this point the last surviving Haruvex, has become a powerful sorceress. She secretly relocates to the Isle of Kortos, where she begins construction on a magical lihghthouse she calls Gauntlight. Yes, the very place we've been exploring. What's more though is that this lighthouse is situated atop a place called The Empty Vault. It's a shrine of some sort deep beneath the earth, and I think it's dedicated to Nhimbaloth. Regardless, she uses that location to collect an army of aberrations that she intended to unleash on Absalom."
"Four years later, in 4234 AR she completes construction of Gauntlight and begins work on its dungeons. What she calls the Abomination Vaults. She uses will-o-wisps and bound devils to enforce her will upon the rapidly expanding horde within. She also meets with the drow and urdefhans in the area, demanding their fealty in exchange for their lives," Elena stops to take another drink, draining a mug of ale. "She was an awful, awful person. The sort that give practitioners of magic a bad name."
"I'm not done with her journal yet, but I'm nearly there. There's a whole section at that looks a great deal more technical. So I'm going to rest and get to it. My nights have been... atrocious. I'm beat."
12 Calistril, 4721AR
Finally getting a decent night's sleep, Elena springs to the task of finishing the study of Belcorra's notes. It's there that she learns just what Gauntlight is. And given its importance, she seeks out each of the others to deliver the news first hand.
"Gauntlight is an artifact and... a weapon! One that is meant to be pointed at Absalom, but currently only has range enough for Otari. There are nine levels to the dungeon depths underneath it, and that last level contains a chamber where Nhimbaloth herself once brushed against this world. The magic within that chamber has been used to infuse the walls, floors, and ceilings with eldritch power, which is how the entire structure has avoided the decay of the Fogfen."
She continues. "Thankfully the lens atop Gauntlight is mundane. But Belcorra's plan had been to replace it with a magical one, allowing her to focus that enegry into a beam that.. well, it would do bad things. As it is, there is still plenty of latent power within the structure."
"First off, teleportation and summoing magic of any sort is thoroughly blocked within Gauntlight and the Abomination Vaults. Magic that might let you pass through walls is also stopped. This means that the teleportation runes that we've seen within are incredibly powerful, and restoring them will allow for us to pass easily about within the structure. They will probably also allow us egress to areas we could not otherwise reach. So restoring them will need to be a priority."
Elena takes a deep breath before continuing. "There is still functions that can be called upon, if you are in the lowest depths of the Abomination Vaults. One is to create a beam that can go out to about a mile, which will permanently animate the dead within a small area. The second is to physically teleport one person within Gauntlight to within one mile of the place. Each of these functions are operating in a diminished capacity, but both are a real problem right now for the people of Otari."
"I've got to get a letter to one of my instructors at the Acadamae, but I also know a wizard or two tied to the Pathfinders in Absalom. They will need to be made aware of this, as the impact on the city could be profound," she says, her gaze filled with purpose and determination. "After that, I suggest we return to Gauntlight. First to see if we can erect some sort of 'blinds' over the lighthouse's lens, then to begin working on the various teleportation runes. It's probable that we'll uncover more areas within this structure through that magic."
"But one thing is for sure: someone is down there, at the bottom of that dungeon, and is putting the magic of Gauntlight to use. And they do not mean the world any good. So it's time to truly prepare for the worst, and use every tool at our disposal."
Bibi listens with rapt attention and growing agitation--whether that's dread, or excited energy, it's hard to say, maybe some of both. Yeah, probably that.
Letting out a low whistle, she gives Elena a supportive pat on the hand. Wow, nice work!! Uncle Bofus always said knowledge is the most powerful weapon you can have.
After a brief pause, she speaks again. If the light at the top is mundane, than that's in my wheelhouse. I should be able to juryrig something to foil it. But...what makes you think there's something--or someONE...in the dungeons running it, rather than some kind of automatic thingy, doing it's thingy thing?
Elena shakes her head. "I don't think so. The reason I believe that it's a 'someone' is because of the undead that appeared in the graveyard after a beam shot out from the lighthouse. Targeting a graveyard, where there would be an obvious concentration of bodies, is too clever to be automation. It's a very specific use of the power within Gauntlight, and can only be invoked from the deepest depth of the Abomination Vaults."
She rubs at her eyes, still a bit tired from the study. " Also... it's a hunch. But given how much life and unlife there is within, I think it's a good hunch."
Carrufikus listens as well, as he sips on a cup of cider.
"This is an incredible find, Elena. Your gifts and talents have helped all of us so much! Did you find anything out about our friend Augrael? He has certainly become an unexpected friend, and I would be further surprised to find others that would be so loyal."
"Augrael? No, I haven't," Elena replies. She pauses to think a bit more about just what Carrufikus is saying. "He is something of a unique situation, I must admit. The typical hunger that defines most ghouls seems to be absent. Or perhaps he has incredible control over it. And putting negative energy into his body is the surest way to close any wounds of his. But I worry about whether his current state is permanent, or if he's on a razor's edge."
"I'm open to any ideas. I could do further research, but I admit that necromancy is not my area of expertise. I can send some letters out though. What's your desired end state?"
"End state? Like.... a house, a wife and little ghoulish morlocks? I.... I don't know. I think I'd like to not be undead."
"End state? Like.... a house, a wife and little ghoulish morlocks? I.... I don't know. I think I'd like to not be undead."
Then we shall endeavor to find a cure for you, Noroc says. You have risked yourself for us, it is the least we can do to try and help you.
He turns to Elena. This should certainly be one of your letters.
"Yes, definitely. I will endeavour to ask about this."
Talborel ponders this a moment.
Reincarnation. We should find a druid.
"That... might work. I may be able to do research on the ritual itself."
Elena hastily writes a few letters, this time delivering them herself to Gallentine Deliveries.
Magical artifacts. Plural.
Apologies if that seems like a blunt way to start a letter. I felt it important to dispense with pleasantries given why I'm writing. But I was hoping to consult with you regarding two artifacts that I have uncovered.
The first is a tome called The Whispering Reeds. It was compiled centuries ago by an anonymous author who sought to collect all parables, myths, stories, and encounters with the Outer Goddess Nhimbaloth. The author's intent was to create a work that foes of the Empty Death could use to fight against her influence, but as I read through the book, it became apparent that the opposite effect has been achieved. The compilation of these stories inadvertently generated a work that made it easier for Nhimbaloth to influence the world. In the hands of a worshipper of the Empty Death, this would be a powerful tool. And though I would destroy it, the tome carries a curse within that would effect the destroyer. For now, I will guard the tome well.
As for the second, it is a lighthouse! Called 'Gauntlight' by its creator, a sorcerer named Belcorra Haruvex. Haruvex saw themselves as chosen by Nhimbaloth, and Gauntlight sits atop a mysterious chamber said to have been touched my the god's presence. The lighthouse is, first and foremost, a weapon. One designed to be pointed at Absalom! Fortunately it's in a weakened state, but nonetheless can target nearby Otari. It's ability to animate powerful undead and teleport monsters make it the greatest magical threat I have ever seen.
So, in short, I ask for your help. I will continue to investigate this threat because it must be done, and soon. But I have never felt more out of depth than I do now.
Will you help?
Regards,
Elena
P.S: Any ideas on how to cure a ghoul of its condition?
I hope this letter finds you well. I write with urgent tidings, as I have discovered an artifact near Otari that could pose a great danger to Absalom. It is a magical lighthouse named 'Gauntlight', and was created by a powerful sorcerer named Belcorra Haruvex. Please, I urge you to warn the leaders within the society about this. There are mysterious forces at work that, I fear, wish to see Belcorra's mission though.
Also, I admit I also have a favour. Do you know of any rituals that might cure someone of ghoul fever AFTER they have become a ghoul? I have met a ghoul who, strangely, is not driven by the hunger of other ghouls. They have retained their soul, I think. Could reincarnation work? Something else? I am looking for options and insights, so if you can sharing anything you know or have at your disposal, I would be in your debt.
With thanks,
Elena
”Well, after four days of rest, I’m feeling quite refreshed. How about the rest of you? If you are feeling satisfied, then I think we should head back to the lighthouse. I’m not sure how to deal with the lower levels yet, but I know the people of Otari need our help. Little by little, step by step.”
CHIME
On the morning of 13 Calistril the party makes the 30 minute walk to the ruins. Augrael is at the front, ready to go. Eschewing the circles for the moment, they return to the library level...
Bibi checks the 2 doors in the hallway.
She finds them both uninteresting and and of themselves.
She steps back and gives the "after you" arm wave to whomever wants to open the eastern door.
Noroc nods and moves forward, opening the east door when the rest of the party is ready.
"I'm ready!"
Carrufikus stands at the ready and waits, curiously wondering what lies beyond.
The door opens to a room that immediately hooks back to the west. About half the party senses that something's wrong. They can't see around the corner but swear they sensed the sounds of movement...
Round 1:
Peldur: Go
Elena: Go
Bibi: Go
Tal: Go
???: ???
Carrufikus: TBD
Noroc: TBD
Initiative assumes Talborel is Scouting
Avoid Notice (T)
Detect Magic (A: +1 (U), N: +8 (T), O: +1 (U) , R: +8 (T))
Investigate (A: +8 (T), C: +8 (T) M: +1 (U) N: +5 (T), O: +7 (T) , R: +5 (T), S: +8 (T))
Search (E)
Avoid Notice (E)
Scout
Headless of the danger, Peldur drops down into Tiger Stance and rushes in.
Peldur turns to corner to find a trio plain beds that have been awkwardly stacked on their side near the west wall of this room making a makeshift barrier. The only other thing in the room is a single low table heaped with foul-smelling chunks of flesh and bone. It stinks of death in this room.
Round 1:
Peldur: Two Actions
Elena: Go
Bibi: Go
Tal: Go
Augrael: TBD
???: ???
Carrufikus: TBD
Noroc: TBD