Ussaile raises an eyebrow, "A few things. I think that her nephew may have utilized the Mirror to get hands on with Iozif and Henric."
Jassminder pauses with a forkful of food halfway to her mouth and closes her eyes, willing away her exasperation. "Are you incapable of a straight answer, or are you just abusing the fact that it would be wrong of me to hurt you?" She glances to Noctifer. "Can I get a plain answer from someone who speaks Taldan rather than Cryptic?"
Plan B is that she stabs one of them repeatedly with her fork until they spill the answers, and then seeks atonement somewhere. She won't do that, ever, and they know it. But a girl always needs to have a plan B.
** spoiler omitted **
At lunch, Jassminder piles her plate high as if she'd skipped breakfast, which she didn't. Between ravenous mouthfuls, she answers Noctifer's question. "Xanther and I had a talk with Anya. There were lots of feelings but nothing useful to learn." She notes the tiefling's emphasis on his words. "And what did Eugenia draw your attention to?"
"She didn't know much of the history of Dimitri Boroi beyond what we learned in the library. She did say that Nadia, the hedge witch, is the person to talk to about fey and that, if there are any in the are, Nadia would know. So it appears she is our next stop."
"Who's Iozif and Henric? Brothers? Uncles?" Marcus asks.
"Who's Iozif and Henric? Brothers? Uncles?" Marcus asks.
"Baron Stepan's brothers and apparently in front of him in the line of succession until they died. At around the same time from some type of 'illness'."
Jassminder pauses with a forkful of food halfway to her mouth and closes her eyes, willing away her exasperation. "Are you incapable of a straight answer, or are you just abusing the fact that it would be wrong of me to hurt you?" She glances to Noctifer. "Can I get a plain answer from someone who speaks Taldan rather than Cryptic?"
Plan B is that she stabs one of them repeatedly with her fork until they spill the answers, and then seeks atonement somewhere. She won't do that, ever, and they know it. But a girl always needs to have a plan B.
"The plain answer is no one knows for certain what, or who, happened to Henric and Iozif. We heard speculation from Ionela about the rumors Ussaile is alluding to. Perhaps we'll learn more along the way?"
"Baron Stepan's brothers and apparently in front of him in the line of succession until they died. At around the same time from some type of 'illness'."
"However, the timelines and description don't quite fit."
"Iozif died 5 years ago. If the Baron was using the mirror then, I would expect Nicasor to attack at the same time as well. Nicasor already had the ability to send nightmares all the way back during Dimitri's time."
"Additionally, Iozif died, which probably means they found the corpse. If he had been imprisoned in the Mirror, it would have seemed that he mysteriously disappeared instead... Unless the Mirror has some other function we are unaware of."
"Although, if they died of disease, it might be possible they got Tallowthroat from the leaking Shadow Essence in the courtyard. Since the Study isn't too far away."
"Actually, there's been something bugging me for a while now." Xanther says between bites. "The Mirror was designed for eternal torment. So those inside do not age. But what is there to stop the prisoners from killing themselves? Or indeed, from killing each other? An escape through death, if you get my drift."
After lunch and conversation the five of you make your way across town to Nadia Witch-Blood's house. Along the way you notice there are fewer bonfires surrounding the village and none of the ones you see are tended to by the guards. Captain Groy must have spread the word among his own men at least. The streets are nearly empty; the windows of the houses you pass all shuttered. Killing Ilquis and putting an end to the kidnappings has not lifted the palpable aura of fear from the town.
Nadia's house is a cottage on the north end of town close to where the Ombrefell begins. A fence and a small garden keep it separated from its neighbors. Green ivy climbs up the walls and curtains the windows; you can't tell whether Nadia can see out but it would certainly be very difficult to see in. When you walk up the cobblestone pathway the door opens before you can knock. A voice calls from inside, "Come on in, I've been expecting you."
Upon entering it takes those without darkvision a moment to adjust to the gloom. Potted plants are everywhere and dried herbs hang from the ceiling, particularly coriander, rosemary, and mandrake root. In a corner near an unlit fireplace an old woman, presumably Nadia, sits in a rocking chair. She has a fern in her lap that she's petting as if it were a cat. Piercing eyes not at all dimmed with age fix on each of you in turn. "Hmmph. So you're Karpad's heroes, eh? Heard you saved some children." She grins, revealing crooked yellow teeth. "Good for you, good for you. Now what can old Mother Nadia help you with?"
"Greetings Mother Nadia, I am Noctifer Umbria. Some in Karpad may call us heroes but we're still quite a distance from such a title in my estimation. We come to you on the recommendation of Aunt Eugenia Boroi who said you would be the one to know about fey. In case word has not reached you we killed a fey creature named Ilquis that was a Lurker in Light. There is at least one other fey creature with either a name or designation of 'Dag'-something; our witness wasn't sure of its full name. It seems like Ilquis summoned this 'Dag', wasn't happy about it, and was hoping to use its help to summon something else. In fact the kidnapped children were part of a kidnapping ring that killed several residents of Karpad. This 'Dag' thought Ilquis and it should stick to the woodsmen working in the forest. I'm also sure some townspeople have sought your wisdom about curing the disease called 'Tallowthroat.' A development you may not be aware of is that Catalina died from Tallowthroat and birthed undead shadows. So we find ourselves requesting any information you may have on this development with Tallowthroat plus any information about the fey in the area, where they are, and what they might be trying to summon with all of the sacrifices."
"Jassminder. Sweet Jassminder." The tone wasn't quite mocking but she knew the paladin was anything but, "I don't speak until I know everything. Making a fool of oneself is a heinous crime, when it involves my Patron as well... It is a little more complex."
She lets Noctifer resolve the minor quibble.
---
Entering the witch's house, Ussaile senses the empathic link. She doesn't bow to the witch, that wouldn't be proper. Instead she meets her gaze directly, a fiery one counterbalanced by Ussaile's cold space.
She wasn't going to speak up, but her body language said enough.
Marcus nods to the witch. Not being much of the social type, he looks about with an alchemist's eye to see what interesting things she has hanging or prepped.
Xanther stands behind Noctifer and tries to look as 'heroic' as possible.
As Noctifer talks Nadia stops rocking and leans forward, idly chewing on a fingernail. "I'd heard you'd killed a fey. I hadn't heard that it was Ilquis. That's interesting. Very interesting. And shouldn't have been possible. Not the killing him part; the kidnapping residents of Karpad part." Her eyes close and she tilts her head as if listening to someone, then a slow smile spreads across her face. "Ah. That's how. I'm almost impressed; I didn't think Ilquis was that clever. Ambitious yes, but not clever."
"Geni told you right when she sent you here. I haven't been able to figure out anything about Tallowthroat and I don't know about undead shadows either, but I do know the fey. I'm the only one in town that does. Other than Stepan, but he's not exactly himself these days, is he?" Nadia grunts as she pushes herself out of her rocking chair, carefully placing the fern down on the seat. She heads over to an old wooden bookcase and pulls out a hand-drawn map which she then rolls out onto the table. You can see Karpad on the southeast of the map but the majority of it depicts the Ombrefell. Dozens of areas have been either circled or crossed out in red pen. "The culmination of years of work. There's an official version in Boroi manor but Mikhail would never show it to me, the stingy bastard. Stepan might have but by the time he became baron I no longer needed it. This," she taps on one of the circled areas, "is why Karpad can live right on the border of the Ombrefell without fear."
"Centuries ago, not certain exactly when since the fey don't really keep track of time, the Borois made a deal with the fey. Karpad would be careful with it's logging, avoid the areas the fey find sacred," (she taps the circled area again), "let them live in peace, and in turn the fey would serve as a buffer against the darker creatures of the forest. It's worked quite well for both sides. Most of the fey out there think it's a perfectly reasonable bargain. Ilquis was one of the few that didn't. He thought the fey should take over Karpad, drive the humans out, the usual power-hungry drivel. He could never do anything about it though. He was bound by the contract too, and 'not kidnapping and killing Karpad's citizens' was part of it." She smiles. "But if he got permission from the lord of the land, well, that would have changed things."
"The good news: I doubt any of the other fey in the area will try anything similar. I can think of less than ten that agreed with Ilquis' sentiments and none of them were as strong or as ambitious. Gremlins mostly. They're never happy with anything. No, the main thing we have to worry about is this Dag. If Ilquis summoned him directly from the First World he won't be bound by anything." She leans back, eyes closing again as she thinks. "I need details, as many as you can give. You say Ilquis wasn't happy, do you know why? Was the animosity mutual? Was there a reason given for why Dag wanted to target loggers instead? Exactly how many people were sacrificed and how were they killed?"
Noctifer retrieves his journal and begins reading his notes:
"There were seven corpses in total, all of which have been dead for about a week . I don't know if some or all of those were used to summon 'Dag' or if those were after its arrival. Ilquis used a wand of Dominate Person to compel Judy Potts, Neliana Mallus, and Fane Cline into helping him. When we interrupted their plans they had kidnapped Delian and Olya and had them in cauldrons filled with wax. The children were told they could 'survive without food for a few days' so it seemed Ilquis needed more sacrifices? Judy was ensorceled nine days ago, Neliana four, and Fane six. Ilquis had Judy selling candles in the store, ordered Fane to keep him safe, and had Neliana stay in the basement 'to protect him until the time came for the ritual.' Apparently Catalina was either working for Ilquis willingly or was the first ensorceled by the wand.
Judy gave us this information about what Ilquis was doing or if he was talking with anyone else: 'Otherwise sometimes I've heard him arguing with someone. I didn't see anyone else in the room but there was another voice. It said that this was stupid, that Master Ilquis was wasting his wand playing god over a bunch of mortals when they could have just stayed in the forest and grabbed a few lumberers. Master Ilquis insisted this was better because there wasn't any chance of the ritual being interrupted here.' And then this:
'The first time I heard them talking was six days ago, at night. I could see Master Ilquis but not the person he was talking to. They didn't seem to like each other much. Master Ilquis was saying that the other person, Dag-something, was the last thing he wanted to summon. Then three days ago I heard them arguing again, also at night. That's when Dag said they should just stay in the Ombrefell and take lumberers since Master Ilquis had wasted his wand.'
I think that's the extent of what we have learned about the fey situation; if any of my associates wish to chime in?"
"On a perhaps different topic would you know anything about an item called 'The Midnight Mirror'?
"Don't forget that when we seemed to be about to win the fight he sent the woman out to unleash the sunlight spell. An obvious signal for something I would think." Marcus chimes in.
"Don't forget that when we seemed to be about to win the fight he sent the woman out to unleash the sunlight spell. An obvious signal for something I would think." Marcus chimes in.
"From what Neliana said that was to wait for Ilquis to escape us and give her new orders. I'm guessing he had some kind of escape plan or option to restart the ritual."
Nadia listens silently to all this information, head once again tilted slightly to the side. When asked about the Midnight Mirror she simply shrugs. "Never heard of that before. But what you said about the witness' testimony, now that's interesting." She hobbles back over to the bookcase and pulls out a thick book with The Encyclopedia of Fey Creatures embossed on the spine. She starts flipping through it quickly, occasionally pausing on a page before shaking her head and moving on. "You'd be surprised how much it narrows down what 'Dag' could be. Human sacrifices means he's the type of creature to be attracted by blood. Seven deaths means he's moderately strong. Not a gremlin but not a vilderavn either, fortunately for Karpad. Intelligent enough to understand what Ilquis had in that wand and wise enough to not want to waste it. Prefers the forest over civilization. Capable of invisibility." She stops on a page and makes a triumphant noise in the back of her throat. "Most importantly of all, he's the last creature a lurker in light would want to summon, with the feeling of distaste being mutual."
She spins the book around. It's open on a gruesome picture of a demonic-looking being with dark purple moth wings wearing a necklace of eyeballs. "Lamp Blighter. Can't be 100% certain of course, but it's the only fey I know of that fits all those criteria. Poor Ilquis. He was probably trying to summon a redcap, maybe a coryphae, and he got a mortal enemy instead. He should have realized then that the Eldest were against him." She chuckles to herself as she flips over the page, reading quickly, before turning back to the map.
"The loggers haven't run into him yet, I would have heard if they had, so Ilquis must have told him which places were safe. If you want to continue your heroics I'd check here first." She taps a circled area about five miles into the forest. "The trees are particularly thick there. Dim, gloomy, perfect conditions for a lamp blighter."
Nadia falls silent, eyes closing and head tilting once more while she thinks. Then she turns and heads towards the back room of her cottage. She's gone for a few minutes before returning with a single potion which she holds out to Ussaile. "Lamp blighters have two major forms of defense. They have constant invisibility, which you must already have some way of dealing with if you killed Ilquis. However they can also cast darkness at will. Seeing through invisibility doesn't help much if you can't see at all. This potion of darkvision will help with that. I'm offering it freely, as a gift."
”Can you tell us how to kill a lamp blighter?” Marcus asks hoping to narrow down the possibilities.
"They also have magical arrows which can inflict bleed, fear or sleep." Xanther says, suddenly feeling more grateful for his elf ancestry.
He turns to Nadia "Thank you for your help. Do you happen to sell magical supplies as well?"
HP: 31/31
AC: 21 (T: 12, FF: 19)
Saves: F +4 (+4 competence vs disease), R +4, W +5 (+2 vs Enchantment, +3 vs Charms and Compulsions, both stack)
Effects: -
Channel Energy: 4/4
Spells Per Day:
L1 7/7
L2: 4/4
Ussaile already starts to consider what spells she would need.
See invisibility, faerie fire, possibly something else...
She was worried that the fae had plenty of strength and was going to cause them problems so she mentally checked off what she needs.
"I can ensure that I can see it, and reveal it for you all but I have no way of dealing with the darkness myself."
0th - Detect Magic, Message, Light, Arcane Mark
1st - Mage Armour, Mage Armour, Faerie Fire, <>
2nd - Cat's Grace, See Invisibility, <>
"They also have magical arrows which can inflict bleed, fear or sleep." Xanther says, suddenly feeling more grateful for his elf ancestry.
He turns to Nadia "Thank you for your help. Do you happen to sell magical supplies as well?"
** spoiler omitted **
"And in case you think that's all they can do if its invisibility fails it will move into melee range and its claws do far more damage than their arrows. With lucky strikes or if attacking a helpless opponent they can even pluck out their victim's eyes."
"We also have the Bottled Sunshine to perhaps 'enlighten' his attempts to darken the area. Given its wings we may need to either ground it or get one of us in the air."
Noctifer will ask Nadia if she has, or know anyone in Karpad who has, for sale items such as a tanglefoot bag, potion of fly, scroll of see invisibility, and potions or scrolls of blur.
"How do you kill a lamp blighter? Same as any other fey. Make sure you have cold iron on hand then stab it." Nadia grins revealing crooked yellow teeth. "They're pretty resistant to spells though. He might just shrug off a glitterdust spell like it was nothing so grabbing some extra ways to see through invisibility is a good idea."
"I can sell you tanglefoot bags for 50 gold each, and other alchemical weapons too if you want them. You can find arcane scrolls at Plotbound. Whether Costel has those particular ones you'll have to ask him. It's on the town square, big sign with a book out front, you can't miss it. You'll find a few basic potions at the general store, also on the town square, but I doubt they'll have a potion of fly. For divine scrolls head to the Temple and check with Master Miklos; he's the only person in town who'd have any."
"Many thanks Nadia. It's not an exaggeration to say this information might save our lives."
Jassminder nods approvingly as Noctifer seamlessly recites the events so far, listing details she would consider unimportant like names. He may be a chatterbox, but this is good work. She frowns in thought. "Invisibility we can get around, one way or another. Magical darkness will be an issue, if it will overpower magical light." She pulls an ioun stone from out of her pouch; it burns with a heatless flame as it circles around her.
"This works in normal darkness, but even then only out to a few feet. Beyond that, I won't be able to shoot anything reliably." Not that being blinded prevented her from putting Ilquis down; but you can't rely on luck going your way every time. She puts the circling stone back in her pouch. "Can you tell me if that will work against a lamp-blight's darkness? Otherwise we're going to need two more darkvision potions." Noctifer and Marcus can see in the dark without problem, she knows that from experience. But she, Ussaile and Xanther will need assistance.
"As previously mentioned a couple of darkvision scrolls can take care of the darkness issue. I think once we pin it down and neutralize its invisibility the fight swings in our favor. Until then, we'll have an extremely difficult time. What about checking to see if the baron has some huntsmen? We could have them come in with nets. See if we could overwhelm the thing with numbers."
"I think we should try and procure one Scroll of Remove Fear as well." Xanther adds. "Carried by someone who can use it effectively, other than me. That way, if I am disabled by a fear attack, they can rescue me."
"I think we should try and procure one Scroll of Remove Fear as well." Xanther adds. "Carried by someone who can use it effectively, other than me. That way, if I am disabled by a fear attack, they can rescue me."
"I can use a Scroll of Remove Fear."
Jassminder nods approvingly as Noctifer seamlessly recites the events so far, listing details she would consider unimportant like names. He may be a chatterbox, but this is good work. She frowns in thought. "Invisibility we can get around, one way or another. Magical darkness will be an issue, if it will overpower magical light." She pulls an ioun stone from out of her pouch; it burns with a heatless flame as it circles around her.
"This works in normal darkness, but even then only out to a few feet. Beyond that, I won't be able to shoot anything reliably." Not that being blinded prevented her from putting Ilquis down; but you can't rely on luck going your way every time. She puts the circling stone back in her pouch. "Can you tell me if that will work against a lamp-blight's darkness? Otherwise we're going to need two more darkvision potions." Noctifer and Marcus can see in the dark without problem, she knows that from experience. But she, Ussaile and Xanther will need assistance.
"Unlikely, unless you paid extra for it, but I'll check." Nadia casts Detect Magic, a spell you're all familiar enough with to not require any assistance identifying, then shakes her head. "No. The continual flame spell cast on that stone isn't strong enough to overcome a darkness spell."
"Unlikely, unless you paid extra for it, but I'll check." Nadia casts Detect Magic, a spell you're all familiar enough with to not require any assistance identifying, then shakes her head. "No. The continual flame spell cast on that stone isn't strong enough to overcome a darkness spell."Jassminder nods approvingly as Noctifer seamlessly recites the events so far, listing details she would consider unimportant like names. He may be a chatterbox, but this is good work. She frowns in thought. "Invisibility we can get around, one way or another. Magical darkness will be an issue, if it will overpower magical light." She pulls an ioun stone from out of her pouch; it burns with a heatless flame as it circles around her.
"This works in normal darkness, but even then only out to a few feet. Beyond that, I won't be able to shoot anything reliably." Not that being blinded prevented her from putting Ilquis down; but you can't rely on luck going your way every time. She puts the circling stone back in her pouch. "Can you tell me if that will work against a lamp-blight's darkness? Otherwise we're going to need two more darkvision potions." Noctifer and Marcus can see in the dark without problem, she knows that from experience. But she, Ussaile and Xanther will need assistance.
"How about this item?"
Noctifer presents the Bottled Sunshine.
"I also suggest we should also refer to the Lamp Blighter in code. So we do not alert it to our intentions." Xanther adds. "I propose 'Uncle Lambert', with time as direction and distance. So when Ussaile says, 'by the way, I have a meeting with Uncle Lambert at 6:25'. What she really means is the Lamp Blighter is at her 6 o'clock, 25 feet away."
"I also suggest we should also refer to the Lamp Blighter in code. So we do not alert it to our intentions." Xanther adds. "I propose 'Uncle Lambert', with time as direction and distance. So when Ussaile says, 'by the way, I have a meeting with Uncle Lambert at 6:25'. What she really means is the Lamp Blighter is at her 6 o'clock, 25 feet away."
Noctifer chuckles, "You and your numbers! Ingenious though and I agree although it will certainly understand the code but hopefully that first advantage in our favor will prove decisive."
"The bottled sunshine would work but not well. It covers too small of an area." Nadia smirks as she looks at it. "No need to ask where you got that one. Lurkers in light are the only beings I've met that would find such a thing useful. Unless you want to try your luck gardening in the Darklands."
The witch gives a chuckle, "Very well Xanther. I can do that. Hopefully we can resolve this without too much issue." She doesn't really worry about the fey, she certainly knows her party can handle it, but she has a suspicion that there was something else they were missing.
Whether it was paranoia or not, she would eventually find out later.
Jassminder nods. "Code makes sense. Let's pick up what we need and get moving."
After finishing your conversation with Nadia you make your way around town purchasing the various items you believe you'll need for your confrontation with Dag. As prepared as you feel you can be, you head off into the Ombrefell.
Jassminder has some experience hunting various criminals through the woods so she takes the lead. For the first mile or so the journey is fairly pleasant. Enough sunlight makes its way through the treetops to brighten your path, the brush isn't so thick as to impede your progress, and you see occasional glimpses of rabbits, squirrels, and other normal forest creatures. The deeper you go however the darker things become, both literally and metaphorically. The trees grow thicker and closer together until you can no longer see the sun and those without darkvision rely on Jassminder's ioun torch to brighten the way. The birdsong is replaced by eerie sounds made by creatures none of you can recognize. Small bushes turn into piercing thorns that tear at your clothes and force you to detour away from your planned path.
Two hours into the journey you pause to catch your bearings at a small stream you remember seeing on Nadia's map. Following it should lead you directly to the clearing she had pointed out as being the most likely location for Dag to be. As you're about to head out Xanther spots it first; a shadowy dog drinking from the stream about sixty feet away. It doesn't seem to have noticed you yet.
"A shadow Mastiff." Xanther whispers. "An Outsider from the shadow plane, which has total concealment in anything less than full daylight."
HP: 31/31
AC: 21 (T: 12, FF: 19)
Saves: F +4 (+4 competence vs disease), R +4, W +5 (+2 vs Enchantment, +3 vs Charms and Compulsions, both stack)
Effects: -
Channel Energy: 4/4
Spells Per Day:
L1 7/7
L2: 4/4
"It's howl causes panic in a 300' range."
"Panic?" Xanther whispers. "I shall begin with Remove Fear then. Just give us the signal."
HP: 31/31
AC: 21 (T: 12, FF: 19)
Saves: F +4 (+4 competence vs disease), R +4, W +5 (+2 vs Enchantment, +3 vs Charms and Compulsions, both stack)
Effects: -
Spells Per Day:
L1 7/7
L2: 4/4
Daily Abilities
*Channel Energy: 4/4
Daily Items
* -None-
Charged & Single Use Items
*Scroll of Daylight
*Antiplague (x2)
*Alchemist Fire (x1)
*Scroll of Magic Weapon (x3)
*Scroll of Air Bubble (x1)
*Oil of Bless Weapon (x1)
*Holy Weapon Balm (x2)
*Oil Flask (x6)
"Do we need to engage it? Do you think it is with the target?"
Marcus steps into the shadows and does what he can to hide himself. A cold iron dagger in one hand and his waveblade in the other, he waits for word as to when or if to engage the dog.
Noctifer eyes Jassminder and her bow.
Jassminder considers things carefully, as befits her Lawful nature. Drawing back into the trees, she whispers to the others. "I'd rather fight this thing now with surprise on our side, than risk it attacking us later when we're already fighting our real opponent. And if it howls and brings the enemy to us, then so much the better, right? Means we don't have to keep looking."
Others may disagree with her sentiment, but assuming they agree with her logic, she waits for someone to light it up with magic before drawing her bow back and shooting the creature.
hit
As planned, Xanther casts Remove Fear on himself and Noctifer, in the hopes that at least one of them will survive the Howl of Panic.
Seeing the Dog had yet to react, he also cast Remove Fear on Ussaile and Marcus for good measure. He then draws his favorite Heavy Mace and moves closer, following along the bank of the river.
HP: 31/31
AC: 21 (T: 12, FF: 19)
Saves: F +4 (+4 competence vs disease), R +4, W +5 (+2 vs Enchantment, +3 vs Charms and Compulsions, both stack)
Effects: -
Spells Per Day:
L1 5/7 (Cast Remove Fear x2)
L2: 4/4
Daily Abilities
*Channel Energy: 4/4
Daily Items
* -None-
Charged & Single Use Items
*Scroll of Daylight
*Antiplague (x2)
*Alchemist Fire (x1)
*Scroll of Magic Weapon (x3)
*Scroll of Air Bubble (x1)
*Oil of Bless Weapon (x1)
*Holy Weapon Balm (x2)
*Oil Flask (x6)
Once the arrow flies, Marcus moves toward the beast. If it still stands after that first shot he closes the distance rapidly (charge) and strikes.
Jassminder follows up her initial shot with an additional volley, aiming to put the creature down before it can make a sound.
MISS
HIT
Pulling some light from the stars, Ussaile tries to engulf the hound with magic that should make it easier to track.
The violet light swirls around...
Remove Fear (from Xanther)
Mage Armour
The faerie fire lights up the startled mastiff, who swivels its head to look at your group just in time for an arrow to pierce through its eye. It stumbles to one side, groaning, before the second and third arrows put it out of its misery.
With this obstacle removed you can freely follow the stream. If Nadia's hunch is correct Dag should be less than thirty minutes away.