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Fortunately, I re-linked them all when the site went back up. Here's the direct link to the Downtime section
"Umm, mistress Arclord Alyreha? Would you be umm, interested in storing those notes with the Pathfinder Society? Only, they've been the target of theft already, and um, the enemy knows where they are and how to get them now. That Liaskra woman talked about her mother Aslyn and how she wanted those notes. Don't you think the vaults in in the Grand Lodge would be a good place to store them and keep doing your research? I know it's a long ways from here, but maybe you could take the Maze?"
Bertram enlarged his warding spell once more, filling the room with its protective magics, then peered through the mists to see the creature in the middle. He wanted to bog it down in mud, but he wasn't sure his companions wouldn't be mired as well. Instead, he pulled a small chunk of iron from a pouch and concentrated. Damaging spells were much more difficult for him than protective wards, but he knew a few. Spitting out the words in a strangled voice, he sent a stream of small metal needles at the creature in the center of the obscuring mists.
"Spellbook? Yes, please!" Bertram dropped the warding spell he was holding to rush over to Mas' side and begin looking at the spellbook. Perhaps there were a few that he could copy over to his own. He could always use a few more spells. Meanwhile, his book tried several times to eat the random papers, finally settling for the piece pf paper that Mrs. Crinkle was holding out. It chewed on it a few times, then spat out the paper and shook itself. Nope. it did not like that one.
Not dissuaded by the failure of his cantrip, Bertram swatted his book away from Mrs. Crinkle and began helping to construct a platform to get up to where the owl with the scroll is. He started by pushing some desks and chairs together, then grabbed a couple of tables to use as the decking. He smiled at the base and then his expression fell as the top level slid off.
Bertram rubbernecked past the room filled with podiums, hustled along by the others as they rushed for the final tower. As they moved into the animal room, he spied something in the owl's beak. "There's a scroll up there. Hang on." He cast a small cantrip and used fingers of magic to gently tease the scroll free and over to his waiting hand... ...where his spellbook immediately tried to snatch it from him. "Let go! I never should have freed you..." Bertram broke off that line of conversation suddenly and yanked the scroll free of his book, which slunk around behind him on its strap.
"Well, umm.. Your teacher, Arclord Alyreha, encountered a magical accident that deprived her of her memory and physical form. She is recovering her memories now, and hopes to get a body back soon, I think. well, I mean, I would. Maybe she wants to be free of all that for now? Seems like not having to deal with all the meat sack stuff might actually free you up for research, come to think on it. I mean, look at you, a ghost and all. Not that I've been staring or anything. Its just, you look like you've had lots of time for study and such. Maybe I'm making a hash of things. what I am trying to say is that Arclord Alyreha is downstairs in the entry. I can take you to her if you like. We can. I mean. We can take you." Bertram said all of this while blushing, with the color getting deeper the more he talked.
"I think I'm in love..." Bertram whispered. Then he realized he said that out loud. Then he realized people were staring between him and the ghost. "Not, no with her. I mean, she's probably very nice and all, but that's not the point. This place! Books on magic for every theme and study! Ward theory that's beyond anything taught in schools! Every room we enter takes that to the next level. I could stay here forever. Well, I guess not forever..." He eyed the ghostly girl. The spellbook, forgotten, slipped off of Bertram's shoulder and flapped over to where the ghostly girl was, spitting a scrap of paper out at her. It was from one of the books it had gotten into a scrap with earlier, with part of a ward diagram and the word 'plonk'. Maybe it was only part of a word.
Bertram tried to look at one of the other books, only to have his spellbook attack it. With a thrashing of its covers, the spellbook sent bits of shredded paper flying all over the area like a miniature snowstorm. "Stop it, you menace!" Bertram dove onto the book and wrestled it to the ground, shoving his hand into its covers to get the bits of the poor victim out.
So, I think we've covered the entire ground floor now, right? Time to head upstairs?
"Magical mazes are an important part of warding a property. We learned all about them at..." Bertram broke off and continued along a different track. "It's a matter of finding the magical energies and realigning them. Then you just pop out of the maze. I read about a spell that can trap someone in a mental maze and keep them there for ages. Now that's a great defensive ability." Bert grabbed his spellbook just in time to keep it from devouring the scrap of Alyreha's research as they followed Mrs. Crinkle back into the house. He carefully slung the book over his shoulder, holding onto the strap to keep it in place. "Where to next? Are we done with the first floor?"
"Oh no, this isn't good." Bert said as Ms. Crinkle seemed to join the others in their madness. "Book, see if you can't snap Zac out of it." Bertram sent his spellbook to flutter in Zac's face and hopefully break him out of his condition. In the meantime, he ran through his repertoire of spells to see if he had anything that might work. He didn't not unless he wanted to try and blast someone awake. He pondered the solution.
Bertram recaptures his spellbook and moved through the painting to follow the others. As he stepped through, the book coughed up a piece of paper. Looking at it, Bert said, "Okay, who is teaching my spellbook fart jokes? As if I didn't know?" He inspected the statues in the garden with both his eyes and arcane senses to see if there was anything interesting about them.
Bertram looked at his fingers as if they had betrayed him. It wasn't as if he had a lot of combat experience, but surely at least one of the darts should have hit? At least his companions were okay. Next time, he'd prioritize defense over offense and see if that made a difference. As he looked around the room, he noticed the piece of paper stuck behind the maelstrom painting. He reached towards it, but Mrs. Crinkle beat him to it. He looked over her shoulder to get an eyeful - of the note, not Mrs. Crinkle - and then looked around for more signs of Alyreha's work.
Just a reminder, tomorrow I leave for a week-long trip to Ireland. I will not likely be posting at all during this trip, so please bot as necessary. I should be back to full posting rate on Oct 1 Link to Bertram's Character Sheet Please don't let Mrs. Maturity over there fill his spellbook up with rude jokes and limericks!
"What is it with you and chamber pots? I mean, I know what they are used for, but you seem to have an unhealthy fascination..." Bertram broke off as they entered the painting room and the creatures attacked. As they did, his spellbook flapped back out the doorway like the vicious attacker it wasn't.
"Looks like these crystal balls are remote viewing devices of some kind. That one," he pointed at the ball that Mrs. Crinkle was looking through, "looks at various places in the manor here. The other one looks at various cities across the world. This is truly fascinating. I mean, the whole of this room is dedicated to scrying magic, which come from what people traditionally call the 'divination' school. The previous room was all 'abjuration' wards. Now I really want to apprentice under Alyreha. She could teach me so much more than..." Bertram broke off and looked around sheepishly, as if embarrassed to be caught saying whatever he had been about to. "Anyways, that's what the crystals do> Why don't you look around the house and see if you can find whoever beat us here? I want to look and see if I can figure out why one was taken." Bertram moved to the empty indentation and examined the area for signs of magical residue or something that might tell what had been here.
"Oh! These look like ward locks. And someone has already managed to misuse one. let me look here..." Bert studied the items and the runes closely, tracing their lines with his eyes, but careful not to touch any of them. Finally, he straightened up and looked around. "Okay, here goes nothing..."
As he reached out to deactivate the first ward, his spellbook lunged off his shoulder for one of the items, a scroll with glowing blue runes. Bert barely managed to catch it and toss it back behind him before taking a deep breath and trying again. "Okay, here we go...again."
Bertram moved to take a look at the statue of Nex before grabbing his spellbook and opening it to take some notes. Instead of a quill and ink, he simply drew in the book with his finger and writing appeared. He copied runes and glyphs, making sure to notate everything he could. As Alyreha spoke of magical traps and artifacts they could use, Bert kept one ear open, but his initial focus was on the magical runes. I wonder if Alyreha would take me on as an apprentice. Surely a skull locked in a vault for years wouldn't have heard about my disgrace? Aloud he said, "Someone did this deliberately? Yes, they would almost have had to. You can can see the power disruption here, here, and here."
Bertram was fascinated by the wards he could see from the manor's exterior, the looping whorls and geometric lines had him entranced. It wasn't until Desmond asked if they were going to help that he realized someone had been saying something. "What? Help? Of course. I mean, that's why we're here, right? To save the day and learn stuff and share...right?" Bertram went back to studying the wards on the front door. His spellbook seemed to be contentedly chewing on something, probably one of the notes from the faction leaders, hanging gently from Bert's shoulder on the leather strap.
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