The Arcanists

While the rest of the party were resting safely at the Monastery of the Precipice, Zackar, Gaav, Miramar and Valaris were out on business with the Fellowship of the Cresent. The Fellowship's mage, known only as "The Dark-Eyed One," had requested the presence of the parties two arcane practicioners for a special task.

The Dark-Eyed one had located what he believed to be an ancient Netherese magical arms cache in the ruins of Spellgard. In order to gain access to the cache he needed to perform a ritual that required two other arcane spellcasters. There not being a huge number of mages on hand in Spellgard, he was forced to enlist Gaav and Zackar, who in turn were escorted by Valaris and Miramar into the ruins.

Just South-East of the ruined tower (see map of Spellgard), lay three sites with ancient magical runes scribed into the floors of ancient cellars. These three sites were the key to gaining access to the cache, hidden in some unkown location.

After a chance encounter with some ochre jellies en route to the sites, the party was ambushed by yet another group of Kobolds. These kobolds were tracked back to their lair, however, which turned out to be one of the three entrance sites. The party members were not the only visitors to the kobold's lair that night, though, as the door into the lair had been freshly smashed. A group of orcs from the Black Fist mercenary regiment was engaged in an assault on the kobolds.

After slaughtering a platoon of orcs, the party finished off the kobolds in this hole and located the magical circle they were looking for. The circle was an ancient Netherese lock powered by an arcane reaction between a captive glamour spirit and a long-dead evil soul. This Netherese magical reaction had kept to lock going and the cache shielded for a thousand years. The Dark-Eyed one led them to the other two circles without incident.

The ritual was performed skillfully by the three magi. They each vanished from their circles and reappeared in a strange stone room. As they explored the lair they had transported to, they heard large, clanging footsteps in a room up ahead. Upon entering the room they were confronted by a giant Chain Golem coming towards them from atop a giant glowing pedestal - the guardian of this lair. After fruitlessly engaging the construct for several rounds, Zackar noticed that the Dark-Eyed one was manipulating something underneath his robes (yes, you can all guffah now).

The Dark-Eyed one was controlling the Golem by means of a magical amulet. Upon reslizing this, Gaav and Zackar turned their attacks on their former ally. Their realization came almost too late, as Gaav was tossed violently against the pedestal by a sweeping blow from the Construct. Zackar was also thrown to the ground and nearly lost consciousness. From his prone position on the ancient floor, Zackar summoned a firey bird which he directed squarely at the Dark-Eyed one. Engulfed in flames, the traitorous mage screamed an ancient eladrin curse and fell to the ground, halting the movement of the Chain Golem.

The fledgling Alchemist

The acrid smell of burning fumes hit his nostrils, causing a burning sensation to sear down his body as his eyes shot open and he rolled onto his side coughing. “I’m glad to see your awake” whispered the raspy voice of the court Alchemist.

Gaav blinked his eyes in the darkness giving them time to adjust, he could smell the fumes rolling off of Sora, and almost see a caustic glow around her body as she stood up from beside his bed. “Come it is time for your lessons youngling.” She rasped and stalked towards the door. Gaav quickly donned his thick cotton clothing and a heavy leather apron that Sora had given him when he had apprenticed himself to her ways.

Down in the depths of the Castle was where Sora resided, her suite of rooms snuggled between the largest and strongest blocks of the castles where her alchemical experimentation's would be safe from harming those around her. It had been two years now that Gaav had worked with the reclusive Alchemist, gathering reagents for her elixirs and unguents, sorting and organizing her lab, and scribing out recipes until he could recite them in his sleep and write them with his eyes closed. It was fascinating work and besides which Sora was the only person who did not seem to treat him oddly for his powers or because of who he was.

Tonight she was going to test him on the foundations of everything he had been studying for; tonight he would be given the responsibility of making Alchemists Draught. Although Gaav had been scribing Sora’s recipes and notations for the past year now many times they would not make any sense... It was only the previous month that she had completed his understanding of her notes and explained that each Alchemist had slight subtleties to how they crafted their potions. Not all potions were alike, while some would work well with generic ingredients a true alchemist could work wonders when they learned what ingredients worked best for their own body or for the body of the person they would be used on.

The alchemists Draught she had explained was a sort of base, a work all, a sort of do all substance, with the slightest alteration you could turn the liquid into a salve, a gas, or even a fine powder.

Sora leaned the corner of the room watching her young apprentice her face unreadable as she watched the young dragonborn scramble around the room, at first she had not wanted to teach him... but he had persisted and her uncle, the boys grandfather had beseeched her to be a friend to the boy, he had lost his parents and had no friends amongst the children of the court. And now here he was a promising apprentice and an intelligent youngling whom she actually did enjoy spending time with... though she would rarely admit either to him.

Gaav heaved a pot over one of the small fires and hung from a hook that extended down from the mantle above it. Then he proceeded to pull out his own scratchy notes and began riffling through drawers and cupboards gathering the supplies methodically onto the table in a pile, he was so excited... tonight was the night!

Over the next hour he slowly added various ingredients to the pot, sometimes pulling it to the side and letting it cool, other times mixing ingredients together and slowly shaking them in as he gently stirred the pot keeping back so as not breathe in any of the reagents or fumes from the boiling brew.

Very soon, he took the crystal clear mixture and poured it into five glass jars, the first jar he placed a cap upon sealing the liquid as it was inside. The second jar he added a drop of sap to and as it swirled into the mixture it seemed to slow down and thicken into a opaque paste which he then sealed as well. For the third jar he lit a piece of tinder and blew the fumes of the smoke into the jar then quickly sealed it and shook the jar vigorously... and before his eyes the liquid turned into a fine grey mist. On the fourth jar he added a small amount of ground up rock salt, and as he did so he watched the potion absorb into them and dry out turning into a fine pile of white dust.

And then he glanced over at his teacher who looked over at him he eyes hidden behind her large round goggles, and he grinned as she cocked her head as he added his last ingredient to the fifth and final jar... Leaning over it he whispered soft words in a tongue she did not know nor did even Gaav understand as he had learned them from his only other friend and source of his dark power. Nothing seemed to happen to the jar as he sealed it and swirled it around before placing it back on the table.

Sora moved over to the table examining all the jars she smiled “Very good young one, you are a very adept apprentice and did well to already master the concepts behind making the different types of Alchemical bases. However what is this last Jar you concocted? My ocular shows no signs of any alchemical change that I’ve ever seen...” her voice rasped softly.

Gaav smiled and presented it to her with a bow. “This dear cousin is my gift to you. It is a restorative; it will help cure the damage caused to your lungs internally and diminish the coughs that plague you often these days.”

Sora cocked her head to one side for a moment and considered the potion before her, then like many times before with her own brews she removed the lid and drank it down in one gulp. She expected to feel something anything... she felt none of the usual tastes associated with a potion it just slid down her throat into her belly like cool refreshing spring water. Grinning at her apprentices hopeful eyes she opened her mouth to chide him but stopped short as she realized he voice no longer had its usual hoarse rasp but rang loud and clear and melodious as it had when she was but a child, though now her voice had matured into the deep sultry tones of a grown woman.

Tears welled up in her eyes behind her goggles as she kneeled down and pulled Gaav into a long hug. “I thank you my little cousin, I don’t know how one so young or so new to the arts managed to craft such an amazing elixir but it is definitely a sign of your skills and perhaps my youngling someday you shall share it with me?” she looked Gaav in the eyes and he nodded at her smiling. “Well cousin it is almost dawn. Best that you head back to your chambers and get some sleep before the rest of your days lessons. Your grandfather will be so proud of you.”

Schedule for October and November

Hey guys, so here's the play schedule for the next couple of months:

Oct 16 and 30
Nov 6, 20 and 27

There will be no scheduled games in December.

A brief summary

Since Jeff and Pawel missed out on much of the action of last night I thought I'd briefly summarize it:

     The party returned to Fallcrest from its sidequest to retrieve a lost dragonhide from a group of kobolds for the dwarf weaponsmith/armorer, Teldorthan Ironhews.  After spending some time equipping themselves in town, the group headed southwest to the ruins of the city of Spellgard.

     

Nimozaran the Green, High Mage of the court of Fallcrest, had informed the party that the piece of jade that they had found around the neck of the undead monstrosity encountered at the Catian watchtower 2-3(?) days ago likely was a piece of the Jade Chalice, a magic item of significant power.  The chalice was created by a wizard commissioned by the Zel-Arai - a noble family that used to rule this region.  Catia Prime saw this as an act of insubordination and tossed the Zel-Arai out of the Catian court in disgrace, stripping them of their title.  The chalice itself was lost several centuries ago.  

     

Theodoruk, Paladin of Pelor, took some of the reward from the kobold raid and offered it to the local temple of Pelor.  Father Kivan, in charge of the temple, told him that Brother Kavar could use it more than him.  Kavar is trying to establish a temple to Pelor near the ruins of Spellgard and is seeking the Lady Saharel of Spellgard and her oracular powers for guidance in this enterprise.

     

A day or two of traveling brought the party to the burned farmstead of Tom Fairfield.  Wounded and traumatized, Tom told the party that a group of orcs bearing the black feather as their symbol had burned his farm and destroyed his small field.  The orcs were looking for the Jade Chalice, which they believe to be somewhere in this region.  The Fairfield family can trace its ownership of this farm back to the days of Zel-Arai rule.  Theo searched the grounds for tracks and found unmistakable signs of a large contingent of undead that had moved through the area recently, headed southwest.  

In an attempt to discern the nature of the undead and orc threat, the party made for Spellgard.  Upon arrival they were greeted by the friendly Brother Allendi at the Monastery of the Precipice, a haven for seekers of Lady Saharel.  After explaining their quest to the monks (who have generously offered free room and board to the party), the party heads into the ruins to try to find Brother Kavar.  

The ruins seem to be a dangerous place, as the group is ambushed by kobolds soon after they enter the ruins.  The ambush did not go well for the kobolds, though, and they fled to their underground tunnels through a hidden entrance, evading pursuit. 

Not long after, the party found a strange, slim pillar made of alabaster about 10 feet tall.  The pillar was guarded by several ancient-looking homonculli who patrolled the area mindlessly.  Suddenly, a team of two dark creepers and two ettercaps attacked these constructs and tried to steal the pillar.  The party jumped in and slew absolutely everybody.  Searching the corpse of the would-be thieves they find a sketch of the pillar, apparently made by the dark ones' master...         

Player Handouts

Hey guys, here are the two player handouts that the group got last night.  Brother Allendi at the Monastery of the Precipice gave you a map of the ruins of Spellgard and Durin found a copy of the Analects of Kuryon in the horrific remains of the Darano Clan encampment.