Quests

March 31, 2011

The group is quite worried about the return of Captain Bendas and the rest of the revenents.  They are not sure how to prepare.  They send a runner to find out how the group is to the city.  When the runner comes back, he says that they are almost here and that everyone is happy.  

"Um, happy?  Aren't they, you know, undead?"  

"What?  No, sir, not as I heard.  I spoke to scouts from the group itself and they appeared of flesh."  

"You are sure?"  

"As sure as I am talking to you now, sir."  

"Thank you."  And the messenger is dismissed.  The group is curious about that and so heads out to meet them.  

They raise quite a few eyebrows at their appearance in waiting for the Red Cloaks to come back.  Eventually, when they see the Red Cloaks approaching, they go out to meet them.  They meet some forward scouts and talk to them a bit, again asking strange questions about undead and the group.  The scouts are very curious and want to hear more but have to keep going forward.  

Word got back to Captain Bendas that they were coming and he meets them out front.  

"We wondered what happened to you!  You went out, fought a dragon, and then as you were coming back, teleported on us!  Is everything all right?"  

"Of course.  Um . . . What happened out there with you guys when we were at the field?"  

"What do you mean?  We watched you fight the dragon off and some other things and that was about it.  There was that black orb that appeared.  Chilled us when it flew over us but that was it."  

"It didn't, you know, turn you undead?"  

"What?  No!  That explain why all of you are looking at us so strangely!  No, we are living, I assure you."  

The group talks to them a bit more and while they don't have an immediate explanation of what happened, are at least satisfied that they don't have to fight a group of undead.  They head back to the town.  

***

Several days later, Inari is getting ready to head back to Evereska.  She still sees things as dead in the mornings but otherwise there is no problem.  She had wondered about the beholder crown and each night and morning tried to take it off.  Then, on day, it came off!  She was so surprised that she almost dropped it.  But she put it back in the backpack.  She also looked from time to time at the Telkiira but didn't want to risk it again and so never called upon it.  

Meanwhile, Ander has an idea.  He asks Paavu to beat him up.  Paavu stares at him, surprised.  Ander points to the ring he has that was Thessa's.  I want to go to her lair and see what I can find out.  Paavu understand and hits him a few times.  Vahn and Snarl, as well as Inari and Darksouls just watch in strange fascination.  Ander holds up his hand for Paavu to stop and then grabs his shoulder and they both disappear.  Teldryl is still able to sense them so they are close.  

They find themselves in a small, stone laboratory.  The stone walls are wet and dropping water and slime.  There are several healing potions next to the teleport place where they appeared.  Ander grabs them.  Then they start searching the room.  Most of it, Ander can tell, is in conjuring and summoning demons and devils.  There are some other scrolls and journals.  Paavu looks at the door with no handle and the shelf containing seven handles next to it.  

"I think this will take us to different places depending on which handle we use."  

"Clever," replies Ander.  Ander keeps searching the room but except for the vile ingredients, there is not much else there.  

There are two nice handles, three average ones and two handles in poor shape.  They decide to try the nice ones.  It seems to bond to the door when Paavu touches it to the door.  They hear a voice behind it.  Eventually Paavu opens it up a little and hears Lady Sheila.  Ander and him share a look and then speculate on what that means but don't go through.  

The next handle opens up into their manor!  They are quite surprised and run into the others who were about to join them.  They pass over the ingredients and many of the books and such.  Teldryl and Inari were about to find them but instead help with this and then join them.  Apparently, as long as the door is open, it can be used two way.  Inari is upset at some of the ingredients, especially the unicorn horn, but helps them move the stuff.  

With all of them present, they check out the other handles.  The three average ones go to Berdusk, Irieabor and Eltural.  One of the bad ones goes to the slums in Baldur's Gate.  And the final one goes to Candlekeep.  

They are all shaken by this, especially Ander.  He wants to let them know but isn't sure how to go about doing it.  He wants to do something and when he sees they are in the summoning conjuration area, he surmises that all of the tomes and scrolls on it they found in her area was stolen from here.  So, he gets them and leaves them all along with a note that it was he that dropped them off.  (After the group leaves, someone comes in and takes the note and burns it.  Then they replace the scrolls and tomes where they belong and no one in Candlekeep is aware that anything was disturbed.)  The group then heads back home to the manor house to continue getting ready to go back to Evereska.  

***

The trip to Evereska is a long one.  It takes over a month to get there.  Inari is the only one who goes on to Evereska, while the rest stay at the Halfway Inn, waiting to here from her.  Teldryl thinks she could get in but decides not to ask.  

She goes to see her father.  Her father, Eryan, is happy to see her and greets her quite warmly!  

"Daughter!  You have returned!  Have you found the Telkiira, then?"  

"Yes," she answers, hesitantly.  "I would like to ask you some questions about it, though.  Are we going to use it?"  

"Of course!  I assume you have used it?  It's just some observations from a centuries ago on the Three Kingdoms and some other minor areas.  But, it's knowledge and is useful."  

Inari is wondering about this.  That was not her experience at all.  Is her father going to use the dark magic inside and trying to cover it up?  

"That's," Inaris starts and then pauses.  "That's not what I found.  I found one with quite the dark power in it."  

"Oh, no," says her father.  "The one in the gem shop you were to find is a minor one.  I apologize that it was so easy but it wasn't me that assigned it to you!"  Her father is holding up his hands to stop an argument.  "The other elder's picked the mission for you.  I merely sent you on it."  

"Father, that's not at all-, IT IS IN A GEM SHOP?" Inari practically screams it, outraged and upset.  A gem shop?  She could have been back on the road within hours if she had known!  Of course, then she wouldn't have found out about the mark she has or had the adventures she has had.  But still, a gem shop?  

"As I said, my daughter, I did not pick it for you!  I knew you would want some challenge but that's how it ended up.  Oh, Ethera speaks highly of you and how you helped her get hers.  And how you helped some elves see the error of their ways," Eryan says, beaming.  "You have done so well on this, my daughter!  You should be proud!  I know I am!  Now, do you have the one you brought back?"  

"Not on me.  I have it with some friends.  I was hoping they could come and see Evereska?"  

Inari goes on to explain the Telkiira that she did find and what it did as well as how the group has helped her.  Eryan listens to this and agrees to let them come in to see Evereska.  There is no feast or anything but they are greeted warmly.  Inari gets the Telkiira from Teldryl and presents it to her father, who puts in in a storage area.  

Ander asks if any can help with healing Paavu.  He is determined to see him walk fine at least, if not heal the rest of him.  The elven priests are knowledgeable about such things and have good things to say.  They agree to help in the ritual and Ander is able to heal Paavu of the limp he has.  

An elven priest approaches Paavu and says that he sensed some of the loss that Paavu had and was willing to help.  Paavu was grateful for that but wanted to make sure that he wasn't "stealing" back his life essence and the priest was sure that it would in that it would try and find what he lost to give it back first.  Paavu was unwilling to do that and asked if there was another way.  The priest said he would look into it but it would take months if not longer.  Paavu understood and thanked him.  

Instead of travel back overland, the group decides to teleport back right away.  They wonder if they still lost a day or two in doing that but it's certainly close enough that it didn't matter this time.  However, things are quite amiss when they get back.  Orlas has been dismissed by Thessa!  Some of the older kids came to tell them about what happened.  She removed him while they were gone and took over.  The group talks about what this means and has some good ideas on what is happening but they aren't happy about it.  They also hear the rumor that the entire Dark Hold is dead or deserted!  That some adventurers went there and it's deserted.  

Paavu goes out back to confirm Thessa's body is still where they buried it.  He finds it and then puts things back in order.  And then the ambush comes!  Shadar Kai come over the walls and easily past the wards and attack them!  However, while it looked like only Paavu, Snarl and Ander were there, in a blink Inari is out a window and attacking them and Teldryl fey steps down to attack as well.  Soon, two attackers are down and the rest are hurt bad when they pull the shadows around themselves and are gone.  On the ones that were left behind, they find tokens to get past their wards!  The group is not happy about this at all.  

350 xp and 350 xp for helping Inari finish her quest.

GM Notes

• We kept referring to how the elves were going to handle the dangerous Telkiira as "top men" from Raiders.  Funny.  And in the end, probably the best place for something so dangerous.  
• The player was not too happy that the Telkiira was in a gem shop!  Of course, that may be because she never looked there for one!  As she said, if it had happened that quickly, she might not have bonded and cared about the group to stay!  But it worked out, even if humorous.  
• The fight was tough and yet wasn't.  The Shadar Kai attacked one person and did damage that person a fair amount but there was no way they were going to defeat the group.  So, they ran.  Pretty simple, really!  
• They were a bit shocked at the beginning about the non undead army.  

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