Episode 38 - Allies and Answers

General Summary

Upon returning to the base camp, Eviana summoned her spectral griffin and flew Rooker, along with the injured Fjord, the fallen Buck, as well as the petrified Reh and Jobu to someone she claimed could help. The rest mounted up and rode back to Crying Leaf to wait.   In the foothills south of Crying Leaf, Eviana took Rooker to meet an oracle. It turned out that the oracle was an old drow named Mirovor, who had discovered the cave in his "search for power" as he claimed. He found it, but it cursed him to never leave the cave. Time passed and he came to care less and less about the war between the elves and the drow. His only interest is that of knowledge. Through his mind link, Rooker showed Mirovor the battle that brought them to see him. The oracle reversed the petrification. He attempted to bring Buck back to the living, but the gunfighter would not answer the call. Rooker suspected that Buck felt he had one chance to do good, and he used that chance the best he could. When Fjord asked about his leg, Mirovor looked at him stone-faced and said his power had limits.   Back at Crying Leaf, the Guardians waited in their lodge for the other to return. While they waited, Venture-Captain Shevala Iorae arrived with Telith Nordhof, a cleric of Iomedae from Godric's home of Valor Keep. Sir Rhistel, elven paladin and Godric's guardian, heard that Sir Godric had suffered losses in his battle against a dark elf army and sent reinforcements. Telith claimed to have had a vision from Iomedae, and fate had brought them all together.   Once the rest of the party returned from the oracle, Eviana gathered them up and asked what their plans were. She suspected that Kaerishiel and Shalelu were being held captive by Nolveniss within the Armageddon Echo. Arcaan noted that Nolveniss was a brilliant biomancer who wanted to create perfect beings. Ella had been his first attempt, the ashblood orcs had been phase two. Changing Fjord would have been phase three had the ritual worked. But with a madman like Nolveniss possessing two elves important to the battle, there was no telling what he would do to them.   Access to the Echo would be difficult as Nolveniss had the only key to the elf gate. However, it was possible to brute force the gate open. The "where" as far as the portal depositing them would be the unknown. The Echo was a snapshot of Celwynvian in the days before Earthfall. Once Earthfall happened and the city was destroyed, Nolveniss and everyone near the key would be shunted out of the pocket dimension and back in the Academy. That could be days, or weeks, from now. Attacking them there would be tough because Nolveniss would appear in one place with all of his people. In the Echo, his forces would be spread out.   The Guardians returned to the lodge to discuss the matter. They began to discuss the possibility of searching out the drow who had taken the contract from Maly. She had now forsaken the Twilight Empire and probably had the information they could use to attack Nolveniss, the Empire, and the Echo. However, to do so they would have to find her and that would take time. Arcaan wanted to find Mistress Serdrissa Nolarethi, the drow in question. She had been good to him despite him being a slave, and she knew where his brother Thexan was. So he wanted to find her.   Fjord wanted to go into the Echo. More than anything, he wanted Nolveniss dead. He blamed the drow for the torture during his capture, the spell that cost him his leg, for creating the creature that raped his mother, broke her, and created him for a life of abuse from "his people." Reh and the Guardians convinced him not to go after Nolveniss alone and did such a good job that he chose to accompany them to find Serdrissa.   The next day they told Eviana their plan. She gave them horses and contacted Kwava in Riddleport to help them track the drow. They saddled up and after a day's ride, they met with Kwava on the road. He said he had information to help locate Serdrissa and was excited to finally be able to help with something other than babysitting Riddleport.

Rewards Granted

XP
47 192 + 905 = 48 097 XP!

Missions/Quests Completed

• The search for Mistress Serdrissa Nolarethi begins.

Character(s) interacted with

Mirovor (Drow Oracle) - Mirovor is cursed with power but unable to leave his cave. He has been there so long that he has shaken off most of his hatred and feeling of superiority. In the past, Eviana has brought him books, tomes, etc. In return, he will help her with healing and knowledge. He will not actively work against his people, but he will not aid them either. In the past 97 years, no drow has come to see him. He scares away elven children who come to see the boogeyman who lives beyond the town. He prefers to be alone, partially because he still harbors dislike for elves, anger at drow for abandoning him, and others are simply beneath him. He hides this well and understands that those are not the thoughts of the enlightened. He's... working on it.   Fjord - Hugo and Arcaan have fashioned him a metal prosthetic leg. He wants to return his focus to magic rather than martial, but more than anything he wants to kill Nolveniss. His mother lives quietly in town, alone.   Arcaan - While he is anxious to find Mistress Serdrissa, he is without a spellbook. His gauntlets are powered be magic, and he still has a few spells memorized, but he is cautiously optimistic. He wants to find her and reunite with his brother.