King's Orders

Even though only a day has passed, a lot has happened. We awoke on the 12th to find ourselves still altered from the stay at the Progenitor’s temple, although we didn’t know it yet. Silver was still on the hunt for alcohol and had stoked the ire of Baltair, so I intervened. I remember making a bit of a vindictive game out of it, seeing who would crack first but was hellbent on revealing Silver’s misstep. Thinking back on it I feel quite embarrassed, but I think the ire came from whatever alteration we experienced at the temple. As the morning rolled on and the whodunnit solved, we resolved to continue with our plan to meet with the king and how to go about travel. We decided to teleport up through the Arcane University as it was a relatively abandoned sector, due to the qualms against magic. I was mistaken, however, because of the poor housing project and the sonic clap that occurred upon our arrival. With this we accidentally alerted the nearby Wyvern patrol. We tried to avoid them by blending into the panicked crowd outside the university but to no avail as Floran stood out like a sore thumb, and Skamos and I rushed to protect them from the onslaught that would ensue with Floran in his current joking mood. Upon showing the patrol our documentation, including the direct summons in Floran’s possession, we were personally escorted to the keep. As we were escorted through the grounds we were passed off to what I found a rather perceptive guard. He made small talk and mentioned noticing and potentially recognizing my father’s sword despite its recent alterations. In his sly mention of it I detected no malice, which was heartening.
 
We entered the main hall and found the King doing his own practice all alone, swinging about his big ornamental ax. Upon our arrival we were greeted and managed to relay the important parts from our journey and assure him of our intention to root out his rat problem. We managed to also make a supplies request, including potions of restoration. I requested and obtained permission to use Sending on the King to report our findings more expediently, and I was surprised by the granted permission. He even implored us to send word once we found the hideout as a security measure; a measure we all later agreed to ignore. Given the nature of some of the items we requested Ceinaghus sent for a cleric, and for a shipment of available supplies from Lovrekke. As we waited for the cleric to arrive and after receiving a dragon’s hoard of potions, the king invited us to spar. Although we put up a good fight, I remember a flash of rage in the king’s eye as he hunted me down and I lost consciousness quickly. When I awoke, Skamos was administering a potion to me, although I didn’t manage to see what kind. As I rested, he mentioned briefly to me something about how “Silver hadn’t learned her lesson yet,” as we continued to watch the brawl. As we watched, it seemed that the nonsense Silver was spewing was taunting the King, who had no interest in her despite shutting her up. The spar seemed to become a thinly veiled fight for her life. In my worry I prepared to intervene, but found that it was unnecessary. It was after the brawl that I found myself able to breathe easier. I apparently had been overly tense and my chest had been tight since the night before.
 
The cleric arrived just in time as the fight ended shortly before and Silver was stabilized. We smoothed everything over with the king and made sure he didn’t intend on acting on Silver’s insolence. We thanked him for the opportunity to spar and were healed, saving Silver for last so the king could make a swift exit. As we healed, Skamos informed me that in my brief unconsciousness he had used one of our restoration potions on me as he saw I had not been myself since yesterday. He seemed quite cut up about the event and about going against my wishes, especially as I had denied that anything was wrong while I was under the effects of the Progenitor’s room. I assured him that I was alright and that I appreciated his thoughtful actions and insight to the situation. If anything, I see this as settling the score from the shipwreck. I have put my trust in him fully aside from that incident, so putting trust in him while I was out of sorts seemed not just reasonable but obvious. Floran also thoughtfully gifted me a belt of Hill Giant Strength, which I readily donned. They have done so much for me, especially with crafting. I must think of a way to repay them, or at least show my appreciation.
 
After healing and restoring everyone we took on the task of descending and continuing on the trail I had begun tracking yesterday. Due to Lovrekke’s reasoning, we managed to find rats to turn into mounts with which Silver communicated. As we traveled in the sewers, we were set on searching for Atticus. Our reasoning for this is that the members taken from Iacob’s care were probably kidnapped by the Paracelsans we were sent to find. At some point rocks fell over us from some faulty infrastructure, but it seems only I was hurt by the incident. We were able to quickly move on. As we continued on we encountered a Nabasu which delighted in jeering at us, so I am made to believe that we are walking into a hornet’s nest of “sanctimonious activities,” as mother would put it. Finally I was able to catch Atticus’s scent again and we drove on to find him. Back down near the lake we found some dead adventurers. Approaching with caution, we found ourselves ambushed by cloakers who used the dead bodies as a sort of bait. After dispatching of the parasites, we finally found the entrance to the temple after more searching and tracking. The entrance was blocked by a Gynosphinx who saw us coming, despite Silver and Skamos’s stealth. As was the habit of sphinxes, she proctored us a riddle to solve. Unsurprisingly, the answer was “life,” to which the temple opened with a glowing Caduceus staff. We took a moment to speak with the sphinx. We found that she is bound to a master, which we readily inferred as Paracelsus. We decided not to press the matter further as she seemed content in her life despite her servitude. As we entered, Floran began concocting an idea that required excess rope, which Silver readily supplied.
 
In the first room of the temple we found a barren room with only cemented bones adorning the floor and a pedestal in the room. We were greeted by a disembodied voice that said “welcome, Intruders” before leaving us to our own devices. The altar, we found, had a jar with a glowing pearl suspended inside. Instead of investigating this further we also found a plaque with a puzzle on it. We figured that the puzzle was connected to different rooms we would encounter, so we attempted to move some of the tiles and ventured into the first few rooms. In the first room, verdant like a hike outside, was littered with enemies. We found ourselves in contest with two eladrin, a night hag, three displacer beasts, and four harpies. We managed to survive, although half of us were charmed by the end of it. Finding ourselves a little bruised, we decided to circle back to the entrance hall to rearrange the tiles more. With this done we found the room we placed just beyond the verdant room was barred. The “green circle” room, we found, had a chest that was beyond a portcullis we didn’t know how to open. We decided to again circle back to the first room to rearrange the tiles further. In Floran’s curiosity, we finally addressed the pearl-in-a-jar situation. After they forced the jar open, an ichor slid down over the bones as Floran found themself in possession of a Pearl of Power. The ichor proved to be a problem, however, as the bones beneath us awoke and assembled into one giant bone naga. As we fought it we were worn down, especially as Silver was trapped in its maw and one of her bones flew out of her before being added to the abomination. Managing to kill the ultimate bone naga, we freed Silver and decided to rest. As she had conveniently fainted I decided to check her over and address her foot without complaint. Given the day’s endeavors and turns, we decided it was finally time to rest.