Session 24: Shifted Priorities

So, after slaying the Wyvern my companions and I had a short discussion about what should be done with the beast. It occurred to me that the degenerate beast might still serve some use. In the notes that we found there was an indication that this creature was the wizard's familiar. This information goes completely against my own experience with how familiar's work but I'm not so arrogant as to believe I know everything there is to know about magic. It seems entirely plausible that a familiar like bond existed between the wizard and this... thing. Anyway, such a bond would mean that if the elves are able to ressurrect the wizard then there may be an additional reward to be gained if we could also return his pet.
 
Unfortunately, my companions raised concerns about how long it would take to bring the body back to camp. Also, even if we were able to do so how we would transport it. Since the beast was a pet, simply returning it's head (in the way that hunters typically do) would likely yield negative consequences. So, I laid a preservative spell upon the body and we buried it with the help of the nearby fauna and an unseen servant (trees do make excellent diggers after all). We have this location noted on a map and so if the wizard wished to return here to retrieve the body they would be able to do so.
 
Thankfully, my companions were much more reasonable when it came to the corpse of the elf. The safest and easiest way to transport the body was to place it inside of an empty bag of holding. We then returned the same way we came. I do wish the floating disk spell lasted longer than it does, the breaks every hour are mildly annoying.
 
Simon Twoorb isn't such a bad person once you get to know him. We were concerned that he wouldn't respond well to us showing up with the corpse in a bag of holding and so the eleven corpse was lain upon an additional floating disk before we entered the camp. Once we returned he took me aside and confided in me that the only way he could think of to safely transport the body was to place it inside of a bag of holding. It's nice to see him display such wisdom and intelligence. I agreed and offered to place a masking spell upon the bag so that it would not appear to be invisible. We then agreed that if anyone asked where the body was, we would claim it was hidden in a secret compartment within the wagon.
 
After a short journey we made it to a small village just outside of graywall. We stopped in the town in order to avoid drawing attention to ourselves and took a small respite. I checked with the local guard to ascertain if any known dangers existed along the road from this village to graywall. I learned of a troll and some thugs that were attacking travelers. Thankfully, the path they were assaulting people on was different than the one we planned to take to graywall. While I mourn the loss of coin that might of been made, the reward did not seem worth the risk. I don't know a lot about trolls, but I do recall they don't typically like sunlight or fire. Unfortunately, my ability to conjure sunlight and fire is extremely limited, even if we did take time to rest and arm ourselves properly. Toox wanted to slay the creature (and I don't blame here, I wouldn't mind a bit of bloodshed myself). But Celosia seemed surprisingly unconcerned about the situation. Either she wants to get home badly, or she has more confidence in the local guard than I do. I didn't question her reasoning since I'm glad to follow any path that promotes my own safety.
 
I did discover an interesting little shrine / museum. That seemed to be dedicated to an Ogrub the ogre. It seems the creature saved a village from a dam in an act of self sacrifice. It's interesting to me that such nobility could be instilled via magic within a rough form. I would perfer to extinguish such brutish creatures, and if an artifact exists that could instill goodness in others this may make my task so much easier. If I could find or replicate the artifact and use it on others, I would be able to focus on genetics alone and not concern myself with making sure I only save the good. This warrants additional research.
 
I also discovered a fantastic tale where Ice was spotted fleeing an elven princess along with his "not kidnapper" kobold friends, in the middle of the night through the town (as I said a rotten core some times lies beneath ideal genetics). I would of passed it off as mere coincidence had we not encountered a group of passed out kobolds outside of town on our way toward graywall. On a hunch I questioned the kobold as if the story I heard was not only true, but that I knew far more than I actually did. The ruse paid off and the kobold gave up more information than he might of if I'd tried to directly confirm what had happened.
 
After some additional travel we encountered a check point on the outskirts of graywall. We are carrying a rare book and a rare corpse inside of a one of a kind magical marvel. While we have nothing to hide per se, it would also be best if the less true information others have on us the better. So, we made up a story about how our passenger was an important dignitary and that inspecting our cart thoroughly would result in more trouble than it was worth. Thanks to Celosia's expertise and some quick thinking on the part of the professor (I have to wonder if was coached by Toox) we were able to get through the check point without further issues.
 
Then we finally got to graywall. This place needs to be wiped off the map. This place was like someone had looked at Sharn and tried to re-create it in a completely artificial manner. Everything is straight and neat and organized. Some organization is good and even necessary, but this, this is an abomination. My head is pounding with the screams of a hundred souls. This is so much worse than anything I've experience before. The only thing that comes close was the 1st time I arrived in Sharn. I think it's making me hallucinate. I just saw Ice drop out of a portal created by a blue kobold and land on our wagon. This is bad, maybe I need to start prioritizing the cure that will wipe out the plague that is civilization....