Session 18 - Lonely Toad and Proposition

Standing behind the metal faced man, a woman who we find out is called Curtana, pale white skin. Short shoulder length black hair, fringe blocking left eye from sight. Crescent moon shape arcane runes around her right eye. I notice one of her ears are missing.
 
The metal faced man, an automaton called Etcher, holding a tall wooden staff with a cyan blue crystal at the top. Removing their hood, we see visible joints, like the human anatomy, but made of metals. He seems to try to smile at us, which is very unsettling, and the woman whispers at him to stop, it's creepy.
 
He tells us that he was asked to bring us to Arcanist Sishan, member of the Phidoctri Cabinet. Have seen a member previously, Arcanist Mehru, a magpie looking Arakocra. Neither of them were told why Arcanist Sishan asked to speak to us. He asks us where Raskin is, as he was informed there were 5 of us. I send a message but get no response from Raskin.
 
The Phidoctri Cabinet, runs a marshal division of the Laelosian army known as the Ankorum. Mage users sent on specific missions. The Cabinet also oversees any magic within Laelos.
 
Tome Keeper Lilian Krowl takes us to the Arcane Wing; in the first section on the floor, is a closed book, with no chains around it, compared to the other books in this room. She goes off and fetches a ledger, her face drops a bit. The book called, Halrand the Empty, written by a man called Gadium Norai, an aspiring writer, wanted to write children's tales and wrote a story about a lonely toad in a swamp. He didn't realise he was a sorcerer and managed invoke magic into his writings to create the story and world, with the book acting as a portal between the two.
We open the book, and transport into this world alongside Etcher, and below us I notice fading blue lines of a symbol.
 
We encounter Halrand, and he attacks Ape as he says "I don't have one of you" when Ape tells him he's a Shifter. After a tough battle we manage to best Halrand, as he starts to wither he bursts out into fireflies and they disappear into the sky, as does his minions.
 
Behind where Halrand was, there are 7 statues, 1 human man. 1 elven (ear snapped), halfling or gnome, strange humanoid creature with wings, fur covered being with a glaive above their head, and a tabaxi and Raskin.
 
Malaphor finds buried in the mud various items, one of particular interest being a diamond which was near identical to the one I already had, which might be useful in the future. Ape picks up Raskin's statue and we head back to where we appeared from. Thankfully, I managed to memorise the pattern on the floor when we arrived which once drawn on the floor, we had to invoke magic into it so we could escape the book.
 
Tome Keeper Lilian Krowl does inform us that we have been banished from the Lorden Athenaeum, I offer our apologies for Raskin's behaviour and she said she'll bring it up with the Realm Seer Dusklark about the rest of our banishment. I mention that myself and Austar behaved ourselves at the Savantir Library and Adler Dusklark should be able to corroborate my story.
 
We are escorted by Etcher and Curtana through a corridor with cases either side with items, large Mace, and a broken in half shield, both Dwarvish in make, much older than my time and no symbols of Moradin upon them. We arrived to a room with various glyphs as they start to glow as Curtana is weaving symbols and asks us to step onto the platform as we are transported into a similar room, with platforms, but taller and with 4 other platforms in the room.
 
Tall dark skinned man in the same black and purple robes. Upon our arrival, his eyes flash bright white for a moment, a gentle muttering and nods at Curtana and Etcher. He whispers something to Etcher as we go pass and we are lead by Etcher from the teleportation chamber to a flagstone hallway, on our left, arched pillars waist height wall and a huge grass square, maybe 300 feet across. Slight hill in the middle, in the centre, 3 large trees growing. We see a group of 4, 3 students and a teacher, practicing magic.
Etcher mentions he was impressed with how we handled ourselves within the book, as well as how we handled the bridge on the way to The Lorden Athenaeum, which Etcher said was an encounter of his and Curtana's design. Said they were asked to test us to see how we acted, as our reputation had reached Arcanist Sishan's ears. Etcher specifically mentioned Ape as impressing him and the gauntlet being interesting but didn't push any more about the Fracture Fist.
 
A vortex is opened in front of us by Etcher, on a blank wall, as we step through, there's a feeling of stepping through cob webs, and a rushing feeling but not quite the same as the teleportation we felt earlier. Our eyes go from a state of cloudiness to clarity in a second, and we're all sitting in comfortable arm chairs, with a grandfather clock ticking away. No door in the room, just behind us is a large glass window, showcasing a craggy brown and black landscape, with dust storms and thick layer of cloud. In the distance, miles away a large plume of smoke. Sitting across from us, one leg over the other, a slender elegant man, purple black robes with deep green trim. Wrists covered in bangles. Platinum blonde hair, clean shaven, partially pointed ears, likely a Half-Elf. Piercing green eyes.
 
Arcanist Sishan has asked us to become a special unit within the Ancora, to do some spying into Varleska. Will pay us 3000 gold each, give us each an Arcane License, and allow us to keep our magical items. We ended up telling him about the Fracture Fist as he had the white wooden box with the Vault within it. He asked us about Obabim and how one of the headmasters was found dead, and was happy with our recollection of the events as it lined up with what we had told Headmaster Prodeus.
 
Varleska has been blocked off from other countries for 82 years, and 2 weeks ago someone from Varleska reached out and extended an invitation to King Laelos and heads from Sansura and Chankata to visit as well. Ancora Unit 1 was sent in to investigate and they haven't heard from them since. Arcanist Sishan is looking to send us in to find information out about the country to give knowledge back so they know what the King might be walking in to.
 
Arch Ancora Shadorass, elven reddish ginger hair shaved on one side. Goes down past shoulder. Big burn mark on her shaved head, and scar on her lip. Has made no contact and no one can reach her after she infiltrated Varleska.
 
Arcanist Sishan gives us 14 greater healing potions and reaches out his hand to each of us to grab. I felt a surge of power go through me as I did. We are then teleported by Etcher to near Vellsten to speed up our journey. The plan being I think, to deliver the dagger to Kurash at the Olive Gord Inn.
 
As we teleport, we feel ourselves being pulled apart, and as we appear, we look down and see the drop at the side of a cliff, hundreds of feet below us, and we're at the top mountain, which Ape notices we're just west of the Sherbian Wetlands. Etcher casts fly on us to help us get down and stays up in the crevice to rest so he can teleport back.