Being constricted by red tape is never as fun as it sounds

by Zar'ral Helvimtor

We return to the city proper and go to the most expensive inn in town on Vex’s insistence. Zef and I try and avoid drawing attention to ourselves since Zef doesn’t want to be recognised and I don’t want to be recognisable. Meanwhile, Vex gets absolutely mullered in pursuit of getting laid and Kupo wanders off somewhere. As I’m worn out by our exertions in the Holy Slaughterhouse Tournament 279, I just go to bed.

After breakfast, we go to the library and learn that we can’t just walk into the library and look for books. We declare what subjects we want to look at and make an appointment to return later.

We learn that Kupo has been captured by white mages. After he wandered off in the town where the white mage headquarters is based, knowing that they had previously placed a bounty on him, having just drawn a great deal of attention to himself by killing a dragon in the festival and then representing our group in the award ceremony. One day, he’ll learn to appreciate the benefits of keeping a low profile. Probably not in this group though.

Zef, Vex and I head to the white mage’s guild to intervene. Rex, however, has no patience for this bullshit and remains at the library.

At the guild, we find that the mages are using the classic good cop/bad cop routine with Kupo. An old blind guy seems to be taking Kupo’s side, while some bureaucrat is pushing for his dismissal. Even as we give testimonies to Kupo’s good character and berate the bureaucrat for placing ‘professional appearance’ above evidence of good character and skill, Kupo digs himself further into a hole by recounting all the ways he’s brought shame and dishonour to the white mage name.

We’re taken to meet the deputy leader of the guild to make our case. Honestly, I don’t see why we can’t just turn in Kupo’s badge and staff since it has no bearing on his ability and will save us a world of trouble, but it’s important to Kupo so I’ll shiv a fool if I have to. I have no idea whether we’re successful in our reasoning/ranting, but we’ll find out tomorrow. In the meantime, we promise that Kupo will begin to act more professionally.

Returning to the library, it seems that Kupo and Zef have managed to acquire high level access to some restricted areas by convincing the old blind guy it’s important. Rex, meanwhile, has been reading a book about the cult of Kurator.

Proceeding to our original objective for coming to Crysteria, we look at some books about primal crystals which talk about the entities they contain and how the elements interact with each other.

We once again find ourselves on the wrong end of bureaucracy as we try to research the crystals further, only to be blocked by the fact we’re not high-ranking members of the theocracy.

We’re thrown out of the library, but not before Zef quietly asks me to find access to the lower levels. I slip away from the group to case the joint and get a good idea of the layout, and return to the group with my findings. Being an overachiever, I also nab some keys from a guard.

Kupo explains that he felt some bad juju coming up from beneath the library, and we conclude that the restoration crystal we learned of previously must be present there. Having now been quite reasonably banned from the library, I propose a break-in.

Kupo secures permission from his old blind friend to go back into the library, overruling our ban on the condition that we don’t harm anyone inside. At the same time, I head down to the docks to find some like-minded individuals and get some tips on breaking in, but find that no-one can really help in that regard. However, what they lack in knowledge, they make up for in chloroform. I stock up and we meet back at the library.

The old man’s assistance allows us access to the library without an escort, and we make our way to a door I had identified in my earlier scouting as being our way down. Vex and I jump the two guards with a sleep spell and a healthy dose of knockout drug, giving us about 10 minutes before someone notices something is amiss.

I check the door for traps before we head through, being a professional. This is fortunate as there’s an alarm spell on it, which Kupo disables. We then head down some stairs and through a long tunnel before reaching some ornate double doors. Bursting in, we see the restoration crystal has been polluted by some dank purple essence. As soon as we move towards it, the essence starts forming into humanoid masses and advancing on us.

As we fend off the creatures, we discover that when we kill them they may explode in a cloud of darkness which saps the strength of anyone nearby. On top of that, the purple mass begins forming even larger humanoid creatures to set on us.

Kupo starts channelling the purple essence from within the crystal to himself, destroying part of the essence in the process. I step back from the fight to assist him, and holy hell does it hurt.

The dark mass forms into some kind of zombie beholder, which is less than ideal. I switch from channelling to fighting as we really don’t need this thing around. We manage to bring it down without being turned to dust/stone/zombies, and Kupo and I redouble our efforts to pull the purple stuff out of the crystal, which we succeed in doing despite feeling like my bones are turning inside out.

The cavalry arrives just in time to see that there’s nothing wrong with the crystal and there’s a bunch of idiots standing around it with their weapons out. A big man with an even bigger sword stands in the doorway, judging us.