A Tale of Change

Gathering / Conference

The Path of Nightshade come across a entourage of wizards and guard from The Aislinn Tower. The party meets Burchard Flintheart and he is acompanied by Marwynn Fenwick. The party disicusses the resent success in finding the chapters of The Wondering and Warnings of Hrothbert and Winifred privately with Marwynn. Together they discover another chapter of the book.

As the party leaves the ship to return to Ivy Hill, they notice that there are a lot of out-of-towners milling around. It seems people are there to figure out what happened during the ascension of Rockshire. Thuniel notices key members of Blightfen families doing business. And she notices representatives of The Aislinn Tower and their guards. There’s a particular dwarf dressed in vestments that show him as the Doyen of the School of Abjuration named Burchard Flintheart.   Gilly sees Fuzzle, the scopes owl owned by Marwynn Fenwick, the Doyen of Transmutation. She does not see Marwynn anywhere in the vicinity. It would be very unusual for Fuzzle to be here without her. Marwynn is blind, so she often looks through Fuzzle’s eyes. She is the contact for the group, knows where Vozgan’s journal is, knows about the quest for the information of Hrothbert and Winifred.   Burchard is very jolly and boisterous and people are definitely intrigued by his jovial nature and presence. Gilly determines that Burchard is gathering a lot of information. But he seems to be over exaggerating whatever people reveal to him. Gilly reads that it’s not ego, just how he is he is a powerful personality.   Bobushio plays this to his advantage. He gets five street urchins to start spreading rumors that The Path of Nightshade saved the city and Gilly, in her benevolence, saved them and brought her people to the aid of the city. He gives them ten copper each to start spreading the word, then promises ten more in a week if things go well.   Gilly tries to get Fuzzle’s attention, but initially fails.   Alcath approaches Burchard, the guard stop him, but Burchard sees him and calls him over. Alcath asks if Marwynn is here. He says she came along requested it actually and should be around somewhere. Alcath asks to share what he knows with both Burchard and Marwynn at the same time. Burchard has not heard of Alcath Cinderarm, but Alcath offers teaser information and namedrops the Demogorgon and that he was there when it was vanquished. Burchard says he’ll have his assistant make an appointment for them. Alcath has the assistant send a message with the where and when to Ivy Hill care of Gilandre Boulderhill.   Mozakosh casts speak with animals and talks to Fuzzle, who says, that Marwynn has been looking for them and Moz says we’ll wait here for you.   Marwynn is immediately there, very short half-elf, who just wants to talk with Gilly and Moz. Gilly invites her to Ivy Hill, and Marwynn is immediately worried. Gilly lets her know that she lives at Ivy Hill and she’ll be safe and comfortable. She asks Moz to write a note for Fuzzle to give to Burchard of where she has gone.   Marwynn is tired and wants to rest, if she can. She doesn’t actually care what happened to the city, but she is very interested in the quest. Thuniel and Bobushio don’t know who Marwynn is, so Thuniel encourages her to rest first because Thuniel wants to find out about this person before there meeting.   Gilly turns Marwynn over to the staff to have a room. The staff report that they have cleaned things up. There’s been a lot of work done and the manor is almost back to new.   The party updates Thuniel and Bobushio about Marwynn and the history they had with here in the Battle of Kucca and The Aislinn Tower. Marwynn helped with the cover up of Caia’s identity as princess of Astrafell. Marwynn helped them in the Battle of Kucca where Estra revealed herself to get the forces to ally together. But her revelation put herself and the party and her father’s powerbase in jeopardy, which motivated the decision to fake her death. Marwynn was called in at that point to wipe Victor Gatrell’s memory of the plot so that Caia could be free. Additionally, they entrusted Marwynn with Vozgan’s Journal, and she and the old Doyen studied it. The old Doyen was killed and Marwynn reluctantly took the position. Even the Tower could not figure out how the old Doyen Morris Inglebert died, but they suspected it had something to do with the book.   We recall in the most recent chapter of Hrothbert that a single person try to summon the power of the book is too much for one person to hold. Marwynn said she wasn’t going to study the book because it would probably kill her. Only multiple or all six could actually harness it according the found chapters of the book. Marwynn is Ian Lightfoot’s aunt.   Caia identifies Renshaw’s Coveted Cutlass that Gilly stole from Benedict Greatfellow. Renshaw was a famous pirate. It can steal stuff from people with attack, but she has to attune to it.   After the recap everyone goes to bed for the evening. But Alcath corners Bobushio to talk to him. Alcath asks what lengths Bobushio would go to to restore the Pirate Nation. Bobushio says he needs to get stronger first, and he owes the people of Onikuru everything he can give. He has to see it through to the end, including if he’s not the leader anymore. Bobushio says he would sacrifice what he needs to, but wouldn’t sacrifice the party because they are part of the Pirate Nation.   Alcath is bringing it up because he used to think he would sacrifice the entire party to achieve his crazy goals. Now he’s not entirely sure that he would. Alcath reminds Bobushio that it’s not his sacrifice if someone does it willingly.   Before going to bed, Thuniel steps out and swaps the stolen bracelet for a beautiful ivory pipe carved with running horses and a beautiful smoking box to keep it in. Zips likes the gift.   The next morning the meet up with Marwynn. Bobushio is very oblique in his approach to talking with Marwynn. He talks to her about the weave and weft of textiles. She picks up on his strategy, but she lacks the context of the chapters to connect its connection to magic. She reiterates that anyone that has attempted to weave a single version of the weave doesn’t live long and they can’t harness the power without burning up. People who use magic take two of the four parts of the weave and combines them together, but no one uses just one she references the The Prime Powers - A Keynote on the Schools of Magic. He points out that as an artificer, he doesn’t “weave the fabric” but he takes premade fabric and puts it together in new ways. Bobushio is talking to an expert in the field to try to find new applications.   As Bobushio starts insinuating that someone could use just one weave, she shuts him down. She says the only reason we know this isn’t a fairytale is because of Vozgan’s Journal.   The party shares the chapters they had uncovered and what Wobu said and who Randolfo was, she says that she thinks the journal is one of the grimoires and that more discoveries are instore as the quest continues. She says that Bobushio’s conversation now makes sense.   Bobushio reveals Ukaru might have one of the books, but we’re not ready to go after him yet. She says that during her studies, they haven’t been able to identify or do anything to the book that tells her exactly what it is. Basically only Detect Magic tells them anything and that’s just that the book has magical essence. So we can think he succeeded in creating all six books that channel the power of The Dark Six. They also discuss the relics made by Hrothbert and Bartus. She thinks the Tower has three of talismans, they thought they were great artifacts but discovering more is more confirmation of the truth of the fable. The Shades relate about the Shroud of Ollandra and the glasses as artifacts too. So that’s five of the nine identified they are known as the Deus Donorum. She wonders if a past crusade brought so many to the Tower.   Marwynn has been hesitant to read or even touch the journal because the previous Doyan Morris Inglebert died. But she discovered a buried text that lets you read writing that was not written by the hand of a mortal. She thinks the glasses are tied to that. She does know how to do that spell. She could give us the ability to read something once.   Alcath found a book in The Monastery of the Radiant Stone in Woodbridge. It has interesting writings in it. Marwynn says she has seen that type of script before, and it’s not written by something otherworldly. The writing in the margins that Alcath cannot read is not something from the deities. Marwynn’s spell won’t help them read it. They haven’t been able to translate that script (margin writing), and they don’t know where it’s from. Alcath says it might be a lead, if we have nowhere else to go.   There have been ties to The Traveler who is one of The Dark Six, so maybe the changelings have a connection to this. Caia decides to ask Marwynn about the changelings and reveal what they have learned is the last few days. Marwynn suggests using the spell on the blank book, which turns out to be written by the hand of a god and is carried in each Changeling’s book and is considered scripture by the changelings.   They read the book and it reveals chapter 9 of The Wondering and Warnings of Hrothbert and Winifred.