Arkomir writes...
A Sewer Exploration
We wake in the morning, get ourselves prepared and then check on the horses for a bit. We give them some apples and a quick scratch and I cast Speak with Animals and have a chat with both
Fringey and
Blackstar. After that we head up to the palace to leave a note for
Funi.
As we approach the palace gate there are a number of guards here. We ask to leave a note for Funi, or perhaps to speak to her. We write a small note hand it to the guard who heads in to hand it to her. We hang about nearby, and a minute later the guard returns telling us that Funi will be with us shortly. Funi comes down to the gate to greet us and we head off to investigate the sewers with her.
We talk to her about the
T sigil and
K sigil and about maybe being some sort of wizard’s mark. She doesn't have a huge amount to add to any of our ideas, but she seems quite intrigued. We show her Madrus’ spell book and she tells us that his spells are transmutational. Madrus came from
Dunkelgrun, but he is linked to
Belhaim and the forest nearby. We discuss more about all of this and then find ourselves at the sewer grate.
We head to the section of the sewers where we saw the section of stone shape. Funi stares at the section of wall for a while. She tries a couple of things open to open the way through (as does Dharra). She then looks at the book of Madrus and learns a spell. She casts a spell on the stoneshape section and the section halves in size and drops and falls forward. The tunnel beyond was also made magically. I head in first, and there is a room ahead of us, so we head further down and into that room. At the entrance of the room we see a 15x15 sized room, carved out of the stone. On the left, there is a low surface about a foot wide with some furs on it. At the far end is a lantern which is currently unlit. On the right, extending out from the wall is a stone desk with a couple of pieces of curved broken glass, as well as a few grains of sand or grit, and a small sliver of bone. There are some scorch marks and spill marks on the stone as well. There is also a small section of purplish sludge that has solidified and it has formed a slight curved shape on the desk. The lantern appears to be magic as well.
The roof here is a weird shape as well that curves up to a point. There is a small opening at the very top, about 15-20 feet up. Funi’s best guess as to where that opening is would be below the academy. I hold Funi up so she can have a closer look at the opening in the ceiling. She closes the way in or out in the ceiling for now and then turns her attention to the magic lantern. In much the same way as the dwarven firestarter, you speak on or off in elven to light it. Funi will keep the lantern for now. The person who was using this space may no longer be using it, they may have got what they wanted from the academy already. We mention that it might be handy to set up a series of sending stones so that information could be sent back and forth. She thinks that could be a good idea.
We head back out of the sewers and back to Electors square with Funi. She will arrange for an invitation to the Academy library for us as well a note for the arcanum, and with that she heads back into the Palace grounds. Coming out of the Palace grounds we notice
Elandrae and
Anoz. We ask about
Katya’s case and they tell us that the
Mol Gentra delegation is about to leave. Elandrae has been in conference with the
Elector for the best part of the day. They will be taking
Pharom,
Prizira &
Jarmash back to
Foresthome, along with a statement from
Confluence.
Thicoul and Isadora have also supplied statements. The position of Pharlom Gentris position in The Circle will also be under review. Katya will be asked to leave ForestHome for a period of 5 years. Her rank in the militia will be removed for that time (but not rescinded). She is to be released now. Dharra and I think we may find a place for her in Belhaim or somewhere nearby. We ask if we can come with them as they release Katya.
We travel with them and find ourselves near to where
Aldrich’s hideout was. A few minutes later Katya comes out and sees us standing nearby and we motion her over to us. We give her some options to think about and leave her to wander the city for a bit to contemplate. The rest of the ForestHome delegation exits the building not long after this. The Blade makes his way to us. He offers his hand and I accept his handshake. He wishes us well on our journey.
Garrick stops nearby and he gives me a Forethome salute and then falls back in line with his troops. Anoz wishes us well and then heads off.
Back to the Arcanum
After leaving folks at Eastbank, we head to the Arcanum for a spot of shopping. We head in and are greeted by
Gelatra. She has received Funi's note so we have access to some cool stuff. We buy some sending stones, a fancy quiver, some vellum and some ink (deep red & green). Dharra also buys some paint to finish her carvings. We settle up with Gelatra and thank her for looking after us. We leave saying that we will definitely be back. Making our way through Myriad Plaza, we purchase travelling rations and some other bits and bobs. We finish up and head back to
The Lively Grotto for the night. A couple of wardens are stationed in the forecourt area.
When we enter the Tavern, seated off to one side is a dwarf in the
Westmarch Wardens uniform. Fastolm comes across to us as we enter saying that this Dwarf wants to see us. We head over to his table and he stands to greet us. His name is Ekrid Bellowhall and he has something to deliver to us. It is a bag of coin for the job we did in the sewers for
Captain Figgis. We give Ekrid a note to pass back to Figgis in the hopes that she will stop by later on. He takes his leave and heads back to the guardhouse. Dharra decides to not play this evening, but we have dinner and settle in for a quiet night. Over dinner we discuss what questions we will ask at the Academy library tomorrow. We decide we will ask many of the same questions from the Electors Library. We make our notes and then settle in to listen to the human bard, Havrand Bholler, who is playing tonight. In his songs he mentions places along
The Rim, and he sings a song about dancing in
Ethiss. He also sings a song about walking in the giants footsteps at
Port Zaram.
Arabella is also here tonight and sits with Dharra and I. She will be travelling on soon with the Elector. They are heading toward
Port Zaram Zaram and she will be travelling with his retinue.
Thicoul and
Treshonne will also be heading that way. She asks if we can do something for her on our way through
Ethiss.
Arabella was trained there in a group called the Stepping Stones. If we can find them in one of the taverns, there is a dwarf called Leif Ironfist who plays a bass and a tiefling called Zara. Arabella takes out a small pouch and hands it to us saying, 'give this to Leif'. We are to give him her apologies and let him know where she is and where she has been. The far side of the rim might be a good place to find her soon. We are also to tell him, 'beer first, never beer later'. She will be travelling with the Elector primarily, but after the delegation returns from Zaram, she will head toward
Stoneshadow. She gets a bottle from the bar and settles in with Dharra to catch up on her travels. At some point in the evening, Katya comes and sits next with us as well.
She takes a small leather pouch out opens it. It contains a white gemstone that has been honed to a disc, about the size of a small coin. She ran into Isadora on her wanderings who gave her the disc. Merellion could welcome someone like Katya, if she breaks the disc and speaks a word Isadora will hear it. However, Katya thinks she will come with us for a while. This could perhaps be the start of a new path for her. Dharra asks Arabella about the roads and what might be encountered. She gets some useful info about what we may expect on the roads, particularly toward the EarthSpine. The road from here to Ethiss and beyond, is a major thoroughfare so should be clear, but we may encounter brigands and n'er-do-wells. In Ethiss, we should look for the Stepping Stones and the Tipsy Grape and The Golden Harp taverns. Dharra might also enjoy the Iron Kettle tavern.
Dharra asks if she knows where Thicoul is staying and Arabella thinks he has rooms at The Sickle & Sycthe. Arabella leaves and we head upstairs to set up for the night. I come down to see if Figgis has turned up, but she has not. As I get back to the door to our room, I hear slight movement in the room next to ours. I ignore it and head back into our room.
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