Tracking Rori's Followers

After finding the source of the magical disturbance, Archmage Vendys taksed us with spying on a gathering of a political rival of his, Rori.   While spying on them, the party ended up taking Rori's trial and being invited to join him in the town of Portwatch.

You return from the crypt to Porion where you are shown by a nervous initiate to the home of Archmage Vendys. He has a Kenku servant named Snapper who is very friendly towards you. Vendys asks you about the crypt and the source of the magic dampening, some of you try to deceive him about the stone but he sees through this and you reluctantly hand him the stone. He enlists your help further to gain his favour by asking you to go to a location outside the city at dawn as he has concerns for some Mages and shady happenings, though he is clear that he does not want them harmed in any way. He also tells you that Arcane Alley sell out their enchanting skills in return for gold or gems to finance their research. You rest for the night and in the morning head out to the ruins of an old town where you see two female Mages looking for something. You stealthily follow them to a small stone shack, they go inside and after some time you all follow. When you enter you are taken to a different location. First you see 7 levers with writing in various languages on the floor, after some trial and error you determine the correct combination and are transported to a second room with pressure plates all over the floor. Dacso uses his armour to set off any potential traps, which works for a time but it seems that someone is watching you and toying with the rules. Eventually you exit the second room, having taken a fair few hits. You find yourselves in the final room with a Gnomish riddle on the wall. Smodi solves the riddle by smearing his blood on the stone and a larger, stronger version of him emerges from the stone. After a difficult fight you down the unnatural version of Smodi and a blue-gemmed staff rises from the stone and a projection of a gnome speaks to you, congratulating you for completing his trial and tells you to meet him at Portwatch where he will bestow knowledge and power upon you. You and taken back to the ruined town and you make the journey back to Porion.