Day 19: Today is the day. Sunday the 7th Lamashan 4707
I was having a dream where I looked through some wizard's spellbook and noted that I could modify my items to work based on how physics + (how I think I was starting to think of magic as), to allow for a bit more effectiveness when I woke up to some being on top of me. Savah was above me, waiting for me to open my eyes. She looked me in the eyes and said that she wanted to be with me. I told her that we were together. She told me that her dream had told her that she needed to flat out tell me that she wanted to be mine, and me hers. I told her that especially after the events of the previous day, I thought that it was clear that she wanted to be with me.
Savah told me that her dream said that was important for my decision that I know that she wanted to be with me. I thanked her and said it does help. She asked if I'd want to be with her. I told her that I had told her as much yesterday, under the effects of that spell that meant I couldn't lie. Not even to myself. Man that might be a useful thing for self-evaluation. She smiled to herself when I brought up yesterday, and grinded herself a bit down onto my lap. I smiled a painful smile and told her that I still haven't reached the point where I have to make the decision yet. She got off of me and asked me why not.
That made me think. What was I waiting for to make this decision? I had already made it honestly. When I went out and got that ring set up. It was the most expensive of the rings that were done up last night. Sure, I had the gem already, but I could have simply traded that gem for another ring and more gold pieces. What was I waiting for to make the decision to myself? I realized that it could be solved by a quick trip to a priest. Then it hit me. I was worried about something other than just the effects of my decision. I asked Savah if she'd be willing to help me get dressed and give me about an hour to come back before telling the rest of the group that I might likely need saving.
She cocked her head to the side, which set her bosom jiggling a little, which made things a little more uncomfortable, but helped me up. She helped me get dressed and I helped her get dressed. She whispered to me that she expected that she'd feel even more comfortable when we got home to those silk sheets, which was odd because we were in a room alone, but I appreciated the little things like this. I told her that I was going to the Church of Abadar next door to get another session of therapy in, and after that I could tell her more. She escorted me down to the door and wished me luck, going to kiss me on the cheek. I swiveled and kissed her square on the lips. She was surprised at first, but definitely accepting, even desirous of more. I broke off the kiss and told her to keep the people guessing.
I ran over to the Church of Abadar, where they were just finishing up morning services. I asked if I could talk to (looking over my Blue Book), Proctor Jyronn Imikar, that I was hoping to enlist his aid in something. The proctor was willing to help on a condition, that I tell him were I got the armor I was wearing. I told him that I would tell him, but only in private. We retreated to his office, and he assured me that no one was listening. I told him that I had made this armor less than a week ago. He looked over it and said that it was a nice set up and that it must have taken a lot of time. I told him that it took less than a full day to go from the materials to this. He shook his head, and said that this was unbelievable. I asked him if he had an acolyte that could cast touch of truthtelling on me.
He called for a young priest who started casting the spell. I thanked him greatly and he was a little bit perplexed by my reaction. I looked to the Proctor and told him that Honesty and Truth can be an addictive thing when you get caught up with lying to yourself. I told him that eventually I might want to have an item made that functions like this, but only mentally, so that I can't try to trick myself anymore. The proctor asked me to tell him more about the armor. I knew that I could not lie, but that doesn't mean that I had to give away any secrets that other people didn't know. I remembered Master Leis' warning very well.
I told the Proctor that I had brought the technique from my home country (the boron carbide low temperature replacement reaction was developed in the USA first), and that it utilizes certain components, some rare some common to make the armor. I told him that it was not done by magic, and in fact an attempt to replace part of the process with magic caused the complete failure of one set of armor. He nodded to this and asked if I could tell him what the process was. I told him that I had sworn the process to two people and that I could not break that vow. He nodded to that. He thought for a second and asked about the runes on the breastplate. I showed him my ring and told him that these runes were a part of my faith and that they were not, as far as I could tell, connected to ancient Thassilon in any way. Providing him more information that he asks for can sometimes help steer the conversation, I guess. He asked me if I could tell him about my deity. I told the Proctor that I had recently found out that I had made an enemy of a goddess because I had killed one of her servitors and because I contacted my deity after the fact, he is no longer as hidden in these ongoing events as he once was.
This made him think and he asked if I could tell him if the goddess that I had angered was evil. I told him that from everything I had seen and heard, yes. I could see him weighing the question next question in his head. I tried to quickly say that I would be heading home when my quest was done, but it wouldn't leave my lips. He asked me what I tried to say and failed. I told him that I was using his time thinking to test myself about my future expectations after my quest is done. He told me that this doesn't work like a fortune telling spell. I told him that I knew, that the spell only reveals what the target, me, believes to be the truth. I told him that was the reason why I liked it so much, because it cuts the bullshit of what you think you feel to what you really do feel. He nodded that this was odd wisdom. I told him that I came from an odd country. He told me that he had no further questions that needed to be asked, but that if I had anything else to ask myself, I had a few seconds left. I told them all that I was deciding to stay here and finish the quest to keep my people back home safe, and I whispered to myself the confirmation of what I was wondering with Savah.
The Proctor thanked me for my devotion to this quest that I was on, and asked how he could be of service. I told him that it was three things. Firstly, my group were going to be hunting some kind of extraplanar entity. If we fail, it might be good for him to talk to the people of Sandpoint to make sure it gets dealt with. Second, I would like something selfish, that I was perfectly willing to pay for. He told me to go on, and I told him the spell that I wanted him to cast, and the reason. He told me that he would cast it when we were done, and how much he would need from me for it. I thanked him and asked him for something that I told him would be the most difficult. I asked him for a parchment with his seal explaining that there was nothing wrong in the faith's eyes with people loving each other, no matter the race or sex. He looked confused, and I told him that there was a Paladin that had fallen in love with a person of the same sex. They were kept apart because the paladin felt that the church would not approve of his love, and there were some in the community that felt that way. I was hoping that this would help cement the viability of their love and possibly make things a little more tolerant in that community.
He sent the acolyte out of the room and grabbed a parchment. He asked me for the names of the people. I told him Sir Jaspar and was about to say Cyrdak when he stopped me by raising his hand. He told me that he had heard rumors about this situation, and that he saw no problem with it. Honestly, he added, this was something that he was looking to address in the faith for a long time. He told me that he'd make a sermon about it at the next service, and instruct his acolytes to spread word about the tolerance of Abadar if asked. He said that he would not include the names of the Paladin or his love in the sermons. I thanked him for that. He took a candle and dripped some wax onto the scroll before pressing his ring in.
I felt him channel energy into it and it glowed briefly. He told me that any true worshiper of Abadar would recognize that this was no forgery. I thanked him again. He asked when the wedding was going to happen. I told him that it would be in Sandpoint and that it would be on Crystalhue. He nodded and said that he might just show up for it, with a wink, but that I should keep that part to myself.
Then he cast the spell. This was the strongest spell to affect me to date. Far stronger than any of the curings that Father Zantus or Dame Rebekah had done. The spell that Master Leis had performed had been affecting him, not me so I didn't feel nearly as much as I did during this. I slumped to the floor with the sudden rush. I got up and got out the money that I needed to give him. He directed me to give the money to the acolyte that was waiting outside the room. I stumbled out of the room and handed the gold to the young acolyte. The Proctor called in a different acolyte to start dictating something to him.
I made my way back to the Kaijitsu manor and when I got to the door, I had mostly overcome the spell's lingering effects. I swear that I could just feel that any trace of any infection or disease had been wiped away. It wasn't until I had made it most of the way back that I realized that one of the reasons that I was feeling like this was that I was actually breathing well. I think that I was also standing taller than I usually did. I think that some of the other health effects might have been dealt with too.
I got to the door and Dame Rebekah pulled me inside. She asked me what I did. I told her that I had an addiction to truth right now and that I had to get a fix. I added that I also wanted to get healed of any possible diseases that I might have from my home-world because I didn't want to spread them and I had not had the chance to get it dealt with yet. I also felt that I could try to get something like this done, handing Dame Rebekah the parchment decree of Proctor Jyronn Imikar. She grabbed it and went to sit down to read it.
Dame Rebekah read through it, and read through it a second time. She handed it off to Jonathan who read it. He handed it to Chelger, who passed it on Savah, and so on. Dame Rebekah asked how I got ahold of this. I told her that I asked. They were a bit dumbfounded. I told them that the Proctor seemed reasonable, so I asked him for it. He asked me some questions, which I answered with some discretion. I told them that they might need to help Sandpoint if we failed in our quest, and that there was a goddess that we had pissed off that might start taking actions.
Jonathan started to say her name and I told him that Savah and I were told that it wasn't a good idea to say her name. I asked Dame Rebekah if there were any other terms that she might go by? Dame Rebekah said that it wasn't good to even mention those names. I asked her that if we gave her a term for her, if that would carry over. She thought about it and said that it wasn't likely if we didn't sacrifice to her under that term. I told her that we can easily call her Echidna, the name of a small odd mammal from my home-world that had poisonous claws and laid eggs.
They all agreed to refer to her as such. So we all got together and discussed our issues. I told them all that the word from my Deity was that this Barghest was not the final villain or even close to it, but that we had to get home and deal with it before someone else got to it. Savah backed me up on this, since she was there. She grabbed my hand tightly underneath the table. Faunra noted that her quest for vengeance is over, but she can at least use what she knows to help out the town that took her in unquestioningly. Shalelu looked at her like she was proud of her decision. Jonathan noted that this Barghest had caused him to flee, and that this could not stand. Shayliss seemed to be a bit scared, but she looked hopeful. Dame Rebekah came last and noted that it was her job to be a sword between her allies and their enemies. Chelger amended it to say "a beautiful sword". Dame Rebekah blushed a little.
We had finished everything that we had time to deal with in Magnimar. After this was all done, we could come back, but we needed to get back to Sandpoint. Quickly. We had not hunted down any kind of fiendslayer toolkit but Faunra noted that the main things that we would have to deal with are needing magical weapons to damage the thing and the invisibility makes it more difficult to hit. I told the rest of the group about the dream that I had where I could modify my phone to be able to see the outlines of invisible entities. Faunra noted that she had researched a spell that could help as well. It apparently caused glittering dust to fall on an area, outlining everything in the area and possibly blinding the creatures in it. I asked Jonathan if he thought that a couple one half pound molded balls of flour could be used for his attacks. He noted that he'd try to launch anything if it would help.
Savah asked if there was anything that she could do to help. I told her that the main thing that would be of help to us is knowing that the town is prepared in the instance that we don't end up finishing it off. Shalelu nodded to that. I suggested to her that it would be good to make sure that the surrounding woodlands are not infested with secret cultists of Echidna that are just waiting to pounce on us. I noted that we were not marching off to our deaths, only that I believed that we should be prepared for the worst case scenario. The rest of the group agreed with that and we decided that we needed to get ready and go.
I remembered that we had one more crucial task to perform and I asked Savah if she could escort me to the Glassblower's guild, as I wanted to complete the task that Ameiko had requested of us. Shalelu told me that Faunra and her had already talked to them and there would be a young member of the Glassblower's guild coming to see if he wanted to work in the town. I thanked them both profusely. I said that I was so wrapped up in my own issues that I forgot to make that a priority. Faunra said that they noticed the Glassblower's guild while they were looking for sages in this district before moving on to the Lowcleft area. Dame Rebekah cleared her throat and I asked what else I had forgotten. She told me that she made arrangements with the Church of Iomedae to have a litigator arrive in Sandpoint, but that they would not make it there until Toilday. I thanked her for remembering what I had clearly forgot.
I told everyone that for my purposes, we were done with Magnimar for now. They all agreed, so we got our horses and our carriage, locked up everything after us, and headed out. It was still early morning when we were heading out, so we could get a good day of riding in. I took up my position on Shadowmist while Faunra was on Bucepherous. We were travelling along at a good clip, with the addition of the extra horses helping keep our speed up. We left through the twin gate that we arrived at so recently, and got up to a good riding speed.
I think someone might have wanted to jump out and waylay us at some point, as Faunra let slip an arrow that imbedded itself just above a bush that would have made a good ambush point. She did that from quite a large distance away and we didn't see anyone try to attack us from there when we got up to that point. I used my prestidigitation power to pull the arrow out and get it back to Faunra. She smirked and told me that I was a showing off. I just simply focused on gathering all of the arrows that were nearby as we rode by the area where her arrow hit. I hit it with a mending effect before getting it back to her.
The rest of our trip was as uneventful as the trip to Magnimar. We got to the Boll and Branch fairly early in the afternoon. Our horses needed the rest so we didn't try to push on to Sandpoint. The Innkeeper saw us pull up and set out the word that I'd be telling another story from far away again. He got us all set us with a decent meal of stew with bread. He even had a bottle of fine wine, that Dame Rebekah paid for before I could even make a move to do so. She stuck out her tongue at me as she got the bottle and allotted it out to all of us.
We enjoyed our meal greatly, and he had a seat all ready for me by the fire. Savah knelt down next to me while I told the story of Tristan and Isolde. I never claimed that I was in any way original. Just that I could tell the stories well. I didn't even take any of the money that was earned for the night. I just had the Innkeeper put it towards our tab for the night. I told him that if there was some left over, that he should keep it. If the earnings were not sufficient, let me know before the rest of the group. He nodded and went off to help all of the other travelers.
I wrapped the story up, the crowd applauded with a great fervor. Savah looked up to me with what looked like admiration. I stood up and helped her up. She was a little shaky at first, so she fell into my arms. I twisted her and dipped her for a kiss, which the crowd applauded even more. I thanked them all for their attention, and wished them all a good night. There was some unhappiness, but the Innkeeper told them that we had a busy day coming up. He said that he'd try to arrange us dropping by another time. I told the crowd that I didn't know when, but that we would be coming back through sometime. If we didn't get eaten by a monster or something. They laughed and I said everyone except Savah, as she's too sweet for any monster to eat.
She hit me playfully and we retired upstairs. I did my sweep of the room, cleaning all of the walls, top to bottom, collecting all of the insects into a pot, emptying it outside the window, and making the room smell of lavender. I helped Savah get out of her armor and she helped me get out of mine. Savah asked me if I could do anything about the sheets while she was still taking off her armor's base layer. I pulled the sheets off the bed, folded them up individually, and changed them to satin. I told her that it would only last for an hour, as I made the bed again. I turned to see that she was fully naked and slipping into bed. I reminded her that it wouldn't last. She told me that I should get in quickly then. I stripped down to my boxers and was about to get into the bed when she said unh-unh and pointed at my boxers. I stripped them off and slide into bed beside her. I asked if we could not do anything just yet. She said that for now she just wanted to feel my skin against hers without any obstruction.
We lay there for the full hour before the sheets changed back. We tried to lay there a little while longer but the sheets just were not that as comfortable, so we got out of bed and got dressed in out sleep clothes. She asked if I could hug her and hold her from behind while we slept, so I did.