Rise of The Runelords - David Drake's Saga

by Raulfur

This is the Rise of the Runelords series as told by of David Drake, an American pagan who got tricked into the adventure. This series shows how he comes to understand the world and his journeys through it. The first three posts detail his companions, Faunra: a time displaced elven Magus, Dame Rebekah: a child of crusaders, and Jonathan: a skinwalker monk/kineticist. Still ongoing.

40. Day 36 or another brush with death

Day 36: Wealday the 24th, Lamashan, 4707

When my alarm went off this morning, Savah "convinced" me to stay in bed for a little while. I was glad that I spent the time with her, and that I purposefully had my alarm set early. I enjoyed spending time with Savah and it seemed like she enjoyed spending time with me. She helped me get dressed after we had a good long goodbye, and I told her that if anything happened here in Sandpoint, that she should get someone to get to the top of The Old Light and try calling all of our radios. We might be able to make it out even at the distance to Foxglove Manor. From the maps that I saw it would only be about five miles as the crow flies, but even then it would not definitely make it, so it would be good for her to be prepared for only one-way communication.

Honestly though, we probably would be able to make two-way calls until we went inside the building. I might try to get Savah updated before we headed in. It might be a good surprise for her to know that we can actually reach out if bad things might head our way. Before I left Savah, I gave her a copy of the instructions for the radios, so that she could access the emergency locator function if needed. It was also good to have backup plans in case of a really bad emergency.

After I finished getting everything ready and saying goodbye, I made my way to The Goblin Squash. When I got there I saw that everyone else was already there. I shrugged and asked how long they were all waiting for me. Faunra noted that she had gotten there first, but it was only about five minutes ago. Jonathan said that he had just gotten there. I sighed and said that I was glad that I had not held everyone up too much. Jonathan looked a lot better than yesterday, so I guess his powers cleared out the problems with a good night's sleep.

We all talked about our plans while we waited for Daviren Hosk to wake up and open up his establishment. Everyone told me to have the video like we did last time. I told them that I would make sure to get my phone set up before we enter the building. I asked if everyone thought that this would be a case of a necromancer or something worse. Dame Rebekah assured me that if Aldern was a necromancer, he was too weak to do this kind of thing. I sighed and asked if there had been enough time for someone to go from healthy to ghoul in the amount of time between when we had last seen Aldern and the first attack would have happened.

Jonathan answered that an average person can succumb to ghoul fever in as little as four days, even less if the person is of frail health. I sighed and asked if it would be likely for someone like Aldern to become a ghast, and Jonathan said that it was definitely possible, and added that it might be even more likely for someone like us, if we were to succumb to the ghoul fever, to become a ghast instead. I told him that I would keep that in mind.

After our thoroughly depressing conversation came to a natural end, Daviren came and opened up his shop. We got our horses out and thanked him for his service in holding them. Daviren asked if there was anything else we needed. I looked to Faunra and asked if it would be wise to take a second horse each or leave them. She asked why, and I said that we could use the first horse to go fast, then the second horse when the first horse was tired to give them a rest. She shook her head and said that this would only work if the horses were already half way to our destination. I shrugged and said that we should probably be off then.

We thanked Daviren again and left via the South Bridge. I thought to myself that I could make the suggestion that we could use some kind of wall around this place if we wanted to get it more defensive, but that might end up making the town council more pissed off at me. I don't need to stir the pot any more than I already am. We took our horses and set them on a brisk trot in the hope that we could try to get to the Manor within the hour.

As we passed some of the places of note, others would tell me. We passed a promontory called the pyre, where the locals would cremate the dead, before Sandpoint was founded, but nothing harassed us there. We went over the bridge at Cougar Creek, but no trolls came out from under the bridge. While we were riding I asked the others if this was a phenomenon that was present on this world, and Dame Rebekah noted that she had heard that there were trolls, and that they did regenerate, but that she had not heard of any stories about trolls being under bridges. I told them that if we made it back, I might do a performance for The Rusty Dragon where I recite legends from by fairy tales from my old world. I added that one of them was about a bridge and a troll underneath it. We continued on through the Ashen Moor with not much being around. When we were passing between the Brinestump Marsh and the Ashen Rise, Faunra noted that Shalelu had a place in the Ashen Rise, and that she hunted goblins in the Brinestump Marsh whenever they got out of hand. I suggested that we could stop by and help some day if she wanted. Faunra noted that she might consider it.

We continued on the Lost Coast Road over the Soggy River Bridge. Again, no trolls. Faunra noted that this was the main river that fed the delta that became the Brinestump Marsh. I noted it mentally for future usage. We continued down the Lost Coast Road through the Bleaklow Moor until we got to the Foxglove River, names as such for the Manor that was located very close to its mouth. I remembered something from overhearing it back in the market one day that the Bleaklow Moor was said to be riddled with ghoul havens beneath its surface. They others said that they would keep a watchful eye for sinkholes or traps, and I vowed to do the same. When we got to the Foxglove River, we stopped before crossing the bridge. There was a farm style road heading to the bluff that Foxglove Manor had been built upon. There would be another bridge to take further down the river, but to make the best time, we needed to take this farm road.

We headed off the main path and trailed along the riverbanks on our way to the bluff. There wasn't much in the way of activity in the river, though Jonathan said that he had spotted some trout. I asked if they were rainbow or brown trout, and he looked at me surprised and said it looked like they were cutthroat but maybe some rainbow in the some of the smaller thalwegs. I nodded and said that the cutthroat might get to be good size. He said that he agreed. Then he asked me where I had seen trout before, and I told them that we had Brown and Rainbow trout in the rivers back where I was from, including some Smallmouth Bass, and that I used to fish as a kid. I might have gotten a bit of respect from that. Then I wasted it all by laughing about the fact that trout do not get pregnant. I got some odd looks from the rest of the group, and I just told everyone that it was something that someone back on my old world couldn't figure out.

We made our way to the bridge that linked Bleaklow Moor and the north side of the Foxglove River to the south side of the River and Foxglove Bluff. The bridge wasn't nearly as large as the ones on the Lost Coast Road, but it was sufficient for horse and wagon crossing, so we went over it. We made it to the Manor in less than an hour, making it about nine o'clock, at least according to my phone. You wouldn't be able to tell from the sky though. It looked as overcast as any day I had ever seen. Jonathan asked if we thought that it would be a good idea for him to wolf out, and I said that it would be stupid not to. Everyone else agreed and we all got ready.

We found a place where we could tie off our horses, and set up a canopy around them. Dame Rebekah had a Pavilion Tent in her belongings, and between the four of us, we had it up in fifteen minutes. I didn't trust anyone to not steal our horses while we were in the house, but hopefully, that would just be us being stupid. We all walked up the path to the manor, and saw that to the right there was a burned down building with some scorched foundation stones. I turned on my cellphone's video camera and put it in its protective sheath as we approached the ruin. There were a few sickly looking ravens around on the stones that flew off when we approached. They didn't look right at all. We looked down in the well, and noted that the water level was at fifty feet. We didn't notice anything unusual about the well or the building aside for that, so we went to go look at the front of Foxglove Manor.

The path split around an old, leafless tree that was being choked by nettles and brambles. We had a double door to the left and a double door to the right. The house itself looked to be a good two full stories and an attic, and I was dead certain that there would be a basement. I asked everyone what they thought would be a good path to take. Jonathan felt drawn to the left door, while Dame Rebekah felt that we should go to the right. Faunra didn't have too much of an opinion, and I noticed that it looked like the right side was more of an entrance hall, so the proper decorum would be to enter there first.

Everyone could at least agree with that logic, as we went there first. We knocked first, but there was no response, so I tried opening the door. It was really stuck, so I had to push fairly hard. When the door slammed open, the noise reverberated throughout the high-ceilinged room. It would have been impressive if not for the absolute dampness and decay. I asked the others if Aldern was really staying in this place, as this place wasn't safe for anyone to be staying in long term. They all shrugged and we went in further. There were moldy trophies along the walls, being a boar, a bear, a firepelt cougar, and a stag. In the center of the room there was a massive creature the likes of which I had never seen. It had the body of a lion, a scorpion's tail – which had dozens of razor barbs, huge bat wings and something that could only pass for a human face in a Wes Craven film. Something was tickling the back of my brain, but I couldn't quite place where I had seen something like this before.

I looked to Faunra, and she said that she had heard rumors back when she was in her home time of Karzoug creating something like this and calling it a Manticore. I then remembered that I had seen a SyFy movie of the week by that name. I noted to everyone that we had legends of these things back on my old world. Faunra looked at me like I was crazy, and I told her that I didn't know why but that I would tell them more later. Dame Rebekah asked if we could get out of this room, because it smelled like burning fur and flesh. I didn't notice it, but then again, I didn't notice the sounds of sobbing coming from upstairs like Faunra and Jonathan did. I asked if everyone wanted to head up to the higher levels first and then work our ways down. Dame Rebekah said that would be a smart idea, at least until we hear more crying. Faunra agreed so we headed up the closest set of stairs, a curved set that went up to a hallway with a few doors.

I asked everyone if they thought right hand rule or left hand rule. Dame Rebekah said that she was thinking that we should try whichever door we come to first. We first came to left hand door and opened it up to look in. It was a set of stairs that were heading back down to the lower level. We decided that these would not be useful right now, so we went back out into the hallway. The next door was on the right, and it looked to be a fancy child's bedroom. Dame Rebekah walked in and immediately walked over to a corner by the bed. She looked to be out of it and not responding to us talking to her for a minute or so.

Dame Rebekah snapped out of it after a minute and told us that she was just a young child waiting for her parents. She knew that her parents were killing each other, and that the survivor would be coming to kill her. She said that she knew that the child's mother was trying to burn down the house, and their father was riddled with tumors. The father was fighting with a long knife and the mother with a torch. Dame Rebekah then told us that this must be something known of as a haunt, and that she didn't know what would release the haunt, but that as long as we didn't come back in the room, it shouldn't affect us anymore.

We left from the room and moved on through the hallway, we came to a set of double doors on either side, and I suggested that we look in the right side door, as we had just checked the right side door, and it looked like the left side door was just an antechamber. Everyone seemed to be okay with it, so I opened the door. When I looked in, I saw two padded chairs, a lounge couch, and a set of stained glass windows. The stained glass windows showed a ghostly scorpion, a gaunt man with bats hanging from his outstretched arms, a death's head moth (thank you Silence of the Lambs), a belladonna plant, and an image of a young maiden sitting at a well, with a giant spider (damn square cub law) descending towards her, vile liquid dripping from its fangs. Faunra took one look at it and immediately noted that these were ingredients associated with a lich formula. I asked her if this was a coincidence, and she said that she didn't think it was. I nodded and then asked her what a lich was.

Faunra told us all that a lich was generally an arcane spellcaster that pursued eternal existence as a free-willed undead creature of enormous power. She continued with telling us that a lich possessed all of their arcane power in addition to the abilities that being undead granted them. I asked if they had any weaknesses. Faunra shook her head and said that most liches were too smart to have very many weaknesses, and to complete the process, the arcane spellcaster had to be much more powerful than any of us. I gulped and said that I hoped that this place didn't have a lich in it. Faunra noted that if there was a lich in this house, we would all be dead already.

Contrary to logic, that made me feel a bit more relaxed, knowing that I had not attracted the attention of another thing that could kill me and everyone I care about. I'd have to hope that I get a dream session with Odin here soon to try to figure these things out better. Coming out of the lounge, we looked at the room with the antechamber, and headed right across the hallway to the double door. We opened the door and the antechamber looked like a gallery. There was cobweb covered portraits on either side. Thinking I was smart, I used my prestidigitation power to clear off the ones on the north wall. Vorel, Kasanda, and Lorey Foxglove were the names on plaques underneath the portraits. I asked if anyone knew anything about them, and everyone just shrugged their shoulders.

I looked over at the south wall and there were five portraits on the southern wall, over the twenty-foot-long wall. I used my knowledge of geometry to get all five with one use. On that south wall, there was Traver and Cyralie Foxglove, their son Aldern, and their two daughters Sendeli and Zeeva. Traver and Vorel looked much the same, while Cyralie was a redhead. Upon clearing the last of the portraits, the temperature in the room dropped to freezing. The portraits all looked to change, depicting, I guess, ow the characters died. Sendeli and Zeeva both just looked frosted over so maybe they are still alive? Kasanda and Lorey's paintings had the victims grow tumors all over their body while Cyralie had her body become blacked and burned. Traver had tumors and his throat cut with the blood running down his clothes. The last two were the most interesting. Aldern's painting changed to look like a ghoul or a ghast while Vorel's entire portrait, frame and all, exploded in what looked like some kind of fungus. It splashed out all over the room and the party, and then everything disappeared.

I looked around to everyone and they were all looking over themselves. The fungus was gone, and I didn't see any effects on myself either. I asked if we could take what this showed us at face value. They all groaned as I realized the pun I had made. Dame Rebekah noted that when she was seeing what the child had seen, she saw Cyralie and Traver fighting, Cyralie with a torch and Traver with a long knife. That would make sense if they both died to their own weapons. I shrugged and said that we should move on then.

We went into the next room and this was where I almost died. The room was a bedroom, pretty much untouched by all the mold, mildew, and dampness. As we were searching around, I walked over to the desk. As soon as I got within five feet of it, I had a vision that I had killed Savah, but Savah was Cyralie, and threw her body off of the manor to be dashed, burning, on the stones below. I saw a pearl handled dagger on the desk and grabbed it. I was going to end it. I thought about life without Savah and almost plunged the dagger into my neck. I stopped myself before stabbing myself and noted that I could try to get her raised. This was a world where I could bring her back. Even if she didn't want to be with me anymore, I could undo damage that I had done. I snapped out of it and Jonathan was trying to hold my arm back from stabbing myself.

Dame Rebekah asked had happened, and I told her that I had seen myself as Trevor, and I had thrown Cyralie's burning body off the cliffs to die on the rocks below and then went to kill myself. I didn't tell them that it was Savah who's body had been the one on the rocks. Dame Rebekah said that this new haunt would be a bit more to confirm the idea that the last room had told us how everyone died. I asked what that would mean for Aldern and Vorel then. Faunra noted that Vorel was likely transformed into the fungus while Aldern was likely the ghast that we were hunting. Dame Rebekah was pissed that she was being pursued by an undead monstrosity, and vowed to show it the only love that a cleric of Iomedae could show to one such as it.

We left this room alone and went back into the hallway through the portrait gallery. The haunt did not trigger a second time, lending credence to Dame Rebekah's assertion that they could only trigger once a day. Back into the hallway, I directly went to the door that would be next on the right, with everyone following me. I was drawn to it. I opened the door and was greeted by layer upon layer of spongy mold. I looked over to the bed ad felt the compulsion to walk over. I started to absentmindedly scratch my face as I heard a young child say what's on your face mommy. The mommy part brought me out of it. I looked at my hand and there were the beginnings of blood on it. I told everyone to get out of the room and made my way out. I told everyone that this room must be associated with Kasanda and Lorey's deaths.

I had not scratched deep enough to do any real damage, or mess up my face that much, but Jonathan helped me get some disinfectant on it, just in case. After Jonathan treated me, I wondered aloud why it seemed like the haunts were mainly effecting Dame Rebekah and myself. Dame Rebekah said that some haunts were keyed to people's personality traits, and that I might have linked up with the personality traits of those who had generated that haunts. I wondered what it meant that I had linked up with the person who had killed himself after realizing he had killed his wife, and the parent that was trying to save their child but failed. Jonathan thought for a minute and said that they were both related to duty in a way, and that this might be the reason, since I seem to be so focused on duty, even more so than our Crusader of Honor. Dame Rebekah just shrugged.

The next room was a washroom that Jonathan volunteered to go in first for. He stepped in and saw that there was an iron tub. As he stepped into the room, the floor buckled and collapsed. Jonathan almost fell but leapt back using his wolfish grace. He said that if we needed, we could use that tub later, but right now it was down on the lower level. I shrugged, and said that it was good that it was him that checked it out, as I knew that I would have probably fell. We all got together and got ready to go to the next room. Faunra decided that she would open this door.

We all walked in and looked around. The room was absolutely wrecked. There was a portrait that was turned around and I went to flip it. I noticed that no one was talking and I turned around to see that Faunra had started to clutch her head. She turned to Dame Rebekah and yelled at her, "What did you say to me trollop?" She pulled some arrows and almost fired upon Dame Rebekah before dropping them and coming back to her senses. She said that it was another haunt that had afflicted her, and that she felt a burning rage against Dame Rebekah for some reason and had thought that she had said something about asking me what I was doing in the damp below. I figured that we should leave this room quickly, in case the haunt is lingering.

There was only one door left and none of us had an overwhelming real desire to open it, so I did, and found a set of stairs heading up. Dame Rebekah took the lead and we made our way into the attic. As we got to that floor, we saw a door immediately on our right, which we shrugged, opened and went in. This looked to be a workroom that was in the process of being repaired. There were holes in the roof. I noted that with this amount of damage, for as long as this place showed the damage, there was no way for it to be repaired without having to constantly deal with mold. I told everyone that I was of the opinion that if it were my house, I would just demolish it, and they all agreed. I asked Dame Rebekah if she thought that it would be a good idea to get her death-watch power up and running and she agreed. She cast the spell before we continued on.

We went through the next few rooms but found that they were only storerooms of furniture, linens and such. I know I wouldn't want anything like that from this place. The mold would spread to all of your other belongings. Thinking about that, I decided that I was going to have to get everyone cleaned up after leaving here so that they don't spread that shit back to wherever they are staying. We went to the next room and saw that it was a tiny room that had a sloped ceiling. I hated those rooms, but there was nothing of interest in the room, aside from the fact that it looked fairly untouched by mold. We left the room and headed towards the other rooms when we heard an unearthly shriek coming from down the hallway. I whispered to everyone that it might be wise to check out the other rooms first, so that we are not flanked, and they agreed.

We checked the next door closest to us and Dame Rebekah rushed in. She screamed that she was on fire and rushed towards the window. I grabbed on to her before she could leap and she swatted me aside and made her way towards the window. She kicked out the window but stopped herself at the last second. She said that Cyralie had come up here and Traver had set her on fire using magic to reflect the torch's fire back on her, and she dashed her way out a window. Faunra asked everyone who the stained glass women were, and I noted that one was Arazni, the Harlot Queen of Geb. I didn't know how I knew that, only that I remembered seeing it somewhere. Faunra shrugged and we left the room.

We were confronted by the two doors, the one that the shriek had come from, and the other. I felt an urge to go to the other so we carefully went to it. It was a personal library filled with books. Filled with stories of adventures and excitement. I realized that there was so much to do in this world, and that I was now latched down to the first woman who had tried to sink her claws into me. I was stuck and there were so many things to behold in this world that I would ever see. I started to get really depressed and Jonathan asked me what was wrong. I told him that I had seen wonders that I had never been to and that I was latched to this one town now. Jonathan noted that this wasn't like me and it me with his powers. The pain of the draining worked to bring my mind (and personality) back to normal.

Apparently the others were searching the room while I was in a daze and this was why Jonathan was looking at me after a minute. They had grabbed all of the books to put in a sack until Faunra and I could clean them, and grabbed the painting. I shrugged as we were dealing with well over danger pay at this point. We left that room and went to the door that we heard the shriek coming from. There was still sobbing, so we felt pretty sure that the person was still alive in there. Maybe it was someone that Aldern had kidnapped?

The door was locked and we didn't have the key, so I went to work on unlocking it. It was stiff, and I barely managed it, but I was glad that the locks here are larger than door locks back home. Much more to work with. The room was cold and damp; there was a large floating closet on the eastern wall and it was another room where the ceiling slopes down. There was a full sized mirror in a very ornate frame leaning against the other wall. Oh yeah, and there was a woman there. A clearly dead woman, but a mirror of the one who was in the portrait in the room where Faunra almost shot Dame Rebekah. She was staring into the mirror and sobbing. Jonathan used his TK to move the mirror away from where she could see. Iesha, as the portrait had declared her, turned to look in our general direction and yelled out, "Aldern, I can smell your fear. You will be in my arms soon." We all jumped out of the way as the dead woman left the room in a hurry. We shrugged and went back downstairs after her, as there was nothing in this room that really pertained to us anymore.

We followed how she went down the stairs to the first floor. When we got to the first floor, we discovered that she was standing transfixed at a place where there used to be a carpet. There was a spiral of mold that looked to be a bird's eye view of a spiral staircase, littered with skulls and bones. We shrugged and quietly snuck behind her to see what else was on this first floor before she attacked us or moved on again. We slipped into a dining room that wasted the best views of the lost coast to, as Faunra told us, gaudily show the path that the lich took to become one. I shrugged and said to each their own. We went into the right hand door and found ourselves in another library. I was enthralled.

As we walked in, we saw that it was a mostly drab room, with a pair of chairs, one knocked over, and a stone angel bookend. There was blood on the chair and a bright red and gold scarf on one of the chairs. The scarf flew off the chair and wrapped itself around David's neck. David pulled at the scarf and I could see it tightening around his throat. I helped him get it off, and he seemed absolutely fine. Apparently, it had not penetrated his telekinetic dampening field, only weakened it. I shrugged and shoved the scarf into the extradimensional pocket of my bag. Good luck attacking anyone else from in there.

There was one other door in the library, and Jonathan stuck his head in. He said that it was nothing but a drawing room with a mirror. We all shrugged and went back to the dining room. The murdered woman was still transfixed on the spiral. I whispered that it must be important. I wondered if it was associated with Aldern is someway. She must have heard me, because she knelt down and started smashing the moldy spiral, all the while she was screaming about meeting "him" again. Then she jumped down the hole that she made. After seeing this, I shrugged and asked if we should follow or finish up checking this level to make sure that we are not ambushed from behind?

Dame Rebekah said that we should just get checking this level over and done with. Jonathan shrugged and went into the room opposite the library with us following. We saw that it looked to be a lounge, complete with wispy white fungus and tiny dust devils. Jonathan walked right up to the dust devils and said that he had the urge to pull someone from the house, maybe a young child. He can be so blaze. He looked outside and told us that there were a lot of unhealthy crows outside. Dame Rebekah looked and correct him. Undead crows. Oh joy. Another thing to deal with.

We left the lounge to see a hallway. There was another door shortly after entering it on our right, so we entered into it. Jonathan noted that the tub from the upper level had fallen into the tub on this level and squished a rat in it. I shrugged and said that it was better off dead in this place. We moved on and went to the other room that had access to the outside that we had skipped. There was a moldy grand piano that looked to be in terrible condition. I played chopsticks but the tune was still good for some reason. The piano then lurched into a tune that I had never heard before and Faunra started dancing. She stopped herself quickly and shook it off. I shrugged and said that we should finish this level and head down to follow Iesha. We left through the door to the trophy room/foyer.

As soon as Dame Rebekah walked into the room, the Manticore sprung to life and stabbed at her with its burning barbed tail, its face had been distorted to look like Cyralie's. She didn't get set on fire, but it hurt her viciously. Jonathan stepped up and healed her. Dame Rebekah noted that she could heal herself, and he said that it would be better to have access to that kind of healing when we were in the thick of it. She shrugged and said that there wasn't much that we could do now.

We finally followed Iesha's path downstairs. It looked to be a kitchen where the staff might have maybe prepared the food for everyone. It looked like it was in terrible condition though. There was a large oaken that was covered in mold and rat feces. The shelves were likewise covered in mold and there were one-foot-wide cracks in the walls. While we were heading down into the room, I missed a step and slipped down a few steps. I didn't hurt myself or anything but we started to see rats pour out from the cracks in the walls. Jonathan said quietly, "Rats, why did it have to be rats." Before using different parts of the room, rotten cupboard doors, bricks, and even the table at one point to smash the swarms of diseased rodents.

I looked around and tried to find some things to plug up the cracks in the walls to prevent any more from coming through, and Dame Rebekah was helping me. After about half a minute or so we felt that we had gotten the things well and truly clogged up. Jonathan and Faunra were waiting for us to get done and asked us if we wanted to check out the door just to the right of the stairs that we came down. I opened up the door and it looked to be some kind of servant quarters. It was relatively free of mold and dust, so we shut the door to hope it stayed that way.

We went back out into the kitchen, and figured that the door almost opposite us might be the old pantry. I told the others that if the rats were hiding in there, we should kill them all while we can. I told them how several million people were killed back where I was from a plague that was thought to be carried by the fleas on rats. I told them that I wouldn't want that to happen to this world and the finally relented. We looked in the room and there was a mass of the young pups. Jonathan, without saying a word, started to smash the nests with the crates that were in the room.

After that, Faunra sparked up the dry bedding and it started to burn. I didn't expect the house to go up or anything, in fact, while the bedding ignited readily, the crates were less inclined to catch. Jonathan shut the door with his power and we turned to see what the next door in this room held. Jonathan listened at the door, nodded, and used his power to open it without touching it. We all looked in and it looked like an old wine cellar. Jonathan immediately noticed a catch and opened up a secret section of the room to reveal eight bottles that were still in good condition. Jonathan grabbed them and we stocked them away. Normally I would look at this poorly, but we were probably burning down this house once it was purged of the evil inside, just so no other evil could take up residence, so a few bottles of wine were not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, plus burning them or taking them – taking them means that we could have something to drink if we succeed.

There was one door left and it led to… a hallway. Reflections of Thistletop hit me and I got annoyed by the very presence of the hallway. Jonathan listened to the only door at the end of this hallway, and shrugged. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. He looked to me and I pulled out my various tools. I struggled and managed to get it unlocked, just by the skin of my teeth. I stood back and Jonathan used his power to open the door. The room was an absolute wreck. There was a row of soggy books and three iron bird cages on a work desk in the north side of the room with a dead diseased rat in each.

There was a pair of stained glass windows which apparently showed Vorel turning himself into a lich. I recognized him from his portrait upstairs. I guessed that from the looks that this was an arcane workshop of some sort. Faunra immediately walked over to those books and went to grab one. A look of terror went over her face and she started to run over to the door. I yelled stop at Faunra and she looked to me like she was going to attack me. She said that she had to save her daughter. I asked her what daughter. Faunra snapped out of it and shook her head.

She told us that she had a vision that Vorel had turned himself into a lich, and that she had to escape. I asked if that meant that we should expect there to be a lich down below here. Faunra shrugged and said that it was the feeling that he had turned himself into a lich, but if the portrait was correct, then it was just the fear of it that created the haunt. I shrugged and asked if there was anything of value to us in this room for our investigations. Faunra looked over at the bird cages and noted that someone had tried to catch the rats to take them somewhere and that this might be important.

I looked over the cage and it said "Pug's Contraptions, Magnimar". I told everyone else what it said, and Dame Rebekah noted that it would likely be a good idea to go check in with them to see if we could find who sold them. I got them unlocked and had Jonathan levitate the rats out of the cages, and then I used my prestidigitation powers to clean them. There was one other door in the room so we decided to take it, and it led to… another hallway. We went through this hallway to the next door, which led to a spiral staircase down. Looking up, we saw where Iesha had battered her way through the floor.

Dame Rebekah took the lead and when she took her first step on the stairs she froze. She started to lift into the air, but shook it off and dropped back down. She told us that she saw a vision of Aldern attacking the floor with a pickaxe and breaking through before being grabbed by ghouls and pulled down into the depth. I noted that we should definitely be careful going forward, because there were likely undead down below here. I finally busted out that salve that I had gotten from Nisk. I put some on the bullets that I had in the magazine of my Zastava. I figured that this would be the best time for it. Dame Rebekah cast her Sun-Metal spell on her sword, and Faunra activated something else. Before we took that next step down, I clicked my flashlight on and put it in my shoulder mount.

We started down the stairwell, walking at a brisk pace while keeping careful of threats. We quickly made our way to the landing and saw that this was a roughly cut out cavern. There were three exits to this room and I asked which one we should take. Jonathan said that there was the stench of rotten meat from the left most cavern, so we headed that way. When we got into the main cavern, I saw something that I wished never existed. It looked like a diseased gigantic bat. Larger than a pony. It looked up at us from where it was hidden and I panicked.

I fired off my pistol at the thing and Jonathan it even harder with a bearing. The scraveling, as I later learned it was called, came rushing down at Jonathan and bit him. I could see that the scraveling's bite was weakened by Jonathan's telekinetic field, but the teeth still penetrated Jonathan's shoulder. I hoped that he wasn't infected by whatever it was that this thing carried. I saw an arrow take aim and hit the thing in the neck. The bat-thing let go of Jonathan to look at the creature that shot her. I tried to take a swing at it with my machete, but failed miserably. Jonathan took the opportunity to deliver it a telekinetically enhance strike to its head, shattering it. The bat thing dropped. Dame Rebekah was protecting our rear, knowing that an ambush could happen at any time down here.

I took a look over the victims that had been mounded up. One of them stuck in my mind for some reason, and I remembered that it was a bandit that was preying on people between Sandpoint and Magnimar. I told the others that this person had a reward out for him in Magnimar, dead or alive. Faunra noted that we would need some kind of proof, and cut off his head. I shrugged and said that it was kind of messy, but I guessed it would work. We started backtracking, expecting an attack at any moment. Jonathan used his power to heal himself before we left the room. I think that he might have gotten some things from the ground, but it wasn't covered by the tape.

We went to the rightmost tunnel this time and Jonathan stopped us. He said that he recognized the smell of dangerous mold up ahead. Faunra noted that she saw something magic in the room, and Jonathan used his powers to lift it up and bring it back. It was a heavy pick, and I guess that they were just using it to burrow. Jonathan recommended that we not go down that path, so it left just the center. Dame Rebekah took the lead and we trudged down the cavern. Jonathan stopped us from fully entering the room and said that he smelled ghouls in here.

I heard cursing in that I won't deign to repeat here and the ghouls who were hiding yelled out to allies further on that the backup had arrived. I was kind of confused about that but maybe there were looking for someone else to come help them. That one was immediately to our North, looking like it was hiding just after the mold tunnel. It sprang forward and attempted to claw Dame Rebekah. Its claws glanced off of her armor with no damage to her. I instantly realized that if I had used holy water for the alchemical cement, I could have maybe had some kind of effect against undead touching her. Lesson learned I guess.

Jonathan stepped up and swung at it with his enhanced siangham. The I think that Jonathan wasn't prepared for how bad it smelled because he missed on the first strike, but rammed the siangham up through the thing's skull on the second strike. Dame Rebekah reacted to all of this by stepping into the room and taking up a defensive stance. I managed to pass my light over the room and I saw a ghoul off to the north. It hissed for a second and my pistol unerringly struck, burning its way into the thing's skull. Maybe being a psychopomp to return things to the natural order is something that Odin needs me to do.

While I was pondering this, Faunra managed to take out another ghoul that happened to be hiding by western exit to the room. It looked like we had control over the room for a minute so I asked if they thought that we would be seeing back up. Dame Rebekah said that she expected such. Jonathan and Faunra agreed so we quickly decided to take up positions. Dame Rebekah took up a position in the center of the room, Jonathan took up a position in the North of the room, Faunra took up position behind Dame Rebekah and I posted up by the Southern section of the room.

We all focused on the doors and when the first ghoul popped its head around the corner, it was liberated of any higher thoughts by a ball bearing going thru its forehead and out the back. It dropped and another ghoul was right behind it. Faunra reacted quickly dropped it with a flaming arrow to that second ghoul's skull. A third ghoul was right behind the second, and my pistol dropped this one. We were three for three so far. I had hoped that there would only be the three, but I was wrong. Dame Rebekah stepped forward so that any ghouls would have to attack her or suffer her wrath. The last ghoul rushed into her blindly and lost its head for its trouble.

Dame Rebekah said that there weren't any others in the hallway, so we all pushed forward. That was a mistake, as we entered into an area with a deep pool and were surprised by ghastly goblins. They all surrounded Dame Rebekah, likely because she was the first in the room, and started slashing away at her. A pair of them on either side of her drew blood and she screamed in response. She yelled out spread the damage. Faunra took her hint and struck three different goblins with three different burning arrows. Dame Rebekah then channeled the faith of her god and burned the undead. Two of them combusted into flames immediately and the other two, one of which had been hit by Faunra's telekinetic arrow, both looked wounded by the emanation.

Jonathan went into the room further and took a shot at the one that wasn't hit by Faunra previously, and dropped it. The last one was still there, and I took aim. My pistol struck true and hit it in the skull, just like every previous undead I had aimed at. Really starting to worry a bit about this. With these ghouls gone, there was only one room left. The door was battered down from where I guessed Iesha had come thru before.

The room was kind of horrific. Even the air was a terrible combination of brine, decay, and mold. There was a rickety table that was covered in detritus, some of which I recognized was Dame Rebekah's, such as her holy symbol that had been stolen from the Armory. I could see that there were charcoal drawings of Dame Rebekah on the table as well. There was a painting leaning against the far side of the table that had blood and rancid meat splattered over it, that was facing a large leather chair. Aldern, or at least something faintly resembling Aldern in his clothing, was seated in that leather chair. His clothes were torn and Iesha's crumpled form was on the ground next to him.

There was a small table against the southern against the southern wall that was heaped like a ghoulish Old Country Buffett. It was full of rotten, maggoty meat. There was a horrific growth of dark green and black mold. It was rank. In the middle there was a humanoid shape made out of fungus that looked to have tumors and horny ridges. There was an exquisite puzzle box that was smashed at the shape's feet. I recognized some of the designs from the stained glass from before. As we walked into the room on high alert, the ghast rose from its seat and looked at Dame Rebekah. In a hollow mockery of a voice, it said, "You! You've come to me! I knew my letters would sway your heart, my love! Let us consummate our… our… hunger!". This ghast's whole demeanor changed with this and he lurched towards us to attack. To attack me. He cut me. He cut me deep. I dropped my machete and clenched my hand to my throat.

I don't think he was prepared for the onslaught that happened because of his actions. Faunra invoked a power from her bow that I had never seen before, and charged up her bow with both fire and electricity. She struck him in each of his shoulder blades as he continued his swipe with his Sweeney Todd prop to bring it up to his lips to lick my blood off it. As he turned to look at Faunra, Dame Rebekah made her way to his other side, and slashed him again across the back. He turned his head to face her, dismay and betrayal in his eyes. He was so distracted that he missed Jonathan sneaking up behind him and striking with his second strike.

Gh-Aldern was so pissed off at this point that he didn't even notice me staggering about five feet back. Maybe he just thought that I was out of the fight. I brought up my pistol and said, "I pass you from this realm to the next." Boom. His head literally exploded. I don't know if the balm was super effective, or if I just happened to have a super charged round for that one, but his entire head exploded, vaporized even. I mean nine millimeters shouldn't be able to do that.

I fell back and Jonathan rushed over. I could feel the healing energy coursing through me and my wound closed most of the way. Dame Rebekah did me the courtesy of healing me the rest of the way to prevent a vicious scar. I got up and walked over to the phylactery while the others were checking everything else. Dame Rebekah was going through all of the things on the table and audibly shuddering from time to time. Once I got within reach of the phylactery I noticed that the humanoid shape was exactly the same shape as my shadow. This house had stolen my shadow. I needed to eat the fungus to get it back. I almost touched it before I realized that this wasn't my own thought patterns.

We looked through the room for any hints about why Aldern was doing this, and came across a note that was addressed to him. I snapped a picture of it during the video so that I could add it later without having to freeze frame the video. (Attached above) I decided to attach it so I can reference it later. Elsewise, we found a few keys and Faunra had set to work cleaning the portrait of Iesha of the gore that it had been coated in. I shrugged and set my mind to getting rid of the fungus. I asked both Faunra and Dame Rebekah's opinions on the fungus and they both noted that it was likely that this was an error due to someone interrupting the lich ceremony, and that powerful magic would be needed to exorcise the souls and haunts here. Much more powerful magic than we had access to. I asked if it was likely for there to be a scroll or something that we could acquire in Magnimar and try to take care of it all on the way back? Faunra nodded and said that it was likely that someone would have an appropriate scroll for us to buy.

I nodded and said vocally said that I was shutting of the video at this point, and stopped my recording. They looked at me oddly and I said that so that whoever was watching the video would know that I purposefully turned the video off. They nodded. We gathered up all of the ill-gotten booty and set the fungus on fire, using a hell of a lot of oil and arrows of fire shot from Faunra's Bow. Another new power, that's cool. We left using the staircases, and left out of the front door. We looked around, thinking we were safe, before we saw the horde of undead crows. Dame Rebekah confirmed that they were undead. Jonathan went to task shooting the first of the hordes, blowing it to pieces. Faunra shot her flaming-shocking arrows of fire.

We watched as the battered and burning bodies fell from the sky, and left from the house. We made our way to the horses and took down the pavilion tent. While we were putting away the pavilion tent, Jonathan spent a few seconds to change back to his normal shape. Fifteen minutes later, we were back on the road. Dame Rebekah was giving me some pointers from what she saw in the combats that we were in. I listened and asked what questions I could to get more information. That lasted for about an hour into our walk before Dame Rebekah and myself both felt that we had covered what we could. I decided to spend the rest of the ride filling out what had happened.

We walked at an average pace and were back in Sandpoint before noon. We approached the town from the south to the Turandarok Bridge. I was still pissed off that there wasn't a gate there, but what can we do, wall off the whole town? Olhart and Lance were the ones that were stationed at the bridge. Lance was sneezing intermittently, and Olhart was pissy about the horses, but both were willing to let us pass, especially when we mentioned that we were heading straight to The Garrison.

We made our way to The Goblin Squash Stables and Faunra asked Daviren if he wanted the ears of goblins that had become ghasts. Daviren was a bit taken aback, and Faunra tossed him a small bag. He looked in and thanked us for destroying such foul things. We deposited our horses back into his care and decided to head up River Street instead of heading over to Main Street. As we made our way up River Street, we passed Wheen's Wagons.

Bilivar was talking to someone in front of his shop when he saw us walking up. He quickly ended the conversation and ran over to talk to me. He told me that he had finished the wheels and delivered them to Armory this morning. I thanked him for his work and asked what I owed him. He shook his head and said that Vaeren had showed him the engine and how it works. Bilivar said that he was very excited to see what I ended up putting together. I thanked him for all his hard work and told him that if things went according to plan, I would be making more of these, and I would be looking to only use his quality wheels. Bilivar thanked me for my complement and asked if I could get a portrait of the vehicle for him when it was done before heading back to work.

The rest of the group looked at me, and I told them that I was working on a replacement for a horse, that can go faster. I added that if it worked, and if they wanted one, I would make one for each of them too. Dame Rebekah noted that she didn't think it could ever compare to her horse. I agreed and told her that my vehicle can't think on its own, or pull me out of conflict if I fall out. I added that her bond with her horse was well and beyond what I could ever hope for. I think that she felt better after that.

We got to the Garrison, and immediately asked to be taken to Sheriff Hemlock. Silver was there again, and took us to Sheriff Hemlock. His door was shut, and he was talking to someone so we waited outside. Kaye Tesarani was the one who was in the office. I asked her if she was still having trouble with ruffians at her establishment, and quick as a whip, she responded that sometimes she just needed to make sure that her bouncers were not the ones getting into trouble. I smiled and wished her luck with that. She smiled back and said that she hoped that we were being careful with saving everyone, before heading out.

Sheriff Hemlock motioned for us to come in, and asked us what we had for him. The rest kind of waited and I took the lead. I told Sheriff Hemlock that there was good news and bad news, and asked him which he would want first. He just looked at me and I muttered, fine, good news first. I pulled out my phone and loaded up the video. While I was doing that, I told him that we had killed the thing that had killed Banny Harker, the three conmen, and the people at the Hambley farm.

Sheriff Hemlock said that was great news, and then asked what the bad news was. Dame Rebekah pulled out the letter that we had found from the mysterious Xanesha and handed it to Sheriff Hemlock. Sheriff Hemlock looked to have read the letter a few times. He asked me what I made from it. I told him that I didn't think that it was the same handwriting as the other letters, that the e's and w's didn't track, and they were some of the more common letters used in each. While I could say that a dedicated person might be able to pass off a note as another person's writing, it wasn't that common of a thing to do, especially when the details could be tracked down and confirmed.

Sheriff Hemlock nodded and asked to see the video. I pulled it up and showed it to him. I was kind of surprised to see that the haunts that were visible to everyone showed up on the video. I was even more surprised to see that haunts that I had seen specifically show up, but not everyone else's haunts. Sheriff Hemlock asked us who the woman was, and Faunra volunteered that it was Aldern's former wife, Iesha. Before he could even ask the follow-up question, Jonathan continued with saying that Aldern killed her weeks ago. Sheriff Hemlock just nodded.

When the video came to the Manticore, it was actually on the screen, so he kind of jumped for that. Sheriff Hemlock watched as we went down the stairs and the conflicts that we had with the skaveling, he noted that this was a vicious monster that we took out. Then he saw the face of Redshiv, and said that he was glad that he got what was coming to him. I asked him if he knew if Magnimar still had the bounty on him. Sheriff Hemlock said, dead or alive, but they would take more than just this video. Faunra pulled his head out of a bag. Sheriff Hemlock noted that this would do.

He watched as I had head shot after headshot with the ghouls and ghasts. He asked me where I learned to target like that. I told him there was a video game back where I was from where you targeted zombies by shooting a similar weapon, and the only way to take them down was to shot them in the head. I added that it was all fantasy where I was from. He nodded and said sure. Then he saw Aldern in all his undead mockery address us, leap forward and slash my throat. My hand came up and the angle prevented a lot of the action from being seen, but he could see that it was my pistol that ended Aldern's undead reign of terror.

He asked me how I lived through that, and I told him that my teammates had taken steps to heal me and Dame Rebekah even finished it so that I wouldn't have a vicious scar from it. Sheriff Hemlock nodded and said that it was good that I didn't, because Savah would be pissed. I acknowledged that, and said that it might be good to keep that between those of us in the room. He nodded and finished up by asking us what needed to be done to permanently purge the house of its malign influence on the area. Faunra and Dame Rebekah claimed that they both concurred that either a Hallow Effect with a Consecration, or a Dispel Evil spell could do the job. I added that burning it down afterwards would probably soak up the rest, but that the fungus was out and that we should look into that as well.

Sheriff Hemlock nodded and said that he would be very thankful if we could do what we can to prevent any other events from befalling his town. I cleared my throat and said that the town should really look into building a wall. As it stands, someone who was undead easily walked across the river and could get access as far into the town as the Armory. If that wasn't an indication that the town needed defenses, then I didn't know what was. I said that even a relatively rudimentary wall could have stopped it, if it was on the far side of the river. Sheriff Hemlock countered with something like Aldern being able to just walk from upstream or downstream. I said that still reduces your attack venues and limits the amount of space you need active eyes on. I instantly apologized for my demeanor, and explained that I was just ruffled that something that could easily dispatch me with nary a second thought was in my house after sneaking across town from the river area.

Sheriff Hemlock said that he would have to talk it over with the Mayor and the Council. I nodded and said that if I could figure out anything else that could help and would be cheaper, I would definitely let him know. I added that the group had talked it over and we would be following up on the Magnimar lead, but we would have to make some final preparation before we went. Sheriff Hemlock thanked us for our diligence and asked if there was anything the town could do to get us on our way quicker. Jonathan said that he'd need the Mayor to get some paperwork in place to make sure that The Bolting Barghest is under Shayliss' control while he was gone, and that Ven had no claim on it. Sheriff Hemlock said that he would bring it up when he met with the Mayor later. No one else had anything major to bring up, so he sent us on our way.

When we got out of the Garrison, everyone was looking at me. I looked at them and said that Aldern was in the Armory, outside of mine and Savah's bedroom door. And it almost took out me, with my fancy armor. I added that I wasn't ready enough for the kinds of fights that this place put on my doorstep and I didn't know what I could do to get ready. Dame Rebekah nodded and said that she would work with me on everything. I thanked her and put to voice my constant worry that I was being a drag on the group. Jonathan noted that I put those ghouls down just as fast as he did, and Faunra noted that if I hadn't pinpointed the Barghest, Jonathan's restaurant would not have the great rug that it has. I thanked them all and apologized for my attitude, I was just reeling from the slash that I got.

Dame Rebekah clasped her hand on my shoulder and said that we all felt that way sometimes, and it was the duty of our friends to bring us back up. I thanked her and she said that she would drop by in an hour or so. Faunra said that she had to get back to work, and Jonathan mentioned the same. I headed down Main Street towards Sand Street when I saw Solsta leaving Alma's. She noticed me and looked about as if to see if there was anyone near who could see her. I waited, not wanting to pressure her, and she walked up to me. I told her that I really was sorry for her loss, and that I would be willing to put up my share of whatever treasure we got to get Katrine raised.

Solsta shook her head, saying that Ven had her interred this morning. I apologized again and said that I hoped that she had a good ceremony. Solsta said that Father Zantus tried to be as polite about it as possible, especially with the circumstances of her death. I looked at her and made a tough decision. I told her that we had killed the thing that had killed Katrine. Her eyes lit up a little and asked if I was sure. I nodded and said that it won't be bothering anyone anymore. She asked how I knew that, and I told her that we completely destroyed its head as the final attack that ended it. She thanked me and said that she couldn't tell Ven. I told her that I understood, and that I hoped that things would get better. She nodded and wished me well before leaving.

I made my way to Sand Street and back to the Glassworks. I unlocked the door and Locked it behind me. I went into the workshop and Vaeren was there taking measurements of the wheels and the engine and trying to figure some things out. I smiled and left him to his devices. I went to the Armory portion and saw that Savah was doing what she did best, making the hard sell. Everyone else's day had gone along just like it always did. I watched Savah for a minute before turning back to put my things away. I didn't think that I needed to worry about anything else tonight. I think we had earned a bit of a respite after we took out the source of the ghouls for this area.

I went to the kitchen and made myself a snack. While I was making myself food a heavy thunderstorm broke. Oh well, guess that I I'm not going anywhere else today. After finishing up making myself the snack, I decided to head into the workshop and check in on Vaeren. He was drawing up the externals of the engine on the chalkboard. I walked over and asked him how it was going. He said that he would love to know that the internals of everything looked like. I smiled and started drawing up the internals of the engine.

He asked a couple of questions and I answered them as best I could, including showing him the math that I used to calculate the amount of force that would be generated. He seemed fascinated by the how I calculated how much energy it would produce. He asked if using this much math in a non-magical manner was common where I was from. I told him that there were people who were paid to just perform math computations and that there were specific machines that assisted them.

Vaeren asked me what my next step was, and I told him that I needed to put the bike together. He nodded and asked me what that would entail. I told him that I needed to assemble a frame, and then put everything into place. He offered to help, and I thanked him for it. I got his assistance in making a frame out of some bamboo that was out back behind the building. He helped as best he could, asking questions as we went. Once we got it into shape, I had him help me do a wrap of the frame with the B4C fabric.

I mixed up some of the alchemical cement and he helped. I told Vaeren that I couldn't give him the recipe for the exact mixture, as it was owned by Savah and Ameiko. He nodded and said that he understood. We got the alchemical cement put into the wrap, and wrapped another layer of B4C cloth around it, to hold it in place. Everything was set up and he asked me what my next step after that was. I told him that since it would take a few hours for the cement to set, I needed to work on the powertrain.

Vaeren asked me what I meant by that, and I explained what a powertrain was. He asked if I could use any kind of chain, and I told him that the normal kind of chain wouldn't be right normally, but that when I had the wheels made, the rear wheel was done to specifications that I needed that would allow the type of chain that I could get in this area. Vaeren nodded and asked what else I would need to do. I told him that I need to set up a brake system to allow me to stop quickly enough.

He offered up some suggestions and some of them were actually good enough to work into the final project. I offered him the chance to test some of the suggestions with the engine, while I went back to check in on Savah. She was done with that sale and saw me come in. She came over and hugged me. She told me that Shayliss had dropped by after I checked in on her and told her what Jonathan had told her about that final fight. I balked, but she said that the scar wouldn't have been the issue. I thanked her and she told me that I should have told her when I got back. I told her that I didn't want to bother her in the middle of a tough sale. She looked at me in a way that made me feel two inches tall and said that she can sell something anytime. Savah finished with saying that she just wanted to know that I was okay most of all.

I told Savah that I did not want her to worry, and that I was still working with Dame Rebekah to get better at the whole death defying fighting thing. Savah said that she was glad, and that she'd be happy to give me some pointers if I wanted. I told her that I'd still prefer her to be able to kick my ass if I act up. Savah smiled at that and asked what I was getting up to since I got back. I told her that I was working on my bike, and I invited her back to the workshop to see the progress. She consented to leave the shop for a minute and went with me to the workshop.

I showed her the frame, and Vaeren was over at the blackboard smiling. He said that he was making some progress with the braking systems. I asked him to make sure that there wouldn't be any damage done to the wheels or engines in the process of braking. He thought for a minute and went back to the chalkboard. He asked if it would be okay for the braking mechanism to be worn away. I told him that this was how they did it back where I was from. He nodded and started to try to calculate everything out again.

I don't know if the extra humidity in the air was working inversely to cause the cement to dry quicker, or if the addition of the extra B4C was working to sap the moisture out, but I estimated that it would only take another half an hour to cure. I noted this to Savah and said that if everything goes well, I might be able to get this thing on the road tomorrow afternoon, just in time for me to have to head out to Magnimar the next day. She looked a bit annoyed and I told her that she would be more than welcome to come with me if she could find someone to mind the shop.

Vaeren cleared his throat, and I asked what was wrong. Vaeren said that he would be glad to watch the shop and help out with making more of these vehicles if we got him one. Savah said that we had offered the extra help to Oren, and I said why not both. She thought for a second, and realized that they could split the day, and Oren could still work as a guard when he had to. Savah said that she would trust Vaeren to help out, but that he'd have to find a way to get the extra materials needed, such as the boiler, the heat source, and the cooling mechanism. Vaeren said that he would, as long as I got him some more books on this kind of science. Savah looked to me and I told them that I would look into what I had and get back to them.

Savah went back to her shop and I went on working on the velocipede. Once the frame was done drying, Vaeren helped me install the engine and get everything mounted into place. We got the wheels mounted to their places and I checked the functionality of the front forks and the handlebars. I rigged up a system to allow me to open and close the throttling valve from the handlebars and propped the back wheel up off the ground.

I put together the chain and quickly set up some kind of chain guard so that I wouldn't break my leg with it later. I cautioned Vaeren to be careful and watch for any dangers while we tried this. Vaeren nodded and said that he would. I opened up the main valve and started building pressure. Vaeren and I both watched as I slowly opened the throttle valve and watched as the rear tire started going faster and faster. Vaeren carefully took every chance he could to look at every piece of the mechanism.

This was a REALLY stripped down dirt bike, but if the calculations were correct, it would go as quickly, if not a LOT quicker, than the horse that I currently would use. It was still raining fairly heavily so I didn't think that it would be safe to take the skeleton of the dirt bike out for a test run. I figured that I could set up the rest of the bike to be ready. I activated the shut-off valve, and opened up the vent valve and exhausted the built up steam from the boiler. I checked the water in the tank, and found it was mostly empty. I figured that I would need to figure out how long I could go on a tank later.

I told Vaeren that I was going to be heading out, that I needed to get some final parts for the build. I cautioned to him that he should be really careful about trying to run the machine without me there. Vaeren accepted that and said that he had some calculations to make. I went to go get a saddle from The Goblin Squash Stables. When I got there, Daviren asked if the rest of the group was here to pick up horses as well. I shook my head, and said that I needed a special kind of saddle for a project that I was working on. Daviren said that he'd check to see if he had anything like what I needed and took a description of what I needed.

Daviren checked out what he had in the back and came back downtrodden and dejected, saying that he didn't have what I needed. I thanked him for looking, and asked if he knew where I could get enough leather to make what I needed. He went to the back and pulled out some scraps that he had that wouldn't be too useful for anything that he would make. He also got some of the padding that he used for some of the higher end saddles that he made.

I thanked him for it and Daviren said that it was nothing, that he was needed to throw the stuff out anyway. I thanked him anyway and said that if it worked, I'd definitely let him know, and even show him how it turned out. He said that he would be looking forward to seeing what kind of nonsense I was cooking up. I told him that if this works, it might make Sandpoint a much bigger draw from Magnimar. He said that he would love to see that.

I thanked him and headed back to the Armory. I made it back without much other issues, other than the rain. I got back to the Armory and went in through Savah's shop. I dried and cleaned myself and the floor off. Savah saw me doing this and asked me what I went out for. I showed her the sack of material and said that I was making the saddle for my velocipede. She said that she'd like to see what it was looking like. We went into the workshop and Vaeren was looking towards the vehicle with a bit of suspicion. I asked him what had happened. He told me that tried to open up the main valve and got hit with the steam from it as it came out.

I apologized to him for him getting hurt, and hoped he wasn't hurt too bad. He said that he had a potion of minor curing, that completely erased the damage. I told him that I could get him one to replace it, and he shook his head, saying that he would pick a replacement up later when he went to the Cathedral later. I told him that this did bring up a good point, and that I had not been treating this place as an actual workshop, and that where I was from, they had first aid kits that could help keep people safe from dangers like this. I told both Savah and him that I would be looking at getting a first aid kit for this place so that people can work safer.

Savah said that this was a thoughtful thing, and I just said that it could cover the most common of the dangerous emergencies, but that anything major would have to be dealt with by a real healer. I asked him again if he was okay, and Vaeren told me that the potion took care of most of his injuries, and now he is just a little shaken. I told him that with the main valve open, there wasn't any water left into the system, so the only danger was touching the actual boiler, which was under a layer of ceramic. Vaeren nodded and said that he would be careful from now on.

I shut all of the valves and made sure that everything was safe. Then I got some of the water from the tank of distilled water and put it the tank. I told everyone that the tank was full now and that I would be starting it back up. Vaeren took a few steps back, and Savah followed suit. I opened the main valve and the boiler started up. I opened the throttle and the back tire turned. Savah looked a little impressed. I told her that I would be adding a saddle and that when I was done, she could take it for a ride with me. Savah looked a little oddly at me, and I said that she would understand when it was done.

I shut the main valve off and let the boiler wind down on its own. Savah said that she had never seen anything quite like this outside of this workshop. I told her that if this vehicle works, and we make it out of more economical components, we could get the price down a substantial amount. Probably not to the level of a horse, but enough to make it viable for people to buy. She nodded and asked if this was what I was looking at making for her. I told her that I would likely be making something a bit more refined for her, as this was just the first version that I could make with parts that were available around town.

I told Vaeren that once we saw what worked and what didn't with this one, that we could modify it to work on his, but again, if her wanted to use the cheaper materials, I wouldn't object too terribly if he wanted it to be more economical. Vaeren asked which parts of it were the most expensive. I looked over the nascent motorcycle and did some mental tabulations. Then I quietly asked Savah what she thought she would charge for the amount of Boron cloth that we used for the frame. I quickly wrote up on the board what each item cost when it would be viewed through a standard person purchasing the items, and told Vaeren as such.

Vaeren balked a bit at how much each part of it was. But then looked at the motorcycle again. He asked what a stripped down version would cost. For this I had to confer with Savah a bit, and postulate some things, especially like using oil or coal in the boiler rather than a continual heat rock. The total came out to roughly twelve pounds of gold, or six hundred gold pieces in their currency. Vaeren laughed and said that this was much more reasonable. I nodded and said that what I put in for the extras improved performance vastly, but that they honestly were not that needed if you were just looking at it from the perspective of riding horses.

Savah said that she'd prefer the cheaper version, with the improved engine if at all possible, for her version, assuming it all works. I told her that we would need to get the engines and tanks made when we went to Magnimar later in the week. She said that it was good timing as she needed to sell off some of her more expensive items, and get resupplied on the better sellers. I smiled and said that she could either ride her horse or ride behind me on the bike if it works out well. She said that she would think about it.

Savah gave me a kiss and said that she had to head back to the store. I nodded and asked Vaeren what he thought about the price. He said that he would be looking into raising the money for the materials to make this once he had more time. I told him that once we get a line on the materials, I would probably make a lot of the motorcycles, especially for the group. He said that he hoped that we could work together on this. I assured him that if Savah was okay with it, I would definitely bring him on in some kind of role.

We went back to our individual tasks, with Vaeren making calculations and me working on making a comfortable seat for the vehicle. It took a lot longer than I would have expected, and it was closing in on eight o'clock when I was finally done. I figured that another half a day would and everything would be done. Especially when everything was all said and done. That is a remarkable fast timeframe to do this kind of thing, but then again, I could have welded up the frame for my recumbent tricycle a lot quicker if I had help, and didn't have to stop to work on other things.

Savah was watching as I fitted the seat to the bike. Vaeren had long went off to study the books that I had already transferred from digital to paper form. I sat down on the seat and asked Savah to sit down behind me. She complied and we sat down. She asked what she would hold on to while we were riding. I smiled and told her me. She coyly smiled and said that she would be willing to try this. I smiled and said that we should get something to eat. Savah said that she had already eaten while watching me work. She pointed out that there was one of Risa's sausage pepper and onion sandwiches over there waiting for me.

I apologized for not being cognizant enough when she was telling me that she had gotten dinner. Savah laughed and said that she didn't say anything, she just watched me work. She said that she would get it reheated, and I told her not to bother, that I could reheat it. I used my prestidigitation power to reheat the food and then clean up myself. She smiled and I ate while she looked over the bike. She asked me how much longer it would take to be ready to ride. I said that I had some work to do tomorrow morning, but that it should be ready by noon, or whenever the weather breaks, whichever comes first.

Savah asked if there was anything she could do to help, and I told her that hooking us up with some helmets might be a good idea. Savah said that she would need some specifics for what I was looking for, but that she might be able to find something. I told her that I would work on the specifics, but that I would know more after I saw how fast it went. Savah accepted that and said that she can't wait to see how it works out. We got the area tidied up and made sure that everything was locked up.

We went to the bedroom and we got changed out from our armor and weapons. When I went to put up my weapons on the rack, my machete was nowhere to be seen. I think tried to think back to when I last saw it, and I think that it was back in the Manor. Shit. I knew that I would have to head back there when we were better prepared, but I didn't think that I would be able to do so already. I resolved to talk to the rest of the group tomorrow to see if they remember anything about it. Savah is beckoning me to bed now.