Day 115: Fireday the 11th, Abadius, 4708
I started off the day with getting up and expecting to get breakfast ready for Savah, but she had already gotten up and gotten a meal ready for the two of us, that we shared in bed. We enjoyed our breakfast together for a little while before we both got up and got dressed. I used the spell to get us armored up quickly. We headed downstairs and I checked in on the twins and the unseen servants. The servants were still working away dismantling items and getting them repaired and cleaned up for sale, and the twins were noting that they seemed to be helping well enough.
I sent a thought to Niddler to check how he was doing with his chickens, and he told me that he was happy. I replied back that I was glad, and I got ready for our next mission of spelunking. I wished Savah a good day and we embraced before I went off to the new sinkhole in town. When I got there, Dame Rebekah. Faunra, and Jonathan were all there waiting. Paltero was there, and had been keeping watch over the pit.
When we approached, he told us that he was just about ready to jump in there himself and solve this whole thing when we showed up. Jonathan smiled and told him that he was certain that he could have handled it, and thanked him for his diligence, and told him to wait up here for a little bit to finish off his shift, then head over to the Barghest for a meal, on him. I was impressed, and we looked into the pit. Paltero thanked Jonathan, and Paltero noted that he had begun to hear some faint howling from the pit, but that he hadn't see any dogs or anything. Jonathan again thanked him and we looked into the pit.
While it was thirty-foot-wide, it was only fifteen-foot-deep, so we all scampered down with a little help from a rope that had been set up for this purpose. Jonathan told us that he heard a howl of something not too canid down in the depths below the pit, so we spent some time getting ready for the excursion. For about thirty seconds, we all cast spells or focused on generating effects to increase our abilities. I focused on generating the effects of getting us all to move faster or have a more instinctual grasp of our surroundings.
We (Jonathan) found the entrance at the bottom of the pit very easily. It was the entrance to the Catacombs that we had been in so long ago, and it was the set of stairs that had went up that were blocked off. This was worrying, as we didn't take any steps against that. What was even more worrying was that the steps going down that had been blocked off and had cement poured in were cleared. We cautiously followed them down. This set of steps were completely free of rubble, mold, or mildew. However, they were full of heavy cobwebs. At least they were until my machete and Dame Rebekah's blade burned them away.
When we reached the bottom of the stairs, Jonathan made a prearranged symbol for speech and Dame Rebekah put the dagger that she had enchanted with silence in an extradimensional space. Jonathan told us that the door at the bottom of this stairway was trapped with an alarm spell. I went over to it and used my machete in the same way I had done before. The enchanted alarm seemed to dissipate before our eyes. Jonathan nodded to Dame Rebekah who pulled the dagger back out and put it back in her sheath.
We crept open with the door and looked around inside. The walls, floor, and the ceiling of this place were covered in scrawl. The size and design looked to vary immensely from massive to tiny script. Some were done in black ink, some blood, and some carved into the stone. I could tell that they were all done by the same hand. There were massive carvings of three eyed jackals, signifying the presence of Echidna. I read them quickly and they were prayers to her as well. Interspaced amongst the liturgy was a line that didn't fit.
"If Magic Bright is your Desire, To the Old Runeforge you must retire!
For only there does Wizards' Art, Receive its due and proper start."
I noted this for later and we looked around further in the room. There was a set of double doors to the South. We snuck over to those doors, and they were locked with an enchantment. My trust machete made quick work of the enchantment, and we went through them. Beyond were some meditation rooms where there was iconography to Echidna. Jonathan scorched it off the walls with some quick lightning bolts. In the first room, there was another out of place stanza of a poem. At least that is seems to be following.
"On Eastern Shores of Steaming Mirror, At End of Day, when Dusk is nearer,
Where Seven faces silent wait Encircled guards at Runeforge Gate."
I noted this, as it might be important later. We retreated from here and noticed a door across the way. There was a large cathedral area to our left, so we silently voted and decided to approach the cathedral first. There were mounds of rubble on the floor, and crumbling walls. There were four black stone pillars that went up forty feet and a glowing three eyed jackal's head in between all of them. There were alcoves to the north and south which contained depictions of Echidna.
Up towards the remains of a pulpit was a tall (eighteen feet!) figure that had a pair of massive pincers, a hunched back, horns of various shapes, and a vicious grin when it noticed us. It came rushing towards us, getting within thirty feet and then smiled as right in front of us, another just like it appeared. This new one lashed out at all of us, trying to grab Faunra with its pincers, slashing at Jonathan with its claws, and trying to bite Dame Rebekah. Everything missed or got absorbed by a force field. Dame Rebekah struck back with three heavy hacks after silently invoking her divine powers to enhance her sword.
Her Blessed blade swung back and forth across the thing, opening up great rents and exposing the putridness beneath its skin to all of our noses. Jonathan seemed to ignore the thing amidst us, rushing out towards the one that had summoned it, encased in telekinetic energy and delivering a vicious boot to the head. Jonathan looked like he yelled that out when he did it too. The demon in front of me tried to take a swing at Jonathan as he flew out, and I took advantage of that to strike hard, three times, in quick succession, spilling more of the tainted ichor and causing it the demon to disappear. The one back where Jonathan was looked less than pleased.
Faunra launched a series of shots against the thing, peppering it for minimal damage. The thing smiled as it willed the very gravity around us to contort, sending Dame Rebekah and I lurching into the ceiling. Angering me greatly. It was all that Dame Rebekah and I could do to right ourselves and start walking along the ceiling towards the fray. Dame Rebekah had lost hold of the dagger when she flew up. In that time, Jonathan lashed out and lashed out hard, hacking at it with his dagger with reckless abandon, apparently determined to punish it for hurting his friends. After the second stab, it was obvious that the thing was dead on its feet, but Jonathan just kept continuing. By the time Jonathan had struck the sixth time, all that was left was a pile of viscera and foul smelling ooze.
Dame Rebekah and I were still on the ceiling, but we got to see from our vantage when six hounds with scorpion tails came rushing into the cathedral, making a beeline towards Jonathan. I don't know If it was the fact that his goddess was opposed to Echidna in a lot of ways or because he was a canid of sorts as well, but they went straight for him instead of rushing past to get at Faunra. Dame Rebekah and I were out of reach, for the moment anyway. One of hounds rushed forth and bit at Jonathan. The bite hit nothing but air. Another wheeled around the back of him and I instantly recognized this as wolf-pack behavior.
Faunra must have as well, as she let off arrows at each of them in turn. She only missed the one that was opposite of Jonathan from her. I had a different vantage point, so I dropped a round from my pistol into four different hounds, including the one that she missed. None of them dropped, but all but one got much quieter. Dame Rebekah rushed forward along the ceiling until she got to a place where she was outside of one of the zones of reverse gravity, and fell. She was close enough to the hounds that I could not hear them at all anymore.
Then Jonathan unleashed his chain lighting effect, destroying all of the dogs and lashing out at three of the statues at the same time. The dogs all disintegrated into ash and mist, with only one body remaining. With a laugh, I heard the voice of someone who definitely deserved his own suite at Arkham. The voice yelled out that he would have like to talk to us but since we turned the volume down, now it was time for us to die, and then he called us sucklings. Then a gaunt figure that looked like a human skeleton with a single horn appeared next to Faunra, trying to claw or bite her. Behind her, a ghostly falchion appeared and tried to hack at her at the same time. Faunra's armor managed to take any of the blows that she couldn't dodge outright.
Faunra backed up five feet and dropped four arrows into the new demon, dropping it. I heard some cursing before noticing the form of an insane cultist with a falchion and a dagger. I guessed that he had not noticed me yet, because I took aim and popped off four rounds at him, missing only on the final round, because I had not taken into account how being upside down would affect kick drift. Thankfully, I managed to drop him with the third round, with a nice hit to chest, dropping him to the ground. Dame Rebekah rushed up and beheaded him, ensuring that he would not come back. I walked forward a bit cautiously until I found a section of the roof that didn't have the reversed gravity, and cautiously made my way to it to regular land. While I still got hurt a little with the landing, but managed to stave off a lot more harm.
Dame Rebekah helped me up with a strong arm, Faunra gave me a pat on the back, and Jonathan hit me with his healing effect. Jonathan muttered that there was no sense in wasting a potion if we didn't need to. I completely agreed. Vocally at least. Then I noticed a third stanza of the poem that was out of place among the prayers to Echidna. I collected it as well, and here it is.
"Each stone the grace of seven lords, One part of key each ruler hoards;
If offered spells and proper prayer, Take seven keys and climb the stair."
When we were all ready to continue, after promising Jonathan that he could set upon this place with as much lightning as was needed to eradicate it from existence, we found a cavern with scattered remains about it. There wasn't anything reminiscent of the town guard thankfully, but it did look like some of the clothing that had been common among the Sczarni was present. Maybe this had something to do with the rumors of tunnels being used by them and them being caught in the earthquake. From what it looked like, there were no survivors to the conflict that occurred here.
We followed along the carved out cavern until we came to where those awful hounds looked to have bedded down. There was another stanza of this poem written in blood onto the wall. There was also fragments of what looked to be leather armor and broken clubs and daggers, from what I expected were the further remains of the Sczarni which they had used as basically chew toys. I resolved to try to get a reading off of one of them when we were certain that the compound was clear.
"On frozen mountain Xin awaits, His regal voice the yawning gates
Keys turn twice in Sihedron- Occulted Runeforge waits within."
Our little intrepid group continued on and found ourselves walking towards a room with cramped writing on all of its walls, overlapping at times. Jonathan stopped us before we went in, sniffing the air. Jonathan noted to us that there was a trap ahead and that I should go handle it. I asked him if he could point me to where it was, and he said that it was under the door with the carving, but that the trap was a magical one. I sheathed my pistol and pulled out my machete. I walked over to the door, noting that it had an inscribed poem stanza on it as well, which I have written down below.
"And now you've come and joined the forge upon rare lore your mind can gorge-
And when you slough the mortal way In Runeforge long your work shall stay."
I stabbed up at the top of the door where I thought I noticed glowing rune and there was a sudden flash of light. The yawning feeling in my mind that "Lamashtu's Influence had tainted the minds of my compatriots" went away. Stupid trap. Trying to project thoughts into my head where it can't even pick up that we all made a pact to never even use that name ever again. If it was a smart trap, it would have done a surface read and checked for something as simple as this. Also, none of us particularly desire deformed children for the sake of having deformed children.
We came up to the last room, and found that there was a heavy enchantment on it to prevent those who would enter it if they were not subscribed to the ethical views of Chaos, and the Moral views of Evil. Dame Rebekah smiled and cast her Dispel Magic on the room and destroyed the enchantment that prevented us from entering. We all entered in and took stock of the room. It was decorated with flowing script and runes along the walls. The body of Chertus Jheed was there, his limbs broken and his body battered. His equipment was piled up on a low table on the east wall, where there were vials of colored liquid and a peacock feather quill.
There was nothing else in the area, so we took the items and the body from the room and shoved it into one of our bags of holding. As we left out of each room, Jonathan started pouring oil into it, splashing it around the walls and on every square foot of floor. I stopped him and asked him if he wanted to destroy Sandpoint. Jonathan looked at me confused, so I told him the story of Centralia Pennsylvania, and how the fire ended up starting almost sixty years before I had left my world, and how it was still burning to this day. Jonathan kind of gulped for a second and I told him that we could easily deface and destroy the chapel, but we needed to not use fire for this.
We all helped to get the oil back into the bag of holding and Jonathan noted that it wasn't a good idea anyway. We made our way back to the chapel and Jonathan had a good time absolutely destroying the various iconography of Echidna. He also repeatedly sent lightning bolts into the remains of anything left until it either disappeared or was nothing but ash. He seemed especially happy to destroy the works of this evil goddess. So much so that he promised to fill this place in, back to front, with sand and stone. Dame Rebekah and Faunra declared that they would help with the filling and sealing, while I went to report everything to the Sheriff and the Mayor.
When I left the pit, Jonathan, Faunra, and Dame Rebekah were all working together to get massive amounts of sand, stone, and rocks to place them into the area below the town. I went directly to Paltero and told him that we had cleared out the area beneath, but that he should stick around for a little bit to make sure that no one falls into the pit. Paltero laughed and said that he would until he was relieved. Jonathan ran out of the pit, went to the beach, came back with a sphere approximately seven feet in diameter, and took it down into the pit. When he rushed by a second time while Paltero and I were finishing our conversation, I told him that he might be better off moving all of the sand that he can at one time from the beach to the pit and then moving it in. Jonathan said that this was a good idea, and started rushing back and forth.
When I went to go talk to the Mayor and Sheriff Hemlock, I informed them of everything I could about the details below. I told them about the hidden temple to an evil goddess, about the Sczarni who had been dispatched sneaking in there, about the body of Chertus Jheed. Sheriff Hemlock asked who had the remains, and I told him that Faunra and Dame Rebekah had the bags of holding. The Mayor thanked us for this and offered me up a bag of coins. I shook my head and told her that this money needed to be put back into the community, but if they really felt the need to honor us, that the town could just recognize us publically during the next festival. The Mayor smiled and said that the town could certainly do that. I thanked them and told them that I needed to go reference a lot of materials for some clues that had been left in the cathedral below.
I headed for home and decided that the day wasn't quite done for me. When I got to our property, I went to where the academy would be built. I summoned up my first horde of fifteen unseen crafters and had them start work on building the campus, by doing the grounds work and excavation. They had what looked like shovels and rakes, so I knew that this would take a fair amount of time. Then I summoned up a second batch to start hewing and collecting trees and cutting them down into the required timbers and planks for the buildings. I figured that I would summon up the third batch to work on constructing everything once there was a good amount of materials available and space to start the work.
I went inside and greeted Savah. We hugged and I told her about everything that had went down as we had lunch. Savah listened to me and I asked her what had happened so far today for her. She told me about the sales that she had made, and how Vaeren and Erika were learning to run the store very well, but not at the same kind of profit that she could. I nodded and she continued with saying that the unseen crafters were still working away at cleaning and repairing the weapons in the shop and store. Her inventory had never looked so clean and oiled! Then she told me about Niddler.
Niddler had taken a lot more interest in the Chickens and was applying wiser and more skilled tactics in their rearing. He had taken to studying up on farming techniques during the times he wasn't intently watching the chickens and said that he was considering branching into other animals next year. I laughed a little and told her that we would need to make the farm bigger. Savah asked why we would do that, and I told her that I didn't hate the idea of having an agricultural unit for the school, as it would be useful for farmers and locals. Savah nodded and asked what I was doing with the rest of my day. I told her that I had some clues that I needed to work through from the area beneath Sandpoint, but that when I was done, we should go to the theater and have a night off. Savah agreed and I went upstairs to the Library.
For a few hours, I reflected over the stanzas, and put them into the most likely order. That was easy enough. Then the next bit, where I needed to try to collect the clues into a coherent statement. That proved somewhat vexing, since I was not as versed with this world as others were. I decided to write down my observations for each stanza:
If magic bright is your desire, To old Runeforge must you retire!
For only there does wizards' art Receive its due and proper start.
A fairly simple origin, discussing what the poem is about. Granted there are some interesting things, referring to wizardry as an art, when it was more like a science or a craft is a bit like someone who didn't know what they were talking about were trying to fluff up the subject. Maybe a bard?
On eastern shores of steaming mirror, At end of day when dusk is nearer,
Where seven faces silent wait Encircled guards at Runeforge gate.
Mirrors. Mirrors can be kenning for bodies of water. So a steaming body of water. I thought that I heard of a Lake that was known for hot springs, but I can't remember where. Maybe Shalelu or Faunra would know better, as they are much more in tune with the geography of this place. Honestly, I need an atlas. Also, seven faces? For them to be there still, they need to be statues. Maybe there is a circle of statues on the eastern shore of the body of water? That should cut the possibilities down dramatically.
Each stone the grace of seven lords, One part of key each ruler hoards;
If offered spells and proper prayer, Take seven keys and climb the stair.
So, they are likely statues or constructs that each hold a key. To get each key you need to offer up a spell and a prayer. Each Runelord was associated with a different "school" of magic. I know of Karzoug and Alaznist. We can find out what each one was known for and prepare a spell of that "school" as part of the offering. Faunra will probably know what is best for each one.
On frozen mountain Xin awaits, His regal voice the yawning gates
Keys turn twice in Sihedron- Occulted Runeforge waits within.
Xin – Looks like a proper noun, like a name or title? Could be the shortened form for Xin-Shalast. Could there be a programmed voice that opens up a gate of some sort? Maybe there is a giant head that the mouth is the gate? Then this Sihedron again. I guess since there are seven keys, it will be seven keyholes in star formation.
And now you've come and joined the forge upon rare lore your mind can gorge-
And when you slough the mortal way In Runeforge long your work shall stay.
Wow, okay. I guess they wanted to go heavy on bragging about what you can find at the Runeforge. However, from the phrasing, it seems there might be some kind of time dilation effect with the place? Like it stops time or something? Could just be poetic license, but then again, magic might be able to do something like that. After all that puzzling, I figured that I had gotten what I could, so it was time to bring in Faunra or Shalelu. I keyed up my radio and tried to reach Faunra first, as I figured that she was in town. Faunra responded back after a few seconds, saying that they were on their way over.
I went out to the balcony and looked out over the construction. The invisible workers were doing their things, respectively. Breaking up soil, moving it to a pile for flood wall reinforcement, levelling and grading off the terrain, digging in the basements, all of the groundskeeper crew was working hard. In the other area, there were teams of three chopping down trees and then sectioning them into logs. It must have been a few hours. I watched as the lumber team stacked the logs into a pile. They were not generating them specifically for any usage, but just generating generic logs for later forming. I thought about it for a minute, and decided to wait a little while longer to allow more work to be ensure that there would be no stoppages.
I saw the trio arrive at the shop's street, and start heading down the road. I signaled to them that I was up in the Library, and that they should just come up when they get here. I went back to puzzling over all of the details. The clue may have been designed by a neophyte bard, maybe one with a cultural background in poetry, the gateway is located on a lake with hot springs and seven statues on its eastern shore. We need to know each of the Runelords to get in, and what each one was focused on. We'll get a key from each statue, and they will be used to open up a lock with seven keyholes. There will be a staircase after we get the keys, which will lead us up a mountain? Turning each key twice opens up the gate. And there might be some timey wimey stuff there.
When the trio got up to the room, Jonathan had brought some light snacks with him. Faunra and Dame Rebekah were right after him, giggling all the way. When I asked them how the refilling went, they told me that the town was a little bit lower on the sand side, but much higher on the structural support side. They told me that it had taken the better part of three and a half hours, but Jonathan had filled the whole thing in with sand and waste from Junker's edge. Jonathan then did up the sinkhole portion with rock and stone from the Hellfire Flume before Faunra capped half of the sinkhole with a single casting of Wall of Stone, to ensure that everything was tamped down good and that nothing would shift. Dame Rebekah noted that she had gotten some assistance from a deific servant who volunteered to do the job for free, since we were sealing up an evil temple and what not. The servant used some abilities to meld the sand and stone together to make it a little stronger.
With that discussed, Faunra asked me if the room was safe, and I shrugged, noting that I didn't really know of any of the places were safe. Faunra told me that when we had fought against Mokmurian, I had generated some kind of field that made me not as easy to notice through magic. I told her that I had not, but went to my phone to look into its app history. It turned out that I had accidentally opened up an Ultra high sound wave generator when I opened up the Kirlian app. I flicked it open and it had two options, focused and area. I shrugged and activated area.
Faunra nodded and said that we could continue speaking now. Everyone looked fairly serious, and Faunra dropped the news on me. We were now in the possession of two artifacts. Faunra brought out the scroll from the adamantine cylinder and told us how she had studied this first one last night after we had gotten back from Jorgenfist. Faunra told me that the artifact in question could allow an arcane spellcaster to read spells from it that they already knew, like scrolls, but each time it was used, the activator suffered a chance at losing their mind. It also has an addictive property to it, but with enough resolve, one can use it a few times without danger. I told them that this seemed like a dangerous thing to get out into the public and everyone agreed. Faunra said that she would devote time to figuring out how to deal with it.
Dame Rebekah spoke up about the second artifact, producing the peacock quill that we had just gotten. Dame Rebekah noted that she had been informed that the quill was something called a revelation quill, and that it generates ink every hour, but more than that, it can be used to divine the future or talk to other planes. I noted that this seems dangerous too, but that we might be able to use this if there were no drawbacks like the other one. Dame Rebekah noted that the quill had been used for its purposes this week, and that the first that it would be available is tomorrow for divining, and next week for contacting another plane.
Jonathan spoke up and noted that we were going to have to travel to Magnimar to trade off on some of the things that we got, and Faunra noted that she had a question about one piece of treasure that we had acquired. She continued with asking us about what we wanted to do with all of the scrolls that we had gotten from Jorgenfist, including a scroll of Limited Wish that been among Mokmurian's personal effects. I noted that I didn't really know what all a limited wish was capable of, but it seemed like something we needed to keep up our sleeves until we needed it. Faunra agreed, but asked when everything was all said and done, that she would like to get it as part of her take when everything is all said and done.
I couldn't argue with that, and asked when we should leave to head to Magnimar. Jonathan noted that we should leave immediately, and that if we hurry, we can be there by tonight. I told them that I'd let Savah know that we needed to head out, and Dame Rebekah recommended taking our significant others with us. I didn't see a problem with that, and so they all rushed off to go talk to their partners. I headed downstairs and found Savah to propose a night out in Magnimar instead of a night at the theater. Savah smiled and said that it was a nice alternative. I told her that we were going to head over to Faunra and Shalelu's house to see how we were going to get there. Savah said that she'd get ready to head out immediately.
I started going over everything making sure that the library was locked up safely. Niddler noted that he was going to have to stay here for the night, so that he could keep an eye on his birds. I wished him well, and got on my bike. Savah came rushing down in her armor and gear, with a satchel on her side. Savah jumped on her bike and we headed out. We made our way to the Barghest. Jonathan and Shayliss were already there, waiting with their own gear. Jonathan jumped in Savah's sidecar and Shayliss got into mine. I shrugged and we took off towards the South side of town. When we got to the bridge, I could see that there were the beginnings of a more definitive wall around the town.
We rushed down the road, with the headlights covering the road ahead of us. Savah's didn't seem to be travelling as far as mine did, so I guess that I am going to have to ask Faunra to upgrade hers as she had mine. We zipped along and made our way to the Ashen Rise. We didn't get bothered by any kind of monster, but I guessed that this was because our bikes were getting recognized. We arrived there in about forty-five minutes.
When we got there, Dame Rebekah and Chelger's flying steeds were there as well, and there was a nice subterranean garage that we drove the bikes into. We headed through the underground tunnel to Faunra and Shalelu's tower. The four of us were greeted by A waxwork version of Shalelu and Faunra, who took us to see the two mistresses of the house. They took us to a special chamber at the top of the tower and Faunra noted that we were going to teleport over to Magnimar, but that we were going to have to have three people jump into bags of holding. Without missing a beat, Savah looked me in the eyes and jumped into her bag. Shayliss shrugged and jumped into her own bag, and Chelger did so as well.
Faunra uttered the words and we were suddenly elsewhere. When my vision returned, I noticed that we were in the Kaijitsu townhouse. I opened up Savah's bag and she came out in her dress, with the enchantment activated to look like a stunning evening gown. I noted that I had not remembered to pack mine, and I heard Faunra yell out in the strangest voice that I had ever heard he say, "upgrades people, upgrades". I turned and saw that she had my suit already over there, smiling, along with Jonathan's suit and Dame Rebekah's. I grabbed mine and went into a room, to transfer clothes with a quick spell. I could tell that my clothes had been enhanced greatly, and could feel so much more confident because of it. I kept my pistol in the underarm holster I had, but left the armor and everything not appropriate in satchel.
I headed out to the common room and everyone else was similarly attired in the finery. Savah grabbed onto my arm and asked if there was anything new that I had gotten for her. Faunra asked if she could borrow me for a second, and took me into the other room where she offered me my split of what we had acquired, I had a choice of four piles and one of them had the amber and sapphire necklace that we had recovered from Jorgenfist. I grabbed that one and Faunra smiled. I'm pretty sure that they planned this.
I went back into the room and Savah was waiting expectantly. I showed her the necklace and she was floored. She immediately took it to go put it on, and seemed pleased as punch. There was a lot of coinage in that bag that she handed me. I guess we had graduated to having minor bags of holding just for our coinage. I guess I never realized how profitable this adventuring life could be.
I looked at the others and noted that we were very flush with cash right now, and that it would be a good idea if we had a bit of a fall back plan. Dame Rebekah asked me what I meant. I told her that we still had a bit of a banked donation with the churches of Desna and Iomedae. I suggested that we increase those donations and put a substantial one with the Church of Abadar. Faunra looked at me a little questioningly and asked why. I told her that if there was any reason that we needed to be healed or anything, it would be good for us to not have to worry about paying for it in the moment. Faunra said that it sounded like a good idea, but that we should probably diversify the banked offerings in the future. I told her that I agreed with that as well, that it would definitely make us more secure and well liked politically.
Dame Rebekah said that she would deal with it in the morning, Jonathan said that he had to go get something quick in town and took off out the front door. I shrugged and waited for Savah to come back. She did and I realized that it would be in my best interest to compliment her on how she looked with the necklace. Savah beamed and thanked me for the compliment. We all made small talk about plans and what we would be looking into the following day here in Magnimar, and where all we would need to go until Jonathan came back.
We all walked out into the courtyard and there was finely decorated small barge that looked like it was just pulled out of the water. It had just enough room for all of us to sit in it. Jonathan lifted it up mentally about six inches and we all piled in to our seats and Jonathan asked us where we were heading. There was a brief discussion where we decided to head to the Serpent's Run, to see what kind of event they had tonight. We took our "magic carpet" ride to the hippodrome, and found a place to set down. We made our way to where there was a line forming for the seating. I looked at the others and asked if we try to head to the attendants to see if there was a private booth available for us to rent.
Dame Rebekah noted that we would probably upset those who were ahead of us in line. I noted that we could just pay their ways into the event. I asked the people ahead of us what section they were planning on being seated in. After a second, they told me that they were planning on sitting on the copper benches. I offered them a gold each to keep my place in line while I went to go talk to the attendants. I gave them each a gold and went to the head of the line. The half-elf there was rather annoyed by dealing with a family that wasn't having enough copper to get everyone in.
I dropped five platinum for the people in line ahead of me, for them to not worry about the people ahead of us, and asked if there were any private booths available. The Half-elf kind of scoffed for a second before I dropped another ten platinum on the desk. I asked for at a private booth for at least eight people. The half-elf counted the coins and called one of the valets over. I told them that we could wait until we got up to the line got up to us. The half-elf sighed and waved people in on mass, until they got to us. I smiled at the people who were ahead of us in line, and they went in. The attendant said that there was still a lot more left, and I told them to just keep letting people in until the platinum ran out.
We went in to our booth and it looked to seat ten instead of the eight of us. The valet who led us there got a list of what we'd like to eat and drink. We looked down to the center of the hippodrome and there was a dwarf who was just walking out there. He cast the sound amplifying spell and announced that tonight was the monthly gladiatorial brawl between the town guard. Apparently one of the gladiators was officer Pan-Am. I laughed heartily when I saw that. He came out with his stereotypical "All right, all right, all right, what's all this then." The fight went pretty well, and Pan-Am was cheered for loudly from our section.
Shortly after we were seated, the Heidmarchs showed up and asked if they could sit in our booth with us. Dame Rebekah said that they were more than welcome, despite the rough interactions that I had previously had with them. There was some brief conversation where they asked who we were rooting for. The rest of the group said that the only guard that we really knew was an Officer Pan-Am. Sheila stifled a laugh, and told us that Officer Pan-Am was generally thought of as a joke among the crowd during these mock gladiator combats. Sheila asked if there was anything like this back where I was from.
I stiffed for a second and then told them that there was indeed something similar to this, and that it might be just the thing to bring to Magnimar. I pulled out my phone (I never left that out of reach) and looked to see if I had a video of wrestling. All I had was a meme of Donald Trump body-slamming someone. I showed the gif to Sheila, and told her that I could try to find more examples later. Sheila asked if there were weapons involved, and I told her that mainly barb-wire wrapped clubs, folding chairs, and other thing like that in some matches, others were just examples of aerobatic physical prowess. I added that it was much less lethal than using weapons like this, but much more based on spectacle.
Sheila nodded to all of this and asked if I would be willing to provide a bit of a better description tomorrow. I looked to Savah and she just shrugged. I told Sheila that I would try to visit tomorrow to provide more information about this. After a bit more observation of the fights, where Officer Pan-Am was cheered loudly by us, if only because we knew his name, the tournaments took a break to heal up the incidental damages from the mostly non-lethal conflicts. Then Sheila asked if it was true that we had discovered a new Thassilonian ruin in Sandpoint.
I paused for a minute and Jonathan told them that we were in the process of filling it in completely, they looked disappointed and asked why. Faunra told them that it was dedicated to an evil goddess, and we didn't want the possibility of further problems from this for the town when we were not in it. Sheila looked a bit mollified by this, and I pulled up the video of our assault on the church. Sheila watched the whole thing, and asked if it was dedicated to. She started to say the name, but Dame Rebekah stopped her. Dame Rebekah told her that deities can know when their names are spoken so we do not discuss that deity's name.
Sheila nodded and said that she could accommodate that, but asked how we termed her. Told Sheila that we used a name that was from where I was from that was for a deity from a different culture that was also a mother of monsters. Sheila nodded and said that it made sense. There was a lull in the conversation and I looked at the rest of my group. We all had a silent conversation by looks alone and Faunra said that we found something better that the Pathfinders would be interested in. Sheila perked up and asked us what.
I told the Heidmarchs that we had found something known as the Therassic Library, but demanded several concessions before we would tell them more. Sheila asked what we would need, and Faunra told her that we wanted a copy of every book, script, tome, or manual in there. Sheila said that the Pathfinders could do that, I added that the Librarian needed to be treated well, and the books could not be removed from the Library itself. She thought for a minute more and asked why. Faunra told her that the preservation magic ended when the books left the doors of the library. Sheila said that they could accommodate that as well.
We told them the last part, that there was a trap on the doors to the library that would summon a monster that could kill many people. Sheila said that the Pathfinders were not averse to danger. I told them that this was not a one-time trap, but a continual one. I added the last caveat. I told them that we needed all of the information that was related to Technology that the Pathfinders had. All of this would be part of the library that we were putting into the University that we were creating in Sandpoint.
Sheila agreed to all of this, and we told them that we would get them the certificate and introduce them to the Librarian when we had the time. Sheila agreed and told us that if this was even a small library, it would be a terrible boon for the Pathfinders. I laughed and said that it had over twenty-four thousand written works there. Sheila went wide eyed at that.
Sheila said that a find of this magnitude was sufficient to get us a field commission in the Society. She'd have to Send to the Decemvirate in the morning, but it was likely that we would not have to even travel to Absalom tor the tests. I shrugged and asked what that means. Sheila told us that we all would now be eligible to become full members of the Pathfinders, and with the reports of all of the Thassilonian ruins that we had found so far, with the excellent documentation that we can provide (my videos), we would be jumping in with an amount of fame that could only be described as similar to venture captains. We would be sought out by other members of the Pathfinders, maybe even members of the Decemvirate, to get reports or to talk to us.
We were ready to listen to more, but the Dwarven master of ceremonies interrupted our conversation with the announcement of the continuance of the event. There was a knock at the door to the booth and a bevy of attendants came in with all of our meals and drinks. We got our assorted meals and Jonathan tipped the attendants well and they left quickly. We all enjoyed our meals, which included pop-corn, an innovation that we had brought to Sandpoint. Apparently it was well liked here. Sheila noted that she had heard that we had brought the idea of popcorn here to Varisia. I nodded and said that it was a favorite for the Sandpoint Theatre.
Canayven looked at me oddly, and asked if I was indeed responsible for popcorn. Savah grabbed my arm lovingly and noted that I was responsible directly or indirectly for a lot of the culinary changes, like the Cheddar Bay Biscuits from the Hagfish and the Tiramisu from the White Deer. Canayven seemed to soften a bit towards me. I offered him up that I was familiar with a large amount of varieties of popcorn if he wanted to try something else. Canayven said that he would indeed be interested in this, and that he would like to see what I had to offer. Savah told me that I could discuss this tomorrow while she helped out with all of the trading and upgrading tomorrow. I shrugged and said that I guessed that my day was free tomorrow. Sheila said that this was good, and that she might even be able to arrange a Decemvirate member to be available tomorrow if she gets home quickly.
Just then, Officer Pan-Am was eliminated, falling to the ground unconscious. I shrugged and yelled better luck next time. We watched the rest of the match, and found that it was won by a Watch Captain, Acacia Uriana. She seemed to be very fired up and rambunctious. She also wielded paired shortswords and had a penchant for using feints and such. I noted that it was likely that she had a penchant for that in real combat as well.
The Dwarven Master of Ceremonies came out and congratulated the Watch Captain and most of the crowd either cheered or booed. The stadium started to decrease and an attendant knocked on our door. We let them in and they asked how we appreciated the show. I shrugged and looked at everyone else. Dame Rebekah asked if everyone would be okay. The attendant told us that they would indeed be fine, as the healers would be attending to them and no one was striking to kill. I thanked the attendant and told them that I enjoyed the show.
The attendant thanked us and said that a path out to our conveyance was already prepared. Sheila and Canayven were a bit interested in what conveyance we were using, and so followed us down. We walked through a series of paths until we got to the place where our barge was located. Sheila asked if it was magical, and Faunra told her that it was not. Jonathan lifted it up with a no more exertion than before, and it raised up easily. We all got in and the Heidmarchs got in as well. We headed towards Heidmarch Manor, floating over the city gracefully.
We saw a variety of buildings and sights, and the Sheila noted that she didn't expect to be flying tonight. Jonathan noted that he was telekinetically lifting the barge and that he and Faunra were actually flying as he and her lifted off of the barge seats. Sheila laughed and noted that we had changed greatly in the interim since we had met. Dame Rebekah told her that we had been greatly tested and learned things about ourselves that we had not before. Sheila nodded and said that it was much that way for her and Canayven in the past.
We arrived at Heidmarch Manor and dropped off the pair. I told them that I would be there in the morning, Savah spoke up and said not too early with a smile. They laughed and departed from the barge. We lifted off and headed back to the Kaijitsu Villa. Jonathan lowered the barge and we disembarked from the vessel. I asked Faunra if it would be a good idea to enchant the barge to make it easier for all of our combat gear and such. Faunra said that she might look into it, but expected me to be looking into making something technological to go faster.
I told her that I would think about it, but that it would probably be easier with magic. Faunra nodded, but noted that she would be busy for a while with upgrading all of our gear and armor to be up to snuff for dealing with the Runeforge. I told her that I would look into it, and that I believe that I still had some records about the Besler Steam Plane that could be modified for unlimited water and unlimited fuel. I thought back and remembered that it was very quiet and could travel at up to two-hundred miles an hour.
Faunra looked amazed. I told her that she can teleport in an instant. She agreed but noted that this took phenomenal magical power. This just took a few low level magical items and ingenuity. I told her that I would start planning it out in the morning, and that it would take a fair while to make, and probably be fairly expensive, but that with all of the resources that we had now, I could look into getting it made sooner rather than later.
We all retired into our separate rooms, with Faunra collecting a lot of our gear to try to see what she could upgrade or further enchant after she got some rest with Shalelu. Savah and I got to bed and we enjoyed talking over what we had seen. She helped me get all of the information into this record so that I could remember everything that I had promised to do tomorrow and in the future. It seemed like I was going to be adding the next layer of technology to this world. Interesting times for sure.