Armania and Ciprian were arguing over the wand of scorching ray that was found on Melisenn.
"Well, I guess you can just take it ALL!" exclaimed Armania frustrated with Ciprian's continued collection of magic items.
"OK, OK, you can have it," Ciprian responded with a huge sigh.
"We need to get Erevel a few more items also. I think she needs the ring of protection and some more potions. She is always up front in every fight." Armania continued. Erevel concurred silently with a nod.
The dickering continued as the party tried to split up the magic items they had found. More mundane items were sold to local merchants. The poisons and unholy symbols could not find a home with any merchant. Armania took the Headband of Inspired Wisdom and Erevel got the +1 rapier.
Ciprian identified the Bookplate as a Bookplate of Recall written in Draconic and the stone cube as a Stone of Alarm, the command word scrawled on the bottom. Also having added Comprehend Languages, Ciprian tried to read the 500+ page tome found under the throne in the Court of the Unspeakable One. He found the name Pnakotic Manuscripts but still had no idea of the language. As he could only determine the literal meaning he found knowledge about flying polyps, yithians, and many other creatures associated with the gods of the Elder Mythos. Frustrated at his lack of insight he could only surmise that being able to read and study in the language may give additional information pertaining to conjuration magic and the gods and magic of the Old Cults.
The book also held several arcane spells: gate, greater teleport, greater planar binding, interplanetary teleport, lesser planar binding, planar binding, plane shift, teleport, teleport object, and teleportation circle.
"These are higher level spells, I doubt any of use can use them yet," Ciprian whined.
As the party counted its cash, they decided to wait until getting to Cassomir to try and buy any new items as there would be much more available at the metropolis. After a day of back and forth over the items the party laid down for another evening awaiting the arrival of the ship.
In the morning Erevel and Gavril awoke with fever, headache, nausea and fatigue. They had swelling under their arms, neck and inner thighs. Each felt weaker and less charismatic. No time to waste though as Meg Thalen from the Sleepless arrived to tell them the Sellen Starling had arrived.
Off to the docks the group headed and as they arrived they saw a wise keelboat listing to port. Two sailors were on deck and two appeared to be on the dock. Some dock workers were standing idly by as a short Halfling and a fat man in an ill-fitting harbormaster's jerkin were in a heated discussion.
The curly-haired halfling woman in high leather boots jabbed her finger up at the man. “What do you mean, you won’t reload it? It’s loaded wrong! Ships can’t just list to one side like you drunkards. Hardwood is heavy and as thick as your skull— your people loaded it nine stacks deep to port and three stacks starboard. I’ve got to get it all the way to Cassomir, and I won’t make it if my boat rolls as easy as your sister!”
Paullus snickered at the conversation as Ciprian moved forward, thinking to resolve the issue.
"Who loaded the boat?" he inquired.
"It's a ship! you numbskull," the halfling shouted barely noticing Ciprian's presence as she continued lambasting the fat man.
Ciprian noted the dockworkers trying not to make any eye contact as the whistled and stared anywhere but at the ship. "Who wants a gold piece to even out the load? he asked in their direction.
"Sorry, sorry. We'll fix it straightaway," one of the workers replied as he and four of his compatriots clambered onto the ship and headed below decks.
The fat man grumbled something about damned foreigners, as he sidled away to the harbormasters hut.
"Well, who might you be?" the Halfling asked, while looking Ciprian over from head to toe. "Thank you for helping get the SHIP righted."
"I'm Ciprian and my friends and I are looking for passage to Cassomir," Ciprian replied. "Cesadia from the Sleepless Detective Agency said you might be able to take us down the Sellen river.
"How many are you," asked the Halfling.
The rest of the party moved up to the keelboat and the Halfling eyed them critically and then offered to charge 75 gold each if they agreed to to assist in the defense of the ship throughout the journey. After some haggling, she is willing to take them for 50 gold each as long as they agree to fight if the ship is threatened and supply their own provisions for the trip, but these can easily be purchased in Thrushmoor.
"I'm Skywin Freeling," she says as introduction then proudly shows her ship to the PCs and makes ready to depart as soon as they would like.
"How long is the journey?" asked Armania.
"Depending on the current and winds we should arrive in Cassomir in about two and a half months." Skywin responded. "Our first stop along the way is about five or six weeks out."
Skywin offered them passage for 150 gold each, they certainly didn't appear as fighters, including provisions.
When the party returned Skywin set the Sellen Starling to sail in Lake
On day two Ciprian began examining Lowl's journals that mentioned the Dreamlands over and over. He spent eight hours studying the journals, cross cataloguing, finding misrepresentations and generally wading through the dense set if notes and marginalia. At the end of the 8 hour period he found that he had deciphered the following information.
Lowls’s journeys occurred in the Dreamlands, a vast and relatively stable section of the Dimension of Dreams. He learned the fundamentals of travel in the Dreamlands: most types of damage experienced in the Dreamlands vanish upon waking except for mental ability score damage or drain; spells and items used in the Dreamlands are not expended upon waking; items found in the Dreamlands cannot be brought into the waking world, but persist from dream to dream; and death in the Dreamlands results in immediate traumatic awakening and permanent madness.
Lowls planned to reach a mysterious hermit in the Dreamlands known as the Mad Poet. This Mad Poet was dangerous unless appeased, and Lowls focused his investigation on how to best approach this inscrutable—and certainly sinister—figure.
Ciprian was so exhausted by the research that he found he could do no more research until at least the next day. Armania assisted on the research and attempt to decipher the material. At the end of the day all were again tired and slept soundly on the deck of the Sellen Starling.
The next morning dawned with slight fog, Skywin came to the group and asked for their help today. "We bypass Illmarsh today, no ship receives a friendly welcome in the forsaken town. There is always a dense fog around the area so we have to pass closer to shore than desired," she explained.
As the ship sailed on the fog became more dense by the minute finally the party caught sight of cloaked figures on the Illmarsh wharves, 200 feet away. These figures are passing a long, barbed chain from one wharf to the other, rendering the jetties unapproachable by ship. This certainly indicated they wanted to keep the Sellen Starling out.
All of the party but Paullus spies a longship with red sails looming out of the fog 1/4 mile behind the Sellen Starling, following in the keelboat’s wake. Before the PC can catch more than a glimpse, the ship is swallowed by the fog and lost to view. While Gavril, Ciprian and Ursina spots four shapes in the water moving rapidly toward the Sellen Starling from the direction of the red-sailed ship.
DM's Notes: No XP was awarded for the evening. The party successfully managed to book passage and started down stream to Cassomir. Ciprian began his research, but there are lots of books to study.
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