Eighty-first session - 21 July 2006 - Blanan

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In attendance:

7 February 1109

Since Pavo's death vision reported that the next crystal “can be found in the crypt of Glali in the palace under Blanan”, the party decides now is the time to retrieve it. They teleport to the dwarven city and find themselves in the village of Taniz, just outside the outer city walls of Blanan - in the midst of a major winter sleet storm.

They make their way to the nearest entrance gates, where the guards allow them access to the sheltered area with little question. They ask where they can find the temple and are directed to the “Graymere Hall” - which is a catch-all shrine to all the dwarven deities and is the closest thing to a temple that can be found in the city.

The greeter at Graymere is a human named Kon Hardakain. He turns out to be very helpful and is able to instruct the party on the workings of the city. To their mild surprise, they find that this city operates quite differently from Clangdun. On one hand, humans play a more prominent role - even being granted full membership in a number of the clan houses. On the other hand, NO human is allowed to enter the inner city - a form of paranoid racism that even the gruff, militaristic citizens of Clangdun do not share.

Roderick uses this opportunity to seek out the shrine to Berronar, the dwarven mother of safety, truth, and home - and the goddess to whom the mace, Salinthine, is consecrated. Upon reaching the shrine, however, he finds his mind has gone blank and he cannot form a clear idea of what he wanted to ask. He leaves more confused than when he arrived.

The party decides to track down the present-day members of the clan to which Glali was a member and invite them to a feast. Kon directs them to “The White Mountain Lodge”, home of clan Asandril and residence of the chief herald for the city. Pavo heads over there and learns that Glali died some two hundred years ago and was a member of clan Zaridoth. The present-day clan Zaridoth are jewellers, who run a shop on the eastern wall.

To sweeten the day and allow for easier travel between houses, Roderick calms the sleet storm with a “Control Weather” spell.

In response to the invitations, clan Zaridoth sends two dwarves: Kwaikalik (known as “Kal”) and Bazakai (known as “Baz”). The feast is conjured by Roderick's “Heroes Feast” spell and goes over quite well - especially since Blanan has been cut off from human trade and is starved for spices and food varieties.

However, once Pavo mentions Glali's crypt, Kal's mood changes and he draws Pavo into a quiet, side conversation. When it becomes clear that Pavo knows “things” about the crypt, Kal offers to arrange a meeting with the King.

8 February 1109

The next day, the party head to the Palace of Arinchone, where they are introduced to King Clandig IV, his champion, Wacarnelian Medibeard (known as “Wak”), and an arcane spellcaster named Rik. Once the party is seated, and the pomp and circumstance of a royal meeting have been fulfilled, the king clears the room of all non- essentials, leaving only the party and the three dwarves.

During the course of the meeting, the party learns that ten years earlier, a still-unknown wizard, with an elite squad of mostly Ogres, breached the city's defenses and set up a defensive position deep in the crypts. There, he seems to have invoked an epic incantation which turned all the dwarves in the city to stone. The next thing they know for certain is that when a group of human adventurers disrupted the incantation eight years later, there was no sign of the wizard and nothing seems to have been disturbed. The king believes that the city's magical defenses sealed the wizard in and somehow prevented him from stealing the treasury - which would have been his obvious target.

Despite the king's apparent trusting nature, the dwarves seem to use this meeting simply to discern the party's intentions. When it becomes clear they are aware of what the dwarves consider “state secrets”, the king adjourns the meeting with nothing more than an agreement to meet again the following day.

9 February 1109

At their second meeting, the king is more open and confirms the details of what the party already suspected: The mystery wizard who invaded the city ten years earlier used the “mud” crystal as a focus for the epic incantation that imprisoned the dwarves in stone.

After the king's history lesson, Rik and Bigby hold a long discussion on the nature of the elements - during which, Rik reveals that he was privy to a vision about three months earlier that told him “Through Alchemy to Divination”. Just as with Kendrick, this vision appeared on November 11th. However, unlike Kendrick, Rik pursued a more cautious path and focused on an aspect of the vision involving alchemical vials. These vials were, Rik believed, composed of pure elemental earth and elemental air and he spent the next three months researching and perfecting a “Combine Elements” spell so that he could create these vials.

In the end, his spell was successful, but the resulting vials he created were not. He believes this is because of the impurity of his raw elemental materials. (The instability of the vials was inadvertently demonstrated when Roderick sneezed in the presence of Rik's finest example - and the vial shattered to dust).

In the process of all this discussion, though, it is learned that Rik has not brought the mud crystal with him. At first, he says he wasn't sure it was appropriate to bring it for this meeting. In the end, though, he admits that he was more concerned with learning the role of his vision - and felt that if the party had the crystal, they might leave and he would never learn the truth of his vision.

This manner of compulsion makes the party concerned for Rik's sanity (and the veracity of the information he is providing). To remedy this, Roderick casts a “Heal” spell on him - just as they did with the insane wizard, Kendrick. When this spell has no obvious effect, the party is (somewhat) reassured.

Bigby reviews Rik's research and convinces the dwarf to scribe a scroll containing his “Combine Elements” spell. As Rik feels the vision is the most significant thing to happen in his life, he quickly agrees. The group agree to meet again the next day - and this time, Rik promises to bring the crystal.

Bigby spends the remainder of the day studying Rik's meticulously-kept research logs.

10 February 1109

True to his word, Rik brings the crystal - magically locked in a small metal chest. Its appearance is similar to the other two, though its internal light is a light brown in color and it constantly exudes an oily substance which Rik reports is a pure mixture of Earth and Water.

In an attempt to learn more about the mysterious wizard who invaded the city, Flint casts “Stone Tell” on the mud crystal. Rather than learn of the past, though, it tells him that “Nephen will protect you from the Divination”. Quite by accident, they learn that Nephen is the name of the river that empties into Lake Arain - upon whose shores the city sits.

All of these omens and divinations lead Bigby to decide that they should not pursue any course of action until some later date. With that, the party bids the dwarves farewell and teleports back to Rota. Bigby heads to the commune to transcribe his new spell into his spellbook. Roderick remains at Aramil's fortress.

11 February 1109

Roderick casts a “Legend Lore” spell on the mud crystal and learns something like the following:

Behind a mask, he breached the walls.
And then vanished into shadow.

XP awarded: 1,000 for everyone.