Murphy responds to Reverie with a smile. "I am tougher than I look. But no worries, I have other members of the Iron Gate who accompany me on field trips.

"Who knows how the gods wage their fights? But unless there is more information tying Eldath to these events, I don't think you should worry about the Mother Guardian of Groves using demons to terrorize mortals."

He will have the Iron Gate continue to watch for Darvin, or any cold-related problems that might involve the Hag.

(Did you have any other questions about recent events, or requests for him to watch for anything else?)

(OOC: none from Trimyrai.)

Froskan looks to Murphy at the comment about watching for cold-related problems and the Hag.  "Just warn your men that I also routinely use cold magic, so it would be nice if I don't get jumped the first time I have to defend myself and start throwing around cold spells," he says with a grin.

Since the party did useful work for the Iron Gate, Murphy hands the party a small payment. (Consider your hotel and food expenses for the next week to be paid. And I have added another Potion of Healing to everyone's equipment.) He then departs for his other Iron Gate errands.

You wait, anxious to get more news, while the trail is hot... A day passes. Then another. Still no sign has been seen of Darvin, or bhauer hag.

(OOC: Trimyrai got some news about the fate of some of his villagers, but that is it for the moment. Just a teaser for now.

If you have a request for what to do next, I'm happy to consider it. Not sure what you would be most interesting, at the moment... Or if you leave it to me, I will arrange for the group to spend a little time on the ocean, with a little payback against Umberlee minions.)

Trimyrai would like to continue the investigation, but if we have no leads, he is fine with helping the party with their various problems and quests. I believe we were working towards uncursing reverie's blade?

(Reverie can help the party also if we have no plan at the moment! Uncursing Forestgleam's blade would be awesome too. c:)

(Jack would be fine with getting the Blade fixed. However, he’d honestly prefer to try and continue learning about what Bane and Umberlee are planning.)
(Or, maybe, finding Theren. I know half the party doesn’t know who the crap Theren is, but Jack would enjoy finding him before he.. gets himself hurt, with the ship dream adventure thing.)

(I like that! Finding Theren!)

(OOC: Thanks for the feedback. Theren is on hold for now, but I've got some short term plans in mind... If your group finds more of Trimyrai's villagers, you'll need a place for them to stay, especially if they've been targeted by bad people.)

Trimyrai is going stir-crazy, not hearing any more news about Darvin or the other villagers. He needs a distraction, as this continuous worrying is not helping... He does notice that Reverie, despite her cheerful attitude, is looking more and more weary, with dark circles under her eyes and her temper getting shorter. Maybe helping her deal with her cursed scimitar (not as good a weapon as a longbow, in his opinion) with make him feel better, and keep his morale high for when Darvin is found...

While relaxing in the hotel lobby, you wave for Babs to give you a hand. You have her send a note to Sallah and Marion, asking if their weapon specialist friend (Egg Chen) is ready to help your group. (He has had time to examine the items you recovered around Nimrod's grave, when you last went down the Pit.) You get a reply back the next morning, saying to stop by their academic building as soon as possible, before Egg Chen changes his mind.

(The church of Oghma has almost a monopoly on academic resources, but there are other small schools that manage to stay in business in the city. Sallah and Marion work with a museum, and a historical foundation supported by one of the nobles.)

Sallah and Marion are not there (other errands), but you get directions to Egg Chen's lab. You knock on his door, but do not hear a response. You do hear activity inside, and the door is unlocked, so you cautiously open the door and enter.

The chamber has a few bookshelves with tomes and references, but your eyes are drawn to the suits of elaborate armor and unusual weapons hanging from the walls. (When Trimyrai leans close to a large black iron bow to look at it, you notice that the nearest suit of armor turns its helmet in his direction. When Trim leans back, the helmet turns back to its original position.)

At the end of the chamber is a large table. Behind is seated a short, elderly human, that you first thought was an oversized gnome. He has on Eyes of Minute Seeing, and was carefully polishing a dagger of some kind. It takes him a few more moments before he realizes the five of you are there. (thick accent, seems like standard Common is not his native language) "Eh, what are all of you doing here? I'm busy. And you should have had the courtesy to knock before coming in."

Trimyrai: (to the elderly human) "Apologies for disturbing you. But in our defense we did knock."

"What?" He looks confused, then is silent for several seconds, concentrating on his memories. "Oh, there was knocking just a moment ago. Heh heh, sorry about that... But I'm busy! No time for strange people without appointments!"

(He seems a little scatter-brained, and his changes in mood are giving you whiplash.)

"I'm sorry, but Sallah and Marion said you would see us," Froskan said.  

Reverie frowns profoundly as the anger flames internally, thinking if this older man was playing with them. However, she exhales deeply to keep her thought away and then raises her scimitar slightly. "Just like my friends speak. I thought you wanted to see my scimitar that has been cursed for a long time," Reverie says quietly, "... I'll appreciate if you'd be careful to handle this moment."

Froskan says, "I'm sorry, but Sallah and Marion said you would see us." Egg Chen replies testily, "They didn't arrange for me to meet you. I'm supposed to meet five people about a scimitar..." He goes quiet, and as he looks around the room, you can see that he is mentally counting your group.

As he reaches "5", Reverie holds out the scimitar (in its scabbard) in front of his face. "Just let my friends speak. I thought you wanted to see my scimitar that has been cursed for a long time... I'll appreciate if you'd be careful to handle this moment."

He takes a step back to get a better view of the scimitar. "Aha, this is it. Yes, I said I would make some time to examine it." He invites Reverie to sit in a chair across the table from him, as he puts away the dagger he was restoring. "You shouldn't get too excited about it being special. Not every fancy weapon you find lying on the street is magic." Before you can say anything, you see him thinking. "Wait... Marion and Sallah did say you found it deliberately buried underground in the Shadowfell..." (brightly) "Never rmind about what I just said."

At the table, Egg Chen tries to pull the scimitar to him, but is unable as Reverie is still gripping it with her dominant hand. (She is not resisting what he is doing. She just finds herself unable to let go of the weapon, despite Remove Curse being cast daily by Isk.) After a short but amusing tug-of-war, Egg Chen gives up. "If you could slide it a little closer to my side of the table, I will look at it where it is."

Egg Chen looks over the scabbard closely for a few minutes, every so often brushing off some dust or picking loose some clay stuck to it. He finally sits back and flips up his Eyes of Minute Seeing. "I can't work like this, with the other 4 of you hovering over my shoulder. You are all breathing too loud.

"She has to be here." (Reverie still has a one-handed death-grip on the scimitar.) "But the rest of you don't... Why don't you be useful while you are waiting? There are some crates and bags in the other room. Open them and spread their contents on the empty tables." (thinks for a moment) "Umm... Please."

"It is scrap that I buy from scavengers, who find it along the shorelines near the city, but every so often they bring some interesting knick-knack. My assistants will sift through it later... You can leave the door open, so you can keep an eye on your friend here, and vice versa."

Trimyrai complies with the funny old man and does what he asked.

Jack does what the man asks, but still keeps an eye on him. He summons a Mage Hand as well, to assist in the work as he goes on. “Ye sure you can do something? Try to keep Reverie unhurt, please, while you try and fix that. We don’t know exactly what’s wrong with her- at least, I don’t.”

The other room has 4 long benches, like a small cafeteria hall.

There is a lot of stuff in the crates and sacks, and appears to be collected from a variety of places.

• You find a heavy bronze anchor, decayed with with coral-like growth, suggesting it has been in deep ocean waters for decades.
• Debris and ships parts, consistent with flotsam (ship wreckage) and jetsam (discarded materials to lighten boats). There are pieces of a mast, and most of a galleon's steering wheel, smelling of seaweed.
• Some stuff with no water damage or seaweed growth at all. Most is worthless boxes and poor farming tools. The most valuable item is a shield sized plaque, a third of it missing, made of ebony wood, with an embossment of red gold (some flightless bird charging sideways into battle).
• Most of the stuff looks like junk tossed recently from the city. (Like the equivalent of soda cans and plastic bottles.) You do find the occasional item which might be older, like a copper hand lamp with archaic writing around the base.

Getting this stuff unpacked and spread out takes an hour. But it would have been much longer if the 4 of you weren't there. (None of it is magical.)

Jack, seemingly astonished, gasps quietly as he looks at the plaque. He whispers something to himself (someone paying close attention would hear the clicking sounds of Aquan, which (for anyone who understands it) would translate to "I missed you. Welcome home.") as he opens up his Bag of Holding, and places it into there alongside the Sofa from the Ogre's lair. He, not so discreetly, looks around to everyone, before continuing to work on unpacking everything.

For a strange reason, Jack appears extremely happy and chipper now. More chipper than even Froskan and Reverie have seen him, in fact. Which is unusual, very unusual. He even seems to be humming a small tune. One who was paying attention would also note how he treated the Plaque- not as a random piece of junk, but as a fond memory, something close to him that he hadnt seen in a while. Like a young child who found their lost stuffed animal, or a grieving Mother who found a baby picture of their Son.

Froskan follows the others to the back room and helps with unpacking the various items onto the tables.  Occasionally inspecting an interesting item for a few moments before placing it on the table.

Perception: 5

He watches Jack with fascination as the other man finds the plaque and his mood seems to instantly shift be much happier than the dragonborn can remember having seen his friend, but doesn't immediately say anything, choosing to finish the task at hand for now and let Jack continue enjoying himself.

Quote from VanderLegion >>

Froskan ... Perception: 20

The room is fairly well lit, but the arched ceiling and support beams still make a lot of shadows. Froskan can hear something moving around up there.

When Jack stuffs the shield-sized object into his bag, Froskan gets a clear look at a cat on one of the cross-beams, staring down at Jack. And at the same time, in the other room, Egg Chen lifts his head and seems to be lost in thought.