Yeemik replies "yeah, yeah, fine, fine"regarding harassing people on the road. "The shrine to what? That big thing someone was polishing? You can have it."
"The goblins get to keep the beasty and the worgs for protection. Oh and if you want to go back through the woods without being eaten by spiders, you might be able to hire us. Maybe you got something nice and shiny for ol' Yeemik?"
"Oh and another thing. Kill that damn Spider if you see him again. We don't like him much around here!"
(I'd also suggest you guys figure out who is keeping which magic items before they are forgotten about.)
Zeke visibly relaxes when Arvel returns from his parlay with Yeemik. He twirls his glaive around his wrist, letting the shaft retract as he does and finishes the flourish by catching the now shortened blade and sheathing it in one fluid motion. A business-like nod in the direction of the remaining goblins and the barbarian turns to his eager friends.
Looking first at the artificer taking measurements and prattling on while the tiefling worked to keep the remaining goblins cowed, the hulking creature smiles and bows his head deeply. 'My apologies and thank you my friend - I wanted to make sure you all were safe before we spent any time trying to tackle how to handle my, umm, unique challenges.' as he says the last bit, he flexes out his wings and gestures underneath them.
'I'm not entirely sure I understand the what or how of what you want to try - but I do know I trust you completely.'
He slowly and carefully draws his blade and holds it delicately across his upturned palms.
'This blade was given to me upon my ascension at the temple. It is a symbol of an office that no longer exists, but an important symbol to me nonetheless.' A slight tilt of his hands and the haft of the weapon grows to its full length, the pommel seeming to swell as it does, keeping the weapon perfectly balanced even as it changes shape and size.
'They teach us that the Guan-Do is the weapon of the patient, the silent sentinel who stands watch and keeps his people safe.'
A deliberate flick and the haft seems to disappear into itself, the pommel shrinks and the blade guards appear to curve up and out.
'The To-Dao is the blade of the warrior, he who walks the ridge of the earth and brings death to his people's foe. This is the path of the Yamato-Shi, the Shield of the faithful, the Sword of his people, the Quiet Wrath, the Promised Vengenace. '
He unstraps his blade and wraps his belt around the sheath, presenting it carefully to the artificer.
'This is the blade of my ancestors, the embodiment of their promise to stand with me against my foes. All who have come before me are with me now, and I will be with them for all time to come. I trust you, my friend, to treat it with respect and make it a stronger weapon, a mighty blade to keep my people safe.''
As he hands the ritual blade over to the Artificer, he seems to shake off the somber tone and smiles fully in an unfamiliar way. 'I do hope you have an old blade of some sort in that fancy of glove of yours to loan me for a bit, I feel quite naked without a weapon of some sort'
Ethan holds Zeke's special weapon in his hands like he's holding a precious artefact,
"Ok, um, maybe I should explain what my plan was, in case its too much."
"So the longsword that we found earlier, it turns out its magical and I was thinking, since the blade is about the same size, maybe I could extract the special telescoping handle and change it so you can use it with the magic longsword."
Ethan takes in a deep breath and continues,
"The idea would be to rebuild the base of the handle, where the blade comes out, so that it can take a normal sword into it and clamp around it."
"That way, with only a few minutes work, you could change out the blade for a new one, but still be able to use it as a glaive when you want to."
"Unfortunately, the sword crossguard wouldn't fold up like it does now, because the sword would remain unmodified, but you would be able to, uh, upgrade your weapon without needing help from others."
"If that wont work for you, I could do the longer and slower, magic enchantment transfer process. That would keep the weapon as it is, but give it the magic currently on the longsword."
"That would be fine for now, but if you wanted or needed it to be upgraded again in the future, the process would be much harder because there would be two enchantments to deal with."
"Also the second option wont allow you to do the upgrade yourself. Oh, and not all enchantments work for the transfer technique, the greater the difference in the weapon and the stronger the magic, the more likely it wont work, and some enchantments just cant be transferred"
Ethanplaces the weapon down and opens his gauntlet,
"If you want to go with option one, I can take some measurements of the magic longsword and then you can use the longsword until I have finished rebuilding the handle."
"If you want option two, I will need both weapons for the duration, but I do have a spear and a dagger you could use."
"Oh, I also have Sildar's longsword, you could use that instead of the spear, if you want option two."
Ethan pulls out the various items, waiting to know what Zeke will choose.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Fae would feel some of her anxiety ease while Elra remains behind with her. The calming guidance from her presence would allow the wizard to relax and wonder openly. "No, nothing specific. It's just..." She'll pause as she picks through her thoughts, "You've mentioned a dream from Oghma too, yes?" Fae would turn around to look at Elra for a moment, remembering the cleric's comments and note-taking. They've never discussed these dreams openly or together (I don't think Fae knows Zeke sees them too?). "I'm not convinced that he just simply wanted us to find it. Are you?" Fae would look to pan the room again. "I just..." She'll take steps to start slowly pacing the room again, "I feel like there's more..." As a scholar, that struck a chord with her. She desired logic, proof, tangible evidence that could set her intuition at ease, otherwise... I'm not losing my mind... I'm not going mad... I'm not going mad...
Investigation: 14 + 3 (Advantage and guidance. Thank you Bacon!)
"Perfectly reasonable to think," Elra agrees. "Messages from the gods can be rather vague at times. You can never truely be sure when messages have been fully recieved until you get another one... I think. The Loremaster knows more about it than I do."
'It seems you have already given this quite a bit of thought my friend. I must confess I know very little of these matters, but I do prefer simplicity. Swapping the blades seems the easiest path, and where weapons are concerned simple and easy normally means better.' A flick of his wrist pulls a hatchet from it's holster and sends it flying end over end to sink with a 'thunk' into one of the upturned tables - startling a nearby goblin and thus serving as a nice reminder of what the party was capable of if needed.
'The symbolism is in the shifting nature of the weapon, not in the particulars of the transformation. As long as I can still use it to keep our foes at a distance or quietly stalk them in the night it will serve it' purpose.'
'And, if I'm being completely honest, I'm eager to get my hands on that beautiful sword and see what it can do'. He says this last bit as a huge smile splits his face, making the hulking demon look like a small child with a new toy.
Ethan's sombre expression turns into an eager smile, as Zeke talks.
Ethan quickly puts the other weapons away, leaving the magical longsword and Zeke's mechanical wonder out.
"Oh yeah, being magical, it should have a little punch to it, it would be interesting to measure the differences in the two blades cutting depths."
Ethan quickly takes a few measurements of the hilt and crossgaurd of the magic longsword, and records then in his book, along with another quick sketch of the blade.
Ethan lifts the magic longsword and hands it to Zeke,
"Here, give it a try."
Ethan collects Zeke's mechanical blade and his other equipment and stands back up, looking over at Arvel,
"So, where are we setting up for the rest of the night? I'm kind if eager to get to work, I'm almost bursting with idea's right now."
As Fae and Elra search the shrine area and the great hall that was what presumably converted into a study and library of some sort they first find little more than stone, dust, simple brass stands and decorative items and the few remaining old, fragile texts that are nothing special they could not find in any respectable library either has visited. It is then that Elra finds a flat stone near the edge of the hearth that has clean edges and no mortar. It doesn't take much for her to lift it, revealing a rectangular cutout below where one could hide something too much larger than a book or two. Unfortunately the space is empty, but the thought of hidden compartments motivates Fae in her search.
Moments later while peering behind the old, barely hanging Lionshield banner Fae notices that many of the stones here still have mortar around them, but one stands out as having none. Pressing her fingers along the top edge of the stone she finds that it moves slightly and she can see a space behind it. Pulling further the stone tilts out to reveal a book and a scroll, both a bit aged but in relatively good condition considering the state of the castle and just how long they may have been there.
Untying what was once a nice ribbon around the scroll, Fae finds nothing but a blank page staring back at her. Opening the book she finds that it appears to be a journal and that a note is tucked under the front cover. The note reads "Lyra, keep up your studies and when you come of age, bring this to the Forge. Be ready to prove yourself worthy of a place amongst the scholars with Mr. Blackcrow and Mr. Thunderheart, if you still desire it. Love, Uncle Elben."
Eventually paging through the diary, Fae finds it to have belonged to someone named Lyra Graywind over 500 years ago. She remembers that the Graywind family owns the Lionshield Coster, and that they thus just met Linene Graywind in Phandalin. Lyra's journal has scattered dates spread out over roughly a three year span. Much of her recorded thoughts surround the comings and going of her family members between Yartar, the castle, Phandalin, etc.and her own travels to see them, including coming here to the castle to stay with her Uncle Elben. These and other entries reveal that Lyra was quite young as she muses about boys, dresses, and the aspects of her life that are 'not fair'. As the pages go on, however, she begins to discuss more and more her studies with her scholarly Uncle Elben in his library. Further on she discusses her uncle leaving more and more often and for extended periods of time to help research at 'the mine', a place to which her family's business is also providing a great deal of supplies recently. Notable entries that catch Fae's attention, and Elra's if Fae shares, of course, include:
Commentary on her uncle taking about the great wizard Mormesk Blackcrow from Waterdeep and that Uncle Elben is helping with their research.
A dwarf named Falgrim Thunderheart who leads a good number of dwarves and gnomes in exploring and researching this new mine, and that her uncle likes him a lot too.
Mention of the 'Forge of Spells' and the 'Phandelver's Pact', although she doesn't really understand what either is.
Commentary on how the magic is different in this mine and that Uncle Elben and the rest are very excited about their research there.
That she gets to go on the Lionshield supply deliveries now when Uncle Elben happens to be going, so she got to see the mine and how amazing it was! She even met Mr. Blackcrow and Mr. Thunderheart and they were so nice and reminded her to study so she could come help them some day!
That she got to on another trip to the mine and there were some new faces there. Everyone seemed more stressed than normal and she heard mention about 'masks' and 'a soul, or souls' but she didn't really understand.
That Uncle Elben won't take her any more and she's really mad about it. He says it's not the same and there are more wizards there now that he doesn't trust.
That something bad has happened at the well and that people are blaming Mr. Blackcrow but Uncle Elben doesn't believe he would betray the Pact because he's good and was the driving force behind all of the long term research happening there.
That it isn't safe any more and they might be leaving the castle in the morning to return to Yartar before the orcs and 'red wizards' come.
As Elra speaks about gods and messages, Arvel'shand surreptitiously goes into his pocket and touches the two-headed coin.
"Well, Etan, I think we have a bit of time but we really should leave any major modifications and project for when we are back in Phandelin. The Spider could be returning soon and that dragon might come back too. I'd prefer to be gone before either of those events occur. Even my hot streaks have to come to an end and the only way to keep luck from catching up to you is to keep moving."
((Ya Elra will help Fae))
Elra Skylash - Human Cleric | Vanzaren Tanidoni - Half Elf Wizard
Mindartis Liadon - Eladrin Barbarian | Naivara Siannodel - Half Elf Ranger
Arrila Evenwood - Half Elf Paladin | Callaphe of Setessa - Human Rogue
Katernin Nemetsk - Aasimar Cleric | Melody - Tiefling Bard
((She would also cast guidance on her))
Elra Skylash - Human Cleric | Vanzaren Tanidoni - Half Elf Wizard
Mindartis Liadon - Eladrin Barbarian | Naivara Siannodel - Half Elf Ranger
Arrila Evenwood - Half Elf Paladin | Callaphe of Setessa - Human Rogue
Katernin Nemetsk - Aasimar Cleric | Melody - Tiefling Bard
"No attacking travelers on the road. The shrine to Oghma must be maintained. There are my first two."
DCI: 3319125026
Yeemik replies "yeah, yeah, fine, fine" regarding harassing people on the road. "The shrine to what? That big thing someone was polishing? You can have it."
"The goblins get to keep the beasty and the worgs for protection. Oh and if you want to go back through the woods without being eaten by spiders, you might be able to hire us. Maybe you got something nice and shiny for ol' Yeemik?"
"Oh and another thing. Kill that damn Spider if you see him again. We don't like him much around here!"
(I'd also suggest you guys figure out who is keeping which magic items before they are forgotten about.)
Summary of loot:
Elra:
Tarja:
Fae:
Gundren:
Ethan:
Uncollected:
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss
Also we didn't check the Hobgoblins or Grol for loot either.....
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss
"Let me check with my companions, but I'm sure we can leave you with some seed money if you agree to terms.
Also, feel free to kill the Spider if and when he comes around here again, too. That works well for both of us."
Arvel walks down the hall to his companions.
"Hey, I may need to bribe Yeemik with a little gold, but I've got him agreeing not to maraud and to let us take the shrine with us. Any objections?"
DCI: 3319125026
If it gets Yeemik out of phandalin's hair, fine by me.
Zeke visibly relaxes when Arvel returns from his parlay with Yeemik. He twirls his glaive around his wrist, letting the shaft retract as he does and finishes the flourish by catching the now shortened blade and sheathing it in one fluid motion. A business-like nod in the direction of the remaining goblins and the barbarian turns to his eager friends.
Looking first at the artificer taking measurements and prattling on while the tiefling worked to keep the remaining goblins cowed, the hulking creature smiles and bows his head deeply.
'My apologies and thank you my friend - I wanted to make sure you all were safe before we spent any time trying to tackle how to handle my, umm, unique challenges.' as he says the last bit, he flexes out his wings and gestures underneath them.
'I'm not entirely sure I understand the what or how of what you want to try - but I do know I trust you completely.'
He slowly and carefully draws his blade and holds it delicately across his upturned palms.
'This blade was given to me upon my ascension at the temple. It is a symbol of an office that no longer exists, but an important symbol to me nonetheless.' A slight tilt of his hands and the haft of the weapon grows to its full length, the pommel seeming to swell as it does, keeping the weapon perfectly balanced even as it changes shape and size.
'They teach us that the Guan-Do is the weapon of the patient, the silent sentinel who stands watch and keeps his people safe.'
A deliberate flick and the haft seems to disappear into itself, the pommel shrinks and the blade guards appear to curve up and out.
'The To-Dao is the blade of the warrior, he who walks the ridge of the earth and brings death to his people's foe. This is the path of the Yamato-Shi, the Shield of the faithful, the Sword of his people, the Quiet Wrath, the Promised Vengenace. '
He unstraps his blade and wraps his belt around the sheath, presenting it carefully to the artificer.
'This is the blade of my ancestors, the embodiment of their promise to stand with me against my foes. All who have come before me are with me now, and I will be with them for all time to come. I trust you, my friend, to treat it with respect and make it a stronger weapon, a mighty blade to keep my people safe.''
As he hands the ritual blade over to the Artificer, he seems to shake off the somber tone and smiles fully in an unfamiliar way. 'I do hope you have an old blade of some sort in that fancy of glove of yours to loan me for a bit, I feel quite naked without a weapon of some sort'
"Oh, a, well, that's very...heavy, a..."
Ethan holds Zeke's special weapon in his hands like he's holding a precious artefact,
"Ok, um, maybe I should explain what my plan was, in case its too much."
"So the longsword that we found earlier, it turns out its magical and I was thinking, since the blade is about the same size, maybe I could extract the special telescoping handle and change it so you can use it with the magic longsword."
Ethan takes in a deep breath and continues,
"The idea would be to rebuild the base of the handle, where the blade comes out, so that it can take a normal sword into it and clamp around it."
"That way, with only a few minutes work, you could change out the blade for a new one, but still be able to use it as a glaive when you want to."
"Unfortunately, the sword crossguard wouldn't fold up like it does now, because the sword would remain unmodified, but you would be able to, uh, upgrade your weapon without needing help from others."
"If that wont work for you, I could do the longer and slower, magic enchantment transfer process. That would keep the weapon as it is, but give it the magic currently on the longsword."
"That would be fine for now, but if you wanted or needed it to be upgraded again in the future, the process would be much harder because there would be two enchantments to deal with."
"Also the second option wont allow you to do the upgrade yourself. Oh, and not all enchantments work for the transfer technique, the greater the difference in the weapon and the stronger the magic, the more likely it wont work, and some enchantments just cant be transferred"
Ethan places the weapon down and opens his gauntlet,
"If you want to go with option one, I can take some measurements of the magic longsword and then you can use the longsword until I have finished rebuilding the handle."
"If you want option two, I will need both weapons for the duration, but I do have a spear and a dagger you could use."
"Oh, I also have Sildar's longsword, you could use that instead of the spear, if you want option two."
Ethan pulls out the various items, waiting to know what Zeke will choose.
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss
Fae would feel some of her anxiety ease while Elra remains behind with her. The calming guidance from her presence would allow the wizard to relax and wonder openly. "No, nothing specific. It's just..." She'll pause as she picks through her thoughts, "You've mentioned a dream from Oghma too, yes?" Fae would turn around to look at Elra for a moment, remembering the cleric's comments and note-taking. They've never discussed these dreams openly or together (I don't think Fae knows Zeke sees them too?). "I'm not convinced that he just simply wanted us to find it. Are you?" Fae would look to pan the room again. "I just..." She'll take steps to start slowly pacing the room again, "I feel like there's more..." As a scholar, that struck a chord with her. She desired logic, proof, tangible evidence that could set her intuition at ease, otherwise... I'm not losing my mind... I'm not going mad... I'm not going mad...
Investigation: 14 + 3
(Advantage and guidance. Thank you Bacon!)
just an unstable unicorn.
"Perfectly reasonable to think," Elra agrees. "Messages from the gods can be rather vague at times. You can never truely be sure when messages have been fully recieved until you get another one... I think. The Loremaster knows more about it than I do."
Elra Skylash - Human Cleric | Vanzaren Tanidoni - Half Elf Wizard
Mindartis Liadon - Eladrin Barbarian | Naivara Siannodel - Half Elf Ranger
Arrila Evenwood - Half Elf Paladin | Callaphe of Setessa - Human Rogue
Katernin Nemetsk - Aasimar Cleric | Melody - Tiefling Bard
'It seems you have already given this quite a bit of thought my friend. I must confess I know very little of these matters, but I do prefer simplicity. Swapping the blades seems the easiest path, and where weapons are concerned simple and easy normally means better.' A flick of his wrist pulls a hatchet from it's holster and sends it flying end over end to sink with a 'thunk' into one of the upturned tables - startling a nearby goblin and thus serving as a nice reminder of what the party was capable of if needed.
'The symbolism is in the shifting nature of the weapon, not in the particulars of the transformation. As long as I can still use it to keep our foes at a distance or quietly stalk them in the night it will serve it' purpose.'
'And, if I'm being completely honest, I'm eager to get my hands on that beautiful sword and see what it can do'. He says this last bit as a huge smile splits his face, making the hulking demon look like a small child with a new toy.
Ethan's sombre expression turns into an eager smile, as Zeke talks.
Ethan quickly puts the other weapons away, leaving the magical longsword and Zeke's mechanical wonder out.
"Oh yeah, being magical, it should have a little punch to it, it would be interesting to measure the differences in the two blades cutting depths."
Ethan quickly takes a few measurements of the hilt and crossgaurd of the magic longsword, and records then in his book, along with another quick sketch of the blade.
Ethan lifts the magic longsword and hands it to Zeke,
"Here, give it a try."
Ethan collects Zeke's mechanical blade and his other equipment and stands back up, looking over at Arvel,
"So, where are we setting up for the rest of the night? I'm kind if eager to get to work, I'm almost bursting with idea's right now."
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss
As Fae and Elra search the shrine area and the great hall that was what presumably converted into a study and library of some sort they first find little more than stone, dust, simple brass stands and decorative items and the few remaining old, fragile texts that are nothing special they could not find in any respectable library either has visited. It is then that Elra finds a flat stone near the edge of the hearth that has clean edges and no mortar. It doesn't take much for her to lift it, revealing a rectangular cutout below where one could hide something too much larger than a book or two. Unfortunately the space is empty, but the thought of hidden compartments motivates Fae in her search.
Moments later while peering behind the old, barely hanging Lionshield banner Fae notices that many of the stones here still have mortar around them, but one stands out as having none. Pressing her fingers along the top edge of the stone she finds that it moves slightly and she can see a space behind it. Pulling further the stone tilts out to reveal a book and a scroll, both a bit aged but in relatively good condition considering the state of the castle and just how long they may have been there.
Untying what was once a nice ribbon around the scroll, Fae finds nothing but a blank page staring back at her. Opening the book she finds that it appears to be a journal and that a note is tucked under the front cover. The note reads "Lyra, keep up your studies and when you come of age, bring this to the Forge. Be ready to prove yourself worthy of a place amongst the scholars with Mr. Blackcrow and Mr. Thunderheart, if you still desire it. Love, Uncle Elben."
Eventually paging through the diary, Fae finds it to have belonged to someone named Lyra Graywind over 500 years ago. She remembers that the Graywind family owns the Lionshield Coster, and that they thus just met Linene Graywind in Phandalin. Lyra's journal has scattered dates spread out over roughly a three year span. Much of her recorded thoughts surround the comings and going of her family members between Yartar, the castle, Phandalin, etc.and her own travels to see them, including coming here to the castle to stay with her Uncle Elben. These and other entries reveal that Lyra was quite young as she muses about boys, dresses, and the aspects of her life that are 'not fair'. As the pages go on, however, she begins to discuss more and more her studies with her scholarly Uncle Elben in his library. Further on she discusses her uncle leaving more and more often and for extended periods of time to help research at 'the mine', a place to which her family's business is also providing a great deal of supplies recently. Notable entries that catch Fae's attention, and Elra's if Fae shares, of course, include:
Elra pats Fae on the back, "Nice! See, you should always follow what you're head tells you." She reads the things over her shoulder.
Elra Skylash - Human Cleric | Vanzaren Tanidoni - Half Elf Wizard
Mindartis Liadon - Eladrin Barbarian | Naivara Siannodel - Half Elf Ranger
Arrila Evenwood - Half Elf Paladin | Callaphe of Setessa - Human Rogue
Katernin Nemetsk - Aasimar Cleric | Melody - Tiefling Bard
As Elra speaks about gods and messages, Arvel's hand surreptitiously goes into his pocket and touches the two-headed coin.
"Well, Etan, I think we have a bit of time but we really should leave any major modifications and project for when we are back in Phandelin. The Spider could be returning soon and that dragon might come back too. I'd prefer to be gone before either of those events occur. Even my hot streaks have to come to an end and the only way to keep luck from catching up to you is to keep moving."
DCI: 3319125026
"Oh, I can make some of these modification relativity easily, if we are staying the night."
"Some of the others mentioned not setting out right now, and waiting until morning."
"Do you think maybe we shouldn't wait that long?"
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss
"Just a post-con itch on the back of my neck. I'm sure I'll be fine once my heart stops beating like a wardrum."
DCI: 3319125026
Ethan turns to Yeemik,
"Yeemik, do you have a place where me and my friends can spend the night? I have some work I want to get started on."
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss