Zeke allows Ethan to fit him with the modified armor, all the while certain that it won't fit. He had tried every sort of contraption over the years, but nothing would accommodate his massive, but ultimately useless wings.
The artificer's explanations of the 'how' mean nothing to the barbarian, but the way the supple leather lining feels against his skin, the smooth fit of the armor across his chest and shoulders, the ingenious mechanism down the back are like a revelation. Zeke gladly accepts the artificer's help in strapping on the rest of the armor and then proceeds to work himself through a vigorous set of exercises to test the new gear.
Starting with deep knee bends and working into a set of choreographed lunging steps, each punctuated with a snap kick, he begins to get a feel for the weight, flexibility, and mobility of the new armor. Building from there, he heads back into the destroyed dining room and shoulder rolls across the floor, using his wings to first shelter him from the debris on the floor, and then to help propel him back to his feet. He turns one such roll into a forward charge, splintering the remnants of a table as he smashes into the weakened wood.
Bouncing on his toes, he turns to find Ethan has returned with his modified blade. At once his mood changes from enthusiastic to somber as he reaches out to take the modified weapon back from his friend.
Again, the artificer's explanations wash right over the simple warrior, but the balance of the blade, the heft of the haft, the swing of the shaft tell him what the words can not. He turns it over in his hands, practices growing and shrinking the weapon, swings it in crashing arcs, and stabs in against invisible foes. This is his weapon. The tool of his trade, the promise of his people, the fulfillment of his oath.
Dipping his head low and holding the blade across his upturned hands he faces his friend 'Many thanks to you Master Artificer. The skill of your hands is only matched by the sharpness of your mind. I can not begin to fathom how you made this happen, but you have. This armor is remarkable. It fits like nothing I have ever worn before and seems impervious to damage. I will be a bulwark against our foes in this, they will break themselves against the strength you have forged.' He spares his friend a curt nod and a brief smile before pressing on. Bobbing his head even lower, the barbarian takes a deep settling breath. All at once, he drops to his knees, holding his arms up as he does so the blade stays in place. Arms extended, head down, blade presented the tiefling begins to chant '
The blade, a weapon,
My body, a weapon,
My mind, a weapon
my spirit, a weapon.
I am all those who have come before and I am all those who are yet to come.
I am the promise fulfilled, the bond unbroken, and vengeance unbound.
This blade is that promise. This blade is that bond. This blade is that vengeance.'
Rising from his knees, he locks eyes with Ethan 'Thank you my friend for your work, and for respecting the work of those that came before me. I pledge to keep you and all our companions safe with this blade, to keep our foes at a distance and to strike down those who wish to bring you harm.'
Elra keeps scrubbing at the brazier, switching arms whenever one started to feel like it was starting to fall off. She took that time to appreciate the craftsmanship of the brazier, taking care to ensure that she got all of the muck and dirt and grim from even the smallest crevices. Work like this wasn't something she was used to. Copying old delicate scrolls, sorting through rows and rows of books, scrolls, and parchments looking for something very specific the Loremaster wanted. This kind of manual labor wasn't something she normally was allowed to do.
She started to get tired while scrubbing, and looking at her fingers they were starting to turn red from the effort she was putting into it. The water she had put into the brazier's dish to help with the cleaning had turned a gross muddy color, and she emptied it and refilled it. She could hear Ethan, Fae, Tarja, Zeke and Arvel talking in the background, but she didn't join in on the conversations or research they were doing. Something compelled her to keep going, be it herself or some supernatural force sent by Oghma himself. She started going cross-eyed from the focus she was giving to the tiny details.
Eventually, she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore. The rag she was using to clean up the base slipped from her hand, and she fell asleep curled up against the brazier.
The Next Morning:
Elra startles awake the next morning, Arvel's blanket slipping off her shoulders as she sits up and rubs her eyes, yawning. "Good morning, how did everyone sleep?" she looks down at her hands, "huh, my fingers are still sore, I must have done a lot of work,"as she blinks a few more times, trying to wake her eyeballs up, she notices the brazier, "Oh..."it was done, it wasn't polished to a gleaming shine, but all the grime was done. "I guess I cleaned it up."
Tarjawakes up a bit bleary-eyed, having stayed up late reading the journal.
This confirms what I'd thought from my old letters. Whatever happened to Falgrim, Mormesk, and Phandelver's pact - it went wrong because of those red wizards. Couldn't live in peace, couldn't leave well enough alone... and now the mine, and the forge, and the brazier are lost, and this place is swarmed with goblins and Spiders and dragons.
It doesn't seem to be going too well this time, either. Gundren's not too well off now.
Arvel's manic energy keeps him up late into the night. After long discussion with Yeemik(and no small amount of gold changing hands *DM determine later*), an accord is reached regarding the Keep and it's new inhabitants. The charlatan also gives instructions to the goblins about what to tell the Dragonabout the Spider,and vice versa.
His high finally running low, Arvelsits down next to the sleeping Elraand rests his head against the polished brazier.
(hmm, my post got cut off... adding its second part now)
Tarja notices Elra's work on the brazier, how much more impressive it looks when clean, and an idea comes to mind.
You know, Falgrim's letters from the Mine mentioned the Forge, and also a brazier with strong powers. Perhaps... could this be that brazier?
I'm not really one to know - too much metal, not enough nature magic. Not sure I'd be able to tell if it was anything more than mundane! But maybe you can, Elra.
Ethan works on the bag and finds its magic, and it's malfunctions, to be quite complex. He does feel like he can fix it, however, and that he is on the right track as he begins his work. Eventually braving to risk opening it to see if he can learn more, he does not see what he'd see inside his gauntlet or similar bags he has seen or heard about. Instead of a pocket dimension with his things neatly organized within, he finds a cloudy, darkness filled with various magical distortion. Occasionally the the magic coalesces and a phenomenon not unlike lightning occurs and reveals an image only for a second or two. Ethan relates it that which one might see through a portal or some sort of scrying magic. In a blink, however, the image is gone.
It occurs to Ethan that one could use this damaged bag for something more powerful than simply a space for storage, as useful as that is. He concludes however that any attempt to use the bag as a passage to another place or even to reliably view another location would be far more difficult to achieve than the already difficult task of repairing the bag to be used as intended, and would likely result in disaster. His curiosity does lead him to add a few pebbles to the bag, but the results are as he might have guessed. The various pebbles disappear into the various spaces the bag seems to capture a glimpse of only momentarily and are unrecoverable. Ethan thus decides not to put his hand or anything else he values inside the bag.
The artificer concludes that the tether to the intended pocket dimension is severely damaged, but it is still there. Stitching together the sigils, he finds that he is able to calm the storm of chaos and images within and partially repair the fraying tether. He is confident he is on the right track, but that it could take several more hours of work and he cannot be completely confident in the exact outcome but likely would be satisfied in repairing the original space, even if it proves empty, so that he can use the bag as it was originally intended.
Let's consider that 1 of 3 DC20 successes required to repair the bag. You may be able to achieve another success in at little as an hour, as I don't want to infringe on your actual crafting time too much.
Ethan, or anyone Ethan describes these images to in great detail, can make a History check to try to identify the images below that Ethan saw. Please state which one you are rolling for if you choose to do so, as some may be easier than others. To be transparent, these rolls are just for fun, flavor, and a bit of world building regarding this D&D world in general, as opposed to being essential to the story. Mostly just having some fun with Ethan and anyone else interested here.
When Elra sees Arvel, she gently shakes him, "Wakey wakey Arvel," she smiles, "you're going to ruin all my hard work sleeping like that!"
When Tarja mentions the brazier from the Forge, she pauses, "Well... I don't know much about braziers and their magical uses besides for the purpose of summoning familiars... but this seems more divine than arcane. And arcane magic seems more useful for the Forge... you know?"
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Ethanpeers into the bag seeing a cloudy maelstrom and then a flash and a city surrounded by lava appears.
"Oh, Fae, look at this."
Ethanwatches as the inside of the bag returns to the swirling cloudy void.
"Oh, there was a moment where some remote location was visible."
Ethanwatches as the bag opens windows to a few different locations, throwing a pebble into one to see what will happen.
"Hmm, well this is very interesting, I will have to take down some notes on this. I think I may be able to use this magic in the future for the purposes of teleportation or scrying maybe."
Ethanjots down a couple of ideas, with reminders to himself to record and study the unfamiliar sigils and glyphs on the bag.
"Right lets see if I can recover the connection to the intended storage space this time."
Ethanlays down a new sequence of sigils around the structure the bag is sitting in.
"This might be enough, if not I should be able refine the next set based on the outcome of this one."
Ethanconnects the threads from the bag, to the new sequence and there is another pulse of magical energy from the bag along the threads and through the sigils.
History check for Image 1: 22 History check for Image 2: 21 History check for Image 3: 22 History check for Image 4: 25
DC20 crafting check to get closer to a stable bag of holding: 9 (same modifiers as last time.)
Ethan wishes he got a longer glimpse at the images but one of the last ones stands out in his mind. A sprawling underground city in a cavern that must have been miles wide would likely be Menzoberranzan, the City of Spiders, likely the largest drow city in all of Faerun. He remembers reading and hearing about it, and recalls that often drow noble houses are busy plotting against one another to remove rival houses and improve their standing amongst the drow and, more importantly, to please Lolth, their chief goddess.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
--- The night before ---
Fae would happily accept her place on the mat Ethan set out for her. She'd sprawl out her books, notebook and journal, ink and quill, preparing herself for an evening of study along with the others. The wizard would spend the majority of her time pouring over Fablen's spellbook, copying a pair of divination spells into her spellbook. Though she'd lend an ear or a thought to those inquiring or speaking directly to her. She'd occasionally peak up from her studies to look over to check in on the quieter ones that evening, especially paying attention when Zeke honourably accepts his newly crafted armour and blade, before returning to her studies. Elra's dedication to the brazier made her heart swell and she wondered how their charlatan was going to surprise them next with his clever wit.
The wizard would be eager to pay attention when Ethan would call her name to look at something in particular. She'd be sure to come take a closer look and even jot a note down in a section of her journal for future reference. Fae would chuckle when he'd comment about maybe he should be the only one standing close. She was not overly worried. "I'm willing to lend a hand any time if it'll help you succeed at repairing the bag."
While at the artificer's side, she would try to catch a glimpse of the bag. The scholar would hover over him to review the bag in its current state and the notes he's been recording along the way. "Portal or scrying... hmm... so locations... not memories..." She'd mutter as she hmmed and hawed to herself. Fae would wonder off to her mat as she pondered over the images. She'd pick out her own spellbook and notes to begin sorting through her own days thoughts.
( Will like to note that Fae would always be happy and eager to help with any research Tarja would have/want on her search for her ancestor's truth with the Phandalver's Pact. Same goes for Ethan and the bag. )
History check 1: 15 History check 2: 21 History check 3: 22 History check 4: 10
Portents: 3 | 2
Eventually, Fae would make her way back to her nest, tidying it up and putting away her studies before curling up for the night.
--- The next morning ---
Fae would hope to wake around the same time as the others. As soon as the others started stirring, she would pop one eye open, then the other before sitting up. The scholar was happy to have provided Tarja with something that visibly piqued her curiosity. The wizard would be eager to keep her ears open for when the Druid would speak and wonder out loud about her ancestor Falgrim, letters and the Phandelver's Pact. She'd chew on her lip as she thought deeply about what she just asked Elra. Fae would pick herself up off the ground and take tentative steps over to Tarja and Elra, interjecting herself into the conversation. "I have a spell I can offer trying if you'd like." Her violet eyes would look from Tarja to Elra, then to the brazier, before going back to Tarja. "I can attempt to Detect Magic on it."
She'd smile and nod to Elra, "If we have 11 minutes to spare, I can complete the ritual." Fae will glance over to Arvel who Elra was trying to wake. "He seemed anxious to leave last night? Perhaps I can be quick while he still sleeps." Assuming no one would argue against her taking the time to ready the spell, Fae would begin preparations to complete the ritual. The wizard will cast Detect Magic.
While the brazier is finely made and clearly dedicated to Oghma, a nice piece now that it is cleaned up, Fae discovers that it has no magical properties.
Fae also does not see any magical aura on the journal she just found, but does find Illusion magic on the accompanying scroll. The bag Ethan is working on also has its aura, of course.
(Anything else within 30ft of Fae that I'm not thinking of? There aren't any other items you have yet to discover.)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
D20 roll for advantage for last crafting roll due to Fae'shelp: 2
So that doesn't improve the roll.
Also, again, just to reassert, all the bag stuff is happening the night before. if everything goes well, I hope to sacrifice the bag to make Ethan's gauntlet compressed space permanent.
With her exceptional knowledge of some aspects of Faerun and its history from all of her reading, Fae is confident in her guesses as to what she and/or Ethan have seen in the bag.
Amongst the next imagines she recalls was a forest teeming with magic and fey creatures and Fae knows such things would be extremely rare on their current material plane. She is quite confident they have seen a glimpse of the Feywild. https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Feywild
The next image she recalls has the fewest distinct features and thus is difficult to place. She considers the great glaciers and The High Ice far the north, but then considers the water she also saw in the image. She thus concludes the most likely location seen, on this plane and in Faerun at least, would be along the ocean north of Luskan, The Spine of the World and the Icewind Dale, a place full of icebergs and frosty islands known as the Sea of Moving Ice. https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Sea_of_Moving_Ice
Lastly, Fae quickly reaches the same conclusion Ethan had as both party members are confident that they caught a glimpse of Menzoberranzan, the City of Spiders, a place that surely few but the drow or other inhabitants of the underdark have ever set eyes on.
(night before)
Zeke allows Ethan to fit him with the modified armor, all the while certain that it won't fit. He had tried every sort of contraption over the years, but nothing would accommodate his massive, but ultimately useless wings.
The artificer's explanations of the 'how' mean nothing to the barbarian, but the way the supple leather lining feels against his skin, the smooth fit of the armor across his chest and shoulders, the ingenious mechanism down the back are like a revelation. Zeke gladly accepts the artificer's help in strapping on the rest of the armor and then proceeds to work himself through a vigorous set of exercises to test the new gear.
Starting with deep knee bends and working into a set of choreographed lunging steps, each punctuated with a snap kick, he begins to get a feel for the weight, flexibility, and mobility of the new armor. Building from there, he heads back into the destroyed dining room and shoulder rolls across the floor, using his wings to first shelter him from the debris on the floor, and then to help propel him back to his feet. He turns one such roll into a forward charge, splintering the remnants of a table as he smashes into the weakened wood.
Bouncing on his toes, he turns to find Ethan has returned with his modified blade. At once his mood changes from enthusiastic to somber as he reaches out to take the modified weapon back from his friend.
Again, the artificer's explanations wash right over the simple warrior, but the balance of the blade, the heft of the haft, the swing of the shaft tell him what the words can not. He turns it over in his hands, practices growing and shrinking the weapon, swings it in crashing arcs, and stabs in against invisible foes. This is his weapon. The tool of his trade, the promise of his people, the fulfillment of his oath.
Dipping his head low and holding the blade across his upturned hands he faces his friend 'Many thanks to you Master Artificer. The skill of your hands is only matched by the sharpness of your mind. I can not begin to fathom how you made this happen, but you have. This armor is remarkable. It fits like nothing I have ever worn before and seems impervious to damage. I will be a bulwark against our foes in this, they will break themselves against the strength you have forged.' He spares his friend a curt nod and a brief smile before pressing on. Bobbing his head even lower, the barbarian takes a deep settling breath. All at once, he drops to his knees, holding his arms up as he does so the blade stays in place. Arms extended, head down, blade presented the tiefling begins to chant '
The blade, a weapon,
My body, a weapon,
My mind, a weapon
my spirit, a weapon.
I am all those who have come before and I am all those who are yet to come.
I am the promise fulfilled, the bond unbroken, and vengeance unbound.
This blade is that promise. This blade is that bond. This blade is that vengeance.'
Rising from his knees, he locks eyes with Ethan 'Thank you my friend for your work, and for respecting the work of those that came before me. I pledge to keep you and all our companions safe with this blade, to keep our foes at a distance and to strike down those who wish to bring you harm.'
The Night Before:
Elra keeps scrubbing at the brazier, switching arms whenever one started to feel like it was starting to fall off. She took that time to appreciate the craftsmanship of the brazier, taking care to ensure that she got all of the muck and dirt and grim from even the smallest crevices. Work like this wasn't something she was used to. Copying old delicate scrolls, sorting through rows and rows of books, scrolls, and parchments looking for something very specific the Loremaster wanted. This kind of manual labor wasn't something she normally was allowed to do.
She started to get tired while scrubbing, and looking at her fingers they were starting to turn red from the effort she was putting into it. The water she had put into the brazier's dish to help with the cleaning had turned a gross muddy color, and she emptied it and refilled it. She could hear Ethan, Fae, Tarja, Zeke and Arvel talking in the background, but she didn't join in on the conversations or research they were doing. Something compelled her to keep going, be it herself or some supernatural force sent by Oghma himself. She started going cross-eyed from the focus she was giving to the tiny details.
Eventually, she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore. The rag she was using to clean up the base slipped from her hand, and she fell asleep curled up against the brazier.
The Next Morning:
Elra startles awake the next morning, Arvel's blanket slipping off her shoulders as she sits up and rubs her eyes, yawning. "Good morning, how did everyone sleep?" she looks down at her hands, "huh, my fingers are still sore, I must have done a lot of work," as she blinks a few more times, trying to wake her eyeballs up, she notices the brazier, "Oh..." it was done, it wasn't polished to a gleaming shine, but all the grime was done. "I guess I cleaned it up."
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
Tarja wakes up a bit bleary-eyed, having stayed up late reading the journal.
This confirms what I'd thought from my old letters. Whatever happened to Falgrim, Mormesk, and Phandelver's pact - it went wrong because of those red wizards. Couldn't live in peace, couldn't leave well enough alone... and now the mine, and the forge, and the brazier are lost, and this place is swarmed with goblins and Spiders and dragons.
It doesn't seem to be going too well this time, either. Gundren's not too well off now.
Arvel's manic energy keeps him up late into the night. After long discussion with Yeemik (and no small amount of gold changing hands *DM determine later*), an accord is reached regarding the Keep and it's new inhabitants. The charlatan also gives instructions to the goblins about what to tell the Dragon about the Spider, and vice versa.
His high finally running low, Arvel sits down next to the sleeping Elra and rests his head against the polished brazier.
DCI: 3319125026
(hmm, my post got cut off... adding its second part now)
Tarja notices Elra's work on the brazier, how much more impressive it looks when clean, and an idea comes to mind.
You know, Falgrim's letters from the Mine mentioned the Forge, and also a brazier with strong powers. Perhaps... could this be that brazier?
I'm not really one to know - too much metal, not enough nature magic. Not sure I'd be able to tell if it was anything more than mundane! But maybe you can, Elra.
Ethan works on the bag and finds its magic, and it's malfunctions, to be quite complex. He does feel like he can fix it, however, and that he is on the right track as he begins his work. Eventually braving to risk opening it to see if he can learn more, he does not see what he'd see inside his gauntlet or similar bags he has seen or heard about. Instead of a pocket dimension with his things neatly organized within, he finds a cloudy, darkness filled with various magical distortion. Occasionally the the magic coalesces and a phenomenon not unlike lightning occurs and reveals an image only for a second or two. Ethan relates it that which one might see through a portal or some sort of scrying magic. In a blink, however, the image is gone.
It occurs to Ethan that one could use this damaged bag for something more powerful than simply a space for storage, as useful as that is. He concludes however that any attempt to use the bag as a passage to another place or even to reliably view another location would be far more difficult to achieve than the already difficult task of repairing the bag to be used as intended, and would likely result in disaster. His curiosity does lead him to add a few pebbles to the bag, but the results are as he might have guessed. The various pebbles disappear into the various spaces the bag seems to capture a glimpse of only momentarily and are unrecoverable. Ethan thus decides not to put his hand or anything else he values inside the bag.
The artificer concludes that the tether to the intended pocket dimension is severely damaged, but it is still there. Stitching together the sigils, he finds that he is able to calm the storm of chaos and images within and partially repair the fraying tether. He is confident he is on the right track, but that it could take several more hours of work and he cannot be completely confident in the exact outcome but likely would be satisfied in repairing the original space, even if it proves empty, so that he can use the bag as it was originally intended.
Let's consider that 1 of 3 DC20 successes required to repair the bag. You may be able to achieve another success in at little as an hour, as I don't want to infringe on your actual crafting time too much.
Ethan, or anyone Ethan describes these images to in great detail, can make a History check to try to identify the images below that Ethan saw. Please state which one you are rolling for if you choose to do so, as some may be easier than others. To be transparent, these rolls are just for fun, flavor, and a bit of world building regarding this D&D world in general, as opposed to being essential to the story. Mostly just having some fun with Ethan and anyone else interested here.
When Elra sees Arvel, she gently shakes him, "Wakey wakey Arvel," she smiles, "you're going to ruin all my hard work sleeping like that!"
When Tarja mentions the brazier from the Forge, she pauses, "Well... I don't know much about braziers and their magical uses besides for the purpose of summoning familiars... but this seems more divine than arcane. And arcane magic seems more useful for the Forge... you know?"
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
Ethan peers into the bag seeing a cloudy maelstrom and then a flash and a city surrounded by lava appears.
"Oh, Fae, look at this."
Ethan watches as the inside of the bag returns to the swirling cloudy void.
"Oh, there was a moment where some remote location was visible."
Ethan watches as the bag opens windows to a few different locations, throwing a pebble into one to see what will happen.
"Hmm, well this is very interesting, I will have to take down some notes on this. I think I may be able to use this magic in the future for the purposes of teleportation or scrying maybe."
Ethan jots down a couple of ideas, with reminders to himself to record and study the unfamiliar sigils and glyphs on the bag.
"Right lets see if I can recover the connection to the intended storage space this time."
Ethan lays down a new sequence of sigils around the structure the bag is sitting in.
"This might be enough, if not I should be able refine the next set based on the outcome of this one."
Ethan connects the threads from the bag, to the new sequence and there is another pulse of magical energy from the bag along the threads and through the sigils.
History check for Image 1: 22
History check for Image 2: 21
History check for Image 3: 22
History check for Image 4: 25
DC20 crafting check to get closer to a stable bag of holding: 9 (same modifiers as last time.)
Successes: 1/3
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss
Ethan wishes he got a longer glimpse at the images but one of the last ones stands out in his mind. A sprawling underground city in a cavern that must have been miles wide would likely be Menzoberranzan, the City of Spiders, likely the largest drow city in all of Faerun. He remembers reading and hearing about it, and recalls that often drow noble houses are busy plotting against one another to remove rival houses and improve their standing amongst the drow and, more importantly, to please Lolth, their chief goddess.
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Menzoberranzan
--- The night before ---
Fae would happily accept her place on the mat Ethan set out for her. She'd sprawl out her books, notebook and journal, ink and quill, preparing herself for an evening of study along with the others. The wizard would spend the majority of her time pouring over Fablen's spellbook, copying a pair of divination spells into her spellbook. Though she'd lend an ear or a thought to those inquiring or speaking directly to her. She'd occasionally peak up from her studies to look over to check in on the quieter ones that evening, especially paying attention when Zeke honourably accepts his newly crafted armour and blade, before returning to her studies. Elra's dedication to the brazier made her heart swell and she wondered how their charlatan was going to surprise them next with his clever wit.
The wizard would be eager to pay attention when Ethan would call her name to look at something in particular. She'd be sure to come take a closer look and even jot a note down in a section of her journal for future reference. Fae would chuckle when he'd comment about maybe he should be the only one standing close. She was not overly worried. "I'm willing to lend a hand any time if it'll help you succeed at repairing the bag."
While at the artificer's side, she would try to catch a glimpse of the bag. The scholar would hover over him to review the bag in its current state and the notes he's been recording along the way. "Portal or scrying... hmm... so locations... not memories..." She'd mutter as she hmmed and hawed to herself. Fae would wonder off to her mat as she pondered over the images. She'd pick out her own spellbook and notes to begin sorting through her own days thoughts.
( Will like to note that Fae would always be happy and eager to help with any research Tarja would have/want on her search for her ancestor's truth with the Phandalver's Pact. Same goes for Ethan and the bag. )
History check 1: 15
History check 2: 21
History check 3: 22
History check 4: 10
Portents: 3 | 2
Eventually, Fae would make her way back to her nest, tidying it up and putting away her studies before curling up for the night.
--- The next morning ---
Fae would hope to wake around the same time as the others. As soon as the others started stirring, she would pop one eye open, then the other before sitting up. The scholar was happy to have provided Tarja with something that visibly piqued her curiosity. The wizard would be eager to keep her ears open for when the Druid would speak and wonder out loud about her ancestor Falgrim, letters and the Phandelver's Pact. She'd chew on her lip as she thought deeply about what she just asked Elra. Fae would pick herself up off the ground and take tentative steps over to Tarja and Elra, interjecting herself into the conversation. "I have a spell I can offer trying if you'd like." Her violet eyes would look from Tarja to Elra, then to the brazier, before going back to Tarja. "I can attempt to Detect Magic on it."
just an unstable unicorn.
"Oh," Elra's eyes go wide, "I wonder why I never thought about that... Great Idea Fae!" she smiles, "just be careful okay?"
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'd smile and nod to Elra, "If we have 11 minutes to spare, I can complete the ritual." Fae will glance over to Arvel who Elra was trying to wake. "He seemed anxious to leave last night? Perhaps I can be quick while he still sleeps." Assuming no one would argue against her taking the time to ready the spell, Fae would begin preparations to complete the ritual. The wizard will cast Detect Magic.
just an unstable unicorn.
While the brazier is finely made and clearly dedicated to Oghma, a nice piece now that it is cleaned up, Fae discovers that it has no magical properties.
Fae also does not see any magical aura on the journal she just found, but does find Illusion magic on the accompanying scroll. The bag Ethan is working on also has its aura, of course.
(Anything else within 30ft of Fae that I'm not thinking of? There aren't any other items you have yet to discover.)
D20 roll for advantage for last crafting roll due to Fae's help: 2
So that doesn't improve the roll.
Also, again, just to reassert, all the bag stuff is happening the night before. if everything goes well, I hope to sacrifice the bag to make Ethan's gauntlet compressed space permanent.
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss
---- Still the night before ----
"Hmm, well that didn't work, let me try something different."
Ethan creates a new sequence of sigils and again reattaches the threads from the bag to the new sequence.
With another pulse the new sequence glows with magic for a moment.
DC20 crafting check to get closer to a stable bag of holding: 30 (same modifiers as last time and advantage for Fae's ongoing help.)
Successes: 2/3
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss
Once Fae is doing inspecting the brazier, she goes to check on Gundren, "You feeling okay Gundren?"
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
With her exceptional knowledge of some aspects of Faerun and its history from all of her reading, Fae is confident in her guesses as to what she and/or Ethan have seen in the bag.
First, she is confident that the fiery city seen in one flash was the City of Brass, the center of efreet culture in the Elemental Plane of Fire. https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/City_of_Brass
Amongst the next imagines she recalls was a forest teeming with magic and fey creatures and Fae knows such things would be extremely rare on their current material plane. She is quite confident they have seen a glimpse of the Feywild.
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Feywild
The next image she recalls has the fewest distinct features and thus is difficult to place. She considers the great glaciers and The High Ice far the north, but then considers the water she also saw in the image. She thus concludes the most likely location seen, on this plane and in Faerun at least, would be along the ocean north of Luskan, The Spine of the World and the Icewind Dale, a place full of icebergs and frosty islands known as the Sea of Moving Ice.
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Sea_of_Moving_Ice
Lastly, Fae quickly reaches the same conclusion Ethan had as both party members are confident that they caught a glimpse of Menzoberranzan, the City of Spiders, a place that surely few but the drow or other inhabitants of the underdark have ever set eyes on.
--- Still the night before ---
Ethan puts down his metal scribe and rubs his eye's.
"Well I think that is as much as we are going to get tonight."
"We definitely made progress towards getting it connected back to its storage space though."
"Thanks for the help with the arcane sigils Fae, I'm not as familiar with these ones."
"At the university we mostly just learned the Lantanna sigils, which are based on draconic."
Ethan first records some notes on his progress and then starts to disconnect and then remove the bag from the makeshift structure.
Once removed, Ethan reconfigures the structure back into a cage like configuration and places the bag back inside.
"I think I will see if I can finish my new Programmable Caster."
Ethan gets out his mostly finished new Programmable Caster and gets to work adding the last few components and sigils patterns.
Crafting check to finish working on the wand: 26
DM, how many hours would you say are left for Ethan?
David Gearlock | Human | Artificer | Revenge Heist
Knox | Warforged | Cleric | Shadowthorn's Out of the Abyss
"Well, friends, what do you say? Is Gundren well enough to walk or will we need another...?"
Arvel looks to Ethan, waving his hand in a circle as he's forgotten the word.
DCI: 3319125026