"That's a shame," Elra says, "I think I prefer Arvel to Maxie. But I'll make do for now."

Halia chuckles just slightly and replies "now that's too bad, I was looking for the smart one".  Touching 'Maxi' on the arm, she turns while smirking at him and goes back to her spot at the bar a few feet away.

"Zee smart one? Mon dieu, non. Zat is eizer Etan or Elra. Fae and Tarja too, I suppose. And I wouldn't want to sit across a chessboard from Zeke. But if you air looking for zee one 'oo can bring your needs to zee group for discussion, zen c'est moi!"

"Well if I must, I seek the one who understands the value in the exchange of information.  In this case, I have information for you, but alas, surely the 'muscle' is not that person."

"Well, I didn't earn my title by carrying around an empty purse. I'm always looking to add a little more weight to it."

Halia smiles at Maxi with mild amusement.  "Alas, I grow weary from all of this excitement.  I must retire for now.  Perhaps if you are indeed one who can appreciate the value in sharing information you should stop by the Exchange by morning."  The tall, dark and slender Halia runs a finger down Arvel's chest for just a second "and maybe you could come alone."  With a sly smile she makes her exit from the Inn.

"I shall save vous zee first spot on my dance card in zee morning!"

**Krikket, remind me to have Zeke tail me for this meeting.**

Ethan looks hopeful for a moment, as it looks like something is resolving in the void inside the bag, but then lets out a sigh of disappointment as the void goes back to its cloudy vortex.

"Well that was close I think, but as it was starting to reconnect, something sent it off course again."

Ethan discusses the failure with Fae, going over the sequence and trying to workout what caused the process to fail.

After about another hour of work, Ethan has a new sequence of sigils to try.

"I think if this one fails I'll leave it until tomorrow to try again. I got a bunch of other stuff I want to start on."

Ethan attaches the last thread, connecting the new sequence and stands back waiting to see if this one will work better.

Tarja enjoys a nice evening with the local crowd. Maybe she really should have been spending more time here. And where was Reidoth, anyway? She tells Carp she hasn't seen him around for a while, but resolves to find him to share stories when she had some spare time. It could take a while, though - who knows where he's up to?

In the meantime, she tells Carp all about the big spiders she saw in the woods, and the strange beasts she saw at the castle. She tones down the story of the fights with the goblins at the cave, though, and doesn't talk about the Black Spider. No need to worry him about things like that.

Deep in the trance of the temple, Zeke hears the small group of young men ramble by in the woods.  A moment's struggle as he peers ever deeper down the path - it feels like what he seeks is just ahead - before he breaks free from that shadowy realm and rises to his feet.  Unused to the new heavier armor, the barbarian's movements telegraph his presence.  Looking to make a virtue of the vice, the tiefling casts his voice to carry (thaumaturgy)

'Good evening gentlemen.  Are you looking for anything specific?  Can I help you with your nocturnal errand?'

Tarja remembers that the last time she saw Reidoth, several months ago at least, he had mentioned that the birds had told him of strange and scary things in the ruined old town of Thundertree in the forest to the north west.  He was considering investigating.  During her enjoyment of her bond with the other townsfolk, Tarja hears a rustling just outside a nearby open window.  Soon she sees an elephant's trunk poking through the window and sniffing at the air inside the Stonehill Inn.

The three young boys nearly jump out of their boots when Zeke questions them from afar with magic.  They then freeze and are silent for a second before one says "who's there?"

Ethan thought he was on the right track for his first hour or so with the bag but when he finally opened it he saw the same stormy distortion he had seen back at Cragmaw Castle.  Suddenly there were two new images back to back, although both very brief.

First he saw the tops of several stone towers that looked like parts of a castle.  They were surrounded by clouds, but the clouds were moving past at an unusually rapid pace.  Just before the image disappeared, he saw the dark silhouette of what had to have been a dragon in flight approaching amidst the otherwise white cloud mass.

A second later Ethan saw a blank darkness, rather than the arcane storm he is now used to seeing in the bag.  That was until a massive eye opened and seemed to focus on him, filling the majority of his view.  A brief flash of light revealed it to be centered on and taking up much of a dark, round object.  Although he could not see much detail in the brief flash, he also saw a number of tentacles sticking out from all around the round shape.  While the image of the castle in the previous image might evoke a sense of wonder for many, this image is just as likely to evoke a sense of dread.

For a few seconds the stormy nature of the bag returned, and then there was one more flash.  In this one, Ethan saw a face staring back at him.  A gnome with a white beard and wide, sweeping mustache looks shocked, his eyes going wide.  Seeing a bit of blue sky behind him but with distinct borders, Ethan has the sense that the gnome is peering into a bag or similar item just as Ethan is.  With a loud "BAAAHHHH!!!" the frightened gnome pulls his head away and appears to close the object he is peering into.  Ethan is unable to repeat the connection with the gnome after several more attempts at closing and opening the bag.

Going back to the drawing board, Ethan's intuition clues him into one small thing he may be doing wrong.  Going down this new path takes another hour of work as he realigns some of the magic, but soon he is ready to open the bag again with a bit of nervous optimism.  When he does so he does not see any of the arcane distortion.  Instead he sees a dark, mostly empty space with a small but well crafted wooden box with a 'W' inscribed on it sitting in the center of his view.  The box is no bigger than Ethan's chest.  This view does not change again regardless of time or opening and closing the bag as Ethen concludes that his repairs are a success!

(Sorry, didn't mean to step on Arvel & Elra's RP.)

Unsure how far he is from the rest of the party, the barbarian unslings his horn of silent alarm and blows it 4 times in quick succession - aiming the alerts at Tarja, Arvel, Fae and Ethan - hoping at least one of them is close enough to get the alert.  Slinging the Horn back on his belt, the tiefling strides towards the voice in the darkness, one hand resting on his blade.

'I am the Sword in the Dark and the Shield of my people.  But I suppose the more relevant question is who are you and what are you doing out so late?'

Sildar comes down from upstairs at the Stonehill Inn after checking on Gundren for a second time.  Addressing anyone present in the party he says "he's still sleeping."  "Do you know what they did to him?  He seemed pretty rattled.  Hopefully no worse than... this" he adds, looking at his wrapped, mangled hand.  Oh, and, ah, that shield he's clinging to was... talking to him?"

It is then that Tarja, Arvel, Fae and Ethan do indeed all suddenly hear Zeke's horn in their heads.  No one else around them including Sildar hear a thing.

As Zeke draws closer to the young men he starts to think they look familiar, like the younger Redbrands that Horton had chased off only a few hours earlier.  One of them swallows hard and says "we... we don't want to stay out there, or go back... we'd rather you lock us up or punish us."   Another remarks "yeah there's goblins and bugbears out there!"  The last says "and spiders!"

Prior to success

Ethan watches the various images and locations that appear inside the bag's opening, leaning closer for the castle and backing away at the large eye.

When the gnome appears Ethan takes special interest,

"Hmmm..."

Ethan tries to see if the connection to the gnome will come back, but when it doesn't, Ethan starts scribbling notes in another section of his notebook, recording the sequence of sigils and a small diagram that looks like a portal.

When the bag stabilises

Ethan looks into the bag and finally sees something like what he would expect.

After checking that the bag is in fact stable and not likely to shift when he touches it, Ethan reaches in and pulls out the small wooden box.

Setting the box aside, Ethan adds a tick to his notes next to the sequence of sigils that worked.

"We have it Fae, we've got a sequence that will keep the bag stable!"

At this moment, Ethan hears the sound of a horn being blown outside.

"Oh, did you hear that?"

Ethan grabs his gauntlet and slides his hand and arm into it, securing it in place.

"I think we should go and check."

Ethan confirms his weapons and devices are secured, but leaves his tools and half finished projects on the work mat, along with the bag and the wooden box.

Ethan heads out of the room and down to the common room of the inn.

"Did anyone else here the horn?"

Ethan heads outside to see if he can find what made the sound, shield out and Programmable Caster at the ready.

Ethan interrupts Arvel dancing with Elra.

"Oui! Klaxon quatre! Zeke! He is in dangair! Allons-y!"

The charlatan and the librarian follow the Artificer and Wizard as they dash from the common room, the two dancers still holding hands as they exit.

Prior to Success

Fae would nod affirmatively to reminding Ethan to eat with them in the future.

The wizard would have happily made herself a little study nest of notes and books sprawled out on an empty spot on the floor, out of the artificer’s way. While he plugged away and modified his project in between their consultations, Fae would make preparations and work away on copying a spell from Fablen’s Spellbook. She was excited to add something to her repertoire of spells. This one she would be excited to experiment with.

During the first consultation, Fae would hover as Ethan would pull out his design book and thumb through the notes to review. She would tentatively ask about a couple things for the artificer to clarify, hoping she understood the approach he was trying to take. Occasionally her brows would furrow and she’d pat her nose in thought, eventually grasping some technical aspects surrounding the structure.

When they’d step back to wait, she’d chew on her lip, hoping it would work.

Although the first attempt didn’t work, Fae would have still the desire to bounce a couple ideas off of Ethan. There was something about his perspective of magic that allowed her to visualize her spells and the manipulation of the weave. Planning to study as much as she could, the scholar was content to provide the artificer with additional help with his next attempt. She’d want to hear what he had to report on the first attempt, making sure they both recorded it for further discussion. 

 After Success

After their review and Ethan prepared for the second attempt, Fae would return to her studies to allow him to focus on the intricacies of the project. Losing herself in her studies, it would take the artificer to have to speak up for her to pull away. Stumbling to her feet, she’ll trot over to him so fast, she didn’t even put down her spellbook. The scholar would hover over in anticipation when Ethan would connect the last thread to complete their final attempt for the evening. She’d hold her breath in anticipation.

Blinking a couple times, she’d wait for Ethan’s confirmation before she’d be guilty of clapping her hands together in excitement. Though, that’d be cut short at the sound of a horn echoing in her mind. Zeke’s horn. Fae’s eyes will go wide looking to their artificer as an image of their protectors horn flashed in her mind from memory. “That’s Zeke’s horn!”. Already with book in hand and crystal around her neck, Fae had everything she needed. Strangely, she’d grab Ethan’s empty dinner plate rushing her way out the door before he finished saying they should ‘Go and check’.

Practically tripping down the steps, Fae would drop the dishes off on the counter a little louder than necessary in her haste. “Sorry!” She’d call back as she’d frantically fumble her way out the door worrying about the worst case scenario. He wouldn’t blow the horn unless it was an emergency!? Knowing Ethan was right behind her gathering the others, she’d dart as fast as she could.

Elra follows behind Arvel, thinking in her head about all the spells Oghma had granted her knowledge of as they run. "What do you think happened? Zeke seems like he could take a lot... oh dear this isn't good," she says to no one in particular.

(good to know Reidoth might be in Thundertree! More things to check out once we've dealt with the Redbrands...)

Seeing Horton peering in to the tavern, Tarja excuses herself from the festivities.

Just one moment, my elephant is looking for me. Do you want to meet him, Carp?

She heads outside to Horton to see what he wants.

(If it's not clear from gestures, she'll cast Speak With Animals as a ritual again).

(Not sure how much time passes between this and the horn - when she hears the horn, she'd rush back inside to check on Gundren and Sildar first.)

(Feel free to RP the Horton thing separately from the Zeke thing.  There have been lots of small things to RP, etc. so no need to keep strict track of time and have to hold back things we'd all like to do.)

Carp's eyes go wide at the offer to meet Horton.  He nods enthusiastically and looks to his mother for her approval, which she gladly gives via a smile and a nod.

Carp, this is Horton. He's an elephant, he helped stamp out the fire elemental. He spends a lot of the time as a marble statue (that's just him, that's not normal for elephants.) I'm going to cast a quick spell so he can understand me.

 Tarja casts Speak with Animals

Hi Horton! This is Carp.

How's it going, Horton? Did you like the stream and the grass? Did you see anything else interesting?