Quote from Sixfoot10 >>

Quote from BlueBayou >>

Erky, who followed the party all the way to the kobolts, suddenly intercepted at a chance of being more useful: "Er-excuse me! I might have seen that warrior you mention. And the other two were definitely siblings, yes. The goblins caught three people over a month ago and they were captives with me in that dreadful place for a while. They said their names were Talgen, Sharwyn, and Sir Braford. The goblins kept them in there only about a week before they removed them. Belak wanted them, and that's the last I've heard about them."

 

A little surprised by the bear which suddenly appears in the room, Royan tries to stay focused on his task at hand. "Belak wanted them?  Where do we find Belak?” 

 "Wait,  would Belak be the Outcast, who lives below in the Twilight Grove?  Are they the same person?"

Kaylyn asks.

Yusdrayl doesn't appear offended by Erky's interruption, and is about to answer when the bear appears nearby. The kobolds, initially startled and defensive by the sudden appearance of the bear, start to calm down as they see it poses no apparent threat, and in fact also tentatively approach it. Yusdrayl remains regally composed, and then after observing that the situation is under control, and with Kaylyn's assurances, she returns her attention to the party.

For your service to us, I grant you safe passage as you will. If you seek those taken to the Outcast, I can offer you no more - I will not suffer my people to enter the Twilight Grove at this time. But should you find any further relics within this citadel that may aid you in opposing the goblins, you may claim them with my blessing. The return of our beloved is sufficient for us. You may leave.

And with that she turns and starts giving order to her people, apparently to start clearing out the large main living area to make a lair worthy of Calcryx. As Kastix leads the party out of the kobold's domain back to the dragon door, Erky tells what he knows of Belak...

Rhayna asks the bear to follow the party. Whenever the group finds a spot to rest. Rhayna will sit, cross her legs, and meditates. She will ritual cast Identify on her pouch.

(Is Kaylyn’s small dragon figure magic as well? Is the beat an adult bear?)

Erky was so caught up in the conversation, it did not even occur to him to ask for a rudimentary equipment, and followed party as he was found - hungry, exhausted, unarmed and dressed in a dirty remnants of clothes.  

"I do not know much," he began, "While in my cell, I've heard the goblins talk about the Twilight Grove down below. A wicked old human called Belak - a spellcaster, I suspect - tends an enchanted garden and harvests fruit from something the goblins call the Gulthias Tree, but they speak of it only in the most terrified of whispers. The enchanted fruit grows on the Gulthias Tree."

"They say, the midsummer fruit restores spirit and vigour to those who eat it; the pale midwinter fruit steals the same. Belak allows the goblins to sell the fruit on the surface, but I don't know why."

Kaylyn's dragon figure did not respond to the Detect Magic spell, so can be assumed to be ordinary, mundane jade figurine.

After meditating for about 10 minutes, Rhayna discerns the following about her pouch (given in rules parlance for convenience):

While everyone is setting up camp, Kastix will use the bell and some string or rope across the kobold door so opening the door will ring the bell. As soon as Rhayna is done with her spell, Kastix ask, "So is the bear a one off?" 4

OOC, it's a 1d8 not 1d10 to determine what comes out

Replying to Kastix's question. "It seems that it is some sort of bag of beasts." Rhayna puts her hand into the bag again, pulls another fuzzball, and toss it in front of her. (1d10: 9) "So I guess that whomever has this bag, he or she is able to summon three beasts per day.”

(OCC: I imagine Rhayna in the inner sanctuary of the Last Crusade. The Grail Knight looks at her and says "She chose wisely." Does this item has a name?)

Royan helps Kastix set up the chamber to rest. He also offers to take the first watch. As he does so he continues to talk to Erky. "Do you know how we get down to the Twilight Grove? I mean, we are probably going to check out this door first thing, but this can't be the door to the Twilight Grove can it? If the key was in the throneroom, how would the Goblins get in and out to sell their fruit?"

"This I can not tell," with clear regret in his voice answered Erky. "All I can tell is, the Gulthias Tree  is one level below this one. But I have never been there, of course. In fact, I have not really been anywhere but that horrible room. They brought me there and only Oghma's blessing helped me survive the experience."

At the mention of a wicked old human, Rhayna looks at the fellow Cleric. "Now I remember. The follower of Chauntea at the town's shrine. She mentioned that about twelve years ago, a grim fellow came to town asking about this Citadel. She also mentioned that he had a pet frog too, a big one." She looks at the party. "I wonder if we are talking about the same person."

She looks around for a small tree branch. If she finds one, she will toss to the next room and see if the giant hyena will go after it.

After a little while, Rhayna will approach Erky. "It seems that we share the same vocation. Which domain are you, and who is your deity? If you don't mind me asking."

(I'll just re-roll for Rhayna: 2). Same result, must have been fate.

Rhayna tosses another fuzzy ball and is almost knocked over as an enormous hyena materialises right next to her in a puff of smoke. The hyena is even larger than the bear and looks quite intimidating, except that it isn't showing any menacing behaviour at all. The room is starting to get a little crowded now with all the wildlife, and making it awkward to set up camp.

(You're quite close to the entrance again, and a cursory check outside and glance up the ravine shows that it seems to be twilight).

"I am but a humble follower of Great Oghma," Erky made a gesture as if unrolling a scroll, "placing Knowledge above everything else, as He advised us. And never in my life have I seeing more proofs of the truthiness of this true Path."

(Sorry. Didn’t realize DM rolls for the bag.)

There are no tree branches nearby, although there is some rubble in the corner. Throwing a piece of loose stone doesn't seem to interest the hyena, which cocks one leg and cleans itself with its tongue. Rhayna recalls that during her meditation, she discerned that any creature summoned thus would respond to verbal commands. She tries this, opening the door (with a ring of the bell) and ordering the hyena to stand guard in the next room outside the door, and it promptly moves as directed. Kastix then grumbles and gets up to reset the bell alarm on the door.

Quote from Wolfy911 >>

(Sorry. Didn’t realize DM rolls for the bag.)

 You can roll for it, just roll a d8, not a d10.

"It is good to meet another fellow scholar in this strange part of the world." Rhayna shows Erky her pendant. It depicts the image of a pair of eyes surrounded by seven starts. "I can imagine you must be asking 'why The Moonmaiden'." She says with a slight smirk. "It is a long story."

Erky's cheeks become almost as red as his hair. "You flatter me, my Lady. I am but an acolyte in the Oghma's Temple. That journey, I had to take to deliver the scrolls, was also my first one. This is why I so carelessly took the Old Road on the way back. I though, a poor cleric with nothing on him can not be a worth target even if there were some bandits (which I never believed to be there in the first place). Alas, not bandits but goblins were very real and willing to attack anyone, even the poor acolytes. They kept me alive only because it amused them, that a gnome can speak their language. My humble knowledge of goblin's tong saved me, revealing Oghma's will and first blessing upon unworthy."

"I thank you wholeheartedly for your gift and promise to use it for the benefits of the present company, and should the need in it pass - swear to return it to you!" finished he with a very serious look.

"We, as a group, have an agreement to help each other in ventures that require us to dive deeper into the darkness. While my task is done, I'm staying to help them with their tasks. If you want to left, that over there is literally the door that you will take you back up," Kastix points to the unguarded door, "So what are you plans now that you're less imprisoned?" 

Kaylyn settles into her own space in the room that the group occupies for the night.  She takes out the small figurine that she found earlier, the one of the jade dragon, and turns it over in her hands.  Something calls to her from within, something familiar, but yet not close.  Eventually though she sets it aside and takes out the scroll case carved from bone, etched with Dwarven runes.

"Does anyone read dwarven?  I cannot understand these runes and am trying to determine what this scroll may be for."  She says to the others

Arcana 7

"I would not lie to you - all I want is to return to my Temple. I believed it to be lost for me forever and was prepared to die in that cell. But you returned me the hope! I am not the powerful warrior, or any kind of warrior to be honest, but I believe I can still help with my humble skills and knowledge, as - I believe - would be the will of Oghma. But I can not force my company upon you, if you want me to go - so I will."