Aspiring Heroes of Faerûn

Lumen looks thankfully at Chrys, extremely grateful for the paladin’s diplomatic response. His frustration would have been more verbally evident had he been the one to reply directly.

”Indeed, Chrys has the right of it. We went to address an evil at the direction of one of your adherents, and found a greater evil, and vanquished it. The remnants should be destroyed, and when we sought divine and arcane expertise on how to destroy it, we did not get answers beyond finding a volcano or a dragon’s breath. Neither seem viable options, unless I’m mistaken. If you have any solution, let us know. And, as Chrys said, if you know of anyone who knows of Selune’s ways we could talk to, beyond a shrine in the woods, please let us know. Separating the pieces was the back-up plan for not being able to destroy it.”

Krackle would look around from person to person... occasionally looking as though he was going to offer a suggestion before shaking his head and continuing to listen. 

Chrys leans down and whispers to Krackle.  "Speak yer mind, lil' one.  The only bad question is the one left unasked," a saying all the children of Twilight Tor had been taught by their schoolteachers at a very young age.

"well.. umm... Vesper had been telling me I should send my coins to my parents.... could we just send a piece of the mask to a priest of Selune... maybe with a note attached to the heavy metal box?" The small kobold would say looking up towards the much larger looming figures. "Then we wouldn't have to deliver it... " He would add looking as though his small mind hadn't considered all the parts of his plan.

"That would be assumin' whoever'd deliver the mask to such a priest wouldn't be affected by carryin' it, though."  She rubs her chin, then turns to Callum.  "Say.  Yer a priest, yeah?  D'ya know of any material that could block a cursed mask from transferin' its influence to someone carryin' it?  Like silver, or iron, or wooden box that had been blessed, or somethin'?"

Despite his initial trepidation, Callum continues to listen to your pleas, and judging by his increasingly concerned facial expression, it would seem as if he is sensing the urgency in your voices with even more clarity. 

“Good folk and obvious devotees to the tenets of The Lady Luck, I hear your call. You speak your request with honor, and from a position of earned respect, having clearly done this task at the behest of a dedicated follower of this temple and someone who is a personal acquaintance and confidant. Please forgive me, for this whole matter makes me nervous, but who am I to serve The Lady if I myself am not prepared to take risks?”

”You have asked me to take a chance, not just in the name of adventure, but in the name and cause of good, and for that, I shall comply. It serves not the wishes of Tymora to have evil spread through the land, or even to subvert the minds of her followers by means if trickery and deceit, and so I shall do my part to prevent this cursed item from harming any more good folk.”

”I will take this piece from you and find a place to hide it that is only known to me, where, hopefully it will remain. I am sorry for not feeling the urgency of this matter at first, but you have stated your case eloquently, and it deserves the favor of The Lady through me, her devoted servant.”

”And while we are discussing favors, can I ask one of you, as well? I assure you, it is but a trivial matter in comparison, but one that would indeed be most helpful and gratefully appreciated.”

"I can help! I am a good helper... Especially if you are going to get rid of one of the mask pieces." Krackle would reply excitedly. 

"Sure thing."

Lumen nods in thanks when he makes the offer.

"What are you needing done?"

Callum smiles and takes a short, but deep breath before continuing. 

"As I said, it's nothing so dire. It's... well, it's just fixing a minor, but rather important inconvenience. When I went to ring the bell for this morning's service, I heard no sound. Instead, the rope came right loose and fell all the way down to the floor. When I inspected the end, I saw that the ends were frayed, as if it had been cut most of the way through, although I suspect nothing so alarming. My suspicion is that it was gnawed on by rats, and being an old rope, it finally just gave out."

"So, I was wondering if one of you could climb up to the top of the bell tower and retie the end of the rope to the iron ring that attaches to the bell mechanism. Normally, it's a simple task, and something that any of us here could do, but last week, when one of our acolytes was going up there, he discovered that the stairs near the top are in very bad shape. We haven't had the opportunity to get them repaired by a carpenter yet, and now this happens."

"What that means is that whoever goes up there will have to climb past the broken stairs, with the consequence of a very long fall, if one were to slip. Is there one of you who is both brave and nimble enough to climb up there and reattach the rope? If you were, then the Lady and this temple would be most appreciative."

"Yeah, that sounds like a Krackle job."

Lumen pulls Callum aside briefly. "The kobold has more heart than sense. He heard the sermon several mornings ago about Tymora returning offerings twofold, or whatever it was, literally, and he gave all his winnings to the temple. It's, well, he's never had money, so he doesn't understand it, and him having no money has caused him, and all of us, problems. If we're going to help you with this, he's going to figure prominently in the solution given his skill set. I'd 'appreciate' the manner by which you manifest this 'most appreciative' sentiment in a monetary form, for Krackle's sake. Understand?"

He then returns to the group, and starts brainstorming. "We'll need all the rope you have, and perhaps a barrel or two. Block and tackle, if you can get hands on it. Krackle, I can see you getting past the dodgy stairs with no issue given your talents. The rest of us will have trouble. So maybe you shift to a spider. Maybe a gigantic one, have you ever seen one of those? We'd have to keep them out of the caves in the Spine from time to time, but they can climb, and even carry people. Or something else that can climb. Get yourself up safely along the wall, and then shift back. Catch a rope, and tie it really well to something solid up the stairs. Do it again with another rope. Then we've got some options for getting the rest of us up there, maybe using a barrel and block and tackle to set up a little skybridge. Saw one of those once, and it rarely failed. Anyhow, then we can get some of us up there and make sure that the rats are really rats and not something, well, worse. Thoughts?"

"It was tenfold I think..." Krackle would say before his eyes go wide as Lumen continues to talk. "I saw a HUGE spider once... it was like... this big!" as he holds out his hands and indicates about two or three inches between his claws. "I don't think we all need to go. I can do it! The kobold would say with an eager smile. "I can climb up and then you toss me the rope! Then I can tie off the rope and slide back down the rope!" The kobold would say as he bounces up and down excitedly. "Don't worry about little rats. I can talk to them and ask them not to chew on the rope! It will be ok." 

 "That's not the kind of spider Lumen's talking about. He's talking about spiders that are actually giant, about the size of a bear. These spiders are large enough to carry someone on their body, but if you can do it, go ahead."

Krackle would smile before shutting his eyes tightly and clenching his teeth and fists as he thinks really hard about that spider he saw. Quickly the kobold would shrink and transform into a large (tiny) brown and grey spider. Immediatly the spider would skitter up the wall and climb its way towards the top of the bell tower. once there he would turn back into a kobold and shout down towards the group. "did you want to toss the rope or tie it to an arrow and shoot it up here? I don't think I could throw a rope that far but maybe you can.." He would say as he looks at his own skinny arm. 

Vesper will tie the rope to one the end of her crossbolts and shoot it up to Krackle.

Lumen will inspire Krackle, even as he reaches out futilely in response to the rash decision of the kobold. He will help guide the attempts to throw or shoot the rope to Krackle, and then to fasten it to a post on their side. He would then try to make his way across the rope. "Krackle, it might not be small rats, and you're not going to be happy if you find that out all alone up there."

"Don't worry Lumen!" Krackle would shout as he turns back into a kobold. "I can help! If the rats are scary and big I will make sure they don't bite you again!" He would say as Vesper prepares to fire the rope up towards the kobold "I won't let ya down!"

Callum leads you all from the sanctuary over to the base of the bell tower, and once you're there, you all watch as Krackle transforms his kobold shape into that of a spider and begins effortlessly climbing upwards. The tower is 175 feet tall, as the priest proudly informs you, and it has wooden stairs that ascend the four interior stone walls.

Of course, with the stairs being fully intact most of the way up, it would have been much faster for Krackle to simply ascend them in regular form, and then change to a spider when he reached the broken stairs, which are about 20 feet from the top. Nonetheless, you all stand patiently with your necks craned upwards as the little tiny spider ascends and eventually disappears from sight. 

It takers awhile for Krackle to ascend the tower in his tiny form. During this time, Callum answers Lumen's request from before.

"I understand. It can be difficult for those who have been raised with very little coin to suddenly find themselves into large sums of gold. I've seen it many times with adventurers, many of who begin their careers with not a single coin to their name, and perhaps only an inherited sword and hand-me-down armor. When they finally do discover some treasure, they're not always sure how to handle those newfound riches."

"Naturally, we encourage them to make generous donations to the temple here, which it sounds like your friend Krackle has done. After all, it is Tymora who looks those brave adventurers who brave dangers and take risks out in the world. In the end, it usually comes back to them, as it has with Krackle."

"As for his compensation, I do not wish to make a delicate situation even more complicated. Is there a specific monetary amount you feel would be an adequate payment for his services here right now? 

Eventually, after a period of long minutes, you all look up and see the kobold magical reappear in his natural form. He's right at the base of the bell assembly. He gives the signal, and then tries to position himself in such a position that he won't be hit by Vesper's crossbow bolt. 

(Vesper, give me three attack rolls with your crossbow.)

(With Lumen's help)

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