Nuzej holds up his hand, pulling forth powerful arcane energy, and unleashes five blasts of fire that spray across the room. Two miss but three strike and when the fire hits the Medusa she lets out an unholy screech before dropping to the ground...bones broken...flesh burned...finally succumbing to her wounds....
It's finally quiet here....though Mirica and Nuzej both flinch as Chen takes another swing at the dead Medusa, sending charred yet also wet body bits splattering about.
The room has no more enemies apparently though...and after a few moments things calm down. Two statues, and not enough bodies....litter the floor for the scale of battle that just occurred. The Mythallar hangs heavy in the air, placid and immobile...and full of awful arcane potential. Thousands of years old, and yet you feel like it's always looked like this. Hanging their, ready to lift mountains into the sky.
Tic's voice is heard, "I will go fetch Fianna, do not worry, I will return with her."
However a few minutes later he comes back without her and visible....and shrugs, "She is in the room just back. I checked around, there are no threats, and no way for her to leave....and I'd rather her not decide to go touch the Mythallar so I left her back in the other room. Do not worry, I left my familiar with her as a guard. It's a black cat, he'll let me know if she gets in any trouble."
He walks over to the statue of Toc and stares at it for many moments....silent, his thoughts impossible to guess.
Mirica looked around an sighed. "Chen? Please calm down, there are no more enemies. But we might need your strength yet."She looked at the two statues. "Some say the blood of Medusa can reverse the effect." Mirica did not sound convincing even to herself but had to try. Wet chunks of medusa were all over the place - thanks to Chen's effort and she picked up one, trying to get a few drops of what passed for blood in the the creature over the motionless statue of the kenku.
Meanwhile the spirit lion disappeared, spending all it's energy on healing (111513) and it was time to decide what to do now.
"We might want to go to the room with Fianna, taking that statues with us, and rest there for a while, so I could gather the strength to bring them back to life. Nuzej - is it still you or are you Jezun now? Can you do something about petrification?"
After splattering the dead medusae, Mirica's calming words start to sink in. Chen does a slow lap around the room, smacking the walls with his hammer a few times, huffing and grunting and murmuring something about painting the floor, but by the time he returns back to the doorway he is his old calm and serene self again. I can carry each of these where they need to go, he says in response to Mirica's suggestion. Perhaps there is something on these shelves and books that can restore our friends, otherwise we shall have to wait on your prayers. And Chen gently picks up the Toc statue and walks out.
Nuzej staggers forward, nearly dropping to his knees, but catching himself. He looks around the room, locking eyes with Mirica, smiling at Tic, and watching the rage finish coursing through Chen. Then the two statues. And somewhere, a warlock, wandering.
He replies to Mirica: "Yes, it's still Nuzej here. I'm sorry, you haven't formally met me. I think Jezun got stunned and I had to take control to recover. Usually this happens during sleep. Makes things hard to plan."
He reaches inside his shirt and pulls out a necklace with a small treasure chest shaped pendant on the end. He mutters a few words and a larger chest manifests in front of him. He kneels down and opens it, pulling out a pouch and book, grinning to himself. He removes a piece of cured leather from the pouch and casts mage armor on himself.
"Just in case. That's better. Now, we're in a bit of a pickle. Tic, you're sure there's no more threats here? Resting would be smart. I don't think this petrification is something a dispelling would help, so we'll be reliant on you, Mirica. I'm a bit foggy on the details here, but I'm catching up. This baelnorn was helping the dragon, sending out those chained demons on its behalf? Or it was operating on its own? I'd like to turn this place upside down and find anything that might be useful. The book that fell off the lich when it got eaten by the sphere, where did it get to? I have to assume Quaryl squirreled away some useful things here. But do we have time to look, and rest? Tic, your familiar is looking around inside. Should I send mine outside in case the dragon comes by?"
He snaps, and a fuzzy blue spider appears on his shoulder.
After a pause, he looks around, and says, "This is a lot to take in, I'm sorry."
"There is the book," Mirica did not just pointed at it but piked it up. "I'll keep it for our magically inclined."She packed the tome into her backpack while continued. "It seems that baelorn was either possessed, charmed or simply convinced by the Larloch to cooperate and saw us as enemies. Dragon was just a side effect". "Never trust undead!"Added she passionately. "At any rate, I hope this time he is gone for good. Now, while we are on the explanations - would you kindly explain who you are?" (Mirica sometimes demonstrated incredible willpower not to decorate her speech with well deserving adjectives) "The place does encourage curiosity, as you might have noticed."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Tic shrugs, "Well, of course I can't be certain if there are threats or not...but I walked around the place and didn't see anything immediately threatening. The Baelnorn sent the demons to harry us...presumably on the orders or request of the dragon. Though what relationship they had we don't know the details of. If we can all gather in one of the other rooms, I can create a small sphere that should keep us mostly safe while we rest. My familiar is watching Fianna. If you have one you'd be ok sending outside, then go for it. You may need to have it materialize outside the rocks that block the entrance...unless it's quite small."
Nuzej is pretty confident that his fuzzy blue spider can get through the rocks. He looks around and indeed there is a large heavy book laying on the floor beneath the Mythallar, where Quaryl had been disintegrated. Chen meanwhile grasps the heavy statues and, one by one, moves them out of the Mythallar room, past the room with the illusionary people, and the next one with mirrored walls, and into the one with all the toys. Fianna is on the floor playing with a handful of them. A few seem to have a few broken bits.
When Nuzej approaches the book, Mirica quickly moves over to it and uses a small bag to grab the book, knowing such things can sometimes be harmful to handle....especially given the strong magic its giving off. Nuzej shrugs then in the other room, plucks a few books off the shelves to read before sitting within Tic's circle as he begins his ritual casting of Leomunds Tiny Hut. Everyone waits there for ten minutes while he completes the spell and the sphere appears, then they're free to move around once again, in and out of the sphere.
Nuzej sends his familiar out for a peek around outside. The ruins look like they always have....nothing significant seems to have changed here for the moment. The time begins to pass as the group rests.
Tic sits meditating for most of the time, but eventually gets up and pulls open a book to read. He scans the pages casually though, flipping haphazardly....a mild look of frustration on his face. Fianna, seemingly exhausted and getting the message about resting eventually passes out, getting a good long rest in. Nuzej, the books you pulled off of the shelves from this room seem to be about Conjuration and contain both theoretical information, but also spell formula. The information in immense. In just the few books you've scanned, you've come across the following spells:
Nuzej offers to use his still-active telekinesis to carry one of the statues into the room. He also offers to uses the spell to help put the baelnorn's book into the bag for safekeeping. He's fine with Mirica holding onto it and he does not have the bandwidth to try to look at it.
To Mirica, he says, "who I am. It's a good question. I've always been here. Jezun and I have shared this form since, well, it's been a long time. Some days he wakes up in it. Some days I wake up in it. One of the most frustrating things about the deal is there's no pattern, no plan. Sometimes it's Jezun for a long stretch. Sometimes it's me. Sometimes it's one day on, one day off. It's made our lives very difficult. It's one of the reasons, I think, we have moved around so much, and have had very few, very understanding, friends. I can get some glimmers of what's going on when Jezun's in control, but it's very hard. He doesn't seem to know, or remember, this. I've explained how I have tried to leave notes for him, trust others to explain it, but I don't think it matters to him. Perhaps you can help explain it to him. It's very odd that this happened while he was awake. It has to be the stunning magic from that lich. Very disorienting."
His voice is calm, even though he speaks in quick bursts. He seems impatient, in a hurry, whereas Jezun has always seemed the opposite.
He takes a deep breath. "I can see how this might be confusing, and I don't expect you to trust me. I haven't expected anyone to trust me for a long time. Just know that I care for Jezun a great deal. He has a good heart, and though he frustrates me to no end, I want what's best for him. Us. Life's funny, isn't it?"
"Funny indeed." Between an elf with the most severe PTSD case she ever saw, the curious fey adjusting to this world, and the rest of the present company, everpresent entity sharing the body with a humble monk was not that unfitting even. And helpful - at least so far. "The question is as always - what do you consider "best for him/you". But we can discuss it some other time. Let's rest a bit and get back our fallen."
Mirica spent next hours resting and quietly praying, and when she felt the answer to her call, prepared the glittering diamond dust and begun the ritual. First, it was Fianna - if the fey-touched girl did not sleep, she first was distracted with a toy, while the priestess powdered her with the dust and chanted the prayer. She looked intently trying to see if effect was there. "Fianna? How do you feel?"
Then it was Toc's turn. At least the statue did not try to run away, and was easy to dust. When the brilliant sparkles disappeared with the sound of words, the color returned to now alive body (hopefully).
"Welcome back." She looked at Toc no less intently than a few moment before at Fianna, checking for signs of intelligence. "You might want to rest a bit now, both of you." Actually, she might needed too, unless Fianna or Toc could help to restore Russel to life on the spot.
Indeed....Mirica's radiant holy power washed through Fianna like a sponge pulling away all the bad energy that was messing with her mind. Fianna's eyes blink....clear headed...as she looks around to get her bearings.
Then came Toc. More powerful holy energy rippled through his form, and color returned to his body. He lurched aside turning his head violently and then glanced around. It took him a few moments also to get his bearings. Tic sat him down, "I'll fill you in." Tic then spend a short time 'mind talking' with Toc. Toc shakes his head at Russel, "I'm afraid I don't have anything that can help and all of my magic is pretty much expended. He'll have to wait a bit longer....I do very much need rest."
He sits, cross legged, and begins to meditate. He glances over at Nuzej several times, but eventually closes his eyes and returns to meditating.
"Happy birthday!" Fianna shouts, once she's back to her old self. Some day that'll be stolen by someone in a magic hat, but for the time being she's not even sure why she said it.
After the inevitable blow by blow summary of what she missed, fifty thousand questions for clarification and edification, Fianna asks for it to be told all over again...
Once Fianna is pretty sure she understands everything at least as well as could be, Fianna spends some time performing the ritual to resummon her familiar. Eventually Fi'Finella is back once more and starts jabbering on and on and on. Fi'Finella's story largely matches that of everyone else's up until the point where the Bags of Holding were combined. That is when the imp tells of her time in the Astral Plane.
"He was there with me," Fi'Finella explains. "We were all there in the same general area - the crap you two carried around, the Lich dude, and me. You'd think we'd have been scattered to the four corners of the place but nope! All there in a big clump."
The familiar turns to Fianna and says, "I tried sacking up your crap for you. I did! Mainly to distract myself from the creepy guy... But the bastard zapped me and I goofed. Sorry... Ish."
"Anyway, we chatted a bit. The creep and me. The dude was looney. Looney, I say. As looney as a tune! He didn't seem to fully know who he was. He was asking if he and I we allies. He ac ted as if he didn't know what happened to put him there, didn't know if the Warlock was there or not, etc... It was when I asked him what he did to piss off the Warlock, cause I was trying to sew discontent between them, that is when he got super angry and magicked me dead!"
There was more questions, more clarifications, but nothing really got answered or clarified. It was just much more of the same information repeated several times from different angles. Eventually Fianna sighed and stood. She strode over to the stone Kenku and considered. She then turned to look at the Wizard Monk, squinted suspiciously and considered some more.
"The Lich wondered if the Warlock was physically present... I cannot help but wonder that myself," Fianna says to everyone in general. Fianna pulled up her Eldritch Sight (aka Detect Magic) and examined the Kenku and the MonkZard again.... Just to see what she could or couldn't see.
Looking at the Kenku Fianna was mainly curious about seeing if this was a magic effect that could possibly be dispelled. ((May Dispel Magic work?))
Looking at Jezun, or Nuzej or Nujez or whatever, Fianna was looking to see if there was a general sense of magic about them besides the implements they carried. Could she sense some kind of magical possession or such? Though she will also spend an extra amount of time looking at their items and trying to catalogue those... Just in case.
After that is taken care of, Fianna consults with Tic. She asks what his take on the MonkZard situation is. Does he trust that he's some kind of split personality and not the Warlock somehow inhabiting him? She also asks about the rifts in these tunnels. "Have we even considered trying to close them? Stable or not, they do not seem right. And if this place is being used for foul purposes then perhaps the stable rifts are part of it? And the demon chain? Has anything been done with that anchor? And have we looked at the book that the Lich dropped? Plus there are plentiful other books in these rooms... Well a couple less since I had slipped a few into my bag of holding before... Well, before. Surely some of them must be worthwhile or helpful or something?"
And after even all that, Fianna wanders the rooms with her Eldritch Sight up, examining every magical blip in the place to see what it may tell...
"Oh, the book. I mea, THE BOOK - the one that crazy lich was using to talk to his Warlock. It is here." Mirica pointed at her backpack. "I hope you and Toc can look at it but tell me when you are ready to do so - some precaution has to be taken."
If Fianna wants to look at the book right away without Toc fully rested, Mirica would not argue but before handing over the book would cast Protection from Evil and Good on Fianna and re-fresh it as needed.
"I could look but... My magics are more a gift than a skill. In some ways more akin to yours than Tic's. He's the learned one, he's the one who may be able to decipher it," Fianna admits. She will, however, look at the book with her Eldritch Sight up to detecty the magicksy.
During the rest, Fianna gets her full breakdown of everything that happened from everyone, and her familiar. She carefully examines Nuzej. He has an aura of abjuration about his body, probably a spell of some type, which, being abjuration could be blocking you getting anything else from him. Otherwise, his gear looks the same as what Jezun had before...which...makes sense.
The statue looks non-magical and petrification sadly won't be solved by Dispel Magic. Nor was it solved by Mirica attempts to rub Medusa blood on it. But after the next long rest, he is restored regardless.
Fianna walks over to Tic and asks about the "MonkZard". Tic looks up and asks in surprise, "You're asking my opinion?" Toc looks at them both, "Fianna, as much as I respect Tic's ability to manage a situation, he has certain.....um...limitations. Specifically around learning new things. It...doesn't work so well." Tic rolls his eyes, "It's true...give me a book and I can read it through. Then after...I can only really retain vague concepts...at best. Though, I'm pretty good with names." Toc sighs and says, "Yes well, MY opinion on the MonkZard is..... he seems a totally different person. He's not like....some simple personality change. Working magic is more than just your memory or how you think....he can work powerful magic with ease....and his body allows it. It's....strange. And yet I don't feel threatened by him. Which is unusual. I'm a pretty paranoid person. For now, I saw we stay cautious, but...optimistic."
Toc says, "Well, there is a lot of reading material here. I'd like to ensure that they're not absently tucked away some place and forget in someone's extradimensional bag....but available for any of us to read." He says this last part loud enough for Nuzej to hear. "I'm assuming with sufficient time and reading I'll be able to understand more about all of this, but...at this very moment....without research, I'm not able to give you any answers I'm afraid, on either the threads....or the chained demons, though I suspect a couple spells that may deal with that situation."
Regarding THE book, Toc nods, "I'd be happy to look at it. After."
Fianna wanders around the place, a couple others wander with her. They find a room, in through the Mythallar, that the group hasn't explored yet, finding a jail cell that appears locked, and which otherwise looks like a storage room full of junk. No magic here to speak of. They also find a secret door in the Mythallar room which opens up to a private study. There are four rows of books here of all manner, each one inscribed with "Property of Quaryl Tessarym. Please return if found." In addition they find many precious gems, powdered gem, and reagents.
Including:
8300 gold worth of Diamond Dust
8900 gold worth of Ruby Dust
15 Jacinth worth 1000 gold each.
15 ornately carved bars of silver worth 100 gold each.
1 Diamond worth 5000 gold.
Fine silver chain worth 10,000 gold.
8 small chits of Adamantine worth 500 gold each.
A jade circlet worth 2000 gold.
12 Diamonds worth 1000 gold each.
6 diamonds worth 500 gold each.
An intricate silver rod worth 1500 gold.
6000 gold worth of quicksilver.
10000 gold worth of sapphire dust.
2000 gold worth of powdered opal.
In addition they find the following magic items that are later identified:
Ink pot that never runs dry
A small stone that weighs 20 pounds.
A jade figurine of a lion. Pulling the tail causes the lion to roar.
A smoking pipe that lights itself when pipeweed it put into it.
Autumn Staff - Weapon (Quarterstaff), uncommon (requires attunement) : The staff contains a reservoir of natural magic that can a sustain a cascade of falling leaves for up to 6 rounds. The bearer may use an action to plant this weapon in the ground and release this magic. While planted and undepleted, creatures within 10 feet of this weapon have half cover. At dawn the staff regains 1d6 rounds of energy to its resevoir. The bearer can use this item to cast the Light cantrip on itself at will.
Dagger of Renaissance +2 - Weapon (Dagger), uncommon (requires attunement) : This dagger has +2 to hit and damage even if not attuned. Once per short rest, the bearer may gain +2 to any skill check.
Maul of Eyes +3 - Weapon (Maul), uncommon (requires attunement) : This Maul has +3 to hit and damage even if not attuned. The bearer gains +2 to wisdom saving throws. Garrish eyes are painted on the head of the Maul. The bearer can use an action to see through the eyes, even if their own senses are compromised. They can drop this sight at will.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
When they say "diamonds are a girl's best friend", they probably do not mean healers. But in Mirica's case it was both - she packed the dust (all there is, of all kind) and the crystals too (!) together in one big stash of "healing and important spell's ingredients" (really, old lich could keep around another bag of holding! One more point off the undead.)
But all of this after the kenku statue was turned back into a living breathing creature. "Careful! Rest first a bit, then you can move around again."
Of course, before we go anywhere - Heroes' Feast is paramount and the situation can be discussed as we eat. (Added maximum of HP: 15 )
The priestess did not claim any magical items (the Autumn Staff was curious, but should anyone be interested in it more, she would not object). Right now she was worried about The Book and Mythallar in the next room.
"So, do we teleport all these books and everything we have to your safe house, Toc, or do we claim the place as our ... base, for the lack of better term? Sure, the neighborhood could be better but this is for us to clean up the backyard. And it does not look like we can leave one of your precious Mythallars unattended anyway."
Russel is returned to his flesh version....and faces a room full of suspicious people watching him. But, he's also presented with a rather delicious looking feast....
(I presume Mirica had an extra gem encrusted bowl worth 1000 gp with which to cast another version of the spell? Please remove it from your inventory.)
The Kenku looks at the group. He seems to move with out making any noise...a strange effect that makes you think he's an illusion sometimes....but he's obviously quite real. Both Tic and Toc keep their eyes on him, and their distance from him. Toc motions to the food, "Thank you Mirica....amazing." He turns to Russel, "You can thank Mirica here for the amazing feast. It will help you feel better. Please, sit, enjoy, and we can talk."
Toc turns and responds to Mirica about the books, "I would not trust these books to the place in Hillsfar. They're priceless really....and the house is compromised. They're probably best left here for now. And yes, I say we claim this place until we can find another way to keep that Mythallar safe. I would expect that I have a lot of reading to do. Hopefully there's some information about what he's been doing here somewhere in some of these books..."
He turns to the Kenku, "So...what's your deal. Perhaps a name? And then perhaps why you are here. And....Nuzej....perhaps a bit about yourself? You're a powerful wizard. Why are you here? What are your goals?"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
What's the difference between a Wizard and a Sorcerer? Class.
With everyone in-stoned and in the same room, Fianna will tap into something she’s hesitated to until now. When coming through the woods the first time she was struck by the wild magic and it... left something. Tapping into it now Fianna uses True Seeing - she’ll examine all amongst the group and then wander the rooms for the remaining duration, learning as much as she can about the people and the place.
“I’ve no particular need for any of the items, but I do collect daggers... If nobody has a use for them I’ll claim the Needle of Mending and the Renaissance Dagger,” she’ll say.
“But I may have a storage solution outside of the safe house and from here, for there’s not exactly a door blocking entrance here. I can create a Demiplane where we could, for lack of a better word, hoard items. Not as convenient as a Bag of Holding (we’ll have to commission some once back to civilization) since I can only access it once a day or so... but it’s more secure than here or the safe house...” she offers.
((Question for DM - spell lasts an hour (the doorway anyway) but could I dismiss it sooner? I assume so but best to be sure...))
“As for the Book of Mythallars, I think I’m ready to read it once we’re all secure in our companions and location...”
(Whenever Fianna or Toc wants to study the thing - one will be shilded with Protection from Evil and Good . The other one better read over the shoulder of the main reader.)
Nuzej holds up his hand, pulling forth powerful arcane energy, and unleashes five blasts of fire that spray across the room. Two miss but three strike and when the fire hits the Medusa she lets out an unholy screech before dropping to the ground...bones broken...flesh burned...finally succumbing to her wounds....
It's finally quiet here....though Mirica and Nuzej both flinch as Chen takes another swing at the dead Medusa, sending charred yet also wet body bits splattering about.
The room has no more enemies apparently though...and after a few moments things calm down. Two statues, and not enough bodies....litter the floor for the scale of battle that just occurred. The Mythallar hangs heavy in the air, placid and immobile...and full of awful arcane potential. Thousands of years old, and yet you feel like it's always looked like this. Hanging their, ready to lift mountains into the sky.
Tic's voice is heard, "I will go fetch Fianna, do not worry, I will return with her."
However a few minutes later he comes back without her and visible....and shrugs, "She is in the room just back. I checked around, there are no threats, and no way for her to leave....and I'd rather her not decide to go touch the Mythallar so I left her back in the other room. Do not worry, I left my familiar with her as a guard. It's a black cat, he'll let me know if she gets in any trouble."
He walks over to the statue of Toc and stares at it for many moments....silent, his thoughts impossible to guess.
What's the difference between a Wizard and a Sorcerer?
Class.
Mirica looked around an sighed. "Chen? Please calm down, there are no more enemies. But we might need your strength yet." She looked at the two statues. "Some say the blood of Medusa can reverse the effect." Mirica did not sound convincing even to herself but had to try. Wet chunks of medusa were all over the place - thanks to Chen's effort and she picked up one, trying to get a few drops of what passed for blood in the the creature over the motionless statue of the kenku.
Meanwhile the spirit lion disappeared, spending all it's energy on healing (11 15 13) and it was time to decide what to do now.
"We might want to go to the room with Fianna, taking that statues with us, and rest there for a while, so I could gather the strength to bring them back to life. Nuzej - is it still you or are you Jezun now? Can you do something about petrification?"
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
After splattering the dead medusae, Mirica's calming words start to sink in. Chen does a slow lap around the room, smacking the walls with his hammer a few times, huffing and grunting and murmuring something about painting the floor, but by the time he returns back to the doorway he is his old calm and serene self again. I can carry each of these where they need to go, he says in response to Mirica's suggestion. Perhaps there is something on these shelves and books that can restore our friends, otherwise we shall have to wait on your prayers. And Chen gently picks up the Toc statue and walks out.
How does a red dragon blow out the candles on its birthday cake?
Nuzej staggers forward, nearly dropping to his knees, but catching himself. He looks around the room, locking eyes with Mirica, smiling at Tic, and watching the rage finish coursing through Chen. Then the two statues. And somewhere, a warlock, wandering.
He replies to Mirica: "Yes, it's still Nuzej here. I'm sorry, you haven't formally met me. I think Jezun got stunned and I had to take control to recover. Usually this happens during sleep. Makes things hard to plan."
He reaches inside his shirt and pulls out a necklace with a small treasure chest shaped pendant on the end. He mutters a few words and a larger chest manifests in front of him. He kneels down and opens it, pulling out a pouch and book, grinning to himself. He removes a piece of cured leather from the pouch and casts mage armor on himself.
"Just in case. That's better. Now, we're in a bit of a pickle. Tic, you're sure there's no more threats here? Resting would be smart. I don't think this petrification is something a dispelling would help, so we'll be reliant on you, Mirica. I'm a bit foggy on the details here, but I'm catching up. This baelnorn was helping the dragon, sending out those chained demons on its behalf? Or it was operating on its own? I'd like to turn this place upside down and find anything that might be useful. The book that fell off the lich when it got eaten by the sphere, where did it get to? I have to assume Quaryl squirreled away some useful things here. But do we have time to look, and rest? Tic, your familiar is looking around inside. Should I send mine outside in case the dragon comes by?"
He snaps, and a fuzzy blue spider appears on his shoulder.
After a pause, he looks around, and says, "This is a lot to take in, I'm sorry."
"There is the book," Mirica did not just pointed at it but piked it up. "I'll keep it for our magically inclined." She packed the tome into her backpack while continued. "It seems that baelorn was either possessed, charmed or simply convinced by the Larloch to cooperate and saw us as enemies. Dragon was just a side effect". "Never trust undead!" Added she passionately. "At any rate, I hope this time he is gone for good. Now, while we are on the explanations - would you kindly explain who you are?" (Mirica sometimes demonstrated incredible willpower not to decorate her speech with well deserving adjectives) "The place does encourage curiosity, as you might have noticed."
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
Tic shrugs, "Well, of course I can't be certain if there are threats or not...but I walked around the place and didn't see anything immediately threatening. The Baelnorn sent the demons to harry us...presumably on the orders or request of the dragon. Though what relationship they had we don't know the details of. If we can all gather in one of the other rooms, I can create a small sphere that should keep us mostly safe while we rest. My familiar is watching Fianna. If you have one you'd be ok sending outside, then go for it. You may need to have it materialize outside the rocks that block the entrance...unless it's quite small."
Nuzej is pretty confident that his fuzzy blue spider can get through the rocks. He looks around and indeed there is a large heavy book laying on the floor beneath the Mythallar, where Quaryl had been disintegrated. Chen meanwhile grasps the heavy statues and, one by one, moves them out of the Mythallar room, past the room with the illusionary people, and the next one with mirrored walls, and into the one with all the toys. Fianna is on the floor playing with a handful of them. A few seem to have a few broken bits.
When Nuzej approaches the book, Mirica quickly moves over to it and uses a small bag to grab the book, knowing such things can sometimes be harmful to handle....especially given the strong magic its giving off. Nuzej shrugs then in the other room, plucks a few books off the shelves to read before sitting within Tic's circle as he begins his ritual casting of Leomunds Tiny Hut. Everyone waits there for ten minutes while he completes the spell and the sphere appears, then they're free to move around once again, in and out of the sphere.
Nuzej sends his familiar out for a peek around outside. The ruins look like they always have....nothing significant seems to have changed here for the moment. The time begins to pass as the group rests.
Tic sits meditating for most of the time, but eventually gets up and pulls open a book to read. He scans the pages casually though, flipping haphazardly....a mild look of frustration on his face. Fianna, seemingly exhausted and getting the message about resting eventually passes out, getting a good long rest in. Nuzej, the books you pulled off of the shelves from this room seem to be about Conjuration and contain both theoretical information, but also spell formula. The information in immense. In just the few books you've scanned, you've come across the following spells:
22 43 33 46 38 26 40 4
Find Familiar
Floating Disk
Flaming Sphere
Black Tentacles
Summon Greater Demon
Far Step
Drawmij's Instant Summons
Incendiary Cloud
Meanwhile, as the get settled Mirica asks her questions of Nuzej...expecting immediate answers...
[LONG REST SUCCESSFUL, though you can of course continue conversation while it was occurring....]
What's the difference between a Wizard and a Sorcerer?
Class.
((Both posting at same time so different stories on who has book...))
Nuzej offers to use his still-active telekinesis to carry one of the statues into the room. He also offers to uses the spell to help put the baelnorn's book into the bag for safekeeping. He's fine with Mirica holding onto it and he does not have the bandwidth to try to look at it.
To Mirica, he says, "who I am. It's a good question. I've always been here. Jezun and I have shared this form since, well, it's been a long time. Some days he wakes up in it. Some days I wake up in it. One of the most frustrating things about the deal is there's no pattern, no plan. Sometimes it's Jezun for a long stretch. Sometimes it's me. Sometimes it's one day on, one day off. It's made our lives very difficult. It's one of the reasons, I think, we have moved around so much, and have had very few, very understanding, friends. I can get some glimmers of what's going on when Jezun's in control, but it's very hard. He doesn't seem to know, or remember, this. I've explained how I have tried to leave notes for him, trust others to explain it, but I don't think it matters to him. Perhaps you can help explain it to him. It's very odd that this happened while he was awake. It has to be the stunning magic from that lich. Very disorienting."
His voice is calm, even though he speaks in quick bursts. He seems impatient, in a hurry, whereas Jezun has always seemed the opposite.
He takes a deep breath. "I can see how this might be confusing, and I don't expect you to trust me. I haven't expected anyone to trust me for a long time. Just know that I care for Jezun a great deal. He has a good heart, and though he frustrates me to no end, I want what's best for him. Us. Life's funny, isn't it?"
"Funny indeed." Between an elf with the most severe PTSD case she ever saw, the curious fey adjusting to this world, and the rest of the present company, everpresent entity sharing the body with a humble monk was not that unfitting even. And helpful - at least so far. "The question is as always - what do you consider "best for him/you". But we can discuss it some other time. Let's rest a bit and get back our fallen."
Mirica spent next hours resting and quietly praying, and when she felt the answer to her call, prepared the glittering diamond dust and begun the ritual. First, it was Fianna - if the fey-touched girl did not sleep, she first was distracted with a toy, while the priestess powdered her with the dust and chanted the prayer. She looked intently trying to see if effect was there. "Fianna? How do you feel?"
Then it was Toc's turn. At least the statue did not try to run away, and was easy to dust. When the brilliant sparkles disappeared with the sound of words, the color returned to now alive body (hopefully).
"Welcome back." She looked at Toc no less intently than a few moment before at Fianna, checking for signs of intelligence. "You might want to rest a bit now, both of you." Actually, she might needed too, unless Fianna or Toc could help to restore Russel to life on the spot.
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
Indeed....Mirica's radiant holy power washed through Fianna like a sponge pulling away all the bad energy that was messing with her mind. Fianna's eyes blink....clear headed...as she looks around to get her bearings.
Then came Toc. More powerful holy energy rippled through his form, and color returned to his body. He lurched aside turning his head violently and then glanced around. It took him a few moments also to get his bearings. Tic sat him down, "I'll fill you in." Tic then spend a short time 'mind talking' with Toc. Toc shakes his head at Russel, "I'm afraid I don't have anything that can help and all of my magic is pretty much expended. He'll have to wait a bit longer....I do very much need rest."
He sits, cross legged, and begins to meditate. He glances over at Nuzej several times, but eventually closes his eyes and returns to meditating.
What's the difference between a Wizard and a Sorcerer?
Class.
Russel does his best statue impersonation.
(Another round of long rest?)
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
"Happy birthday!" Fianna shouts, once she's back to her old self. Some day that'll be stolen by someone in a magic hat, but for the time being she's not even sure why she said it.
After the inevitable blow by blow summary of what she missed, fifty thousand questions for clarification and edification, Fianna asks for it to be told all over again...
Once Fianna is pretty sure she understands everything at least as well as could be, Fianna spends some time performing the ritual to resummon her familiar. Eventually Fi'Finella is back once more and starts jabbering on and on and on. Fi'Finella's story largely matches that of everyone else's up until the point where the Bags of Holding were combined. That is when the imp tells of her time in the Astral Plane.
"He was there with me," Fi'Finella explains. "We were all there in the same general area - the crap you two carried around, the Lich dude, and me. You'd think we'd have been scattered to the four corners of the place but nope! All there in a big clump."
The familiar turns to Fianna and says, "I tried sacking up your crap for you. I did! Mainly to distract myself from the creepy guy... But the bastard zapped me and I goofed. Sorry... Ish."
"Anyway, we chatted a bit. The creep and me. The dude was looney. Looney, I say. As looney as a tune! He didn't seem to fully know who he was. He was asking if he and I we allies. He ac ted as if he didn't know what happened to put him there, didn't know if the Warlock was there or not, etc... It was when I asked him what he did to piss off the Warlock, cause I was trying to sew discontent between them, that is when he got super angry and magicked me dead!"
There was more questions, more clarifications, but nothing really got answered or clarified. It was just much more of the same information repeated several times from different angles. Eventually Fianna sighed and stood. She strode over to the stone Kenku and considered. She then turned to look at the Wizard Monk, squinted suspiciously and considered some more.
"The Lich wondered if the Warlock was physically present... I cannot help but wonder that myself," Fianna says to everyone in general. Fianna pulled up her Eldritch Sight (aka Detect Magic) and examined the Kenku and the MonkZard again.... Just to see what she could or couldn't see.
After that is taken care of, Fianna consults with Tic. She asks what his take on the MonkZard situation is. Does he trust that he's some kind of split personality and not the Warlock somehow inhabiting him? She also asks about the rifts in these tunnels. "Have we even considered trying to close them? Stable or not, they do not seem right. And if this place is being used for foul purposes then perhaps the stable rifts are part of it? And the demon chain? Has anything been done with that anchor? And have we looked at the book that the Lich dropped? Plus there are plentiful other books in these rooms... Well a couple less since I had slipped a few into my bag of holding before... Well, before. Surely some of them must be worthwhile or helpful or something?"
And after even all that, Fianna wanders the rooms with her Eldritch Sight up, examining every magical blip in the place to see what it may tell...
"Oh, the book. I mea, THE BOOK - the one that crazy lich was using to talk to his Warlock. It is here." Mirica pointed at her backpack. "I hope you and Toc can look at it but tell me when you are ready to do so - some precaution has to be taken."
If Fianna wants to look at the book right away without Toc fully rested, Mirica would not argue but before handing over the book would cast Protection from Evil and Good on Fianna and re-fresh it as needed.
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
"I could look but... My magics are more a gift than a skill. In some ways more akin to yours than Tic's. He's the learned one, he's the one who may be able to decipher it," Fianna admits. She will, however, look at the book with her Eldritch Sight up to detecty the magicksy.
[ANOTHER LONG REST PASSES]
Russel is turned back into flesh.
During the rest, Fianna gets her full breakdown of everything that happened from everyone, and her familiar. She carefully examines Nuzej. He has an aura of abjuration about his body, probably a spell of some type, which, being abjuration could be blocking you getting anything else from him. Otherwise, his gear looks the same as what Jezun had before...which...makes sense.
The statue looks non-magical and petrification sadly won't be solved by Dispel Magic. Nor was it solved by Mirica attempts to rub Medusa blood on it. But after the next long rest, he is restored regardless.
Fianna walks over to Tic and asks about the "MonkZard". Tic looks up and asks in surprise, "You're asking my opinion?" Toc looks at them both, "Fianna, as much as I respect Tic's ability to manage a situation, he has certain.....um...limitations. Specifically around learning new things. It...doesn't work so well." Tic rolls his eyes, "It's true...give me a book and I can read it through. Then after...I can only really retain vague concepts...at best. Though, I'm pretty good with names." Toc sighs and says, "Yes well, MY opinion on the MonkZard is..... he seems a totally different person. He's not like....some simple personality change. Working magic is more than just your memory or how you think....he can work powerful magic with ease....and his body allows it. It's....strange. And yet I don't feel threatened by him. Which is unusual. I'm a pretty paranoid person. For now, I saw we stay cautious, but...optimistic."
Toc says, "Well, there is a lot of reading material here. I'd like to ensure that they're not absently tucked away some place and forget in someone's extradimensional bag....but available for any of us to read." He says this last part loud enough for Nuzej to hear. "I'm assuming with sufficient time and reading I'll be able to understand more about all of this, but...at this very moment....without research, I'm not able to give you any answers I'm afraid, on either the threads....or the chained demons, though I suspect a couple spells that may deal with that situation."
Regarding THE book, Toc nods, "I'd be happy to look at it. After."
Fianna wanders around the place, a couple others wander with her. They find a room, in through the Mythallar, that the group hasn't explored yet, finding a jail cell that appears locked, and which otherwise looks like a storage room full of junk. No magic here to speak of. They also find a secret door in the Mythallar room which opens up to a private study. There are four rows of books here of all manner, each one inscribed with "Property of Quaryl Tessarym. Please return if found." In addition they find many precious gems, powdered gem, and reagents.
Including:
8300 gold worth of Diamond Dust
8900 gold worth of Ruby Dust
15 Jacinth worth 1000 gold each.
15 ornately carved bars of silver worth 100 gold each.
1 Diamond worth 5000 gold.
Fine silver chain worth 10,000 gold.
8 small chits of Adamantine worth 500 gold each.
A jade circlet worth 2000 gold.
12 Diamonds worth 1000 gold each.
6 diamonds worth 500 gold each.
An intricate silver rod worth 1500 gold.
6000 gold worth of quicksilver.
10000 gold worth of sapphire dust.
2000 gold worth of powdered opal.
In addition they find the following magic items that are later identified:
Ink pot that never runs dry
A small stone that weighs 20 pounds.
A jade figurine of a lion. Pulling the tail causes the lion to roar.
A smoking pipe that lights itself when pipeweed it put into it.
Autumn Staff - Weapon (Quarterstaff), uncommon (requires attunement) : The staff contains a reservoir of natural magic that can a sustain a cascade of falling leaves for up to 6 rounds. The bearer may use an action to plant this weapon in the ground and release this magic. While planted and undepleted, creatures within 10 feet of this weapon have half cover. At dawn the staff regains 1d6 rounds of energy to its resevoir. The bearer can use this item to cast the Light cantrip on itself at will.
Dagger of Renaissance +2 - Weapon (Dagger), uncommon (requires attunement) : This dagger has +2 to hit and damage even if not attuned. Once per short rest, the bearer may gain +2 to any skill check.
Maul of Eyes +3 - Weapon (Maul), uncommon (requires attunement) : This Maul has +3 to hit and damage even if not attuned. The bearer gains +2 to wisdom saving throws. Garrish eyes are painted on the head of the Maul. The bearer can use an action to see through the eyes, even if their own senses are compromised. They can drop this sight at will.
Needle of Mending
Ring of Temporal Salvation (before you ask, it doesn't work on undead, which is why he wasn't wearing it).
You also figure, the intricate little statues in that one room, which there are 24 intact ones left of, are probably worth about 500 gold each.
[EVERYONE CAN LEVEL UP, YES EVEN YOU RUSSEL]
What's the difference between a Wizard and a Sorcerer?
Class.
When they say "diamonds are a girl's best friend", they probably do not mean healers. But in Mirica's case it was both - she packed the dust (all there is, of all kind) and the crystals too (!) together in one big stash of "healing and important spell's ingredients" (really, old lich could keep around another bag of holding! One more point off the undead.)
But all of this after the kenku statue was turned back into a living breathing creature. "Careful! Rest first a bit, then you can move around again."
Of course, before we go anywhere - Heroes' Feast is paramount and the situation can be discussed as we eat. (Added maximum of HP: 15 )
The priestess did not claim any magical items (the Autumn Staff was curious, but should anyone be interested in it more, she would not object). Right now she was worried about The Book and Mythallar in the next room.
"So, do we teleport all these books and everything we have to your safe house, Toc, or do we claim the place as our ... base, for the lack of better term? Sure, the neighborhood could be better but this is for us to clean up the backyard. And it does not look like we can leave one of your precious Mythallars unattended anyway."
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice
Russel is returned to his flesh version....and faces a room full of suspicious people watching him. But, he's also presented with a rather delicious looking feast....
(I presume Mirica had an extra gem encrusted bowl worth 1000 gp with which to cast another version of the spell? Please remove it from your inventory.)
The Kenku looks at the group. He seems to move with out making any noise...a strange effect that makes you think he's an illusion sometimes....but he's obviously quite real. Both Tic and Toc keep their eyes on him, and their distance from him. Toc motions to the food, "Thank you Mirica....amazing." He turns to Russel, "You can thank Mirica here for the amazing feast. It will help you feel better. Please, sit, enjoy, and we can talk."
Toc turns and responds to Mirica about the books, "I would not trust these books to the place in Hillsfar. They're priceless really....and the house is compromised. They're probably best left here for now. And yes, I say we claim this place until we can find another way to keep that Mythallar safe. I would expect that I have a lot of reading to do. Hopefully there's some information about what he's been doing here somewhere in some of these books..."
He turns to the Kenku, "So...what's your deal. Perhaps a name? And then perhaps why you are here. And....Nuzej....perhaps a bit about yourself? You're a powerful wizard. Why are you here? What are your goals?"
What's the difference between a Wizard and a Sorcerer?
Class.
With everyone in-stoned and in the same room, Fianna will tap into something she’s hesitated to until now. When coming through the woods the first time she was struck by the wild magic and it... left something. Tapping into it now Fianna uses True Seeing - she’ll examine all amongst the group and then wander the rooms for the remaining duration, learning as much as she can about the people and the place.
“I’ve no particular need for any of the items, but I do collect daggers... If nobody has a use for them I’ll claim the Needle of Mending and the Renaissance Dagger,” she’ll say.
“But I may have a storage solution outside of the safe house and from here, for there’s not exactly a door blocking entrance here. I can create a Demiplane where we could, for lack of a better word, hoard items. Not as convenient as a Bag of Holding (we’ll have to commission some once back to civilization) since I can only access it once a day or so... but it’s more secure than here or the safe house...” she offers.
((Question for DM - spell lasts an hour (the doorway anyway) but could I dismiss it sooner? I assume so but best to be sure...))
“As for the Book of Mythallars, I think I’m ready to read it once we’re all secure in our companions and location...”
(Whenever Fianna or Toc wants to study the thing - one will be shilded with Protection from Evil and Good . The other one better read over the shoulder of the main reader.)
Meili Liang Lvl 5 Monk
Dice