The adventurers leave the Invulnerable Vagrant and head back to the inn, their minds heavy with thought even with the noise of the bustling city around them. Sai thinks about what Cheato had said about Malkey’s primal magic, as well as his skin issue; she’d really like to get a good closer look at that. Malkey’s thoughts are consumed with Filona, he never knew her to be quiet and still as Miras had said, and why wasn’t anyone at his funeral!?! Hung’s thoughts turn to his amulet, why can’t his questions be answered? Malkey is getting answers about his wife, he should have answers about his parents. Cheato’s mind is flooded with open-ended questions about the things he learned today, who-what-why-when-how-where!?! Fawna is very happy with her papoose but is concerned for her friend Cheato as she sees his furrowed brow and she was really happy to have gotten to see Daughtte again. G thinks about the day in Zadash, those poor people outside the south gate, she wishes there was some way she could help. Her thoughts then turn to the amulet and what Cheato had said. She reaches up and without even realizing it, holds the pendant in her hand lovingly. Why doesn’t it work for her? She feels like she used to remember how to use it, so much seems …. lost within her somehow locked away. The Song and Supper inn comes into view as the setting sun sheds its last light over Zadash before nightfall. Cheato barges in gregariously as usual and Fawna positions herself so she can close it behind them.
The reception area is quiet and there is nothing but a bell on the counter, no soul is present. There are wooden double doors to their right that are labeled dining area in Gold Letters on top of the peony print wallpaper that covers the interior walls. To their left are the stairs that lead up to the second-floor rooms and a hallway that leads to the first-floor rooms conveniently labeled in gold lettering and arrows 1-4 for the lower and 5-8 on the upper. The party has keys to rooms 4, 7 & 8.
“I’d like to be on the second level,” G asserts.
“Looks like we’re gonna be roommates again,” Sai smiles over at G.
“Is Mind and Might still a thing?” Malkey asks looking up at Hung.
“Yes,” Hung replies stoically.
“I think we should retire to our rooms for a little bit and unwind, we haven’t been in the city for a while and they have baths and wonderful things such as that. Ah, civilization; it’s great to be back! But I would like to have a conversation over dinner tonight. There’s a lot of things going on, and I think it’s important that we sit down and talk,” Cheato reasons as he hands Malkey the journal he picked up at the market for him.
“Oh, thank you,” Malkey takes it genuinely grateful.
“I agree with you,” G says to Cheato as she and Sai go up to room 7, right next to Fawna and Cheato. Hung and Malkey stay on the first floor in room 4.
“This is good, if there’s a fire, we’re the first ones out!” Malkey says as they make their way down the first-floor hall.
They all enter their rooms, each identical to the last. The rooms are quaint but comfortable even though the floorboards creak as they walk. Each room has a bunk bed to one side with a fresh-picked peony flower laid on each pillow, a pitcher with fresh water and a basin for washing, a small fireplace already lit, and a chamber pot of course.
Cheato goes over and pulls some black gloves he had gotten at the market onto a nearby table then goes to his bed and kneels beside it in prayer, ‘Caylor, I hope you hear me, my mother was a devout worshipper and I know you’ve helped the family in times of need. I could really use your guidance now with the troubling times we are coming into.’ He then quietly gets up and goes to the table. Picking up the left glove he puts it in the center and pours out his pouch of ruby dust in a circle around the item. He chants an incantation of continual flame and the ruby dust catches fire slowly catching the glove on fire as the ruby dust is consumed in the process. He is left with a magical non-burning forever flame on the glove. He proudly puts it on with a smile.
Fawna watches her friend and doesn’t interrupt his work while she tries on her papoose, getting used to tying it herself and adjusting it to her liking. Once he is done, she approaches him and asks curiously, “Who were you talking to?”
“Not really talking too, just hoping that they’re listening. Caylor. Guided my mother a lot,” he says with a sigh. “One of the divine deities of the land.”
“One,” she lifts an eyebrow in question at the same time she lifts her sleeve to reveal a leather totem wrapped around her arm with the symbol of Melora. “Is this also one of them?”
Cheatos eyes get big as he recognizes the symbol, that deity is not on the Dwendalian Empire-approved list. “Ah, another thing we shouldn’t show people,” he says as he slides her sleeve down. “It’s ok to tell me, and the other people in our group, but she’s not accepted here.”
“May I ask why?” Fawna’s heart sinks a little.
“Sometimes people make decisions on the fly and in the moment, and they just decide some things are good and some things are bad. King Dwendal decided they didn’t want this and through years of having this, it's now considered a very bad thing. Whether or not that’s right or not, I don’t know,” He tries to tactfully explain to her.
“Even though she’s not allowed to be mentioned, umm,” she shuffles a bit as she thinks. “Do you think they’d still have anything on her?”
“I’d imagine from a research perspective if we wanted to look up stories and tales. But not from a religious perspective though,” Cheato advises. “You won’t be able to find any followers of her easily, but I think you should still be able to find information.”
“Ok, I’d just like to know more,” she concludes.
“We’ll definitely go to the library tomorrow,” he offers.
In Hung and Malkey’s room there is quite a different scene entirely. Hung had already washed up and it was Malkey’s turn. Malkey strips down to his skivvies and fully steps into the basin. Calling up his mage hand he gets every possible nook and cranny clean while Hung just shakes his head as he finishes up and rubs the lotion on his skin.
When they’re all finished, they converge in the reception area to head to dinner together. Sai addresses Malkey, “Hey Malkey, you ok? What’s going on with your arms, you put a healing thing on them before right?”
“Whaaaat,” he tries to evade the conversation.
“Let me see that,” she says as she reaches for the arm closest to her.
He pulls away, “Awkward.”
She stops and looks at him, “I thought we weren’t keeping secrets from each other anymore”
“Who’s keeping secrets, you’re trying to grope me,” he says incredulously.
hands“I’m asking you a question … ok,” she throws up her ands and shakes her head seeing that he’s not ready to indulge just yet.
“The secret is, you like touching people without their permission. Consent is important!” He exclaims.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” she agrees. “Let’s start over.”
Feeling the tension from his new friends Cheato offers some distraction (and vies for a bit of the attention),”I have a fire hand now.”
Sai ignores this and continues, “I’m concerned for you my friend, what seems to be the matter with your arms?”
“Uhh Psoriasis,” he finally indulges.
“Psoriasis? Let me take a look maybe I…” Sai starts.
“That’s kind of embarrassing, but ok” Malkey interrupts as he presents his arm for her to take a look at.
She gets a closer look and she’s definitely never seen anything like it, “I don’t know
maybe we should see about someone in town. Maybe it was just that ointment and it might have just been bunk. We’re in the city, maybe we can find someone that can help.”
They proceed through the double doors that lead into the dining hall. An oil lamp chandelier fills the room with soft light and the smells coming from the kitchens are overwhelming causing their mouths to water and their bellies to growl. They see a bard playing quietly in a corner as they file in and find an empty booth in the corner. Though they know the inn’s rooms are all but full, the dining area doesn’t seem to be too busy at all, only a few patrons are at their evening meal. You get seated and a friendly-looking human girl approaches your table her brown hair tied back in a ponytail and wiping her hands on her white apron, “Hi there, welcome back to the Song & Supper, I’ll be serving ya today. What can I get ya to drink?” She pulls small menus out of her apron pocket and hands them to everyone.
getsThey place their orders and when she get’s to Cheato, she notices his hand is on fire her eyes widen when he asks her if she could do five shots of espresso in one cup, “Uh, are you sure you want to do that this late in the evening sir?”
“Oh, no, I just wanted to see if you would do it. That’s all,” he cheekily responds with a smile.
G notices Cheatos hand, “Thank goodness, do you see that fire going? I mean, Gods forbid!”
“Uh, is that going to burn any of our wares or ….” the waitress looks on concerned.
“As long as he doesn’t have 5 cups of espresso!” Gia cries.
Fawna leans into Cheato and whispers, “Um, I spent all of my coin.”
“You don’t have any money?” He confirms, “Don’t worry, I got you.”
Finally, all the orders are taken and the waitress takes up the menus. G is still looking at the fire in Cheato’s hand so she asks, “Are you able to put that down on the table, like a candle?” He then explains how it works, he can’t ever put it out, but he can cover it up. He then takes it off and puts it in the middle of the table and the bluish-green flames continue to flicker and shed light. It’s quite a sight to be sure!
Malkey hears and also pipes up, “So, what’s with the fire?”
“I need something special, it calms me down,” Cheato vulnerably explains.
“So you’re going to be forever on fire? Not literally, but known as ‘that dude that’s on fire’?” Malkey presses.
“Yeah,” he replies with a shrug.
“That’s your thing, ok. It can’t be your winning personality or charm. It’s gotta be like, ‘Hey I’m on fire’!” Malkey tries to understand.
“Are you saying I don’t have a winning personality?” Cheato starts and at that moment Sai flags down the waitress asking about kids' meals.
regular-sizedMalkey’s attention shifts to Sai as he is slightly offended, “I can eat a regular sized meal thank you very much!”
“I’m not talking about you. There’s a little on here,” she says incredulously as she gestures to Fawna’s egg. “If nothing else they should still be offered food.”
“Look, I’m no expert, but has it been eating?” Malkey asks Fawna.
“If that egg grows a mouth and eats something, I’m running,” Cheato states matter of factly.
“Have you ever offered it food, how do you know?” Sai questions.
“Have you ever fed an egg before?” Cheato asks Sai.
“Have you ever seen an egg that big before?” Sai retorts.
Everyone then turns to Fawna who is now being bombarded with questions and accusations of egg feedings. Fawna starts to feel overwhelmed and her eyes get large as she’s gripped with fear and tears well up in her eyes with concern that she’s not properly taking care of her egg, “Am I supposed to!?!!
Cheato calms her down from the jokes, “No Fawna, eggs get their nutrients from inside, don’t worry about it.”
“That’s what I thought, but all of a sudden Sai is an expert,” Malkey teases.
“You know, I did this really great biology course when I was in Rexxentrum and we had to raise an egg. I think we might need to do that with you Sai just so you can understand how this process works,” Cheato suggests.
Hung returns from using the chamberpot and is immediately asked to weigh in on the feeding of the egg. “If the egg is a living being it needs to eat, it needs energy. I don’t know how you would do that though.”
Fawna pipes up, “I don’t think it wants food.”
“There we go Fawna,” Cheato says before looking up at the waitress. “We don’t need a kid's meal, thank you.” She nods and then takes Hung’s order as well.
“You look hungry, what would you like?” She asks Hung with a smile.
“He wants meat,” Malkey offers.
“Chicken, Pheasant, or Pork?” She asks.
Malkey answers for him again, “Yes.”
“You got it, big man,” she says as she puts their order into her apron pocket she realizes Hung’s arms are outstretched showing the amount of meat he actually wants, “Oh, no, but you could always order more if you want more!” Hung begins to cry, “Oh no, what have I done? It’s ok, I’ll see what I can do.”
“Ever since he was born, his father fed him ten pounds of pork a day!” Cheato says.
Hung whips his head around to look at Cheato, “You know my father?”
“No, Hung; I’m sorry. I was making a joke,” He apologizes. “That was inconsiderate of me. I was just trying to get ya more pork”
They don’t have to wait very long before their food and drink are before them, Hung getting a little extra, and their hunger takes over. They discuss how they notice that so far when they’ve gone out to eat, their only options seem to be breakfast and dinner; no lunch! Eventually, the dining hall clears out and they are the only patrons left. Cheato musters up the courage to speak on things of a more serious note that have been gnawing at the corners of his mind,“ I don’t like to make assumptions but it seems like from what we’ve learned so far, these weapons that you carry, “ Cheato looks at Hung and Sai in turn, “were evil at one time. They were made for evil purposes, and had things bound to them.” He holds up the journal of Aryn Feyra, “It seems like he was trying to purify these but I don’t think that he did… fully. Now it looks like you guys are seeking the things that he took out and my worry is, these evil artifacts, may not be bad now, but if you give them more power; or if there’s something we don’t understand … the effect that these things can have on you two …. I don’t even really know where to start!”
Sai thinks about Cheatos words before responding, “Well with these artifacts they were trying to banish this evil, we don’t know if they’ve completed that or not. I get that. But then there’s this whole thing with this prophecy… Like, I hear what you’re saying but what if we trust that this will work? It seems like there is some sort of plan that we don’t have all the information on ye, t and we’re not going to get all the information unless we get all the parts.”
“Oh absolutely trust me,” Cheat responds. “First off I have no faith in prophecies they're jibber jabber, whatever; these things can be interpreted a hundred different ways. The facts are that these are powerful. Aryn Feyra believed that these were purposeful and I am very willing to believe that he was literally in contact with a demi-god about this. That he was literally instructed because he had the ability and the spell in his spellbook to contact another plane.”
“Then we’re probably going to need these weapons in order to be able to get all the information that we need,” Sai nods.
“Did you read the entire journal?” Malkey asks Cheato. Cheato nods and Malkey continues, “Ok well then, for those of us that don’t know elvish…?”
Cheato breaks it down. “Umm, I don’t know how much you all have read,” he looks at Sai and Hung, “but the location of the last jewel, he left with one of his friends in Rexxentrum. What was his name? Caylorn Irresor?”
Malkey sits up straight as he recognizes the name. He quickly rummages through his belongings
Cheato turns his attention to Sai and Hung again, “There is a process of purifying these weapons, and it seems fit we continue in that process. Part of that process is renaming them. We need to give them a good name. That way when we use them,” he pauses trying to think of the proper wording. “ … It’s a whole energy thing. Listen I don’t fully understand it, it’s just a positive thing, you give them a good name and maybe it will have some effect down the line.”
G looks at Hung, “Do you have any ideas of what you would name it?”
Hung nods, “Yes. Pokeramus.”
“Sorry?” Cheato raises an eyebrow.
“Pokeramus,” Hung repeats with conviction.
“Why would you name it Pokeramus?” Cheato asks.
“I wanted to keep Ruin’s Wake because when someone dies you come visit and say goodbyes. If I can cause Ruin to have wake I will; using the spear,” Hung reaches up and grabs the tip of the spear, an extension of himself; ”and Pokeramus came to mind.“
Cheato nods, “These weapons are bound to you. I cannot force you or even say the right thing is to rename them or what to do with this process. If you feel like renaming them, I think it’s a good idea. But these are your weapons.”
“But you just said we should use them for good,” Hung looks at him confused.
“We should use them for good, absolutely,” Cheato nods.
“Then having a good name would instill that so, yes”. Hung stands up and pulls the spear from his back and holds it up over his head. He turns to the fireplace and with all he could muster shouts out, “Pokeramus!” as he turns to show all with eyes see, the power of good in Pokeramus. The table erupts in applause as they all support their friend. “It is now a good spear,” he says as he returns the spear to his back and his rear to his seat.
Sai unsheaths Silken Spite and looks closely at the blade for a minute or two before saying, “Silken Serenity. That’s the new name.” Everyone nods and compliments their approval of the new name as she returns the sword back to its sheath.
Malkey finally finding what he was looking for, hands Cheato the letter from Aryn’s study; the one addressed to Caylorn Irresor, and explains how he found it.
”Wait, you say he was in the process of writing this while he died? Like you saw his skeleton? How much gold do we have,” Cheato’s gears are obviously turning as he fires off these questions to the table at large.
“Yes at the blinking place,” Hung adds.
“How far away was this,” Cheato asks.
“About a week back,” Sai provides.
“I’ve got a bad idea,” Cheato smiles.
“Oh, you want to go back,” Malkey says taken aback a little.
“Yeah, I think if we can commission a priest to be able to communicate with him, the priest can speak to the dead,” Cheato continues.
“And figure out what the ending of that letter is,” Sai sees where this is going.
“Well they kind of give cryptic answers, it’s not really straightforward,” Cheato explains more thoroughly.
“Let me get this straight,” Malkey interrupts, “ you want to hire a priest to go back to the temple to possibly talk to a dead guy?”
“And who’s to say if that information is updated, that’s such a long time ago,” Sai considers and weighs out the options.
“I’m not opposed to it, I’m usually down for whatever but it seems like a lot of work with not a lot of payoff,” Malkey states.
“Wow you can talk to the dead,” Hung says in amazement. “The dead can speak?”
“None of us can, we'd have to hire a guy,” Malkey points out.
“I think if he was literally dying when he wrote this, then we may be able to find out something. This is very important to him, if his soul is even there,” Cheato trails off.
Malkey quickly picks up, “Where do you find the half-shady priest that you can conscript to speak to dead people?”
“That’s why we need gold,” Cheato nods.
“Most around here are not willing to do that I don’t think,” Malkey shakes his head.
“I don’t think we have talking to dead people kind of gold,” Sai sighs and leans back in her chair.
Hung gets an idea, “We left everything as is when we left there right?”
“We took some books and things and the stuff from the other room,” Sai answers.
“But he was still there,” Hung confirms as Sai nods. ”Wouldn’t it be cheaper to hire someone to retrieve a package for us and bring it here?”
The table stops in stunned silence all looking to Hung before talking at once about how brilliant that idea is. Then Malkey brings up a point …, “We put coins on his eyes and said nice things to him, we agreed to let that be his tomb to rest in all of eternity.”
Sai’s eyes get big as she takes in the levity, “That would be desecration! We can’t do that!”
“It wouldn’t be a desecration,” Cheato tries to explain, “this was his life’s work, his mission, and we’re trying to piece it together with a scrap of paper he wrote how long ago?” Cheato asks.
“Well, since the Age of Arcanum, it’s been a minute,” Malkey offers.
“Ok well, this is just an idea we can think about and sleep on,” Cheato settles that this won’t be decided tonight. “There’s validity to this; just putting it out there. Hung, I love your logic with this, this is some good work we’ve done here.”
"Now that the fun and games have been had, I’m going to suggest we don’t. I’m really not trying to drag a dead body around, who do you know you can trust to just go grab a body and not talk about it?” Malkey points out, Sai agrees and votes no as well.
Cheato continues with Malkey’s thought letting the full weight sink in, “... In a hidden temple, from the Age of Arcanum. I see your point.”
“With enough gold, I’ve seen people do things I was surprised that they would do,” Hung says thinking about his time and what he saw at the temple in Othe.
“Well yeah, people do all kinds of things for some serious cash, but I’m talking trust,” Malkey extrapolates.
“I don’t think we have that kind of gold anyway,” Sai points out.
Hung shrugs, “I’m not thinking trust at all, I’m thinking do a job.”
Malkey shrugs and turns to G, “You’re a magic user, have you seen any of these spells they’re talking about? Because I’m not sure if anything that old can be brought back to even speak, but I’m not sure.”
“I’m not sure either, But I am very curious because I have seen a lot of magic and tried to learn a lot of different magic but I have never seen anyone talk to the dead,” she responds.
Cheato gets up and goes to the barmaid, “Excuse me, what temples are in this town?
She thinks a moment, “We’ve got Moradin, The Allhammer, Erathis, Pelor, Bahamut, Ioun there’s a couple more but I'm not much of a worshipper and I didn’t go past the third grade.”
“Wait, there’s a temple to Ioun?” Sai jumps out of her chair, “Where?” The barmaid gives her directions, it’s right past the Pentamarket on the west side. “Uh, yeah, let me go check that out.”
Sai starts heading to the door as she hears Cheato call out to her, “Sai, it’s like 8:00 at night!” she doesn’t respond as she disappears out the door, into the night as everyone left behind is in stunned confusion.
Hung breaks the silence, “Where did she go?”
“Sai hasn’t been to this town before right?” Cheato questions.
“Nope, she has no idea where she’s going. I mean, I think she has a vague idea, we were at the Pentamarket earlier,” Malkey explains.
The barmaid overhears and approaches the table, “Uh, she might have a hard time because all of Ioun’s temples have become libraries, I probably should have mentioned that.”
With that, Hung stands up and goes to find his friend in the dark streets of Zadash. He easily spots her and quickens his pace and follows her the entire way.
“I was going to say let’s go check out the temple in the morning because Aryn was a worshiper of Corellon and there was a prophecy with Ioun and if things lined up there would be a potential that we could convince them to help us but um, II’m don’t know this seems interesting i’m just gonna let this play out tonight.”
“I’m assuming Hung’s just going to find her and bring her back right? We don’t need to worry about them wondering?” Malkey asks slightly concerned.
“I would assume so,” G responds.
“Or anybody else out there wondering that we might need to worry about …?” Malkey alludes.
“Oh shit, yes! I completely forgot!” Cheato shouts, “ We found a poster of the woman Jenna while we were in the Pentamarket, and a dwarf woman with blonde-ish hair took notice that we were looking at the poster. It was very clearly a member of the Cerberus Assembly. We didn’t give too much chase as soon as I realized that since this is their territory their town etc.”
Malkey lays out his thought process to the remaining party, “Now here’s a thought, we’ve got a woman who could have killed me twice but didn’t but is linked to potentially poisoning a town so we don’t know if she’s good or bad at this stage. However, she’s a former member of the Cerberus Assembly, stop and correct me if I miss anything, the Cerberus Assembly is now hunting her down but if she was a member in good standing at one time, what do you think?”
“Are you saying she’s a rebel?” Gia offers.
Cheato thinks about this and puts together some pieces of evidence they have on hand. The letter, the journal, and now the poster of Jenna Irresor; and has an epiphany. “Oh my goodness, her last name is Irresor; they must be related! This actually makes me trust her more.”
“Right,” Malkey entertains, “but I’m still wary about the whole bag over my head. Kidnapping doesn’t make me trust people.” The table quiets as they all ponder the information.
Out in Zadash, Sai runs out into the streets without any clue where she is and hears footsteps behind her, looking over her shoulder she sees Hung but doesn’t slow her pace. He’ll catch up.
He catches up, “Sai, where are you going?”
“The temple of Ioun… my shield, the journal!” she replies passionately.
Hung looks around and senses no danger, “You just up and left surprisingly without knowing where you were going.”
“Sorry about that,” She looks down at the cobblestones.
“It’s ok. Just want to make sure you’re ok,” Hung assures her.
“Yeah I just think we can get some answers,” Sai adds.
“Where are we going?” Hung asks as they jog along.
“The temple of Ioun! I had that vision and I think she might be able to answer a lot of the questions we have about these,” she gestures to their weapons. “Or maybe the temple can direct us on how to find her.”
Hung pulls out his spear and any passersby take a wide berth, “Lead the way.”
They make it to the Pentamarket and look around. Some of the shops are open, but most of them are closed until morning. It’s hard to see very far, but the oil street lamps aid a little and they see some large buildings one with three spires jutting from it silhouetted against the night sky on the west side, and another that looks like a small castle.
“Wow that’s how they light the cities at night, what a great service. Isn’t that amazing?” Hung is amazed bycity's the cities lighting system and the lamplighters, as they walk toward it. "What a job that is, to light each and every light in the night, and put it out every morning."
“Everyone has to have a job,” Sai says before stopping a passerby, “Excuse me, if you have a moment, do you know where the temple of Ioun is?”
“Temple of Ioun? I’m sorry, I’m not a devotee,” the person answers.
“I heard it was nearby,” Sai presses.
“They’re all libraries now,” the person shrugs and looks around to see if anyone overheard.
“Libraries? Is that a recent change?” Sai asks.
“No, it’s been that way for quite some time. My apologies I mean no offense,” the person struggles with their words as they look from Hung's spear and back to Sai.
“No thank you you’ve been a great help,” Sai says.
“Sure, sure. You’ll find that right over there next to the school,” the person nods.
“School?” Sai questions. “That’s right by the library right?”
“Yeah there’s that one, the Hall of Erudition,” the person polnts to the one with the castle like silhouette, “and the one with the three spires is the Valley Cobalt Soul Archives.”
“Thank you,” Sai and Hung make their way over and see the front wrought iron gates closed, chained, and locked. Looking between the bars they see the well-manicured and landscaped courtyard, still beautiful in the cover of night. “Guess we’re a bit too early.”
“Or too late,” Hung adds.
Sai chuckles, “Yeah, or too late.” She shrugs, “Well we were looking for a library anyway. Guess we'll all come back tomorrow."
They make their way back, both remembering and looking forward to getting back to the meals that they left behind, only to find, Hungs was gone! They sit down to the welcome back’s of their party members, and with a sigh, Sai cuts her pheasant in half and gives it to her friend as Cheato wipes the sauce from his lips. Malkey notices and prestidigitizes the smudge back onto his face, Cheato notices and prestidigitizes it off again. This goes back and forth for a while but they stop when they see nobody else is really noticing. Hung grunts, this will surely be remembered as he digs into the roasted pheasant before him.
“So you were saying Caylorn Irresor was the founder of the Cerberus Assembly?” Malkey asks Cheato.
“No, of the Soltryce Academy in Rexxentrum,” Cheato explains that he had recognized the name Irresor and he’s finally just remembered where from now. “There was like a big display in the academy near the office and in it there was a painting with a plaque of the founders of the school. One of them was Caylorn Irresor. He was a tall blonde human, the youngest I assume from the painting; he had bright eyes, and a prideful smile.”
Hung half listens as he eats and remembers Jenna’s last name is Irresor and she has blonde hair too and remembers the picture that he has of her. He also remembers that they had talked about them being related before too. He dismisses all that from his thoughts and continues eating.
“Well, I believe it is best for us to retire early, keep a watchful eye, and tomorrow I will be in a library with 20 books in front of me and that is all I’m going to be doing,” Cheato says.
I“If i could recommend the library, the Valley Archives of the Cobalt Soul isn’t far from here and apparently it used to be a temple of Ioun,” Sai suggests.
“OK, but let’s not take the two cursed weapons into the temple of Ioun,” Cheato recommends.
“I won’t be going with you,” Hung states.
“I’m taking the shield though,” Sai says.
“Do you want to leave your weapon with me?” Hung asks.
“That’s a good idea,” Sai nods. “I’m sure Silken Serenity will be fine with you for a bit.”
They all retire with full bellies up to their rooms for the evening where they fall to sleep in the comfort of the Song and Supper Inn. Except for G... She tosses and turns while trying to be mindful of the sleeping Sai in the other bed. She tries hard to remember what she’s doing, what she’s about, why she’s here, and why it feels like she knows she should be with these strangers that found her among the spiders. Eventually, sleep overcomes her and she begins to dream.
People are screaming and fighting and beasts are growling among the sound of drums. Two people are rushing her quickly along and led her to a small trench behind a cabin where they ask her and the smaller dragonborn beside her to stay and hide until it was safe to come out. It's as if she is looking through a child's eyes.
“Everything will be alright,” the woman says. “Just know that we love you both beyond measure.” G watches as her vision gets obscured by the branches they are using to cover both of them in the trench. G and the other little dragonborn witnessed the last embrace of the people above them and felt the pain of their goodbye as you both look through the branches upon their silhouettes in the moonlight.
“Gia, I’m scared,” the little one looks up at her and says as she squeezes G’s hand tighter.
The battle sounds fade away to silence and now G is in a child's bedroom, the other little dragonborn already asleep by her side. The woman that she had seen previously enters and kneels at the bedside next to her so they’re eye to eye. She begins to speak in a whisper, “I lay peacefully in a box of value specifically for you…” she boops the tip of G’s nose. “for one day you will control my power, which has the power to slay the darkest of the darkness.” she nuzzles G’s nose with hers then kisses her on the forehead blows out the candle, and turns to leave.
G wakes with a start, breathless; her heart pounding, her voice erupting in her head, “I am Giaphent Jescoria of the Ravenite line, Daughter of Srorthen and Mijira, Korinn is my sister. I remember!” The necklace glows as she thinks this. That was no dream, those were important memories.
Sai, wakes to G’s abrupt movement, “G, you ok?”
“Sai, I remember Sai!” Gia responds excitedly.
“Remember what?” Sai asks still trying to fully wake up.
“I remember who I am!” Gia continues.
“What are you talking about who you are?” Sai asks confused.
“I couldn’t remember who I was or anything when you guys saved me that day with the spiders,” Gia reminds her.
“Ok take a deep breath,” Sai gets up and goes to comfort her new friend. “What’s going on?”
G takes off the amulet that’s still glowing, almost thrumming along with her heartbeat and Sai notices the purple glow where there once was darkness.
“Do you mind?” Sai asks reaching out for it
“Sure,” Gia hands it off to her.
“What is it?” Sai asks turning it over in her hands.
“That’s still somewhat of a mystery to me at the moment, but it was given to me in a really bad situation,” Gia explains.
In Sai’s hands it stops glowing, she hands it back to G and feels the pull and the glow of the stone in connection with her friend.
“What does it do?” asks Sai.
“I’m trying to figure that out, I haven’t used it yet. You know what, sorry to wake you up, Let's get together with the group in the morning and I’ll let everyone know,” Gia suggests.
“Do you think you’ll be able to sleep ok?” Sai looks at her concerned.
“No,” Gia responds without skipping a beat. She then takes out her journal and starts writing feverishly.
“So you know your name? “ Sai asks.
“Yes, my name is Gia, Giaphent,” Gia nods.
The morning comes to the city of Zadash on a partly cloudy day. “Good morning Gia,” Sai says as she looks at her friend still writing, exactly how she had left her last night.
“Good morning,” Gia responds without looking up.
“Are you ok over there?” Sai asks her.
“I don’t know,” Gia says, still not meeting her friend's gaze.
“Gia, let’s go get some breakfast. Did you sleep at all last night?” Sai asks concerned.
“One moment,” Gia says as she continues to write.
“Ok, you didn’t sleep at all,” Sai says as she reaches around and plucks the quill away from the black dragonborn.
“Wait, wait!” Gia says with a growl as she tries to snatch it back.
“Let's go get some coffee and breakfast, I'm gonna hold onto this. You can tell everybody soon. Deep breaths let’s get you some food,” Sai assures her and begins getting ready for the day.
They all convene in the dining hall of the Song and Supper. A halfling fellow is their waiter and has a strong resemblance to the boy that Cheato had met at the stable. Cheato grabs him as he passes by the table, “Hey, I have a favor to ask, my friend here needs to stretch out their armor can you find us a breastplate stretcher. You should know where to find it,” he says as the boy stammers and stutters. “It’s ok, you mean your inn doesn’t have it here?” Cheato asks astonished.
“I’ll go ask,” the boy hurriedly responds.
“No, no, no,” Cheato shakes his head disappointedly. “You should know this!”
“I should?” the boy asks.
“You should,” Cheato confirms.
The boy leans in, “Is it a chicken breast plate?”
“No! the breastplate stretcher for armor!” Cheato says exasperatedly.
“For armor? This is an inn!” The boy says now utterly confused.
“Yeah! It’s just common services!” Cheato says as the boy looks around for help. “Listen, i hope it’s here at the end of the day.” He lets go of the boy to go about his business.
“I’ll talk to my manager,” the boy says over his shoulder.
Gia and Sai enter and take their seats. Gia is definitely on edge. She’s scarfing down her meal and asking for those espressos that Cheato had wanted yesterday. “Gia breathe,” Sai whispers to her as everyone’s eyes are upon them.
“Whatever you’re on, it’s puff puff pass. That’s the kind thing to do,” Malkey quips.
“Nothing, I’m not on anything,” she huffs.
“So this is a mental thing,” Malkey assesses.
“Yes,” Gia snaps back.
“She just had a lot of realizations I think last night,” Sai tries to ease the tensions a bit.
“Did she have a vision too?” Hung asks.
Intrigued by what he just heard Cheato’s head swings around to look at Hung, “Hung? Did you have a vision?”
“Hung looks over his own shoulder and loudly shouts, “Who said that!” A couple of patrons turn to look but see him and quickly mind their business.
“Yes, they’re having visions too,” Malkey tells Cheato as he nods over to Sai and Hung.
“Wanna tell us what’s going on?” Sai asks Gia as she holds out the quill she had taken earlier.
“Yes,” she gets up from the table, throws her plate down on it with a clatter, and begins to pace. “This is what happened to me, I finally remember. I was hidden away by my parents. Somewhere, somehow my village was attacked. My parents are dead, and everyone I knew was dead, except my aunt who saved us. Oh, and I have a sister! I have a sister, I have a younger sister, and I don’t even know where she is right now! But I have a sister, and I need to find out exactly who killed the people in my village. I need to find out what happened to my parents, why were they murdered, we were fine!” Gia’s frustration seems to erupt from her soul. A deep, dark vengeance they had not seen before arises from within her as her nostrils flare. They all watch the pendant glow brighter with the rhythm of her heartbeat as her blood pressure raises.
“There’s only so much weird shit I can look into at one time,” Cheato shakes his head in his hands.
“You’re looking pretty normal compared to us,” Sai points out.
I’m“Oh yes, i’m looking very normal compared to everyone,” he says as he twists his random orange curls and sighs.
“I love the backstory, welcome to the crew,” Malkey teases.
Not hearing him she continues, “Finally I remember something.”
“I’m sure we’ll find your sister somewhere, are you sure she’s safe?” Sai asks her directly.
”I have no idea,” she says almost maniacally.
“I’m sorry, did you come from a village of dragonborn specifically all dragonborn,” Cheato asks, not able to hold back his curiosities.
“No, not specific to dragonborn, we were a mix of people there,” she responds with a sigh, trying to regulate her breathing, heart rate, and energy.
Malkey reaches over and holds her hand in his, “I don’t want this to seem unsympathetic but, doesn’t know where his parents are,” he points to Hung. “Woke up in the middle of a lake and walked out of it,” he points to Sai. “Probably is a criminal and calls himself a hero,” he points to Cheato. As”Floated down a river,” he points to Fawna. “Woke up with a bag on my head chained to the wall! Like I said, I don’t want to seem unsympathetic, that’s why I’m welcoming you. We know what you feel and your feelings are valid.”
“I’m just, very angry right now,” she tries to convey her emotions as best as she can with language but that doesn’t seem to fit right.
“I got you, it’s not your fault,” Malkey tries to assure her.
Fawna reaches her hand out as well and touches Gia, “I don’t know what happened to my mother either.” At that moment, like a jolt, all of Gia’s emotions flood into Fawna causing her to feel everything the black dragonborn is feeling and she pulls her hand back quickly.
Gia, notices Fawna pulling back and she bangs a fist on the table and exits the dining hall. Sai hurries after her while Fawna tries to gain her composure back after what she just experienced.
Sai and Gia return to the comfort of their room not even bothering to close the door, “Hey, let’s take a deep breath, you ok?” Sai asks her.
“I’m going to be ok, I know I'm going to be ok; but it just all hit me way too quickly. Out of nowhere I wasn't even expecting it! One moment I'm feeling bad for the people outside of these walls,” Gia pauses for a moment now that she’s thinking about that. “What’s going on with everyone out there anyway? Why haven’t we figured out how to help those people!?! Something is clearly happening in this city and those people need help and we haven’t even thought about that for a moment! And now, all of a sudden, I get this revelation while I’m sleeping; and I just can’t …. I’m feeling very dark inside right now.”
“Look, we’ll figure this out,” Sai rests her hand on Gia’s shoulder in hopes of comforting her. “The people on the outside? Yeah, we should probably look into that a bit more. We’ll also find your sister, we’ll figure out what’s going on here. We can only work one day at a time though.”
“I feel like I’m remembering a lot. I remember learning as much as I'm could about magic and i’m waiting for it to come to me right now but I do remember traveling and being alone on my quest and I'm trying to sort it out in my mind right now,” she admits vulnerably.
You’ve got a pretty great team behind you, it’ll be ok,” Sai says as they hear a knock on the open door. “See everybody is worried about you. You have some great friends now. We’ll figure this out.”
“Can we have a minute, just me and her, to talk?” Cheato asks Sai. Sai nods and walks out, and Gia just barely sees Fawna’s head peeking into the doorway as the door closes behind Cheato. He then addresses Gia in his conversationally trained draconic which he’s never used out loud before, “I don’t know everything that’s happened to everyone, but what I do know is that we’re all here right now with 101 problems. It seems to me that your problem isn’t a big scary spooky god, so I want you to feel some comfort from that. Not to diminish your problems. I came up here because I needed to ask for your help specifically. Two of our party members carry cursed items. We have another party member that has weird magic that’s not even in a school of magic that I’ve heard of. Fuck if I know! Pelor, light; bless me. I have no idea. And whatever this prophecy is, I’m gonna tell you right now, I’m scared shitless of it. Prophecies! Fuck! They suck! But I need your help because it seems like you and Fawna have been away from these items, away from these magical influences. Just help to keep an eye on everyone. If we get these items and we get things going again, these things can turn sour fast. I know you're going through a lot and it’s a shitty time to ask but maybe giving you something to do and asking for your help might help get you focused on something else."
Gia turns and looks out the window and takes a deep breath, “I agree with you. I will try. Right now I just need to sort out the mixed emotions. I’m feeling some dark energy inside me and I need to make sure I can tame and control that. I wasn’t feeling these things yesterday.“
“Do you think this is just an emotional thing from remembering? Like you don’t feel like this is a magical curse that is bad and terrifying you?” Cheato presses.
it's“I’m hoping that its not, but based on my ancestry that’s what I don’t want to come out. I feel … but I agree with you and I will work with you yes,” Gia resigns.
“Our ancestry matters little to who we are today. It got us here and put us in this position. I have a shitty family life and shit sucks. If you are afraid of succumbing to something your ancestors did, you are not them. You are your own person and you seem level-headed enough. It’s just bad timing,” Cheato reassures her.
Gia turns from the window and faces her friend. He can see that she has indeed calmed down as the gem isn’t pulsating as it had been mere moments ago. “I’ll meet you guys at the library,” Cheato nods as he goes to return to the dining hall.
They make arrangements for the library, Sai takes out Silken Serenity and sighs a bit before handing it to Hung. They part ways with Hung and head out onto the streets of Zadash and in no time, approach the Archive of the Cobalt Soul.
Sai appreciates the view of it in daylight since at night it was only the grand silhouette. The archive has a tall, tapering tower that curves at the top into a dome-like pinnacle. Flanking the sides of this tower are two smaller spires. The stonework of the main tower has a smooth, concrete-looking texture. In the morning sunlight, the tower shines brightly and reveals intricate carvings on the various tiers that spiral down the tower. What’s interesting about these carvings is that they make a hierarchy of some sort, dragons, orcs, gnolls, and such on the bottom leading up to the halflings, gnomes, dwarves, humans, and elves at the top. ‘Oh shit, we’re racist,’ Cheato thinks as it dawns on him and he realizes that’s why they’re getting so many stares about town.
They enter through the large arched double doors with stained glass where they see the eye of Ioun in the old style like on Sai’s shield. Inside, they see several curved staircases that are carved through the bookshelves. Rising to different heights these staircases connect the library to its higher levels at various points and stacks of books are moving here and there seemingly of their own accord. In the center of this, you see an aged elf with spectacles at a raised desk. He is heavy in his work as his quill moves along the paper in front of him.
“Um, hello sir,” Sai pipes up.
He looks up with one eye from his work as you approach then back down again but starts to speak in a droll tone, “Welcome to The Valley Archive of the Cobalt Soul, it is both an archive, and used to be a temple to the Knowing Mistress. This library is known to contain rarer tomes and elaborate writings within the city. It is maintained by the Cobalt Soul. Although it is open to the public, it is heavily watched,” He looks up again and points about, but none of you see anything, “and has areas that are off limits to the general public that requires special approval for access. After signing in, a monk will be assigned as a watchful escort for your visit in the public areas where you can read and take notes of the materials within. Removing items from the library is strictly forbidden! Rooms that can be used for meetings, or for quiet research and study of the materials are available by appointment only. Training areas and obstacle courses are also available to rent.” As he finishes speaking he also dots the last period of his document with a flare of the quill and returns it to the inkwell and looks up at you all. “Oh,” he looks at Sai’s shield then at Sai; then at the rest of you in turn. “What a Motley crew. Please sign in.” He points to the book on the table below him and in front of you all. “How can we serve you today?” His entire tone and demeanor seem to have changed.
Sai, noticing this asks, “What can you tell us about this Knowing Mistress? What do you mean by all-knowing?”
“Well,” he seems a bit confused that she’s asking this while bearing her symbology but he continues, “She is the mother of prophecies and of knowledge.”
“Has she made a lot of prophecies?” Sai asks intrigued.
“Yes …The Calamity and The Divergence came to pass and she foretold all of it. But I’m sure you’ll find plenty of information here,” he states. “Please, sign in.”
They sign in and Cheato asks about the layout of the library which the librarian discloses and explains that they will be assigned a monk that will help them navigate these halls.
“What’s in the restricted section? Prior approval?” Gia asks.
“Quite a number of things to be sure Madam. There’s a lot of knowledge, especially in these halls,” he responds “As for approval, we guard these archives and we would need to know what you are looking into. It is our duty.” As the librarian speaks, Cheato turns his fire glove inside out.
“I would like to read about Ioun, Loathe, the Children of Malice … just some light reading you know,” Sai starts to list off and his eyes grow bigger with each mention.
“I see...” he starts.
Cheato interrupts, “Real quick, I would like to make a donation, Is there a donation box? We’re going to need a lot of help friend.”
“All donations are in the form of knowledge,” he looks at Chisheato over heis spectacles. “We value that greatly here.”
“Clearly, I’m a curator of knowledge, I’m not coming here from a place of ignorance,” Sai says as she gestures to her shield.
He looks at her and then at the shield and then back at her, “I’m surprised you’re carrying that around.”
“I’d like to learn more about it, I feel ignorance is one of the biggest sins of the world,” she says trying to find the words he wants to hear.
“Would you like the opportunity to study it?” Cheato offers.
“While I’m reading I’m more than happy to let you take a look clearly I won’t need a shield for research,” Sai plays along with Cheato.
The symbol of Ioun that came into our possession and was crafted for some unknown reason,” Cheato adds.
“What is this bribery you’re trying to sell me?” The librarian asks pursing his lips.
“I’m not trying to sell you a bribe I’m just trying to make sure our time together is good,” Cheato smiles widely; turning on the charm.
“We would like some knowledge, I’m sure you could gain a bit of knowledge studying this,” Sai adds.
He pauses for the smallest of moments, “We still need to know what you’re studying so that our monks can collect the books for you. We watch anyone that touches any book in this establishment.”
“Let’s start with Ioun,” Sai states.
“That’s in the restricted section. So anything for restrictions needs to be signed off on in the Hall of Erudition,” He explains.
“We may need a lot from that restricted section,” Gia sighs. She sees what’s happening and feels it’s in their best bet to get the information they need if this librarian takes the shield in exchange for access. She channels her energy through the amulet around her neck and pushes the energy into the librarian.
“I would really like to spend time with that …” he cocks his head and mumbles to himself lost in his own thought for a moment looking at the shield. He continues in a hushed whisper addressing them all, “So here’s what we can do. We have a room. My monk will take you to that room and collect the books that we think you will need for what you think.” He looks again at the shield and then back at them. “You cannot tell anybody about this.” Cheato then slides the list of research subjects across the desk toward the librarian. His eyes widen at the list but he nods and calls out, “Leonard!”
A monk walks up, very lithe, very strong, and bows without a word as the librarian tells him to take them to meeting room number three. Malkey hangs back a bit as the others start to follow and he also slips a piece of paper to the librarian then follows his friends down a flight of stairs and around and through many bookshelves, there are books everywhere! They enter the room where there is a long table with chairs enough for ten people. There are paintings within gilded frames hung on the walls of Zadash through the years. The monk takes his post by the door and not long after, the librarian returns with books, “I believe this will get you started.” He places before them many Tomes handing Malkey a specific one and leaves them to it.
They begin to read and after a while of silence, “The souls bound to these weapons are not just souls, they’re archfiends!” Cheato says as he looks through a book called ‘The Arms of the Betrayers’. “There’s eight of these weapons, each one of the Betrayer Gods made one for their champions.”
“It’s fine, I’m sure it’s fine,” Sai brushes him off as she looks through ‘Exandria’s Most Wanted’. “I wonder what happened to the other 5.”
Cheato reads an excerpt out loud, “The Calamity flung these weapons across Wildemount burying them in mounds, forcefields, and underground.”
“Wait, What’s today’s date?” Fawna asks.
“The 7th of Thunsheer,” Cheato responds without looking up from his book.
“I missed Wild Grandeur” Fawna cries.
“What?” Cheato asks.
“Melora’s Holy Day,” Fawna sinks in her chair sadly.
Everyone is fully immersed in what they were reading to barely look up when Sai quickly responds “Sorry about that,” before putting her nose back into a book, Cheato looks up for a slight second, then goes right back to his reading. “So guys, Listen to this with the Night of Ascension,” Sai continues. “Though the actual date of her rise to divinity is unclear, the holy day of The Raven Queen is nonetheless celebrated as the day of her apotheosis. In the Dwendalian Empire, the Night of Ascension was once a similar cheery celebration of the dead, it has become an occasion to burn effigies and decry the Kryn Dynasty for their unnatural relationship with death.”
“Unnatural how?” Gia asked a bit offended, being as that’s where she grew up.
“Seems as though things were seen a bit more twisted with the Raven Queen?” Sai guesses and shrugs.
“So it once was celebrated and now it’s seen as something beneath them ugh,” Gia gruffs.
Cheato sits back in his chair, hand on his chin, “That note said he will rise, right? Not she, on the Raven Queen’s holiday.”
“I have an answer to that,” Fawna raises her finger. “apparently during the Age of Arcanum, the Raven Queen challenged the God of Death and took his place. That’s how she ascended, she was just a human wizard before. So that inspired archmage Vespin Chloras to try to ascend in power like she did and he’s the one that released the Betrayer Gods from their prisons. But instead of helping him they enthralled him and killed him and built the dark city of Ghor Dranas from which they could wage war on Exandria.”
“So that’s why they see it as evil now, Ghor Dranas is in and of the Kryn Dynasty,” Gia scoffs. “Well, it is now anyway.”
“Yeah, this was even before the Calamity, the cause of the Calamity actually,” Fawna confirms.
“OK so this is all happening during the era of the Raven Queen. The Age of Arcanum,” Gia nods.
“It seems the good-aligned gods didn’t make any weapons but instead were trying to use these weapons for their champions,” Cheato mumbles as his eyes flash across the pages in front of him. “This all kind of lines up with what we know.”
Silence carries for a bit before Malkey breaks it, “This one is going to be important. This is Exandria’s Most Wanted,” He holds up the book he has. “and right here on page one is the Children of Malice. A secret faction of spies and assassins in service to Lolthe."
"That may be who is spying on us. Hmmm," Gia thinks out loud.
Malkey continues, "Who hope to overthrow the Kryn Dynasty and return the drow to their previous worship. They work in secret, primarily as sleeper agents scattered throughout Xhorhas or as outlanders raiding Kryn Settlements and building forces for when they strike. As a result, they have no formal alliances and tend to gather information through normal interactions with the residents of the Wastes and Rosohna.”
“What was this group called again?” Sai asks. Malkey repeats the name, The Children of Malice. “That’s the group my father was in.”
“Were they ever connected with the followers of the Raven Queen then?” Gia asks.
Malkey continues, “Well the history is, ‘Following The Divergence, Loathe spent her time in the Abyss plotting to take her revenge on the Dark Elves who had left her control in favor of worshiping The Luxon.’’” Recognition of the word Luxon flashes across Gia’s face. That’s the main deity in the land that she grew up in. Malkey dives even further, “‘She slowly gathered followers from the various goblinoids and the residents of the Wastes of Xhorhas with anti-dynasty sympathies; and with members of the Kryn Dynasty frustrated by various actions of the dens, particularly those with xenophobic tendencies who opposed the open inclusion of Luxon followers from other races.’’”
“Do we know where Hung went?” Cheato asks out of nowhere.
“He stayed behind, we didn’t want to bring the weapons in,” Sai responds.
“Ok very important thing,” Cheato shifts uncomfortably in his chair before reading aloud,” if the user of these weapons dies, they disappear and reappear somewhere else.”
“I don’t think he’s going to die,” Malkey throws out.
“But that is a very interesting note,” Gia adds.
“I mean we can kill him later and find out,” Malkey offers.
“No that’s not what I mean,” Cheato rolls his eyes.
“Well let’s just make sure nobody in our group dies, just throwing that out there,” Malkey quips.
Meanwhile, Hung decides to go back to the Invulnerable Vagrant hoping to get some of his questions answered. He easily finds his way back to the store and enters to see one of the proprietors at the counter. “Well, hello there." he addresses his customer coming into the door.
Hung looks around the store and doesn’t see any other patrons, and the outdoor market was just starting to set up for the day. Hung scans the store looking for anything that bears the same mark as his pendant or of a similar sort. Unfortunately, he does not see anything in the wares available. He then goes to the door and locks the door.
“Oh hey, we don’t need any trouble,” Pumat calls out seeing the weapons on Hung’s back and noticing that he locked the door.
Hung approaches him with his hands up, “I just want to speak without being disturbed.”
“Oh, I see,” Pumat then crosses behind Hung and goes to the door, flipping the open sign to closed before returning his attention to the customer in front of him. “What can I do for you young fellow he asks looking down upon Hung.
“I am looking for answers,” he pulls out his pendant. “Have you ever had anything like this enter your shop?”
Pumat takes a look, pulling his goggles down for a closer view, “I have never seen anything like that but I do remember seeing that symbol in the papers about 20 years back. I think you should know what that is, isn’t it from the lands where you are from? In the Kryn Dynasty over on the other side of the Ashkeeper Peaks.”
“I was raised in the Othe monastery,” Hung tells him.
“Where’s that at, in the Dwendalian Empire?” Pumat asks
“Very far that way,” Hung points.
Pumat sees the direction in which Hung is pointing is east, “Oh the Menagerie coast then I guess.” Hung nods. “ You sure have come a long way!”
“I’m searching for my parents, this is all I have,” Hung gestures to the pendant around his neck.
“So then yeah that’s probably where you need to go, right on the other side of the Ashkeeper Peaks. It’s basically due east of here. I’ve never been myself but it’s called Xhorhas,” Pumat explains.
“Thank you,” Hung says turning on his heels with his head hung down. At the door, he turns back to Pumat, “Where can a guy get a bird around here?”
“Like a pet?” Pumat asks.
“Something I can trust,” Hung nods.
“There’s a spot you could check out in the city here to the south called the Raven’s Den,” Pumat suggests with a shrug. Hung takes a gold piece out of his pocket and lays it on the counter before turning back to the door, unlocking it, and flipping the sign back around. He heads back out into the city streets towards the Raven’s Den hearing Pumat call behind him, “Come back anytime, sorry I couldn’t be more help!.”
Eventually he does find it, the building is a stone facade but the back is enclosed in wrought iron in the shape of a huge birdcage. He walks into a huge aviary with birds of all types flying around. In the center is a statue of a woman in funeral shroud with birds perched on her shoulders. There seems to have once been a plaque on the statue but now it is just empty space. His eyes then fall upon a human, the caretaker of the birds. He approaches the man.
“How are you doing today?” the caretaker asks.
Hung looks over to the statue, “Who is that?”
“Uhh, who is asking?” the man asks suspiciously.
“I am Hung,” Hung responds.
“New to the area?” the man asks.
“Does it matter? I feel as if I’m new everywhere,” Hung states.
“Ok, I see. Ever heard of the Raven Queen?” The man asks him.
“I have now,” Hung says.
“It used to be a shrine to her. King Dwendal, couldn’t remove it but they were able to remove the plaque. They’re reconsidering her now, it’s weird but eh; what are you gonna do,” the man says with a shrug.
“Do you have a bird like she had?” Hung inquires.
“A Raven? Yeah we have tons of Ravens!” the man tells him.
“Like SHE had,” Hung says pointedly nodding towards the statue again.
He looks up and Hung follows his eye line as they look about, hearing the squawks and caws and calls of many birds. One poops on Hung’s shoulder. “Looks like that one likes you,” the man says with a nervous laugh.
Hung looks up and sees that it was in fact a Raven like the one on the statue’s shoulder. “I want that one, I was chosen by the poop.” As soon as Hung points at it, the bird lands on a nearby branch and cocks its head looking at Hung with curiosity.
“Go ahead, go on over to it and hold out your hand, see if it’ll step up on you, I think you’re tall enough to reach.” the man gestures Hung, encouraging him in that direction.
Hung stays where he’s standing and doesn’t make eye contact with the bird and holds out his hand. It caws at him loudly and flaps its wings a bit as if to say, ‘no, you come here!’. He steps five feet closer and his eyes come up to meet it. Even though he has his hand out the bird leaves its perch and instead lands on his shoulder and starts pecking at the chain around his neck that carries the pendant from his parents. Hung pulls out the amulet and the bird pecks at the shiny object in approval. It then takes it in its beak and tucks it back away into Hungs shirt and starts cawing loudly right next to Hungs ears. “Hung will get used to that.” He looks at the man, “How much for the bird.”
“That’s five silver,” he responds.
Hung hands him a gold piece and the man tries to give him his change but Hung is already leaving, heading back to the inn with his new friend on his shoulder. The man calls after him, “Come back anytime, bring your friends!”
Back at the library, the party is still in their books. Sai breaks the silence this time, “So Corellon wasn’t just a magic user, he is a whole deity!”
“Corellon is the father of magic and elves and all that jazz,” Cheato states. “He has Lolthe as his mortal enemy because Lolthe led the drow astray.”
“Then why was he working with weapons apparently made by Lolthe?” Sai asks quizzically.
deities didn't“Apparently the good-aligned deitiesdidn’t make weapons for their champions and seek out these weapons to use instead,” Cheato answers.
“Oh, so the weapons are safe?” Sai says happily.
“No, it doesn’t say that,” Cheato shakes his head.
“That’s what it sounds like to me,” Sai shrugs and keeps reading from her tome.
Another monk enters the room in the easily recognized cobalt blue robes and whispers to the monk standing guard at the door and then scurries away quickly. The monk at the door who has been silent this entire time speaks, “The librarian would like to see you in his chambers when you are done. You have fifteen minutes.”
“All of us?” Malkey asks. The monk nods and stays at his post as they continue for the remaining 15 minutes taking extensive notes and discussing interesting points among themselves.
“Thunderspear, do you think that could be Hung’s spear?” Sai asks at large. “Apparently it impaled Lolthe before in The Calamity? If we’re going to be going against Lolthe, maybe Thunderspear might be the key.”
"I do like keys," Malkey states as he flips through some more pages.
“Good note,” Cheato starts and then looks back in the Arms of the Betrayers book. “No, it looks like Hungs spear is Ruin’s Wake. Thunderspear is not one of the arms, it’s just the spear that harmed Lolthe.”
The monk stands hands out, “It is time for me to collect the books now.” They hand him the books. “Follow me.” He lifts the books up and it seems like something takes the books from him and they start moving about seemingly of their own accord and putting themselves away. He leads them back through the main part of the library and they proceed up a spiral staircase that is within the main spire of the library. They reach the very top and are breathless from the many stairs. They open the door to see the shield laying on the librarian's desk. He stands with his arms outstretched toward them gesturing to a few chairs, “Come, we must talk!”
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