Laryn, a sleeping bard, a journey north, and a royal surprise

[cellio]

April 3, later

More undead -- ghouls, this time -- attacked us at mid-day. We didn't notice a scry this time. I'm getting sick of undead. And if they're coming out in broad daylight, that can't be good.

All afternoon the ambient noise has been getting louder, starting with a low moan in the morning coming from the northwest. Near evening it grew to such a loud rumbling roar that we couldn't talk without shouting. We decided we must be near the caverns of Laryn, and sure enough, we crested a hill and saw a cave entrance in a valley before us.

As we approached, we saw something that looked like ghouls on the tops of the ridge to either side (not very high up). A couple of fireballs, some illusory gargoyles (to match my real one), and some good fighting from Kyle and Turok dispensed with them. Their odor was pretty awful.

We could barely hear anything at this point, and decided it was time for the wax in the ears. Hrolf was dubious about this, as was Slade, and we decided that they would stay outside and guard the entrance while we went in. Hrolf agreed to shout out to me telepathically if anything comes near. I changed form to that of a troll before entering.

As we entered the caverns we could feel the waves of sound around us. It's probably the spookiest sensation I've ever felt, even stanger than learning to polymorph by experimentation. Sound isn't supposed to be physical!

We encountered several strange monsters. First were some cloaker-type creatures that hung on the ceiling and tried to envelop people; they got Kyle and Turok but we were able to kill them and free our people. Being big and strong at the time helped. Liandra's creeping-cold spell really helped.

Then we came into a large, bowl-shaped room from which we could hear shrieking even through the wax. A huge flying creature came at us, and it shattered the rock above us with its voice, dropping boulders on our heads. Liandra weakened it and I decided to field-test my defensive fire before moving to attack it. As Liandra's spell weakened it I hurled a cold-ball at it. Turok rushed it and attacked, and I did likewise, failing to damage it with my sword but damaging it with my fire. Yay! That worked! Eventually we prevailed, and then we found its nest. We are, not surprisingly, not the first adventurers to enter these caverns, judging by the bones and armor we found.

We were then attacked by something invisible that was sending waves of sonic energy at us. I tried to cast a sight spell but failed; I'm still developing that one and I think not being able to hear myself did me in. Liandra cast a spell to outline it in light, and it turned out to have a dragon-like shape (though much smaller than Agondre, fortunately). Eventually a combination of attacks killed it. I don't know what we would have done without that light spell from Liandra.

This was followed by a dragon-like thing (visible this time) with two heads, one spitting acid and the other spitting electricity. It was sitting in a foul-smelling pool, making me wish I'd plugged my nose and not just my ears. It was partially resistant to fire, but between Liandra's flame strike, my fireballs, and Turok's breath, we still defeated it.

This room had a caved-in area and we almost missed that there was a passage behind the rubble. Kyle spotted it, though, and we began to clear away enough rubble to be able to squeeze through. There was a spiral ramp, and as we walked up I could feel music -- yes, music -- in my feet. Ok, maybe that's the strangest sensation I've felt.

The sight at the end of the ramp was breath-taking. We saw a room with a sleeping harper in the middle, and he was surrounded by gorgeous crystalline spheres of varying sizes, pulsing with faint blue light. This had to be the solid music that Elys' spoke of. It is quite beautiful, and mystifying. The room is in the shape of a perfect amplifier, but even so, there is powerful magic here.

We found a body in the doorway, half in and half out of the room. The part outside the room has faded to bones; the part inside, however, is intact, and looks like a sleeping dwarven wizard. No sense trying to wake him up given that he's missing some vital parts, though.

On closer examination, Therion -- for who else could it be? -- was both sleeping and playing the harp gently. Even when we later removed him (but I'm getting ahead of myself) he kept that up. Definitely powerful magic.

The magic in the globes is old, deep, and strong. Liandra stepped into the room and was unaffected. We decided to first try to harvest some of the globes for Seamus; I dropped a silence charm so we could pry them away without making noise, and we managed to free four (and three broken ones) and pack them into the containers Seamus gave us. Even in just touching them I got a sense of strong magic. I'll be fascinated to see what Semaus is able to learn from them.

We tried to wake Therion without success. We thought stopping his ears with wax might help make him immune to the music, but it had no effect. Neither did casting healing magic. Turok shook him and his eyes fluttered just a bit; we were then able to get him to sip some water, but he didn't really wake up. With some trepidation we carried him out of the room, ready to return immediately if his aging seemed to accelerate, but it seemed normal so we carried him outside and made camp. He woke slightly, enough to sip some tea; we asked him how to wake him and he mumbled something about "no way except the dragon - make the dragon strong and healthy". We asked how and he said the Renard and Garrett went to do that but he didn't know Renard's plan. Then he fell back asleep.

We have little choice in the matter, so we're going to let him sleep now and hope that he's more alert in the morning. He probably has no idea how much time has passed or what has happened since he entered the caverns.

April 4 (Wednesday)

More of the undead things attacked us last night. Two of them almost killed Kyle. One pounced on me and I smacked it with Sunrise; there was a bright flash of light and it actually winced. It hit me, though, and I could feel paralysis trying to set in -- but I managed to fend it off, modah l'ka'asan. Whew!

One of the ones attacking Kyle said "I am sent to destroy you", like before, before Kyle killed it. Prolix conjured an illusion of Garrett, which told the remaining ones to follow him; this fooled some of them but not others. We learned that they are immune to lightning, but we were eventually able to prevail. Turok finished the last one by biting it; that must have tasted pretty bad.

How in the world is Garrett managing to send these creatures to us? I sure hope they can't teleport on their own, but I have no other explanation right now.

In the morning we attempted to wake Therion again. He was still very groggy. We told him how much time had passed, and he said he knew he wouldn't be able to keep the spell going forever. He was distressed by the current news of Agondre, and outraged by Garrett's actions. Therion doesn't know a lot about Garrett, unfortunately -- just that he had been a street thief from up north, in the Capital, and that he was fond of beer but not music.

Therion asked where Elys' is and Prolix (mister diplomacy) said "in a gem". We told him that we have spoken with her and she is well (aside from that), and he asked us to convey his love to her. I really hope we can reunite them someday!

Therion does not know how to cure Agondre, and suggested asking him. (We didn't tell him how much pain Agondre is currently in; why distress him further?) Therion also said that Agondre likes music. I wonder if we can fabricate some soothing music for Agondre from one of the spheres. I'll have to ask Seamus about that.

After a while Liandra quietly pointed out that it seems that more than a day has passed for Therion since we carried him out of the cave. So he is aging more quickly than normal, and we can't completely wake him up anyway, so we decided to return him to the cave (which he agreed was a good idea). So we stopped our ears once again, carried him to the threshold, and dropped the other silence ball to return him and collect two more spheres. He looked so peaceful there! I just hope it isn't his final resting place.

After we returned him we decided to try to clear out the rest of the caverns of monsters. We got beaten up pretty badly, and something used a sonic attack against us that shattered Liandra's armor and weapons. Liandra turned into a big brown bear after that, and boy was she fierce! I'd be mad, too.

Kyle was pretty amazing during another fight. He fights with two daggers and he's very fast now -- it looked like he got four hits for every one of my spells. Wow! I guess when you're as nimble as he is you can turn into a little armed tornado in fights.

We encountered some bizarre creatures with lion heads and dragon wings, and they were able to exhaust people just by roaring at us. Liandra and I were the only ones who escaped that, and after we killed them with fire we sat and rested for a while before continuing.

We should have rested longer; the next thing we encountered was a many-headed dragon-like thing, and the bites were nasty! The stench of sulphur filled the room, so we were pretty sure fire wouldn't be effective against it/them. Liandra tried to weaken it but the spell failed, and I cast a cold-ball but it failed too. Bugger! The circlet worked, though, and it believed an illusion of several more Turoks fighting it. We eventually brought it down with Turok's fighting and a lot of missiles (magic and otherwise), but it did a lot of damage to Turok in the process.

This seemed to be the last of the caverns, so we limped out of there and made camp to heal.

April 5 (Thursday)

Prolix told us today that he's now running a scry detection at all times, so he'll know when someone (that is, Melisande) is scrying us. After she scried us this evening he tried to scry her, but failed. He says that's the safest time to try to scry her; he's worried that she may scry us while he's scrying her, and he doesn't want her to know he's got that ability back. Personally I think she'll figure it out the first time she notices a scry sensor, but it's up to him.

We decided to head for the lake of Optalis first and then the Gorge of Fire, because the lake shouldn't be that far away and it might allow us to see more about Garrett and Melisande. I'm fascinated by that lake anyway, so I'm all for going. I wonder how good a crystal ball I could make using the waters from that lake! I really want a crystal ball so I can do my own scrying. (I really want to be able to talk to people at will. I'm also thinking about teleportation, of course, but sometimes I just want to talk without travelling. And I think I can figure out the "talk" part without too much trouble, but I'm not so sure about the scrying spell.)

April 6 (Friday)

We had an uneventful day, aside from another incoming scry.

Tonight Prolix scried Charlos and succeeded; he asked some tactical questions about Garrett's keep, in preparation for his attempt to recover his spellbooks. He said later that Charlos said Melisande can see and hurt him, which worries me. I know Charlos is being careful, but I still worry for him. I feel personally responsible that we didn't bring him out with us when we escaped. I hope that if Prolix does get his spellbooks, he can bring Charlos out with him. I want Charlos to be safe again -- well, safer than he is now, anyway -- and I feel that there's a lot he could teach me if only we could speak again.

April 7 (Saturday)

Around mid-day we encountered yet another foul monster. This one was a huge worm that was thoroughly vile. It had bizarre skeletons with it -- we later learned that it vomits them up -- and vomit that saps the strength out of you. And if that isn't bad enough, it shoots spikes and has a ferocious bite, as Turok found out. It's also somewhat resistant to fire, though Liandra's lightning-hawks were effective. Yay Liandra!

We defeated it in the end, but Prolix and Liandra were both thoroughly drained, to the point where Prolix couldn't really walk. So we made camp; if this doesn't heal overnight Liandra will restore them both magically tomorrow.

Later in the afternoon, after Melisande's scry, Prolix scried not Melisande but Elys'. He brought her up to date on recent events, including our visit with Therion. I wish Prolix still had the magic that allowed us all to participate in these scry discussions.

Hrolf and I were going to go flying this afternoon, but I've got a funny feeling that there are more things out there and the group should stick together, especially with our healer being weakened. Hrolf was disappointed, but I think he understood. So instead we experimented with other forms without straying too far; Hrolf says human form is definitely weird to him, and his voice comes out a little screechy when he talks, and his walking is a bit unsteady, but I think with a little practice he could do fine. He also confided that he understands human form much better than gnome form, though I'm not sure why.

April 7, later

That foul fiend! Ok, that was the weirdest thing I've ever felt -- that thing ripped my life-force right out through my chest! Argh! And I don't even know what it was or where it came from.

After night-fall we saw a large flying creature coming toward us. It zapped me with a black ray and I lost some of my magic and some of my various combat skills. It later did this to Liandra and damaged her much more; she was a shadow of her former self, losing many spells. The thing was immune to fire; it didn't seem to be immune to cold, but targetting it was hard until it decided to charge us. Turok cleaved the thing nearly in two -- it was quite impressive. That's good, because I don't know how much more of that life-draining we could have taken.

In replaying the effects I saw later, after calming down, I think the effect is temporary. I sure hope so. If we aren't healing by morning, we'll have to use a restoration scroll to heal Liandra so she can then heal me, along with Prolix (who is still weak).

April 8 (Sunday)

The effects did start to wear off overnight, and Liandra was able to heal everyone by mid-day. Whew.

Mid-afternoon we crested a hill and saw two humongous scorpions scavenging in what looked like a caravan. We couldn't tell if anyone was alive down there, but we had to investigate just in case. Besides, we can't let giant scorpions wander the hillside, even way out here; they might find us in the night.

I scouted from the air but couldn't tell if anyone was there. We had to lure them away from the caravan before casting fireballs, just in case. Prolix's illusion of a giant troll got their attention, and we followed up with fireballs from me and an ice storm from Prolix. (Hey, I didn't know he could do that.) Fortunately, they did not negate each other. They saw through the illusion and charged us, and Turok, Kyle, and Slade killed them. One stung Kyle, though, and he was weakened.

Once the scorpions were out of the way we investigated the caravan, and soon heard a voice from under one of the wagons. It turned out to be a blind cleric (of a dwarven armor-god) named Bertolf Ritter. He lost his eyes in an accident at the forge. Months ago he hired a caravan to take him to the Lake of Optalis, because he'd heard that the pearls at the bottom of the lake can restore sight, but they were attacked and he was the only survivor. He did his best to bury the others, and he's been hiding ever since. Poor fellow! He left Thoracis mid-summer, before I even left Shepford. That's a long time to hide in the darkness under a wagon.

We told him we are going to Optalis and would be happy to take him with us. If there are pearls to be found in that lake, I'll certainly do my best to get them for him. (I wonder what we do with the pearls once we have them?)

April 8, later

Prolix contacted Seamus by scry tonight. He told Seamus that we have several spheres from Laryn for him; Seamus is excited about this. Prolix suggested that he might be able to teleport part of the party to Oakhame in a few days to deliver them, though he can't take everyone.

Seamus also had a message for us. He's been in contact with Lord Marius, who has been unsuccessful in finding any surviving members of the royal family who are suitable heirs to the emperor. He has therefore begun looking for appropriate candidates outside the family, and he has a proposal: me. I was quite startled by this; I've never imagined myself as emperor material, and I doubt I would actually be acceptable anyway. Seamus (or perhaps Lord Marius; it was kind of confusing) pointed out that with my power and renown I'm an obvious choice. (Prolix was clearly miffed.) If one of our party were to ascend the throne I would have picked Turok, who is after all a mighty warrior. Seamus pointed out that I am from the Gastreyr, as is Lord Marius, and that might have something to do with it. Hmm. It's all theoretical at this point, of course; I don't even know how emperors are properly chosen, and we have a job to do first in any case -- because if we can't find a cure for Agondre's sickness then we'll all be dead before too long anyway. And, as I pointed out to Seamus, Agondre gave me a sword, not a crown, so at least in the short term my job is clear. Longer term? Who knows? Currently the job of emperor is quite dangerous; when it's not, we might see candidates crawling out of the woodwork.

All that said, the idea is intriguing. It would settle the war among the dukes, for one thing. (It might unite them against us, of course.) With the resources of an empire we might be able to drive out the abominations from the land, make peace between the dukes, and improve things for everyone. So much knowledge has been lost -- of our history, of Agondre himself, of magic and healing -- that we need to preserve what we know before even more is lost and then work to recover the rest. Greats like Therion and Elys' and Renard, and threats like Garrett, should not fade into obscurity, for instance.

I've been thinking lately that if we do manage to cure Agondre, my proper place is with him -- to make sure he stays ok and to record the cure in case anything like this ever happens again. And that would give me a focus in life -- I sure can't go back to Shepford, but I'd like to settle down somewhere, ideally among friends. Helping to protect Agondre is certainly consistent with that, and I owe it to him and somewhat to Charlos and the others. If I can master teleportation and get the means for scrying then I can stay in touch with everyone easily no matter where I end up. Working within the royal court is one way to do all of this; leading the royal court was the farthest thing from my mind.

A letter to Lord Marius might be in order. For one thing, if the dukes fighting over Cardior aren't fighting for succession, then what are they fighting for? And if Lord Marius has enough power to influence the succession, does he also have enough power to stop (or help me stop) that stupid war?