The
EARTH story - December 7, 1372
December
7th dawns cold and blustery. A gale force wind blasts down through the
gorge, freezing your bones and driving a stinging sleet into your
faces. The wind chill is -22F.
Perhaps today is a good day to hunker down and identify the glowing key.
"I could give it a try," Brennon says.
Jon throws Brennon the key and then puts his head back into his spell books.
Brennon examines the key for any writing, runes, etcetera. He then casts read magic to see if he can find anything out about it.
He spies no runes or markings.
Read magic does not turn up anything.
Brennon tries an identify spell, but is unable to learn anything about the key.
"It is beyond my abilities to discern this item," he says.
Tully examines it next, but is unable to recall or recognise anything about its abilities either.
Jon then goes next.
Jon determines that the item is magical, that it opens something, that
it is one of several keys, and that all of them are needed to open the
thing.
Beth also takes a look at it, on the off chance that she might see something she recognizes from her reading.
She does not.
She tries an identify 2 spell on it.
She determines that it opens a magically held door.
It is now evening.
Beth tells the others, "This key is for opening a magically held door.
Might come in handy; it depends on whether or not we come across the
right door."
"So, should we make tracks now or wait for morning?" Equinox asks the party, "I am tired of waiting around and am ready to go."
Beth says, "How is everybody doing as far as healing goes? If
we're up to full strength, we could make tracks now. However, I
personally would prefer to wait until tomorrow morning, so I could
refresh my spells to a full suite."
You are all healed.
"Jon said that it is one of many keys needed. Before we move on,
can our clerics determine if we need these keys and if so, are the
other keys needed in this area or do we need to move on or go back to
find them?"
"What about the doorway we passed to get here? If there are more keys,
did we pass one up by not investigating that door?" Brennon asks.
"What door?" Equinox asks Brennon.
"Didn't we pass a closed door that was in a building in which we had
guessed that there might be some giants behind before we camped for
nine days to recover from our injuries? If not maybe I am mistaken,
sorry."
"You are not mistaken," says Devlin. "It was after we paused to heal...in fact is was only yesterday."
"I thought so," he replies, scratching his head for a moment. "If there
are a couple of keys we might need, do you think that we might have
passed one up by bypassing that door?"
Drinor says, "Perhaps we need guidance here - the key might be
essential to our quest, or it might be a distraction. Can anyone
commune, to find out whether we need to go back or press onward?"
All eyes turn to Sharone and Al.
"Sharone, its all yours," Al says with a sheepish grin, "Lord Thor
doesn't like me calling on him all too often, I have a bad tendency of
interrupting him at the worst times!"
Sharone pipes up, "I need to pray for Idun's assistance."
Sharone goes off and prays, returning several hours later.
She casts commune.
"I AM IDUN," says a female voice which seems to be very close by indeed, "ASK AND I SHALL GIVE YOU GUIDANCE."
"Is the sword we seek in the giant stronghold that we passed?" Al asks.
Sharone asks the question.
"NO."
"I thought we were going to ask about the keys."
"We were," says Equinox, "since we already found the Sword."
"We have?" says Devlin, sounding surprised.
"We did?" the cavalier scratches his head, not remembering that they did.
"Oops," says Equinox, "sorry. I seem to be distracted and getting my facts screwed up lately."
"Try this one: 'Should we go back to check out the door we passed?'"
Sharone asks the question.
"YES."
"How about, does the people that we want to steal the sword from know
that we are already here?" asks Kithus to the group for opinion, before
asking in the commune.
Taking the silence as acquiescence, Sharone passes on the question.
She does not get an answer.
"Are the creatures inside the big house we're going back to evil?" asks the monk.
Sharone asks Aron's question.
"YES."
Jon then asks, "Is there another way in other than the door we saw?"
Sharone passes on the elf's question.
"YES."
"How about, 'Are there spell casters in the big house?'?" asks Aron.
Sharone asks the question.
"NO."
"Sharone, if no one else has a question, I'd like to further ask,
'Besides needing to go back to the big house, are we missing something
that should be obvious?'"
Sharone passes on the question.
"NO. GET ON WITH IT."
"That's good enough for me," says Equinox. "Let's go!"
"I agree! And on the way, whatever protective magic the priests or magi
can confer upon me, and the other party members, would be much
appreciated. Invisibility would be nice."
Jon says, "Yes, let's go and avenge Violet. How are we going to get the door open?"
Drinor stands up and exclaims, "Smash it! Of course."
Mikodin stands, smiles, and says, "Yes, I agree. Let us begin immediately."
Ayazin clears his throat and says, "Actually, I have a spell that
should warp the door's wood, making it brittle and easily broken."
"I hate to say this, but even though we know they're evil and that they
have a key that we need, we shouldn't just break down their door and
attack them - there are laws against that sort of thing where we come
from. Shouldn't we first try to bargain for the key - sending a
few protected people from the party with the rest of us standing by in
case trouble arises?"
"The laws that govern our society do not apply here. And,
besides, knowing that they are evil is enough to eliminate them,"
Mikodin finishes speaking, and folds his arms as if the last word on
the subject has been spoken.
Next day