"Thank you, Orlon."
"Any time," Orlon smiles, looking even older.
Now wait a minute here -- Jesse is pretty liberal but you know, she had to draw the line somewhere.
"What's the matter Jesse. Jealous?" Orlon smirks.
"Salaam, you're welcome to go through my spellbooks and copy what you need."
"My thanks, Darian," he says as he purchases three traveling spell books, one for each order and scribes in the following spells, providing he is given the time..
Orlon prays for a full slate of spells, then he is ready to go to the lower planes
Op Code tells, Vardui, "Sorry for not getting back to you earlier, but I got right into this digging business. I will definitely take you up on your advice and travel north with you."
Vardui nods.
"Just like old times in the Nexus," he says with a nod to Al.
"True enough," the holy warrior chuckles, and then rubs his head. "Though no more spaceships for me. I never want my brains sucked out of my head every again !"
Tully is trying to decide. He may head North.
Drinor considers. "I wish I had the wisdom of Tyr to decide this choice, but I believe I should stick with Equinox and Al. Tyr and Thor should fight side by side."
He then retrieves his warhorse from the stable and stows his non-magical weapon and armor on it, preparing for the journey north.
Today, Gar departs on an errand of his own into the city.
Once he is gone, Jesse gathers you together.
"Jesse, you should have someone keep an eye on him. He has not earned nor betrayed my trust, but he is evil, hence untrusted until proven otherwise, at least in my eyes," Salaam warns the bard. "Also, I will need about another day to scribe my mage spells as well as to make sure that the gear I have chosen will be of use in Hell. Then I should be ready."
"I've been doing some other research and finding some more interesting tidbits of what we need to deal with. First, as you all know Gar is evil, and from what Salaam has told me, he is of a chaotic nature. On the other hand, he has provided some important information that according to a commune spell, is correct. That is, the scepter that Vrith has is not getting traded to Hecate after all. In fact, our friend Razamataz is the one that Vrith is going to make the trade with. It will not occur on this plane, and the commune was not clear as to if Raz can use the scepter without the sword and the robe.
"Interestingly enough, I suspect Raz know's Vrith's real name. Gar tried to give me a 'real name' for Vrith, but that is not it, again according to the commune spell. Also, Vrith's palace is trapped for people teleporting into it.
"I had though, when I learned of Raz's involvement, that the sword that we had been asked to retrieve back in Casablanca may be the sword of interest, but that information was not forthcoming in the commune, because I tried to get cute with my question.
"Also, Ryshara is still in Sandas. I am not sure what threat she poses, but she did kill two priests and we should consider finding her.
"Thus we come to the question as to what to do. It seems we have recovered most of our equipment from the fire, so we could try to recover Occa's soul now. Knowing that there is a trap is always a good thing, but without having an arch-mage who we can trust at our back, I don't think that heading down there is the wisest move at this point.
"Has anyone tried to contact Stiff? I wonder if he would be more inclined to join us knowing that Raz is involved?"
"I tried to find Stiff using Kailar's crystal ball with no luck. And I don't know where to teleport to find him.
"And I can take Raz... One on one, if we could get him to be foolish enough to fight me."
"I am sure you can dearest. I am more concerned with transportation," the mage says, "And the extra firepower is always useful."
"I know, hon. What about Gar? Now that he's an archmage again, could we get him to find Stiff for us?"
"If Stiff does not want to be found, we will not find him," the bard says. "I would rather concentrate on the Raz angle and work through him as a way to get to Vrith.
"Barring that, it seems we need to determine how best to use Gar to our advantage and at the same time prevent Raz from obtaining the other two items, the sword and the robe. I am tempted to try a rouse on Vrith, to force Raz's hand, if you will. I'd propose to have Gar teleport down to hell to Vrith, alone, with the pretense of faking him out about our plans. We then head North to find one of the items while Kad's group recovers the other. We then need to get them to Stiff's place, and work to remove them from the game."
"What about Occa?" asks Robert. "I mean, your ruse doesn't seem to involve him."
"If we can get Stiff involved, it will be easy. Knowing that there is a trap triggered by teleportation, we become limited to a frontal assult. I have not had time to do the research that will give us this information. Ideally, what I would like to do is to ambush Raz when the transaction is made, and then kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, but I need to get more information on that, and am open to suggestions from everyone."
"Robert, I want to get Occa back as much as you, but we need more information."
The warrior nudges Gilstrock.
"Never needed information before," he says.
"What were the questions and answers you gave and received during the commune and what name did Gar say was Vrith's 'real name'?"
Jesse looks at Equinox and recites:
1. Does Vrith have the scepter that Kadlian's group took?"YES."
2. Does Vrith plan to give the scepter to a mortal on this plane?
"YES."
3. Has Gar been truthful in the information he has given me?
"NO."
4. Is Vrith's true name Somnium?
"NO."
5. Is the THE SWORD, mentioned in the poem found where the scepter was
within 50 miles of Sandas?
"NO."
6. Is the Robe mentioned in the poem found where the scepter was withing
50 miles of Sandas?
"NO."
7. Is the mortal that Vrith plans to give the scepter to known to me or
someone in my group?
"YES."
8. Does Vrith have a trap set for people teleporting into his keep?
"YES."
9. Is the mortal that Vrith plans to give the scepter to part of my group
now?
"NO."
10. Is the mortal that Vrith plans to give the scepter to reside in Sandas
"NO."
11. Is the mortal that Vrith plans to give the scepter to someone we met
in Casablanca?
"YES."
12. In the poem the Kadlian and his group discovered, there are references
to South, North and East. Is the geographic reference of these
points Sandas?
"NO."
13. Is the sword mentioned in the poem where the scepter was found guarded
by an undead creature once named Ratgor?
"NO."
14. Is Ryshara still in Sandas?
"YES."
15. Is Vrith going to trade the scepter to Razamataz?
"YES."
16. Is the transfer going to happen on this plane?
"NO."
17. Is the Robe, mentioned in the poem found where the scepter was
found, EAST of Sandas?
"YES."
18. Does Razamataz have agents in search of the Robe or the Sword?
"NO."
19. Is Razamataz capable of activating the scepter without the robe or the
sword?
No answer.
20. Is the transfer of the scepter going to happen in the next 5 days?
"NO."
21. Does Razamataz have any protections against scrying?
"YES."
"Those were certainly good questions. You might want to follow up with questions whether Gar knows Vrith's real name, whether it is a good idea to trust Gar, whether he intends harm to you or any party member and whether Gar covets the sceptre for himself."
"I thought about asking if Gar new Vrith's real name, but decided that was not important at this point, I mean, if Gar knows Vrith's real name, then he would have used it, and the only way to confirm the would have been another commune spell. I did not ask if it was a good idea to trust Gar, as that is a very subjective question, and one that would not get a valid answer," Jesse says, "Asking about harming party members was a moot point,as he has already threatened Al and yourself. Again, that is alos a subjective question that could change depending on circumstances. As for the last one, he has already said he wanted the scepter."
"Fair enough. I am going North, and will not be traveling with Gar so he is your problem, I guess. But I would be more concerned with him than you appear to be given the answers you received from the Commune and his recent history. I thought though that if Gar knows Vrith's real name, then his decision to lie to you about Vrith's real name means that Gar has not decided to help you after all."
Equinox pauses.
"Just my thoughts. I am on my way now. Good luck."
He puts out his hand to shake good-bye.
Farewells are said, and Equinox, Tully, Op Code, Vardui, Drinor, Tracey and Al depart for the north.
After awhile, Gar returns.
Gilstrock shrugs, and says to Robert, "Eh, that's cause we all kinda listened to Occa, and Occa was a fun loving guy, and anyway, he never really led, so we kinda did what we did. Now with all these more organized mages and bards and things calling the shots, we think a little more. I guess. Either way, we just gotta go with the flow."
"But I get a headache when I think," says Robert.
"So let them do it for you. When there's something to bash, they'll let us know."
Robert sighs, then goes to the back of the stable (where you all are living) and sits in a manure pile.
Gar says, "Shall we go? I am ready if you all are..."
He looks about expectantly.
However, no one seems to be motivated to answer Gar.
Time passes.