July 25th dawns with rising winds and showers. The sun peeks fitfully through the darkening clouds.
Occa comes out of his tent the next morning and says, "Valdar is alive and well in his castle. He may join us shortly since he knows we were looking for him. I can fetch him if need be. I didn't find anything of Pharian, however. I believe he is gone."
Gilstrock's eyes widen. "Gone?? What does that mean? How did you look for him?"
Occa says, "I called upon the power of a limited wish. If he could be found, I would have found him."
Gilstrock looks to either side of him. The expression on the face of the characteristially confident warrior look a little bit like a lost child. "Isn't there anything else we can do to find him?"
"Nothing I can do. You might get Stiff to try a full wish, but I would suggest that we wait a while. He knew what he was doing and he is a big boy. If he comes back in two weeks great. If not, then we move on from there and decide what to do."
Gilstrock shakes his head. "What if he's in trouble? He's been acting gloomier than usual lately. I'm still worried."
Since magical help won't seem to aid him, Gilstrock tries to use more mundane means. He walks up to Op Code. "Op Code, my man, can you do me a favor? Can you see any tracks, or any sign that Pharian walked out of his tent and away from camp? What are the freshest tracks near his tent other than mine and Occa's?"
Op Code checks for any signs af tracks coming or going from Pharian's tent.
Other then Gilstrock's and Occa's tracks, the ranger sees only Pharian's from yesterday...entering the tent but not coming back out.
He then looks in Pharian's tent for any clue of his friend's departure. Is there anything which Gisltrock notices that is missing? He notes that Pharian left everything there but for his ring of invisibility and his bracers.
There is no note.
Jerrold stops whittling as he tires of Gilstrock's search for Pharian. "Ok, Gilstrock, evidently the odd mage left because he was tired of all this bantering and if he wanted to be found, he would have left word."
"If he wanted to be found... and was able... he would have left word. Maybe he was kidnapped!" Gilstrock says.
He walks to Pharian's tent and looks for any plants or vegetation and concentrates.
"Oh Silvanus, lord of nature, please allow me to converse with the nature that surrounds me." he intones as he casts Speak with plants.
"Hellooooo..." says a pine tree that overhangs the tent.
He asks the tree if it saw what happened to Pharian and where he might have gone.
"Beats meeeee...." says the tree.
Occa begins training himself.
BrightAxe would like someone to train him in his fighter level (every fighter here would be able to.
Oh Well tells Brightaxe "I'll train you. Glad to be of service. Of course, I will need 1000gp times the level you are to be trained to. It is to help in my further training."
BrightAxe will pay the 7000 gold to Oh Well. And train as a fighter first. After this he will train himself as a cleric.
Oh Well pockets the money and sets to train Brightaxe.
"Occa? Can you train me? Or teleport me to Sandas and I'll join the guild and have them train me?" asks Darian.
Occa says, "I need to train. Have Phil train you, he is a mage."
Darian looks around. "Phil, who's Phil? Occa, where do you hide all these people?"
"Is this guy for real?" asks Tracey to Occa, pointing to Darian.
Occa says, "Look at the main pages man! Phil Donahue..he is a mage."
Darian scratches his head. "I figured he was a mage or else you wouldn't have suggested that he train me. I just don't think I've ever been introduced to the man..."
"I've got nothing else to do," Phil remarks. "What level do you want to train for Darian?"
"I'm ready to be trained to a magician (6th), Phil, and I appreciate your willingness to help me."
"6th level here we come." Phil tells Pharian.
It will take two weeks to train Darian as a magic user. Likewise, Occa will take two weeks, and Brightaxe the same to train as a fighter...plus an additional month to train as a cleric.
By afternoon a full scale gale is glowing, with 70mph winds and torrential rains. The sun has vanished in the grey murk. In the woods around you you hear trees crashing down.
Shortly before dinner time, Valdar appears...followed soon after by Stiff.
"Hey!" says the mighty elf lord, yelling to make himself heard above the howling wind. "Why were you looking at me, Occa?"
Occa says to Valdar, "Because we couldn't find you before. We thought you had gone missing as Pharian has. Do you have any scrying devices, by the way?"
"Missing? Why did you think that? I had matters to attend to, that's all," replies Valdar. "You say Pharian has gone missing? Has Stiff used his crystal ball to find him? Has Orlon communed about him?"
"Stiff is being uncooperative and Orlon hasn't communed yet." He looks to Orlon and says, "Will you commune? We could use it to help with determining if any of the new treasure is cursed."
Orlon asks Occa, "Didn't we already determine if there was cursed items or not?"
Orlon casts a commune spell. "Is any of the stuff in this pile cursed?" he asks Thor, pointing to the pile of treasure Occa is referring to.
"NO." comes the reply out of the heavens.
"And ask about Pharian, Orlon... Please." requests Darian.
Orlon asks "Has Pharian left the campsite voluntarily?"
"YES."
"I'm pretty sure he has considering the stuff he left behind. Can you phrase a question so that we can locate him? Maybe ask if he's still on this world or something like that..."
"Is Darian still on this world?" Orlon asks.
"MENTALLY OR PHYSICALLY?" comes the reply.
"Physically," Orlon replies.
"MAYBE."
"Um... Orlon, I'm standing right next to you. It's Pharian we're looking for..."
"Uhhh.... Pharian," Gilstrock corrects.
"You all sound the same to me," Orlon tells Darian. "Is Pharian still on this world?"
"YES."
Occa says, "Here are some suggested questions: Is Pharian coming back? Should we seek Pharian out? Would we benefit from exploring the spaceship before we explore the mountain of dragons?"
Orlon asks the above questions.
"NO."
"YES."
"NO."
Occa says to Orlon, "Ask if we should hunt down this Eclavadra and kill her first."
Orlon passes on the question.
"NO."
"Back up a minute, Occa, what's a spaceship ??" Jerry asks with a quizzical look.
Occa says, "You don't want to know."
"Well I did ask, what is one?? Something like the vessels I have been aboard in Realmspace, I believe they are called spelljamming ships. I went to the asteroid called the Rock of Bral. It was so eerie, bright lights all around and no earth. I kissed the ground when I landed on the rock. There is a great bar there that I frequented while I was there to overcome my unease of traveling through the open void of space." Jerrold says as he reminisces about his spelljamming days.
Occa says, "Well, it is pretty much the same thing."
"If we go back there, I want some thought given to how to combat mind flayers. I don't want to go mind to mind with those things again unless we can take them out very quickly. It's not fun having your head explode." says Darian.
Gilstrock says to the others, "Pharian may have left voluntarily, but he's not OK. Maybe he's not staying away voluntarily. He wouldn't go away for long without any spell books whatsoever. We still gotta look for him, whether he originally left under his own power or not."
Cannon Fodder says,"He may have left them if he knew he wasn't coming back..."
Gilstrock gives Cannon Fodder an 'Are you Kidding?' look. "Only if he was going to die," Gilstrock said. "That's about the only place I can think of him going where he'd want to be without his spell books. You're a wizard, or at least you look like Occa, who is one. How far would you go without yours?"
Cannon Fodder says, "I would only leave them behind if I knew I was going to die...I would only leave my items behind if I knew I didn't have a chance and I didn't want my enemies to claim them."
"Well, that's just great!" Gilstrock says sarcastically.
Cannon Fodder shrugs.
"Look, we gotta go find Pharian. No matter how you look at it, he's in trouble, if he left his spellbooks behind. He's had enemies before, and he's made sacrifices to take them down. But he's not the sort to go out and die in a blaze of glory going after enemies. He'd take a more rational approach and at the very least bring a couple of sturdy fighters to hide behind along."
"Sure doesn't seem that way right now, Gilstrock."
"I'm tellin' ya, he didn't just go off because he had things to do, and needed some unannounced time away from us to accomplish things. Something is wrong, and he probably needs our help. Of this I am convinced."
Gilstrock looks around. "I'm gonna go looking for him. Anybody else want to come along?"
Gilstrock collects up Pharian's travelling spellbooks before he leaves on a search for Pharian. He also brings along Pharian's Ring of Regeneration and thieves' tools, if he can find them.
He finds the ring but not the tools.
"I'll come along, Gilstrock." says Darian.
Darian turns to Valdar. "Can you talk some sense into Stiff or at least borrow his crystal ball? We should find Pharian and help him if he needs it. He's our friend, and we owe him that much."
Valdar says, "'Talk some sense' into an arch-mage? Darian, you like to live dangerously, don't you? Stiff, maybe you should tell him about Somnium, one of these days. Oh," he says to the senseless arch-mage, "Could you please look for Pharian? Pretty please?"
Orlon burst out laughing "Now there was chap to remember."
"Remember his exploding plates?" asks Valdar with a giggle.
Darian grins. "Well, considering that I foolishly take on mind flayers by the pairs in mental duels, talking sense into an arch-mage seems pretty safe to me. Besides, Stiff is reasonable most of the time. I was told it was just that time of the month... And since you know Stiff very well, I thought he'd listen to you."
Occa says, "Wait till we have more info you fighter types...always rushing off."
"Well," Gilstrock says, "I wasn't really sure where I would go look first. Probably to Inner Sanctum. So if we can get more info, that would be good."
Cannon Fodder rushes out of his own tent with his backpack on. "Wait for me!"
Occa shakes his head.
Stiff complies with the request of the party and uses the crystal ball to find the whereabouts and condition of Pharian.
"Thank you, Stiff," Gilstrock says, as he anxiously awaits the results.
"Thanks, Stiff. See, Valdar, I knew you could talk some sense into him."
Valdar sighs.
Stiff gazes into his crystal ball. After a moment an image forms...but it is one of pure blackness. Then a door opens and a dim, flickering light shines into a dingy cell. You see Pharian lying unconscious on the stone floor, his hair matted with dried blood.
A shadowy form steps into the room and dumps a bucket of water over Pharian. The mage shifts, and slowly comes around, as the figure stands over him.
"Good job, Stiff," Jerrold says with a smile. "Ok, any of the mages able to teleport us there ? I say let's help the poor guy.. even though a good beating once in a while is a good humbling experience and if anyone needs a humbling moment, it would hurt Pharian the least !" he says as an observation.
Valdar rubs his chin.
"Jerrold, I think you should get to know Jesse a little better," he says at last.
Darian draws his sword. "Everyone, get ready quickly. Occa, can you teleport us to wherever Pharian is now that you can see him? We need to get there now!"
BrightAxe looks up from his training and says, "Could you guys wait until the wiser of us are ready, you seem to be doing a less than satisfactory job."
He pauses then in wisdom adds "If this situation is critical enough to stop people from training, please grab us; the current suggestions and results either point to a lack of knowledge, or haphazard planning."
"So what's your point?" asks Valdar, as he produces a cream pie ands smooshes it in Brightaxe's face.
Putting down his spear, Gilstrock draws Thawbreaker and holds it at the ready. He points to the second sword sheathed in the scabbard on his back. "Darian, if you need the sword of sharpness, which I think I shall call Hangnail, you can draw it from right there. Just be careful as you do it."
Darian salutes and gives Gilstrock a crooked grin. "Aye, aye, sir."
Occa teleports everyone to Pharians Cell...
...as suddenly Jerrold, Orlon, Gilstrock, Occa, Darian, Gonzo, Jesse, Brightaxe and Arrrgh! appear in the cell where Pharian lies and the strange man stands.
"Take that you bucket slinging no good for nothing!" exclaims Occa, as he opens up with magic missiles.
"Sheeeyat!" says the man, as he jumps back through the open doorway as the missiles burn into him.
Jesse rushes over to Pharian, and protects him as best she can. "Medic." she calls out.
"Here I come, lass !!" Jerry says as he sprints over to the downed mage.
Gilstrock follows the man through the doorway.
The man jumps aside quickly and Occa can no longer see him.
"Hit it!" the man cries from the hall outside.
The door slams shut...
The door closes, and suddenly the entire floor opens up beneath you.
You all fall 10'...and land in a water-filled underground tunnel...a sewer, you immediately realise.
Darian, Jesse, Orlon, Arrrgh! and Brightaxe all sink out of sight immediately.
Pharian, Jerrold, Occa and Gonzo splutter to the surface but all immediately run into difficulties.
Unless you are either proficient at swimming or have a magic item which will enable to you to swim or otherwise get out of the sewage, you are all in trouble.
Regardless, you are quickly swept downstream by the fast flowing water.
Darian uses his psionics to adjust his body equilibrium so that he rises to the surface. He bobs to the surface like a cork, stands up...and bumps his oft-abused head on the low ceiling of the sewer tunnel.
Orlon grabs Brightaxe and manages to speak a word of recall.
Both vanish from the sewer.
Jerrold transforms himself into an anaconda, and tries to stretch himself to reach all those still remaining in the water. The druid, now some 15' long, coils himself around Pharian, Occa and Gonzo, and then keeps their heads out of the water.
Occa, though, struggles free and - apparently the only one of you who can swim - dives for the bottom of the sewer.
A moment later he surfaces with a spluttering Jesse.
Pharian just lies there passively.
The current is fast flowing. It quickly takes you around a bend in the tunnel...and you see daylight ahead. The sewer terminates here, flowing through a 10' wide opening, its waters then dropping some dozen feet into a good-sized river.
Blocking the opening, though, is a grating of rusted iron, through which the waters flow virtually unheeded. However, it proves to be a solid barrier for larger articles such as yourselves.
Each of you take 4 hit points as the swift current slams you into the grating, stopping your flight cold.
There you remain.
Suddenly there is a movement beside you...as an excrement encrusted hand reaches slowly up out of the swirling water and grasps a rung of the grating. Slowly it pulls...and a moment later Arrrgh!'s head appears above the surface and gasps.
Darian looks around. "Anyone see Gilstrock? Occa, blast the grate with a disintegration ray. I'll go back under to look for him."
Darian takes a deep breath and lets himself sink below the surface.
"Would sssomeone tell me what in the Nine Hellsss is going on ?" Jerrold says, despite his snake form and apparent speech problem. "Pharian...I beleive you are the one to talk to..."
Occa says to Pharian, "You have some explaining to do!"
Pharian ignores both of them.
Occa casts disintegrate on the grate.
Suddenly the grate vanishes...and all of you go tumbling through the opening, fall 12' and hit the river below...each of you taking 11 hit points of damage.
Fortunately for you, the river is shallow near the banks, here, and you are all able to drag yourselves and each other to shore...where you lie gasping like beached whales for a time.
Finally, you look about you. The weather is hot, here, and a light rain falls steadily. On this side of the river - behind you - are the buildings of a fair-sized city. They look rather rundown. A short distance downstream you see docks and wharves, with ships of varying shapes and sizes moored to them. Longshoremen and stevedores are working there.
Across the river - about a quarter mile away - is a forest.
Gonzo squeezes water out of his beard and brushes himself off, checks his equipment and then waits for the others, quietly mumbling to himself... "... rzafrazt dern wizards... mbmbfm... trouble... drgztgst... magic.... "
Occa says to Pharian, "Where in the name of hell are we?"
Jerrold transforms back to his human shape. "Oooof, Pharian, do you know how to make things interesting, so anyone know where we are ??"
"Sandas," Pharian answers disconsolately. He slowly gets up to his feet, looking sore and stiff, moving like an old man. Without saying anything else, he turns away from the group and starts limping back along the river bank toward the docks and warehouses.
Occa sputters and says, "Uh, Pharian, what in the name of hades is wrong? Do you realize that Gilstrok is missing? Or don't you care about your friend? He moved heaven and hell to get us here and you just walk away in self pity? What is wrong with you? Who were those people?"
"Pharian, really, what is going on ?" Jerrold asks in a serious tone.
Pharian turns around and faces Occa, but seems to look right past him.
"Gilstrock is better off without me," he says. "Don't you see? I bring death to all who trust me, even when I try not to. If I try to do anything to help him, I'll just make things worse. So leave me alone."
He seems furious. "No one dumps me in a sewer! I will level that $*!!!@$ place!"
"Yeah, Occa, let's kick some ass !!" Jerrold says with a smile.
Occa frowns at Pharian and says, "I bring death to those who trust me and don't trust me! Do you see me whining about it?" He sighs and says,"Let's find Gilstrok."
He casts wizard eye and send it into the sewer water...sending it as fast as he can forward and then down into the water...looking for Gilstrok and Darian.
He sees no sign of either in the water.
"Must I do everything ?" Jerrold asks to no one in particular as he dives towards the water, transforming into an anaconda yet again and scanning for their heat patterns under the water.
Pharian shakes his head. "Maybe the blood doesn't stick to you, Occa. It sticks to me. I try to clean it off, I think I can find justice, and I end up in the sewer. Ha! Fitting. I was fooling myself, pretending to be a wizard. The smell of shit in my hair reminds me I'm just gutterspawn. So forget it. I'll go where I belong."
He turns around and continues walking slowly down the river bank.
Occa shrugs and says, "At least I try to help those who help me. Good luck Pharian in your travels. I hope you find the peace you seem to seek."
He continues searching for Gilstrock and Darian with his wizard eye.
Jesse shakes the water from her ears, "Pharian, you crusty old fool. Wait for me at least. I've become fond of your refreshing attitude. And I promise not to talk about sex anymore." the female bard says to the fellow as she tries to catch up to him. "Look at me, you all accepted me for what I am, even after I attempted to decieve you all. Your past doesn't matter with us, but your friendship and companionship does matter."
"Friendship? With you?" says Pharian with a sneer. Then, incongruously, tears start to well up in his bloodshot eyes. "You can ask some of my onetime friends about that. They'd tell you something. Or the flayers, they would show you, too. The pictures behind your eyes. Everything."
Jesse looks sad at these comments, "I don't understand." the bard says.
"Except of course, they're all dead and their blood is all over my arms and I was trying to get them to scrape it off for me and Guido was starting to believe me and would have called the council, but then you had to interfere and get me dumped in the sewer. Ask me for an apology? Just take your sweetness and leave me alone. I don't want it."
Pharian turns around again, puts his hands over his ears, and continues staggering unsteadily toward the docks.
Jesse runs up the Pharian. "I'm not letting someone I've fought with, bled with, and laughed with leave under these conditions. I've lost too many friends, and I've learned a lot from this group and yea, even you Mr. Sneer. Don't plan to give you up for dead now." she says as she follows him.
Occa says, "What a minute Pharian!" He runs over to Pharian and says, "You are coming with us. I am willing to come back and level this place later, but I want you to see Orlon first."
"And me." replies the bard. "I'm good at leveling places." she says with a grin.
Occa tries to drag Pharian back to the rest of the group saying to Jesse, "I think the mind flayers messed up his head...he is obviously insane."
"I'll watch him." she says, "and stick to him like glue."
Pharian avoids Occa.
Occa says, "dont' resist..it is futile..and you might kill me...your friend in the process."
He then clotheslines Pharian and applies a headlock.
But suddenly, Pharian pulls out one of his own daggers.
Then he stabs himself in the throat, saying, "Kaal! Justice is done!"
His body sags in Occa's arms, spewing blood over both of them.
At this moment, Darian comes running along the river to join you.
As Pharian becomes unconscious, Darian rushes over and lays his hands on him.
The slash closes, though Pharian remains unconscious for now.
Darian looks around at the others. "Occa? Can you make me fly or give me something that can levitate me? We still have Gilstrock in potential trouble back there and I can't get up the wall!"
Occa says to Jesse..."Take care of Pharian."
Jesse nods gravely.
He casts fly on himself, grabs Darian and dimension doors back into the sewer.
You appear in the sewer under the trap door - open - and hover just above the sweet-smelling waters.
Occa flies up with Darian in tow into the cell where you first appeared. The door is open. Flying through it, you find yourself at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Flying up them, you zoom through a doorway and into the common room of a run-down inn.
Gilstrock is standing nearby, talking to a ragged young girl who clutches a broom.
They look at you in surprise.
"Cor!" exclaims the girl.
Darian looks around. "Who's Cor?"
"Gilstrock, where did that guy go?"
"You guys stink!" the fighter says, ever the diplomat. "Where have you been? Which guy?"
"We fell into the sewer, mister chase after the bad guy! That bad guy! The one who told whomever to spring the trap and drop us into the sewer..."
"Dunno," Gilstrock says. "I beat on them a bit, and they ran away. I turned to get you out of the room, only the floor was gone and there was this sewer rushing by. I turned to run after them, and this woman here told me they went outside. I went outside, but nobody saw them come out."
Gilstrock shrugs. "So I don't know where to go next. This woman tells me a man named Guido runs this place. Maybe he'll know more. Where're the others?"
Occa says, "They are waiting outside."
Darian grimaces and looks at Occa. "Orlon grabbed Brightaxe, I believe, and headed back for camp. Jesse, Arrrgh! and Gonzo are outside guarding Pharian.
"Gilstrock, Pharian... umm... tried to kill himself. I heard someone say that he is insane. Occa may know more. I was in the sewers trying to find you until I realized I couldn't scale the wall and then I went back outside. I healed Pharian, but I can't help his mind...
"Maybe we should go back to camp and have Orlon look at him."
Occa frowns and says, "Maybe we should talk to Guido and see why they beat up Pharian and why they dropped us in the sewers!" He seems to be getting more and more irate at this situation.
"Agreed. But, maybe you should cast a wizard's eye and keep watch over Jesse and the others. We don't want them getting ambushed while we're tromping around in here."
Occa does so.
Darian looks a little less worried. "Thanks. Now, where do we begin?"
Occa turns to the woman and says, "Who is Cor? Who is Guido? AND who dropped us in that sewer?"
"Cor??? Who is 'Cor'??" she asks incredulously. "It's an exclamation! Like Blimy!! Cor! Guido owns the inn! An' the sewer? What are ye talkin' about?"
Occa says, "Right."
A thought strikes him and he says, "This is the thieves guild, isn't it? That was why Pharian was here."
"I don' know what yer talkin' about, mister," the girl says. "This is a respectable establishment...well...almost."
"Sure, that is why there is a cell in the basement."
She shrugs.
"Ohhhhh...THAT cell!" she says. "We get lots o' strange 'uns in here, yer lardship. Some 'uns are into whips. Some 'uns are into chains. Some 'uns are into...shit."
The three of you plus the girl are the only ones present. The inn is a dive: a dirt floor, battered chairs and tables, a bar at one end with a door behind it leading into another room out back. A flight of stairs leads up to a second floor. Under the stairs is another flight...leading down to the cellar.
Occa says to the girl, "Where is Guido? I would like to speak with him."
"He ain't here, I said!" she exclaims...but as she does so her voice rises to a falsetto squeak. She clears her throat.
"Uh... huh... Should we start tearing this place apart or would you like to point out his hiding spot for us and save everyone a lot of trouble?"
"Tear the dump apart." the girl says.
"Occa, do you wish to take the honors?"
He giggles.
Occa says to the girl, "First the front of the Inn...then you, if you don't stop lying. Tell us where Guido is...upstairs or down?"
He starts to cast disintegrate on the front wall of the Inn.
The girl moves quickly and conks Occa over the head with her broom, spoiling his spell.
"You damned fool, Occa! Do you want to bring the entire building down on top of us?" she says before continuing. "Alright, you're on to me so I'll talk plain. You made some friends in the Guild when you crashed the Gods of Trouble's temple. Don't blow it now, 'cause our reach is long."
Occa rubs his head and says, "Owwww."
Then he says, "Well, my friend here has a special sword for long arms. I respect the guild."
Suddenly the form and body of the girl seems to shift and change...and reform into the shape of the man whom you originally encountered downstairs.
"I'm Guido," he says. "Now what the hell do you want interferin' in thieve's business? And NO, we did NOT beat your friend up, though he deserved it."
Occa nods and says, "That is all we wanted to know. Still, I sure didn't appreciate being dumped in the sewer."
"And I didn't appreciate getting magic missiled first!" Guido says.
"Well, you are pretty strong to survive that. I wouldn't have, but we saw our friend in a cell, on the floor. You looked like a jailer. We don't allow our friends to be put in cells, so we came. Seek and Destroy. You can understand that, I am sure."
Guido just shakes his head.
"Youse guys must get killed a lot," he says.
"Oh, of course...almost daily."
He smiles.
"Hmmm... Pretty cool disguise there Guido."
"We're interfering because we thought you were beating up our friend. He is quite incoherant. So, tell us, why is he here?"
"That's what I was tryin' to find out when you guys came barging in. He said something about seeking justice."
Occa says, "That has already been determined. He has been different since the mind flayers got hold of him. He is insane, I would guess."
He says to Darian and Gilstrock, "Okay, I think we are done here. Guido, I am assuming you are high up in the Guild. Any benefits to knowing you or the guild? I don't suppose you guys barter in magic for magic or money, do you?"
"What do you need? We may be able to get it for you..."
Occa says, "I could use some bracers since any ol' girl can wack me with a broom." He smiles and says, "Other protection would be fine. We also need a portable hole. Anything along those lines? Also, the contact would be good to know. We get lots of merchandise...we could always use someone like you to help us unload it. You could, of course, cut yourself in for a few points."
He nods.
"Leave it with me. I'll get back to ya."
"Leave what with you? Our loot? How about I leave a list?"
"That's what I meant."
"Okay then." He writes out a list and provides it to Guido. "Of course, we will be willing to negotiate other items and or services for additional magic items,especially the ones we requested. Do you happen to have any you are working to unload?"
"I'll check and see, but we usually fence magic pretty quick, like."
Occa says, "Sure. Well, in the future, why don't you give us first dibs on any magic you get? We can make it worth your while."
"Know any mages who want to pepper their homes with cursed items? We have plenty of those too..perfect for stopping bothersome adventurers dead in their tracks!"
"Also, how do you think you will be able to get back with us?"
"We know how ta find ya."
Occa nods and says, "Good enough. I guess it is time to go."
He says to the others, "Let's round up the group and go home."
"T'would be nice. Everyone else is willing to buy magic, but no one seems willing to part with it."
"Anything else significant? Do you know why he came to you, in particular?"
Guido shakes his head.
"That was all he had time to say before youse guys appeared."
When the woman changes form and claims to be Guido, Gilstrock quickly and instinctively draws Thawbreaker. He does not attack, however, as the conversation progresses. It is clear that he's a bit agitated.
"How and when did Pharian show up?" he asks. "Are you going to carry a lifelong grudge against him, or are you going to forget about him? Because if you are gonna carry a grudge, we're gonna have to tear the place apart after all."
Gilstrock looks over at Darian and Occa. "Right?"
Occa frowns and says, "Of course."
"Why would I carry a grudge against HIM?" demands Guido. "If I'm going to hold a grudge against anyone, it's gonna be YOU, you big stupid galoot!"
You note that Guido is carrying several nasty sword wounds.
Gilstrock sheathes Thawbreaker. "That's OK, then," he says.
The three of you leave, then.
Gilstrock points over his shoulder at the man with his thumb while speaking to Darian and Occa. "People like him make me nervous," he says.
Exiting through the front door of the inn, you note that the name of the place is the Sailor's Rest.
It is but a short walk down to the bank of the Grande River, where the others await you. Pharian has regained consciousness, and Jerrold has returned.
All together again, Occa teleports you quickly back to base camp before you can get into any further misadventures.
Perhaps ten minutes or so after Orlon and Brightaxe got themselves out of the sewer, the rest of the party reappears in base camp. All but Gilstrock are covered in sewage and radiate a most unpleasant odour. Pharian looks pale and very weak.
You note that Valdar is not present.
"Now wasn't that fun !" Jerrold says in a light tone. "Any clean streams or lakes around here, I could use a bath and Jesse, care for a dip ? Nothing more, I just enjoy the company of a lady even if it is platonic !!" he says with a smile as he looks for a body of water to bathe in.
Jesse smile, "Follow me... I know where we can go. I'll probably ask you to turn your back Jerry while I bathe. Darian, care to come with us, I'd like your company." she says lightly.
"I believe that most of us need a bath." Darian offers an arm to Jesse.
Jesse smiles and takes the proffered arm. "Off we go."
She whispers something into Darian's ear as they leave.
"Phil, after I get this stench off me we start the training. Okay?"
"Ready whenever you are," Phil tells Daian. "It's so boring just sitting around here doing nothing."
"Well, the alternative is smelling like a lavatory. You pick..."
As your luck would have it, the dwarves have just completed excavating an olympic-sized swimming pool in the middle of the hollow, and have just filled it with water.
Occa jumps in the nearest body of water and takes a long bath. Then he says to Orlon, "Can you check Pharian out? I think he has gone insane from the mindflayers. Maybe a cure insanity or heal will take care of him...I hope. Hey, where is Valdar? That pesky elf keeps disappearing!"
"Sure," Orlon tells Occa. He casts a heal on Pharian to see if it has any results.
Pharian's melancholia is cured...and he returns to his usual, sunny-faced demenour.
Pharian blinks slowly a few times, looking as though he is just waking up.
"Well," he says, "that was just about the dumbest thing I've ever done in my life."
Cannon Fodder giggles.
Gilstrock nods. "Yeah," he says emphatically. "What did you do, go try to find a thieves' guild somewhere to attack them? Or do you mean, slashing yourself? Which was dumber?"
"All of it," says Pharian. "But the strangest thing was, it was like it wasn't me. After those mind flayers said all that stuff to me, it was as though I was on the other side of this curtain, or screen, and I was watching myself do all this stuff, but I couldn't do anything about it. It just got worse and worse. But it seems to be over now." He shakes his head at the memory of it.
Gilstrock walks up to Pharain. "You alright? Could you do me a favor and agree that you won't go running off yourself without leaving word? That, next time you do that, maybe the others will believe Darian and I when we think something's wrong."
Occa says, "I guess I shouldn't have been such a nay-sayer."
Cannon Fodder says, "Nah, don't do that."
Gilstrock looks over at Occa. "Where was that Inn we were in anyway? With Guido and all."
Occa says, "Sandas...remember, we earned their friendship because we...err, I mean Jesse, destroyed the temple of the Gods of Trouble."
"You talked to Guido?" asks Pharian. "The bastard has my ring of invisibility. Or at least, that transvestite thief told me she gave it to him."
Occa says, "That transvestite was Guido...with a hat of disguise. We will have to look him up and get your ring back later."
"What??" Gilstrock says. "Why, the lying, double-dealing.... who can teleport me to Sandas right now to get it back??"
"Did you guys ditch the elf again?" Orlon asks the others.
"I'm here!" says Valdar, stepping out of a nearby clump of bushes...with Tracey.
Cannon Fodder says, "I am going to tell Occa!" He throws a cream pie at the naughty elf and priestess of Odin.
Then he goes and climbs a tree.
Gilstrock watches Cannon Fodder - mistaking him for Occa - climb a tree, and walks over to Darian. Pointing at Occa, he says, "Darian, you're training to be one of those guys. First, Stiff, now Occa. Is trees part of being a magic user?"
Cannon Fodder yells down, "Cannon Fodder, you ruffian!"
He tosses several old tomatoes, 3 heads of lettuce, 2 cucumbers, and a kiwi at Gilstrock.
"Try throwing and Arugula," says BrightAxe "it's a veg-a-ta-bull."
Gilstrock pulls the hood of his cloak over his face so that he can't see, draws Hangnail (the sword of sharpness), and begins to Use the Force to strike down the vegetables that are flying at him.
He beheads several vegetables.
Darian shakes his head and smiles. "Gilstrock, I think you need your eyes checked. That's Cannon Fodder climbing the tree, not Occa."
"Ah, they all look the same to me," Gilstrock says dismissively.
"But, to answer your original question... As far as anyone's told me, trees aren't part of the training. I'd think they'd be more useful to druids and rangers. Oh, and, of course, squirrels."
"Trees are an integral part of nature, dudes... they provide shelter for the homeless, sustenance to our great world.. plus look really nice with a naked woman against it, heh, heh - that reminds me of the time of that little naughty dryad out of Shadowdale.. whoa, was she hot.. and that ale we shared.. mmm.. great stuff ! So folks, tell me about this Dragon Mountain that we were going to visit before Slim wigged out on us !!"
"Hmm," Gilstrock grunts. "My momma used to whup me when I talked like that," he adds.
"I see it didn't help" Jerrold replies.
Gilstrock, a confused look on his face, looks over at Darian. "Was I talking like that? I coulda sworn it was Jerry."
Valdar moons him...followed by Tracey.
"And it's Thor, you silly snowball!" she says.
Occa then says, "I am going to train!"
He does so for the next two weeks.
BrightAxe responds "That sounds like a fine idea. I have six weeks to train."