October 2, 1372
The next morning you head back to the
Tower of Golgar, passing through the ruined city without incident.
You reenter the dungeon through the secret entrance that you discovered
earlier.
Finally, you stand at the corner of the passage which runs north and
east. The passage is clear; no sign remains of the battle which took
place here nearly a month ago.
Kadlian looks north and then east. "I want to check for tracks. Please wait here for me."
Kadlian heads north to the door where the battle occurred, looking for tracks indicating which way the bodies might have been dragged. Once done with the north, he will head back south to the party and then east to the other door.
Niko follows Kadlian north. "No. Me go with you."
Kadlian sighs. "Very well, but stay behind me by a few steps so you do not erase any tracks."
Niko shakes his head. "Nope. Me go ahead of you!"
Kadlian stops and stares at Niko, his hand resting on the hilt of his shortsword. "Niko, what is wrong with you? What is with the odd speech pattern?"
Niko glances down at Kadlian's sword hand. "Nothing wrong with Niko. Niko smart. Niko has many new magic and tech items! Make Niko powerful and smart!"
Niko holds up his blaster rifle and adjusts his hat.
Kadlian rolls his eyes. "Niko, put down the blaster and take off the hat, please."
Niko clutches his blaster tighter in one hand and pulls his hat down on his head. He responds, "No! Niko no do that!"
As Niko and Kadlian have their exchange, Galil frowns and edges closer, rolling her eyes slightly when she sees Niko's odd behavior.
Galil smiles. "Nice hat."
The hat, by the way, is a sailor's hat. It makes him look like Gilligan.
Galil attempts to pull the hat from Niko's head the next time Kadlian distracts Niko with more conversation.
"Why not? What is there to be afraid of? You are amongst your friends."
Galil grabs for his hat, but Niko ducks.
Niko stands straight up. "Ha! Niko not afraid. Niko brave. And smart! Niko follow tracks."
Niko starts heading north looking for tracks.
Kadlian puts an arm out to block Niko's progress. "Niko, if you go up there, you will erase the tracks. You are not a ranger, you are a sailor, a mage and a fighter. And you are good at all three. Stick to what you know, please.
"Now, put down the blaster."
Niko walks around Kad's arm. "Harumph! Me ranger. Me track bad guys. Me keep blaster to blast baddies!"
Kadlian sighs and grabs the blaster barrel along the middle of the barrel, pointing the weapon down to the ground and slugs Niko in the face with his free hand. "Galil, Dor, help me subdue him."
Dor attempts to club Niko over the head with the butt of his sword.
"The gorram fool put on a
magic hat of stupidity. And I lack a remove curse." says the
mage. "Who let him at the magic?"
Trinity turns invisible with her ring and goes flying, keeping an eye out for danger.
Niko takes appropriate action to defend himself and his hat!
"Two fry. Nice hat," Trinity says before she casts hold person on Niko.
Niko pauses for a moment to smile at Trinity, "Thanks! Hat make Niko smart!"
"Say cheese," says Trinity.
Niko smiles and says, "Cheese!"
Trinity releases her spell, and she suddenly finds herself held.
Dor, however, conks Niko over the head with Bill's butt, and Niko drops to the floor unconscious, with a silly grin on his face.
"That's more like it!" says Bill, "Goodness and Law triumphs again over chaos!"
"Good one, Bill," Dor answers. He turns to Kadlian, "Well now what? I ain't touching that hat."
"Nice job, Dor. And do not worry about touching the hat. You will not be asked to."
Niko continues to lie unceremoniously on the floor, unconscious.
Trinity cancels her spell to unhold herself and puts up a detect magic spell.
She is unheld.
Several of Niko's items radiate magic, the rings and hat included.
"And when did Niko get the ability to bounce spells back?" says the woman.
"I suppose it is too much to hope that just removing the hat will fix Niko?"
Kadlian attempts to strip Niko of his magical items and weapons before he binds his hands behind him.
The hat refuses to come off...as do the rings.
"How much cursed stuff does this elf have? He has the luck of Job," says the woman.
"Great. Triply cursed. What now, Rage? Will one remove curse deal with three items?"
"No. As I recall, must cast a remove curse for each item,"
replies Trinity. "And the name, elf-boy, is Trinity, not
Rage. Rage is gone. Get it...or do you want her back
because you like her better than you like us."
"Sorry, Trinity. Just a slip of the tongue. I am beside myself with anger. So, can you memorize three remove curse spells?"
"You look all together to me," says Trinity. "How can you be beside yourself when you are right there?"
"It is just an expression."
"And I can memorize the remove curse spells, but here comes the
problem, I suspect Niko has a ring of spell turning, and that can
bounce any magic back at the caster. That ring will have to be
removed first, before I can do anything. Then, I can cast the
remove curse spells, but it is not a sure thing, as cursed items can be
pretty powerful, we may need to find another to assist me."
"We can cut his hand off," Dor suggests.
"A cursed ring of spell turning? It figures that Niko would find
one. Perhaps a dispel magic cast on him followed by the remove
curse? Or should we just go back to Sandas again?"
"You know, this is the third stupid thing that Niko has done recently. Maybe he has had the hat all along and we just noticed?"
"Perhaps one of the rings is also so blame," Galil suggests with a frown.
"Another stupid delay!"
"Rage, can you cast a remove curse on him at a later time? Can we
just go back to the inn and wait a day or are we going to have to go
back to Sandas and find a cleric?"
"You know," Dor says, "Once in the Baron's army Corporal Marston-Smythe
got hold of a cursed shield. We knocked him down and took it away from
him. When he woke up, he just got angrier and angrier. We had to tie
him up and guard him until we got the curse removed. I wonder if it
will be the same thing with Niko and his stupid sailor hat?"
"Thank you for the advice, Dor. We will keep that in mind."
"Dor D'Och, previously in the Baron's Service, speaks true," says
Trinity. "Niko the Numbskull will seek to get free and we must prevent
that, lest he get into trouble. He is not himself at the moment.
"Cursed, it is. Dangerous, yes," says Trinity. "Must remove the curse
so Niko will be sane. Not easy. Difficult. Very difficult. Have not
cast the spell in many suns.
"Strip him of his items and bind him. Risk is too great if he gets
loose that he will be death of him and us. Tomorrow can remove curse."
Kadlian adds more rope and ties the elf's legs together and then hogties him.
Malvis looks at Trinity strangely. "Why are you talking that way right now? Talking you are strange, yes."
"I don't know, seemed to be the thing to do at the time," says the woman, shrugging. "I'll stop it now, okay?"
"Oh, good." Malvis is visibly relieved that nothing is wrong with
Trinity. "For a moment, I thought yet another personality had joined
with you."
Niko regains consciousness, to find himself all trussed up.
Niko struggles against his bonds. "Hey! Why Niko all tied up? Niko smart! Let Niko go!"
"Because you are wearing three items that are cursed. And they are making your reckless and dangerous."
Niko shakes his head vigorously. "No, no! Only ring dat make Niko
tell truth cursed. Other stuff make Niko smart and powerful!"
"And they are making you confused as well."
Niko continues to struggle in vain. "No, no, no! You try and confuse Niko. Bad elf!"
"You are bound Niko, because you had displeased the Queen of Sheba. You
must make obsequence to her, and promise to do what you are told to be
free," says Trinity.
As Trinity says this her voice rises to a high pitched squeak, and her nose grows longer by several inches.
Niko pauses in his struggles for a moment. "Who Queen Sheba? And wot means obse...obse...obsequiencelsekasf?"
"The queen of Sheba is her," says Trinity pointing to Galil, as her
voice squeaks again and her nose grows some more. "She is
disguised to protect herself. You are sworn to obey her, which
you were not doing. You must let Kadlian do his work, and you
must protect her. However, you must protect her with your sword, for
techology is bad, and will kill you. If you obey, you will be
released and be able to do your sworn duty. If you do not, you
will be turned into a newt by the Grand Vizar."
By this time her nose has grown by an extra three inches.
Galil smiles though her eyes do not. "There is no question of
releasing him until other matters are attended to. Based on his
actions, he shall remain bound and helpless until such time as he can
no longer pose a threat to our mission and to our individual selves."
Niko starts thrashing around. "Release Niko! Release Niko! Niko kill queen Sheba with blaster!"
"Trinity, what is the danger in turning Niko into a newt now and turning him back when you have the remove curse spells ready?"
"Bill, can you help show how law and order can conquer all again on Niko?" asks Trinity.
"With pleasure!" replies the sword. "Dor, can you assist me?"
Dor steps forward and conks Niko on the head.
The elf goes out like a light again.
You bundle him up and head back to the inn in New Golgar again, arriving in time for a late lunch.