Crystal Quest Aftermath, Part 16
8-20-05
When the party awakens, Atheele has wandered off. Deciding that he can fend for himself, the party leaves him to slaughter more guards or whatever he's doing, and they move on without him.
Akili comments on Sarai's ballista, and she mentions that she's creating a spell for it. Akili informs her that he things he's also come up with a very useful new spell, that he'll show off if the opportunity presents itself. Once everyone is awake, the party wanders through the underground cave a little more, and comes across a training room with four combat dummies. Sarai goes for an 'upgrade'.
Oy-aht realizes that she has come up with a new way to travel, by taking a wind form and moving at speeds up to 60mph for up to 12 hours... and she can handle four people that way. This is a pretty astonishing ability to discover, and they are debating what to do about it. In the meantime, Sarai wanders off towards the sound of uncomfortable snoring down one side corridor. Behind what appears to be a cell, there is a black bundle of cloth that's rising and falling, accompanied by the same snores. Sarai prods the bundle with a stick, which suddenly leaps up, flaring its dark patchwork cloak, and reveals itself to be another elf. They chat for a little while. After a bit, Akili asks who Sarai is talking to. She says someone. Akili exchanges glances with everyone, and wanders over. The rest of the party joins him.
Sarai then happens to ask if the elf knows who is in charge here, a question which interests everyone. However, they have not yet let him out of the cell. The elf answers, King Davo was in charge three weeks ago, until the Slavaakians arrived. Sarai doesn't much care for this answer, and after a beat, asks him his name. He identifies himself as Therath (Stack). A few more exchanges follow, and Therath speaks to Akili in his native language (leonine, or otherwise feline). Akili is quite startled by this, and asks where he learned that language. He evasively answers that he was once very close to a puma.
After some more conversation, Oy-aht casts a 'speak the truth' spell, and makes sure the Therath isn't going to try to harm them or otherwise to bad things to them. He confirms that he isn't, so they agree to let him out. Or rather, they hand him his tools, and he picks the lock and lets himself out. Sarai is rather disappointed by this, as she wanted to use *her* way. Whatever way that is goes unspoken, which is probably for the best.
The party moves out of the prison, and Therath reequips himself, as his stash of equipment was out in the training room. Oy-aht casts the wind spell on himself, and wanders off to scout out the rest of the cavern in the direction of the castle.
After about a half-hour, he returns, and describes what he saw - that the tunnels are still being dug, and that there's a source of great evil that he passed by. Sarai floats the idea of trying to flood the tunnels. This is a worthwhile idea. Some thought is put into figuring out how to do this. It is also wondered about where the dirt is going, and another suggestion comes up to make the dirt come back, if it is being magically stored somewhere.
After some more deliberation, the party decides that they are going to try to take out the Great Evil first. Sarai has the bright idea, suddenly, of checking her Salorvin detection spell... and chances are that he's nearby. The Law of Peversity suggests that the great evil spot is Salorvin.
They prepare to encounter him, and Akili stores Wild Shield in his mane, and manages to discern what effect it will be. Oy-aht activates her latent Wind Walk spell again, and takes Andune's owl with him, so she can figure out where to direct the Dimension Door spell.
Sarai asks about ammo for her ballista, and Therath says that he saw some a few rooms down. She goes to grab some bolts, and after a moment, the rest of the group follows. Sarai finds a square of cloth that she can't quite identify. Akili tries his luck, and realizes that it's a portable hole. He reaches in, and senses something... odd. He pulls out some dirt and a bit of ashes that stick to his hand, and feels a searing, desert-ish wind on the other side. He doesn't quite trust it, but it doesn't seem immediately dangerous, just somewhat disturbing. He spends a minute to think about how portable holes differ from bags of holding (you can enter portable holes, and stay in them for up to a couple hours safely, but you can't reach in and grab just what you want)... and, for the moment, decides against entering it. The party finally goes thorugh the Dimension Door, into an empty larder, although they can hear cooks nearby.
Sarai checks her sensing stone again, and it's now very red. They party bursts through the door--! And surprises four cooks. Oy-hat runs up and knocks one out with a single blow. Therath hooks a pot of soup with his whip, and yanks it back, decking another cook with the pot and splashing hot soup all over him. Andune charges another one, followed by Sarai. They are knocked out in short order, and they toss them all in the larder.
Moving up the corridor, they find another group of Slavaakians. Sarai invokes one of her scrolls of Fireball, and wipes out everyone but two. The rest of the party takes on the two burlier guys, and beat them. While still searching for Salorvin, they run across another group. Andune shorts most of them with a well-placed lightning bolt. Akili follows up with a scroll of Confusion. They take out the second group after significantly more effort, but Salorvin is yet to be located.
The game is paused here.