LongestRoad Run10

Quick summary

• Party (minus Querca, in the closet-orchard) meets up, reveals to Vincent they have gold orb; Vincent is like "Whoa, when I said -almost impossible-, well this is the almost"
• Returns to inn (Sil loans Fronch Beret of Disguise to Vincent), Ezel casts Identify on orb to reveal more of its pow-ahs
• Sil decides to spend time meditating with Le Orbe to strengthen her connection with it
• Jer & Oraine go wandering and have delicious beerz
• Ezel & Vincent stay in inn, Vincent trying to contact Seth
• Michael, with Querca and Ellowyn, goes to the locations from the dwarves' map where he thinks there might be a dragon-sized cave
• Two are empty, but one is a "mining enterprise, no don't go down there, something collapsed and we're in repairs... yeah our clerics ran out of Stone Shape for the day, that's it"
  • Michael takes notes on their story
  • Goes to dwarves to verify, who are flattered that Michael so loves caverns
  • Dwarves say well that COULD be... if there was a shifting underground, which there was not
  • Dwarves bet that there's some really great metals and gems in there... hmm, maybe time to shift our mine direction... but that'll take three days, there's an iron vein blocking
• Party debates on ways to sneak in
  • Ezel sends in spy-eyes, Ellowyn sneaks them there with Invis
  • Oops, wall of force blocking! Slips through keyhole
  • Can't reach bottom in time, but pretty sure this is it- scrapes and claw marks on walls, etc
• Party returns home, decides to go out to eat at nice place
  • Querca's hedgehogs eat sammitches until their tummies drag on the ground
• On the way home, Sil decides to stalk Zeroth
  • Michael un-sneakily follows Sil
  • End up in Philosopher's Thunderdome
  • Sil talks to Zeroth some, but he has had long day
  • Michael is hit on by waitress, so embarrassing
• Return to inn, Ellowyn gives Michael a tiny violin
• Restful sleep interrupted by Ezel swearing as he miscopies a spell
• First thing AM- Querca has date with Mayors
  • Whole party heads over, Zeroth meets with them to discuss
  • After some pussyfooting it is revealed that Zeroth is commanded not to speak of this
  • He takes them to the mayors' quarters
  • Confrontation!
  • Michael explains that this artifact attracts trouble and mean stealy people
  • Apologetic sadditude, party promises to help get the Temple of Virton at Spire to actually pay attention to their needs
  • Seth is freed, he and Vincent have a manly hug reunion and head home to the wives, trusting party to clean up a few things and then come over for par-tay
• Arrangements are made for the Virton-ites to take over defense, search for Seal Portal knowledge redoubled
• Michael, Ellowyn, and Querca stay on Freehaven to wrap up a few more things
• Sil, Jeralyn, Ezel, Oraine, and Evathyth head to Mirenuth & Seth's
  • Arrive at Hatching time!
  • Sil explodes with the cute
  • Ezel is sad
  • Jeralyn gets pounced by a cute maid
  • Much feasting & happy times
• Michael, Ellowyn, and Querca head back to Spire to take care of the Soul Gem thing
  • Nerd ritualist explains that a body must be created for the soul, as they are not strong enough to raise him without it here
  • Volunteer may die in providing the strength
  • Michael says yes about .1 seconds after he asks
• Ritual-o-rific!
  • Cleansing in salt water, prayer, Michael dons white robe
  • Ellowyn helps Nerd (To Be Named) prepare chamber
  • Michael lays on one slab, body forms on the other
  • 7-hour ritual, Michael nearly wastes to nothing and dies
  • Angel is restored, holy awesomeness
  • Priests restore Michael's 20 drained CON...
  • Michael asks angel to help his mom; Nerd asks for something in private
• Virton gives Michael a thumbs up and some paladin levels, including a (DUN DUN DUN!) mount
• Temple offers party rooms to recover in
• Le Ende!

Storytime with Ellowyn

After busting Vincent out of his prison tower, we took him around to the bottom of Freehaven. We were able to meet up with the rest of the party. Sil loaned Vincent her hat of disguise, and we headed back to the Inn to discuss a few things. Among them, the party revelaed to Vincent that we already posessed the gold dragon orb, and he saw this as a sign that we may be up to the task of acquiring the silver as well. He was able to give a partial description of the powers the gold orb has, though it was still not a complete understanding. Sil recounted to him all the events that had occurred in the desicrated underground temple, and her concerns about Bahamut. He was noticeably, and understandably, disturbed and shaken by her description. At Vincent's suggestion, and with a little glaring from Sil, Ezel cast an identify spell on the gold orb. Finally aware of more intricacies of its power, Sil was able to strengthen her bond with the orb through meditation.

The party again decided we would split up. Ezel stayed back at the Inn with Vincent, who was still attempting to contact Seth. Michael, Querca and I went to check out the locations Michael had discussed with the dwarves, to see if we could pinpoint a cave large enough to hold Seth. Two of the locations were a bust, but one of them turned out to be quite interesting. There was a large work crew blocking off the entrance to a sizeable cavern. They did not allow us to enter, due to a cave-in. It was definately a fishy story...Michael took some notes on the details, and we headed back over to see the dwarves. They were both amused and flattered to see that Michael was enjoying the Freehaven caverns so very much. More importantly, they looked over his notes and agreed that this "work crew" was definately hiding something. Obviously, these mines must contain a highly precious vein or deposit of some kind. It would take them three days to dig through, however, which was a little too long to suit our specific purposes. Everyone was becoming more jumpy and suspicious of this situation by the hour.

We reported back to the Inn, to tell Vincent and Ezel what we had found. Michael, Ezel and I staged a brief recon mission -- we flew near the caves, where I rendered us invisible. We zipped in, Ezel planted his arcane eye, and as we cleared back out to a safe distance, he swiftly discovered that the cavern was blocked by a wall of force. He sent his eye to investigate the tent, and found a solid metal gate, locked securly, as the only way through the wall of force. Luckily for us, the door had a gaping keyhole, through which Ezel's eye was able to pass. He didn't have enough time to reach the bottom of the cavern, but there was additional evidence that this was the place. The floor had scrape marks, a few stray silver scales, and several claw-shaped gouges were cut into the walls, and the cavern was most assuredly large enough to accomodate a dragon of Seth's age.

Armed with this additional information, we returned again to the Inn to share with the rest of the party. We decided the appropriate course of action now would be to speak with the mayors at Querca's appointment in the morning. Their plan was clear, and the evidence had all fallen into place. The only information we still lacked was the true form of their motivation. We held a brief discussion of our negotiation tactics, how far to push a civil conversation, and in what stages to reveal our information.

After all that investigating, spying and planning, we decided to take a few hours off, and go out for a nice dinner. Some of the culinary institutes on Freehaven serve to demonstrate that not only food, but the design and execution of an entire meal can be an art.