You are sitting at a table ready for Zaron to discuss with you what they found in Tarimar's documents...
NPCs sitting at the table with you:
-Unther: The gnome village leader who sent you with Geebo to find Tenvillah.

-Geebo: A young gnome (Unther’s nephew) who is still learning the ropes of magic but who studied with Tenvillah.  He is easily confused and scared but tries to be brave.  He also learned some spells from Tenvillah to survive the dangers of the mist like making “earthsoil rock.”  He does not speak Common very well.

-Fingus Hatt:  A braggart you met in the Temple of Ashmere.  He has bravado and seems to take credit where credit isn’t due (first for killing a hatchling dragon that was no threat, then for an insignificant giant rat, and taking credit wherever offered).  He is a warrior type whose companion is a more modest mage named Battrus.

Battrus: Hasn't spoken much. Suffered from the plague and now is healthy again.

White Haired Man:  You rescued a man who was being held captive and chained down in a pool of Earthsilver in the dragon Ozymandius' lair.  He may have been there for years or centuries.  He has gone possibly insane and speaks incoherently.  After being removed from the Earthsilver, he seems to have contracted some sickness, possibly the Black Curse, but is now healed.

Zaron: A young, enthusiastic mage who studied with Azaron Ashe. Very smart and wise beyond his years, but sometimes his magic doesn't come out quite as intended. His magic is more lore and help based, more obscure magic, and not so much for battle.

Sark: One half of the twins Sark and Tark, a gnome translator with extremely powerful linguistic talent, but has a hard time without his twin brother, as they were psychically connected and finished each other's

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
sandwiches...I mean, sentences.

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Mentally, he is suffering severe PTSD from being trapped in a cone of fire for about 10 years by Tarimar. You rescued him.


Reminder of other unique issues:

Black Curse or Black Death:  This disease makes the sufferer incomprehensible, violent, and then suicidal.  No spells work on it. You have healed this now, and it will not play a major part at the moment. It is usually contracted in tunnels/caves in the Underdark.

Angry Earth:  You are safe when there is mist.  When the mist clears, you must be on solid rock to avoid being cursed with the earth. The danger depends on the color of the foliage.  If they are red, the leaves and branches will turn to sharp bladed spikes.  If they have a brownish tint, they will emanate an evil magic that could take many different forms.  If they have a bluish tint, all they touch will be drained of water--even human flesh--immediately.  If they glow yellow, then touching them is touching poison or acid.  And if they glow black...all the gnomes know is that it is “pure evil.”

Defenses to Angry Earth: Geebo has a spell to create temporary rock; standing on a rock surface; 95% chance in stream or water--desert and other areas also have differing effects.

Earth Berries:  When you find earth berries on bushes, their effect lasts only for about 10-15 minutes after being plucked from a bush unless preserved in Earthsilver.  They have healing properties but not as powerful as Earthsilver.

Earthsilver:  This is a healing water that looks bluish with a silvery tint.  It heals all wounds instantly but is rare and has no magical properties when removed from whatever spring it sprouts from—except that it will help preserve earth berries for up to one day.  It will preserve their nonmagical properties even longer.

Zaron says, "We have discussed the contents of these notes. Actually, most of them are correspondences. Some of them may take months to sort out, but here is what we have learned:

"One, Tarimar has joined what they are calling 'The Syndicate.' The members of this are top secret but very powerful individuals. They each have different backgrounds, specialties, and motivations, and their arrangement may be tenuous."

"In other words," Fingas interrupts, "if we kill one of them, the others won't really care."

"Not exactly," Zaron says patiently. "They each have some ability or power that assists in the greater goal--which is, get this--to gather all of the Artifacts of the Five Pillars. Their goal is to use all the artifacts combined at the Source of Magic. We still don't know exactly what or where that is.
OOC: For a reminder of the 10 artifacts representing opposing aspects of the Five Pillars, see here: http://wiki.rpol.net/?id=11516/Artifacts%20and%20Magic

The ancient gnome leader Unther says, "The Gods are the source of magic."
"Well..." Zaron says, and then turns diplomatic, "there is a place also called the Source of Magic. If destroyed, it would...how can I say this...restart, reboot magic in our two worlds. Mundane life would return, effects of magic would be stopped, and only simple magic would remain, like the force holding the universe together, and maybe simple spells. I think this is why we have seen so much related to anti-magic lately. They are more ciphers or even siphons."
Fingas raises his hand and asks, "Are there any giant rats, maybe like mutated ones or something, at this Source of Magic?"

"I wouldn't know. Anyway, we can tell from the correspondence that Tarimar has three of the artifacts, a Syndicate member called Beeide has one, another called Luna has one, and one called 'The Pesterborne' has one. These are likely false nicknames. We don't know who they are. Also, the correspondences are 10 years old, so who knows what has happened since then. I think we have some choices to make, but let me give you some information first.

"Before this, we captured some hatchling phase spiders in the barrel of my wagon. I can use their power to teleport us to my--I mean, my master Azaron's--laboratory. It's in the city. it know it well so there is little chance of me messing it up. The king has a castle there, and maybe we can gather some intel."

He explains that Lar-Tarambar is a city built inside an extinct volcano's crater. The lava rock under the ground prevents the Cursed Earth effect there, and it has plenty of water stored that runs down into rivers when not dammed up.

"Option two," he says, "is that we teleport to the City of Elembor, which has a dock. It is built upon the rocks of a mountain and is also stable. We can take a ship up north over the sea. I say that because I think I know where we can find one of the Five Pillar artifacts."

He shrugs. "Option three, I guess is trekking across land and seeing whatever it is we see, or some other idea you may come up with."

Fingas mutters, "Boats have rats."

LAR-TARAMBAR



ELEMBOR PORT

Here are your XP for the last adventure:
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:31, Sun 07 Aug 2022.

Shae says, "I think that, even though I am a druid and a half-blood, a change of pace in the City might do me some good. I could also use a bath. Anything else you can tell us about this Syndicate or its members?"

The white haired man you rescued from the dragon and his pool of healing Earthsilver has now shaved and cleaned up. He seems to be more lucid now after decades of being chained to the pool of healing, never able to move, eat, or die, but still aging over a 70 year period. He appears to be about 80 years old, but you guess he must be well over 100. He is still very emaciated but has come around in the last few days, talking coherently for the first time.

Now, seeing you all closely for the first time since your return, the old man says, "You all look familiar, as though a distant memory or dream."

You take a closer look at him...and then gasp. Why didn't you recognize him before? And how did he get like this. It is...

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Borimer!

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The teleportation by the doppleganger creature must have taken him back in time as well as space. The warrior is still confused without much memory, and looks different without his muscles and with his wrinkly, aged face. But there is no doubt about it now.

Zaron says, "As a mage myself, I know that losing your magic items is quite a blow. But I also know where we can restore that magic without too much difficulty. It's not a spell, though. There is a clerical temple back at the city that has a vat of liquid taken directly from the Source of Magic. If they dip an item in there, any magic will be restored. They will want a donation or service, of course, but that should be simple enough."

Shae looks closely. "Borimer? That's really you?" Shae will follow the others, but going to the city to at least perform some basic functions sounds like a good first stop. Reviving the magic items sounds good.

Tahldar spends the day of "rest" poring over the now deceased Shapfren's spellbook, doing his best to learn some new spells.  At least of the ones she had that he did not know.

As a token of good will, he invites Renakis to join him.  Being a fellow mage he is sure he could use the help.  Though still wary of the man, he is open to the idea that a dark skinned elf could be an ally, and heavens know they need all the help they can get.

Tahldar sits at the table with it's assortment of characters and listens.  Unlike the braggert Fingas, he knows one can learn a lot more if one can have the patience to listen and observe.  Though to be fair, it could be Fingas's human nature to not be patient owing to their very short life span when compared to his.

"I think we should teleport to the City of Elembor, restore the portable hole, fulfill whatever service they desire, then take a ship north to track down one of the Five Pillar artifacts.  Tarimar must be stopped from getting all five artifacts." the mage says as he mulls their options.

As Tahldar figits with a hanging thread from his once fine clothes, now battered and tattered after relentless adventuring, he notices the old white haired man speak.

"Borimer!  It's you!" he says with joy as he stands to clasp the once mighty warrior by the shoulder.

He turns to Zaron and says urgently, "Is there a way to fix him?  Can Azaron restore his youth?  Or perhaps the source of magic at the clerical temple?"

"There must be a way!  We need his strength.  Never a finer warrior have I met." he adds genuinely.

Correction: There are 10 artifacts. Each of the 5 pillars has 2 artifacts, a positive and a negative (think "ying/yang").


Also, please note that you have the following artifacts in your possession already (held and catalogued by Kahan):

Berillian Brooch
This is one of the ten artifacts from the Kuvlah Tah.
Berillian Brooch, when worn, gives a +3 to all saving throws and
 skill checks involving Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma.
It may have other magical properties that will be discovered over time.

"Eye of the World" (diamond-like gem.)
Said to have power over time and space.

The "Eye of Tarsek" (long ruby-like gem).
Together the two "eyes" are said to have power over time and space,
 but you do not know how they work.

"Scepter of Shi'iki" ("death to life")
In certain circumstances it has the power to bring death back to life.

NOTE: AND YES, THIS MEANS THAT, BECAUSE OF YOUR TIME TRAVEL, THERE ARE TWO OF THESE ARTIFACTS CONCURRENTLY EXISTING IN THIS WORLD.

The Wiki shows you the identity of the artifacts you have discovered so far: http://wiki.rpol.net/?id=11516/Artifacts%20and%20Magic

Note that Borimer wielded the Sword of Chianta/Godslayer, though his elder form no longer carries it.

Borimer is still very confused. "I vaguely remember you all. It is as though in a dream, another life. My memories are anchored to being chained down in that healing water for many decades."

After Zaron hears your complete story, he says, "I don't think that doppleganger creature could have sent him back in time as well as space. That kind of magic is something my master Azaron and Tarimar (who was a student with Azaron) were still trying to master after a century. I think that Borimer is somewhere in our time at his prior age. If we find him, we also find the Sword of Chianta."

(Zaron has never met Borimer, so he is thinking more about the artifacts. To you, of course, Borimer is a good friend who was teleported...somewhere.)

You probe Borimer for what he remembers, but it is though his memory was wiped at the time of his time travel. He barely remembers your faces at all.

Zaron says, "If we find the current Borimer, I don't think this Borimer should come into contact with him. The time dissonance could be disastrous--maybe an explosion, maybe the unraveling of the universe."

Borimer is content to stay among the gnomes to convalesce.

Zaron offers, "I will imprint this place so that we can teleport back here at will. I am not as good at teleportation as Azaron, but I'm getting better."