After we slept, we woke to speak with Marsque and Ox again. Ai was having issues understanding that the Changeling was Ox, which was absolutely hysterical to me. Marsque thanked us for our help, before he said he needed to return to his people. He needed to be certain the others who had come with him escaped safely, and he also needed to inform his superiors that we had helped them.
Of course, as a Drider Ai would be very likely to be attacked by anyone who saw her above ground, so Ox offered her an item he felt would be of great use. When activated, it made her spider body a horse body instead, allowing her to pass as a centaur. They aren’t common, but they aren’t liable to be attacked at any point in time. As we made our way to the surface, Ai and Charra found, something in an abandoned building. Once we reached the surface, however, it was about midday once again. We told Ox we would meet him back at the guild, and made sure he had the list of everything we’d found during our travels and what we’d encountered so he could figure out our requisition tokens and what not. Heading to the baths, we all got clean and enjoyed some wine once again before heading back to the guild.
Once there, we found there was a new group in the guild. Apparently, this was one of the best parties the guild had. Consisting of a human, an dwarf, and a silver dragonborn they were, interesting. One of the others in the guild, the Cleric came over before he was amazed that Lenna was alive. Apparently, we are the third party she has been in, as her first passed on. Heading to Ox, we were given a number of different forms. I used my personal forms to get books to learn how to use a Jeweler’s Kit and Tinkerer’s Tools, as well as the tool sets and starting materials for them. I also took a set of Armguards of Nimbleness and a Quicksilver weapon. I’m going to enjoy using that: I can switch it from one weapon to another in just a bonus action. And, I can adjust the weight to be able to utilize even normally heavy weapons as Versatile when I need to. Not sure what the others got.
We did end up deciding that our party forms would be used to get blueprints for myself and Charra. I was able to get a blueprint to make message earrings for the party, while Charra is now able to make “of Holding” items for us. Ikki also turned in her enchanted leatherworker’s tools so I’d have a set of magical Jeweler’s Kit items to work with. We got Balasar some magical Smith’s Tools and an alchemy jug with our other forms.
Our first day above ground we all took some time to rest, since the Night Shift hasn’t been here in a while. Our second day we began to learn our new skills, or do some crafting. I knew Balasar and Charra wanted to smith, so I joined them in the forge. I rested on the barrel in the corner to read, offering them each Inspiration as they needed it. I chose to read The Gemstone’s Edge, the book about jewelry, first, and on the tenth day I was able to craft a beautiful new piece for my hair out of gold. Having gotten the hang of it, I was able to knock Nuts, Bolts, and Everything in Between out in only three days, and made my first trap on that same day. Charra had apparently been finalizing Ikki’s Spear, before starting on new hammers for Balasar and herself. I took the next three days off from crafting to work with Elodie, Lenna, and Ikki in learning Elvish. I’ve made a start, but its going to take some more time in order to understand it. Elodie also offered me a book: Dr. Chuck Tingle’s Complete Guide to Romance.
We’d spent three days on that before I began making something for Charra. I managed to create a Ring of Shield for her, which will allow her to cast Shield on herself at need. Almost as soon as I finished making that, Charra came to me with a gift. She, well. She’d made me a new flute. She admitted that she hadn’t been able to create the internal mechanisms that allow it to be functional, but the outside was done. I, believe I can handle that myself at some point. Looking at it, this is one of the most beautiful instruments I have ever been given. Made entirely of copper, this was most certainly a beautiful piece of Charra’s creation. Looking it over, I found some murals inscribed on it. One side has some musical notes for a melody. I’ll have to take some time, see if it would be best played on this flute when finished or on my lyre. On the other side, there were a few other depictions. The cut of an amethyst, a diamond, a woman’s visage, and a shield that may have been made of mithral. It’s fucking gorgeous, and I know I’ll treasure it forever. Miten hän teki tämän? Kuinka hän tietää, että soitin huilu? Miksi hän tekee niin vaikeaksi suojautua? I might have given her a kiss on the cheek in thanks.
I spent the next six days relaxing in the smithy as Balasar started working on a shield for both them self and for Lenna. They were quite impressive, and I enjoyed watching them work. I, enjoy watching them and Charra craft really. After those were finished, I went to watch them spar together, but Alphonse found me there. Ah shit I forgot. I went with him and we headed to the roof. I learned a bit of sign language, but it will definitely take me time to really understand it. Apparently, Alphonse, Emily, Roderick, and Adamar are to return to the dungeon again sometime soon. And, well. He is finding he holds feelings for both Roderick and Adamar, and wanted advice for how to talk to them and be brave. I felt horrible for pretending to know what I was talking about when I’m having the same issue myself. Still, I did my best to help him, and tried to act as a good friend and give him solid advice.
A few days after I got the flute from Charra, I found a book of Dwarven poems on my bed. Miten pidät sydämeni turvassa, kun hän tekee tällaisia asioita? It told a story, a beautiful story. By the gods.
The one that really caught my eye in the book, the one I think is the reason the book was left out for me? A love story. It tells about a dwarven woman who had decided to prove herself to be worthy of her beloved. She wished to find her fortune in gems and metals to do so, and as such traveled into the mountains to do so. During her travels, she encountered challenges that stood in her way, including many beasts she was forced to fight and even Drow looking for new slaves in the mountains. Yet for all her challenges, she found that the treasures she found didn’t compare to her beloved. Amethysts couldn’t compare to her lover’s eyes, diamonds were dull compared to her smile. Copper was dull compared to her hair, and even precious mithral failed to compare. Even still, she collected these items she wished to use to make her fortune, before hearing a voice raised in song. Hearing her beloved, she realized she was already rich in love and strove to return home, even though she brought the treasures of the mountains with her.
Somehow, that last bit did not surprise me. Dwarves, you know. (Miksi hän innostaa sellaisia tunteita minussa? Kuinka minun pitäisi suojella itseäni, kun hän antaa minulle tällaisia lahjoja?)
Ah! I forgot one of the other things that happened during our stay at the guild. We chose to play a game of Never Have I Ever in our rooms. Well, everyone but Taras that asshole. On that note, we’d been sent up to the room the Night Shift had been using since a new influx of new members meant the barracks were needed again. That was fine. We’re still together anyways. I’m not going to mention everything, but some of the more interesting things to learn were:
Outside of Charra and myself, Ai and Balasar have also hit their allies in battle
Balasar was in a war
Charra, Taras, Ikki, and Ai have never had their first kiss (and Elodie hasn’t had a second kiss either)
Charra is incapable of casting magic of any kind.
Most of us have hurt ourselves trying to impress someone else
Almost all of us have skipped out on when we promised to be someone
By the gods everyone in this party but myself and the old one are innocent babies.
Charra has at least 12 siblings. What.
Elodie bites if you wake her up
Lenna, Balasar, Charra and myself have all been in love
Most of us have fucked up, big time
The day after working with Alphonse, Fen’Glath asked Ikki and I to help him with something. Apparently, the company in charge of supplying the guild with Yew has been padding the shipments with pine and other items useless for his purposes. But, they often given him shit for being a former thief, and he wants some back up. We agree to help him, since he’s a good man.
Apparently, the town is unhappy with the Guild’s offer of amnesty for work, and the previous crafter actually left the guild when he joined. When we reached the shop, the owner’s son was inside. When Fen’Glath asked him about the shipments, he claimed that we were getting our full shipments. And for doing this, we would only be getting this months shipment and then things would break. Fen’Glath was stunned, so I stepped in. Ikki had been able to tell he was lying, so I took that and ran. I pointed out that even if Fen’Glath might now be respected? Captain Marks is. Ox is. And they may get involved if the threat of removing their business goes through. And of course, upset adventurers drink and might complain. If enough of the guild does that? Well, we may end up driving them out of business. But if they gave us what they had been cheating us on, and make sure our future shipments are fine, no one will ever hear about this. The guy promises to make sure we get our shipments in the future, and we left. Ikki? She actually talked to me. It. Was. Amazing.
The next day, I finally got to watch Charra and Balasar sparring with their new weapons. It was incredible, and they are both amazing fighters. Charra managed to cause massive amounts of damage in one turn, knocking Balasar completely out. On aina hämmästyttävää nähdä kuinka vahva hän on. We all returned to our room after that point, deciding to head down in the morning.
Emily was the first we encountered as we reentered the guild, and was surprised we’d not only entered the mansion, but survived. Apparently they had lost several guild members to the Viscount’s manse in the past. I offered her the broach, and she told us about a memorial in the basement for those who fall in the line of duty. We went to Ox next, reporting in to him. We sold him a number of the items we’d found in the mansion for some gold, and showed him what items we planned to keep. The Tarot card ended up being part of a deck of something known as a Deck of Many Things. We ended up keeping it, as well as taking the card he had in his room. After we told him about everything and turned things in, we chose to see about heading to the baths. Before we could lead, Elodie used her bronze forms for some sort of box for casting some spell, and Charra got materials for smithing.
Alphonse pulled me to the side as Elodie and Charra both ran back to Ox. I wasn’t sure what they needed, but apparently he wanted to know how I was confident all the time. That made me laugh, but I had to admit that I am just very good at faking it. He asked if I could still help him learn to fake it. I agreed, in return for sign language lessons. The others only heard he was asking for advice. Heading to a local bath house, Elodie talked to Taras about something she and I had been considering on our way out of the sewers. She pointed out that if he keeps pissing other gods off, then how can he serve his own effectively?
The bath was a gold piece each, which we paid from the party funds we had not yet split between the five of us. Taras went to a more private area off the main bath while the rest of us enjoyed the warm water. Charra has experienced this kind of thing before, but us other three girls never has. Elodie was able to get one of the servers to get us some glasses, and we shared the wine from the Viscount’s cellar.
Eventually, we returned to the guild. I followed Charra down to the forge once again while the others went off to do their own things. I played while Charra crafted, offering her inspiration as she worked. Apparently, I had forgotten to replace my gloves when we left the baths, as Fen’Glath, who runs the wood and leatherwork shops for the guild was able to see the mark. But, he apparently has his own. It is, nice to know that someone else in the guild will understand. His crime was different, but he still is able to understand. I haven’t returned to Cas’Tholé since they released me from jail and marked me, personally however.
I miss Kiran. Being able to go to him, and ask him questions about. About many things. He taught me so much, and was the only to not turn his back on me after my initiation failed. Fen’Glath has offered me a listening ear if I ever need to talk about my past without worrying about the others reactions. I may have to come down to speak with him again in the future.
Giant Wasps are a pain in a fucking half. Let’s just say that combating them can be, interesting. We fought two swarms, two giant wasps, and one absolutely massive one. That one could speak fucking Infernal. Apparently they have a queen? Who knows. Either way, poor Taras. One of the swarms knocked him unconscious for a period of time. That potion came in handy, though. Ikki was about to get him on his feet again. After the battle Elodie went over and managed to hug Taras’ legs. His discomfort about it was hysterical. Note to self: find some way to make that happen again, because it was great. Also, I need to learn some healing magic just in case the cleric goes down again.
After the fight, we took some time to see what we could collect from the wasps. We didn’t get much from the smaller wasps, but we were able to take the stinger from the largest of them. Ikki was able to recover the darts she used to fight with. Charra was able to look over the jar we recovered before the fight. Apparently, it was used to transport messages or large documents in the past. There is a Rune etched into the cork.
As Charra did her best to replace the door, I was able to see if I could Detect Magic from the pot. It had some sort of protective Abjuration magic emanating off of it, but I’m not sure what it’s for. I need to get my hands on a pearl to cast Identify. Elodie also had some sort of magic coming from her bracelet. I’m curious, but if she wants to tell me something she can at a later date. That twinned rat tail I found earlier glows with Evocation magic, and the stinger has necromatic magic.
Since we were curious about the jar, we first tried cutting a hole in the bottom with Elodie’s Mage Hand. When that failed, she ended up flipping it and just using the spell to remove the cork. That was, terrifying but it worked out. There was a paper inside that Elodie was able to get information out of.
Apparently, the Undersea is below Newgar? And there are potentially Primal Tritons there. We were able to find out the journal we found belonged to a former guild member who only joined the guild for money. He’d traveled with Emily and Alphonse, but had intended to steal from, potentially even kill them. I feel no sorrow in his death.
We went back and found another room where we located a few different items. Continuing to wander, we eventually make our way back to where Emily is waiting. She was unconscious, a letter pinned to her reading “We know you are here.” Taras is able to stabilize her, and we check up with her. We let her know who we are, Green Behind the Ears, which got her to laugh. She introduces us to the guild’s requisition officer, Ox. We reported a number of things to him, and got our first req tokens. I was able to get the pearl I needed for Identify, finally. We got a few other things, including our Luggage Glugapold.
Once back in our barracks, I was able to start casting. The jar was a sealed jug of preservation. If you try to open it with anything other than Mage Hand, the enchantment breaks. The rat tails will increase the charges if used in the creation of things such as a wand, so Charra can use that for crafting. The Stinger? Can be used to apply Chill Touch three times a day if used in crafting a weapon.
We split the money between us and the party fund, and anything extraneous is added to the fund. We added a few items to Glug to lighten our own loads, but nothing that will be worrying to lose. According to Ox, if he’s injured we might lose items.
