And there we must leave them for a small while! I know, I know, they are in a dire
way, and please, skip ahead if you desire to read more of their adventures, but on
these pages I have recorded some of my own adventures. Since they run more or less
concurrently with my brother's hopefully this all makes some kind of sense.
At the time I had no idea Corum was in so much danger, which explains why I was
happy to leave Kryptgarden for a while.
So, to find the beginning of my own little foray back into the world of adventure
we must go back a few days to.....
DAY 203 (Highharvestide)(October)
At lunch time my cousin Sylvia arrived at the Lavius Estate with a message from
my brother Elric. Now Elric is a Cleric of Mystra and I am led to believe that
he is quiet high up in the inquisition.
I don't know too much about it to be honest, and while I have always known that
Elric is the most political of us four brothers I have never known him to be a
bad person. From what I know from Corum, he helped keep Fenrir away from the fires
with a word or two in the right place more than once and was Corum's 'inside man'
at the Halls of Justice.
Be that as it may, he sent a letter with Sylvia saying that he had been contacted
by a fellow cleric of Mystra known as Tunaster Dranik. They had once been great
friends and had travelled a great deal together when they were younger.
They were still friends and kept in touch and I know that Tunaster once did father
a great favour and father was always anxious to repay it. Elric's letter mentioned
that Tunaster was in great distress in regards to something and could do with some
help and this was father's perfect opportunity to relieve himself of this debt.
There was one small problem though, he was a thousand miles away in Cormyr!
Father is old now and one of his legs is not as good as it used to be, but he could
call in a few old favours of his own. He asked me, if he could arrange a teleport,
if I could go and see what all the bother was and see if the family debt could
be repaid.
Well, I said yes of course, being a dutiful son, but Lavinia insisted that she should
come too, being my wife and all. Then Sylvia said that if Lavinia was going to go
then she would have to be there to look after her because (apparently) I would be
incapable of such a task!
When father heard of this he said 'You may as well get a balanced party together!'
and called in Shump (who was back in the area) and a friend of his, a little
halfling rogue known as Jiggles.
His wizard friend was sent for and it was all arranged. We packed quickly, said
our fair wells and were all teleported, one at a time, to the town square of
Wheloon in Cormyr.
Interesting, although the sun was near setting in Kryptgarden it was still mid
afternoon in Wheloon. I think we had gained two or three hours of light by
our sideways jaunt.
This new town was of great interest to me, as I love travel and new places and
I noticed that the wooden houses with their green roofs were of great pride to
the locals.
In the town square we noticed a jobs board and on it one of the notices read:
'To those of strong arm, keen mind and curiosity, salutations!
See the man in blue at the Wyvern Watch Inn before the 23rd if you wish
to hear a peculiar riddles and are willing to undertake a commission to
discover its answer - T.D.'
So, feeling like I was the one in charge whether I liked it or not, I stopped
my examination of the houses in the area and got directions to the Wyvern.
Inside there was indeed a man in blue, who sat in one corner of the main room.
He had a white beard and wore a blue cloak and skull cap.
I initially approached him alone, he appeared nervous, but when I told him we
were there to help he seemed much relieved.
I called over my wife and cousin who I introduced as my family. Shump I introduced
as our guard and Jiggles as our servant.
Dranik told us his story.
'I am a cleric of Mystra. I wander the world looking for sources of old magic, tombs
and long forgotten things such as liche's graves. I was much surprised when I arrived
in Wheloon to discover there was a brand new temple of Mystra here! It was built on the
ruins of the old citadel Why did I not know of it?
I was astonished so went to investigate and was told a woman called Lady Arthus had
built it. I had never heard of her. At the temple I was rebuffed. A man called Fembrys
came to talk to me but I felt that something was very wrong so I ran for it.
They chased me! They even fire crossbows at me! Someone needs to find out what this is
all about.'
It all seemed rather odd to me and I asked a few more questions. Apparently the captain
of the guard was a young man called Constal Tholl. The town guards were called the
'Purple Dragons' and there were about 150 of them.
When asked to investigate the temple they made a cursory search and found nothing amiss.
Strange lights and noises have been reported at night.
Lord Redbeard was the ruler of Wheloon, but since the Temple was paying large amounts
of tax he was fine with it.
He also told us that a bookseller called Amnic Basult had gone missing. His wife Mela
thought it had something to do with the temple.
T.D. also gave us five hundred gold to help out with our investigation, which was nice of
him!
I suggested he take his note down in the square lest he gave a clue to the temple of his
intentions and he said he would do so at once.
Next I arranged rooms in the inn with a jolly bar keeper. He also informed me that the
owner Baldergas Mhaeraoon had left recently, but his daughters were still here, two
girls called Asanta and Baerill.
We paid 5 gp for a suite for me and the wife, 2 gp for a room for Sylvia and another
2 gp for a room for Shump and Jiggles.
I rounded it up to 10gp to cover the costs of breakfasts etc per day.
After myself and Lavinia had .. ahem .. checked out the room we went over to talk to
Mela. I dressed as a gentleman, leaving behind my druidic garb. She seemed nervous
at first but when I said we were there to help she seemed a bit happier.
Apparently the Purple Dragons don't look for missing persons, but she said he was
definitely last seen in the shop.
I sent for Jiggles and she gave the place a good search. She saw signs of a scuffle
at the counter and noticed a pamphlet which discussed the 'New Temple of Mystra'
extolling its virtues in a very evangelical manner.
The last page read:
'Do they really hold Mystra's Secret Trust?'
It was noted that:
'Do you wish to join our temple and seek out Mystra's Secret Trust'
did not fit in with rest of pamphlet.
I heard gentle sobbing behind the internal shop door and went to comfort Mela.
She told us some more. Her husband had been working in the shop three nights ago,
studying new things she said, when she heard an argument downstairs. She came down
and he was gone. She remembered hearing raised voices and those other than her husbands
had most likely been male.
After that we went and knocked on the door of the house across the street. The gruff
man that answered had heard the noise but had not looked out the window.
Back at the Wyvern I showed the pamphlet to TD. He said it looked standard except for
the bit about the 'Sacred Trust'. He'd never heard of it before.
We then sent Jiggles to go look around the place, while I flew about in eagle form
above. It was on a bluff overlooking the river to the north of the town. There was
a cobbled path leading up to the flat ramparts of the white temple wall.
There was a statue of a woman beside the main door. A few folk were going in or
coming out. There was a low stone building to the south of the door.
Jiggles noticed two guards on the wall and gave them a wave. She then went in.
Inside it was like a court yard with two more statues of women, an altar and stars
of obsidian set into the floor. Shan Thar, a cleric, welcomed her. Jiggles also
noted a guard at the door further in.
Thar told her it cost 25gp for a three day service which would reveal the secrets,
whatever they were. He also said there was an evening service which was open to
everyone.
We met back at the Inn and had a meeting with TD. He said this was not normal
Church of Mystra behaviour. The nearest other temple was 300 miles away so it
would take a while to get more help.
At ten o'clock we sent Lavinia to the evening service while Jiggles skulked about outside.
She listened at the door of the building outside and heard men playing cards. She
knocked on the door and asked to use the toilet, which they let her do.
She noticed three guards with a forth lying on the bed. They were playing 'Blind Man's
Shuffle' but they were not interested in her joining them so she used the latrine at the
back and left.
Jiggles then came back to me where I waited with the others down the road.
Meanwhile Lavinia was with seven others listening to the cleric preach while his associate
cast illusion spells to make the stars in the sky come to life.
Afterwards Lavinia donated a few coppers and left.
Once she returned I took another flap around the top of the courtyard and observed that
the place was now shut up but two guards remained on the walls and that they were lit
by lanterns.
DAY 204 (1 Marpenoth)(October)
We gathered in the dark about two hundred feet away from the temple and discussed a plan
for what to do with this place.
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