(G527 10/06/2023 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT) YI5 / HAR1
[Griffolk Ethyn the Dragon-Shaman, Corhim Sparkledingle the Gnome Wizard and Fangorino the Barbarian have arrived on Yag Island and soon became friends with my family and other friends that were there setting up defences by the Barrow. In addition, a being that looks and acts like Fenrir has arrived. In reality it is a simulacrum created by the Vicar of Ghaunadaur. Currently they are in Sasserine and Sparkledingle has time to kill. He has just been involved in a dispute between two wizard shopkeepers.]
DAY 585 (8th Marpenoth) (October) cont ...
After all the business with the two wizard shopkeepers, one of them - Orimander - felt rather sorry for Corhim and offered to take him to lunch.
It seemed to go well, because after the meal she gave him a magical ring.
'Only clever people can use it!' she said with a wink before going back to her shop.
Sparkledingle went back to the Vanderboren Manor. Fang and "Fenrir" were nowhere to be seen but there were plenty of empty bottles lying around so he deduced they were probably not far away.
Was it a Ring of Teleportation he wondered. He put it on. Nothing happened.
He tried to figure out its activation method but was met with no success. He tried some of the usual words - Shazam! Abracadabra! Bingo bongo! - but nothing worked.
He tried putting it in water.
Finally, he decided to actually look at it and saw that it was set with small gems and that one of them could be pressed like a button.
He put on the ring and pressed the gem. Something magical started to happen. There was a slow build up of shimmering energy then after about a minute he was teleported out of the Manor.
He materalised in what looked like a Teleportation target site, much like many of the large cities in Faerune have. There were pillars with runes. The runes were not magical, being only there for the wizard (or whoever it was) to remember and tie their Teleportation spells to.
Not far from where he was he saw a sprawling market. There were many stalls and a riot of sounds and sights.
Face painters and storytellers delighted their audiences. Vendors sold all kinds of wares from lanterns to shoes to spell components. The scent of delicious treats wafted through the air.
Corhim didn't know it, but he had arrived in an Alternative Material Plane that was home to the city of Harmony. Most of the people here were 'Nerts' - humanoids similar in size and appearance to gnomes, but with skin colours of bright and varied hue.
The magic of the ring translated their speech for his ears.
He wandered the market, taking it all in. There were a few humans around, and dwarves too, but most of the people here were Nerts.
Corhim liked this place, it was vibrant and colourful, magic seemed more common than back at home and the Nerts seemed like a jolly race, just like gnomes but a bit more easy going and less prone to teasing each other.
After a while he drew the attention of a human man. This fellow had grey hair and a pointy nose, and wore a black suit and horn-rimmed spectacles.
He introduced himself as Mr. Honeycutt and went on;
''
Forgive the scrutiny, but I needed to be sure you weren’t a Doppelganger. One can never be too cautious, especially in these colourless times where the very fate of Harmony hangs in the balance. My name is Mr. Honeycutt, and I belong to the Lorekeeper Society. You haven’t heard of us, but... if you are a wizard you may be of help to us...
''
Honeycutt went on to explain that the Lorekeeper Society needed an object known as the Coral Gem. The Society hid the gem for safekeeping centuries ago in the catacombs under Candy Mountain — a once bustling mine that was long since been abandoned — but now they needed the gem back.
Mr. Honeycutt didn't go into details about why, only that the gem was needed to solve the mystery of the colour outages. Apparently the land around Harmony was afflicted by some sort of curse that was making things grey and colourless.
'I can take you to a secret tunnel,' said Mr. Honeycutt. 'If you think you can help us?'
Corhim agreed and Mr. Honeycutt took him to a hidden alley and revealed a tunnel entrance.
'Good luck young man!' he said as Corhim descended into the tunnel.
It was large, big enough for humans and rough hewn from the dirt and rock. After many mikes it opened up into a cavern in Candy Mountain Mine.
Corhim had a lantern and could see that this area had assorted rubble and junk scattered about. The cavern wall had crude hack marks on it, as if someone had been wildly swinging at it with a pickaxe.
Moving further into the mines he found a cavern where there were seams of red crystals. It looked like candy and after licking a chunk he discovered it was sweet. He had heard of Treacle Mines before but had always thought they were a joke. Like coal was from ancient forests, then hard rock candy was from ancient sugar cane fields. Whether they existed in Faerune or not he didn't know, but they seemed to in this land. He put some of the candy in his pocket for later.
In the next cave he ran into two kobolts. They were aggressive and attacked him, but he managed to charm them with his magic.
He told them he was looking for the Coral Gem but they were not much use. He decided to follow a tunnel south that led to another cavern.
He saw a roughly hewn 30-foot-square room that still had old, rusted picks, shovels, crowbars, a wheelbarrow, and a wooden mining cart in it. Everything was covered with a thick layer of dust and cobwebs. Footprints could be seen all over the floor.
Beyond this was simply the main entrance to the mines so he doubled back and tried an eastern tunnel that led to another cave. This large cavern had more piles of rock candy rubble within it, and embedded in the eastern wall was the massive fossil of a 40-foot-long dragon.
The teeth looked like they might be of value so he chisled out a few. By now he was fed up of wandering around aimlessly in the mines so he found the kobolts again and again asked for directions. They shrugged, so somewhat annoyed he tried a tunnel to the north.
Finally! he thought. This must be it. It was another cavern, but at the back was a 6-foot-square, locked stone box, half buried by a cave in. An unconscious kobold lay on the floor with a needle in its neck.
Fearful of the box he persuaded one of the kobolts to try opening it. It wasn't all that happy about it, but did it to help out its new friend. The box had button on it and the kobolt pressed some at random. A needle came flying out and hit it on the arm. It fell down beside the other one, alive but out like a light.
Corhim was scared and decided to look through the caverns he had explored already one more time, but found nothing of any help.
With no better ideas he sent his last remaining kobolt to try and open the box but the result was the same. Now there were three of them sleeping on the ground by the box.
Next Corhim tried using the Unseen Servant spell. It was a good idea, but it didn't work. He tried throwing stones at it. That didn't work.
He then used the Rope Trick spell and tried poking at the box with a spear from up in the hole at the top of the rope. He kept on setting off the trap, but the needles hit the spear.
A needle hit the spear so hard it broke the wood of the haft.
He gave up on the Robe Trick spell and cast Invisibility. He then picked up an unconscious kobolt and used it as a shield while poking at the box with another spear.
He could never see where the needle was coming from. Was it the box or from somewhere else? It was too quick.
Still having no luck he tried the Rope Trick again and after poking and poking for ages he eventually got the button presses in the right order and the box opened! He had a feeling he'd made the whole process harder than it had needed to be, but it was better to be safe.
Inside the box was the Coral Gem along with some other treasure. He took it all. The Gem looked valuable, but he detected no magic coming from it.
