10/03/745 A.E. Morning.
Nothing immediate presents itself concerning passage toward Alodar and the empire, but the party's time is consumed with various endeavors, mostly in regards to their recently acquired magical presents from the Garren, by virtue of his knowledge of magic spells due to his bardic training, was able to use the magic Wand Of Identification they had wrested from the Efreeti's granted wishes, and by virtue of his oddly acquired ability of Psionic Psychic Impression, he did mull over the objects in the days that followed while the others waited for a suitable ship upon which to book passage. And during this time the young bard did discover much through the expenditure of some of the wand's limited charges, or his now innate ability to read the residual impressions of strong emotions on objects.
NOTE: Some of what follows is mostly couched in game terms and is more OOC than a lot of other things, but players need this Out Of Character knowledge to best judge what it is their characters do know, and so it is here. Each party member and Garren knows about their own magic item. The other party members may or may not, depending on whether the owner confided in them.
Garren first started with the boots that Tagard had acquired. The Boots of Quifneblin. Quifneblin, it was later learned, was a Gnomish King long, long ago. Apparently, his boots survive and still function, long after his kingdom fell over 5 centuries ago.
The boots bring a gnome's base movement rate up to 12", Garren next turned his attention to the necklace Katsumi had gained. The Necklace of Ever Lasting Coins. The necklace was a rather beautiful, striking platinum braided chain with stones and metal disks set along the bottom in a rather fancy pattern. The stones are flawless, blue-white diamonds. Though they are small, they seem to contain the magic of the item. Once/Pholar (once every 10 days), from one to all five metal disks will reform if they were torn away. As they are torn away, a metal disk will become a coin that will appear in one's hand. There are five disks, and one may thus gain one PP, GP, EP, SP, and/or one CP during the pholar. (If they do not use these coins, that's fine, but if they do, they will be remade anew each pholar). It is important to realize the coins are not taken back, so whoever they are given to will keep them and they are not magic or anything, and the coins that will reform on the 1st and 10th of each scepter are different coins. Effectively, this gives one a beautiful necklace to wear all the time AND a maximum income from this item of $1,111.10 every 10 days. (They later value of magic item at 35,000 GP if they sell it).
NOTE: True, it would take around 80 years to make 35K GP, but one could, and much more in the years, decades, and even centuries to come. That is, the item could make more money than they could sell it for, but it would take a human lifetime to do so. As a family heirloom, however, over the generations, one's family would never starve or go without the basics with that sort of income, forever. But well established adventurers, one may see, are already essentially millionaires or billionaires by most normal people's standards, and with their wealth properly managed, their family's trivial more mundane concerns are hardly a problem. But I digress.
Furthermore, though only slightly magic in the following regard, wearing this necklace usually increases one's CHR by one point (18 max)(unfortunately, Katsumi's CHR is so high, the necklace will not add to her CHR, but it is rather beautiful). Garren happily places the necklace around Katsumi's neck while he explains its magical functions to her in detail. Too tired to continue with this grueling work, Garren goes down stairs (he is in a room at Our Lady, the tavern near the harbor, and plays for the supper crowd. At least that activity is natural to him and quite relaxing, so he does that for a couple hours before retiring.
10/04/745 A.E.
The next day, after resting a good while, the bard turns his attention to the mystical tome given to Jarmain. The Tome of the Prelate. This tome is for a special order of adventurer known as a Prelate, a rather rare thing. Essentially, the Prelate is a cross between a major cleric and a minor mage. The tome is rather powerful, and it would be worth 75,000 GP on the open market rather easily, perhaps more.
If Jarmain chooses to read it instead of selling it, it will act like a wish would in raising his WISDOM OR his INTELLIGENCE, but not both. As a book of the Prelate, it does something else as well. It would act like a mage's spellbook for a priest who was not properly initiated into the ranks of the Prelates, and such a person would be a 1st level mage in addition to their other skills. Naturally, armor restrictions would apply if they wished to cast mage spells. In and of itself, this was a great prize for the cleric of Zeus, but it did give him reason to well consider switching professions as well at some future date. For now, however, Jarmain was content to read the book, a process that by all accounts would take days and days. He withdrew from the party's company and began, but bade them to keep in touch and let him know if they booked passage, for he could still travel thus while reading the book.
Finally, Garren set sights upon his own gift, a magic, platinum flute. The Flute of Kile Mordor. The magical flute is a nice little item, and in the hands of a bard, it does even more, just as it had for Kile Mordor, a bard and mage, who had manufactured it long ago.
Any bard skilled with flute may play the instrument and add +1 to all friendly people's saving throws (who can clearly hear it) while they play. Furthermore, it will boost morale. Finally, it makes the player seems more charismatic (+2) to CHR (max 18), but only for an hour after they have made a successful flute skill roll with the instrument in front of these people. Bard's double their normal skill roll with flute.
As Bards go up in experience, other functions manifest themselves.
01st level: may play a song to cast Animal Friendship (as spell) once/day. These level functions do require you to be both high enough level and to make your skill rolls with flute. If you fail your roll (96 to 100 is always a fail), the spell-like function still works, but it drains one charge from the flute (a non-rechargeable, charged item). The flute currently has 63 charges left. With good skill, it should take few or no charges. After all charges are gone, the flute will crumble into platinum dust (Estimated value, 500 GP).
Garren immediately tries his flute's lesser abilities for the evening crowd at the tavern, but he needs practice.
10/05/745 A.E.
The next day again comes and Garren sets to work. Only the sword remains, and he begin his efforts.
Garren discovers, however, that the sword lays dormant, much of its power buried beyond the ID rod's ability to detect. It has a name, however; Ekibar (Mostoli (or commonly known as Dwarvish) for Shining Star. (Ekibar, the Magical Dwarven Bastardsword).
In its current dormant state, Ekibar will act as a +2 bastardsword (though if it needs to make a saving throw for itself, it saves at +5). Also, it may cast the Light spell ON Itself twice/day. The duration of the spell is either 1 turn or one hour, but only those settings, and once lit, the duration must run out or a Dispel Magic or Darkness must be cast to prematurely end the illumination. That is all the sword is currently capable of doing.
However, Ekibar seems to have been deactivated to a large extent after failing at a quest (Garren cannot tell what the quest was). Yet, he senses if the quest were completed, in stages, each successful completion may or may not reactivate part of Ekibar's dormant powers and he could then tell more. But there is one more thing, though what it means is anybody's guess. A mental impression, an errant bit of a thought, but strong enough to clearly read, it appears to be some line from a poem or song and is buried in the sword's memory where it lays at the forefront of its submerged consciousness, which also means the sword is intelligent, though 'sleeping.' The line goes: Meanwhile, while Garren is busy these past three days, the others are not exactly idle. They learn of a ship that will be sailing for the empire in a few days' time. They also learn there is a ship that belongs to House Tsuryuu that is getting undue attention. Tagard asks a waitress what the news is about and she replies, "Oh, some money problem. The ship builders are not getting paid and Tsuryuu is low on cash. They may be forced to sell it. Such a pretty ship, too." Tagard asks for more information and she tells all she has heard, even though she claims it makes little sense to her. "They have some problem with their crop of apples, despite the beautiful weather. Maybe some insect infestation or some fungus, but I don't know. I'm just guessing. But I guess it could have been worse since they managed to keep their land, and that's important. One man was in here a couple days ago and said the house simply over extended itself, whatever that means, and he seemed pretty sure of it. Anyway, another ale?" She leaves to do her work and Tagard goes about his business as well, but harbor gossip holds little interest for the others, however, so they seek other information.
Katsumi meets and befriends Moira, a buyer of rare and exotic wines for her master, Lord Vintus, back in Alodar. Kat introduces herself as "Reilina.
Throwing some money around, Gillmesh discovers a man named Jonas either knows about Mt. Windus or knows a man who knows, so they wait for him. He eventually makes an appearance and the waitress (well tipped) points him out. Turns out Jonas only knows a man, an expert on cartography. They 'grease his palm' and he takes them to see a dwarf named Cartis. His small quarters are uncomfortable for the large humans, and his maps are scattered about, occupying ever nook and cranny of available space, so they must stand while they pay and find what they can.
Bartering for information takes too long, so they eventually pay in gold (15 GP +2 GP more), buying two maps. One of Korale, the city near Mt. Windus (which turned out to be back on the imperial continent, though in dwarven territory, north across the Scale Mountain Range). Gill finally shows the dwarf the sword, Ekibar, and the cartographer sees that it predates the Pedas Royal Line, but knows nothing of it apart from that. He offers to sell a letter of introduction to a great dwarven sage in the city of Pedas (named after the current royal family line) who might know something, but Gillmesh holds tightly onto his coins, thinking he can find his own experts once he gets there. Business concluded, they depart.
Walking back to the tavern along the unknown route, they happen upon several shops. A florist, an herbalist, and a jeweler are all in close proximity, and they split up to shop and such. Of most interest, when they present the jeweler with the small diamond they found, the gem dealer is astonished. "This is the Cardune Diamond. How, where did you find it?" A few questions are asked. "The Cardune diamond? It's part of a lost collection of nigh flawless stones. This is the largest and most valuable of them all. They were lost 20 years ago or better. Stolen, it was believed."
Much is said and done concerning the diamond, mostly assuring the dealer they found it on an adventure and they did not steal it a long time ago and are only now trying to fence it, and he accepts their assurances, so they eventually agree to sell it. For a small fee, the jeweler will try to find the best buyer for it and asks they return the next day. They agree. Katsumi wishes for them all to stay at Kikki's Place, but Garren's jealousy causes a problem. A lover's tiff ensues and tensions mount between them (not the best thing that could be mounted, considering, but what are you gonna do?).
10/06/745 A.E.
In the morning they return to discover the jeweler has arranged two potential buyers. "Gentlemen, lady, this is Gustove, and he has the most cash. 52,000 in gold. And this is Arenus, who has the most value, but it's a big thing and may take more effort to realize an immediate return." Further explanations reveal Arenus represents the House Tsuryuu, and they wish to trade their brand new galleon for the diamond, thus alleviating most of their current cash flow problems and giving them the necessary breathing room to rebuild. The ship is described as 'Fully outfitted with captain and crew,' so they agree to trade the diamond for the ship since they already have good relations with the House Tsuryuu. They then further plan on sailing her home to Alodar and selling her for 60,000 GP, its estimated value. Furthermore, they plan to load her hold with whatever trade goods they can buy in Katana with their free cash and turn a tidy profit while doing it. This is the course of action they take, and for the next 3 days, they load the ship with supplies and goods while they acquaint themselves with their new ship, however temporary their ownership may be.
10/09/745 A.E.
SESSION ENDS © May of 2000
The boots bestow +2 to AC if wearing nothing heavier than studded leather armor,
The boots add +1 to all saving throws, and
The boots also act like a standard pair of Boots of Elven Kind. In fact, before they were further enchanted, they were Boots of Elven Kind.
03rd level: may Speak With Animals (as spell) if you first charm them as above.
05th level: may cast Shield (as mage spell) once/day for yourself.
07th level: may cast Cure Light Wounds 3 times/day.
09th level: may cast Detect Magic or Dispel Magic once/day each (as if a 12th level mage).
"High atop Mt. Windus, where rock bunnies love and play, the keeper guards the nexus, and there does evil lay."
End Of Chapter 27
by
James L.R. Beach
Waterville, MN 56096