Three Times A Charm

Week of Growfest, CY 592

The Vacuous Grimoire
Vannay was none too pleased the next morning, when he awoke bound and gagged in our suite at The Wyrm.  Creden and Victor tried multiple spells to relieve him of the apparent curse, but it was to no avail.  We decided to research it a bit further, so Safadin made off to the mage library, while Creden and Victor visited the Peloran Church.  Safadin found out that the book was most likely a vacuous grimoire, and it would need to be burned while the curse removal spell was being cast.  This presented a problem, since we still could not locate the book.  

After much discussion, we decided that based on Vannay’s attraction to the book; it would be unlikely that he would have stashed it anywhere.  Delvanos came up with the idea that Vannay may have purchased something to hide the book from us, when he became aware that the rest of us were concerned.  A few trips to nearby magic shops proved the theory out.  Vannay had purchased a bag of holding.  The mystery was solved, and we burned the book while casting remove curse.  Vannay was freed from the enchantment.

Not Much Better
We decided to make another run at Falrinth in the Recovered Temple.  Our strategy this time consisted of very little buffing and a surprise attack.  Unfortunately, he was using a ward which anticipated our arrival, and he had plenty of time to effectively prepare.

After teleporting to the recovered temple, we dimension doored in two groups into his room.  A prismatic wall split our group in two.  The situation had quickly escalated into high peril.  Vannay and Victor were both in prismatic veils, and Vannay was plane shifted away.  Victor moved into grapple with silence on.  Falrinth was left with one option.  He used kaleidoscopic doom on Victor.  Victor successfully saved against a number of the effects, but the petrification took hold.  In a foul mood, the four remaining party members escaped with teleportation magic.  Falrinth now had Victor and Thurlkosij.

The Peaceable Kingdoms
Vannay found himself near Mount Clangeddin in Arcadia.  A large dwarven camp of war was nearby, so Vannay made his way towards it.  He rented a room for the night in the outer circle of the camp.  The next morning the party arrived, but lacked the means to locate him.  So Vannay located them with scrying and teleported to them.  If time had allowed, both Uthgar and Creden would have enjoyed an extended stay.  It was probably for the best that Victor missed this portion of our expedition.

Put to a Choice
Upon returning to our room at The Wyrm, we found an open wine bottle on the table, a stone pseudodragon and Falrinth waiting for us on the balcony.  He once again broached the subject of giving him the binder.  This time though he wanted it in exchange for Victor’s life.  He stated that the binder would be given to Iuz, and Falrinth would probably be granted a position in the Bone Shadow.  The little stone dragon was offered as a token of good will.  He added that if the chief excavator, the beholder Kex, was not contacted within two hours then Victor would be destroyed.  

We retired to one of the bedrooms to discuss our options.  Creden was the only one in favor of the proposal.  He reasoned that Victor would be needed in the trials ahead, and the prospect of Iuz with the binder seemed the lesser of two evils.  After some heated debate, it was decided that giving the binder to him was not an option.

Now the problem was how to take down Falrinth and get to Victor before his time ran out.  It seemed a bleak prospect, but if we used dimension door to get right up on Falrinth, we just might get the drop on him.  We prepared for combat and teleported to the air surrounding the terrace.  Falrinth quickly realized the gravity of his overconfidence as we unloaded on him.  The battle was over almost as soon as it began.  The seemingly unstoppable wizard lay dead at our feat.

Falrinth had given us enough time to purchase a few teleport scrolls and still get to Victor in time.  We set out to do just that.

The Chief Excavator
In the course of adventuring, you run across easy encounters that turn bad quickly, and sometimes you have scary encounters that end up being much ado about nothing.  Kex turned out to be the latter.  It turns out that the best way to defeat the eye tyrant is an invisibility spell.  That and a lot of bad luck on the beholder’s part.  And a critical hit from a dwarven defender doesn’t hurt either.  All the misfortune we experienced with Falrinth was set right (in a cosmic sense).  Kex went down quickly, and we restored Victor to his prior fleshy appearance.

Before leaving the temple site, we decided to look around in Falrinth’s room.  He had a spell book in plain sight, but Vannay had a bad feeling about it.  It did not seem particularly hidden or magically warded for someone who specializes in those things.  A lingering aura on a nearby wall indicated the use of some magic in the recent past.  We still had the passwall needed against the green portion of a prismatic spectrum, and we used it to access Falrinth’s hidden room.  We found his real spell book and a heavy bronze ring with an obsidian shard set on it.  

Now we have two of the four binders, and we need to find someone else to keep them.