Second Ptolus Campaign Journal, #36
1st to 7th of Moons
We have had a good month at the shop, Archinemus tells us. That’s good news — maybe we can get started on building on an addition. I’d love to have some space to use as a workshop. The more I learn about the crafting of machines, the more I enjoy tinkering on my own.
Over this week, I firm up plans with three speakers from the Delver’s Guild for our Adventuring Workshop series. Archinemus give me free rein to organize the event myself. It runs for four Firedays during this month and next. Now I have to come up with some flyers for it.
8th of Moons
Today is the Mother Superior’s visit to the store to talk to the Legacy. She arrives via sedan chair and looks to be in her nineties, though spry. (We never saw her before; on our previous audiences with her she always remained behind a screen.) We escort her and her retainers into the back room with the vault and wait outside. After a few minutes of apparently psychic conversation, she and her entourage leave.
Afterward the Legacy explains that she had asked whether he was a god. Wow, we’d wondered sort of the same thing. She asked questions about the lands beyond this world and about the future — whether this world was closed off from other worlds and whether that will change. (He says he knows a little about the future.) The Legacy has been told that Oread’s mere presence tarrying here in the world is what gave him life. He doesn’t think his creation was intentional.
Next we decide to investigate the Blackstock Printing shop in the South Market on behalf of Zavere. Is it more than it appears? Who is Aelian Fardream? Apparently this wizard bought the place a couple years ago. He’s said to be strange, reserved, and a bit off-putting, but not sinister.
Calista and I go over there on the pretense of getting some flyers printed up for our Adventuring Workshop series. The place seems pretty normal, and Aelian seems like a real elf. He says he has been running the store for a couple years. The flyers will be done on the 12th.
9th of Moons
Having learned little, we decide to try the direct approach. Tharn, Barbatos, and an invisible Diethan go in and ask Aelian to take them to the Shadow Eyes. However, the elf claims steadfastly that he knows no Shadow Eyes. As they’re leaving, Barbatos manages to swipe the guy’s ledger book. He learns nothing from it — it appears totally legitimate, so he sends it back to the shop via messenger.
Calista uses a clairvoyance spell to hear what sounds like Aelian talking to… Aelian! It sounds like there are two of them! Invisible Diethan, meanwhile, has snuck into the printing room behind the shop’s public area. He sees that they are printing a bunch of republican flyers right now. There are five guys working there. There’s a trap door under a press, but other than that, there’s nothing suspicious — only that they seemed nervous about the Shadow Eyes. Oh, and all five of them are the same guy: Aelian. They all talk, think, and act exactly alike. As time passes while Diethan hides, he does notice that their personalities differ slightly. He also learns that they all hate the Shadow Eyes.
10th of Moons
So at this point we know why there seems to be more to this print shop than meets the eye, but we still don’t understand Aelian’s relationship to the Shadow Eyes.
I go to the Registrar’s office to research Aelian Fardream in public records using advice from my dad (ie: bribe the government workers). The only Imperial citizen registered with the name Aelian Fardream lived in Ptolus a hundred years ago. He was a wizard (but not a member of the Inverted Pyramid) and a Ptolus native (last residence is an address in Oldtown). No siblings (not strange for an elf). According to Imperial records, he has not been in the city for a century. The description seems to match, but it seems to match a lot of Shoal elves.
Meanwhile, Calista and Archinemus have another plan to find out more. When Aelian goes off to get lunch, Archinemus engages him in conversation about the Shadow Eyes while invisible Calista reads his mind magically. When Archinemus conveys that he knows about the identical Aelians, the man thinks, “Oh, Number Two is going to want to kill him.” He makes plans to meet with Aelian at the 10th hour tomorrow.
I leave a message at Skulk Alley to talk to one of our skulk friends, Shim or Nos. When Shim arrives, he agrees to find out what he can about the Shadow Eyes and to find me when he knows something. When Diethan asks his sword Insight about that Shadow Eyes, he learns that the Aelian is not working with or for the Shadow Eyes.
11th of Moons
Today I’m off to the Deeds Office to find out what I can about the sale of Blackstock Printing. It was formerly owned by a dwarf named Gorlen Triphammer, sold two years ago to an elf named Aelian Fardream, who paid for it in cash with 15,000 gold. The dwarf had owned the shop for many years. So that’s no real help.
Meanwhile, Archinemus awaits his meeting with Aelian at the Ghostly Minstrel, with the rest of the group watching/listening nearby. However, when invisible Calista attempts to read Aelian’s mind, the elf senses it and attempts to leave Delver’s Square before entering the pub. She and Archinemus assure him that they meant no harm; they just want to understand his link with the Shadow Eyes — it might help us get the litorians’ Father’s Warclub back. After learning that we don’t intend (for now) to harm Shadow Eyes, he explains that there’s an old well off of Middle Street in the Rivergate District. In the well, there’s a secret passage leading below the city. That’s how we find the elf. Before he leaves, he reveals that Shadow Eyes is indeed another Aelian, “But his imperfection is in his psyche, not in his power.”
Barbatos has heard of a rare and powerful spell called duplicate that creates a temporary physical duplicate of oneself, but he doesn’t know any particular spell that creates six copies of someone.
That afternoon I check around the Delver’s Guild office for someone who has delved around the well, but I have no luck — everyone claims there’s nothing in that area. Our maps show no references to Ravenstroke, but my dad says he’ll look a little more for me.
Shim arrives this evening at the shop with a report that helps fit the final pieces into place. He hasn’t been able to find out anything about the Shadow Eyes, unfortunately. He did learn that many years ago an elf went by the name Aelian Fardream, but he died. He was a very powerful wizard obsessed with the idea of living forever. He experimented with a spell that created clones, but not perfect copies — the printers don’t seem to have his magical power. However, Shim says, as far as he understands it they shouldn’t all be able to exist at once. This means that to cast such a spell, Aelian must have been an extremely powerful wizard. And if the Shadow Eyes has all that power (but a damaged psyche), that makes him a truly formidable foe.
Shim stays and has dinner with us.
12th of Moons
I pick up my flyers from Blackstock Printing and spend the rest of the day helping my dad around the library after all the help he’s been giving me lately. The group sends a message to Zavere running down all we’ve learned on his mission.
Session LXX – 13th to 16th of Moons
We spend a few days preparing for our first weekly adventuring workshop, renting a tent and chairs, getting permits (i.e. bribes), and so forth.
Zavere says he appreciates our efforts, and he doesn’t need us to investigate Blackstock any further unless we want to.
17th of Moons
It dawns bright and sunny, and we get seventy-four people to attend our first Adventuring Workshop seminar, called “The Right Equipment for the Job.” Ebbert from Ebbert’s Outfitters next door also attends. He shows examples of equipment and offers a discount to attendees for the rest of the day. We also offer a discount to attendees of our workshop. The event was such a success, we all go out to celebrate.
As we leave a Midtown tavern, Tharn suddenly stops cold: Someone is trying to influence his mind. Our assailants are werewolves and the blue demon-gnolls of Ravvan! (I thought we’d seen the last of them.) Two of them deal me a mighty blow before I even realize they are there, but Calista heals me enough that I can join battle with them in the alley. Tharn seems to be controlled by our foes — he’s wandering away! We hear the daughter of Ravvan, Brugul, say they’re after their idol of their beast-god (which we long ago gave into the safekeeping of the Church of Lothian). She takes a toll on Archinemus and me, but Calista blows her to pieces with a sonic attack from within. Vessa, the female werewolf, cries out, “NO! Not the daughter of Ravann!” Soon the son of Ravvan follows her into death.
It is a long and grueling battle — made even more difficult when locals come out of their homes to shoot at us for disturbing their sleep. But eventually we emerge from the fight, and our enemies, thankfully, do not — well, one werewolf does manage to escape. Archinemus placates the neighbors as we make our way home.
18th to 22nd of Moons
We take some time to rest and recover. We also visit that keep Zavere told us about, which some folks say came from the future. It’s in ruins, but locals claim it didn’t even exist weeks ago. Curious, but we can’t find anything conclusive about it.
23rd of Moons
Today is the Festival of the Cold Moons, the day of Barbatos’ big Dragonscales tournament. We’re all incredulous that he managed to come up with the stake of 40,000 gold pieces. We’ll be even more incredulous if our novice friend manages to win against Naelyn Blueflight, a champion Dragonscales player. This event is such a big deal, the Ghostly Minstrel charges admission (Barbatos doesn’t have to pay), but we decide to attend anyway to cheer him on. No one seems to think he has a chance. (We get 10 to 1 odds when we bet on him.)
Naelyn is the oldest elf any of us have ever seen. With him is his granddaughter, Helene, and two male elves armed with rapiers. Barbatos is wearing his most ostentatious outfit. He looks almost as ridiculous as Moynath Autumnsong, the elf lord. Naelyn takes a moment to speak to Calista while the board is being set up. He warns her to be ready — something might happen, and she would know what to do. We look about and notice a half-dragon named Synethys sitting across the room. This is the guy who last lost to Naelyn, and proceeded to drive him out of town years ago. Hmm… he could be the source of the trouble. But I also spot a dark elf woman in the crowd. This could be bad. It’s illegal for her to even be here. Why would she risk it, whoever she is?
Meanwhile, Barbatos is using some sort of corrupt magic to enhance his abilities (where does he get this stuff?). He notes that his elf opponent is making extremely odd moves, as though he were not trying to win (or using a strategy so strange, none of the crowd can even recognize his goals). Naelyn is not pressing his advantage. He’s trying to spell out something in Elvish with the lettered tiles in the game. He completes some sort of message, then grips his chest and keels over. The blue-scaled man and dark elf woman look on with interest. While folks try to heal him, Barbatos sees that he has spelled out in Elvish in the tiles: “Something stirs once again in Jabel Shammar.” But the old elf is already dead. Calista detects that he has ingested poison, and all the elves suddenly glare at Barbatos. He becomes the number one suspect. The constables, when they come, require him not to leave town.
Then Barbatos’ mentor Zalisartaram comes up and declares Barbatos the winner by default, as his opponent has failed to finish the game. The room erupts into chaos, and the elves rush him out to a waiting carriage. Calista follows to Iridithil’s Home. Archinemus collects on our bets, much to the annoyance of all concerned. I follow Synethys, to no avail — he admits nothing and claims that if he were going to kill Naelyn, he’d have fried him in the street. We report all this to the constables — all but the secret message spelled out in the tiles.
And Barbatos winds up with the deed and his cash. We wonder why the old elf didn’t just take one of his many opportunities to win the game and just deliver the message in a straightforward means. Barbatos explains that Naelyn was an expert in ancient history, Elder Elves, the Wizard-Priests of Ni-Gorth, Eslathagos Malkith, Parnaith, and other related topics. If he thought something was stirring in Jabel Shammar, he would know how dangerous that is. Who was the message for? Barbatos? Calista? He said she would know what to do. Does that mean she is supposed to go up to Jabel Shammar and investigate? Let me tell you, I for one would never allow that. And she doesn’t seem any too happy to have received the cryptic message. But little as she wants to be married to any unique destiny, she does agree to contact her cousin Aliya, who once faced down the forces of evil with her companions, the Runewardens.
Tharn warns Barbatos to quit using that corrupt magic, because he looks as he did back in Faelasith when he was under the grip of dark powers. We’re especially worried when he says he isn’t hungry. And after all this “murder” hullabaloo, I have a bad feeling that our Adventurers’ Workshop tomorrow isn’t going to do very well,
