Gallant Affairs - 13/07/2023 - Archie’s Extracts
Jul 15, 2023 23:49:05 GMT
stephena and Leonida like this
Post by Andy D on Jul 15, 2023 23:49:05 GMT
On Random Encounters in Port Ffirst
I took a trip to Port Ffirst the other day to examine the prices of spell scrolls offered at the Emporium of Pre-Loved Wonders. I also wanted to know which if any were the top selling scrolls. Whilst in the area, I ran into one of my younger wizard colleagues, Rae, the earth-genasi bladesinger. They invited me to join them at the Temple of Two Faiths where they and other adventurers were to see a fellow about a mission.
At the Temple of Two Faiths we met an individual by the name of Creek who by all appearances was an air-genasi, but the reddish colour of his eyes suggested an arcane, perhaps eldritch endowed origin too. Creek had a medallion of a ten legged spider which he gave to Malak'yth, a drow hunter-type in my adventuring team that day. The medallion was taken from an assassin who tried to kill a wealthy merchant called Eldric Lochanger. Creek was unfamiliar with the medallion’s mark, but had a keen interest in what underground activities take place in Port Ffirst and by whom. Malak’yth, however, was familiar with the insignia, and he had a keen interest in why it was present in the port town, too.
Creek was informed that Eldric Lochanger would be meeting someone in the Flourished Hook later that day in the evening, and wished for us to follow the merchant, and discover what we could about the group behind the assassination attempt. Joining Rae, Malak’yth, and myself for this task were two adventurers, like Malak’yth himself who were new to me. I was pleased to see an old acquaintance though, Vox, my tiefling and very nimble friend. The last time I saw Vox, we were team-mates on a very popular game show in Sigil. My other two new companions were; Leonida, a tiefling pugilist with a fascinating ability to project a psychically martial manifestation, and Will, a human with a rather unsettling somatic component to his spell casting.
A Staple Adventuring Task: Pursuing a Quarry
As an adventurer, pursuing a quarry either stealthily without being noticed, or in hot pursuit are both typical tasks you will find yourself involved in. As such, wherever your talents lie, you must come prepared with means to advance your team’s ability to successfully carry out the pursuit.
Barnaby, my barn owl familiar and my awakened spellbook’s manifested mind were both able to contribute expert scouting in pursuit of Mr. Lochanger as he ran out of the Flourished Hook spooked by an unfortunate misstep by an invisible owl familiar (not my own!). A meeting with Captain Blaze (who Will had familiarity with) was cut short.
In a similar fashion to how my own astral-projection magic benefited us by enhancing our visibility of the environment, Leonida’s previously mentioned psychic manifestation provided much the same benefit - albeit far more intimidatingly! My awakened spellbook’s manifested mind resembles the great Mordenkainen’s head in the form of a magical blue light. Leonida’s astral self is a menacing-looking full-plated warrior with an enormous warsword. I was hesitant to enquire with Leonida if the astral figure was someone noteworthy. I was too afraid that Leonida might give me a stern look for not already knowing the answer.
Malak’yth appeared to be naturally talented at pursuing a target, and Vox has an intuition about and a manner with people that helped us navigate around crowds brilliantly. Mr. Frozendagger’s attempt to intimidate a drunken crowd missed its mark. However, in retrospect, had he demonstrated the somatic component of his spell casting, he may have achieved his goal. Fortunately, he had more success tracking alongside Malak’yth. Rae, to their credit, did very well alongside Vox. However, parting the drunken crowd by establishing a conga line was the first example where I got the impression that young Rae throws themself too eagerly into their pursuits with abandonment.
On Means of Protection and Minimising Risk for the Arcane Inclined
There are many protective spells a wizard in adventurer should have prepared - unsurprisingly the majority of them are abjuration spells; Absorb Elements, Feather Fall, Mage Armour and Shield. Very fortunately - these are all low level spells and should hence be very accessible to all aspiring mages.
In my haste to pursue our target, I made the error of not using my pre-prepared Mage Armour scroll, and only have myself to blame for the poison projectile that caught me in the shoulder, roughing me up quite badly. Wonderfully for me, however, I now always have the spell Bigby’s Hand prepared. Upon being attacked, I cast Bigby’s Hand and interposed the large, luminescent hand between me and the assailant, attaining protection and cover from further assault. Will unfortunately did not have the means to protect himself the same way and received a more brutal poisonous attack. He survived thankfully, and when we returned to Creek, Will indignantly reported how our mission went - Mr. Frozendagger seemed to be familiar with Creek as well as Captain Blaze, and seemingly holds one of the two in higher regard.
Amongst the magically inclined individuals in the team, Rae, I worry, displayed an eagerness to achieve success in our task so strong that it came disappointingly coupled with a severe lack of regard for their own safety!
Rae is a combat specialist amongst wizards, they study bladesinging. They demonstrated great proficiency in the arcane, elven art. But, as someone who has shared his spellbook with Rae, I am keenly aware of a disturbing omittance of the Mage Armour spell in their book! With several Mage Armour scrolls on my person, I was very tempted to impart one as a necessary gift.
Rae suffered the most fatal poisonous attack of the lot of us. Marvellously, Will came to Rae’s rescue. However, the horrifying shrill and seeming dislocation of his jaw when casting the Healing Word spell felt unnecessarily creepy. I detect a non divine origin in regard to his ability to cast that spell.
Our poison proficient attacker appeared to be the individual my Barnaby caught a glimpse of above the Flourished Hook earlier that day, and appeared to be part of the group trying to assassinate Mr. Lochanger. Whilst Malak’yth tried to circle around our quarry, Leonida and Rae attempted to engage our attacker. It did not go well. Leonida, despite her menacingly impressive astral enhancement was unable to stun our attacker with her pugilist talents. An invisible Rae who used the Dimension Door spell to meet the attacker up on the roof. When the teleportation spell opened on the roof, we of course could not see the caster in their invisible state. We discovered, though, that Rae had been knocked off the roof when we heard a horrifying thud on the ground followed by the appearance of a now visible, but dangerously unconscious body. Leonida had a potion of healing on hand thankfully, and Rae, mercifully was able to get back up. Given their state after they were attacked with poison, they never should have pursued a direct confrontation with our aggressor, no matter how skillful they are with arcane blademanship.
On Arcane Solutions to Losing Battles
We would have had little to report back to Creek at the Temple of Two Faiths if not for Will’s usage of the Sending spell several times. We didn’t manage to physically catch up to Eldric Lochanger, but Will spoke to him via Sending and discovered the merchant was being pursued by a group known as the Outcasts. The merchant had made their list somehow, and felt he would be safe nowhere else but in Umberlee’s Locker, a place unconfirmed to exist outside of legend.
Rae, for their foolhardiness, did discover that the rooftop attacker had orcish lineage to them. The medallion of the Outcasts did not belong to any Drow house I was passingly familiar with, and as Malak’yth confirmed, orcish people tended to be slaves in Menzoberranzan. I would speculate that the Outcasts consist of former Drow slaves. The symbology of the ten legged spider had a fascinating part to it that Rae brilliantly observed and shared with us - the spider shown was not really a spider but a shedded skin of a spider. I’m sure this imagery is important in displaying a separation from Drow culture. In addition, it seemed likely that Eldric LoChanger’s meeting in the Flourished Hook was his attempt to acquire a ship to locate Umberlee’s Locker.
My conjecture on the facts, I have not been able to test.
On Young Wizards Today
I would like to investigate the matter of the Outcasts and Umberlee’s Locker more, and see to Mr. LoChanger’s safety. However, I’m afraid I must return to Daring Heights. It is long overdue that I check up on the young wizard Mittens McKittens. A talented young illusion specialist. The young tabaxi shares an admirable eagerness with Rae, but troublingly also an attraction to fatal injuries. In Mittens’ case; he is also quite precocious.
What is with the younger generation of wizards today? Where does this shared boldness for recklessness come from?