This session switched back in time to catch up with Tienarth, who toiled in his tower, doing magical research.
As The Garlic Frog was sailing North, back towards Slateholm (7/15), Tienarth was sitting down the oak desk in his newly-outfitted library, opening a musty tome on the subject of magical transference. He sat there, bent over the crinkled pages, tracing over arcane inscriptions well into the night. He refused the meager meal presented by Hocuspo and was still studying when the frogs outside in murky pools croaked out the announcement of dawn.
Over the following days, he took brief naps and sometimes stood to fetch another leatherbound book from a shelf. Other times he merely paced, as if he could plumb the depths of this thoughts on his way towards a deeper understanding. He sought the secrets of teleportation. It was a common enough spell known by most accomplished wizards, but the formula had escaped his years of searching. Now he was piecing together the recipe from scratch.
He sent Hocuspo back to Osrendell on errands or to search in the nearby swamps for some ingredient or another. As the weeks passed, he felt close to a solution. He filled five pages with magical script that glowed under his quill. It was one of four possible approaches that he could imagine, and he expected to fail on the first attempt, but amazingly, it worked. After five weeks (8/19), he had mastered the teleportation spell and transcribed it into his spellbook.
The old mage was not satisfied this this accomplishment and began work immediately on a replacement for his wand lost years before to a fire-breathing mechanical monster in the tunnels of Dougkreg, that simple shaft of wood he called the Wand of Kill. This task he understood well, for he’d made many attempts in the past before eventually constructing the magical device. Regardless of understanding, each ceremony held even odds of failing to some unforeseen circumstance. An insect crawling across the papyrus page or even a stray mote of dust momentarily obscuring his vision might be enough to distract him and spoil the effort.
Twice he was nearly finished and found the enchantment ineffective. Twice he started again. Then, the in the waning days of month of the Snake (9/30), the wand was complete and functional. Fully charged, it could fire a blast of magic missiles seven times. And each day, it regained one of those charges. It was a potent tool in his hand or in the hand of his assistant, Hocuspo.
The next day (10/1), he brought out his crystal ball and concentrated on Lah’s Retreat. He didn’t dare spy on Lah himself or the inner chambers but rather the entrance to the estate itself. He saw the familiar scene where a two monks stood guard. This gave him confidence in his chances to teleport there accurately. He left Hocuspo with instructions to guard his hoard of gold and to keep the tower otherwise safe. And then he began the teleportation spell.
His body was wrenched across the span of the world, more than 500 miles. He felt the sensation of falling through a tunnel of swirling lights, and then moments later, he was standing at the gates of Lah’s Retreat. The monks greeted him with vague recognition, and he was soon reunited with Ollie and Lah, who explained that Nate had led the Jerker, Elaria, Aderian and Ghevont towards St. Orlan with the intent to enter the swirling mists nearly a month before (9/5). They had not returned.
Tienarth, once again, relied on his crystal ball. He spied on the homestead, finding the fields empty. The mirrors that once hung in the hall were gone. Not a soul was seen. Then he concentrated on his companions themselves. He saw them on the steps of the temple of St. Orlan, motionless. This puzzled him, and he guessed some disjointing of time between himself and them.
He withdrew his view to see the countryside from above. A globe of fog hung over a miles-wide expanse, from the swamps to the north and over the woods near the homestead. It did not reach too far into sky. The edge undulated as if waves at a shore, surging and retreating over a length of many yards.
End Notes
- Days
- 7/15 Tienarth begins researching Teleport
- 8/19 Tienarth learns Teleport, begins crafting a wand
- 9/30 Tienarth completes the Wand of Kill
- 10/1 Tienarth teleports to Lah’s Retreat
- Treasure: none
- Combat: none
- Characters
- Tienarth