Brief Recap: Last turn, the party was healed in Dunore, removing the effects of the Crown and Scepter of Acererak. All in the party bathed, save Humphrey. Bibi challenged for ascension, but failed in the ritual combat. Humphrey left for Galay to learn how to destroy the crown, while Blade, Fyona, Ghotu, Mog, and Bibi began the journey south, to the civilization of the Caliphate, to find the Prophet--the only one they know of who may be able to regenerate Fyona's arm. Bronk headed to his homestead.

The Long Journey South...

After some discussion , it is decided that the best way south is to journey overland to Trajia, and there take ship for the rest of the way. South of Trajia is a great desert, and the party (Blade and Fyona) must avoid both the Northern Kingdom and the Free Cities, where they are wanted.

During the travels to Dunore, spring has passed into summer.

The party--Blade, Fyona, Mog, Ghotu, and Bibi--travel across the warring states region. They are careful not to arouse interest in the various settlements they cross. Once they encounter a large band of fighters impressing others into service. The part manages to evade them, however, avoiding trouble. The warring states region is generally lawless, where only the strongest thrive. Many people are apparently slaves. Refugee camps are common, and even the best tended cities are full of destitute people living in hovels. Military struggle among the warlords has torn this land apart over the past decades. The party is glad to leave this place.

South of the warring states is a wilderness and forest region known as the Greenbelt. This forest is vast, nearly as large as that of Dunore. However, it is not as dense or as wild as Dunore. The Sylvan Brotherhood HQ is in the Greenbelt, and the forest is kept relatively safe by their efforts. The surrounding regions are populated by farmers, trappers, and other small settlements.

After several weeks on this journey, the part eventually comes to Trajia and the remnant of the Trajan Empire. Though the empire itself no longer exists, Trajia, its one-time capital, is still a thriving and wealthy metropolis. The company spends only two days there, long enough to secure passage most of the way to the Southern Continent, where the Caliphate is located. Most of the faithful of the Caliphate are seen in Trajia, showing that the Prophet's teachings are spreading widely, even on this side of the great Sandstone Desert.

The company boards a ship bound for Ura, City of the Prophet, capitol of the Caliphate. This city is on the western coast of the southern continent.

The journey by ship takes many weeks. The party is incredibly sick of salted meat, lemons, and flatbread--their main fare on the journey. Some in the party are afflicted by sea sickness, such as Mog, who is not happy on the long boat ride. By the end of the trip, everyone is ready to make a vow never to board a ship again.

Ura is an ancient city, whose history is lost in time. It sports mud- brick buildings, many of which are topped with spires and pointed domes of gold. From the dock quarter, the palace is visible over the intervening cityscape. It is a hulking building, part of which is apparently under construction. The entire southern half of the palace is hidden within scaffolding, and hundreds of workers can be seen crawling like ants over the rattan and bamboo frame of the scaffold. Either the palace is being renovated or expanded.

The party deboards, kisses the ground, and begins to head for the nearest inn. Being on land for the first time in weeks, the party now feels a kind of sea sickness, this time because of the land beneath their feet. But it takes little time for this feeling to go away.

People speak a different language here, but in the dock quarter, common is understood and spoken by most. The party has no problem finding an Inn. The proprietor, a swarthy man in a turban, greets them with a broad smile beneath his black mustache. "Greetings, the Prophet's blessing to you, peace be upon him. How may I serve you?"

The party takes rooms and pays for them, then spends the remainder of the day exploring the area. The city is very large, probably a few hundred thousand people spread over an area of several square miles-- all fairly densely populated. The city itself is walled, but the gates are open, even at night. The party gets the general idea of where they are, and meets back that evening in the Inn. [If you want to do something more specific, please post it.]

That night, they gather together at dinner to discuss their plans. [Please post what your plans are. What do you intend to do? Where do you intend to go? What do you ask or say? Please give me as many details as you can so I can use them in the next post. Also please specify any other actions, purchases, events, precautions, etc. that you undertake.]

Blade intends to gather as much information as he can about the Prophet before deciding on a course of action. He will listen to any tales that people are willing to tell and will also investigate the seedier sections of town where there is likely to be a black market and/or thieves guild activity in teh hopes of gathering more objective (less fawning religious dogma) about the Prophet, his wherabouts, number of followers, abilities, etc. How easy is it to gain access to the Prophet? Does he heal anyone? What are teh specifics? Is Religious conversion involved? How tolerant is the prophet and his followers of other religions?

Blade will be using the pseudonym of Myron the Meandering while in Ura

Fyona will go along with Blade to gather information. If they do not overhear anything useful Fyona will ask the inn keeper about the Prophet.

Blade and Fyona scout out the city, barhopping in the nearby area, making their way toward the palace. They find that the prophet is avidly discussed by the populace, nearly all of whom are believers. In one bar, where he mentions the prophet, two men at the bar talk about how the prophet is a healer and a great military leader, crushing several rival city states nearby that did not accept his teachings. But after the conquest, the prophet's army was withdrawn, and the populace was not punished or looted. Though the "state religion" is that of the prophet and the One God, individuals are free to believe and worship as they choose. The prophet has even been known to punish zealots among the ranks of his followers.

Later, at another tavern (that looks like a haven for thieves to Blade), they learn that the prophet performs feats of magic and healing on Sundays, and that anyone may ask him to heal them. Normally there is a massive gathering on Sunday Prayer, and after that, the prophet walks among the people in the central square, bestowing blessings and healing the sick. This sounds like a prime opportunity to Blade and Fyona.

Finally, they learn that the prophet lives in the palace, but that he is often absent, presumably on travels to distant lands to spread the faith. It is also said that the prophet may walk among the people as a common man, punishing the wicked and rewarding good deeds.

Along with this, Blade and Fyona are impressed with the level of devotion to the prophet. Nearly everyone they meet accepts the idea that there is only one true god--a novel idea, as neither of the adventurers has ever heard of such a thing. In the north, everyone accepts that there are many many gods, as evidenced by the powers of the various clerics and temples. Apparently, the prophet's religion is spreading like wildfire on the southern continent, south of the desert. The prophet's teachings have reached as far north as Trajia, where the Brotherhood has been established and is gaining political strength and followers.

If Bibi finds out where the Prophet is she will suggest that her and Mog take animal form and go have a look.

After Fyona and Blade return that night, Bibi and Mog decide to take a look inside the palace, where the prophet is supposed to reside. They transform into birds, and fly there. Though it is after dark, the palace is only provisionally guarded, and they find easy access through a window. They explore much of the palace, once being attacked by a broom-wielding maidservant who nearly bashes Mog before they can escape. They explore for nearly an hour but do not find anyone that looks like the prophet--however, they also realize the palace is vast, and there are many doors they cannot open in bird form. The main thing they note is that people are constantly praying around the palace. Whole rooms of people kneeling in rows, speaking devotions to the one true god, named "Modi." It seems very dangerous to transform back to human form, as the palace is full of people and servants moving about even this late. They retire to the inn late that night.

* * *

Late that night, to his surprise, the watcher sees his quarry. He can barely believe his eyes--the handsome swordsman with the one-armed girl.

* * *

Meanwhile...

Humphrey journeys back westward, toward the Northern Kingdom. It takes many weeks. Eventually he makes it safely back to his manor house.

While there, he takes the time to prepare a teleportation waypoint-- a detailed design that allows him to uniquely identify this location for safe teleporting. He also has one in Galay, in a secret hideout within the dock quarter of the city.

To Humphrey's dismay, his servant has gone utterly insane. Humphrey had used the crown on him only once, inadvertently, and now the man cannot function at all. His desire to serve Humphrey was insatiable while the mage was away, and his mind apparently broke under the strain. He is barely capable of gibberish. Not even Humphrey himself can bring the man to his senses. He is wasted away, and will probably not live longer.

[What does Humphrey do about this? This man was important to running your lands in your absence. Do you replace him? What do you do for him, if anything?]

Humphrey appoints one of the more experienced servants as Head of Household and instructs him that we don't know what has happened to the man, but that he is to care and feed him. He instructs him to confine him to a room in the house until he returns. Furthermore, he tells him there will be a handsome bonus if he finds his lands in as immaculate of order as the old servant used to keep them. Humphrey takes a personal item from the man, without his knowledge (nothing expensive, just to facilitate scrying).

Later...Humphrey teleports to his hideout in Galay. He is prepared for anything, for he never knows what he may find. When he arrives, nothing is amiss. It appears as if no one has yet discovered this place. For that the mage is thankful.

Humphrey wishes Nepal were here to help--for he is not wanted by the mages guild. But Humphrey has not heard from his friend since they parted ways, several months ago. Nepal was obviously suffering from the effects of the crown at the time. Humphrey wonders what he is doing now and where he is.

Humphrey heads to the local pub where Apprentices are sometimes known to hangout. He polymorphs his face somewhat, altering his appearance fairly substantially to look much younger, but still bearded. He also adds a gut and a giant forehead. He draws his hood up and goes into the bar, choosing a dark corner from which to observe the apprentices. He is hoping to figure out who Krossus' apprentice is. He has his items with him, but his crown and sceptre are not on his head. He is very wary of who he might encounter and merely listens to see if he can pick up any conversation about events at the guild.

Humphrey does this in a few pubs for two days, looking for Krossus' apprentice, and eventually it pays off. The apprentice, named Malon, is a short fat man who is going prematurely bald. He is a heavy drinker too, by the look of things. By the end of the night, Malon is very drunk and stumbles out of the pub alone, tossing a gold to the barkeep and belching, "Keep the change!"

Humphrey follows him. He stops briefly along a dark alley and turns invisible and places the crown atop his head as well (note they are kept invisible in his side bag). He pulls the sceptre from the bag as well. If he is headed toward the Guild, Humphrey moves quickly up to the man and whispers "You obey me," into the man's ear. At this point he turns visible, no doubt, so he is sure to do it at an opportune time.

Malon looks at Humphrey with a surprised look, like he was just run through with a spear, and whispers, "Master!" Humphrey can somehow tell that this man has a strong mind.

"Follow me," Humphrey says and he leads him to his room (which is in an Inn a few blocks away (note he has rented two rooms [both of which can be accessed from outside of the Inn, like a motel. This one will simply be where he will meet Malon.] [No problem--pcrh] When in the room, Humphrey says the following-- "In the morning, you will immediately go into the guild and steal the Ancient Book of Xerath and bring it here to me. If you are captured, you will make every attempt to escape with the book. You will bring it here, to this room and leave it on the bed. You will then forget that you have ever met me. You will speak of this to no one, save me. If you are captured, you will immediately forget why you are stealing the book." Do you understand? [Humphrey does all this while looking like himself]

Malon says, "Master! I understand. On my life."

The next morning, Humphrey has polymorphed himself to look like a street urchin and watches the entrance to the Mages Guild from nearby, watching for the apprentice.

Malon arrives almost immediately after Humphrey positions himself, very early, pre-dawn. He enters the guild without looking at Humphrey in his urchin form.

The day passes without incident. Mages move in and out of the guild entrance, some even dropping a copper piece next to Humphrey as they walk nearby.

Day passes into evening, and evening into night. Finally, Malon exits the guild. He does not appear to be holding a book.

When he sees him come out of the Guild, he will follow him and overtake him, potentially taking the book before he gets to the room with it, though he must assess the situation before making this decision.

Humphrey follows Mallon to the designated room. Malon does not knock, and enters. Once inside, Malon draws a large book from his pouch, which must be a bag of holding. Malon leaves the room, disappearing down the street.

Humphrey enters and finds the Book of Xerath on the bed. Malon succeeded. [Brian, I went ahead and advanced it a bit beyond your post; if you disagree with any actions I impute to Humphrey, please post and I will undo them. The plan succeeded, so I didn't see any harm in advancing it this way. Also, note the DM NOTE, below. --pcrh]

[DM NOTE 78-9: You can't be visible wearing an invisible crown, holding an invisible scepter. If you wear the crown and scepter, it is evident to any who look at you. You can be invisible while wearing the crown, and that will make the crown invisible, but you can't walk around visible with an invisible crown on your head. When you go invisible with the crown in your satchel, the crown goes invisble too so you can put it on your head and remain invisible--crown and all. I don't think this affects your current post.]

The next day, Malon enters the Guild. Krossus sees him and approaches, a cross look on his face.

"Where were you yesterday. You were supposed to help with my experiment," Krossus barks at Malon.

"I...I don't know, Krossus." Malon is confused, trying to remember what he did yesterday. He remembers being in the library, and he remembers the Book of Xerath.

Krossus is indignant. "You will be where I tell you, when I tell you, apprentice! And never use my first name, you are to call me Master, as we have discussed!"

Malon suddenly gets an angry look on his own face, his flabby features twisting in rage. "You are not my master!" he nearly yells. Malon suddenly becomes very confused, and quickly walks away. Krussus is too stunned by his apprentice's words to react immediately, and he lest the man leave.

[Brian, what does Humphrey do? How does he try to get into the Keep, where the Archive is located? The Archive is fairly well protected, as it is one of the treasuries of the keep. All mages of the keep can get in without much trouble, but there are magical wards and guards to prevent unauthorized intrusion. Please give as many details as you can.]

Posting Instructions: The forest is kind of dim, as it is pretty dense overhead.

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