Adventure 16: No DeLorean Required
For a short time the party had a chance to relax. They stayed in touch with the wizards who would be responsible for their journey back through time, and did little else. They discussed the possibility of defeating Derren while he was still mortal, but they recognised the wizard's strength, and decided against an assault; this was also complicated by the wizard's friendship with Petorus, whos generosity they were relying on to complete their own journey. They laid low.
Return Trip
The wizards were ready. They only asked for two hours preparation time before they began the incantation, but other than that the party were free to choose the time of their departure. They had prepared one of the magical laboratories to use in the magic, in the middle of which on the stone floor they'd traced out a large circle in white sand. Around the room were the remains of their mathematical calculations; it seemed nothing had been left to chance.
The party were eager to investigate the work of the wizards. They had much riding on this, and had concerns over the safety of the journey. They spent some time in discussion with the wizards, who could offer little help. The mathematics had predicted the party's return correctly, their mass and volumes were included in the calculations, but there were some concerns over the equipment that the party had acquired during their stay. Anything the party brought with them, they were told, would be fine in the return - the magical aura would ensure its safe return. Other equipment was in doubt. The wizards couldn't say if it would be safe, or if it the magic would be able to carry it. There was some discussion about the possibility of collecting a few special items, mostly books, to take through as souvenirs (of some value to the people of later years) but they decided not to do this when the wizards recommended that the party didn't make large changes to their overall mass. The wizards also pointed out that they were unsure of the effect of time passage. The mathematics, they said, should return them to the time they left, but as 10 months had elapsed since their arrival, they couldn't say with certainty if that 10 months would be accounted for in the magic, or if it would be added on to the time of the party's arrival.
They started the preparation, the first hour and a half was spent tidying and purifying the circle, before the party gingerly stepped in. Next the five friends were prepared for the magic; this involved being sprayed with herbal liquids and anointed in several places with an oily balm. This took up the final half an hour of the preparation time. Eventually the party were given one last chance to back out. The did not take it.
The wizards stood around the ring and began their incantation. Some raised their arms, others closed their eyes. At first nothing seemed to happen. But then the party began to glow dully, and the glow grew brighter as the incantation picked up pace; it was brightest where the balm had been applied, and moving, and finally breathing became difficult for the party. Next the floor became watery, like wet cement, and they sank slowly until the floor level was up to their knees. Then Formil disappeared, he fell through the wet floor. Stunned looks among the wizards were replaced by smiles; they were clearly pleased their magic was working. The incantation continued uninterrupted, though, and then Jim and Randy fell through too. Another moment passed, Fax and Insorce exchanged worried glances, and the incantation continued. Then Fax fell through the floor too.
A Heavy Landing
Formil landed with a thud on a stone floor. He felt quite disoriented. Carefully he stood up and looked around, rubbing the bruises from where he'd landed awkwardly. The floor beneath his feet was dry and firm; his axe was on his back, and all seemed well. He took one step forward, and was narrowly missed by Jim arriving just in front of him. Randy landed down the corridor behind him. After a few seconds they realised that they were in the room they'd been in when they suffered their fate some 10 months before. Formil checked the floor again, just to be certain.
"What's that noise". They heard the sound from further out the corridor, where they expected the stairs to be. "Blimey, they're back" came a second shout. This was swiftly followed by the sound of booted feet running and the drawing of swords. Jim, Formil and Randy had moved into the room, Formil moved to the corridor entrance, as two burly fighters came down the steps and confronted them. They recognised each other immediately.
The front fighter moved forward and was engaged in combat by the likewise advancing Formil. These fighters were tough before, and had presented quite a challenge. The extra experience earned while away for ten months soon began to pay off, however, as Formil was much more effective in the fight. Behind the fighters, one of the wizards moved to stand at the end of the corridor before unleashing a Magic Missile spell at Formil; the compliment was already being returned by Randy. The wizard cast again, then backed off up the corridor as the first fighter fell. The second fighter moved up, and was dealt with by Formil slightly more effectively. The wizard had backed out to the room at the top of the stairs, Randy threw Ice Storm at him as Formil closed quickly; the dwarf spotted the falling return of Fax out of the corner of his eye as his axe landed on the hapless wizard. He'd though he'd be out of range of an armoured dwarf - but had not considered that Randy had already used his Haste spell to give his friends a boost of speed.
Formils axe landed true, and the wizard exploded, he'd been cleanly sliced and the pieces lay twitching on the floor as Insorce the cleric arrived with a loud thump and an "ooogh" on the hard ground outside the barn.
They realised there was a Wizard missing; they began a search immediately. With Insorce's spells being somewhat disrupted by the journey, they relied on Randy's magic and Fax's keen elfish eyes to conduct the search. There was no sign of him.
A few minutes composing themselves helped them to recall what they'd been doing at this barn in the first place. They were reunited with their trusty mule; they were quite pleased to see the beast, but it looked at them like they'd only been away for a few moments (which, of course, they had from the mule's point of view). They decided first of all to drop in on the farmhouse where they'd been helping with a snake infestation.
The farmer was pleased to see them, but seemed confused. "Where's the other one?" he asked, "You know, the tall ranger?"
Now the party were perplexed. Although appearing stunned by the question at first, they rallied with "what friend", "oh he died", "he disappeared", and "he joined the army" all at the same time. Jim gave the others a bit of a steely look. "He met a sticky end" was the gist of what the farmer was told. It was a shame, pointed out the farmer, as his daughter had taken a shine to him, despite his shot with that bow going straight through the barn and into his brother, whom the party had cured immediately. The news that the job was complete was welcome, and the farmer invited them all in for some food before they set off once again for Cellam.
In the Capital
Arriving in the big city at the end of a very long day (they'd left their former time mid-afternoon, and arrived back home late morning), the party were weary. The went straight to the inn they'd used before in Cellam, The Hotel Metropolis, just off Ticetia Square, and just behind the Royal Palace. They could even book their previous suite, and dumped their packs in their rooms before returning to the common room, which the inn insisted was called the 'Lounge'.
In here, the party relaxed, and Jim ran into Emma Wayne once more. She fluttered her eyelashes, smiled, and Jim melted. He composed himself, and put on his most disarming, nonchalant smile, greeted her, and now she seemed to melt. They spent some time chatting about everything and nothing. He only described that they'd left quickly to head east, and had returned when they'd not found what they were looking for. He mentioned in passing the troubles they'd had (i.e. caused) in warehouses up and down the south of Ticetia in the bid to discover the source of the pleasant pale fruits they'd eaten recently.
Eventually Emma was tired, and Jim walked her up to her room. They stood outside staring into each others eyes, then she fumbled behind her for her door handle, turned it, and the door fell open. She led him inside. The door behind them closed, without losing eye contact, she slipped the bar across the back of the door, and then reached out for him, and pulled him close. He could smell her perfume, but could not feel the heat of her body and she tried to sink her fangs into his neck. She held him close, but couldn't get the hold she required. Jim struggled free and began fumbling with the bar on the door. He began to shout "Vampire". She struck him on the back as the door opened, then he was through. He ran, still shouting.
Jim raced down the stairs and into the common room; he'd been badly hurt, but he passed Formil heading in the opposite direction, his axe already out. He confronted Emma in her room; she tried to defend herself, and even landed a lucky blow on the Dwarf, but she did not last long; she went gaseous, and left the room. Formil returned to the bar.
There was some panic among the staff, and the other couple of guests. But the party reassured the barman that they were safe for several hours now. He allowed the party to take a look through Emma's room, but she had no equipment other than a few changes of clothes. The party retired to their suite to continue discussions about what to do next. These discussions went on for a couple of hours but didn't really get anywhere. The party realised that they'd been attacked by vampires with alarming regularity just recently, and they knew also that there were wish magic books about. They knew about the Charles Derren problem, but had solutions to none of this. They retired for the evening.
Visits to Guilds, Cults and Sects
The next morning began with the party taking the short walk across Ticetia Square to the church of Danethrae, where Insorce and other senior clerics set about using the Restoration spell for Jim and Formil.
Once the serious business of level restoring was taken care of, the party had some other guild business to take care of. Both Randy and Jim needed training, and for Randy this was just a matter of popping into the guild house and paying the fees. He was booked into training the next day. Next the party took their haul of magic and treasures from their recent fight to various guilds buildings around town to sell stuff on. They'd picked up a few suits of chainmail and some long swords that were magical, and Randy moved on a magic book, which alone covered the cost of his training with change to spare.
The problems came with Jim. The South Port and North Cemdell Thief Guild were not happy with him. He'd passed the trial he'd been set but had not turned up for his formal induction (or paid his fees). This had made them a little wary of him. They seemed to know he was on his way to visit them, as they sent out a reception committee. As the party made their way through the shady Port district, they were aware there were several burly rogue-types shadowing them along their way. Eventually, as Formil's axe-arm was becoming twitchy, they were confronted by two well built gentlemen who politely invited Jim but not his companions to join them at in a visit to a local bar where the officials of the guild were waiting to see him. He went with them, while the others hung around outside the pub.
The negotiations went badly at first, the guild wanted to know why Jim wasn't around - they couldn't understand what it was that Jim was involved with that would be more important than his guild membership. Jim recovered well, though. He managed to allay their concerns with an extra 1000gp bonus on top of his guild fees. This smoothed the way to his membership, they put him on a three month probation, and he booked his one week training straight away.
Scrying
Now back in their own time, Insorce finally had all his clerical spells available. Everyone was keen to track down the vampire that had haunted Jim the previous evening, so he set up his scrying font, and they looked for her. At first things went well. The image cleared and Emma could be seen sat in a kitchen somewhere eating a meal. She was sat across the table from someone, but at first they couldn't see who it was. She carried on talking, her and her meal partner were deep in conversation, but the angle of the image prevented them from seeing what she was saying. They watched intently as a shifting image slowly brought the other person into view.
It was Magnus Elberman.
Suddenly they stopped talking. Magnus looked up, directly through the scrying image. He peered right at Insorce; as he looked, the water in the font started to boil. Shocked, Insorce tipped the font up, spilling its contents and ending the spell. Now, thought the cleric, they were really in trouble.