Zoom 2021-03-25 21:00

==First evening in White Beach:==
Bazin, Umar and Quercuis toddle off to the Sands of War with the Wild avatar Holy Symbol and a centaur head. Quercuis is ignored, but the glow from Umar and Bazins' blessing gets them an audience with Cheron Axehead – who is extremely busy and harassed, with loads of messengers coming and going etc. Nevertheless, he takes time to get the full story from us and answer some questions.
* He is extremely interested in the	Holy Symbol. He will look into it and let us know what he finds.
* Dark Hoof Centaurs are known about	- some of them thought they could could attack White Beach. (It was	bad idea.)
* Cheron Axehead appears to have just become Clearsighted, but is smart enough to start putting things	together.
* He didn't know that Bez Drock was	in town. Faced with the question 'how could you not have known' it	was pointed out the GSOV was particularly strong around Onwen –	for example, Vinmira and his gang had been searching the city for	the last two weeks looking for their house.
* He knows that Bez Drock is now First	Sword, and that Beldame is therefore dead.
* He has been in communication with	Saratak, and had some instructions to follow – many of which	seemed ludicrous/arbitrary at the time, some of which still do.	(That's Saratak for you!). He had been told to inform Saratak when	the house was attacked – which he has done – though Saratak had	expected the house to have been defended by 10-13 people (presumably	us!).
* He can't send a message to Alvera,	but suggested we speak to 'the female Universal Priest' – it is an	open secret that she has Alveran connections.
==At the house:==
* There are 2 dead Ogres, 2 dead	doppelgängers, 8 dead humans and a dead Elf. (After	examination/looting, we store them in the cellar)
* Most of the bodies died from sword	or axe wounds. (Bez Drock's main weapon was a hammer, but he was	quite competent in sword and axe.)
* All bodies were wearing leather	armour – nothing special, but they looked kitted out for a fight	rather than being servants – ie no indication of anyone other the	Drock, Onwen and their attackers.
* A thorough examination of	Vinmira's body does not show any emergent ligature marks or similar.	Kirsten (when manifested the next day) confirms that the scent from	Vinmira's body is the same as both 'Brandy' Vinmira and 'Beer'	Vinmirs.
* We found 2 more keys for the	house. As well as the main door, they will open the other external	doors from the inside.
* Quercuis is convinced that once	the doors are closed, the house will be extremely secure. (Uil (?)	had a War Drake – and he couldn't get in!). The house is a grand	(somewhat vulgar) edifice built for someone who was obviously very	rich and very, very paranoid.
* The house has a large larder (for	40 people) with just enough food for 2 people. (Not sure what Onwen	did when he got the munchies.)
* We searched the house, and other	than obvious rooms, stairways and doors etc, there is a another set	of stairs going down from the bedroom we assume belonged to Onwen	(from the clothes in the room). It leads to a locked door.
* We found some pots of tobacco, and	4 pots of a yellowish powder than Brokev identified as cinderoak.	(He explained that cinderoak is a potato like plant and the tuber is	the 'useful' part. There is none in the garden.)
==Next day:==
Detailed search of the house with Det Traps and looking for secrets doors etc
* Trap door in main wine celler –	mechanically trapped.
** Caradoc manages to disarm the		(poison) trap, but cannot pick the lock.
** Hamish, Dougal and Joshua line up		to give it a go, and all fail.
** Umar attempts an 'enhanced pick		locks' and it works.
** Down below, we find a sub cellar		with 8 dusty bottles of presumably very, very fine wine.
** The sub-cellar is very fine		Dwarven construction.
* Mechanical trap on wall panel of	Onwen's bedroom (presumed compartment behind).
** Caradoc manages to disarm the		(poison) trap, but cannot pick the lock.
** Hamish, Dougal and Joshua line up		to give it a go, and all fail.
** Umar attempts an 'enhanced pick		locks' and fails, leaving a large dent in the wall.
* Stairway down from Onwen's	bedroom:
** This hasn't been used for about a		week – past footprints were human.
** The door is magically and		mechanically trapped.
** Caradoc attempted to disarm the		traps, and after successfully disarming the first 'layer' of traps,		determines that the traps on the door are focused inwards – ie a		self destruct trap rather than a kill-the-thief trap. So he		immediately stops fiddling about with it.
==Loot identification:==
* Vinmira's ring: +1 prot
* Vinmira's magical scroll: 18th	Level Illusionist scroll – 2 * non-det, Chaos and TrueSight.
* Vinmira's incomprehensible scroll:	Comp Lang doesn't work – its written in magic. So we need a read	magic spell, which none of the party know.
* Cleric's ring: Ring of Insight -	+2 Wis/+2 Int. (Note: DM has stated that any stat enhancing item,	other than runic items such as bracelet/necklace, must be worn for	24 hours to be effective.)
* Cleric's potion: Speed
* Cleric's potion: Invisibility (7/8	portions remaining)
* Spear: +3/+3. Double damage on a	natural 20.
* Hand Axe: +1/+1.
* Dagger +2/+2 Dagger of venon.	(Note: There is no poison left inside, but the crusty remains of	what had been in there appears to have contained cinderoak. We	surmise it is effective for disabling people as well as for its	shamanic/recreational uses.)
* 50gp 11 silver 12cp recovered from	bodies in the house. Plenty of leather armour and basic spears,	short swords etc but nothing else of note.
==Miscellaneous==
* Wun goes off to the Universal	Temple for his Avatar vigil.
* The oak tree in the grounds	appears to be a Druid's folly – an oak tree where there shouldn't	be one.
* Onwen's mithril holy symbol would	have been a powerful holy relic. The remaining mithril scrap is	therefore probably more potent than standard mithril and should be	used wisely.
* F. determined that there is a	consular presence for Alvara in the city.
* Q. mentions that Uil stated that	the Wyldwood shrines were in the West, because the Wild was in the	East.
==Party 'to do' list==
* Learn Read Magic to read the	scroll.
* Quercuis to analyse all the herbs	and plants – and see what is useful/valuable
* Engage a broker/negotiator to:
** Hire assistance to open the		locked panel and magically trapped door.
** Identify (and probably sell) the		fine wine (before any party member drinks it)
** Sell surplus/unusable magic items		to pay for the above, and buy usable weapons for the party (or		maybe have some made using the mithril?)
** Possibly engage a cleric to		perform Speak With Dead on Vinmira or Elf bodies.
* Find out more about Salahan
* Continue our investigations.
* Send detailed reports back to	multiple Alveran agencies.