Dicing with Death: Episode 213

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==Synopsis==
Divan kills a troll with his assistant Esoi to give Chronos to repay the taken troll heart. Divan then meets a traveling schollar who supplies him with a map and lore of the rest of Bravo. Divan's wife Helen becomes pregnant. Divan and all his apprentices go to Drexl's Magic Circle in the swamp and do some experiments with Magic Circle, which leaves a magical bond between Divan and Esoi, as well as bind a Wind Elemental Soul into a gem.
==Recap==
===Research===
Divan is in his tower in Divan and Esoi leave Nekkraut. He wants to summon elementals with the spell, but he worries about them breaking free. He considers how to control them other than using the spell. Divan considers but finds it won't work in regards to non-humanoids like elementals. Divan also considers creating an item like the Crown of Domination to magically bind an elemental to obey him, but Divan needs to be level 12 Wizard to create an item like that (Divan is a level 9 Wizard at the moment).
Divan considers making a golem instead, but those at the very least require a level 14 wizard. 
Divan over nine days creates some scrolls upon silver tablets. Divan uses to carve the words into the tablet with his fingers. Divan also wants to make scrolls, but doesn't know that spell yet. Divan leaves the tablets in the library and tells his apprentices about the scrolls in the case of emergency. 
During the week apprentice tries to learn but fails.
===Back to the Brackish Fen===
Divan decides replacing the two-headed troll is more urgent than the spell research and makes it a priority. He needs to replace the troll heard to appease the Giant, as well as giving the blood for Divan's spell. The best spot to fing a two-headed troll is in the Brackish Fen. Divan asks his apprentices if they want to join in the troll hunt, only Esoi is interested, with the other 2 having a bad time in the Brackish Fen last episode.
Divan and Esoi leave Nekkraut and head northward towards the Brackish Fen. Their first stop is Grekos. The people of Grekos welcome Divan warmly and celebrate his arrival. The people of Grekos have a small level of jealously over having come from there before now living in Nekkraut, forgetting that it was them who angered Platos to begin with.
The next day Divan and Esoi head north back into the Brackish Fen on their troll hunt. Straight away they find signs of recent troll passage; a quarter of a deer's remains stuck in a tree. Divan casts and finds the troll tracks heading north-westward.
Esois make camp at the edge of the Brackish Fen as Divan wades into the murk and calls out for the troll, but no trolls come. Divan casts to locate the direction of the Troll's Lair to the west-northwest. Divan returns to camp to rest for the night. During the night there are strange noises but Divan ignores them.
===The Magic Hill===
The next day Divan makes a raft. Esoi and Divan set off on the raft into the Brackish Fen north-by-northwest. During this day the party come across a spatial anomaly. They come across water flowing up a hill in the swamp. Esoi casts and detects faint magic emanating from the hill. Esoi thinks they should dig up the hill to undercover the mystery.
Divan starts digging with his hands. After a foot of digging the magic effect stops and the water flows down. With the spell on the hill broken, Esoi casts again and confirms the magic is gone. Esoi theorises that the mound was an accidental creation of the by-product of the magic in the area. Divan points out that Drexl's workshop is only 5 miles away North-West and Esoi's theory could be correct.
The pair camp on the hill in the Brackish Fen overnight, with Divan keeping watch.
===Troll Hunt Resumes===
The pair get onto the raft again and head more north-by-northwest in search of the Troll Lair, but just end up where the swamp meets the sea. Divan casts another and finds the lair is further to the north inside the swamp. Divan and Esoi head north.
As they go north they find more tracks which end between two dry spots. Divan assumes the troll is between the dry spots. Divan as the raft stop and watches for bubbles. Time to time bubbles come out from the water at an inconstant rate.
Divan casts to summon a water elemental and has it descends into the water where Divan assumes the Troll's Lair is. The elemental quickly finds the troll. The water elemental ambushes the troll by surprise.
Combat: Elemental vs Troll
* After the elemental hits the troll, attacks back with claws and jaw. The elemental uses this as a chance to flow inside the trolls's mouth and attack them from the inside. The troll is pulled out into the water outside the lair.
* The troll is rendered unconscious. The water elemental dragged out to the surface where Divan and Esoi are waiting on their raft
End of Combat
Divan, busy concentrating on the elemental spell, orders Esoi to rip out the heart of the troll. Esoi is hesitant at first but gets to work sawing the heart out, then falling into the water. The water elemental disappears. Divan dives into the water to recover Esoi. The body of the troll is dragged up as well. Divan stakes the troll to the raft.
===Dealing with the Troll Corpse===
Divan knows the troll regenerates from the largest piece, and the body is the largest part, not the heart. It will take a week for the troll to regrow from its heart.
Divan and Esoi drives the raft on to find a safe spot as the sunsets and in the dark. At dawn they get out of the Brackish Fen on the north-bank and start building a fire.
The fire is small, so Divan and Esoi have to dismember the troll to burn it on the fire. Esoi is talkative but Divan is terse, explaining they are doing dark deeds at the moment, but will answer her questions later. Over the coarse of the day the troll is burned away except for the heart.
With the troll heart in hand, the party make their way back across to the southern side of the Brackish Fen. On the way they stop at Drexl's Workshop overnight. The workshop has a family of raccoons staying inside. Divan sends Esoi inside to deal with them.
The next day the pair ender the Red Hills and make their way to Chronos's Cave. The cockatrice population of the Red Hills has almost gone extinct because of the giants stepping on them and Divan capturing others. 
===Chronos's Cave===
Outside the cave are three giants with a fourth inside the cave kneeling before an alter, with with Chronos standing over them, praying. Divan puts the troll heart back on the altar. Chronos ignores Divan for now and finishes his ritual with the giant. After the kneeling giant leaves, Chronos tells Divan he shouldn't have interrupted the ritual. Divan puts the heart into place on the alter properly. Chronos accepts the offering. Divan and Esoi then wait in an alcove for their turn to talk, but the other giants outside have no actual business with Chronos, and Chronos takes petty revenge on Divan by making him wait needlessly.
Eventually Divan asks for blessed leather for his spell. Divan leaves a 100 gp gemstone on the altar as an offering.
===Back in Nekkraut===
At the Tower, is working with the Guardian Yugoloth in the library. is researching spells, and attending to small matters in town in Divan's absence. Cassandra seems to be acting as a sort of unofficial chancellor to Divan. Divan doesn't notice these political moves.
Mof & Esoi reach level 2, Cassandra is at least level 3.
A wandering half-elven scholar, Syklus, arrives in town while Divan was away. The scholar travels around Ancient Bravo gathering and selling lore and information she gather. Divan visits with Syklus the scholar in the common room of an inn. Syklus asks about Divan's formal title and position, and Divan says he is just an Archmage, but his father-in-law is the mayor. Divan then invites Syklus to visit the library in the tower. Divan and Syklus arrange an exchange in knowledge, with Divan supplying room and board for the traveling scholar as well as a wage. Divan assigns Cassandra (& Mof) to take notes from Syklus.
Divan learns that Syklus is from a village north of Hearthome, near the elven woods, but has a base in Hearthome itself. 
From the notes, Divan learns more of Hearthome as well as the existence of Acropolis, and the rumors of a city-state to the south across the great plains. He is given a copy of the map of Ancient Bravo.
Divan, who is interested in the world staff, is told that according to Elven Lore the world staff is core of The World. But the staff is located in another realm. The elves are rumoured to have a Philosophers' Stone.
The elven territory is made of three spaces. The Wildwood, the Shapedwood, and the Outlands. Instead of building from lumber, the elven people shape their dwellings from living trees. Platting saplings of specific type of tree in strategic locations, then over decades or centuries carefully shaping their growth into actual structures. The elves generally live in small groups known as pods (populations 25 to 100). The elves live in a symbiotic relationship with nature around them. In addition to the pods are trade hubs throughout their lands where the pods travel to trade. These trade hubs are made of redwoods or sequoias, large trees that grow slowly, resist fire, and have long lifespans. The shaping of the trade hub buildings takes entire lifetimes of elves. There is a single elven city, that is in its infancy, and made from giant sequoias. The giant sequoias are infused with the soul of an elf, and the tree can shape its own structure. The elves gather in the city once a year to meet and govern themselves. The Pods, Trading Hubs and the city, make up realm of the "Shaped Wood" in elven lands. The wild woods are an area of woods between the Shaped Wood and the Outlands. The wild woods are left to grow on their own with little to no intervention from the elves. Anything outside of this is considered the Outlands, essentially any non-forested region. The Outlands are considered inhospitable to the elven people.
Syklus, the half-elf, explains her elven father had nothing to do with her upbringing, and considered Syklus an "abomination".
Divan considers how he shapes stone to be alike the way elves shape wood, and Divan considers infusing souls into his "shaped-stone".
===Spell Research===
Divan begins his spell research, starting with . After 9 weeks Divan fails to research the spell for this level. 
Divan then starts work on which takes 20 weeks.
===Autumn News===
During the past 29 weeks Divan's wife, , becomes pregnant. The child is due to be born 10 May.
Also during this time the docks at Shelter Bay are completed.
The river coming out of the qanat in Nekkraut, thanks to Platos's aid, has continued to grow, and is a hefty flowing river instead of a creek. Terrica farming on the sides of the river has grown in scale to match. Divan's Uncle 's vineyard is fully functional. Divan takes some of the first bottles of wine to use for identify spells later.
Divan reviews the notes left behind by Syklus when she left. She describes Divan fairly accurately, but her notes on Atropos are largely negative.
===Magic Jar===
Divan looks for certain gems that can be used for the spell to capture elementals. He easily obtains some smoked quartz to capture air elementals within, and some aquamarine for water elementals.
With the quartz and aquamarines, Divan goes to the magic circle at Drexl's Workshop with all of his apprentices.
It is a dark and stormy night when the ritual begins.
1) Divan then casts to shift his own soul into the 1st Magic Jar.
2) Divan then takes over Esoi's body, sending her soul to the 1st Magic Jar. Divan's body is left in the basement.
3) Divan, in Esoi's body, spends the 10 minutes to cast to summon a air elemental in the magic circle. The air elemental is trapped inside the magic circle. 
4) Divan, in Esoi's body, casts another spell, to shift his own soul into a Smokey Quartz gem, the 2nd Magic Jar.
5) Divan then takes over the Air Elemental, sending the elemental's soul ends into a Smokey Quartz gem, the 2nd Magic Jar. Divan returns his soul to the 1st Magic Jar, sending Esoi's soul back into her own body. The air elemental's soulless body, a tornato, is no longer bound by the magical circle, and goes off into the swamp, nearly hitting Mof.
7) Divan's soul then returns to his own body. The air elemental's soul is trapped in the 2nd Magic Jar.
Divan returns to the surface and finds Esoi casting . Esoi finds there is still some sort of magical link between herself and Divan now. Esoi is uncertain about the situation. Divan ignores Esoi for now and picks up the Magic Jar (the smokey quartz gem) that has the Air Elemental Soul trapped inside. Even after wears off, the Air Elemental is still trapped inside the gem. 
All of the apprentices are gathered together talking about what just happened, and look at Divan with a surreal horror. Divan assures Esoi he can't take over her body at will, and she can always use one of the scrolls in the case of emergency. Divan's goal is to this for all four elements, so all the apprentices will be linked with one-another and Divan in the end.
The party return to Nekkraut.
==Level-Up==
No level-up this episode.
Category:Dicing with Death Episodes
Category:Divan Episodes