Zoom 2021-06-10 21:00

## Party activities:

* Party decides to stay at the Diamond Fort (DF) for now – can go to a ‘safe house’ later. There is definitely a ‘no landing zone’ in the DF.
* Francis makes his seasonal Wyldwood offerings, and tries to get details of Alveran/Elven treaty, but it is not published yet. We defined the update that had been sent off to Alveran command (including a copy of Onwen’s letter).
* Caradoc chats to street urchins – there is a ‘lot of money sloshing around’ the street at the moment as loads of people (including the Watch) try to get information about Phinon’s movements etc.
* There are three properties that have a good view of the DF:
	+ A small villa opposite – though its windows towards the DF are generally shuttered. Occupied for many years.
	+ A small villa a bit to the south but has a tower that could oversee the DF front door – occupied for over a year.
	+ A small house that can oversee the back door – owned (long term) by a merchant who also uses it as his office.
	+ Only house nearby that has been recently let is about 300/400 yards down the street – let out to 4 Elves about 6 months ago.
* Nobody has seen a ‘twitchy giant’ around.
* Q. & J. visit the herbalist:
	+ He was visited by ‘two muscular chaps (humans) with attitude’ who asked about us and the DF – he told them everything!
	+ Also questioned by the City Watch (Q. had asked them to check he was OK)
	+ Has made progress on the Meldorian dust – it is an anti-invis agent (both makes visible and damages invisible things). He doesn’t know how it should be ‘delivered’ - would expect a ‘blow pipe’ but nothing like that was found.
* Phinon: His soul ‘isn’t there’ to be raised or questioned. He was Barosan, and was married with a child. He was particularly interested in the Great Spell of Forgetting. He was due to give a public performance in 2 week time. There is a 25gp bounty for information leading to the arrest of his murderers. [Quercuis clarification: Think it was Hjiim (named by Phinon but not met) at the Halls of Song who was particularly interested in the GSOF – or at least had theorised its existence and was looking for ways to prove it.]
* The ‘Recovery of tools from Sallahan’ bounty is being advertised again: The boatman said that the flashy dwarf returned empty-handed in an unhappy and ‘frazzled’ state – and apparently he left town going West.
* Garaf starts learning Cont. Light and Knock (52.5gp).

## Bez Drock returns.

At 1.am that night (during second watch), the front doors open and Bez Drock comes in leading a very large horse – he looks tired. (He had kept a DF key!)

He wants to know about the box and the ‘bauble’ (ie Elven manifest) inside. He was surprised that we managed to get at it without setting off the wards etc (he has the key to the compartment safely around his neck).

However, he is genuinely relieved to hear that it fell into the hands of an Elven cleric on the date that it did – saying ‘Oh good – I didn’t break my word’.

He goes on to explain that he has been down to Stormhaven and made a bargain with the ‘Bitch Queen’ (ie Sorlor) there – he agreed to get the ‘bauble’ back to an Elven cleric in return for her ‘stopping enslaving humans and killing everything on sight’. (She’ll keep the slaves she’s already got though.) As Drock made his bargain with her before the manifest was retrieved, he has kept his word and the bargain stands (though how long Sorlor continues to honour it is another question.)

## Further information/activities:

* He tells us more about the DF and its secrets: There is an escape tunnel from the cellar. There is a ‘bowl’ behind some panels in the cellar that allows you to see/hear/scan all around the house and outside. Bazin and Wun marvel at the construction of the secret door. There is apparently a fully fledged, though unused, dungeon below!
* The Watch have a key to the DF.
* He remembers writing the Word of Recall scroll – which he accepts back (but turns down the offer of the return of the box, necklace and other scrolls.) His WOR goes to his home temple in Bristol (he was originally Solaran, but totally rejects their views.)
* His memory of the other Words of Recall scrolls is clouded (GSOV) - but he said that they were supposedly important, and Onwen did go ‘back into’ the box occasionally.
* The Oak Tree has grown enormously – it was about 12 feet high when Onwen died – now it is 30-40 foot high. The sapling is new too – it looks over a year old, but there was nothing like that there before.
* Onwen and Drock picked up the sapling that became this Oak Tree in Tobar.
* After leaving Far Haven, they went first to Tobar – Onwen went to the Shrine of Change (without Drock) and met Zarathan, and left some stuff from the Far Haven shrine there. Then they went to Dalzon – and met some Solaran human merchants which Onwen said was important, but Drock does not know why. Then they came here.
* Onwen had a great deal of interest in using/improving the Nomad’s use of plants/herbs – especially against undead.
* Onwen also supplemented his income (though obviously he had quite a lot to start with to pay for the DF) with the ‘recreational’ use and sale of the drugs – hence the Ledger. Drock did not approve – but he did his job as bodyguard, and was also a good friend.
* Drock thinks Onwen got his mithril symbol in Tobar – he certainly only saw the manifest after Tobar (and there were no smiths in Far Haven who could have worked mithril.) However, he thinks Onwen was ‘selected’ as Guardian during the fight in the Far Haven shrine – ie he had a sudden, massive ‘hike’ in power then.
* There were Elves down in the Far Haven shrine when Drock/Onwen attacked – and though their aim was to eliminate all the Elves down there, they got away. This included Rasten.

The party has another hour in which they can ask Drock questions, or get him to show them more workings of the DF.