The Pokening (12/4/2022)

## In a Tavern, finally

After consulting with Fast Tony, the party decided that it might be wise to follow up on the lead provided about the building where Inquisitor guard changes had been noticed. It was already evening at this point so the group decided to stay the evening in Alescia so they could start fresh in the morning. Alluin, quiet and brooding, quickly departed the table and headed for his room. Fen observed this and decided to follow out of curiosity. Upon reaching the door, Alluin turned, closed the door in Fen's face, and stone shaped the door into a wall. Fen found this to be a bit rude, knocked, shrugged, and returned to the table with the rest of the party. Alluin began casting a ritual spell to try and locate Hadrian in the privacy of his own room.

Dandellion, also curious, goes to investigate the room that Alluin disappeared into. Ryafyrie and Kizzik follow along as well (wizards are mysterious). Dandellion knocked on the wall where the door used to be, but fairies are small. Winston barked loudly however, and this made it through to disturb Alluin just before he completed his ritual. Concerned for the well being of the dog, he opened the door. The four in the hallway barged into the room much to Alluin's dismay. He was eventually able to complete his ritual spell. Coming out of it, he announced to the unwelcome guests "I'VE FOUND HADRIAN". Hadrian is apparently located in Dal Kharaz which is a long way away from Alescia where the party is. Alluin is able to send a Sending spell to Hadrian, letting him know where the party is and to try and reach us. Teleportation to Dal Kharaz may prove difficult to locate and the trip out will be weeks. These four manage to find a place to sleep in this small hotel room. Kizzik takes up too much room in a bed.

## Avandra's Blessings

While all of this is occurring, Talek wanders off towards the Church of Avandra and finds himself welcome amongst peers. He's even being admired for his tales of adventure and promoting the greatness of Avandra which is a change for him. In his room, there's a tap full of free ale so he makes the right choice and uses a Sending spell to inform Fen that there's free ale, which Fen quickly rushes towards. Once they are both in the company of the priests of Avandra, Fen is asked how Avandra has impacted his life. He goes on to weave some incredible tales and wins the favor of the priests (Talek has a pang of jealousy over this). They both end up fairly wasted and proceed to pass out in the Church.

On another plane of existence, the spirit of Ilnyas wanders, loud whispering voices and noises all around her. She stumbles through this plane, following voices and sees herself along with Talek and Hadrian. She tries yelling to herself and notices that her other self appears to notice this. She begins to realize that the voices she had been hearing were her own spirit from another time in another plane, which is upsetting. She tries to prevent her past self from entering the city where she is killed by a giant tree, but is unable to convince her past self.

She continues on through this plane and feels a pull towards a particular point. She can make out the outline of 2 familiar figures, Fen and Talek, though they don't seem to be in physical form. She proceeds to angrily poke Fen, which wakes him up from a drunken slumber painfully. The poking continues as Fen wakes Talek in a panic. Talek doesn't detect any good or evil and Fen flees the room, moving far enough from the bone that he stashed in his pack and severing the connection with Ilnyas. He shows welts from the poking to Talek, managing to hide the scales and Talek decides to involve the priests as well. The priests recommend performing a seance to try and communicate with the spirit. The spirit of Ilnyas sees a circle form and tries yelling from outside the circle but no sound comes. She steps into the circle and immediately kicks Fen in the face, resulting in a solid strike knocking him over. Ilnyas realizes that she can be heard while in this circle and is able to communicate with the physical realm through the bone that Fen now carries, binding the two of them together. Fen apologizes profusely, the seance ends, and they exhaustedly fall back asleep.

## Following Fast Tony's lead

In the morning, they all reconvene and set out for the small village that Fast Tony had provided information about. The village is a short journey. Once inside, they see a number of buildings that appear to be functional and one single boarded up building that doesn't appear to be in use. This must be the place that Fast Tony had been talking about. They make their way in, searching the building, and locate what appear to be a complex device for descending through passages. After some time, they figure out how to use this "ladder" and make their way down to the bottom where they find a small area with a stone bridge and some steps. It's pretty dark down here, so Alluin casts the Light spell on Leaf's breastplate. Leaf, ever the brave soldier, decides to lead the way. As they approach the bridge, two massive warhammers come out of nowhere, smashing into Leaf...roll for initiative.