Episode 20: The Art of the Deal

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September 30, 2020

We began this episode with the party splitting - Luberos, Muud, and Ridgely were off to train with Towenaar Pilanthis and the elves, while Koko Dotharl and Rhistel headed to the library to make a deal with Volyn.

At the training, Luberos, Muud, and Ridgely all joined in the morning kata, and Luberos proved to be very proficient at copying it.. Ridgely also performed well, while Muud struggled with balance due to his ball hand. Towenaar Pilanthis came over to help them with slight adjustments, obviously impressed by Luberos. At the break, Commander Aeolith asked if they would be interested in some sparring with his elves, and they agreed. After watching a few bouts, it was their turn and they chose to fight together against three of the elves. The fight was intense as the elves attacked swiftly, but Luberos again impressed the Towenaar by evading every. single. hit. Ridgely also did well, landing the finishing blow on all three elves. Muud was frustrated by the anti-magic barrier over the training grounds, and was only able to use Shadowwhisper. He did, however, find that his ball-hand provided some level of protection to him by releasing a reddish wave of force that deflected some blows. Just before the final elf was defeated, Muud was forced to submit and leave the fight, so the bout ended with a score of 3-1, a resounding victory for our party. The Towenaar was so impressed by this, and specifically Luberos' incredible fighting skills, that when the party asked for some new combat technique to learn, the Pilanthis was happy to oblige. He showed them a gadget he had designed and been refining, offering one to each of them in return for their feedback on how well it works in battle. These gadgets were a small ball with holes throughout. They each had a button on it to arm, and then upon impact it sprays out small, pointy, metal projectiles in all directions.

Meanwhile, Koko and Rhistel went to the library to meet Bookkeeper Volyn where Koko offered to trade information about her world in return for one question answered for each of her comrades. Volyn considered this carefully, and specifically asked for as much information as Koko could provide about the deities of her world. With a nice persuasion roll, Koko managed to get Volyn to agree to this deal. She then gave a lot of detail regarding the various gods of her world. It was then Rhistel's turn to ask a question of Volyn. He decided to ask her how to get to the Fey. She said that there is a spell that must be said in a specific location. She offered to tell him about either the spell or the location, and Rhistel chose the spell. She then led Rhistel up a long spiral staircase to a balcony overlooking the library. The balcony wrapped around the circumference of the room, and itself was lined with books. She led him far around to the south side, where she then climbed a ladder, grabbed a book, and then flipped through opening it to a specific page. On it was a spell that she told Rhistel will take him to the Fey. It does not require the speaker to be magical, but the magic of the Fey will recognize the words and bring the speaker across. He went back to his room, got some supplies for copying the spell, and then returned to do so.