01/02/2022 - Desperate Discussions and Tablet Tinkering

## Saving terry

We are on the rowing boat… Terry is drowning, so Leo helps him up (much to Blagden’s distaste).

This takes a few minutes, by which point the boat firing at us begins getting closer.

Leo and his new pal Terry begin to row us away – we pick up the pace, we are faster than the big old gun ship attacking us.

Blagden helps guide the rowboat back to where he remembers the (still invisible) Wildmane being. We seem to be pulling away. The gun boat stops following us and returns to the wreckage of their own ship they just blew up.

## Desperate discussions

We get onto the Wildmane, becoming invisible as we do so. Blagden shouts at Trimaeus to sail away asap!

As we sail away, Scribbulus gathers us all up (which takes a while due to the invisibility).

Scribbulus explains that the purple pirate knows everything. She made Rocky and Scribbulus tell them everything. Purple pirate is going to Auorundfell now to steal the tablet piece there before we can get the dwarves to secure it in their deepest vaults.

We discuss hightailing it without the replica to try and persuade the dwarves to secure it.

But Trimaeus (who once lived in Auorundfell) says the dwarves wouldn’t hide the real piece without the replica, as it’s politically sensitive, and if the ruling family hid it, the other families would think they were making a power grab.

So, we need to get their asap (before the purple pirate can get their and do a heist) with the replica.

This should be doable, as would take the purple pirate some time to get there and work out a way past the dwarven guards.

We also agree we need to warn the dwarves that the purple pirate is on the way, and the guild that the purple pirate seems to know we have the other tablet pieces.

We have no way to contact the guild at present, but Trimaeus says we actually received a letter from the guild, and can reply to that.

The letter reads as follows:

*Dear Archaeologists,*

*I hope this letter finds you well.*

*I write to provide you with vital information pertaining to your current mission. I would have liked to discuss this in person, but, for reasons that will become clear, I did not want to have this conversation in front of the Dwarven ambassadors, and Dr T wished you to leave immediately.*

*As you know, Professor Xandar and I have spent the past month rigorously studying the two tablet pieces and associated scrolls that are currently in the guild’s possession. This has been a regrettably slow process due to the damaged the items had sustained, but thanks to the expert restorative skill of Prof. Xandar, I believe we have finally worked out the true purpose of the tablet!*

*It seems that the tablet is designed for use with a complex spell that temporarily conjures an avatar of Asmodeus to the material plane WITHOUT causing his other avatars in Baator to disappear. The duration of this summoning is unclear (we shall keep investigating) and the specifics of why a temporary avatar would be useful is beyond me. This does however seem to explain the ancient canvas you found, which had seemed to show an impossible number of Asmodeus’s avatars at once!*

*I hardly need tell you how dangerous an avatar of Asmodeus would be, even if temporary. It is for this reason I did not want to say this in front of the dwarves (they believe the tablet is simply an intriguing artefact), the fewer people who know of this the better.*

*I have made it clear to Dr T that I believe the tablet pieces and spell scrolls need to be kept as securely and secretly as possible. In the wrong hands this information could be catastrophic. I suggest that we hide one of the pieces we have in Master Quails tower – the magical protections he has are formidable. It is now vital that you complete your mission as quickly as possible. The sooner the dwarves move the real tablet to their deepest and securest vault the better!*

*Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions,*

*Best wishes,*

*Dr Page*

We discuss avatars, remember the murals found in Sariel’s lair. Leo knows that Asmodeus cannot normally have any Avatars on the mortal plane, whilst having avatar in Baator. This seems to be a method to try and get around this (i.e. to get an Avatar on the material plane AND the hells etc).

We don’t know why exactly Asmodeus would want to do this, but assume it’s not good.

We agree that it’s good the guild seem to be on it with hiding the tablet piece in Quails tower. We discuss Dr Page and his potential innocence/guilt. Blagden points out Dr Page knows the same stuff as Dr T, Professor Xandar, the rest of our group, other guild fellows etc. But we also remember that Dr Page did tell us he’d been to the Hells (Diss) to do research before (not that he’d seemed dodgy at all about this, he told us very openly).

Before replying to Dr Page, we ask about Scribbulus and Rocky. They explain how they were gone for way longer than 4 minutes, had been tortured, and forced to tell the purple pirate everything. We discuss this and agree that it desn’t really change anything. We need the real tablet to be hidden, so need the replica, so need to continue with the plan.

## Back at the wretched hive

We sail to The Wretched Hive. We are all exhausted.

We drop Lucas off with his sister (they are very emotional), and go straight to the forgery man to order the replica.

He is very happy we got Lucas back. Leo says we need an urgent forging. We show him the schematics for the tablet. He thinks it’ll take 2+ weeks to make! This is two slow. We say we’ll help. Can get a perfect version in about 1 – 1.5 weeks with our help. Will take purple pirate 1.5 – 2.5 weeks to get there + presumably time to find their way into the city (Trimaeus tells us you can’t just sail in, there aren’t many ways in).

We discuss how we want to give the forger to do the job. Do we give him the full 1.5 weeks for a perfect version, or less time for a lower quality version…

We realise that it needs to be perfect, so we request a perfect version taking 1.5 – 2 weeks.

We reply to the guilds letter, telling them that we agree with the plan to hide one of the guild tablet pieces in Master Quails tower, warning them that the pirates know about the guilds pieces, and affirming that we will indeed continue with our mission with haste, to get the tablet piece in Auorundfell as secure as possible.

## Tablet tinkering

We spend the next week helping the old forger man make the replica tablet.

Rocky’s persuasion and Blagden’s arcana allow quick sourcing of materials and accurate ageing of the materials, so they look realistic.

Blagden’s dexterous fingers help with the carving of the shape, whilst Scribbulus history knowledge helps keep things historically accurate. Rocky suggests breaking the mould, so no one can steal it etc.

After 1.5 weeks of solid work, we have a perfectly made replica! Blagden suggests making sure we take away all of the moulds/schematics/materials etc. just in case someone finds them.

During the week we also message the dwarves to tell them that the purple pirate is after their coronation stone – we first message the king’s advisor, he ignores us. We then message the VP of the university (Elain Sylftail). She is concerned, tells us not to tell anyone else. We are worried about the fact we told the kings advisor so tell her this. She says not to worry as that is her brother.

## To Auorundfell!

Rocky bosses around Derrick a bit – Derrick fails to make Rocky a good tea. Blagden encourages him to continue being tricksy.

Rocky (who is a pro sailor now) takes the helm whilst we question Trimaeus about Auorundfell….

* Auorundfell is the capital of the dwarven realm. Orion Gyldencore has been the King for 30 years. Other dwarves (from other cities) report to him, but are not ruled by him. I.e. the dwarves are structured as a federation of cities, with a king in Auorundfell to settle disputes between them (manage ore pricing, license mining rites, arrange trade agreements and offer protection in times of conflict etc.).

* 10 dwarven families (Gyldencore, Sylftail, Eirhorn, Opalback, Ironhide, Difang, Platewing, Adascale, Titalon, Mithspirit - no longer exist kingdoms, so only 9 remain).

* Kings/Queens from a family tend to rule for 50ish years. They are elected. Can run for multiple terms. One representative from each family can try to be elected each cycle. The unsuccessful representatives from each family become the king’s council for his term. All Kings/representatives temporary give up all rights to their family wealth etc.

* The current 10 families are all descendants of the dwarves who were responsible for killing a massive dragon that had lived on Auorundfell. They harvested parts from the dragon and turned them into powerful artefacts that gave the families their current names.

* The city is an active volcano. Heat and energy are syphoned from it to power the city. Large jewel in the top of the city to illuminate the city.

* The tablet is currently kept in the main hall, is well protected, but not impossible to steal certainly. The King wields many of the artefacts made from the killed dragon, so is a very powerful individual.

* Dwarves found the tablet in the dragon’s lair when they came to kill it. It became a symbol of their defeat of the dragon, and became part of their ceremony. The dragon was a red, called Imvaenarho.

* Azeel Sylftail is the advisor who ignored us, he is the arch mage of the Kings council. The dragon artefact held by the Sylftail’s is a very powerful staff.

* Trimaeus tells us a few general things about the dwarves. They are generally genderless. No specific customs / arrival rules we need to know.

* Also, Lyra Opalback is the treasurer of the Auorundfell council – her family rule Eastcairn, the dwarven city that is part of the Empire.

To speed up the journey, Lysandre casts haste on the ship as much as physically possible.

For 3 hours a day, Scribbulus polymorphs into a sperm whale to pull the boat even faster, and 2 hours a day of control winds.

With this, we make it in just five days, rather than two weeks!

As we approach, we see the island. A large volcano, with smoke drifting out of the top. There is a very small dock on the east side of the island, with just a few pier’s. Lots of large holes bored into the east and west flanks of the island. Some large cable-car type things are being pulled up and down the side of the volcano, used to transport material in/out.

Can see the glow of a large spotlight at the top of the volcano. Mirrors reflecting light inside. The holes are bored all the way through to let more light in. Very complex and clever system.

Trimaeus bids us farewell, says he will head into the city in a few days.