Episode 21: The Dark Sigil

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**October 7, 2020**

We began this episode with most of the party at the training grounds and with Rhistelin the library. Towenaar Pilanthis had just shown Muud, Luberos, and Ridgely his little grenade gadget, when Commander Aeolith called Luberos over. He offered him a job to fight with them, but Luberos graciously turned it down to stay with the group. Aeolith then said if he ever found his way to Highgate and was looking for emply, to get in touch at the palace. The others then made their way to the library to meet up with Rhistel. Meanwhile, having found a spell to summon animal companions in the same book where the spell to transport to the Fey is, Rhistel summoned a giant eagle to fly around the library. He was quickly scolded by Bookkeeper Volyn, though, and dismissed the eagle. The others arrived, and Muud promptly decided to speak with Volyn to get his tit-for-tat from Koko's trade. He asked her about his entity and why she wanted to learn nothing more about them. She told him that those powerful enough to bond with mortals and give them powers are dangerous. That the wise person fears when appropriate, and that those who are bonded will inevitably serve their master to their own destruction and possibly the destruction of those around them. Ridgely then took a turn to try to get information from Volyn, but instead of a straight-up exchange of information, Ridgely tried to get Volyn high to squeeze some extra information out of her. She, however, was privy to this strategy and resisted his persuasion. He relented, and instead asked Volyn for information about Oaklings in exchange for Koko's info. She took Ridgely to a book shelf where she pulled down a pamphlet regarding Oaklings, their language, behaviours, etc. However, this pamphlet seemed to be more propaganda than actual information, so the information inside needed to be taken with a grain of salt. Volyn revealed to Ridgely that she did not know a huge amount about Oaklings and that Craftmaster Ashfall had been unwilling to enlighten her.

Luberos decided not to ask his questions just yet, but wait until later. He, instead, went up to the common room and waited to see the messenger from Frigate he'd heard was staying there. He pulled out his lute and played some music while he waited, but this drew the messenger out. Emissary Turbic was a short little mousey man, and was not at all interested in Luberos except that he stop playing his music. Luberos persuaded him to come over, though, and asked him about the map, of which the man knew very little. When Luberos pulled out his medallion, though, the man went white with fear and attacked Luberos with his dagger. Being a highly skilled fighter, Luberos easily evaded the attack and subdued Turbic, at which point he interrogated him about why he attacked. The man revealed that the symbol on the medallion had been recently taken up by a burgeoning necromancer who has set up a base of operation outside of Frigate. They call it The Dark Sigil. Luberos revealed that his uncle had left him the medallion, and the man suggested that he forget about his uncle, as he is either dead or wrapped up in something evil.

Meanwhile, Koko Dotharl and Rhistel went exploring the temple on the grounds of the Arcanum, finding a ruined building with rooms formed by the collapsed ceiling. The temple floor was covered in a sort of lightning-like grey glass, branching out from a central point inside the temple. After some exploration they found a room with a shattered stained glass window, a room with some broken statues, and then finally a room with a staircase leading downwards into a blank, stone wall. Koko and Rhistel walked down the stairs and Koko touched the wall, at which point a design of six circles imprinted themselves into the wall. After some experimentation, they found that the circles can be dragged around, sometimes into stable formations, but eventually returning back to their original, two-row orientation. They both tried many random combinations, but were unable to find one that succeeded in doing anything. They eventually left, but ran into Ridgely and Muud on the way. They took him back to the door, and he also tried some combinations, but was unable to make any more headway than they did. They finally left, heading towards Master Ashfall. Luberos, looking for the others, also made his way to Master Ashfall at the same time. They arrived there, where Ridgely could chat with Ashfall about Oaklings, and Ashfall gave Ridgely a small box of pristine wood with two holes in it. The holes, it turned out, were a whistle of sorts that only an Oakling could hear.