Imported from the Errands in Town thread: Josh said: -confident that gurrak is going to sit there an wait from reinforcements he will fly to the keep and pick up the the other 2 cure moderate wound potions there and the 1 light cure potion as well as the dose of Drow sleeping poison - see if Leo has any tips on fighting a mage -How is Hammanap? and then go catch up with the others. You have just enough time left in the evening to fly to the Stone River Waypoint and back before your away team is shipped out for the assault. Leoavor's glad to see you, and unlocks the Vault to help you gather the party supplies while questioning you about recent events in the Siege of Waterwend. "Well, most arcanists are glass cannons... magic can be a huge force multiplier, but it takes a lot of focus to master. If you can make it harder for Gurak to actually cast his spells, it'll be much easier to take him down. You could try getting in close and attacking him whenever he tries to cast one, entangling him with a net or tanglefoot bag." Hamanap soon comes to see you as well, once she learns you're in the Waypoint. "Welcome, Limar! You should see the fine work Caden did on your new Shrine of Astilabor , smithing a bronze cover and chain for her holy book. He just finished it today, and I've been admiring it. Oh, did you hear that Traubonn and Gunnloda starting dating? I heard from Liftrasa--his distant kin, I think--that he's had a crush on her for some time." Once you've gathered the potions and poison, Leoavor re-enables the traps and locks the Vault up tight again, telling you "My research into teleportation magic is coming along well. I think if I can finish it soon, it may be of great use in the Stone River War... especially now that Bowhery's fallen. It sounds like the situation is pretty bad there. The 105th and Kraggan's druid friend Riet are trying to arrange a guerilla resistance from the forests west of the town, but they think it might be a while before they're ready to move in and free the hostages." Josh said: in that case i may as well get those 3 tangle foot bags in the vault as well. admiring it enough to consider converting? Hamanap laughs easily, her embroidered purple robes swaying around her as she walks through the halls beside you. "The Lord of the North Wind will always be first in my heart, Limar. Astilabor has my respect, as a part of the draconic pantheon, but... her ideology is just too materialistic for me. Good deeds should always be valued over good things." "I don't know," Leoavor says with the shadow of an impish smile, "Things can be pretty nice. This fortress, for example... strong walls, soft beds, hot food. Pretty damn good." Josh said: good for them, maybe some day I'll get the time to get to know all of those who follow me. -speaking off which, that Eckbert dwarf fellow fell in battle, if you could let the others know, and see if any of them know who his kin is at so that we can send them a message. -by we I mean you after gurrak falls I plan to spend the next long while in the stonefare earning rithes trust. Hamanap looks saddened. "He was a good man, and true... my Bahamut guide his soul to the eternal fields of light." Leoavor waits a few beats to add, "He always came off a bit brash to me, but he did seem to have a good heart. I'll see what I can do about finding his family. Perhaps we can send them a bit of coin too, and his remains. What happened to them after the battle?" Josh said: Sounds good Leo, maybe you can use it to come get me at that kobold temple when im needed. "I hope so," Leoavor sighs. "I still think you're a little crazy, going into deep cover in enemy territory like that, but I can't fault your courage." Hamanap adds "Once you go into the Stonefare , we won't be able to send physical messages thanks to the embargo. I'll keep in touch with sending though, so you can respond with news from inside." "We've been discussing the course of the war," Leoavor explains, "and we both think it's likely that things will stagnate for a while after the fate of Waterwend is resolved. Whether it falls or not, the enemy alliance seems to have Bowhery in a firm grip, and the Terolus Military Garrison at Base Camp is dug in hard against intrusions. Hurock's been helping me keep in touch with Colonel Treeford there, and he says there've been only minimal attacks from golgari... though they are seeing some raids from Suloise troops wandering northward, too, and refugees from nearby thorps and villages that have been sacked." Hamanap nods. "Your friend Jakob, the priest of Ehlonna, has organized a militia of locals there as well. Or more of a volunteer city watch, perhaps? They call themselves the Alicorn Resurgent, in honor of his goddess's symbol." Leoavor smiles at this. "In any case, we think the Siege of Waterwend will be a turning point in the Stone River War. Whichever side takes the city will tip the scales in the next major battle, perhaps this autumn. And since that next major battle will likely either be in Bowhery or Base Camp , your position in Rith's court will likely play a major role in its outcome." Josh said: -can any of the craft people make a neckless or arm band for the rithe /flesh reek symbol "I'll get Alton right on that," Leo promises. "He's good with leatherworking and upholstery, been helping update our guards' livery." Josh said: int 16 to remeber where his stuff is. You recall that his body, still armed and armored in the traditon of dwarven warriors, was given to the Orthan River by Eldon Underhill in the tradition of Waterwend. Josh said: It was all given to the river, we can do the gold easily, maybe we could get a replacement weapon at least. Leoavor nods easily. "We'll take care of it. The Waypoint's running quite well now, economically... everyone seems to have settled into their roles, and we've been producing all the food and goods we need. And whatever we can't make, we've been able to trade for with merchants coming up the canal. There's been a spike in those, I think the war is still driving them away from the other ports. Some have mentioned that Kraggan sent them our way, too." Josh said: -I thought the suilose problem ended when their navy got hit by the storm "I'm not totally sure what the deal is with that, to be honest..." Leoavor frowns, shrugging. Hamanap says "We've heard the same rumors of their fleets being scattered and scuttled, but also tales of them moving northward over Terolus in small bands, sacking villages whose lords went south to fight them on the coast. Perhaps a larger force of them survived the Storm, and are still engaged with the Terolus Army there?" "If so," Leo adds, "the ones raiding around Base Camp are probably just killing for sport and looting for survival, little more than bandits now. In any case, it doesn't sound like they have the numbers to pose a real threat to the garrison, unless they join forces with Rith One-eye or her allies. That's my only real concern, so far as the Suloise go." Josh said: - a stranded army far from home I wonder if they're still loyal to Suloise. Do either of you know anything about The suloise and their culture? How the war between terolous and them started? -any knowledge apply? Leoavor ponders this for a moment, as if unsure of how to begin. "I've read up a bit about them... the original Suel Empire, what the people in this part of the world call Old Suel, was located in the Flaness in northeastern Oerik. The Free City of Greyhawk, where I grew up, is in the Flaness too. They were a human subrace who exterminated or drove out all the other races in their territory, and became immensely powerful by use of ancient, mostly lost, magicks. But Old Suel was devastated by a supernatural disaster long ago, the great empire destroyed and scattered into a diaspora. Some of the refugees sailed as far as southeastern Oerik, where they colonized a largely primitive region of jungle and desert, which people where I'm from call New Suel, but people around here just call Suel. Even the native peoples of the region, who were largely enslaved or exterminated by the colonists, are now called Suloise in the Common tongue, though they have much darker skin and hair than the colonists and their own rich culture. But wherever they are, the Suloise have a long history of conquest and strong ideals about the supremacy of their own culture. They were always deadliest at sea, and were terrorizing the coastlines of the Thillonrian Peninsula long before they came south... in the centuries since, they've been the scourge of southeastern Oerik, from the Sea of Amarillo to the Omar Coast and Anaro Cape, as far as the Sea of Lost Souls and the southern coast of Terolus. They've had numerous wars with most coastal nations here, including Terolus, the Kingdom of Provincia, and the Longinus States." Knowledge (geography), (history), (religion), and (local) apply. "I recall stories in my homeland about raiders with faces like white sandstone rising from the seas. They were treacherous and false, making promises of friendship and then delivering only death," Hamanap says, her eyes far away.