Downtime: Elro

There had been no small amount of excitement in your first day back in the city, but you left home with a purpose, and you had hoped to find aid in the city to restore your master from his mysterious ailment. Surely someone here knows how to tell what has befallen him.

Elro reflects on the pass few days. What started as he imagined to be a quick errand, was turning into an adventure. However he had research to do. Perhaps after doing some work on his own, he could go to see the casters that helped with the cultist, to see what they know.   After his normal preparations for the day, he set out to find a library. While there  Elro will briefly talk to whose incharge, and then look up all manner of illnesses, blights, plagues, sicknesses that effect magic users, and healing magic. Before leaving for the tower the casters spoke of, Elro would inquire of any research, or translation jobs he could assist with later.

Traditionally, the libraries in the city are privately owned, but Elro's credentials as a scholar are enough to get him into more than one. His research turns up a great many possibilities, but the most likely causes, considering the length of the ailment and his master's previously healthy existence, are either a powerfully cursed item or a partial possession by extraplanar spirits. In exchange, he promises to provide translations of several scrolls written in the language of giants. The wizards' tower in Ghostforge turns out to be a massive clock tower, and it seems the arrival of a firbolg was expected. A porter opens the door for you and instructs you that Master Creios awaits you in the third floor study. When you reach the third floor and knock, the door is opened by what you suspect is an Unseen Servant spell. The elderly human who you met on the bridge is waiting in a comfortable chair, and offers you a seat in a similar chair across from him.

Elro leans his staff against the wall closest to him and removes his satchel, but takes out a small treat for Fang before placing it next to his chair. Elro formally introduces himself and thanks the Creios again for his help. Elro also compliments the tower  “I’ve only heard stories from my mentor Alinore, this place doesn't disappoint .”

"Ah, you're Alinore's apprentice, then. You know, when we met he and I looked to be the same age. Now I'm weathered and gray and I imagine he still looks young and hale as ever." As you explain Alinore's condition, Creios's expression falls. He crosses the room and begins pulling down tomes, some of which you recognize as rare volumes on demonology and exorcism, others strange to you and in unknown language. Reading through them and taking notes on a sheet of paper brought by the same Unseen Servant. As he reads, he questions you about details of your master's condition and his habits right before the condition started. After a couple hours of research, interrogation, and the occasional mystical formula, all Creios is able to determine is that he will need to run tests to narrow down your master's condition. Normally, he would teleport there and back today, but without the experimental warp dust he had been developing he doubts he could be back in a week due to the inaccuracy and overland travel involved. Nonetheless he begins packing his things, telling you that dust or no dust, he will set out tomorrow evening, but bringing his dust to him before then will mean a much faster journey.

Elro explains that his master's behavior was pretty much normal, the only difference was Alinore mentioned he was working on a projection that took alot of his time. Elro also says that because of his master, he has devoted alot of time studying healing magic before coming to the city.  Elro asks if there is anything he can do to help with the dust, That me might be able to follow behind after gathering some components he needed to get in the city as well. "And forgive me, as I know how important this situation is. But I must know, why did you invite me and the others to come to the tower?"

He marks a couple more notes. "If you've been studying healing magic, you might want to talk to my colleague Anha. She's the high priestess over at the temple of Haborh. You'll recognize her, she was the dragonborn with violet scales from yesterday. She knows more about healing than anyone in the city, I'd wager." "As for the dust, I had originally thought it was taken by those fellows you apprehended yesterday. Did you see anything that might match that description while fighting them? It's pale green, coarse powder." He sets his page aside at the last question. "I invited you here because you and your friends are now aware of the presence of the imprisoned gods, and I wanted to be sure that you had access to the whole story. The short version for now is that they exist and they're imprisoned for a reason. Any of my fellows could explain more if you ask, or I'll be happy to sit down with you when I get back. Or, for that matter, I'll leave word that you're to have access to the relevant tomes from my library. Just...don't let your sticky-fingered friends get too close to them."

"I might have saw the cult leader use some sort of dust, but I don't recall for sure. I'll speak with the guard captain to see if there was any on the body." "I'll speak with my companions about the imprisoned ones, if there is some way for us to help prevent a catastrophe,  we'll do it. And thank you for the access to the library.  Elro places a hand on Creios' shoulder. "I bid you safe travel, and please keep me updated on my master's condition. It's hard to explain, but you will see for yourself soon enough."

"I'm sure I will, lad. Don't worry, your master's a tough old elf. We'll get whatever's afflicting him out on its ear. Assuming it has ears." The guards listen to your request as a courtesy, and if you explain that it's an errand for Creios will even let you in to examine the cultists' bodies yourself. Nobody has seen a powder like you're describing, though. It is possible that other cells of the cultists had such an object and escaped when you foiled their ritual, or that an unrelated person has stolen the powder. And so there is little to do but wait, read, and possibly ask questions. Creios's books reveal that there are many primordial god-like beings such as Ayk imprisoned away in pocket dimensions. Each was tied to a specific region, such as Ayk to his river, or the cave-god Naomis to the winding tunnels of southern Yenelas. During Bacia's stone age, these beings were worshipped, and initially everything seemed alright. However, maybe 500 years before the forming of the kingdoms (or roughly 800 years ago overall), something changed in these gods. Prophets of the time called it the coming of Parasite, though scholars debate whether that was one being or many. Whatever it was, it arrived and the primordial gods started to change, becoming more violent and destructive and twisted, and any who got too close to their places of power were slowly corrupted in the same way. The higher gods, who had only been discovered during the bronze age, worked with their magic users to arrange envelopes of reality in which to trap the primordials, sealing away the Parasite with them.

Your return to the city marks the fourth day since Creios's departure, and you never did figure out where his warp dust was, so you suspect he won't return for another two or three days at least. On the plus side, your encounters in the tin mine mean you've got a bit of extra wealth to work with. ((You once again have downtime in Yenelas City. You can spend your downtime pursuing personal goals, trying to train in the use of new skills or equipment, or any other task you can think of.))

Elro returns to the temple to inform Anha of the recent events in the mines, and the strange alter they found there. He asks her if she could pass the message Creios since he doesn't have access to such spells. He also asks if there are any available medicine kits in the temple for purchase. Elro hopes that maybe practicing basic healing can help him understand healing magic.  After talking to Anha, Elro would look around town for any arcane shops, to either find some useful spells for the party, for odd jobs he can help with.

Anha doesn't have the proper spell readied today but will send a message to Creios first thing tomorrow. She appreciates you keeping her in the loop and asks one of her acolytes to fetch a medical kit for you to take with you free of cost ((this is a standard healer's kit)). The city is home to several arcane shops, mostly falling into two categories: curio shops serve double duty as second-hand stores, and tend to have the few saleable magic items on the market tucked away behind locked counters. Lore shops serve double duty as book stores, and allow wizards to rent access to their archives, while also offering for sale pre-designed spell formulae and the necessary magical inks used to properly encode magic into a spellbook. Low-level spell formulae are fairly easy to find in the latter type, and Elro is able to come across several that could be useful in the right circumstances. ((You can find any 1st or 2nd level spell in the official wizard list without making a special check. It will cost you 5g per spell level to gain access to these common formulae in addition to the cost described in the PHB for copying them into your spellbooks. Rarer spells may be available with a check, or you can try to research your own, which will cost you 5g per week as you look through tomes of general magical theory. Training to learn the healer's kit will have varied costs depending on whether you go to professional doctors, battlefield medics, or temple healers.))

Elro will spend 110 gold to access and copy Enlarge/Reduce into his spells. He will then spend some time with the battlefield medics. Elro's thought process is that they might be best suited to teach him for the moment. If he and the party are away from the city, or if worst comes to worst in a fight, a battlefield medic tactics would be needed. 

The battlefield medics charge you 15 silver pieces for an intensive crash course. It isn't enough to give you a full understanding of healing, but you can reliably stabilize someone. (Treat this as proficiency in Medicine checks, but only when you work deliberately to prevent someone's condition from worsening). After about a week, Creios sends you a message by means of a small songbird tapping on your window. He is back in town and has news.

Elro quickly heads over to Creios' tower eager to learn about an update on his master. He can also give better details about the cult's activities in person than through a message spell from Anha. When Elro reaches Creios' he is breathing heavily from the run over. "What news?" Elro asks.

Creios greets you when you arrive, politely ignoring that you are apparently out of breath. "Well, the news is both good and bad. It's good because I'm pretty sure I know what's wrong with your master and I have a good lead on how to fix it. It's bad because doing so is going to require some supplies that are...difficult to obtain. Your master's affliction is due to an experimental binding which he performed on a fire elemental. He found a way to perform such an action without first summoning the elemental into this plane. Unfortunately, breaching the planar boundaries caused a trickle of fire elemental energy to leak back directly into his own magical aura, and it is slowly growing and taking over. I advised him to avoid using magic and meditating until we can solve this issue, and if he avoids drawing on magic he should remain in the same health fairly indefinitely. The only way to solve this problem will be to extract the fire elemental energy into an appropriate vessel. A large fire ruby would work; or certain enchanted objects. I don't have any right now, but I will begin putting out messages to my other colleagues. In the meanwhile, I suggest you keep your eyes open as well. Once we have that, you and I will have to perform a ritual to extract the fire elemental, but it will most likely manifest and need to be subdued once we do so. If all of that goes well, your master will have his health back once again."

I am not nearly strong enough to contain let alone summon and defeat an elemental. Elro says with sense of hopeless. I have so much more to learn in the ways of magic before I can assist with something of that nature. However, I will do everything in my power to get there, as well as find the nessicary materials.