Chat Summary for 10 November, 2000

We picked back up with the party still trying to figure out what they were going to do. They want to find Ari, but the path taken by the slavers was blocked by stone. Amber offered some spells to use to try and clear the way, but Sane decided that wasn’t enough. He suggested sending a few people back to Jurgenville to try and purchase some Passwall scrolls. But then the DM steped in and warns the party that using the Town Portal spell that way isn’t what it was designed for (the “just send somebody back to town so we can buy our way out of the current problem” phenomenon), so the rest of the party shot that idea down.

Diana and Castinar wanted to try a few more divination spells before the party decided on a course of action. Castinar cast Reflecting Pool and was able to find Ariessus. She was standing spread-eagle against a wall, dressed in a black and red shroud. The stone of the wall had been shaped somehow to securely hold her upper arms and hands, and her legs below the knees. A large metallic belt was around her waist, secured to the stone behind her. Castinar determined that the belt was magical, theorizing that it was some kind of magic-dampening device, preventing Ari from using magic to free herself.

When Castinar pulled his view back he discovered that Ari was being held captive in a Temple to Lloth, only a few feet away from the altar. Seeing that he was in an unholy spot to the spider queen, Castinar quickly dropped the spell, having already had the impression of a spider skittering across his field of vision.

With this information in mind, Diana then cast a Genius spell to try and figure out the best way for the party to get to where Ariessus was. The spell gave her a burst of inspiration and insight, which she used to put several smaller clues together. She found a pin from the drow warrior slain by the party which showed the family crest of the Aswadain family - the drow house which destroyed Ari’s house. She further found the name “Aswadain” inscribed on the inside of one of the drow’s rings. With that information, and a little help from the spell, Diana deduced that Ari had finally been captured by her old foes and was probably being held in the Aswadain family temple in Ari’s birthplace, the drow city of Sakar. Diana then remembered that Valdaeron had once indicated that he knew where Sakar was when Ari mentioned that she was from that city.

With this newfound knowledge the party quickly decided that everybody should return to Jurgenville, enlist Valdaeron’s and possibly others’ help, and that they would pick up the search there.

Once back in town they split up. Sane, Castinar, and Shadow went to visit with Sane’s kenku friends to search for a guide to Sakar. Katrina visited with Laila to ask the healer’s help in finding Ari and, if possible, contacting her. Just about everybody else went to go see Valdaeron.

Castinar was rather surprised when Sane led him into the Nexus. The last time he had been here there were two small wooden buildings occupied by the kenku in the vast cavern. Now a veritable small village had sprung up on the site. Castinar estimated there to be over a hundred people there. Most seemed to be merchants, but the town now had some permanent residents as well, mostly gnomes. Later on, the group discovered that the city council in Jurgenville had convinced the Jurgenville Mining Company to open several major passageways under Dragonspeak, putting the Nexus smack dab in the middle of a new shortcut under the Thunder Peaks.

The trio went to the kenku trading post - one of the few stone buildings in town. The kenku were obviously doing quite well for themselves. Sane explained the situation to his friends and asked for their help. The kenku elder they spoke with gave the party several tidbits of information.

He explained that Sakar was a drow trading city. It had been founded over seven centuries ago when an enterprising drow expedition had discovered an underwater passage linking two large sections of the Underdark through what had previously been the impassable Great Divide. They established the town of Sakar on the shores of what became known as the Black Lake. They also developed unique “fishboats”, which the kenku described as boats that travel under the water rather than on it. Using these fishboats the drow ferried goods through the water, linking two major caravan routes.

The drow in Sakar quickly grew wealthy thanks to their monopoly. Sakar rapidly expanded, at one time claiming to be the largest economic power in the Underdark. Several centuries later other passages were discovered linking the two sides of the Underdark, but the Sakar fishboats remain the safest method of traversing the Great Divide and, although its glory days have ended, Sakar is still a prosperous city.

The kenku explained all this since Sane was asking for a guide to Sakar. The kenku told them that Sakar was open for a drow city, being a major trading area. But, at the same time, if the party went there and exhibited any weakness they would probably be slain. When the kenku indicated that it might be difficult finding a guide to take the group on a three to four week journey Sane told him the party had a “shortcut”. When Sane explained about their shortcut (using Diana’s Town Portal spells to return down the tunnel they had just left) the kenku expressed doubts, mentioning troubles in the City of the Glass Pool.

The trio quickly jumped on this and pumped the kenku for more information about the City of the Glass Pool. The kenku told them that the kenku trade mission in the Googler (Underdark slang for the kuo-tao) city had disappeared a little over a year ago. Several missions were sent to try and find out what happened. Most of them disappeared. One made it back, reporting that the Googlers had joined forces with the Illithid and were involved in the slave trade now - specifically the trade of beings with magical power. This, of course, made the kenku more than a little nervous and they now avoid the place.

After receiving assurances that the kenku would try and find the Seekers a guide, Sane and the others departed.

That brings us to Katrina’s meeting with Laila. Laila was unaware of Ari’s capture and was somewhat upset by it, going off on how Ari should stop adventuring and become a healer. Kat asked if Laila could contact Ari somehow. Laila replied that she should be able to, and would try to do so. Kat then asked for any healing magic Laila could give the party. Laila responded that she would provide the party with some healing magic if they ended up going on a rescue mission after Ari, but that otherwise the party would have to pay for anything she provided them with. The pair discussed healing magic and what the party might be able to purchase for a while, then Katrina left.

Finally we go to Diana, Matar, Amber, and Nikki, who all went to go see Valdaeron. They found that Val wasn’t in town, but Shalut thought that Jondon might want to meet with them. While they waited he went back and set up a meeting with Jondon.

As the group was escorted into Jondon’s manor house they were amazed by the wide range of styles in the place. Some were familiar to all, some only to individuals - like Diana recognizing a motif from Evermeet and Matar recognizing a room in the Wu style. Some were completely foreign to everybody.

When they finally met with Jondon in a sitting room outfitted in black dragon leather, Matar handed Jondon the drow pin and asked if Jondon could identify the markings. He couldn’t, pointing out that Val was the drow expert, not him. The party then explained to Jondon the problem, about the fight with the slavers and Ari’s disappearance. The half-elf didn’t seem overly surprised.

He then confirmed what most everybody suspected. Being the Guildmaster in Jurgenville is Valdaeron’s ‘day’ job, more of a cover than anything else. Val’s true passion is keeping track of the drow in the Underdark. He runs an extensive intelligence network covering most of the major drow cities - including Sakar. Thus it was that Val discovered that Ari was being held captive in Sakar earlier that day, and had left to personally investigate what was going on. Jondon suggested that the party wait for Val’s return before they made any further moves, and told them he believed Val would return within a few days. The group thanked Jondon for his help and left.

Once everybody got back to the Truth Seekers Retreat they compared notes and decided to wait for Val to return.

That’s where the IC portion of the chat session ended. When then chatted OOC for a short while about possible future courses of action. We are currently transitioning from 2e-PO to 3e rules. The DM suggested and the players (those that were still there) agreed on a course of action for the game over the next few weeks.

Over the next week or two the players need to work with Saif to get their 3e conversions done. Gaming will be put on hold until the party is converted over. While this is going on Saif is going to work up a couple encounters to run the party through to get them (and him) familiar with the 3e rules.

Once everybody is ready to go Valdaeron will return. He will enlist the party’s help in a rescue mission to free Ari (more details on why he’s willing to do that once it happens). While the party isn’t overly pleased with their role, their initial job will be to create a diversion. This will evolve into the first 3e combat in the game. Saif plans on making it fairly easy - more to get everybody accustomed to the rules than to be a real challenge. If the party does well there will be a follow-on encounter which will stretch the party a little, letting them explore their options under 3e.

That’s where we ended the chat session.

There is one other thing I meant to bring up last night but forgot. How do you guys want to “explain” the 3e conversion of your characters in-character? I’ve thought of three options:

1) We don’t even bother trying to explain it, just keep on playing like normal. Since it doesn’t look like anybody is going to switch characters, that is the easiest route.

2) The “it’s somebody else’s fault” scenario. Somewhere else in the Realms a party has failed in their quest, and the result is that everything “shifts” somehow. The more powerful figures in the Realms will understand what happened, but the normal people won’t. Some in the party might suspect something, but won’t have details. This would explain things like new weapons, monsters, etc.

3) The “something strange happened to us” scenario. This might fit in well with the party going off to fight a bunch of high-powered drow. Something happens in the battle that subtly changes the party (a cross-dimensional switch with another reality perhaps, or an Alter Reality spell gone array? Or, in keeping with the Seeker’s past history, one of Nikki’s surges). As far as the party knows, only they are affected. (Everything else (NPCs, etc.) switches to 3e as well, but that’s transparent to the party.)

Or perhaps a fourth solution? Any ideas from anybody? TSR had to use a war between the Gods to transition from 1e to 2e. I don’t want it to be that major. <g> I’m sure WotC will have with some kind of explanation once the FR supplement comes out, but I don’t want to wait until April for it.

So that’s where we stand right now. You should all focus on converting your characters over. Once they are done I’ll let you do a few more things in town (you’ll only be there about five days) and then the rescue mission will be launched.

Saif