February 23rd

Present time.

The crack of dawn:

The sun beamed down from above, basking the world in a warm light. Seawater broke against the beach in long intervals, creating a slow, soothing rhythm. Rory tightened the lids over his eyes. He could still see and feel the sun shining through his eyelids, creating a reddish orange field in the hazy darkness of his wake. If he dreamed the night before, he had no recollection of the visions.

His body groaned while he sat up in the soft bed, seeing the illusion for what it was and knowing that he created it. He erased the imagery of his home until only the sun, sand and sky remained, the ocean gone as well.

Thramada. A wondrous city filled with art, fancy designs, luxury he had never seen or thought of before. It spoke volumes of the local...ways. It might have been a great place to live. Except that it was hot. The magical control over the coolness of his room, and the lobby most likely, put him under no delusions to the contrary.

He drank some of what little of the Lugian wine was left over from the previous evening, focusing a little harder than necessary on "dispelling" the false taste, which seemed to simulate desired flavors, to get to the original. In the little room that gave baths, he realized with a start that the sooner he got ready and got out of the room, the better.

After washing and drying, and putting on his clothes and armor--all at a quite frantic pace--he stole out of the room with one of the mind-bending coins in gloved hand and the rest in his bag, aiming his gaze for the nearest party member on his way to the lobby. He was hungry, but it was a close second to the most urgent thing on his mind. If he failed to flag one down, he would go for the first room rented by their group other than his own to which the innkeeper could recall directions. Then the second, then the third, then the fourth.

The party spent most of their morning debating their options, as Rory was adamant about getting the Gaerlan coins back. Araiguna was hesitant, but after some 'convincing' from Snarg he gave up the fairly large stockpile he already had, with Kolson assisting in picking them up. Thereafter Kolson and Gwydo went to talk to the manager to re-acquire the coins they'd used to stay the night here, Kolson perfectly fitting the role of the pompous rich snob such that they had no issues with the staff.

The group, sans Rory, decided to head out towards the local Order post to get some food (as the excessively expensive fare here was a bit much for the party), and then to hit the magic and trinket shop where Araiguna had spent some coins the night previous. Rory, for himself, decided to go out huntin'; more on him in a bit.

Kolson, somewhat pompously, lead the group out down the street in the opposite direction of the trinket shop OR the Order post, insisting they go with him, while Gwydo and Araiguna quietly headed towards the shop. Gwydo and Araiguna talked with the manager in charge, and managed to convince him of the nature of the artifacts in question and that they needed them back, and that they would speak with someone tomorrow morning regarding it.

Meanwhile, Kolson had found a lovely young Banderling woman who was trying to coerce him into assisting with some domestic issues before Snarg, at length, managed to convince him to head to the Order post and get some grub. Therein they linked back up with Gwydo and Araiguna and enjoyed an absolutely awful meal of grits and bread. All this time Sethos still has not been feeling well, at all, in fact he looks like he's doing a bit worse. Kolson, too, is starting to distend in his behavior as time goes on.

Fortunately for the party they overhear a local talking about these 'artifacts' which were recently found and are, even now, being sent to Dharjopur. Heading back to the inn to meet up with Fierneceal, who has just awoken, they quickly decide they need to catch that shipment before it gets even more lost and reclaim the coins.

During all this Rory has been attempting to find game in the area, to no success, until he happens across a small Chittick gathering. He stealths his way in successfully, but decides he'd have a better shot elsewhere and sneaks away, only to step on a branch, trip, and fall onto his face proclaiming a loud "OW!" The Chitticks swarm after him and he runs back towards Thramada, barely keeping ahead of the group. Fortunately for him he decides to travel via the road and, as he's going, he encounters a small group of Dragoons (including a Gnome) who help him dispatch the large insect-like creatures. They talk for a bit, and Rory learns that these Dragoons are in mid-journey to the Air Temple to the southwest, visiting it on the eve of their anniversary of having passed their Air Trial and becoming Dragoons. They are in good spirits, of course, and walk with Rory towards and into Thramada, where they head to the inn and encounter the rest of the group.

Snarg manages to convince the Dragoons to take Sethos with them, as he is in dire straits and needs assistance, while the rest of the group will be rushing after the artifacts (which are heading east, the opposite direction). As the group rushes on, examining everyone on the road that they spot, Rory notices a suspicious looking Burun who is clutching a sack closely and seems to be in quite a hurry. After a moment they send a few people over, including Gwydo, to talk with the Burun and try to talk him out of the coins. The Burun demands fair trade for them, or it's his hide for their loss. Gwydo, instead, lies bald-faced and says the coins are the property of Srisstiz, the infamous Sclavi Pirate Lord of the Reds, which causes the Burun to hand them over without further comment.

The coins thusly gathered the group turns around and makes their lengthy journey towards the Air Temple.

The journey did not take over long, and you arrive by the afternoon.  The Air Temple was, in fact, a massive circular hole in the ground that lead down into an eternally falling sky.  Simply entering it was harrowing, requiring one to walk on non-existent air leading down into an endless abyss, and once within one simply fell forever, keeping pace with others constantly falling throughout. 

Many of the party members endured their Trial here.

The Trials done, the party was gathering when Zeiss and an odd Lycanthrope of crocodile make approached them.  The Lycanthrope identified himself as Rakarg, of the House of Lady Aerfalle, and he had been assigned to the party long-term as part of their efforts to further action against Gaerlan within the Coordinate.  He was a Yellow Mage, and a skilled Weaver.  He also used partially forbidden translation techniques to teleport himself and Zeiss directly through the ley lines to this location, thanks to a letter Snarg had sent the previous day informing them of their destination.  This form of teleportation was limited; it could only be to and from any major ley line connection point, and could only be done roughly once a day except under odd circumstance, and could not teleport too much mass at once.

After the two groups exchanged information, Zeiss himself went to perform the Air Trial, and the group decided to stay the night at an inn in the Order-run Air Temple cityscape.

Zeiss, seemingly distracted since he went through his own trial, ignored his companions for the rest of the day then went to his bedroom to write in his journal. When he was finished, he fed Rainbow and went to sleep.

OOC:

For the current time in the Primus campaign, I want to make note to the rest of the party in-character that the Adventurer's Guild is closing.

The Adventurer's Guild is closing, huh?

Guess the war is responsible for hastening the Guild's death.

It certainly could be. But they did say that they've been dying for some time, and are still wrapping things up before they close down for good. Nobody was even in the building, I learned it from a message on the board.