Lani made some enquiries today, and found out that the pearls we were charged 100gp for can be sold here for 150gp. That's a tidy profit. The reason for such a price increase is that the trade route through Sind is somewhat non-existant due to Hule. I wonder if we can profit by this. Fly back and forth buying and selling pearls. Unfortuantely, I somewhat suspect that there are significantly more important things to worry about.
Well, Lani sold off some of the pearls, since we need the spare cash. We've purchased a map of the Baronies (for 200gp).
We are presently flying toward Gorgona, a place which we are informed is home to many philosophers, artists, and people of other intellectual pursuits. Once there, we hope to hire someone to investigate dragons that have live or have lived in the Baronies, which would have been affected by the curse. We'll then leave virtually immediately afterwards, to reduce the chance of our being cursed.
Earlier today the sky began to turn red. I find it rather ominous. Furthermore, everything detects as magical. Although not unexpected, it still makes me feel uncomfortable. The idea that if I stay here too long I shall end up with a curse is none too pleasing.
I wonder how one can perform magical research in such a mgaic rich environment. I wonder if experiments end up being influenced. Probably, I suppose. Not that I intend to stay here and find out. Nope, I don't want to be cursed, and I doubt Turia wants to be cursed either. Besides, I think I'd prefer her to not end up with red hair.
By late afternoon we found our way to Ciudad Real, the main city in the region. No doubt with lots of philosophers philisophising. It may well be worth speaking to some of them, one day.
Turia, Thora, Lani, Gurzurk, and Zim entered the city, while the rest of us stayed behind to guard the Falcon. Zim and Lani polymorphed into humans, which it turns out was pretty much a waste of time.
They hired two sages. One, Del Ray, is an inheritor, and the other, Ben Tam, is a historian. We've agreed to return in two weeks to discover what they have discovered.
We're already flying back to Slagovich. Late this night we left the red skies of the Baronies.
We arrived early this morning. Not much to do now, but wait. Hmm. I'm sure I'll be able to occupy myself somehow for the next ten days or so.
We left for the baronies this morning, to meet up with the sages we hired a couple of weeks ago.
Slagovich is a fairly interesting place. It is more or less an adventurers city. The place is apparently the "gateway to the mystical east". The mystical east being, of course, places like Darokin. Apparently, there's meant to be some mythical country, where there are rivers of gold (whatever). A place called Alphatia. Go figure.
Well, there must be some adventuarers which know better.
The city itself is pretty advanced. They even have conveyances called trams, which help the public go from place to place in the city. Outside the city walls are slums. The arrangement is better that way. It is not uncommon for slums to be within the city, which can generally make it easier for the tourist to accidentally wander into such an area. Here that's less of a concern. Accidentally wandering past the city wall is quite difficult, after all.
In local news, it sounds like there are many wars going on. Now that th baronies need not worry about Hule anymore, they're ack to warring amongst themselves. Among the other countries. Well, it's probably easier to say that the only country not involved in a war is Harath. Harath is a country of mages, and it's generally viewed as being a bad idea to attack such a country.
I suppose that this warring is no doubt related to the god war. Fortunately, there don't seem to be meteors falling out fo the sky around here. So, in a sense, the local region is quite peaceful.
Actually, I'm beginning to wonder if I should be concerned by the god war. Frankly, apart from there being lots of mortals warring, there doesn't really seem to be much that has happened. I feel that the god war could finish, and I won't even notice.
I did a little investigating, and found that a number of common spells, like fireball, appear to be identical to what I have have. I'm not sure if this means anything. It could be that they have a common ancestry, or that it is natually the most efficient form of the spell.
We arrived at Ciudad Real this afternoon. This time I got to go into the city. It's not a bad place. I can't say red does much for the decor.
We spoke to the Ben Tan, the historian, first. The Baronies used to be home to a number of dragons, and they mostly lived either north of Texerius, or west of Samara. There we're reputedly six dragons. Three to the north, two to the south, and one in the middle. The ast of these was slain around two decades past. The last one was in the north, and was guarding a cinnabryl mine - this mine is now being warre over, of course.
Two of the northern dragons were red, as was one in the south. The other northern dragon was blue, and the other southern dragon was brown. The central dragon was green. These dragons had been around for a long time, and all were affected by the curse. Some were even killed six to seven hundred years ago. Ben Tan provided us with an exact description of where all the dragons were laired.
Although this is interesting, the information is really of little value to us. The information provided by Del Ray is more interesting, but about as useful.
Del Ray indicated that the less intelligent a creature is, the less it is effected by the curse. Consequently, it is highly likely that dragons would be affected. Dragons are likely able to deal with or handle the curse. On the side, this sage, being an inheritor, indicated that people can acquire a number of legacies. Of course, one has to be a part of the order of inheritors to be told any useful information.
After all this, looking for a dragon that may have had a piece of the sundered man, and may have lived around here, seems like searching for a needle in a haystack. If it was one of the slain dragons, then the piece could be anywhere now. If it's still alive... Well, we asked Leo, and there are no living "wyrms" in the region of the baronies.
Which doesn't mean to say it lives in the baronies. Well, we could go on and on, and get no-where.
Well, we're flying back to Slagovich now. We'll worry about what to do later.
We are not sure what to do. Some suggested that we could help the Enduks in their battle against the man-scorpions. A sending to them revealed that their fight is progressing satisfactorily, and that they do not want our help. That settled that. Whether it would be advantageous or not to get access to a star device... well, the people who will hopefully end up owning it aren't exactly wanting much outside help.
Another more promising suggestion is the one put forward by Thora. She could ask her deity for a quest, and if we successfully complete that quest, then she could ask for more useful information about the sundered man pieces. Most people seem to find this an agreeable idea. The person with the most reservations is, of course, Phoranin. Hopefully the quest wouldn't be something she strongly disagrees with.
We shall just have to wait and see.
Oh, hopefully the quest won't be as difficult as the one we are already on. That would be bad.
We returned to Slagovich earlier today. Thora left shortly afterwards for Whiteheart (through the trees again). Thora says she has to be in one of her main temples to do so. Some religious thing no doubt.
Hmm. This pass through trees spell seems rather handy. I think such a spell could be made as a mage spell, as a variation of teleport. I wonder how difficult it would be. I imagine it as being less powerful than teleport without error, but higher than a standard teleport. Well, a pity I don't know much about researcing such spells. If it doesn't go bang, then I'm not much good at it. Maybe teleport with explosion?
Thora returned today with a quest suggested by Freyja. Freyja thinks there is a civil war brewing in a place called Eusdria. We are asked (hopefully with the great respect due our high station) by Freyja to stop it. It is a mission for diplomacy and tact.
Must remember the tact part. I expect this means we cannot just run in and kill any dissidents.
The Eusdrians are (or sort of were) a warrior society. However, the King has reently been instituting a few reforms, like schools. Eusdria is currently at war with Robrenne, and sometimes wars with the goblins north of them.
They are human.
We are in the Falcon flying there.
We are definitely in Eusdria. And Thora loves the place. She flew down to a settlement earlier today, to find out about the place. Eusdria sounds like it is a western version of the Northern Reaches. There seems to almost be a one-to-one mapping between Northern Reaches deities (although the names do differ), and Eusdrian deities. There is a dwarven deity as well, although Gurzurk doesn't seem to care much. Maybe not his dwarven deity? I guess there must be more than just one deity for the dwarves.
There are no temples at the settlent, so we're going to find a more populated place. Thora asked some of the peasants what the king has been up to. It appears the education system the king is instituting is of a compulsory nature. The peasants are complaining of how people are going to be dragged from the apprenticeships all to learn skills that they are unlikely to use in life. Admittedly, it does sound a bit silly.
No doubt the situation is going to be more complicated than this.
The temples are all for an education system.
We've headed inland (north) a ways, and are presently circling a forest for the night (rather than risk getting lost).
We found our way to the capital of one of the duchies, although I can't say what name the capital is. Actually, I don't even know what the name of the duchy is. Oh well. The city is about the same size as Soderfjord, but looks much nicer.
Surprisingly, there is a temple to Al-Kalim here. Of all the temples! It's not like Al-Kalim is even heard of (normally) outside of the Ylaruam. Well, Al-Alin is no doubt going to be kept occupied.
The other priests are likewise fairly happy. Thora can meet others who follow the same deity, even if so far from her home. Gurzurk get to do whatever dwarves do in dwarven temples. Even Phoranin has found soemthing to do. She's currently trying to figure out what clan the local elves are from. The rest of us got to see the city.
The war with Robrenne is over. Furthermore, the king is against the idea of attacking the goblins.
Al-Alin was told that unscrupulous nobles do not like the idea of educated freehearts, as it makes them harder to rule. Educated freehearts might learn more of how deceitful the nobles are.
Thora was informed that the freehearts believe that their kids should work in the fields, rather than waste time being educated. Thora's temple believes that the people should be educated so they are aware why they are free. If they are not educated, they won't necessarily remain free, not if someone takes advantage of their ignorance.
I tried to find out how the general public feels. Generally they feel the education policy is stupid. It sounds as if there is momentum building against the idea. Furthermore, some people have a low opinion of the clergy. No doubt not helped by the clergies praise of the education policy.
I get the feeling that a number of people would not react that unkindly to a civil war. No doubt the unscrupulous nobles wouldn't mind a little civil war either.
Well, time to sleep. The priests have all gone to stay the night at their respective temples.