Re: To the 'Town' on the Hill

[Nara-pyon]

Zoltan found himself unable to move, to do anything, really, and he looked at the creature in horror. It had the shape of a woman, but moved like a spider, on all fours, wearing a ragged dress.

Aeris thrust one hand forward, towards the creature, summoning magic missiles and sending them at it. Four darts struck the creature at the same time, causing it to cry out in pain, but seeming to do little else.

Not wanting to be too close to the creature, she then moved away from it, along the wall.

[Kara Winters]

Reed stepped toward and stabbed at the creature with his rapier but the creature moved quickly and out of the way of his rapier before turning to him and made two quick swipes at him. The half elf managed to duck and back away from both attacks in time.

'She' hissed him at him as her initial attack attack wore off from Zoltan and Risa.

[Nara-pyon]

Zoltan felt his fear fading, and his vision went red as he fell into a rage. Drawing a handaxe, he stepped towards the creature. He raised his axe and brought it down towards her - but she side-stepped away from the attack, and he missed.

From across the room, Aeris drew her crossbow and let loose a shot at the creature. The bolt stuck into the back of the creature, but didn't seem to affect it very much.

[Kara Winters]

Risa raises her long sword and brings it down, the creature skitters out of the way of the strike, but could not get out of the way of Reed's strike as his rapier pierced it's side while it was distracted by Risa. The creature howled and growled looking around for its next target.

As Aeris was too far away the creature whirled around and made two long swipes at Zoltan, the first one hits him, scratching long gashes across his chest and the other misses him completely. The creature hisses again and seems to move it's whole body as if to shake its head.

[Nara-pyon]

Zoltan slashed at the creature with both handaxes, slashing two deep gashes into its back. It began to bleed quite heavily.

Aeris used another magic missile spell, sending four more darts into the creature. The creature's arms and legs began to buckle underneath of it, and it let out a howl of pain. Then came a snapping sound as at least one bone snapped, and the creature snarled again.

[Kara Winters]

Risa tried to strike out at the creature again and again it moved out of the way quickly despite the damage it had taken. Reed tried to use Risa's attack as a distraction again but this time the woman was not fooled and moved out of the way of his attack as well.

She shrieked again, Reed and Aeris were already immune from the first attempt to stun them, and this time Zoltan was not caught off guard. However Risa cringed and once more froze up in terror at the horrible sound. Seeing this, the creature whirled around and swung at Risa but missed her by inches.

[Nara-pyon]

Zoltan gripped a handaxe in both hands and brought them both down together on the creature's head. When he struck, there was a crunch as the skull shattered beneath the blades, and blood and viscera spewed out as the creature fell to the floor, dead.

Aeris looked at the ceiling, checking the corners as well, to make sure that there wouldn't be anything else about to jump them. It seemed clear.

She let out her breath. "Is there anything else to find in here?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly. "Otherwise we can just go, right? We're done here?"

She was well ready to be shot of this place.

[Kara Winters]

The fear Risa felt faded with the monster's death. She took a few deep breaths as if to center herself and nodded at Aeris.

"Yes, I think we have everything we need, even if we missed something we've come away with a pretty good haul," she replied.

She checked out the window, despite the fact it wasn't as much as it was the day before, the amount of time they spent in some of the places and then the manor made it so it was getting late into the afternoon. They would probably have to camp for one more night before heading into town.

[Nara-pyon]

"Then I say we go back to camp, divide what we've collected, rest the night, and then start back towards Fox Grove Village," Aeris nodded. "Unless anyone has any other suggestions?"

Zoltan shook his head, sticking his axes back into his belt. "No, le's go," he agreed.

[Kara Winters]

The group made a quiet trip back out of the town to where Allen was. Allen was already starting dinner despite the fact there would be a few hours left, but it took time to stew everything correctly and he was cutting up tubers and fresh veg that they still had.

"Ah you're back! This time was easier?" Allen asked as he looked up from what he was going.

[Nara-pyon]

"I think we've cleaned it out," Aeris replied, managing a smile for those who could recognize it.

They took some time to count everything that needed divvying up, laying out the items and counting out the coins. Even Zoltan put coins into the pile to be shared.

"Okay, so everyone gets 46 cp, 39 sp, 18 gp, 3 ep, and 1 pp, and there's some loose change left over," Aeris said, checking the notes she had been making as they'd gone. Then she set out the note for everyone to see:

-cosmetics
-Perfume of Bewitching
-Spell Scroll (unknown)
-tiny spice pouch
-4 silver goblets
-Spell Scrolls (Guidance, Faerie Fire, Feather Fall, Thorn Bind Hostage, Blade Ward, Minor Illusion)
-Spellbook
-carved bone dice
-metal flask
-whetstone
-gold ring engraved "Forever Loved"
-3 unused ink blocks
-2 glass pens
-ledger (Landan)
-pair of engraved bone dice
-20 sheets of parchment
-small stone mortar and pestle
-vial of gem dust
-bolt of golden cloth
-bolt of white silk
-bolt of transparent white cloth
-20 arrows
-shield with family crest
-smith's tools
-2 longswords
-3 potions of healing
-1 potion of greater healing

"If no one minds, I'll keep the smith's tools," Zoltan said, reaching for them immediately.

[Kara Winters]

"I don't see why not," Risa replied as she put away the coins that Aeris gave her.

"Can you use Fairie Fire?" Reed asked, "Also, I can use Identify on anything you're not sure of. I can't promise I'll get a result, but I'm not sure if we'll find a mage in the mining town."

Which probably meant they would have to wait until they returned to Oak Glen.

"I also recommend Aeris keep the writing tools from the mage's home, it might come in useful for you," Risa added, "Some of it looks like bits and pieces from a calligraphy kit, but we didn't find one there."

[Nara-pyon]

Aeris shook her head at Reed's question. "No, I can't use Faerie Fire or Guidance. If you can use them, please take them, otherwise I'm sure we can sell them."

She picked up the unidentified spell scroll she had picked up and held it out to Reed. "I don't know what this one is."

At Risa's comment, she smiled. "I must admit, I was hoping to keep the scribing materials. I found the idea of spell scrolls a very good one, and I was thinking of using some spare time to make some of my own."

[Kara Winters]

"I can use Faerie Fire, but Guidance has traditionally been a cleric spell," Reed warns Aeris, "So it'll have to be sold to a merchant who would then sell it onto a temple most likely."

He took the Faerie Fire scroll, though he wasn't sure when he would ever use it.

"Was there anything else odd that you were wondering about?" Reed asked as he took the unknown scroll and got out his feather and pearl.

"Ask Kevan about spell scrolls, he knows more about their creation," Risa recommended.

[Nara-pyon]

"Actually, I was wondering about this dust," Aeris said, poking at the small vial of sparkling dust. "It looks like it's from a gem or something, and I'm curious about it."

She picked it up and cradled it in her hand. "But it can wait until you're done with the scroll."

[Kara Winters]

Reed nodded, "This will take me about ten minutes."

He reminded everyone as he took the scroll. Nothing in the bunch of stuff the group had collected stood out to him so he was satisfied that the scroll was the only thing he would have to check over. After ten minutes he picked up the scroll and frowned.

"Something wrong?" Risa asked.

Reed shrugged, "I probably didn't do well on the spell this time around, you know how it is. However, at the very least this is a spell scroll, I know from the colour and seal it's probably Abjuration. But I can't tell you what spell it is."

He opened it up just in case it was something he could use but all he saw was gibberish.

"Nope, not one I know."

[Nara-pyon]

"And this?" Aeris asked, holding the dust out to him. "I'm not suspicious of it, only curious."

She hoped he would be able to tell what it was.

[Kara Winters]

Reed carefully took the gem dust from her and studied it. It didn't seem magical to him, and he wished she had told him about it sooner.

"I can't run an Identify spell on it now," he told her, "I mean, I can but I have a higher chance of failure. When I do a ritual, I can Identify several objects within my ritual circle at once, but casting it separately there is a higher chance of an error."

That was why he asked ahead of time if there was anything else she wanted to have checked over.

"I'm not sure what this is for, but it's gem, and gems are often used a mode to imbue something with magic, that's as much as I know," he explained handing it back to her.

[Nara-pyon]

Aeris shrugged. She hadn't been aware of the way the Identify spell worked, or else she would have asked him to identify it at the same time as the scroll.

"Not a big deal," she assured him, taking the vial back and putting it with the rest of the items. "At any rate, I don't know that much of the rest of this would be particularly useful, perhaps we should just take all of it back and sell it and split the profits."

[Kara Winters]

"Which of the items we know for certain is magical in nature?" Risa asked, "I know the scrolls are, and that perfume looks suspect."

"Spell books are not considered magical, but their contents can be sought after by wizards," Reed added before asking Risa, "But why are you asking?"

Risa sighed a bit as she crossed her arms, but it was Allen who spoke up. Taking the stew off the fire and getting bowls so he could serve everyone.

"Because magical items are expensive," Allen replied, "You're all adventurers."

He looked over to Zoltan and nodded as he ladled some stew into a bowl and handed it to the dwarf.

"And I'm betting you've spent a good deal of your life out in the field, while the rest of you are new, so you might have a skewed view on what is a normal amount of coin."

"Certainly not what we found," Reed laughed, "I mean, if I wanted I could live off of what we have two months pretty comfortably, if I'm not spending it on luxury that is..."

"Exactly," Allen replied handing a bowl to him, then Aeris and finally Risa, "Think of it this way, a basic magic healing potion, something we adventurers often get as part of our payments is 50 gold pieces in an average market. A person who lives a moderate life, can live comfortably off of that for nearly two months. This means, only the wealthy or fellow adventurers can afford magic items. Finding a buyer will take time, fortunately Oak Glen is a trading hub, so you'll find a buyer if you plan to a magic item, but it will take a while."

"Sounds like a fun time," Risa replied though it was hard to tell if she was serious or sarcastic.

[Nara-pyon]

Aeris picked up the perfume.

"This is a Perfume of Bewitchment, I've read about it," she told Risa, since Risa had shown interest in the vial. "It makes the user more appealing to others for a short time."

She looked at Allen. "What about selling it to the Mage Guild and letting them find a buyer? Even if we don't get an awful lot for it, since they would mark it up to make a profit, isn't that kind of their business? Selling magic items services? I thought they might take the spell scrolls, too, the ones we can't use, at least."

[Kara Winters]

"It's still a lot of work for them to find a buyer, I know Kevan does buy magic items, but he has no patience for haggling," Risa replied, "He once told me that unless he had a buyer in mind, he would just end up selling it to a middleman who was buying it on behalf of a client so he could never charge full price."

"But he will buy?" Reed asked for clarification.

"Yes, but I believe he will only pay for 1/10 the worth of a magic item regardless, he won't haggle over it, he says the footwork to find a buyer afterwards isn't worth it. He might buy the spell book though for the library, but... spell books are weird because they're the personal work of a wizard, so they're all different, it's hard to put a price on those things," Risa explained.

[Nara-pyon]

"So unless we find another wizard who wants to learn more spells," Aeris said slowly, "we're not going to get much for that, either."

It kind of made the magic items almost disappointing. If they weren't going to use them, they wouldn't be able to get what they're worth.

"Of course, we could always just have them appraised and then hold onto them until we find buyers of our own," she added.

[Kara Winters]

"Or just spend time finding the buyers, it's not that you won't find them," Allen explained, "It just takes a few days, or if you're very unlucky a week. You just need the downtime to do so, and it's not like you're all going to go out again after we get back right? I mean... we've been gone for about a month now, and won't be back in another month."

"I would be wiling to give the selling a go," Reed spoke up, "It's not like I have anything better to do. And all that talking I had to learn how to do at the college has to be good for something."

[Nara-pyon]

Aeris nodded. "Then why don't we just keep it all in the chest for now, and once we get home, or just to Fox Grove Village for that matter, sell it and split the profits? It may take time, but I'm willing to take the time. As you say, it's not as if we're going to go headlong into another long-term adventure."

Zoltan was keeping very quiet during this time, and at Aeris' comment he just nodded slowly, not offering any kind of opinion.

"So it's settled, then?" Aeris asked, looking at the others.

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