After everything that went down at the Derby - killing Eclipse with TM Opera O’s help, making friends with her, and retrieving Hadrian’s tome from that imposter Nidhogg’s priest - we were ready to head back home. It was evening by the time we finished up in Trondkan, so we stayed the night at an inn. Well, Momen and I stayed at the inn. Tittlin slept on his magic carpet because he’s Tittlin.
The next morning we set out. Got on our boat, traveled down to Brandstrad first. Momen wanted to stop by and visit his cousin Hothor again - just saying hi, catching up. Can’t blame him for wanting to maintain family connections while we’re up north.
Then we continued south, making our way down the coast. Past Tonrus, all along the Great Badger Expanse, through Knightfaire, and finally into the woods outside Cedar Combe. Made it back around seven in the evening.
During the boat ride, I showed Momen that hat I’d picked up a few weeks back - the one from when Tittlin and I dealt with the false hydra while he was off studying. I explained how it worked: the baron of that town had commissioned it from some wizard or mage, supposedly to help with memory loss. When I put it on and attuned to it, everyone in a large radius suddenly remembered everything they’d forgotten due to magical means. Pretty useful when you’re dealing with a monster that makes people forget it exists.
Momen identified it as a Thinking Cap. He seemed pleased - said it would be very useful, especially since it’s reactive rather than requiring him to prepare specific spells.
Back at the Fief, things were looking busier than when we’d left. The construction and development projects were coming along nicely.
Momen had quite a pile of monster parts to sort through. He’s been collecting all sorts of specimens for his dragon research, but he mentioned he should start thinking about what else he can do with them besides just resurrecting dragons. With dragon wings alone, you could create a cloak of dragon flight. The possibilities are extensive when you’ve got a necromancer with an academic’s mind for experimentation.
We had important business in Elvinset. We’d found a map drawn by Aemmin Simserion - Momen’s former necromancy student who appears to have gone completely off the deep end and is attempting to become a lich without descending into madness. The map had a cryptic note: “MONKS???” Durlan’s sister Drusilia is a monk at Elvinset, so we figured his familial connection would be a good way to get our foot in the door and investigate what Aemmin might have been looking into there. Plus, we could return that moonblade Tittlin’s brother Rittlin had recovered - kill two birds with one stone. I summoned Rafnar again. At this point he pretty much expects us to need him, so he was just hanging around. I tossed him another fifteen platinum for the teleportation service.
I asked Durlan whether we should teleport directly into Elvinset or into Vulcanloft. Turns out there’s magic protecting the temple, so we can’t teleport directly in. Best we can do is teleport into the surrounding forest, then Durlan can use his amulet to get the monastery’s attention.
While we were preparing, Tittlin was shopping for more arrows. That’s when an interesting character walked in.
A man entered the Fief with two of the Piano Man’s employees on his arms - clearly a bit hungover. He waved to Durlan and tried calling him “brother-in-law,” which Durlan immediately and emphatically shut down. The man’s name was Lathaeril Norna, and he was a priest of Sehanine - part of the Order that interprets dreams and prophecies.
Turns out Lathaeril had been on the quest with Rittlin to recover the moonblade. He pulled it out to show us, and the blade immediately started demanding he kill Momen - apparently it doesn’t like dwarves. Lathaeril quickly sheathed it and brushed off the blade’s hostility.
The real issue became clear quickly: Lathaeril has convinced himself that he’s meant to marry Durlan’s sister Drusilia because he saw her in his dreams. He kept going on about prophecies and visions from Sehanine, while Durlan insisted these were just “dirty dreams” and that Lathaeril was a pervert with delusions. The whole exchange was equal parts awkward and entertaining, with Lathaeril completely unfazed by Durlan’s obvious disgust at the whole situation.
Tittlin, naturally, didn’t help matters by suggesting that visions and dirty dreams were kind of the same thing - which Lathaeril enthusiastically agreed with.
Rafnar, who’d been watching this whole exchange with what I can only assume was professional detachment, finally spoke up asking if we were actually going to leave or not. I confirmed we’d just added a passenger to our teleportation. Rafnar didn’t seem to care one way or the other, although the bickering that continued between Durlan and Lathaeril was becoming rather distracting…