S02E32 Report - Preparing at Araj
General Summary
After returning from Araumycos, Gunther locks himself away in a room and is heard complaining that the stone is not working correctly.
A short discussion is had as they consider breaking down the door - but all agree that the stone has caused enough chaos and needs to be destroyed or at the very least separated far from the party.
Alan takes it upon himself to dimension door into Gunther's room.
Gunther, not in the least bit defensive, asks Alan if he would like to know his future.
Alan agrees and begins to approach him.
Gunther warns, "You should stay where you are. The stone is talking to me. To tell your future, I will draw three cards."
Alan stops. "Can everyone else come in?"
"Do you want them to know your future?"
Alan, unsure of what is about to be revealed, acknowledges that perhaps it is best that the others remain outside for now.
Gunther grumbles that the stone is not talking to him as it should at which point Alan sees an opening. He reminds Gunther that he has a sentient magic item and tells him that he is quite good with magic items. Perhaps, he could have his magic item talk to the stone and figure out what's wrong.
Reluctantly Gunther agrees and hands over the stone. Alan is careful not to touch the stone directly and makes to retreat to his own room to figure out what to do. As he leaves, Gunther warns, "You don't have long - just an hour."
Alan leaves with the stone and puts it into a bag. Meanwhile the rest of the party considers what should happen next. Darry looks for a 'replacement' gem, in case they need to give something back to Gunther.
Growing impatient, Gunther draws a card.
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Darry finds a gem that looks almost exactly the same and brings it to Alan. His mind racing with what to do next, Alan begins to argue that the two gems to not look the same at all.
The rest of the party helps him to see that he is being far to picky about minor blemishes in the gem. They also agree that Darry should take the bag and real gem, teleport to the lava pit that consumed the
Maze Engine and case the stone into the lava - ridding themselves of it for good.
Darry takes the gem and vanishes.
Unbeknown to the party, Darry decides that plane-shifting is a more sure-fire way to ensure that the stone is gone. He shifts to the edge of the plane of fire and tosses in the gem. As it melts, he sees the demon lord Fraz-urb'luu emerge. Darry quickly returns to the material plain.
Alan heads back to Gunther to see if his obsession with the stone is broken. Gunther shows him the Jester and tells him that in the future, someone will play a joke on him. He then reaches for the next card.
His eyes grow wide as he pulls the next one.
"Alan, it doesn't look good you're going...." Gunther drops in a heap.
Dashing to his side, Alan sees the Void card vanish. He checks Gunther's vitals and finds that he his still alive, just incapacitated. While checking on Gunther, Alan hears movement and looks up to see 4 bears that have appeared to guard Gunther's body.
Members of the party begin to work what resources they have to find out what has happened to Gunther. Darry and Alan inform everyone that the Void card is bad - it means Gunther's soul is trapped somewhere and being guarded.
Alan seeks advice from Vizeran as Darry heads off to pray.
Vizeran lets Can know that even a wish spell is useless. Meanwhile, Darry's prayers are answered and he learns that Gunther is in a gem in the possession of the demon lord Graz'zt.
Joseph, letting Vizeran know that the horn he had was from Graz'zt convinces the archmage to scry on Graz'zt. When they learn where the demon lord is, the party teleports to meet him.
Joseph has informed the party of his prior meeting with Graz'zt and suggested that they first attempt to reach a deal.
After some back and forth, Graz'zt agrees to give them the gem in exchange for allowing one of the demon lords under him to get a chance to fight for his ability to remain on the material plain. The party asked for a name, but agreed to finding out later.
After teleporting back to Araj, Gnther's soul is returned to his body - but Gunther believes the whole thing is a joke. He misread the Jester card and it was Alan that was playing a joke on him.
Alan has taken the deck of many things, but tells Gunther that the cards are gone. Gunther is reluctantly convinced - for now.
The party also discovered that Gunther's intellect had been cursed by something and used greater restoration to restore him to his previous level of intelligence.
The next morning they meet with Vizeran in preparation for their trip to Menzoberranzan
Menzoberranzan Briefing
- It will take 10 days to create the talisman
- Menzoberranzan is dangerous. Drow mistrust everyone, especially non-grow
- It will be difficult to move around the city.
- Disguise as slaves and master may be the best choice
- Richter can pass as a slave
- Grim can be their 'master'
- Joseph may be able to pass as a drow
- Gunther, Darry, and Mr. Garrick may have difficulty
- There is a secret passage to get to the city
- Vizeran provides a map of the city
- Vizeran tells them about the ruling houses
- Vizeran tells them about the Council of Spiders
- Teleporting is currently being blocked in to and out of the city
- The grimoire should be in Gromph's office in the Tower of Sorcere
- Sorcere is protected by spells of warding
Character(s) interacted with
