Arachnids and Aristocrats

In the morning after resting, the newly-formed group heads further into the Ernleb Forest seeking to make contact with Victor Elan at Vergess. During their first day, Arro leans against what he assumes is a tree but is instead revealed to be the leg of a gargantuan arachnid creature. The group manages to defeat the beast, with Arro taking the killing blow from atop the creature's head.
That night, they rest to recuperate from the battle, and Arro does research into the mysterious book that he carries. He finds several notes scrawled in the margins, presumable written by the mage he had stolen it from. The notes seem to be an attempt to decode the strange cypher that the book is written in, and describe attempts to create a new way of casting magic. Through help from Lethe, Arro comes to realize that this book is a journal that once belonged to an infamous dark mage named Kasius Darkshround. Unfortunately, the two are not able to make significant progress decoding the journal much further.
The next day, they come across the aftermath of a skirmish between elven partisans and Dozharen soldiers. They loot several flasdust weapons before continuing onwards and eventually arriving at Vergess. They find the site to have been nearly completely rebuilt. The factory is up and running, and there are a few dozen individuals working. After a tense encounter with Rydell, the elven head of security, they are brought before Victor.
Victor has claimed for his personal abode a building that was once used by an Eloqui overseer from the original mining attempts. Lethe fills Victor in on his misadventures in Faerie, and urges Victor to let Aberchak off the hook for his absence.
Victor lets Lethe know of what has happened while he was gone. The riot he and Precision had sparked in Einstap had led to increased crackdowns in the city; Victor himself had hastily abandoned the city before things got too bad for him. Since then, he has been running operations in Vergess and using the factory to supply flashdust weapons to the elven resistance.
Victor asks a favor of the party, revealing that he had secretly installed a teleportation circle in his manor in Einstap. He asks them to utilize it and recover some personal effects from his manor. He promises to make it worth their while, as they will be rewarded not only in liquid gold in items. Victor has a supply of amulets that will make the party unable to be located by divinatory magic, something that will be useful for those hunted by the Eloqui. Additionally, the arcaltium crystals Lethe had commissioned from Kara Diamonti are still in her shop.
The party agrees to undertake this, but Lethe does not know the teleportation circle spell. To this end, Lethe begins constructing a magical item that will allow him to have an extended conversation with Virren Lunamir and Thuldar Mardo so that he can learn the spell from them.

Chapter Forty-Six

"Arachnids and Aristocrats"

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Previous Chapter: Hard to Find Good Help

Next Chapter: The Kill Room

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Ingame Date: 26-28^th of High Harvest, 1855
Real-Life Date: March 26, 2023
Protagonists:

• Lethe Argie
• Arro
• Hjalmar Hammerson
• Kroq

Featured NPCs:

• Victor Elan

Locations:

• Ernleb Forest
• Vergess