Mordenkainen

Dear Nori,
We’ve met Mordenkainen. The real one. The one we met before was, apparently, not the real deal, but a doppelganger or something who works for him while he deals with more important business.
Let’s start from the beginning. I told you in my previous letter that we were next in line to meet with Mordenkainen. Of course, he wasn’t the one waiting behind the desk when we entered the tower. You’ll never guess who was. Fucking Precious, the arcanaloth who stole my sword. I do not understand why that asshole keeps showing up. I hate him so much. Which he knows. So he sits there, pushing all my buttons, knowing I won’t kick his stupid butt, no matter how much I want to. He didn't just try to get a conversation with the shield again, he also told us his “real” name: Vorkus. I don't believe it’s his actual name, but I rather call him Vorkus than Precious. After annoying us me a lot he sent us up to Mordenkainen.
Mordenkainen himself is, well, something. Ron says he's this all powerful, very famous wizard and stuff, but he's also very unlikeable. I mean, he hangs out with fiends, with apparently no desire to see humanoids every now and then. That does say something, right? I want to believe he does what he thinks is best, but I just don’t. He *is* powerful enough to send Elturel back to Faerûn, but he doesn’t do it because of “the balance”. Something about that Avernus wouldn’t be able to withstand the demon horde and that’s bad for balance. Bullshit, using his reasoning you could say that that many people suddenly turning into devils is bad for the balance as well. Of course he didn’t listen. Arrogant prick. I don’t think he knows what it is like to lose someone.
He didn’t want to talk about saving Elturel anyway. He was just there to hand out missions. Which he did. He wants us to investigate/stop an individual from Exandria. The individual just gained a powerful artifact and Mordencainen doesn’t want the individual to upset the balance. I told Mordenkainen that since he is that powerful, he could just as easily do it himself (everyone got pissed at me, but I feel like I just said what everyone thought). To be fair, I’m kinda curious about the reward, since there are that many mercenaries outside his tower, it must be really worth it.
After that discussion we tried to buy some items from Mordenkainen. But Mordenkainen didn't really have the patience for it so sent us to Vorkus. Vorkus sold us the sand, as well as a few spell scrolls for Ron. We also wanted silver arrows and armour, but Vorkus didn’t have that. Then Mordenkainen asked us back. He had just realized we have the shield. Or what the shield is, I guess. Anyway, Mordenkainen wants it. Fenrir didn’t want to give it up. There was a bit of a discussion, but eventually we sold the shield for a wish spell. We’re gonna use the wish to restore Lulu’s memory. The shield isn’t happy but Fenrir told the shield he wasn’t really gonna sell it. I wonder why the shield doesn’t want to go. We haven’t done it any favours so far. Mordenkainen can’t be that bad, right? Also, I’m surprised Fenrir is willing to part with the shield. He seems to really like it. Anyway, Mordenkainen couldn’t promise us he would be able to restore Lulu’s memory, but he would meet us at Fort Knucklebone in 3 days and see what he could do. We told him Fort Knucklebone is too far away and we wouldn’t be able to make it in 3 days. So he cast a special fly spell on us, which gave us extra speed and now we should be able to reach it in time. With no time to lose, we flew away, back again to Fort Knucklebone. Honestly, when we get there we should urge Mad Maggie to get a teleportation circle so Ron can get us there without too much trouble. Assuming Ron knows how that works. He does seem like the kind of person who knows…
Anyway, since Leo is still a puff of smoke, Fenrir was appointed as navigator. Honestly, I’m not too sure how good his sense of direction is. I think he might have led us the wrong way, but I’m not completely sure. And I don’t want to give him shit about it, he really tried his best. The next day I was the navigator again. I definitely feel like we made a good distance and hopefully in the right direction. The only downside is that I navigated us into a group of creatures the shield called Soul Sniffers (the shield told us what they’re called. I think it wants to make itself useful so we won’t give it to Mordenkainen). I think they are blind, because of the way they move and such. When they passed us, we stood still, hoping they wouldn’t attack. They definitely knew we were there, I think they could smell us. But, since our souls are already taken, they weren’t interested in us and just moved along.
When we made camp, Fenrir showed us a new spell he had learned: He can make food appear (which is a good thing, since Ron and Luna weren’t really successful in finding us something to eat). I didn’t even realise he could use other magic than smite!
Anway, after a quiet night we continued our way to Fort Knucklebone. I navigated us towards a hell wasp nest. Not on purpose, of course. Although I do like the idea of us entering Fort Knucklebone riding on wasps the size of a horse. However, the shield said those wasps are intelligent (and aggressive) so I concluded it wouldn't be a great idea. We moved on, staying clear from the hell wasps and eventually making camp. Fenrir did his new trick again, so we had a fine dinner.
Technically speaking, the next day was the day we were supposed to be at Fort Knucklebone. We really tried, but we couldn't make it on time. We met a group of Meragons, which we also did not fight. We make traveling across Avernus sound boring, and it kinda was. At least we look pretty cool on our bikes.
The next day we finally made it to Fort Knucklebone. Mordenkainen was very annoyed with us. Maggie seemed excited at the prospect of using her machine. I was more interested in the history the two of them definitely have. Maggie said she couldn't tell us while Mordenkainen is there, which makes me think it's embarrassing for him. I would love to get some dirt on that asshole.
Anyway, Mordenkainen seemed confident he could get the machine to work. Which means we're one step closer to saving Elturel. Let's hope Lulu's memories will come back so we can save everyone.
I will see you soon, probably.
Your loving sister,
Caja