Session 33: Ale and Sigils

Waiting Game The group waited for Ana and Zaquivir to rest, finishing up their shopping and returning to relax at the tavern. Unbeknownst to the rest of them, Ana had snuck out when they all left for the morning to do some shopping of her own. With a bit of luck, she was able to root out a local organization who were happy to take the tarnished jewelry off her hands with a modest payout, and she used the opportunity to acquire a disguise kit to finally change her appearance like she'd desired.   Zaquivir Returns Having slept off a bit of the drain from the magic he'd performed, Zaquivir was happy to speak with the group and see if they had any other needs. Remembering the book they'd been carrying since the mines, Melios offered it to him to inspect, and with a keen eye, he released a sealed flap in the cover that had been hiding a loosely sewn-in map. With no other requests, he and Therei left to discuss spellcraft, before allowing the burgeoning wizard to copy a couple of items from his own spellbook.   Blonde and Bewildered With the party occupying the ground floor, Ana worked to not-so-sneakily climb back into the inn, before heading to the bathroom to take advantage of the new tools at her disposal. Meanwhile, Melios gently removed the map from its attachments and begin to investigate it, discovering that it was made centuries ago, and seemed to plot a course from the Southwestern edge of the Fortunebreak Mountains, down across Louth and into Chalesterre, before ending in the northern edges there, along the south side of the bay. This seemed to be in line with the information in the book itself, but why was it here? And more importantly, was this false history, or had he been told lies for years? His pondering was interrupted first by Therei returning from successful study, and then by Ana finally emerging to show off her newly blonde hair to the shock and delight of the others.   Important Questions Before they could head to sleep, a question was raised: if Zaquivir was from an organization of mages, would he know about the marks they'd acquired? Deciding to get more information, they approached his room, hearing the mumbling of a soft conversation with multiple voices, cut short once they knocked at his door. He emerged to greet them, clearly exhausted, and did his best to answer their questions. He recommended Farhaven as definitely having the largest supply of written texts on magic as well as historical records if they were needed, though mentioned they may be able to get some knowledge in Mancesham, his home, where the local branch of his group had their own store of information, although he didn't know of any specifically related to their problem. After a bit more pushing, he finally offered that while he didn't recognize the design of the marks, the closest approximation he could think of were some ancient elven binding sigils, which Ana remembered as being something once used mostly to bind things together in the form of portals, or apart in the form of barriers, prior to more modern magic options.   Finally satisfied, they allowed Zaquivir to sleep and headed off one-by-one to a somewhat drunken sleep themselves. What were these marks, and how had they received them? Hopefully, their continued journey would lead to more definitive answers...