16 : 05/12/25 : Cards on the Table

The Book Club visited Arwyn's office, where Ezri opened up about her backstory with her previous mentor, Deumion, her escape via the Deck of Many Things, and how she ended up in the new cage of her pact with the Lantern King. She also warned him about the Tourney of the Lantern, in case the school or town got caught up in it. Arwyn swore secrecy for Ezri's past, stating all mages had their own secrets, and the value of these to them.   While Arwyn agreed to keep a look out for any ill intent from the Lantern King's followers, he didn't know any other means of assisting with the Lantern King. However, he was especially interested in the Void Card and did know something about that. He explained to Ezri how a number of powerful forces acting on a Deck of Many Things can cause the deck to explode in magic, scattering its cards across the plane it was on. Even scattered, the cards still have power, and mages that gather the cards could draw new power from the Deck.   With Ezri's discussion reaching its end, Snow took the moment to ask Arwyn to look at her bracelet. Arwyn attempted to use Detect Magic, but noted that it seemed to eat away at the magic as it closed in on the bracelet's hidden compartment. Despite warnings from the others, Arwyn tried a Knock spell on the bracelet, taking serious necrotic damage for his trouble. Arwyn survived the blast and assured his students that he was fine. Shifting his plans, he informed Snow he could look into the bracelet with the Legend Lore spell, but would need to acquire the costly material components. He would look into his network of mages to assist in finding a source for them.   With more mysteries and paths laid out for them the party decided to focus on their current objective of helping Zana and made their preparation for the journey. The Book Club studied with their main professors, as well as Arwyn, while also improving their current equipment. Snow infused the horns of the Giant Ram into her sword, imbuing it with force damage and allowing it to slice waves of force through the air. Ezri adding some Wild Magic protection into her ring as a failsafe. Adeline utilize the wool of the Giant Ram to empowered her Nexus Heart as well.   With their preparations complete, the Book Club met up with Zana and Thargut Grimhammer, an archaeologist of the Grimhammer clan who was interested in exploring the tomb that he believed Zana's ley line led to. Thargut explained that the tomb was part of what was originally Grimhammer land, that was lost in a war with orcs, along with the previous leader of the clan, Elrecc Grimhammer. After this loss, it was Thargut's ancestor Gloridom who came to lead the Grimhammer clan, an old adventurer who had been close friedns with Elrecc.   After the history lesson, the party departed for the wagon and found that Zana had loaded it with a number of large crates and odd items. Zana claimed they were all things to help with ill omens she had forseen, but the party felt it was overly cautious and convinced her to cut back and that they survive and push through even if some of her visions came true.   On the first day of travel, the party passed a corpse dressed in spotless armor. The party decided to avoid it out of suspicion that it was some sort of trap or ambush. Further along, the wagon's path was blocked by a large group of giant snapping turtles. Zana lured them away after some time with the remaining fish the party agreed to let her take, though she mentioned it might have been faster if she had been allowed to take the full crate. While camping for the night, Ezri tried to help Zana relax and make her feel more comfortable with the unknown.   On the second day, the wagon quickly found itself impeded by a landslide covering the trail. Zana lamented not being able to bring the dynamite she had initially packed, due to Ezri's concerns of what would happen if she had a wild magic surge. Istead Ezri flew into the air and analyzed the landslide for weak points, then broke it up with carefully aimed thunder cantrips.   During the third day of travel, the party's path was once again obstructed by a broken bridge. Zana had packed a large pole for the purpose of fording a river, which Ezri was able to put to use quite effectively with some guidance from Zana. With the multiple misfortunes overcome, the party neared their destination, with one more day of travel ahead of them.