19 - 06/02/25 : An Odd Invitation

The Book Club began their first day of travel to Soul's wizard tower. Shortly past the outskirts of town, the part came across some mages who were trying to capture a wandering Faerie Dragon. The party rushed to the innocent creature's defense, defeating the enemy mages. Thankfully for their assistance, the faerie dragon gave the party a charm of protection to keep them safe on their own journeys.   The next day, the party found a natural goodberry bush, which they decided to use for some of the upcoming camping meals. As they continued, the Snow noticed something strange with the stablewright mounts and determined that something unseen was interfering with them. With the Detect Evil and Good Spell, Adeline was able to determine the general location of three creatures. With a well aimed strike, Snow was able to pierce one, revealing an imp that had chosen to be a problem from travelers. Ezri took out another by chucking a rat from her Hat of Vermin at one of the other imps. Not wanting to be stabbed or mauled by a rat, the last imp chose to leave of its own accord.   On the third day, Snow noted that the Stablewrights were going in circles. Adeline explained how this was a small error the constructs could encounter, but since they caught it early, it could be solved easily with some percussive maintenance. Continuing on, the party encountered some travelers whose wagon had become caught in some mud. Snow assisted the strangers in pushing the wagon free, and they thanked her with some fresh produce they were transporting. Snow eagerly accepted and added these to the party's meal for the evening.   On the fourth day of travel, Adeline noted strange fluctuations in elemental energy. From this, the party located a cyclops infused with elemental water energy. Between Snow's enthusiasm for combat and Adeline's desire to rebalance the elemental energies, the party was drawn into combat with the empowered giant. While it was a dangerous encounter, the Book Club managed to triumph in defeating the elemental threat. The rest of the day was relatively peaceful, with the only further obstacle being an odd herd of mule blocking the way. The party speculated that they might have been released by the cyclops's rampage, and decided to let the mules pass by on their own accord, making camp for the night.   As they continued their travels, the students passed the hut of an herbalist. While Ezri was wary of a possible hag encounter, the trio approached, and the outdoorsman offered the party some potions of greater healing at a very reasonable price. Past the hut, the wagon came across a dead goblin carrying a lantern, that seemed to have had an ill encounter with the wildlife. Ezri confirmed that this goblin was indeed part of the Lantern King's tourney, and was happy to take their remaining Lantern Flame for herself.   During the next day's travel, the party had a strange encounter as a griffin dropped a deceased adventurer on the path in front of them. While this was the shocking, the resourceful students decided to check the adventurer for remaining valuables, and found a scroll of protection from elementals on him. Continuing on the path, the party encountered a large bear sleeping in the road. Snow took it upon herself to try and convince the bear to leave this spot peacefully. She managed to persuade the bear without needing to resort to violence and the party continued on.   As the party's travel neared their destination, the road was suddenly engulfed in fog. As the fog parted, the trio were greeted by a Cloud Giant by the name of Fomnus Fluwgar. He was interested in hearing the stories of the these odd travelers and, once entertained by them, gave them an objective. He gave them a box and demanded that the students find something interesting at their destination, steal it, and put it in the box, which would then transport to Fomnus. He made sure they understood that he wanted something interesting, or he would remember them and find them again. Nervously, Ezri accepted the box, and the giant teleported away, allowing the group to continue their travel. As they left this encounter, the trio found a glade where they decided to rest before reaching their goal. The glade's tranquility turned out to be more supernatural in origin, providing the party with a charm that could rejuvenate them in the future.   Finally, the Book Club's lengthy travels came to an end, as they arrived at Soul's tower. They entered into the darkened entryway, which soon lit up into a lounge of colorful lights and magically generated sounds, along with their equally flamboyant host. Soul asked what the party was interested in knowing about, and offered that he knew some things about his companion Arwyn as well, as the man was not one to talk about himself without prompting. Adeline also asked if he had any ideas about her father, and Soul revealed that he was acquainted with her mom, but not close enough to know who her father was. Soul then presented a quiz to the party, to encourage them to consider information and come to their own conclusions. Through this, he revealed that Arwyn was had a wealth of information about the ancient Hyperborean civilization, which gave him an easy foothold in making friends with wizards. He also noted that Arwyn seemed to come out of nowhere 10 years ago, when Soul first met him. In regards to Adeline's father, Soul suggested that he must have been pulled away by something of significant importance, as he clearly left on good terms, and he confirmed that Adeline seemed to have a touch of the planes about her. Finally, he let the party know the main reason he invited them to his home, a cube that held within it the wizard, Allomir Sarovar, who had a scroll of secrets and had secluded himself and his apprentices in as he tried to decipher it. Over time, his attempts began to drive him mad, slowly driving his apprentices away, while Allomir became even more reclusive in his endeavor to understand the scroll.