Session #28: The Ritual Secrets

The party dusted themselves off from the battle, and decided to go out into the woods that surround Korth to make a copy of the ritual. Doing so took the better part of the day - Azeri did the copying while Edge and Taumir stood guard. As evening drew on, they returned to town and made plans to make their way to Fairhaven. They debated several methods, but in the end decided on the way that was fastest, and remarkably also the cheapest - lightning rail. They knew there was a price on their heads, but they also knew that the upheaval of the war and the House Deneith succession crisis provided enough cover noise that they could probably slip through town unnoticed. Still, they took no chances, and arrived and boarded seperately.

The three day journey to Fairhaven was for once, completely uneventful. They did however learn some important world news: Breland had attacked Droaam. The Eldeen Reaches responded by saying they will remain neutral. Some responded to this by saying it means they are cowards, hiding behind the Byeshk Mountains where Droaam can’t harass them. Zilargo started locking down its borders – it sees this conflict as a particularly bad omen, as Nymm is supposed to a month under the mark of hospitality and forgiveness.

On the 6th day of Nymm, the party arrived in Fairhaven. The University of Wynarn was closed already, so they found an inn and settled in for the night. The next morning, 7 Nymm, they followed Tselem onto campus to the office of Miri, a human woman who had been one of Tselem's teachers of magic. She was a sweet middle-aged lady who was happy to see her student again and to meet the newcomers.

After the pleasantries were aside, they showed the ritual to Miri. She was initially very skeptical that they had what they said they did, but after looking it over she realized to her astonishment that they had something extremely rare and valuable. Tselem asked if there was a way to create a counter-ritual, one that removes dragonmarks. Miri said through her shock that every ritual has its opposite, but it would require some very powerful magic, far beyond her knowledge. She said she might know where to look up some information on such things though - the restricted section of the library.

The party and Miri made their way to the library, then down several flights of stairs into a dusty, gloomy basement. As they made to enter the room at this level. they were suddenly attacked! Almost a dozen mummies emerged from the walls and set upon them! Miri was just as surprised, and joined in the fight, but she was no adventurer, and contributed very little, though she managed not to die. The party cut through their attackers and blasted them back into dust.

Rewards

• 4,750 XP each. Time to level up!

After much to-do, here is the ritual itself:

GRANT DRAGONMARK

Level 10 Ritual
Casting Time: 4 hours
Component Cost: 5 moon slivers
Market Price: (party can determine)
Key Skill: Arcana

You speak the incantation, calling on the power of the hidden thirteen moon, focusing on the individual who is to be the recipient of this blessing. When the ritual is ended, the chosen dragonmark appears on the person’s skin. (The Arcana check is performed at the beginning, and which mark is bestowed is decided then. If Arcana check fails (9 or lower), then the ritual cannot be performed that day.)

Arcana Check Result	Dragonmarks that can be bestowed
9 or lower	(none)
10-20	Healing (Jurasco), Hospitality (Ghallanda), Passage (Orien), Scribing (Sivis), Handling (Vadalis)
20-35	Detection (Medani), Finding (Tharashk), Shadow (Phiarlan/Thuranni), Warding (Kundarak)
36 or higher	Making (Cannith), Sentinel (Deneith), Storm (Lyrandar)