Carousing for Vith
One day in the tavern, Vith felt his human and dwarven companions were unsatisfactory company. thus, he set out on a trip through town to research a spell called "Summon Familiar" (1st level spell).
Carousing for Vith
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» Carousing for Vith
You rolled a 2 on d6: You spend 200gp and gain 200 XP+bonuses)
You rolled a 4 on d20: Failed your save
Vith, there aren't many wizards of note in Threshold at the moment. However, you ask around and manage to find Martek the Magnificent, a travelling wizard staying a few days in the city. He says he is familiar with the spell you seek. He can prepare the scroll for you and requests a payment of 600 gold pieces (you failed your save) - 200gp downpayment and 400gp upon completion of the scroll. It will be ready in one week.
Upon returning to Threshold, you visit Martek the Magnificent. You pay the remainder of his fee and he presents you with a scroll. As you thank him and take the scroll you notice Martek doesn't let go. You meet his gaze and he says, "Be wary young elf, summoning a familiar is a practice not lightly undertaken." he seems to become emotional for a moment before he says, "Be careful what you wish for" and closes his door.
More interested in the spell than his words of wisdom, you hurry back to your room at the Flaming Troll. Bolting the door behind you, you roll open the scroll. The arcane runes seem to dance across the parchment and you realize the incantation will take several hours to complete.
You make your preparations and tell Hillgax to guard the door to ensure you are not interrupted.
As soon as you begin the incantation you fall into a trance-like state, you are partially aware of your surroundings.
The pace of the spell slowly builds, and builds, until you feel yourself reciting arcane speech at such a speed as to be completely incomprehensible. You are unaware of the passage of time.
You realize the spell is like a call, a summons to something that travels outward beyond time and space. The spell is a summons, and you can feel, in the fiber of your soul, that something has answered your call. You instantly have a feeling of dread. You know you have summoned something…unnatural.
You wake up the next morning laying on the floor of your room. You feel something half clawing at your face. You feel it again. You open your eyes and are shocked at the sight of a clawed, emaciated, disembodied human hand! You scream and Hillgax knocks on the door, "Master?" he says.
The "hand" is "standing" on its fingers, poking you in the face! You move away startled, fearful of attack from some sort of foul creature.
Immediately, the hand backs up to stand on its stump and begins making strange signs, seemingly trying to communicate with you. When it realizes that you don't understand, it taps the floor for a minute (seemingly thinking of what to do next) when it pops its index finger up in the air. It begins tapping the floor in various patterns. After another minute it pounds its fist into the floor and taps its index finger again. Finally, it begins making symbols with its fingers that represent letters in the common tongue. Albeit slowly, you start to understand. H-E-L-L-O, I A-M W-H-A-T R-E-M-A-I-N-S O-F G-O-R-U-M-G-H-A-S-T T-H-E M-A-C-H-I-A-V-E-L-L-I-A-N, Y-O-U S-U-M-M-O-N-E-D M-E A-N-D I S-H-A-L-L D-O Y-O-U-R B-I-D-D-I-N-G.
You immediately recognize the name of Gorumghast! He was a very powerful sorcerer, knowledgeable in the arcane art of necromancy and black magic. Every mage in the Northern Reaches has heard of Gorumghast and his despotic rule of evil during the occupation of the Dragon Army. His mage tower was believed destroyed by Lord Stephen.
The Creeping Claw of Gorumghast the Machiavellian:
The Creeping Claw appears as a clawed, emaciated, disembodied human hand. There is a ruby ring on its middle finger.
HP: 6
AC: 4 (Small-sized attack normally, man-sized attack at -2, larger than man-sized -4)
Movement: Move 10 feet per round.
*Magic-User receives 2 Hit Points but if the Creeping Claw of Gorumghast is destroyed the magic-user immediately loses 4 hit points permanently.
The claw:
*is intelligent and understands the black art of magic use.
*will fulfill some commands issued by its magic-user. These commands can be issued either orally or telepathically, in elvish or common.
*cannot respond orally or telepathically.
*knows the common Manual alphabet
*possesses a tapping language you don’t understand.
That is awesome! disembodied sorcerer hand? I did not see that coming. Very good story too, it was a good read. Hmm I'm sure I can find many uses for a disembodied sorcerer hand. thanks for doing such a good job.
Vith has heard stories about how effective the "Charm Person" spell is. He feels it would make his advances on tavern wenches much more effective. Thus, Vith sets out to learn how to cast Charm Person.
You rolled 2 and spent 200gp and gain 200xp. You failed your save with a 12.
Despite your best research efforts on the ladies (one liners, free drinks, etc) you are unsuccessful recreating the effects of the spell Charm Person.
However, some side research does pay off. You manage to acquire and examine a text written by the Archmage Tenser, a famed member of the Circle of Eight in a far-off land.
Tenser was physically weak and abhorred physical labour. He created a spell to help him carry treasure. Through diligent study you manage to recreate the effect of Tenser's Floating Disc and add it to your spellbook.
Vith wants to find a wizard who can recharge his wand of magic missiles at a reasonable price. (Vith rolled 6 on a d6 for gold spent, and 12 on a d20 for a poison save).
You spend 600 gps and receive 600 XP. You failed your save by one.
You return to Martek the Magnificent with your wand. His fee is 600 gps to inspect and analyze the device. He determines that the wand can hold a total of 8 charges. He charges the wand to maximum and demands an additional 200 gps for the balance of his services when you return to pick up the wand. If you don't have an additional 200 gps, you must wait to retrieve your magic item.
Vith wants to spend 500 GP to make a scroll of sleep with two sleep spells in it. I was not sure if I needed to make rolls for that, if I do I can always roll on secure dice, I'll check back later. otherwise, Vith wants to make that scroll.
Up to three spell levels per scroll, so you are good. Vith procures the materials, secrets himself away, and successfully creates his scroll with 2 sleep spells (good idea Vith). He spends 500gp.
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