Neldor smiles. "Ah, but the first time you identified where you were and made the intelligent move to leave immediately. Staying and exploring is a significant increase in the level of peril." His smile widens. "Not to mention increasing the doubts in your sanity."

He shrugged. "I don't have a map of the city. My family never lived there. But I can at least describe its districts. And help a bit with information on fiends.

"As for price..." He thinks for a moment. "Let's say a hundred gold up front, then right of first refusal to buy anything you bring out of the ruins, at a slight discount, plus an interview. Were you planning on basing yourselves out of Glen, or did you have another dale in mind?"

In reply to DM (msg # 25):

"Hmmm..." Corym records the offer in the journal.  "We'll keep that in mind.  We're planning on establishing a camouflaged base camp in Myth Drannor and working several areas nearby.  As I understand it, you're a fellow practitioner of magic.  Is it possible that you might have spells that would assist with this endeavor? Similarly, do you possess any spells that might be especially useful with the fiends?"

"Ambitious," Neldor says. "Most adventuring bands I've heard of try to dash into the ruins and then dash out again as quickly as possible. Like a Sembian who just ran over someone in the street and is eager to get around the corner before someone notices. Although not all fiends are as vicious as Sembians out for a little justice.

"I don't have many battle spells." He shrugs. "Never been a battle mage, nor wanted to be. But I have a decent library. What were you thinking of, and what do you have to trade?"

"Our key to getting out of the city alive was our ability to remain stealthy.  Barring wild magic, I'm relatively convinced of our ability to maintain operational security between our base and the site--thus minimizing our exposure to danger except for that we're intentionally seeking."

"I'm not much of a battle wizard either, you see. I was thinking of spells like Vacancy, Guards and Wards, Invisibility 10', Hallucinatory Terrain--those are the ones that come to mind immediately.  If there's something that had some subtle effect just deflected attention, or encouraged folk to go elsewhere, that would be welcome as well.  Protection from Evil, or the Protection from Evil 10' would both be nice as well. Again, our success inflates your profits."

"In terms of what I could offer--I have two quite rare spells that I think are of especial use for fellow-non-Battle Mages, though I think the rarity might skew the exchange too far in our favor--Past Life, and Alamir's Fundamental Breakdown."

While Neldor considers what he has to trade, Corym remarks.  "I'm an Elf-Nationalist on principle and want to help our people whenever I can by reclaiming their lost art and heritage, but I'm personally a bit of a cosmopolitan. Two generations back, my family did live in Myth Drannor, so I come by it honestly, I suppose.  The idea of living in a Dwarven community is stimulating to me.  I have a great love of craft and craftsmanship, and by profession I'm a stone mason, engineer, and architect.  Glen appeals to me on many levels, and I sincerely hope to make Glen a home."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:56, Mon 27 May 2019.

"Ah! You have fundamental breakdown as well?" Neldor's entire face lights up. "Isn't it the most marvelous spell? A bit hard on what you're analyzing, but I get so many strange things that sometimes that's the only way to ensure that the knowledge to create it isn't lost forever."

The elven girl laughs. "And remodel the kitchen."

Neldor winced. "That was one time. And it wasn't even this kitchen." Shaking his head, he turns back to you. "A cosmopolitan elven nationalist? The mind boggles. At least you're not one of those Eldreth lunatics. And anyone who can see that the Reatreat was a mistake is... well, they can see clearer than the Court, at least. Let me take a look at past life. I'm not familiar with it. If it looks useful, well, I might be able to exchange one of those spells you want for it."

"Ah." Corym watched as his bargaining position eroded. "How would you value a recipe for a famous Felbarran beer, not brewed since the fall of the Citadel.  Obtained by Fundamental Breakdown, of course.  Seems like there would be a good market for it around here.

Neldor laughed. "What do I need with dwarven beer? The People may have left Cormanthor, but I know where some of the best wine cellars were left. Though if you're looking to sell the recipe, I have an agent in town that could help you. A local dwarf, doesn't put peoples' backs up the way I do. I've used her help for years."

"Fair enough--I'll keep your agent in mind though.  We've been sitting on that recipe for awhile now.  Here is the abstract for Past Life."  Corym opens to the appropriate page of his second volume of spells.

Neldor reads through the spell. "Interesting. I can certainly see some use to this. And it's not necromancy, interesting. Very well. I'll trade you invisibility, ten foot radius for it." He smiles. "A bit of a power imbalance, but I did promise Dorian that I gave discounts for the People."

"Just the first trip back to Glen after we depart--not future trips?"

"Well, I'm certainly not going to come hunting you down," Neldor chuckles. "A lot of this depends on trust. Trust that you're not going to run north instead of south the second time, trust that you'll actually find anything, trust you'll survive. Trust you'll return even if you survive. So yes. One trip. Then afterward we can see where we stand with each other."

"Done."

"Excellent!" Neldor smiles. "Bring your spellbook and we can start the exchange. And what questions did you have about fiends?"

In reply to DM (msg # 37):

Strengths, weaknesses, common power sets, identifying characteristics.

Corym

"You don't ask for much, do you?" Neldor chuckled. He glances at his daughter. "You should stay for this. We haven't talked much about the planes; listening to me pontificate for a little while will be educational."

Turning back to you, he says, "First, tell me how much you already know about fiends in general, tanar'ri and baatezu in particular, and the planes of existence. No sense in my boring you with repeat knowledge."

Krackor

On the journey south to Deepingdale, Corym cast a spell over a flask of each of your Feldbarran ale. The ale itself was destroyed, but after a bit of mad scribbling, he handed you a complete list of ingredients and the recipe for making them. Some of the ingredients are rather obscure, but at least now you know them.

((ooc: Corym's new spell, Alamir's Fundamental Breakdown, gives a complete set of both ingredients and directions to make basically anything. It's normally used on potions or magical items; analyzing some beer is easy. Congrats; you now have the knowledge to start brewing the lost ales again.))

Krackor

Katarn nodded, "th' Finder will grant me the boon against cold ta spread around as well. I could use th' cold gear as a backup. I usually jus' use the power o' Marthammor, but if this mythal is something ta play havoc with spells, Dorian's got a good point."

"Corym, I'm sure ye noticed by now, but I kin go invisible at will thanks ta a trinket I found a few years back. Sure does come in handy wanderin' th' trails! So there's no need ta shroud me. I kin also, if we think trouble's a comin' bring silence in a 30 foot circle as well as ring us in a protective ward 'gainst Evil things."

In reply to Katarn (msg # 40):

Krackor thanks Corym for the ingredient list and directions.

Now we don't need anyone else to make the ale for us, I can make it myself once we get a more permanent base.

Katarn, this is good, if it's protection, the Lord of the Bronze Mask grants me access to it.

Now he had another angle to think about, what equipment would he need for making the brew.

We can look out for these strange ingredients too on our way to Deepingdale and back again, then on to Myth Drannor
This message was last edited by the player at 23:53, Wed 29 May 2019.

Dorian will spend a few days foraging and hunting in the nearby woods.  Anything he finds he will attempt to preserve as Iron Rations for the coming journey.

Dorian

You spend several days acclimating yourself to the forest of Cormanthor in the area around Glen. It's a large, complicated forest and you can feel magic laying across it like a morning mist held ever just before the moment it burns off. You would need years to approach it with the same familiarity as you would the Greycloak Hills or the woods of Sunset Vale. But you're not going to trip over your feet, either. You also manage to catch several rabbits, which will make a pleasant supplement to your rations.

"All the spirits of the world dance just outside our vision.  Our world is the place where their worlds meet.  Fire and earth, water and air come from places of purity but are filtered through the Spirit Realm and mingle in ours making endless combinations and variations.  The faeries come from there.  But through the night sky there are many other world like ours that can be reached through the Star Realm.  Just as there are those that dwell in Realms Below, there are those that dwell in Realms Above.  It is said that the progenitors of my mother's people fled by lifting their city on high until the sorcerers that pursued them could find them no longer.  Of course, neither can we!"

Corym's normally urbane tones start to shift to a different style of speaking subconsciously.  Undoubtedly this is the voice his mother used to teach him these things--the voice of a tribal elder passing on the long lore of her people through stories. "They only took the pure-blooded with them, and now the Yuir are all descended of the half-blooded.  Though there is no purer blood in the Yuir!  It is for this cause that my father's name was lowered--because he loved a Yuir maid and the Hill Elders believed he had degraded his family line.  The Ildroun's of old were from Myth Drannor--so I assume the cosmopolitan love came naturally to him.  But I depart from the path."

"Beyond the Star Realm and Spirit Realm lies the realms of the heart where every shade of mortal disposition rules supremely within its own realm, and the angels and demons in each reflect that heart by manifesting it physically and living it in reality.  Virtues become mountains, and Vices become pits. The deepest of the pits is the Abyss which descends without end. There in the Abyss where they know no order but strength, no tradition but violence, and no love but of self the demons roil in ceaseless conflict.  Neither their conflict nor their pit have an ending.  There the Spider Queen weaves her demon webs across the chasm of the pit to gather traitors to her black bosom, and Ityak-Ortheel devours those that prove no use to her."

"Beside their pit is one that is nine layers deep, with each layer the size of universe.  There the demons marshall themselves in a grand army, and every demon is the perpetual slave to some greater demon, and all to the greatest demon who wears the face of an angel and speaks with the voice of an oracle and who may turn the soul of a mortal with words without powers, and to whom men and women gladly surrender their souls in exchange for false promises."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:35, Tue 04 June 2019.

Corym

"Poetic," Neldor says. "And mostly accurate. Though if you're going to be facing the planes, or their denizens, it's best to eschew poetry. And someone definitely needs to sit down with you and explain the Astral and Ethereal planes if you ever decide to leave this one."

He stops for a moment and gathers his thoughts. "I have spent centuries honing my Art and delving into its depths. I can weave cloth from a coward's fears and brew elixirs that contain the rage of giants. But the planes make even my brain hurt. Each one is infinite in its own right, yet they have borders and often interlocking layers. Travel there is fraught with danger, as even the normal rules of nature we live by sometimes change.

"But even if you don't go to them, their inhabitants can come to us. Yugoloths led the Army of Darkness, but in the ruins you're most likely to encounter baatezu and tanar'ri. Note the names; 'demon' is a human corruption of a planar word, and is considered an insult. Call them what they are. 'Fiend' is an acceptable generic term. Both are thoroughly evil, but the baatezu are thoroughly lawful, and the tanar'ri are just as thoroughly chaotic. They hate each other with a burning passion. Most tanar'ri are in it for the rush and the crunch. Baatezu like that as well, but they'll generally try to wrap you around their finger first.

"As creatures born in another plane and survivors of years of war, even the least of the fiends are dangerous. I don't know many specifics; I try to keep as far away from fiends as possible. Here's what I do know. All fiends are immune to normal weapons. You'll need enchanted weapons to hurt them. Silver weapons are also effective, and tanar'ri are vulnerable to iron weapons forged without heat.

"All of them are magical to at least some degree, with powers that they can use at will. The mythal is blocking some of those; I don't think they can teleport, and I know they can't gate in more fiends. They're resistant to most forms of elemental damage, though acid tends to work well. And like the drow, they have magic resistance. Though it's generally weaker than that of our dark brothers.

Otherwise..." He spreads his hands. "As I said, I try to avoid them. They're tough, resistant to magic, and most of them are smart. It's a bad combination. You have a group; work together. The first priority for both tanar'ri and baatezu is always themselves. They're always looking for ways of advancing their interests and position. And they always, always try to defeat the other. Maybe you can make use of that."

He pauses, then gives you a strained smile. "Oh, and you're wrong about the faeries. No one knows where they came from. Unlike the tanar'ri, they don't have a home plane."

((OOC: I have the feeling that I have asked this before at some point... Forgive me for forgetting if that is the case! Is there a way for Elorfindar to contact his father? Evereska is out of range for an animal messenger, and other spells are not available as far as I am aware...))

In reply to DM (msg # 45):

Corym thanks him for the knowledge.

"What of spells and effects?  Our people are immune to sleep, surely these fiends have their own spell immunities?  Or hopefully vulnerabilities?"

((ooc: Elorfindar, I don't think you have a magical way of getting in touch with your father, though maybe you can invent something creative. From a mundane perspective, Kora commissioned a rider to get a letter (eventually) to Hill's Edge, by way of Cormyr and Iraeibor. She's offered to ask her family to pass on any letters of yours to the Halway Inn outside Evereska. It'll take all winter if not a bit longer, but as long as the riders/caravans aren't destroyed, it'll get there.))

((OOC: Thanks! I came up with something creative, I think - whether it has any chance of working is a different matter... So here is my plan: get the components for Call Woodland Beings (a pine cone should be no problem at all, holly berries depend on the season but might be available dried?), cast it in 'Moderate/Sylvan' or, if possible, 'Dense/Virgin' woodlands and try to call a treant, sprites or a unicorn and ask it/them to look out for/ask other woodland beings about his old friend Mouse and, in the unlikely event Mouse is encountered in Cormanthor, tell him to seek out Elorfindar in the region.
This obviously depends, amongst other things, on understanding the spell as actually calling the creatures from the local region (that the spell does summon creatures from the Prime Material Plane is at least indicated in Encyclopedia Magic Vol. IV, page 1475) which might not be the case.
If that is completely unfeasible, Elorfindar will send a letter via Kora/Hill's Edge.))