(M-IC) Quest for the Restoration

[GodlyD&D]

Arapegol said, "But it still took you long to get here to reach us."

Gasha said, "Yes. That Big Hairy spoke at length though with not good use of our words about what sounded like an assassin team that hunted after that creature, though he made clear to us that even if he took things that could benefit him, usually food items, he was never harming any people. He appealed to us to help to not let them catch him. So we stayed a little while assuring this creature that we had nothing to do with those people after him. We were busy with having somewhere to go, after resting right there through the night, but if we found such a team that was looking for him, we would deal with those to stop them from continuing after him."

Klara who had her mind in Arapegol's original body asked, "As we are so low on coins, how are we going to have a place to stay here overnight, until we go on to find the amulet that will restore us and all the people affected?"

Arapegol said, "I have provided for that. Now that you are all here with us, I need to go to an appraiser in town, and then we can take care of that."

[GodlyD&D]

It was now getting close to the evening, and the group of people, with the urban camels, which had fed at the herbaceous growth around the lot and rested where those who rode had waited for the others, now went along the street which continued from the gate through the part of the city with more business, watching for a place of an appraiser. Finally they saw one, between a weapon shop and a pawn shop. Arapegol, Iperanton and Jaydeen in the elfin body entered that place.

Arapegol went straight to the man at attendance at the counter with a high screen having a small opening. Arapegol said, "I brought a gem of high value, and am interested in how many coins I will get with it."

The one attending the counter said, "Place the gem on the scale there."

Arapegol saw then the measuring scale then, which was attached to the screen, with a side of it facing the man on the other side, who could read it. He placed the gem there. The man then held a viewing glass over close enough to inspect it. He looked along a chart on his side. He said then, "This is good for seventy megamite bits."

[GodlyD&D]

Arapegol said, "I will agree to you having this for seventy megamite coins, we are new around here too, so I ask also with this that you would point us toward nearby stables available to travelers."

The appraiser agreed with making the trade, and he said then, "A block that way turn right past the corner, where you will find a good inn with stables available." He counted out seventy megamite coins, which Arapegol gathered to his bag as the appraiser took the gem Arapegol had acquired. He then went out with Iperanton and Jaydeen in the elfin body.

Jaydeen said, "You really did know it was a gem of value."

Arapegol said, "I certainly did. It is clear flowergemstone the gem armadillos exude at the front of their heads, I could recognize it. But I do wonder about what they are eating that is enough to produce that. Let's find the inn and get the urban camels we rode on comfortable enough to stay in the stalls there overnight."

They met the others in the lot, and told them they were going on toward the inn a little further.

[GodlyD&D]

Fortunately, they found that this place they had been directed towards was a real inn, with very adequate stalls for the mounts they came with where those animals would be comfortable, rooms to sleep in through the night, and an eating and drinking area in the front where items could be ordered. All who came with Arapegol were glad he had acquired that gem of value with which there was now enough megamite coins that they could stay here, and sleep comfortably before going on.

As they sat at a long table together with the items they had ordered, Jaydeen asked, "We have reached Diodun. What is the plan for here on?"

Arapegol answered, "The great wizard from which the amulet that altered us was taken, and who still had an alternate amulet that would undo that alteration to us and the others affected, was in a caravan train when robbed by bandits when he was killed before he might react when awoken, and the caravan was lost and then never seen again. The destroyed amulet from Jearius when he was killed was the one from that wizard, and a hidden amulet on the caravan with the wizard who Jearius had killed would be on that lost caravan. So that is what we must search for tomorrow. From what I heard it must have left from here before the bandits reached it."

[GodlyD&D]

Jaydeen answered, "Then whenever we speak with any individuals here in Diodun, we need to ask if they know about the caravan that departed from here and did not get to its destination."

Arapegol said, "We need to learn what we can. But from a city like this there are probably many caravans that have left from here, and that have brought people here."

The server who came to the table to check if any of those there wanted anything more said right then, "I do know of a caravan that departed from this city, around fifty to hundred days ago, it was supposed to reach the village of Asterspar, but bandits oovertook, robbing a number of cars of that caravan, and then with a shot of one of the weapons the bandits carried the animals pulling the cars panicked and ran off in a wrong direction, and the caravan plummeted into a canyon, where all there would have perished. It was a big news item here."

Arapegol asked, "How recently did that news come out?"

"That must have been around fifty days ago. The caravan left here and was not seen when it should have come to Asterspar much longer before. It had just been discovered what had happened to the caravan then."

When the server had left with a few orders for dessert items, Arapegol said, "In the morning we should go on looking for that canyon near the caravan route where that caravan had fallen in."

[GodlyD&D]

They soon had the meals they ordered, Arapegol had a bowl of minestrone which was a favorite of his. They enjoyed dinner at length, with knowledge they shared that the next day they were closing in on the amulet they needed to find for the restoration of many individuals to the way they were until only recently when minds of some switched to other bodies. When they had finished, they went to the rooms they had that night here at this inn, which they divided themselves to share here too, with three rooms, each with three among them. Arapegol shared the room he went to with Iperanton and Jaydeen.

Here they had three small beds, anyway. Arapegol still spoke of getting the amulet. Once it was found, he would go, with the others who would still go with him, right straight back that he would give the restoration to all those who had been changed from such power.

Jaydeen still said, "What if it does not work?"

"What do you mean? It is Jearius' Amulet which we would have to find, and I was shown what its appearance is like. The high wizard Diragusher who sent me knows it would work for that, it is exactly the one thing we need to find."

[GodlyD&D]

It had been a long way, Arapegol and others rested well through the night. In the morning, Arapegol, Iperanton, and Jaydeen got up early to be ready for others when they got up. They fixed up the room they had used and took their belongings out with them to go to the dining area. There they found Lucion and Trysina there with the half giant with the elfin mind, waiting for them and the others already.

Lucion in Trysina's body said, "Our giant friend here could not lie down comfortably in a bed in our room, that was not the right size for her. She said nothing to us, but we each later noticed her on the floor with the blankets. We knew she would not sleep a long while like that, and then we didn't either. While it was still dark, we got up and moved two of the beds together and we guided her to those to sleep further, which she did. We just had one bed left for us, but we got ourselves up soon after that, and readied ourselves for this day. And our friend woke up at that time, and made her preparations to go, too."

Arapegol said, "We might expect all of you will tire out sooner today than the rest of us. When the others are up, though, we will go along that route that the caravans go on, toward Asterspar, looking for where there is the canyon that would be near to that place."

[GodlyD&D]

The others were up soon to come out and greet the those now waiting in the dining area. They had a very quick bite, and then with directions they had received they got the urban camels that each rider had for using from the stalls, where they had been fed and had their place to rest, and all went to that road from the departure station that went right out of the city of Diodun across hills toward the city of Asterspar to the north from there. They were near the hills a little way out from the city, so the riders did not even mount their urban camels and walked with the others along the road to the hills ahead and then went up the ascent toward a pass ahead.

Arapegol said, "The canyon we need to find should be along the hilly region here, where the disaster to it was not very far from Diodun. Watch carefully for a possible way from the road that might lead to the canyon we should find."

They went quite a way up that ascent, on the road which curved to the side around higher ascents. A caravan had departed a little earlier ahead of them, and there was no other traffic along this road as they went. They came close to the highest part of that ascent to the pass between hills all around before seeing an area between hills on the right that was more level with the road, going off toward some distance away where it declined from there.

Jaydeen said, "That sure looks like a place that qualifies for us to find a canyon."

[GodlyD&D]

They all continued forward that way, away from that road leading through the pass, with the five riders leading the urban camels behind them. The came to see further past the increasing descent, and indeed it was a small canyon below, several dozen noble feet down. They looked around carefully from where they reached just before where the descent was steeper, and there were broken pieces of wood and small amounts of metal in scattered places. There was no further sign of a caravan having been there where it would have fallen.

After a few moments of silence as they were all looking, Arapegol said, "There is no sign of bodies, of the humans or the animals, going in that caravan. The bodies must have been moved out from there when that site of the ruined caravan had been discovered. Also, it seems any valuables would have been taken already, except for the smaller bits of metal too scattered. I think we need to return to Diodun, and find out who were coming here, from whoever first discovered this to those who were taking the bodies and cleaning up anything here."

Jaydeen said, "I think I see at least as well with the eyes I now have as you do, Arapegol. There is nothing down there worth retrieving now. But some were doing that earlier. We should really go back, I agree, and find out who they all were." Jaydeen turned back, leading the urban camel which Jaydeen had been riding, the others then turned back, to return to the road where they would go back down the way they had come.

[GodlyD&D]

There was enough of the day left to do more when the travelers returned to Diodun, they them went to the Diodun news center when they found directions. Arapegol asked those he found working there about the individuals known to have discovered the missing caravan in the bottom of the canyon and those that cleaned up salvageable parts from that. At length they acquired names. Five names were those that could be found in Diodun still. Arapegol and the others searched each one of those out, and made enough inquiries to hear their stories. The stories given separately corresponded to each other. Two individuals had gone in their small wagon up that way from Diodun to the communities beyond those hills. They had stopped for a rest and to have a view from looking spots there, they had seen the crashed caravan and bodies of the animals, and one human body exposed, at the bottom of the slope into the canyon. They returned to bring the news of that to people in Diodun. A party of four strong men who would bring bodies of any people there out, to be brought to Diodun for identification and for burial services. Some salvageable parts were retrieved also. One young man of the two who were first going that way then again was going that way, himself, to go to one village north from Diodun on the other side of the hills. There was no where in Diodun to find the amulet, and none of the stories from those they asked gave any hint that would account for it. Just that one who had gone on from Diodun to the village north from there, on the other side, had not been asked. That one, who they learned was named Kippedot, was the only one left that could be a link to the missing amulet. They would still need to go to that village to find him.