CH. 03 - The Accursed Tower

[Rax]

"Well, it seems it was as I feared then. Peddywinkle is - at the very least - wrong about Damien, his purpose in coming here, and the contents of his diary," Malavar notes.

"Captain, Drezden. Do you still believe we should simply hand over the diary to Peddywinkle now that we know that the only recipe in the book is for a potion to turn the user into an undead abomination?"

[Daos]

"An incomplete recipe," Taska points out.  "That probably won't even work, since it never did Damien any good, and even if it does, it's hardly a threat in the hands of a simple merchant like Peddywinkle.  Even Dallion needed a special spell just to read that thing.  And I'll remind everyone here that if we don't give the diary to Peddywinkle, as we were paid to do, then we don't get paid.  That means all of this was for nothing.  All that risk and danger, all those times we all nearly were killed and became undead ourselves, for nothing."

"Destroy the book and be done with it," Krah says.  "It is evil, it should be destroyed."

"If we are turning the book over to him, fine.  But if we are not, let's just keep it and all the treasure ourselves," Jaxle suggests.  "Let's just never report to Peddywinkle.  Maybe he'll think we died in the attempt and forget about us.  We can probably slip back to Luskan without him ever knowing, and bonus, we get far more money that way."

[Dallion80]

*looks thoughtful before speaking* "I need to spend more time studying this more in-depth. I admit the recipe to become a lich is concerning and i still agree that something is a miss here. i will keep preparing my spell that lets me read arcane writing"

[Rax]

"That sounds like a good idea, Dallion. We're meeting Peddywinkle in Targos, so we have a couple of days travel ahead of us in any case," Malavar says.

"As for Peddywinkle paying us, Captain, I do not recall that being part of the terms of our employment. The deal was to split any treasure we find 65/35, nothing else. We have been financing this exploration with our own blood and treasure, not Peddywinkle's, and as long as we keep our share, whether or not we allow Peddywinkle to leave with the diary won't affect the bottom line."

"Speaking of Peddywinkle, something else has been bothering me that I hope you can shed some light on, Captain. I remember Peddywinkle saying that Damien was a member of the Hosttower Luskan and that the mages there had allowed Peddywinkle to come and study their records. Now I am no expert on mage's guilds, but from what I gather the mages of the Hosttower are known more for their desire for power and influence than any philanthropic leanings. You are from Luskan, are you not? Do you know anything more about the Hosttower? Could it be that they are manipulating Peddywinkle for their own purposes, perhaps to recover his writings on lichdom?"

[Daos]

"I don't know, it's possible, I guess," Taska says.  "Nobody knows much about the Hosttower, except for the mages that live there.  They're a pretty secretive bunch.  But in my own experience, and from what I've heard, if you leave them alone, they'll not bother you.  But you don't want to make enemies with them."

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Malavar casts Cure Light Wounds on Jaxle, restoring (1d8):  6 HP.  Jaxle is now at full health.
Malavar casts Cure Light Wounds on Krah, restoring (1d8):  5 HP.  Krah is restored to lightly wounded.
Malavar casts Cure Light Wounds on Drezden, restoring (1d8):  5 HP.

[GreyWolfVT]

Drezden shakes his head "Knowing what that book could do in the wrong hands no Taska sorry but even in a non mages hands it could easily end up in the wrong ones. I have to say I agree with Krah destroy the damned thing. No offense to any of the mages in the host tower but I wouldn't trust em. I've seen good men corrupted by the powers of magic and evil."

[Rax]

"If Peddywinkle demands the book even after its true nature is explained to him, I will happily aid in destroying it, or at least the parts that pertain to creating the lich potion," Malavar says. "In fact, that would be a good idea if he gives up the book without complaint as well. As for the mages of the Hosttower, if they come after us...well let's cross that bridge when we come to it."

[Daos]

"Hmm, so Taska and Malavar want to return to Peddywinkle and Krah and Drezden want to destroy the book," Jaxle notes.  "Guess Dallion is the tie-breaker."

[GreyWolfVT]

Drezden "Well now wait a minute there is a point made here. The pages containing the talk of the lich part if we can just remove those how harmful is the rest of the book?"

[Rax]

"Give Dallion a little more time to read, and I'm sure he'll be able to tell us. But even if we can remove the recipe and the rest is just Damien's personal musings, we should still return to Peddywinkle and let him know the truth. I will not break our agreement on the basis of a mere suspicion - Peddywinkle may yet turn out to be misinformed or an innocent dupe of darker forces."

[Daos]

"Then I guess it's time to pack up and head back to town?" Jaxle asks, getting to his feet.

[Rax]

"I suggest we head back by way of Lonelywood. Treat ourselves to a night's rest and a proper meal at the inn there and give Dallion a little more time to study the diary undisturbed. Then back to Targos and Peddywinkle."

[Daos]

"I can agree with that much, at least," Taska consents.  "A warm bed sounds damned good after days of camping out here."

[Dallion80]

"i need more time to study this before i can weigh in on the matter"

[GreyWolfVT]

Drezden nods his head and agrees "Yes Lonelywood sounds like a good route I would quite like to stop back there."