Tools of Chaos

[madtinker]

Bow in greeting. Yes, he is speaking with his grandson.

[INWranger]

She says she will wait until they are finished. After a time she walks in, just as Beothor comes out. Soon after that you hear quiet but hysterical laughter. It is followed by what sounds like Fine, fine, I always thought as much.

[madtinker]

Continue standing outside until summoned.

[INWranger]

Alora says that you are asked to come in. When you do Rothgar thanks you and says that if you have anything else to finish up to do so. He dies during the night.

[madtinker]

Sit up watching over him while recording the events of the recent days in my journal. Pay my respects in the dwarven way, then depart.

[INWranger]

Where do you depart to?

[madtinker]

I need to deliver my fake dagger to Valgris and collect 1000 gold. And have I noticed anything unusual about the assassin's ring? I suppose I could just use a detect magic spell on it.

[INWranger]

You detect a chameleon spell on the ring. There is also some other spell on it that you don't recognize, like a half spell. No matter what you do you can't figure out what the second one is. It takes you a couple of boring days to reach Valgris. When you arrive he examines the fake closely, then nods and gives you your gold. What next?
Take 500 XP for quest finishing and other stuff.

[madtinker]

I need a quiet place, preferably out of town, to read my book "Chosen of the Token" and examine the chalice I found.

[INWranger]

You remember a small village between you and where Valgris is that was really quiet.

[madtinker]

Go there and find a quiet inn.

[INWranger]

You get there after dark. So much so that while the inn is still open, things are winding down for the night. There are still some leftovers from dinner. You are able to secure a room for yourself. You open Chosen of the Token.
Spoilered for length.

Spoiler

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Holders of the Token have been of every stripe and of any morality. Through its history it has been the power behind brutality and prosperity. Those chosen by the Token have always seemed to be completely at random. Some were thieves, others were pious. What a Chosen does rather than a holder is not clearly known. Most seemed to lack much ambition of themselves, but were of excellent management skills. Their bend towards violence and subterfuge was of more necessity than the first plan. Origin of the Token may have some insight, but has been lost for over a thousand years.
What is known is that balance tends to follow the Chosen, where Holders tend to bring vast riches for themselves and ruin for all who oppose them. Sometimes a Chosen has become a Holder. In only one case has a Holder become a Chosen. A barbarian king who saw the Token as a means to unbalance the world and make one stronger than all others simply by holding it. Finding this unfair he disappeared with the Token and his holdings were slowly parsed out by those subordinates he left.
The Chalice of Profit is of gold with an emerald set in the bottom. It is the Bane of the Holder, of no hurt to the chosen and of mild healing benefit or mild harm to all others.
It is thought that the Chosen can be found using the Chalice and the Knife of Failure. The Knife of Failure is of ebony, with a red ruby in its pommel. It is Bane to the Chosen, of no particular use to the Holder, and can either help or hurt everyone else.
Those who have held the Token were...
It goes on a long history of Holders, Chosen and their actions in general and deaths in particular. Some of the Holders died horribly, as did some Chosen, and many of both had great success and long life. You notice the chalice you have matches the Chalice of Profit.

[madtinker]

Do I know anything about where Cronaria was? If I don't, I'll go to the Stone Chroniclers. Hopefully they didn't find out what I did. I can make a report of the True Sons while I'm there.

Get a good night's rest. Prepare my spells. Then set off for the Stone Chroniclers (unless I already know where Cronaria was).

Spells

Spoiler

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3rd lvl
Magic Vestment
Searing Light
Searing Light
Wind Wall
2nd lvl
Sound Burst
Bull's Strength
Sound Burst
Sound Burst
Status
1st lvl
Magic Weapon
Obscuring Mist
Entropic shield
Enlarge Person
Shield of Faith
0 lvl
Detect Magic
Guidance
Virtue
Guidance
Detect Magic

[INWranger]

There is an old map in the Chosen of the Token that contains it, but you don't recognize the map at all.

[madtinker]

Yep, better head to the Stone Chroniclers.

[INWranger]

It takes you a few days to get there. What do you wish to report and inquire about?

[madtinker]

I report on the activities of the True-Sons, that they are taming bandits through diplomacy and protecting peasants from extremist sects. They seem to think that the key to victory lies in some old tomes found in a church basement, as if they were gathering evidence that the current King is an usurper.

Then I will discreetly search for the Kingdom or village Cronaria, especially for maps leading to prominent valleys. Also, I have a suspicion that it might be linked to Lathasia. If I can find any links between the two great, if not I'll just focus on Cronaria.

[INWranger]

The records you looked at last time also supported that claim. You are led to a room with maps carved on stone tablets similar to the records you saw last time. There are also stones lying on slabs with maps slowly appearing on them. You find several maps of Cronaria, the most important one is a map of the lager continent. Cronaria was more of an empire at one time than a country. It covered all the places you have been, another half the continent, and some currently disputed territory. You also see a couple places on the map where there is nothing at all. On later maps the area with nothing does get smaller, but does not disappear. One of these is what looks like a days journey up the mountain from you now.

[madtinker]

Is it a canyon, or can I not tell? And Saran said it was two week hard riding to get to the canyon, but he could have been mistaken. Look in about a 300 mile radius from where Saran and I spoke. But I guess empty wasteland could be a good sign.

[INWranger]

Saran said that there was a place where they thought parts of the token were. There is a place with no markings on it near you, but you can't tell what it is besides in some mountains. When asking about it all that the Chroniclers can tell you is that it isn't on any maps for some reason. Some things are not given by the stone, for whatever reason.

[madtinker]

Well, I may as well go investigate. If nothing else, getting out into the wilderness will help me avoid Valgris if he discovers the forgery.

[INWranger]

It takes you two days to get to the area as the trail is harder than you thought it would be. It is a carved plateau with a mountain about a mile in. There is a iron bound door just about 6 feet tall. You can see no other means of entrance. The sides are carved straight up for about 20 feet and then normal mountain terrain begins again. You hear a waterfall in the distance.

[madtinker]

Knock on the door.

[INWranger]

A slider on the door opens at about waist height and a feminine voice asks you in dwarvish Who are you, what do you want, why do you want it?

[madtinker]

Good day my lady. Bow low. I am a servant of Kord, and came to this place wondering why it is an empty space on the maps of the Stone Chroniclers.

[INWranger]

You have not answered the question of what you want yet. And who are the Stone Chroniclers? And why aren't we on maps? Surely we are here.

[madtinker]

The Stone Chroniclers record anything and everything of the goings on in this world. We have maps that write themselves on stone slabs, but for some reason they do not show us this particular region. I postulate that some magical force resides here that does not wish to be found. As a cleric, it is my duty to find this force and ascertain if it must be protected from evil forces. That is my self imposed mission.

[INWranger]

An explorer and cleric then. Explorers are on my list of people I can let in. (this must be my lucky day. A visitor and i can let him in) The door opens and you are permitted in. It is a female halfling that greets you. She is shorter than any other halfling you have ever seen. You are required to fill out some forms that use a style of dwarven script you barely recognize. There is a tunnel that goes deeper. You are told to wait for a guide and then the halfling goes back to minding the door.

[madtinker]

Fill out the forms as accurately as I can, then stand waiting.

[INWranger]

Once you are finished with the forms there is a small wait and another halfling arrives. This one is a male, in more bureaucratic clothing and introduces himself as Hermes. He looks over your forms, nods and gives you a pass "for the Halfling part of the mountain." He then leads you through a labyrinth of tunnels, some going up, others down. The farther you go the more activity you encounter. There are shops stuck in the sides of the tunnel and vast caverns with shafts of light coming down onto fields with strange mushrooms growing. Hermes explains what each shop is and that the caverns are farms. As an explorer you are allowed in and are free to go where you want, but he must go with you at all times. When he finds that you want to know why the area is not on any maps he says that you better ask his superior who is on a visit to the goblins and will return tomorrow. What will you do now?