[A meeting on Eternal Day 808, the 18th day of the third month of the 52nd year after the founding of the New Avalon Colony.]

Introductions

Nomad meets Marvin in New Avalon. Marvin is accompanied by a dwarf and a half-elf. Well, maybe a half-elf. And he looks vaguely familiar. Actually, Nomad realizes, if Whorfin had a shorter brother with a big nose, green skin, and a horse's tail, he would look like this person!

The strange half-elf speaks in Teth Common. "Hi Nomad. It's me."

Geez, what an ugly troll you are. Nomad, of course, does not *say* this.

The strange half-elf speaks in Teth Common. "Hi Nomad. It's me."

"Who the seven hells are you?"

Whorfin introduces the dwarf as Sven, a treasure seeker he and Marvin met and adventured with. You all find a place to sit down. When there's a private chance to talk among the three Eternals, Whorfin tells his story. Died on a religious quest. Reborn as you can see. Met on a beach by five strangers, who charm, interrogate, strip away all xp, take all magic items but one, then leave. Whorfin refers to them as the Desilus:

• Lucy - the talkative one who cast a teleport.
• Ricky - the one who got angry when Whorfin was talking about gods.
• Fred - the cleric with the Detect Lie.
• Ethyl and Little Ricky - the other two.

"Let me guess. They had this symbol." Nomad shows Whorfin a crude sketch of a symbol, and explains that he has been trying to research this group since a similar encounter happened to him. They are (or were, depending on when this meeting takes place relative to Nomad's encounter) friends of his, and he wants to seek them out.

"That's them all right," Whorfin replies. "It was something like a wide heart with a strange script inside, wasn't it? In shades of black and gray?

Then Whorfin and Marvin had a shared dream, and Whorfin discovered that Marvin was at Bug Village (where the three of us met before). Whorfin boards a passing Elf Boat to New Avo, and sails north to Bug Village. There he meets Marvin and hears Marvin's tale.

It seems Marvin has met the Desilus a number of times in the past. They would show up regularly, charm or recharm him, pump everything he knew out of him, and then whisper negative thoughts in his ear about Whorfin and Whorfin's god of the moment. Marvin has been under their spell for quite a while.

Then we sailed north with the elves. We went ashore before arriving here, met Sven, found a little treasure, and now we have met you. And as you know from the most recent shared dream, Abrac will be joining us here in a week or two. After that, we were thinking we would head north to meet Tim at Shoal. And since Sven is headed north too, we asked him to join us.

But we have a little time to kill before Abrac shows up. Here's an idea -- are you a member of the Mage Guild here? If you can get access and I could pose as your assistant, we could research a new spell while Abrac is getting here.

I think I will find it easy and cheap to research spells I used in past lives. So I was thinking about Minor Energy Gate as a fun first level spell. Also, we can compare spell books and maybe learn ones we would like. By the way, did I mention I can cast mage spells these days? Also, did I mention I can't speak Lothar Common, and I could use help reading the Magic Books in the local Mage Library?

Nomad, silent, is deep in thought. He may or may not be listening as John ex-Whorfin Reborn carries on, although he nods distractedly a bit when Whorfin discusses spell-casting and research.

After a while he says, "Marvin, why don't you and Sven check out the Boar and Tortoise over on Wharf Street. They have excellent roast and ale." And, as a (tiny) bit of menace creeps into his voice, "I have to talk to Whorfin here about past debts."

Marvin seems eager to get some good chow, after having to live off the land. "Hey, sounds great", says Sven, "This will be on me!"

A Desilu Production

After Marvin and Sven have taken the hint and gone -- and at the slightest beat of a hummingbird wing, Nomad will fall silent and draw swords -- Nomad is willing to discuss Marvin's behavior. It seems his friends (the Desilus, according to Whorfin) may have been using Marvin to tread on Nomad's honor somewhat.

But before he goes far along those lines, Nomad turns the subject to the Energy Gate spells. Nomad has already looked up some titles at the Guild that would be helpful for researching such a spell, although before he could do so he got dragged off on a quest to save Whorfin from doppelgangers, and then druid obligations intervened, and then Trembul . . .

At any rate, Nomad has plans for such a spell, and quickly explains them to Whorfin. "When you research a spell at the guild, they keep a copy of your final result. I am not willing to allow them access to a spell which taps the Home Plane of the Undead and draws its evil energy into our world to wreak havoc. My plan is to develop such a spell, then develop a totally different spell which will contact ONLY the Positive Energy Plane and which cannot be easily converted into its evil counterpart (i.e.: is not reversible). This spell they may have. Developing a first spell is only a steppingstone to making the latter spell unique to one plane -- something that others cannot tinker with to contact other planes. This first spell will not be going into *my* spellbooks, either . . ."

"Once we have this securely non-reversible Positive Plane energy gate, I will be writing as many scrolls of it as I can conveniently afford and distributing them freely to all mages I find, guild members or not. Its superior efficacy against the undead makes it imperative that such a spell be spread as widely as possible, the better to wipe out their foul kind."

Nomad continues for a while, and Whorfin should realize that he is being swept into a semi-religious quest here. . . And that a negative energy gate in guild hands could be a killing offense.

But in time Nomad does wind down and returns to the subject of Marvin, the "Desilus," and honor. Whorfin may or may not know of the difficulties involving Crazy Larry . . . As he explains it, Nomad was caught between a promise to Larry and his friendship with Marvin, and attempted unsuccessfully to fulfill his promise without causing Marvin harm. Larry retaliated by further dishonoring Nomad. Eventually Larry recanted, but Marvin took the sacred flagstone from Larry's temple and, still angry, Nomad allowed Marvin to store the stone in a container which is now in the possession of "the Desilus."

Much as Nomad likes those guys (at the moment, anyway), this calls for blood.

Whorfin shrugs, "As far as I am concerned, all that was a lifetime ago. Besides, I now believe that Marvin's outrageous behavior derived from being brainwashed under the influence of some kind of Charm. Frankly, I am still suspicious; Marvin seems slower of wits than he usually is. I intend to play my cards close to my chest and to keep Marvin in the dark about things if I can. As for the flagstone -- since the Eternal House is gone, and since you can't touch it now anyway, don't worry about it."

"But I will worry about it," Monad says, "And not only because honor is involved. Have you looked into the dominant religion here? Nevermind, you've hardly had time."

Whorfin looks thoughtful for a minute. "I still remember the Pale God and how I defeated his minion in the Elflands."

Nomad says, "We may want to re-establish a shrine to Larry at some point for reasons of . . . politics. And if the D are opposed to him, well, we may be able to divide their attention with it, assuming we have it. The point is, it could be a potent tool."

"A very good point -- especially since the Desilus seem opposed to the Great God of the Elves. As for details, let's worry about it if we get our hands on the thing." Whorfin smiles. "But if you are serious, it might be better to refer to the God as Manwe or Correllon or The Great God of the Elves." Then, frowning, he adds, "Yes, we must turn our attention to the Desilus -- they have made me mad too."

Nomad tells Whorfin that he has already asked the druids for help in locating "the D," which they have promised some information on soon, and been doing what research he can on them here in town. Why doesn't Whorfin help Nomad learn about these folk? In the meanwhile, Nomad is quite willing to let Whorfin copy spells into his books from Nomad's, assuming that's of interest.

"Anything I can do to help I would be glad to try, Whorfin replies. "And yes, let us compare spell books. Mine holds: Armor, Friends, Identify, Metamorphose Liquids, Read Magic, Shocking Grasp. Help yourself. What do you have in yours?"

"I still have my normal spellbooks," says Nomad. "Not that they're of much use at the moment. The D have the magical book of all spells (well, ok, very many spells)." Of the still usable spells, Nomad has: Affect Normal Fires, Alarm, Burning Hands, Feather Fall, Identify, Magic Missile, Mending, Mount, Read Magic, and Spider Climb.

Whorfin says, "I think Magic Missile would be worth a learning roll. If you, Abrac, and I all concentrate, we can squeeze three missiles out per spell (casting as 5th level). That's a lot better than the one missile per spell we get alone."

Nomad sent Trembul to Shoal with a message for Tim. The message told Tim about Nomad's encounter, and asked him to keep Trembul on for a while, allowing him to train with the monks. After that, Nomad had a shared dream with Abrac -- but how did Whorfin know that?

"Just a guess," Whorfin says. "Yes, this shared dream thing is unprecedented -- I don't know why we are having them. And these dreams are a little too convenient. I suggest that we use our dreams to communicate as little as possible. And perhaps spread a little >disinformation -- in case anyone is listening in. The Desilus clearly do not >want us dead -- that would have been easy for them to accomplish. So what do they want? To use us in some way, I think. Since we do not know how they want to use us, I suggest that the best way to foil them is to be unpredictable. But I think the most important thing is to gather everyone together. First, we need to find Darla, or find news of her. Then we have to get together with Tim.

"Agreed," says Nomad. "We've been attacked and manipulated individually. As a group, the footing would be more even."

Whorfin says, "I think an important philosophical foundation of Eternal behavior in our current state of poodliness must be that we try to stick together more. In general, we should always travel in groups of at least two."

Plans

Whorfin suggests travel north towards Shoal as soon as Abrac arrives. "But since he won't be here for a week or two, that should give us just enough time to research the original Minor Energy Gate (the Positive version would take longer.)" "So I propose," he continues, "that we search for news of Darla, research the spell, and keep a low profile here in town until Abrac shows up. Then we move quickly to Shoal, with Sven along as well. He's a decent fighter, and we could use the help. But once again, tell him nothing of the Desilus."

Nomad hesitates. "WwwwEeeeLLllllll . . ." It is imperative that the positive energy gate spell be researched and distributed in the area. It seems to Nomad that doing this in his and Whorfin's current condition is not exactly feasible. But Nomad says he expects Whorfin's promise to help with this once the D are dealt with.

"You have my word," he promises.

In the meanwhile, Nomad has no objection to helping Whorfin with his research if he really believes it can be done without guild resources -- or with only those Nomad can obtain before Abrac arrives and the trek to Shoal begins.

Whorfin says, "Good! Here are the actual actions I propose:

• "Collect Sven and Marvin -- because we should tend to stick together -- and find out what happened to Darla.
• "Nomad, you need to gather together all the info your research on the Desilus has turned up.
• "Find a base of operations: a room at an inn, maybe.
• "Nomad and Nexus (the name I use here in New Avo) will make a couple trips to the Guild of Mages, where I presume Nomad remains a member. There we will buy any supplies we need for the following two actions.

  "I will try to put Magic Missile in my book at a 30% chance (55%-25% penalty because it was once in a past PC's Can't Book). If I fail I can try again when I gain a level. Nomad is welcome to try to learn any spells from my book.

  "Together we will try to research Minor Energy Gate. Here is the spell's original write-up. As per my Special Ability, I can research a Known Past Spell with half the normal chance of failure. And I do not need access to Mage Guild facilities if I pay normal costs. I have about a thousand gp on hand, so it should be do-able. (Nomad, FYI -- If we used Guild facilities, costs would be one-third normal. But then they'd get a copy.) I do not know if having Nomad help will make a difference to the odds of success.

• "As soon as Abrac comes ashore, we'll cast an Identify on these two unknown potions.
• "Then we'll start to head north towards Shoal."