We wake up in Waymoot with a spring in our steps. A good night's rest sometimes is truly invigorating, and we are all ready to make the four-day journey to Suzail. Before we leave though Ember reminds us that we need to find Rosalyn to get another healing potion. She lets us know that she is not in possession of more potions, and furthermore informs us that they are quite rare. "If you happen to come across a scroll with instructions for brewing such a potion. I will pay handsomely," she tells us. With that we make our leave of the kindly shopkeep and begin our trek back through the King's Forest to the capital of Cormyr.
Our journey starts off calm and uneventful. I am perfectly happy to take a nice, peaceful, quiet walk through the woods with my friends, but Ember and Naivara quickly decide that this a great time to begin getting to know Agril better. Agril starts to tell us about his background. He tells us of The Dale Lands, a group of independent towns northeast of Cormyr that work together as a sort of confederation. Northeast of those there is an area of land, mostly controlled by Hillsfar, a very large city in the hills. This is where Agril hails from. He explains that it is constantly battling an evil organization called The Zhentarim. This group worships Bane, their only goal is to spread strife and take over territory in the area. Rather than remain there and follow in the footsteps of his cobbler father, he left with his friends...the same friends who he just found dead outside of the ruined tower.
"What about the magic arrows?" Ember excitedly asks him. Agril says he doesn't really know how he does what he does. He can sometimes do things such as make arrows magical. I finally decide to participate in the elven inquisition and ask him how he got his scars. "I was not in the military, these are simply from adventuring." "What about love??" Ember and Naivara ask with a grin at the same time. Agril gives a half smile and disappoints them by not having a story of past flames and love lost. For this I am grateful.
We find a good spot to make camp and divide watches, with Ember taking first watch, then Naivara, and lastly myself and Agril. While sitting around the fire next to Agril, I suddenly feel a sword blade press against the side of my neck. "Drop your coin purses" says a voice from behind me. With a violent quickness I elbow him and yell for the elves to wake up. Agril once again shows his combat mettle and puts an arrow right through the bandit with the sword to me. I look behind me and notice another bandit in the trees. In front of me, past Agril, is another bandit who appears substantially heartier than his compatriots. True to my nature I charge at him at full speed...and also true to my nature (as of late) I am unable to connect with my blade. As I swing the sword I am horrified and enraged to see the same mark on his hand as the people who burned my village. "DIE!!!!" I yell in a manic, almost psychotic rage. Unfortunately my anger did not find its way through my sword to his throat.
Agril is soon felled by not one, but two crossbow bolts. He is bleeding on the ground in very bad shape. Knowing that he will be of more use to Ember and Naivara, I yell to them to save Agril before coming to my aid. I am ignored by the elves who saved me that day in the woods and Ember unsuccessfully casts Firebolt while Naivara once again shows her archery prowess by hitting one of the bandits in the chest with an arrow, he is wounded badly but still stands. "I will have honor!" I yell as I miss wildly and hit a tree with my sword. I am becoming almost as enraged with myself as I am with the bandit bearing the mark on their hand. How can I be so weak in battle? I will never get revenge on these killers if I continue to fail so badly with my sword. While I silently rage Ember and Naivara are one by one killing the bandits, leaving only my large opponent. Ember fires off 3 multi colored globes that go around me and finally the last, toughest bandit is killed in a kaleidoscope of violent fury.
After the battle, I refuse to let us keep the gold found on the bodies of the bandits. "It is blood money," I say as I toss the coin purse deeper into the woods. I stare at Naivara, daring her to go claim the gold. She stares back with as much fury in her eyes. As we begin to travel, I hear the clinking of metal behind me, and refuse to turn around to see what it is, knowing that it will just enrage me again.
We arrive in Suzail the next day after a very long night of rest to recover from our wounds. Suzail is the biggest city in Cormyr and the capital. It is encircled by a large wall and a huge gate. Suzail is also the biggest port in Cormyr. This is without question the largest city any of us have ever seen. The guards welcome us in but make sure to firmly tell us that they will not tolerate trouble. When we inquire of a place to stay we are direct to The Leaning Post, which is a few miles into the city. Upon arriving at the inn we are greeted by a half-elf who introduces himself at Tenhorn Hawklin. We acquire a pair of rooms and ask him where we can go for supplies and possibly a healing potion. "Go check with Korby at The Shady Quill, he will be able to help you." Ember asks him if there are any schools of wizardry in the area and we are told to check out The House of Oghma, a temple to the God of Knowledge. It includes a library as well. We thank Tenhorn and make our way to The Shady Quill.
We enter a dimly lit room and are greeted by a halfling man who introduces himself as Korby. We are able to purchase a pair of healing potions from him, and he buys my magical scimitar. After our dealings with Korby we make way to The House of Oghma. Naivara says to the person who greets us that we are seeking information about the eight symbols we saw in the ruined tower. Another man walks over and instructs us to follow him. After we draw them for him and tell him of the cults, the human sacrifice, and "The Circle of Eight" he says it tickles his memory. He heads back into another room and returns with a stack of books. "The symbols will take longer to research, but regarding the Circle of Eight, I found some notes, ancient and perhaps only rumors, dating back thousands of years. Surely you are aware of the death of Mystryl?" Ember replies that she is vaguely aware and we ask the man to tell us all he knows of us. He asks us to get comfy and listen closely.
"Mystryl was the Goddess of Magic. She was killed and magic was remade. The ancient kingdom of Netharil was a mageocracy. Karsus led the the Circle of Eight, a group of the eight foremost wizards in the world. The top practitioners of each magical school. When Karsus cast a spell to kill Mystryl and take her place, magic went haywire, and even stopped for a few moments. A couple of minutes later a new Mystryl was reincarnated as Mystra, and took over Mystryl's duties. Mystra put new rules on magic, banning spells of the highest difficulty, and the entire circle was presumed killed." The man also tells us that the name Varzand rings a bell, but we should come back later so he can research. "What is your name sir?" Ember asks him. "I am called Norris" he replies with a bow of the head. Ember asks him to investigate the magical metal ball she has and he says he has never seen one like it. Upon inspection, Norris is able to shift another piece in a way that Ember had previously not been able to. We thank him and take our leave. On the way out, I step back and have a brief word with the man alone before rejoining the party.
We find a guard in the street to see if there has been any trouble lately similar to what we found in Eveningstar and Minroe. He sends us to the constabulary where we are greeted coldly and told there has been nothing like that. We sigh wearily, and head back The Leaning Post, happy to have some more information about The Circle of Eight but feeling no closer to our goal of uncovering the mystery of the cult and the abductions then we did in Waymoot.
