This site is an online accumulation of the Post Reports for my current ongoing D&D Campaign - for anyone who might be interested in reading them.

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Meet 50, Adv 4.2, 5/19/18

The group managed to successfully sneak the three half-orcs out from the League and had an opportunity to see how the League treats its people. Then they had a chance to see the League's actions from the other side as Negan was approached and placed in a spot where his word was potentially up for questioning. The group had a nice work around a Zone of Truth spell and even though Negan tripped up once, he quickly plowed forward and saved the conversation.

Write up follows:

Avulstein and Barb returned to Sorton and the Illytch Demesne later that evening where they spent some time along with the rest of the party going over possible plans to and personas they were going to use to get into and past the League of Odin guards in the Fighting Pits.

Ideas were taken and discarded but they settled on being a Fasted distant member of Pantal’s family (the elder half-orc) and since Marun was going to be with them the entire time they were there, Avulstein would pretend to be an actual wolverine and former pet of the expiring contract half-orcs. If and when he can get them alone, he would cast the three spells on them and that should be that.

The next morning (Firemonth the 19th) was an easy morning and by the time noon rolled around, Barb had been released from her training. She met up with Marun and Avulstein where they folded the three scrolls into a long tube and rolled it under a collar that they borrowed from the kennels. The collar was fastened to Avulstein’s neck and with the leash in hand, the scrolls were pretty much invisible.

The three of them were gone from the Demesne a bit after two and arrived at the League of Odin in Central Quarter shortly after that. The Temple of Odin was abutted against the League’s Fighter Guild and the 20’ tall stone statue to the one-eyed king of the gods was enough to make everyone feel a bit intimidated. The actual interior of the League was sizeable, set up like 8 long houses each with a different focus, but the entire think encircling the League Fighting Pit – a coliseum that could seat 2,500 and had a fighting pit roughly 100 x 50 oval.

The trio made their way down the stands and to the byway near the floor where Marun led them to a set of three openings, each once blocked by a stout iron gate. A local dwarven guard was there, chatted with them for a bit, and then opened the door with the single key on his neck and let the group in. It was a long corridor, 40’ deep that led eventually through the reek of sweat and hot leather to a dining area/common room. A few passages went off from here and there were three doors on the east wall (closed). Half a dozen tables had a dozen orcs and half orcs here along with a 3 or 4 count of dwarves.

Marun was well known and there was some banter back and forth with the “fixer” but eventually it came around to Barb and whether she was here as pleasure or something else? Sadly her tale was told that she was the niece of Pantal and wanted to see him before he signed the next contract. The wolverine was his “pet” and was well trained.

Hi, you don't know me and I'm a talking wolverine but
I'd like to sneak into your private bedroom and talk to you
about pretending to die.
 Avulstein, already guessing the right room, was mewling outside of it and scratching at the door. A friendly guard let him in and announced to Pantal what was going and they had visitors. Meanwhile Barb and Marun were sitting down and talking long and loud, eating soup, and keeping everyone attention focused on them.

As for Avulstein, once inside and the door closed behind him, he rose to his hind legs and addressed the three surprised and lounging half-orcs within. He gave them a brief heads up of who he was and what they were doing. They were under the impression that he was a Freylian, a follower of Frey, and he didn’t dissuade them of it. He let them know about the feign death and the limited 2 hour window to get them out and gone.

One by one, they agreed to being put under (one of the younger half-orcs actually crapping his pants since he heard you crap your pants when you die) and when it was done, Avulstein huddled up against one of them and began to howl mournfully.

Outside, eating soup and killing time, Barb and Marun waited until it was finally Avulstein’s signal and they helped the dwarves get into the room and look around. The medic was called and one of the dwarven overseers came in as well. The three orcs were pretty beat up looking and Marun took the League overseer to task. The contract was 2-3 bouts per week – and it was obvious that Pantal and his nephews were running 8 or 9 bouts, and longer bouts at that, per week. All of it somewhat obvious that the Overseers were looking to force the trio into the contract prematurely.

Lots of yelling and accusations and the dwarves admitted that Pantal was a real fighter, not just some greenskin tough who pretends he was one – and the League didn’t want to lose him. Marun was disgusted and after the death certificate was signed off and sealed, ordered a body cart to be brought in and wanted these bodies “out of here now and back with their family”. Barb and Marun dragged the body cart laden with the three corpses out of the Fighting pit and out of the League, getting a number of respectful salutes and condolences from those they saw.

Outside of Central Gate they made their way to the Main Gate and then eventually the wilds outside of Sorton. To the east some half mile to the Randari camp where Spuntyr, Dungar, and a number of other orcs had gathered to help them take the bodies off the cars and into the yurt. It was another 10 minutes before Pantal came around and then the two nephews woke up a few minutes each after that. They reported they were able to hear everything that had passed during their time under the feign spell and were so happy to be out of the League’s contract.

There was some confusion as everyone thought Barb was a Freylian as well and then there was some discussion as to who was what and what everyone was. Pantal was satisfied it was over and wanted to spend some time here with his family before heading back east to the original home and joining a Freylian orcish community there. It seems he had a lot of anger and aggression after his betrothed had passed away early and her dream was to join the community. To get his aggression out he joined the League, not realizing that 8 years later he’d be a virtual prisoner.

According to Marun, 19 out of 20 contract go as expected and even though the signers don’t always walk away with 150 noble bonus at the end, they do walk away with something. It’s the rare good fighters or serious blowhards that get stuck in the contracts and it’s those that the League screws with the rules to keep them roped in.

After looking at Pantal for a bit, Avulstein had then launched into a spiel where he was literally offering to swap bodies with the half-orc. He explained who he was originally, his race, and the fact that if Pantal was indeed a follower of Frey, joining the group as a wolverine would give him a leg up in the organization. They talked about the swapping, how it would come about, and Pantal agreed to wait up to 3 months – if he heard nothing from Avulstein in that time, he’d wish the wolverine/shaman well and head off to the Gorokian Orcish Commune before the snows started.

Barb and Avulstein returned to the Demesne that evening and they felt good that they had done a good deed.

The next day, Firemonth the 20th, had Negan and a half dozen fighters training at the Demesne being relocated to the League’s fighting pits. House Illytch, along with a number of other Houses, was interested in cross training their people and the League was interested in possibly having other fighters come and try out their facilities. For the first half of the day, the fighting was pretty much spot on, and Negan did notice that half-ogres were treated very well at the League. They wanted their people in and have the opportunity to see what the League can do for them. At lunch, a League Impressor named Cleius was trying her best to get Negan to sign for a 20 month contract. Good food, lodging, camaraderie, the world’s your oyster. Negan was pulling the “dumb half-ogre” trick and purposely not understanding Cleius’ wants eventually frustrating her but not before two other fighters, Corkill and Nysandis, intervened and sent Cleius on her way.

Corkill was with House Randall (big stone house – assumed to be the richest house in Sorton) and Nysandis was with the Darblewyth Mines (known for stone stores and precious metals). They took to befriending Negan and during lunch plied him with bacon and mustard sandwiches. They were trying to get him to open up as to what House Illytch was doing out in Morata. They had some information, kobolds, ears, mushrooms, a mountain, and the adventuring party/mercenary party was involved in it.

Negan was in a tight spot and continued to deflect. Would say nothing until an older dwarf and an obvious priest of Odin showed up and suggested strongly that all of them come and have a private conversation. The older dwarf was Fannir Randall, 3rd Consul for House Randal and the other was his adjunct, Father Fundyr Randall, Priest of Odin, and also of House Randall. A room was set aside and a dwarven guard was asked to come in, lock it, and make sure that no one could hear us in or out. She activated a sound dampening rune on the door and was then informed that anything she heard in this room was privy to League and House only – and she would say nothing to anyone.

Negan had to drop the dumb half-ogre bit as Fannir was grilling him on more information that he didn’t know House Illytch was doing. House Randall knew quite a bit but they had three main questions and they wanted an opportunity for a contracted person, a hireling, to supply the information as they had zero luck getting a member of House Illytch to talk. They wanted to know what the mushrooms were, what they were to be used for, and what was with the kobold slaying? Was there a profit in it? Why would House Illytch do this? What was the angle? Yes, since they had been out there, kobold raids near the Terraces and local mines have been down, but what was the real reason?

Now Negan was going to remain mum on this until Fannir let slip that he knew about Siggurd Eindaud. He knew about the wanted bounty on the man and that the group had been under the employ of House Darbeard recently. He knew of the burnt Rolling Ridge Lodge and that Siggurd had been given a sweetheart deal with the League by facilitating a lucrative iron trade deal with House Brinster in Thak and the League.

But he was willing to do Negan a favor and have Siggurd in a place far from the League’s control in a certain day at a certain time – giving Negan and his crew a chance to get Siggurd and get him out of town. But only if Negan came back to him with some answers. Negan asked for a few hours to put his thoughts together and ask his crew if it was ok. Fannir was reluctant and then agreed – he had until 7 PM that night. A runner would get him from House Illytch and take him to a neutral place where he could safely talk – and if all goes well, House Randall would make the arrangements on getting Siggurd and him embarrassing gambling issues out of town.

After training, Negan returned to the Demesne where he let the group know what happened. The first thing the group said was they could NOT violate the contract and article two plainly stated we had to keep the secrets of the House…secret. It was why Negan was torn. Plus he was sure Fundyr had a Zone of Truth up, meaning if he lied, he’d be caught out. We needed a way to give House Randall the answers but do it in a way that had Negan telling the truth and still honoring the contract.

So the rest of the party – NOT NEGAN, went off to Spearo Illytch, the 3rd Consul of this house and their contact, and let the rotund dwarf know what was going on and what they knew. He was upset and concerned about House Randall sniffing around and thanked the party for bringing it to his attention. The feeling was they could release some fake information to House Randall, but still be true enough to throw off any zone of truth spells.

They then went over other mushrooms harvested, things brought back, and what House Illytch had been doing up there and settled on some facts to give to Negan to give to House Randall. Prepared, Negan waited until a runner came and invited him back to the Red House (Gambling house attached to the Church of Loki) for a meeting.

Armed with some knowledge, he joined Fannir Randall the 3rd Consul, Fundyr Randall the Priest of Odin, Corkill Randall the fighter at the League, Nysandis of Darblewyth Mines, and Millius, a representative from the Red House and mid level functionary for the Church. Once they were in a private room and away from listening ears, they were able to talk.

Fannir had no horse in the Siggurd thing and found him to be an embarrassment to the League. House Randall was always looking to make the League a better run organization and had been funneling more money into the League mainly because the House is convinced (as are some dwarves) that the day is coming soon when the Randari will realize that they don’t have to stay 2nd class citizens and will try to rise up and take back their country. Even here in Sorton, there are half the number of Randari compared to the dwarves – a number that 70, 80 years ago was closer to ONE TENTH! So the dwarves need to know best how to fight Randari and not be afraid to put the hammer down if need be.

Siggurd owes lots of money to lots of people and House Randall would like to see him go. The group can facilitate this IF Negan is willing to answer some questions. What is House Illytch gathering out in the Morata lands? Negan answered they had gathered Four Prong Red Spec Mushrooms mostly and it triggered the Zone of Truth. So Negan quickly backed up and said they were gathering it for a diuretic.

Diuretic? Why? It’s a soft resource that many healing houses use. Many smaller thorps and villages with poor sewers or open cesspits have people with diseases that sometimes a diuretic is needed. Ok…possible. And what’s with the kobolds? That is a function of keeping the base camp safe and taking care of a bounty for the Thane Ufrecta. So, House Illytch has the party kill kobolds, pays them a bounty of “X” and the Thane pays House Illytch a bounty of “3X” – giving the House a bit of profit, making the city safe, and allowing the House to do their operation.

House Randall thought it was small potatoes but they did not know the full extent of House Illytch’s holdings and income and knew that the House was big on having lots of small operations all over the place doing soft resource supplies.

Satisfied, Fannir then turned things over to Millius who let Negan know that they would arrange a game at the Sickly Cat Tavern and Gamehouse on Hardslope Street in Slagbottom.  He would have as few League members as possible with him (closed game) and that area was lightly patrolled at best. She would arrange to have him forcibly removed shortly after 11 PM that night and the entire thing would occur in 3 days time.

Negan thanked everyone, some drinking followed and the Half-ogre then left the Red House and returned to the Illytch Demesne where he shared his success and findings with the rest of the party.

Thursday, May 17, 2018

Meet 49, Adv 4.2, 5/12/18

The original plan was about 3 meetings in town going through each player as a focal point, each one getting them fleshed out and a bit closer in their quest to get Siggurd Eindaud and arrest his ass and drag it back to Thak. However, RL got in the way this meeting and we started 3 hours fucking late! It happens once in a blue moon but as the DM, it drives me batty . So it'll be 4 meetings at my guess in town before the A team goes back into the Wyld and hunts down Warren #3.

As for this excerpt - it was a bit of worldbuilding about the Orcish way of life in my world, at least in this area of the world. The group seemed to resonate with it and I felt it was a powerful bit of worldbuilding for my players and table.

Write up follows:

While Avulstein was doing what he needed to be done, House Illytch had been working with Barb and her training. Part of the Randari Accords with the Thane Ufrecta’s predecessor was that the Randari population would be treated are part of Sorton if they choose to be, and also treated apart as their growth and identity was tied to their racial background and support – a system that the Jarlborrin Hill Dwarves had learned to work with and around.

So any personage of Randari descent was allowed to spend time with their family for training purposes should it be decided that the trainee’s needs are such that it would best for them to do so. Long and short – if you’re a Randari, part of your training also involves you visiting with your family.

There is a Randari enclave about ¾ of a mile east of Sorton where a smattering of 300 or so Randari families eke out a living trapping, trading, growing, and the occasional raid when they can get away with it. It is here that Barb went back to visit her father family during the afternoon of her second day of training. Her brother, Terkus, was lounging outside the family yurt when Barb approached and the two of them engaged in a brutal yet still familial wrestling match outside. Barb had to yield after her tusks were grabbed and her face forced to the ground.

Her father Dungar, and her uncle, Spuntyr, came out and welcomed their wayward daughter home. Dungar was a large Half-Orc, pushing well past 300 lbs. and 6’ 4” in height; he was getting soft but still had a presence as the family patriarch. Spuntyr was shorter, 5’ 8”, smaller, and even though older by a year, had abrogated his position as patriarch to his younger brother years ago but still the two of them guided the family.

Barb had to let them know that she was no longer working for Hornes and Terkus sound this to be unacceptable. An orc? Well liked? Running a ranging operation? Why would she not work for him? Please tell us you weren’t working for fucking dwarves?

Her lapel pin with House Illytch’s sigil on it and her superior made clothes gave her an insight between how she was living and how her family was living. She tried to explain Horne’s shortcomings and her signing on with the adventuring group. Spuntyr seemed to get it, Terkus not so much. The younger Randari was big on the way things were, the traditional way, was still the best way. Anything else was playing into the dirty dwarven hands.

They talked about the 5 orders of Orcish honor.
Famyr – the highest and your birth family and sundry relations.
Fasted – the next highest and your extended in-laws and married family.
Worded – the next highest and those you pledge yourself to working with and for
Clannar – the next highest and your entire extended clan and clan holdings
Oricand – the last order and refers to all orc and Randari kind.

Hornes was her Worded, but she signed off with him and on with another group, Worded with them. Does not Hornes deserve better? Her family, her Famyr, still is first – if she lets her honor slip on a lesser order, does her higher order suffer? She talked about how Hornes was failing his Worded and wasn’t living up to their best interest – and a good Randari knows that honor is a two way street.

Her new group? Worth it and honorable so far. They had her back, she had theirs, and for now, everyone was on the same page. She was then reminded of an orcish saying:
Lying is an elven trait, Truth is an orcish one.
Avarice is a dwarven trait, Giving an orcish one.
Cowardice is a human trait, Strength an Orcish one.
Trickery is a gnomish trait, Honor an orcish one.

She talked about the people she worked with and her father was pleased to hear she had a “Raven” (A shaman) working with her – Avulstein. He wanted to know if she would return tomorrow as he might have a job for her and a Raven. On the way out, her Uncle stopped her and gave her a hug, letting her know that her brother is right in his own way, but that as long as she is doing what in her heart is right, she is supported by her Famyr and respected for her choices.

The evening came and Barb returned to Sorton – seeing the “riches” that the city has to offer. She also took a look at the ghetto section, the Randari Quarter, where four and five story buildings of poor quality were stacked next to one another, covering an area 10 blocks by 5, and housing over 2,000 Randari Orcs, half orcs, and half ogres living close together and in poor hygiene. She went to a weaponsmith and commissioned a Randari hand-made one of a kind spear, spending 29 nobles to have it done.

The next day was more of the same and after noon, Barb returned to the land outside of Sorton and to the east where the Randari had set up their homes. She met with her father and uncle who were entertaining a quarter-orc named Marun.

Marun was a fixer, called a “Vulture” for the League of Odin. His job was to find enterprising your orcs, half orcs, and half ogres and get them to sign for the League for 20 month contracts. They get a large signing bonus, then a small monthly stipend, and then finally a 150 noble payout at the end. The problem was many of these Randari overspend their stipend and the League makes no effort to inform them of this – so that at the end of their contract they owe the League more than their payout is – and they are forced to sign on for another 20 month contract.

Marun tries to get these Randari to understand their contracts and avoid getting trapped but many of them spend their funds quickly and are in a cycle of reupping. Until they finally come up square or are dead.

There are three orcs whose contract expires this week, and they are Fasted to Spuntyr. The eldest, Pantal has been trapped in 5 of these contracts, almost 8 years, and his two younger nephews, Duskin and Throd, had joined up to hopefully pool their efforts and resources but ended up mired in the same issue. They have 29 commons in arrears to their account and the League is strong arming the three orcs to sign up again.

Pantal is weary and doesn’t want his nephews in either. So they have been appealing to Marun to help them out of their contract. House Randall, the wealthiest House and strongest supported and benefactor to the League, refuses to have an outside entity or personage buy off the rest of any contracts so they can’t even get a loan. Pantal has been doing this for 8 years, a punching bag for fighters to train against, and it’s take a serious toll on the orc.

Marun has three copies of a Feign Death spell which needs a Raven (wizard, shaman) to cast it. He is willing to supply it to whoever is willing to take his lead and make their way into the fighting pits, talk to the three orcs, and help them to “die” – then they can take possession of the bodies and be on their way. On death the contract is fulfilled and truthfully, the League always had more Vultures and more young Randari willing to join up for the promise of coin they almost never get to see.

Barb was willing to talk to Avulstein and see if he was interested, went back to Sorton, and the wolverine was interested in the possibility. He went off with Barb back to the Randari Settlement and talked some cold turkey with the Vulture. If the orcs are “dead” and the League signs off on their EOC (end of contract), then even if they are alive later – the contract is done and over. As of now, the plan was to take the three scrolls (he now has them) and meet with Marun tomorrow after training to interview the three Randari at the fighting pit, and set up the situation to Feign them and get them out.

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Meet 48, Adv 4.2, 5/5/18

This was the 3rd part of the adventure so far and we were back to the "A" team characters. For the start it's about 3 meetings of town adventures hopefully ending with an attempted arrest of Siggurd Eindaud, the original foil to the group that sold them to kobolds to be eaten back at adventure 1, meeting 1. We'll see how it goes.

Write up follows:

Time rewound as we took the game up with the “A” team as they left Base Camp for the trip back to Sorton after resolving the issue with the first K’Morat Warren. It was 3 days back without too many issues and the group arrived at Sorton later in the afternoon. The Teamster Trentis was able to cycle the group through Main Gain and Central Gate, leading the caravan off to CobbleHill and the Illytch Demesne.

We helped unload what we needed to, missives were handed off to the Consul’s adjuncts, and we were invited to head off to the barracks and freshen up. The party unloaded our packs and then crawled to the showers to wash the weeks of adventuring and days of traveling from our tired forms. Feeling a bit refreshed, we dressed in our nicer clothing and were relaxing when the 3rd Consul, Spearo Illytch, requested our presence to go over a number of things.

We followed the page across the compound and to the Consulates Offices. Many of the Merchant Houses have a Primacy who is the face and runs the house but also has 3 Consuls whose job it is to help guide the Merchant Houses through various deals and trades without it all falling to the whims of one person. The Primacy has the equivalent of one and a half votes and each Consul has a single vote. So the Primacy can be outvoted 2 Consuls to his vote, but the Primacy and one Consul will overrule the other 2 Consul members.

Spearo Illytch was an older dwarf, just past his 300th year and had the breadth and softness that older dwarves tend to get. His hair and bear were sprinkled with more salt than pepper but he had a friendly smile as he motioned for us to come in and take a seat. There were many notes in front of him and he informed us that there was a mix of positive and negative that he had to wade through earlier.

He addresses the group on their efforts to date, commends then on resolving one warren and goes over the note he has from the Bailiff and others from the Base Camp on their efforts to date. He started with Teamster Trentis and the original trip to the Base Camp; highlighting Dizzy’s lack of concern for helping the caravan, Einar’s Reorx’s Bane sickness and Bobkin’s lack of diligence or usefulness.

Then there was the adding of Barb from the Randari Rangers and the negative note in the file from Hornes for them doing so. The group was feeling ill as it was not looking well. But then Spearo launched into a series of positive parts of the party’s efforts as the group helped the Harvesters and Rangers bring in an 8 count of Firvin’s Cap, drove off a K’Morat raiding party, and realigned their efforts with Hornes as evidenced by multiple notes the Ranger submitted.

The party had been successful in their tracking of the quarry, and even the issue of “grey” necromancy regarding Frank the bobcat had been addressed by the Base Camp and the group. There was the trip to the tower house and simple boats evidencing the K’Morat crossing, the slime creature that devoured Frank, and assorted wandering trolls, owlbears, and skunks. He spoke of the Frost Giant (Girgym) feeding cows to the K’Morat, the Warren found underground and the many forays into the Warren and eventually the destruction of it.

We talked about the vampiric attack on Barb shortly after her diseasing at the K’Morat’s hand. There was the encounter with the giant, the party’s subsequent escape, the return to the Base Camp and the revelation of the unknown ally we have with the orcish druid, Dunatis and his circle. All in all, it sounded pretty full and heroic and he was unsure if it was possible on being topped with all the strange things the group had resolved and the denizens they met.

The party will spend the next 8 days training and then they will take the caravan back immediately to Base Camp. This makes them 14 days out of Base Camp in total but hopefully there will be little issue with the other half of the group and if they get lucky, they might even discover the whereabouts of the 2nd Warren in that time. Wouldn’t that be great? Something to help narrow down the search for the next warren?

The party went off to our assigned teachers and guilds the next day and the focus was on Avulstein and his efforts with the Vault of the Heorot. He made his prayers to the Watcher and lit a candle in Hel’s name, and then made his way to the basement and the large room where Magister and Speaker for the Dead Parylis Ebonhand was waiting for him. In addition to the leprous mage, was the dwarven Speaker and Death Priest Marsha and the Lich Paduntosis.

The conversation and lesson trailed off immediately as the three of them brow beat Avulstein that he seemed to be content in his form as a lesser being and animal since he had made zero attempts to change it. Does he like being a dog? A real mage would have already been looking for a way to divest his form and here he was, wallowing in it like some barnyard minion.

It was impressed upon him that if he was going to be a muskrat, he would be treated like a menial. If he wanted to be treated like a man, he would have to put the effort into it – brain over form. Parylis then kicked over a stack of 30 odd books next to his desk and told Avulstein he had to pick them up and put them back on the shelf in alphabetical order. And he would be timing him.

As the seconds wound up and the wolverine did his best, the zombies in the room stood in his way and tried to slow him down, Marsha and Paduntosis kept up a barrage of conflicting insults to confuse him, and Parylis was as rude and disparaging as possible – all in order to slow the poor Avulstein down. After 12 minutes had elapsed, he stood back and reported the task done.

Parylis informed him he had done it WRONG and gave him more explicit instructions on what to do before kicking the pile over AGAIN! This time with less time on the clock, Avulstein took to fixing the pile in alphabetical order but had better luck as he was able to manipulate the books faster. Before too long he stood back and again reported the job done. Parylis compared the order to the correct listing…and was pleased.

Since Avulstein could think like a man, he was welcome to be treated like one. He was allowed to pick ONE book from the pile he had corrected and that choice would let the three Speakers know if Avulstein was ready for the chance to become a man again – or if he was a lost cause and was to remain an animal for all time.

He went through each tome with care and read the short synopsis on each before settling on one, “The Clothes to be Changed”, a work regarding the exact rituals of swapping souls from one body to another. As soon as he chose that book the three Speakers had a 180 turnaround, satisfied with Avulstein. The ritual is beyond him, BUT, there is an opportunity that he can still make it happen if he performs the final steps of it during his mage’s test in a few weeks or months.

The mage in the mage’s test is actually part of a smaller pocket dimension that the proctor helps establish. This means that in the much smaller realm of the test, the effect of magic is amplified and if the ritual pieces are together and performed before the test is complete, it is possible that Avulstein could literally bounce from one body to another. Stranger things have happened, people die, get lost in the astral plane, lose body parts, gain body parts, hundreds of odd occurrences have happened and there is no reason to think this wouldn’t happen again. They spent the rest of the day going through the broad outlines of the tome and what was needed and the list looked like:

A gold and silver gem housing, typically worn as a necklace.
Silicant foci prismatic glass, typically found in a wizard’s tower.
Blood, hair, skin, and essence from NEW host and ORIGINAL form.
Four Wolf hairs twined like a ring and worn to ensure Loki’s, the Tricksters, blessing.
Storm winds and to ensure Odin’s blessing.
A poison that needs to be drunk at the end by both entities to ensure Hel’s blessing.
Normally requires 2 weeks of spellcasting and about 20,000 nobles worth of supplies and accoutrements – but that can be ignored if done during the mage’s test.
And 1/10th of the wizards permanent hit points.

He had until he was ready to take his mage’s test in a month or so to get the material together. The ritual work would occur before hand, and the final step – the drinking of the poisons, would have to occur DURING the mage’s test for his New host, and after the 5th resolution of the 6th trials during the test for Avulstein.

The New Host had to be willing and free of undue spells or mental controls or the transfer would not work. The New Host had to understand it was taking on the older form of the wolverine. That evening Avulstein had gone back to the Illytch compound and shared with the party what he had learned and what he needed to acquire.

They went down the list identifying some things they can address now and in town. The Silicant glass could be gotten from the orcish wizard’s tower found in Broken Tower Lake about 2 days outside of Sorton on the way to the Base Camp. It  was reported that there was a door but the one attempt via boat to open it had no resolution as there was no key hole. A knock spell would solve that and Paduntosis was willing to do some horse trading with Avulstein to supply him with one knock scroll.

The Storm Winds they could eventually get as they still had the Nornian Skein and would be sure to capture some truly great winds from the Morata mountains when they return to Base Camp.

Poisons was something that Avulstein had been studying as of late and with his knowledge, gave a list of dangerous flowers and plants to Darius to bring to Meg the Florist and see if she was able to gather them together for the wizard.

As for a person, there was lots of back and forth as to where they would get someone and the party hesitantly settled on the Children of Frey. A follower of Frey, especially a non-touched follower, might be enthused to be assigned an ani-form and if approached properly, could be made amenable to the entire plan.

In addition, Negan and Connal had gone to the Sheriff's office and arranged to have the Half-Ogre deputized so he can arrest Siggurd at some point. The deputization was only good for 2 weeks but would give the Fighter/Priest legal authority to operate inside Sorton's walls to perform the arrest. Getting Siggurd out of Sorton and on the way back to Thak? That would be a different problem and the half-ogre and the group would have to jump that issue at that time.