Charlie Company reports back to Portent Order at Xalver’s caravan book mobile. Ander makes a first pass at explaining their encounter with Tophe and his incarcerated pops, Tharizdun, especially as it relates to the burned hole in Ander’s garment and person caused by returning to the material plane with a pocket full of celestial slag. Ander’s executive summary: the caravan has one season to kill a god. Ash supplies the relevant details Ander might have omitted, being unrelated to celestial slag. Portent and Im seem to exchange a lot of subtextual glances. Concerned that some of Charlie Company may lack moral clarity, Portent Order emphasizes that, at the risk of all existence, under no circumstances will any vis be rendered unto Tophe. Never.
Xalver recounts the relevant, but abridged, legend of nuclear family unit Pelor, Ioun, and Tharizdun discovering the Living Gate and really, really wanting to peer through to the other side. Tharizdun distracted the gate guardian allowing the three a burdensome knowledge of what was beyond. Despite pinky swearing to leave that gate be, Tharizdun subsequently got hold of some bad shard and went coo-coo for crystallines. He slew the guardian which allowed evil to seep through. Pelor and Ioun were forced to imprison Tharizdun and cauterize the gate, but not before the introduction of polarized entities Opeth and Pohet, aligned good and evil, respectively. Because Tharizdun a.k.a. The Elemental Eye a.k.a. The Chained God is imprisoned with his power intact, conditional release is not possible and would represent destruction of all civilization. Therefore, Portent re-emphasizes for those with short little spans of attention, there will never ever be vis for Tharizdun. Like, ever.
In the last bit of debrief, Portent, Vesper, and Xalver probe to what extent Tophe is aware of Charlie Company’s location and purpose. Ash points out how Tophe laughably overestimated the party’s capabilities, knowledge, and authority and seemed a little surprised to find them at Frith & Inle.
The book mobile sees heavy use the next few days, parked with the caravan on the outskirts of Llorkh. Portent calls a battalion formation to announce he will thin the caravan; non-essential employees will shelter in place at Silverymoon and Mithral Hall. The caravan will continue its mission with Alpha, Charlie, Delta, and Foxtrot companies along with security and logistics. Equipment comprises three tankers, Xalver’s book mobile, supply wagons, and spellguard.
In the dark of night and without notice, Portent orders the departure from Llorkh to the southeast into the Greypeak Mountains and toward the Anauroch Great Sand Sea. En route, Portent summons Ssatschia for an individual debriefing of Alpha’s recent adventuring. Despite the diminutive external dimensions and crowds of people utilizing the book mobile, Ssatschia finds an expansive and comfortable interior space equipped no worse than a university library, nicely furnished, and a steady 72 degrees at 50% relative humidity. Ssatschia takes his comfortable time relating the disruption of the illicit basilisk breeding mill that all started with the discovery of this very book mobile found stricken on the road to Llorkh. Xalver interrupts the convo to conspicuously announce that the caravan will arrive at the High Ice north of Anauroch in one week. Portent, clearly irritated by Xalver’s indiscretion, admonishes Ssatschia to keep that little tidbit under his proverbial hat.
Some time later, Portent summons Ivor to the book mobile to recount Delta’s adventures in the dark hole discovered in a Llorkh house. Ivor normally disparages creature comforts but will have a seat since it’s Portent asking. He recalls the ropes, the dragon books, the mushroomed dwarven adventurers, the zombie plants, and most importantly, a handsome great robe of useful items. The whole thing ended with the push of a button. Very nice. Xalver interrupts the convo to conspicuously announce that the caravan will arrive at the Swords Region south of Anauroch in one week. Portent, clearly irritated by Xalver’s indiscretion, admonishes Ivor to keep that little tidbit under his proverbial hat.
Some time later, Portent summons Armin, but not his brother Hans, to the book mobile to recount Foxtrot’s adventures tracking artificer Kwalish’s historic path to a monastery of the distressed body. It seems like a terrible oversight to exclude Hans, but Armin does his best to recount the adventures on a floating island occupied by monks who exchanged flayed faces and then on to a city drowned in goo. Xalver interrupts the convo to conspicuously announce that the caravan will arrive at the Black Road near the Empire of Shadows in one week. Portent, clearly irritated by Xalver’s indiscretion, admonishes Armin to keep that little tidbit under his proverbial hat.
The caravan marches on without deviating even when hit by a great sandstorm that endures four days. The sandstorm dissipates as the caravan arrives at a major east-west road. Scouts are deployed as the caravan turns east for a day. The scouts return early in the morning and report urgently to the book mobile. Portent again calls a battalion formation and announces that three coordinated attacks are anticipated. To the northeast, Charlie will engage a dust cloud that may indicate approaching riders or something worse. To the east, Delta will engage a force of dodecaheathen eyeless servants of the Quori incursion. To the southeast, Alpha will engage large creatures approaching through the canyons. Foxtrot will stay with the caravan to engage whatever gets through following the inevitable demise of the other companies. Dismissed!