The Pisspots realized they needed to get their hands on some diamond dust to restore Mav and Remi from their petrified states. Kaicho and Braxis used a teleportation circle to travel to Academy Island and headed to the College of Healing. The war casualties were staggering and the demand for life-saving spell components was exceptionally high. Most-Divine Emilia told them that a single large diamond was en route to the college and was planned to be used to resurrect a dead soldier. She offered Kaicho a choice: he could allow her to save the soldier’s life, or he could take the diamond for himself once it arrived to restore his friends.
He thanked Emilia for the offer and said they would continue looking before deciding. Kaicho visited his old friends Tameth and Andi, and one of them generously gave him a diamond ring from her hand, sufficient to restore one of his two friends. Kaicho accepted it with gratitude and promised to make it up to her. Having obtained half of the materials they needed, Kaicho decided saving the soldier’s life was more urgent and told Emilia to keep her diamond.
Meanwhile, while sleeping in Pirate’s Cove, Ragon experienced a visitation from his patron. She said they had done a great thing by defeating the Death Tyrant, but she warned that “the event” had already begun, apparently referring to the celestial alignment and whatever machinations were in the works by the cults. When Ragon asked his patron about Devin, she said with words and gestures: “Trust your heart, not your head”. She also gifted him with a glowing vial. She told Ragon that if he ever threw it and shattered it, she would come to his aid.
Kaicho and Braxis walked to the College of Divination to see if they could find anybody willing to help restore Mavmeros, a former pupil, from his petrification. Upon arriving at the College they decided not to seek out Arcanist Krell as he had made it known he did not like visitors or conversation, and they instead happened upon a mage named Mathias who seemed to be operating, to an extent, as Krell’s assistant, or at least understudy.
Mathias acknowledged he knew of Mavmeros and demonstrated no small amount of disdain for the fact that Mav had spent a good deal of time working more closely with Arcanist Krell (by proximity, if nothing else), presumably more time than Mathias himself had. After taking several shots at Mavmeros and presenting himself as a less than likable person, Mathias stated that, upon retrieval of all eyes from the Death Tyrant (the cracked large central eye and 10 lesser eyes) he would trade a Scroll of Greater Restoration for them. Kaicho and Braxis accepted and teleported back to Pirate’s Cove.
Upon their return, Kaicho explained to Rune and Ragon what was going on. Kaicho detected a presence in the room with them and, believing it to be Mathias scrying on them, dropped his trousers and mooned the observer. Ragon suggested that perhaps they should use the one diamond that Kaicho had procured to restore Mav before they made the trade for the scroll, to see if Mav could shed light on Mathias’s character and on the eyes prior to handing them off to a potentially shady mage. Kaicho, Rune and Braxis agreed and Mav was restored. Mav said he knew of Mathias but had no real insight into his person and was unable to glean anything about the eyes other than that they were once part of a very magical and very evil being. With no alternatives immediately apparent, Braxis, Ragon, Kaicho and Mav teleported back to the College of Divination to make the trade, leaving Rune to guard stoned Remi.
As a precaution, Mav conferred with Arcanist Krell prior to trading the eyes to Mathias to see if Krell could give any information as to the nature of the eyes or if they would be safe to trade to a mage like Mathias. Krell, as was his way, offered very little direct information and instead said that all actions carry risk and this risk was Mav’s to take if he chose to do so. Despite this doing little to ease his concerns, Mav made his way to Mathias’s room and completed the trade of all 11 eyes for the scroll. Upon completion of the trade, Mav found his way back to the party members who were present and they teleported back to Pirate’s Cove and restored Remi.
They then teleported to the College of Nature to take Naturalist Jyn up on her offer to regenerate Rune’s hand, lost when he reached into the ice storm barrier. Finally whole again, the group took stock of the situation they found themselves in while Remi and Mav rested.
General Myzynt of the College of War gave his opinion that with the Pisspot’s interventions at Innsmouth and Pirate’s Cove and the apparent slowing of the undead waves, the battle for the shores of Academy Island was in hand. Kendar Carn showed up with his dwarves to further reinforce the college’s position, and demolition dwarf Lieutenant Arsen had his limbs regrown at the College of Healing and had come to rejoin the front lines. The ships that left Pirate’s Cove were so far unaccounted for, though the College of War had deployed their navy in an attempt to locate and intercept the ships. Based on his knowledge of the geography of the archipelago, Arcanist Stow estimated that the ships of undead might arrive at the shores of Academy Island less than 2 days after leaving Pirate’s Cove. If they didn’t show up in a day or two, it might be reasonable to conclude that they were going elsewhere. Clifton was weeks away by ship and the whirlpool was positioned between Pirate’s Cove and Clifton, so if that was their target it would be a long time before the Pisspots would have to worry about them.
Nobody had heard from Salendra yet in regards to her scouting mission over the whirlpool. Symorel posited that the swirling ice storm might simply be a spell meant to shield the inside from being found, as opposed to a portal to another plane as Ragon speculated. He reminded the Pisspots of a mysterious stationary hurricane, similar in scope to the ice storm and whirlpool, that surrounded an island in the ocean near Innsmouth.
When the General was asked if the College of War could support an effort to retake the College of the Occult from the dragon, he said perhaps after the war for the shores of Academy Island had ended. He said the Pisspots could likely get potions of frost resistance to aid in their effort should they try to fight the dragon themselves, however the College of War’s quartermaster, Private Ann Delia, would be heading from the College to the front lines imminently and they would have to head to the War College immediately (which they did not) if they wanted to obtain the potions.
Faced with countless daunting options, the Pisspots decided to sleep on it.
Countdown to Devin’s rendezvous: 13 days?