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There was nothing they could do for Gaspode at this point. Although Obrana had the power to raise him, she required a valuable diamond in order to complete the ritual, so they used his own sheet to wrap him and placed his reduced form in Kurtalla’s pack. As they had been followed here by the drow and the Mothers did not know how they had been found, they reasoned that they needed to put more distance between themselves and the crypts. Kurtalla reminded the group of the ranger cave that they had used before they approached the crypts. It was about six hours distant. They missed the horses and Jito and Fonesca did not have spells prepared to summon mounts for them. Rather than wait here to change their arcane selections, the Mothers elected to push south on foot.

The journey to the ranger cave was uneventful, although nerve-wracking. They waited there to catch their breath but decided to press on further. So, after a brief meal, they left again. Kurtalla found them another resting place further south and Obrana made this cave safe from intrusion with a glyph to guard the entrance. With these precautions in place, the Mothers took debating their strategy. Siosiann and Obrana revealed that they needed some time to study and that this would give them new abilities. Siosiann learnt how to cast a Teleport spell and taught this to Fonesca, they both also learnt Clairaudience/Clairvoyance from the spellbooks that they had, but realised that its range was too short to help them picture their apartments in Arable more clearly. Kurtalla used the time by summoning a black bear, Ursus to be his companion.

When the two mages were ready the party successfully teleported, in two groups, to Arabel. They arrived in their apartments as they had expected. Kurtalla found a place for Ursus in a granary that was almost empty in the barracks area. The purple dragons decided not to comment. The Mothers all made plans for what they would accomplish while they were in the safety of the city.

The first order of business was for Obrana to obtain her diamond and for the Mothers to trade any items that they had picked up that they had no use for. Much haggling was done in the city’s markets, armourers, weapon-smiths and the like, but eventually the party ended up with some considerable cash reserves and the requisite gem.

Gaspode’s spirit returned to his re-enlarged body without demur. Once he was cured of his remaining hurts he took part as well as he was able in the discussions of what to do about the drow threat. He did insist that the party urgently visit the Lord High Seneschal to report their findings. Once there, the party briefed the noble on their activities, but he was obviously frustrated about any solid information about the size of the drow forces or their intentions. He asked that they return as soon as possible, agreeing to a week of recovery and preparation for the Mothers.

Obrana ordered a silver font with an accompanying stand to be built to her specifications so that she could scry out their enemy, the magician-drow who had escaped them. This would take most of the week to complete. Siosiann ordered a masterwork bow to be made which would take advantage of her strength. The others gathered materials and inks to allow them to learn spells, create potions and summon familiars.