The group returned home once again richer for their trials and only minorly more injured in Kurt’s case.

People were still talking about the last dungeon they had raided and were desperate to hear more about this new one. It certainly made for a more dramatic tale, with the party nearly dying and fighting the spirit of a long dead druid.

They continued to spend their money on their personal projects, but they also all began to seriously train harder. Neil trained his magic and learned new spells, desperate for more than just Burning Hands while Kurt trained hard with his new longsword. Karrank seemed to disappear from the limelight for a while but came back much more skilled than he had been before.

Sylvester, meanwhile, continued to hone and train his internal energies. He avoided preaching to the town by focusing on projects instead. Through his careful studies and trainings, he became able to wield miracles of the third level, which he used to scribe a scroll of Prayer. This miracle was incredibly similar to the Chant he had used in the barrow but it didn’t require him to constantly focus on it to work, in return for taking up more internal energy than the Chant did.

He also began pulling together maps to figure out where to go and even attempted to devise a recipe for a healing potion. It was unsuccessful, and the single most expensive thing he spent the month on.

~~~~

Sylvester’s Monthly Expense Report

Food for Bask – 50 s

Scroll of Prayer – 3,000 s

Gifts to the poor – 3,000 s

Gifts to family – 3,000 s

Maps for study – 250 s

Healing potion research – 5,000 s

Remaining funds: 288 silver pieces

~~~~

By the end of the month, every member of the party was significantly more prepared than they had been before. Sylvester, realizing his new power, decided that it was finally time to go on a journey.

A quest, a campaign, to recover truly powerful magic items and discover the secrets of the world. And, maybe, he would be able to do some good along the way.

He quickly began preparations for a small caravan. Val was obviously going to tag along, and he wasn’t going to leave Bask behind. Kurt and Karrank would also likely tag along, but he had no idea what Neil would do.

In the end, everyone agreed to go along. Sylvester had yet to lead them astray, and if he said he was only aiming up from here, they were willing to trust that.

So, they collected supplies for everyone and set off. Their first destination was the small town of Springwood.