It was early morning, about 5 am, when the Desperate Venture arrive at Darksea. At the end of the Darkbourne’s underground channel, the adventurers could see city lights in the darkness ahead. The lights of Darksea: magical lights that cycled between daylight and night time illumination levels.
Darksea was a remarkable city of about 6000 inhabitants. It had been founded centuries ago, prospered greatly, then fell into decay before being abandoned after repeated attacks by drow and other Underdark denizens in the early 600's CY. It had been relocated and re-occupied in the mid-660's CY, and had grown explosively over the next five to six years into a major mining, manufacturing and trading center once again.
Off to their right, beyond the opening of the tunnel, they spotted South Gate, the gateway to Darksea from Veluna, Bissel and points beyond. The district had grown along with the rest of the city, and now included residential areas, shops and other businesses. There was a good quality inn in the area. “The Sign of the Cloud,” Elwood pointed out to the adventurers. “If you ever need to spend a night in South Gate, that’s the place for it.” The party could see that there was a queue of ships in the vicinity of the docks at South Gate, readying to enter the Darkbourne and leave the underground environment.
Captain Elwood docked at South Gate. He had had the mule team unhitched prior to docking, and the team had been led across a bridge and through an access tunnel to the South Gate stables. Once unhitched, the captain had the crew row on to their destination: the main docks of the city, about a third of a mile along the lakeshore and to starboard.
About an hour later, the keelboat docked. Most of the ship’s cargo was off-loaded here and prepared for transportation to its final destinations. Then Thurl asked the adventurers to go with him to the Darksea Magic Academy. “Need to pick up a load of potions,” he explained. “You should get acquainted with the staff. Might come in handy sometime.”
When the party arrived at the academy, they found that the leader of the academy, the wizard Firiona Vie, was not present. “Oh, she’s out on a quest,” explained one of the academy staff to Thurl’s inquiry. “Hasn’t been around for a long time. We hear from her every few months or so, but that’s it.”
Thurl introduced the adventurers to the academy staffer. “These are some fearless souls who are assisting me with my latest ventures,” said Thurl. “A pleasure to meet you,” said the staffer.
The academy, among its other activities, manufactured potions and scrolls of all types and potencies. The staffer offered to sell the party any low-level magic items they might need (and could afford). Balefire purchased a potion of cure light wounds, as did Strife. Both potions had a similar appearance: green, with gold flecks.
Zelda bought a scroll of protection from evil. “I wish I could learn this spell and add it to my spellbook,” sighed the wizard. She looked hopefully at Thurl. “Well, I think that can be arranged,” offered the merchant. He advanced the young wizard the hefty sum of one hundred twenty-five gold pieces–enough for her to learn and write one first-level spell in her spellbook. “Looks like you’ll be busy for a while,” said Thurl. “Two days total,” the academy staffer pointed out. “Well, we’ll see you on the way back,” said the merchant. “Meanwhile, business calls.” He nodded to the staffer, then bade the other adventurers follow him.
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