2. The Friendly Arm Inn

"Well, it’ll be a lot of work but I think I can take him off your hands for 150 gold. It’s young and a liability around your farm, 150 is fair price." Dieter barters for the blink dog, he acts like he’s doing the farmer a favour which he believes he is.

Quote:

"What language? Jus' Common, really. Otherwise it'd know more languages 'n me! Goes once in the morning, once at night. An' it's jus' fine round the usual critters. Horses, cattle. 'Cept rats. Shakes those things like a doll!"

"I’ll give him a good home and family" Dieter says handing the farmer two gold.

Ida looks at Stella and then to Aiwe and Stephan one hand still over her mouth the other points to the door. She starts to head outside to and to a quieter location in case more foul goo spews from her mouth.

Once outside Ida begins to speak and recounts all the things that happened in her in the dream. Stomach rolling and waves of nausea still pulse through her buts shes unsure if its from whatever came out of her… or worse yet is within her or its just a reaction to the trauma just incurred.

"I think Bently's right. We should definitely have you and Dieter see Gellana...Wait, where—Ugh..." Stella says looking around for Dieter. She huffs. "Let me show you where Gellana is, then I'll go find Deiter..." She asks Noctalia to help her search.

She helps Ida to the temple, then goes searching for Dieter. "I'll be back soon and can pay for everything."

With the help of Noctalia, Stella locates Dieter. "There you are! What...what kind of dog is that?" she squints.

"This" Dieter says holding up the blink mutt "is a 100% good boy"Dieter has a huge smile on his face we’re still in negotiations though, it’s a blink dog mix. And this is …idk I haven’t named him yet but he’s a sweety" Dieter says referring to the huge puppy next to him.

Stella raises an eyebrow and folds her arms, doing her best impression of her father's unamused look. "Dieter. we agreed to a dog. Singular. And blink dog mix...? What does that mean?"

"Well the first dog was free, this dog is a special case. He won’t fit in around here and I think he needs us to grow into his own."Dieter explains "he can teleport, I just had to get him out from the tree.

Stella blinks. With her eyes, that is—not the teleportation kind of blink. "It's a dog. That can teleport. And either purposely or accidentally got itself stuck in a tree. You realize how troublesome and problematic that sounds, right?" She sighs. "What if we're...I don't know, on the road and it gets itself stuck in a tree every few minutes? Or we're infiltrating another secret mine or hideout or something and it POOF! Bark, bark!" She mimics an excited puppy for a moment, then her face drops dead serious and tilts her head, looking Dieter sidelong. "Aaaand now we're dead...not to mention the 'free' dog...there's probably a reason it was free..."

"it was free because it was getting too big for the house, they’re trained not to bark. The big one will watch camp and the horses. I think the blink dog will come in handy, if we don’t take him he’ll probably end up as a stray all scared and alone"

Ida numbly follow Stella who drops her off in the temple. She sits quietly in the lobby and waits for stella and dieter to return

Stella stares at Dieter, eyebrow still raised and hand on her hip. She glances down at the puppy who happens to be staring back at her. She inhales deeply and sighs, turning away. "Fiiiiiiine," She turns back and pokes Dieter in the chests. "But this one only because I happen to care very deeply for the well-being of animals. You've got three strikes before we sell one of them for troublemaking. Deal?"

She turns to the farmer, reaching into her coin purse. "How much?"

Stella's eyes seem to nearly bulge out of her head at hearing the price, several eye-stars a shocked white. Keeping her word, and not wanting to make any more of a scene, she shells over several strings of her own coinage. "Three strikes..." she repeats to Dieter.

Stella and Dieter arrive at the temple with not one, but two dogs. "Unless we get permission from Miss Mirrorshade, they stay out here," she tells him, handing him some rope to tie them somewhere.

They then enter and find Ida. "How are you feeling?" Stella asks, then goes to find Miss Mirrorshade.

Dieter ties them to a hitch post with a reasonable lead, "stay." he orders in a clear voice and gives them each a piece of dried meat when they obey. He then follows Stella in

Ida is startled by Stella's return clearly deep in thought about what all this could mean not just for Dieter but their universe as a whole. "Oh... I mean... I'm fine" she says quietly. She sees Dieter enter moments later as Stella moves further in clearly looking for something or someone. Ida studies the young boy, he looked and moved like all the other humans she had encountered but after her vision, she couldn't shake that there was something different about him.

Gellana Mirrorshade's eyes twinkle in recognition of Stella and Dieter. "Welcome back, friends! How can I serve you today?" She gives a sympathetic grimace. "I hope no other members of your party are in need of a resurrection?"

"Gellana! It's so good to see you," Stella says, slightly wearily. "No resurrections today. But perhaps something more...esoteric?" She tilts her head and glances back at Dieter and Ida.

"On our latest excursion Dieter encountered someone—a druid tied to the Shadowfell?—that seemed to trigger a dormant memory, causing it to resurface. He started trying to focus on that memory, and when he did...he essentially fell unconscious, having a kind of a..." she gestures indistinctly. "...nightmare vision, and I saw him start freezing to death. But he...escaped? Ida here used her magic to try to look into his memories, but then, she started suffocating and regurgitated a black ooze that started attacking! Thankfully, nobody got hurt." She pauses, then looks at Ida. "Wait, what did you see in there?"

The short priestess' lips twist into an inquisitive frown as she looks Dieter over. "Hmm. The Shadowfell! How interesting..." She feels his hands. "Still chilled. Well. Why don't you all come and have some tea. That should warm the boy up, at least, and perhaps soothe Miss Ida's stomach."

She invites the group to one of the empty patient rooms, gets them seated, and then fetches and serves some hot tea.

Gellana holds her cup in both hands. "I'm afraid I don't know much about the Shadowfell, and I'm flummoxed as to how a memory could hold such dark power." She frowns into her tea, brow furrowed in thought. "But even though it's not my expertise, there are some paths open to you if you want to pursue them."

She holds up a slender finger. "Candlekeep. There is much knowledge sealed away in those halls, and chances are you could find a sage who knows the answer or can point you in the right direction. Good luck getting into the place, though. Usually you need to offer a worthy addition to their written works in order to gain entry."

The gnome lifts a second finger. "Baldur's Gate. Almost anything can be found there, if you've enough coin to purchase it. I'm sure there's a knowledgeable wizard who can tell you more of the Shadowfell. Ramazith, perhaps? If he's still around."

Gellana hesitates, a pained expression on her face. "A third option could be... Well. Didn't you first come to the Friendly Arm in the company of a certain artifact haunted by a deathly spirit? If the cursed thing is still to be found in these parts, perhaps you could ask it what it might know about the Shadowfell."

"interesting, I fear we much to uncover. Terrible truths and sweet lies.

you think breaking whatever seal is on my memories is beyond your power? Dieter asks