Part 10: Jhelom & Dungeon Destard

Jhelom is the city of valor. It is known for its fighters and trainers, town duels, and for sticking to the old ways. Jhelom is located on an island south west of Trinsic. You can reach it by ship, flying carpet, or moongate:

I would normally use one of the virtue stones with the Mark spell here so I can teleport back whenever I like. Because I have the flying carpet, I'll just fly there each time I need to visit.

Our purpose is to follow up on a lead that Elizabeth and Abraham have come here from Paws. I don't think we are ready to tackle Dungeon Destard yet, we may find some useful gear in Jhelom especially for Dupre who is under-geared.

As always, I talked to everyone. A man named Sprellic is being challenged to duels three fighters, and people are taking bets on who will win. Apparently Sprellic was found stealing the honour flag from the Library of Scars (the greatest fighting school in Britannia). According to Sprellic he took the flag by mistake in the dark to try and warm one of his guests (Sullivan the Trickster I believe) at the Bunk & Stool. Ophelia seems to think Sprellic is secretly the Avatar.

I agreed to be Sprellic's champion in the upcoming duels, let's hope it doesn't come to that. The armourer Klifton suggested the only way to dissuade the challengers will be to return the honour flag. He agreed to sew me a duplicate flag to try and trick them. I collected it off him after running some other errands. I took it to Syria (one of the challengers) before the time of the duel, and we settled the matter - no fighting required.

The mayor, Joseph, told me that Elizabeth and Abraham had been to Jhelom and were trying to set up a Fellowship branch. He is undecided about what to do. He also said they were returning to Britain for a few days.

Something else I noticed... De Snel, the master of the Library of Scars, has serpentine swords and daggers in his house. These match the dagger found at the murder scene in Minoc. I confronted De Snel about it - he was clearly surprised. And then he decided to give me an unofficial and compulsory 'demonstration' of his combat technique. I had to put him down. Unsurprisingly, I found a Fellowship medallion on his corpse.

With that, we finished up our time in Jhelom. We decided to go immediately to Dungeon Destard and we walked their from Britain (so we could cast Help to leave and have the flying carpet waiting for us at the castle).

Walking around the mountain-side from Trinsic we came across a cave with a unicorn inside it. His name was Lasher. His purpose, apparently, is to be a virgin detector. He cannot stand to be touched by anyone who is not a virgin - but apparently is quite happy for the Avatar to pet him. My companions made plenty of jokes at my expense after that happened.

This cave is part of Dungeon Destard but separated from the main caverns. Destard is north west of Trinsic:

"Do not go in! It is a trap! Do you not see? It is a trap!" said the voice in my head as I was about to enter. Just inside the entrance was a man named Cosmo and his companions Kallibrus (a winged gargoyle) and a Cairbre. Cosmo is trying to find a unicorn to prove he is a virgin. Ophelia, the barmaid we just met in Jhelom, sent him. His companions are trying to dissuade him from this foolish mission.

We left the hopeless lover and delved deeper into the cave. Destard is known for dragons. Immediately we were waylaid by drakes (smaller/younger dragons) and it was tough going. The rewards were enormous - most dragons and drakes carry gems.

We did find the chest that Batlin talked about - but there was no gold. Surely I had been tricked to go on a suicide mission.

Pushing on into the cave we found a lot of treasure:

• Gems, dozens of gems
• Gold and gold bars
• A "Firesword" which acts as a permanent light source. Very handy in dungeons and caves!
• A second spell book - we have no use for it but it will make a nice trophy in Iolo's house

When we cleared every part of the dungeon out we used the Help spell to return to Britain. We confronted Batlin about sending us on a suicide mission, he denied any wrong-doing. With this impossible task out of the way he finally agreed to let me join The Fellowship at the branch meeting the following night.

Batlin also told me that Elizabeth and Abraham have already moved on, to Vesper. That will be one of our next stops.

While we waited for night to fall we cashed in our gems and gold bars. We managed to acquire 52 gems in Destard, a massive haul worth over 1,500 gold pieces. We now have over 4,000 gold pieces and nothing to spend it on. We will have to start hoarding it at Iolo's house for a rainy day.

The Fellowship meeting was tremendously boring, we had to sit through such an ordeal. My companions probed me, even begged me not to go through with it - but my mind was set. If we are to uncover the truth about The Fellowship then I need to investigate them from the inside.

After enduring the ceremony and drinking from the goblet (and answering some more copyright protection questions) I was admitted into The Fellowship and given my own medallion.