Blinded by the Light: Fun with the Lantern

The young woman still felt quite ill after all the hours they'd spent cleaning up the gore and horrors of the torture room belonging to the priest of Loviatar. She'd managed to hold it together until the job was done though, after which she went off her her own to quietly wretch in the corner of one of the dead bandits' quarters. The paladin had seen death before. She'd even caused some of it herself when necessary, but it was all nothing compared to the gruesome sight that awaited her in that room.

It was the evening of the 17th and she was lying contentedly against Szeraal's side taking in the fresh air and enjoying the stars a moment before beginning her letters. Darya took much comfort in the beast's steady breathing. While he wasn't really 'warm' per se, his presence warmed her spirit in the absence of the one with whom she truly sought warmth.

Before retiring for the evening, she managed to find enough stagnant, but clean water in the kitchen of the ruined keep to wash herself up a bit after the battle. She took extra care with it. More than she usually did...even going so far as to use a drop of the perfumed oil her mother had given her before setting out from Zelpir. Silly... There was no reason for it. The lady could hardly believe that she would actually be meeting him again this evening, but you just never know...

Thoughts of Ollimer inevitably led to the Lantern that sat on the roof next to her. She still had little idea of its purpose, though in two more dawns, it might shine a light in a certain direction... That remained to be seen, and she looked forward to it. While out in the Moors though, Darya had attempted to will the Lantern to cast it's light, and it had! In the form of what she believed to be the Light spell some distance away.

May as well try to see what it could do. If Lathander intended that she carry it, then she should use it to fulfill his purpose here! With that thought, Darya picked up the lantern by the handle and held it out toward the wall of the keep behind her so the light might not disturb her companions. Concentrating, she attempted to recreate the Light she'd seen all those days ago...

Szeraal blinked away the light when it appeared. It gave no warmth, so it was only good for keeping him from resuming his nap. He wrapped his head around away from the light, careful not to disturb the warm human who liked to lean on him so much. Then after proper precautions took place, he breathed a large sigh, and proceeded to sleep once more.

"I'm sorry my friend", Darya quietly apologized to the behir. Grinning, she scratched at the soft, scaly skin where one of his legs met his serpentine body...one of his ten favorite spots!

After dismissing the Light, she set the Lantern on her lap to get a better look at it. It was made of a golden metal, though harder and not as shiny as gold. Four posts connected base to top, and in the center was a single metallic sphere that seemed to have a glow about it from the inside as if it was heated, though it was not hot. She could find no writing or symbols on it anywhere. During the attack on the keep, she'd noticed that the lantern emitted a low amount of light, enough to change darkness around her to moonlight. It was certainly unlike any lantern that she'd ever seen...

"Ollimer said you were like an old friend to him...," the paladin said, gently brushing her fingers against the sphere. "I hope that we might become that acquainted as well!" She felt a bit silly speaking to a lantern, but the way in which her beloved had referred to it, made her think that it had more significance than one would attach to a simple object. Holy relic or not...

Still somewhat wounded from the day's events, she wondered if the Lantern would grant her healing, as it had a few times during her quest. Holding the item by two of its posts, Darya tried to focus, mentally requesting that her injuries be healed.

The woman grinned and whispered a prayer of thanks to Lathander as she felt some of the pain from the burns along her neck abate. Concentrating again however, the healing did not occur a second time. She tried to cast Light once again, but nothing came of it.

So the Lantern allowed her to cast the Light spell, and it could Cure minor injuries, but only once a day it seemed.

From her time among the priests at the Tower of the Golden Dawn, Darya remembered another spell that could outline targets in light.

It was a long shot, but no harm in trying! She turned around to face Szaraal and held the Lantern out towards him, trying to focus on wreathing the behir in a harmless light.

No effect...

Wracking her exhausted brain for ideas, Darya tried another spell she'd heard of called Continual Light, again with no effect. Detecting Magic didn't seem to work either, as she attempted to cast it while looking at her magical shield, but perhaps Detect Evil would do something!

The paladin pulled a pouch off her belt and overturned it, dumping out the evil amulet they'd taken off the priest of Loviatar. It was set for destruction at the next dawn, but for now, maybe it could serve a useful purpose.

She held the lantern out toward the amulet and attempted to Detect Evil. Yet again...nothing...

Just before she started wondering if the holy relic could be used to turn undead, she felt herself become affected by some kind of protection spell, though she could not determine what it was protecting her from. Had the evil of the amulet triggered a Protection from Evil spell? She tried casting it on Szeraal, but even if it had worked, she couldn't tell though she guessed that nothing had happened.

The Lantern would need to be Identified, or perhaps as Ollimer said, once the pilgrims were found they might be able to reveal more details about it... Darya hoped they would be found soon, and that they hadn't fallen into the hands of more torturous, skin-flaying priests of Loviatar! The thought flipped her stomach again, but she managed to hold down her meager meal of grains from the storage room.

Quite enough tests for one night she thought, pulling out her scrollcase of letters. Then she set about writing her report to the Dawnmaster. The Dawn would come early tomorrow. There was still much work to do...

It was dusk and Lady Darya was fiddling with the Lantern again, as she had been doing every evening since they'd arrived back in Milbourne after clearing out the ruined keep.

The first week of her nightly experiments were both frustrating and perplexing... Some evenings it would cast Light when she asked, some evenings it wouldn't. Then she started trying to have it cast Faerie Fire, and some evenings it would cast, and some evenings it wouldn't. Sometimes it would cast a spell unbidden, as it had the protection spell that night in the keep, or that time when she was unconscious and the Lantern healed her! After five days of asking for the same spells, the Lantern began casting Light and Faerie Fire on her at Dawn, which was extremely unexpected! She politely asked the Lantern to stop casting those two spells on her at Dawn unless specifically asked for. Then it stopped!

It certainly seemed to have some sort of intelligence, but the only way it seemed to be in communication was that it responded to her verbal or mental request (sometimes) for certain spells.

Apparently three spells could be granted per day, and asking for those of the most basic priestly magic had been the ones the Lantern had complied with. Darya had no luck with some of the more powerful ones.

Tomorrow afternoon Darya, Nas, Torin and Jayashree should arrive in Turelve. It was nearing the completion of week two of "Lantern testing", and the paladin started to believe she might have some answers...

For the last seven days, she'd continued to ask for the same three spells. Light and Faerie Fire, which she'd asked for every night the week previous, and Cure Light Wounds, which she just began asking for regularly this week. The two spells that she'd asked for last week, and had been granted sporadically, were now cast successfully each evening, and the Cure Light Wounds that had not been asked for regularly but had been kind of hit or miss when she'd asked for it before, was now being granted every evening as well. Though she was not injured at the time, it was evident that some power had been released from the Lantern, as the glow...dimmed a bit momentarily when a spell was cast.

THIS night, and the previous night, Darya began noticing that the spells, though granted, were delayed somewhat. As if perhaps the Lantern was tired!

Ollimer had asked her to take good care of the Lantern. That' it was like an old friend to him... She had every intention of doing just that, and making sure the Lantern had some days off while they were in Turelve. After that, she'd begin tests with three new spells... She was starting to believe that perhaps the more often a particular spell was used, the more likely it was to be granted.

She was also starting to believe that the Lantern was less an intelligent artifact, but a sentient being! What other explanation could their be for it to become weary after prolonged use, if that is indeed what it was... Time would tell, and it would likely take a good deal more time to discover what all it (she?) could do!