#76 - History Revealed

 During his time in the Thinker's prison, Sihirbaz made contact with two allies who have joined the party.

"En-Gee" is an autognome.  A mechanical construct that resembles a gnome.  En-Gee is himself an artificer.  He was greatly weakened by living in the anti-magic zone of the prison, but he has recovered.  (This is Chase's new character.)

"T'k" is a Thri-Kreen Ranger.  (Brian's new character)

The Party re-assembles in the city of Fort Aralan.  From there the are summoned by Merl to an island laboratory he has built.  There is is studying the properties of the Eye of Igurze.  

He presents to them this history that he has determined from reading the aura of all the souls that have been attuned to the Eye in the past.  Each aura appears as a blotch of colored burn marks on the floor of the laboratory, in a large circle around an arcane sigil.  What he has learned.....

• The item is old.  1200 to 1500 years.  Despite its longevity, it has had relatively few owners.
• The first blotch on the canvas is very large.  This indicates someone who owned the item for a long time maybe 200 years.  It was a human wizard.  Very intelligent.  Perhaps someone who was a scholar of arcana.  The transition for the first blotch to the second indicates that the item chose a new owner, abandoning the first. 
• The second owner was a also a human wizard.  The blotches indicate that this person died violently while attuned to the item.
• The 3^rd owner is an aura that Merl has seen before.  The vampire Egilina.  This attuned was broken by a remove curse spell.
• The 4^th owner only held the item very briefly.  It was a kobold.  A cleric.  Likely a Tiamat worshipper.  This owner died violently.
• The 5^th owner was a red dragon.  It held the item for a long time.  Maybe 300 years.
• The 6^th owner was a Githyanki.  The period between the 6th and 9th owner is difficult for Merl to read.  The 7th and 8th owners are a mystery, as is the means by which ownership changed.
• The 9th owner was the elder brain.   For a long period of time.  300 years.   Attunement ends by the choice of the item.
• The 10th owner was the Thinker of Thoughts.   

Upon leaving the laboratory, the party was ambushed by a raiding party led by two Mind Flayers.  Their dominions were two trolls and 6 Quaggoths.

The party defeated the ambush, but Samm was nearly killed.  One of the Mind Flayers had grabbed him and stunned him with a tentacle attack.  En-Gee delivered a killing blow just in time to save him.

The other Mind Flayer teleported away.  One Quaggoth survivor was captured by the party.

The party returned to the city, and began research on Egilina, in an effort to find where she might be.  The thought is that she might be able to provide more lore about the creation of the Eye.  

Si and Merl are very concerned about the Eye.  For some reason, it is very resistant to effects that might destroy it.  It is capable of releasing catastrophic reactions to any such attempt.

The party finds a way to scry Egilina, using ancient perfume atomizers that were known to have been her possessions.  They spy her in a palace throne room, conversing with an odd looking creature.  She commands him to deliver a message to someone named Kairon, who can be found at The Kraken's Back in Fort Aralan.