As the morning's conversation grew out of the preceding silence, Chrrou found himself lost in thought, reflecting unthinkingly on his nightmares of the night before. It's only once the discussion of Gyriax and the possible source of his purported power is well underway that the druid breaks from his reverie, startledly listening to a few more shreds of conversation as he tries to piece together the details of the prior explanations to which he was so inattentive.<br/><br/>"...I'm sorry-- a land of unseasonable<span style="font-style: italic">heat</span>, to the north?" Suppressing his embarrassment at not having heard this tidbit of news-- being a druid, one might imagine he'd be aware of such things!-- Chrrou clears his throat and presses on, "The druids of the Valley believed they knew how Gyriax wrought this winter, but that..?!" The mouse shakes his head, paws clutching tighter around his staff as he reluctantly and falteringly passes on what knowledge he took away from the druidic circle. "There is a powerful charm-- an artifact, it's said-- named the 'Winter Talisman', once protected in secret, that fell from its keeper's care into the clutches of a shape-changing fiend and a monstrous white dragon. When this disastrous season fell over the Valley, we thought that the cause." Brooding more solemnly, he adds, "...We parted ways months ago; the others went to safeguard the remaining Talismans, and I came here, but if the dragon or his allies hold more than winter's power..." The druid looks ill. If the Summer Talisman was claimed by the dragon's minions, that raises uncomfortable thoughts about the fates of those members of the circle who went to protect it.<br/><br/>"...But this is only confirms that the dragon is closely in league with fiends," the mouse sighs. "...All these bits and pieces of information paint a bleaker picture than I knew. I need to send word back..." The druid briefly mentally berates himself for not having this conversation<span style="font-style: italic">before</span>preparing his spells, even though he likely never would have been the one to initiate it!<br/><br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">Belated belated belated. My most contrite apologies.<br/><br/>Attached file is Chrrou's character sheet, updated for level 11 and for spell choices, though the equipment is not updated to reflect claimed loot. If no other caster wanted the spell-storing quarterstaff and it has no other spells in it, Chrrou probably put Dispel Magic in it for now.</div></div></div>