Week 7 - Repent and ye Shall be Saved

Concurrent with the time the main group was heading to Kirkengaard, about to start their Underdark excursion, the story cuts back to Darius and Aphis.

It is revealed that Darius had remained behind during the foray into the Lich's chambers at the orders of one of his superiors from the Mage Academy... closer to the present time, he is in a "town meeting" environment at the Academy when Aphis is pulled from Prison and brought before the group to account for his actions.

The leaders of the Mages Academy chide him for his rash ways, and point out that it was exactly this sort of behavior that they had foreseen when they removed him from the Academy previously. They tell him that he will get one final chance to redeem himself and prove that he has mended his ways, or otherwise be severely punished.

When Aphis is escorted away, the Mages all begin to submit ideas on what his trial could be... and a young trainee from the Warlocks, Darius, chimes in with the suggestion that he prove himself by having to set forth on a quest of some sort. The Mages take this as a good suggestion and decide to start small, sending Aphis, with Darius to monitor and assist, to deal with a rogue Homunculus in the shop of a nearby store keep.

The two investigate the situation and dispatch the elemental with moderate effort... keeping damage to the store at a minimum, which shows a little more restraint from Aphis, who previously would have simply burned the store down as a method of dealing with the little beast... No store to Guard means no reason to keep Guarding it, right?

They return to the Mage Academy and are commended on their work, and told to standby for another assignment...

Meanwhile, in the Present... Del'anoth has begun to have some doubts over whether or not his path is the right one... He is unsure of whether or not this massive undertaking to find and destroy these hammers is the course the Raven Queen would have him set upon as there are reasons for and against his going on both sides... He isolates himself to his room at the Inn and performs a minor prayer 'ritual' to his Goddess, seeking insight from She that Guides His steps.... The response he gets is enigmatic at best, but seems to set his mind in place about what he should plan to do....