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Pendleton leads Sasha, Morgan, and Bingus towards the Cypher Lodge. This grand structure of stone and timber sits perched upon a lonely crag nestled against the very slope of the mountain, and provides a panoramic view of both the gulf and the city. Its three wings look directly out over the Cyphergate.

An ornately designed, heavy wooden door stands closed at the entrance. As the group approaches, the front door opens inward and a young man, carrying a book, greets them. "May I help you?" he asks.

Bingus puffs on his pipe and removes it from his mouth. He gestures with it towards the entire group. "Well, us here are folk of formal learnin'. Leastways, some of us are. We hear tell you folk are too, even if ya keep to yerselves. Thought we might pick your brains a bit. Kick some information back and forth.

My name's Bingus, bye the bye. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Sasha Rigveda at your service, so to speak.

We find the mysteries of your arch far more interesting than the fighting pits of this port. We hope to learn more about it, with the permission and guidance of your guild of course.

Sasha hates having to be "cordial" but is slowly learning that sometimes it just works better than plain old brute force.

Pendleton offers the man a slight bow.

"Good evening. Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Pendleton Kettleworth, graduate student of thaumaturgy at the Arcanamirium of Absalom. As we arrived at this city, my companions and I could not help but marvel at that fascinating arch, which we have learned you call the 'Cyphergate.' Our inquiries about the history and nature of that gate directed us here, where, we are told, the foremost authorities in Cyphergate lore gather and pursue their studies. We traveled to this impressive edifice in hopes that we might learn more of the Cyphergate, and of the order devoted to unlocking its mysteries."

"Well, I am Freidrich," the man begins, introducing himself. "Unfortunately, the lodge is completely full at the moment, and there is no waiting list. In fact, it took me three weeks to finally secure my room." He leans in closer and lowers his voice. "I shouldn't be sharing this, but an elf has been here in Riddleport for weeks looking to gain entrance, and no room has been made available to her yet." He returns to a full upright position and begins speaking naturally. "You have to understand, we here are quite exclusive, and while your admiration of the Arch is glorious, it's hardly a unique perspective."

"Should a room become available, and you're the first to place a claim on it, just know that a day's room and board, which includes access to our library, is 20 gold. Per person."

"So, is there anything else I can help you with?" he asks.

Morgan leans closely towards her two companions and says in a low voice They obviously don't like our kind. Let's move along and perhaps see if we can locate Chumley and get more info about his, ummm, 'tombe'. I feel we may have let an interesting prospect slip through our fingers.

She leans back to her previous position and says in a normal tone Or we amble about looking for other places of interest.

"Chumley isn't exactly my kind of people," Pendleton whispers to Morgan, "At any rate, he is gone. Let's find out if there is yet anything to be learned here. If not, perhaps we should seek out the elf of which this man speaks."

Pendleton turns back to the man in the doorway. The wordy mage replies with a friendly yet measured and diplomatic tone to the man's near-dismissal. "I fear that I may have miscommunicated our intentions, Freidrich. We do not seek accommodations. Indeed, our time in your city is quite limited; we would not have time to stay here and engage in even the most cursory scholarly research even if we were so inclined. Our questions about the Cyphergate are entirely superficial and basic: Is it magical? Who built it, and when? Does it have some function?

"I must also admit to some curiosity about the guild itself. I regretfully confess that I am aware of no scholarly publications from this fine guild—a failing that no doubt lies in my own neglectful attention to the literature. But my lack of familiarity with the topic of your research leads me to wonder how you occupy your time. I have had some experience researching the archaic and arcane. There is only so much that one can say with originality about that which is unknown and has been unknown for years. Are there sources that take years or decades to analyze? If so, one might think the guild would welcome all the help it could get. Or does the research consist primarily of theoretical and conceptual work, in which scholars spill their ink mostly in service of responding to each others' hypotheses? In short, I wonder if the study of what appears to be a very old object about which little is known tends more toward the concrete or the abstract."

"I was told that this was the place to go for knowledge about the Cyphergate. If I was misinformed, I apologize for wasting your time."

Freidrich steps outside and closes the door behind him. "Your clarification of purpose, Pendleton, does change things somewhat. I still cannot grant you access to the lodge -- which is for lodging --" he adds snarkily, "-- but I do have a few moments to spare. Here, let's take a few steps this way," he says, leading the group slightly away from their current position to a spot offering a much less obstructed view of the structure in question.

"Regarding your interest in the Cyphergate, here is what I can share." Freidrich starts. "But first, it's important to note that no one -- no one -- knows for sure. Everything I'm about to share is purely theory or speculation. Understood?" he asks.

After receiving assurances that his words won't be taken as an absolute truth, he continues. "Because its height is exactly half of the arch's width -- 350-feet wide by 700-feet wide -- it is believed by many that the arch is but one half of a larger ring, the second half of which is buried within the rocks and silt of the harbor bottom." he shares, allowing the group a moment to study the actual Cyphergate and make the visual connection before continuing. "The monument is built from unrecognizable stone and is decorated with mysterious runes, similar to other magically preserved carvings throughout the area countryside, but it has existed for longer than anyone can say, so it's true origins are unknown.

"The runes themselves are a topic for debate among scholars. Some believe they have no meaning, as they resist even magical detection methods, but this Cyper Lodge was not constructed, and the Order of the Cyphers was not created, because we believe them to be meaningless...." he trails off briefly. "Sadly, though, some of us Cyphermages have dedicated our entire lives to uncovering the truth behind the enigmatic symbols and, I'm afraid, are no closer than any of you are. It's mysteries remain just that."

"I really must return to my studies, but I do hope this helps," Freidrich finishes with, before disappearing back inside the Lodge.

Sasha rolls her eyes.

Well, that was pretty helpful eh?

Maybe Morgan was right? We should have gone with the genius, Chumley.

Pendleton thanks Freidrich for the information as they part ways.

"That was a little disappointing, yes," he admits to Sasha after they've put some distance between themselves and the Cypherlodge. "I doubt they know any more about that arch than we do. They just spend more time talking about what they don't know. It's unworthy of a scholar, if you ask me. And 20 gold per day for room and board? Even I wouldn't pay that much just for access to a library. It amazes me that they're full."

"But just because this excursion was uneventful, I do not believe that makes Chumley's offer any more appealing. Or did you develop in the past few minutes a desire to encounter the living dead?"

Sasha

No, not really. The dead dead never bothered me but, the living ones are still pretty frightening.

Well?
Now what?
Wait!
I know!
Why the heck don't we just go over there and take a look for ourselves?

Sasha starts heading east, towards the arch.

Pendleton follows along after Sasha. "I doubt we'd learn anything about the arch by looking at it up close," he says. "Why don't we drop by the arena to see how the others are doing?"

Bingus's eyes nearly bulge out of his head when he hears the price of lodging. But he's polite enough to wait until they leave and Freidrich is out of earshot to express his surprise.

"20 yellow?!" he exclaims, sharing his tobacco breath with the others. "At that price, it better include a rub and tug!"

He contemplates their next move. "That arch ain't going nowhere. We'd best make sure the others are holdin' up afore we check on it."

Sasha stops.

Ok, I will go along to the fighting pits, but don't expect me to participate in such barbarism.

The group decides to pass on exploring the arch in person and elects to try and locate the other members of the group in the arena instead.


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Okay, your chances of finding the other group at the arena should really be next to nil, but I'll make it that the two groups happen to run into each other.

Moving everyone back here: I. Riddleport.