Divination: the Most Dangerous Art

My specialty school of Divination has been confirmed as the most dangerous, glamorous art of all. We discovered first-hand the fate of Stannis, Mage of Windkey Tower and former Head Diviner of that lost school: while preparing a divination ritual from an ancient tome, he was warped by the power of Bascaron and merged with his companion Nithas and an Athach into a foul, oily black abberation. Whatever good was in him must have died in that transformation.

Fighting the abomination was a long, grueling process, as it hurled spell after spell: Nithas could cast divine magic even at night, since his dedication to Bascaron excused him from the moon's isolating power, and Stannis himself was a potent sorceror. A long battle of attrition ended with the merged beast dead, but Malakar's speak with dead got us most of the answers we needed.

Malakar has adjusted to the limitations of this plane with his usual exuberance, pre-casting a plethora of spells before night falls. He transformed us into clouds with wind walk so that we could quickly ascend the mountain where, according to Stannis, Jartik is to be found. Once there, we were accosted by a Yakfolk who claimed to guard Jartik. The Yakfolk attacked us when we did not agree to his terms, and awoke two dangerously huge earth elementals from nearby pillars. The fight looked grim, until Livia confused the Yakfolk and one of his elementals into attacking each other: we made short work of the remaining elemental, and let the confused enemies weaken each other. Creative elimination of threats has become a recent theme, an effective and rewarding one.

Now we proceed down the countless* stairs (fortunately in vaporous form, obviating the need to actually step on each of them), seeking the answers only Jartik has. I just wish we had more of a plan for getting those answers out of him: speak with dead won't serve us this time ("using at most 7 words, please explain in detail the fortifications at K'culdan's keep").

*The stairs aren't actually countless, but why would one bother to count them?