A Counterfeit Way to Find Salvator

The party had one more reason to visit Al Ivers before leaving Aleklot's Rest.

They returned Jessica James's contact information and cashed in the discount he had promised. Al tried to frame it as fifty percent. The party remembered it differently and held him to ninety. In the end, the joke became useful enough to matter.

Ash bought a counterfeit fifth-level Scrying scroll for five hundred gold.

It was not safe in the polished, official sense. Counterfeit magic carried a real risk of failure or backfire. But after the frozen corridor, the mind-flayer-like blockade, and the drawing of Salvator, Ash needed a way to reach past ordinary investigation. The scroll became a dangerous thread he could pull when the party was ready to look directly for Salvator or another target.

The group also bought good caravan fuel for two hundred fifty gold total.

That part was less dramatic but just as necessary. The dragon was dead, the loot was sorted, and the Salvator lead had a tool attached to it.

Now they could actually leave.