Arya
Arya would be curious about Naralis being able to get the queen to ask for them being here: "How could you get the queen to order us here? Is she against the ritual?"
DM
“The Queen has ruled for longer than most remember. Long enough that the crown has become a burden rather than a prize. She has everything a ruler could want: wealth, loyalty, fear, comfort. Yet there is one thing she cannot command, no matter how many decrees she signs or heads she takes. Time does not bend for her. Nor does the fate that waits at the end of it.”
Naralis rests one hand on the table as he speaks. His skin is pale, almost colorless in the low light. When he speaks of the Queen, there is no disdain in his voice, only a quiet understanding.
“We spoke for hours. She asked about what lies beyond death and taught me much I did not know about our people. I told her things her scholars never could. In return, she allowed my presence and listened.”
His gaze lifts again.
“I would have stayed longer. She still had questions, and I had answers worth trading. But my presence was discovered by the one you know as Qoledre Sarinaha. After that, the palace became far less welcoming.”
Arya
Arya would nod: "Then she really is the biggest threat. Do you know of a way we could protect ourself from how she can manipulate time?"
DM
"She is indeed a powerful practitioner of magic, a weave of that potency is not easy to disrupt. The only real protection is to stop the caster before the words are spoken, or to have someone ready to break the spell the moment it begins. Anything else is wishful thinking.”
"Best avoid her. She will be distracted by my people's activities.
Until you get noticed, until an alarm is raised it is likely that she will not expect intruders."
Tiaumil
Tiaumil would nod. "Considering we didn't manage to stop her last time, while we were at full strength and had gear worth mentioning, avoidance would be my choice too."
DM
"If it any consolation the way she trapped you was the result of much planning. The collars were crafted for each of you - if she tries to do the same without them it is unlikely she would succeed so easily."
Tiaumil
Tiaumil would regard him for a long moment. It was an oddity that he was now speaking with one who had once been a god of the ancient elven people before the kingdoms fell. He was part of the world that Tiaumil had once been desperate to chase, the reason that he so heartily rejected what Merdelain had become. But he also had known him as the elf, the construct, that had been so joyous at listening to the trees. There seemed no joy in him now, only patient duty. He didn't know if it was because of his power having been replaced, or if it was the taint of Merdelain itself, and his task, that had done so. But it saddened him, in a small place he still had left within himself, to see that innocent joy gone once more.
"Perhaps," he said, not convinced. Their situation was all the worse now, after all, and they had no convenient rogue to help them bypass notice.
Arya
It is just an instant sign of anger or annoyance in Aryas eyes only noticeable for those really looking at her in that instant. Then she thinks for a bit and look to Tiaumil: "You managed to use such a collar once before, could you do it again?"
And looking back to Naralis: "You say designed for us in what way? Could they be used on other elfs for example?"
Tiaumil
Tiaumil finds his gaze lingering on the collar that Siax had decided to take with them, before looking back to Arya as she spoke. "It is possible I suppose, but risky. They are not a device I am familiar with. I am far more used to using the souls of the dead, rather than commanding the living."
Arya
"Well I'm use to commanding the living so maybe you could show me?" There is no real emotion in her voice just a matter of fact statement.
Tiaumil
Much as he had done with Naralis, his gaze lingered upon her for a long moment, before finally nodding.
"If we have time, I will try to show you. There is a link between those collared and the ones controlling and holding them. It bleeds through over time, the emotions, so be wary."
He would finish up what he'd been doing and, should they have time before the group head upstairs, he'd try and give Arya a basic accounting of how he had managed to control the collar to the sorrowsworn, and what he had learned beyond that about them.
DM
[Tiaumil give me an Arcana roll. Arya give me an insight roll dc 15. If you succeed you gain advantage on the arcana roll you need to make.]
"A risky gambit but I am not one to stand against it. I do not stand against anything anymore."
As he stated Tiaumil was no expert of these things so while his magical knowledge allowed him to speak of the matters there were concepts that he could only communicate by saying what things felt rather than how they worked.
Thankfully even though Arya knew Tiaumil a relatively short time her powers of insight were keen, especially in this plane we're mortal creatures seemed to be open books. Using that understanding she peaced together what was not there and gained a proper understanding of how these magics worked.
[Yes a collar made for an elf would work on another but due to how exact these were made your best bet would be to use the most similar one - in this case you realise that would be either Siaxs or Tiaumils collar as they would be the closest to a Merdelainian.
You could either get a collar on a Merdelain elf that was attuned to you. This could be tricky as the cumbersome device would need someone to be incapacitated or somehow frozen.
Or you realise you could put on a collar and attempt to reverse the connection and take over the master. This would be ofcourse risky but you don't think any would expect it. You would have to get 3 successful contested rolls before you get 3 failed ones]
Tiaumil with your insight you indeed see that something vital has indeed been extinguished in Naralis. The rudimentary construct was in many ways more alive than what stands before you.
You realise that Naralis the Death God has already embraced his death. Everything here feels like him taking care of unfinished business, one last responsibility.
With your knowledge of the dealings of the death of all, your liberator and master it is evident that whatever Naralis is now he shares something with your nature. Naralis is a warlock of Jergal.
His divine nature restored would have triggered his rightful death. It is only by Jergal's will that he still exists. You think this existence is not a pleasant one.
@Arya (Sandra) due to the high rolls feel free to ask any clarification on how the collars work and I will answer.
Arya
Yeah so I could use one of ours as it is now (preferably tiaumils or siax) but it's gonna be a contest were I need to save 3 times before failing 3 times? Or I need to attune to one of the collars and then use it on a incapacitated creature?
DM
Either can work. I'd say having option number two ready makes sense.
But if you do get captured (or bait someone into capturing you) you could try and contest it.
This ability is exclusive to you. None of the other party members are able to do so. Because of your experience with Geas and other charm spells.
Arya
Arya would nod to Tiaumil: "I understand. Do you know how the spellcasters here channel their magic?"
Tiaumil
Tiaumil would blink in a moment of incomprhension at the question, seemingly taken off-guard by it. "As any other spellcaster I suspect? They have had hundreds of years to hone their craft and gather supplementary artifacts, which is likely why they are more powerful than those we have come across." He will have seen mages in Merdelain, of course, but he had seemed just as surprised by the woman on the ship's power as any of them. It had come as a very unpleasant surprise to him. "Other than that, they have access to the ruinstone and items like the well, which could hav increased their powers, but when she cast the magic back on the boat, it was done much as any wizard or cleric would have."
Arya
"Well I don't know how that works, I use the elements around me but I also often have to be able to speak or move my hands or use an object to focus the power. Do they do the same?"
Tiaumil
He would nod, and, seeing as this seemed to be an educational time between them, he would attempt to explain about the different types of spellcasting, their components, strenghts and weaknesses. He'd had to do this many times in the past to students in candlekeep, for while he'd not been a teacher, he had had many inept scholars turn up at his door.
DM
[All magic comes from drawing from the Weave in one way or another. Most spellcasters need a way of focusing their will and for many spells precise movements, materials and words are needed.
A cleric casts magic by asking a god to grant them this connection to the weave. In many ways what Arya does is similar but since the primal energies do not usually posses a humanoid counterpart the asking and receiving is much more natural. Arya thinks fire and the land responds.
Tiamiul is actually closer to how a wizard casts as even though his powers were granted by an entity that is a one time thing and the constant question/answer doesn't need to happen. Rather using knowledge he taps into the weave without intermediary]
[There is a reason that Arcane magic practitioners are the ones who are most likely to go mad with power - unlike Divine magic casters there are less limits, less supervision. A focus is simply a tool that helps a caster shape and direct magical energy. Arcane casters use items like wands, orbs, or staves to stabilize the complex patterns of arcane power they are manipulating, much like a lens focuses light. Divine casters use holy symbols because their magic flows from a deity or sacred ideal, and the symbol represents that connection. Druids use natural foci such as wooden staves, totems, or sprigs of mistletoe because their power comes from the living world, and the focus serves as a physical link to those primal forces.]
Arya
You could almost see Arya starting tapping her fingers impatiently when Tiaumil talks and when finished: "So can we stop them? Immobilize them in some way? I know you can block them as they casting but not indefinitely and I can't do that. Knocking them unconscious I guess but then we need to take them by surprise. Stop from being able to speak? Or maybe take away their sight? It would be difficult then to cast any spells at anyone?"
Tiaumil
He would watch her signs of impatience, or frustration, or both. He felt much the same in terms of the limitation they currently were under, in how he himself was not best suited for such things.
"I am limited. There will be little I can do from here on out except direct damage. I can catch a soul, as I did before, or counterspell if it isn't too powerful, but those attempts are finite. I only have three attempts before I need to rest and regain them. Your abilities are more variable than my own. I know only the spells that I have been granted, and some rituals that I picked up over time, but none of those are particularly useful here for this purpose."
He would go over the various spells he could cast, and the abilities he has available now the collar is off. If he isn't spotted, he has a decent chance at learning information, or phasing through a wall, but only once. As the one determinedly formulating plans that will hopefully keep them safe and succeeding in the task, he grants her this information without reservation. There is not much time left for betrayals, after all, and he doesn't seem to expect to survive what is coming.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/130799651
Arya
Arya nods: "As I thought, I don't think we can trust in magic here, maybe brute force is needed. Quick, effective and hopefully quiet to not even give them a chance."
Tiaumil
Tiaumil nods. "They have had centuries to hone their magic, but mages can often be more vulnerable because of that focus. We can only hope that it will be enough."
He looks back to Naralis as a thought occurs to him.
"The magic and devices they have here, will it affect my ability to project my spirit. Will it catch me as it would a soul?"
DM
"As long as your body exists it should act as an anchor"
Tiaumil
There would be a glimpse of relief there. It had not seemed to worry Tiaumil before; the fact that souls could be captured, at least until now. Ever since Naralis had spoken to them, Tiaumil had seemed ever so slightly less confident, and less content with the future and how it might affect him.