At the beginning of the journey, the Clerics kill all the passengers with something pleasant and painless specifically made for their comfort. Once the caravan reaches the destination, Clerics cast Revivify. Who doesn’t want to return from a year-long trip healthier than when they left?

The Primus requests they make one simple change: have their governments impose a Modron-calculated and -approved planned economy with set price ceilings on starting equipment items.

The secret no bard uttered and no poet told, was this: these warlords and heroes also wanted to settle down, find peace, and scratch their own subsistence existence from the soil with pointy sticks. What good is the story of Harold the Great who defeated the Dwarves at Holden Pass when Harold brutalized his way through the pass just to get the quality soil beyond?

The Guild of Artificers took their tale of the dungeon, the beholder, the three tragically dead heroes, and the wand’s creator and packaged into a story. A week later, they sold it to a most discerning collector for 40K gold.

Neither dragon nor God stood down. Now it was about principle. The war was on for incense.