Toilday, 24 Rova

Time has not flowed linear for me these past few days. At times, it seems I’ve been places that I have yet to go to, while other times I completely lose track of where I’ve been. The side passage, the conversation with Ameiko, the return of the incriminating notes to her …

It might be that I’m still just stressing out about the claws. Nobody has said anything, so either they didn’t see it, or they think it unworthy of comment (unlikely) or they are blanking it from their mind as one would a traumatic experience.

But the stress must not be mine alone. Kyras, against our expectations and wishes, yesterday returned the notes we found to Ameiko, on the theory that they were private property. To me, and to several others, these seemed evidence of a crime, or several crimes, and it seemed complicit to quietly return those. I don’t think we were of a mind as to what to do with them, but returning them wasn’t foremost, I’m sure.

And Kyras refused to discuss it. He got so angry he left the group. And so we find ourselves one fewer.

But well before that — or was it after? again, time has lost its normal flow to me this last week or two — we discovered a most fascinating room. It was perfectly spherical, but objects were floating in it as if in a bowl of water. No that’s not right either, because objects in a bowl tend to sink or float, not choose a point in the middle. Something about this room allowed objects to simply float in the middle.

There was a ragged book[110], a scroll[112], a dead raven (complete with maggots)[109], a twisted iron wand[111], and a bottle[113]. The walls were plated in some sort of red metal, and black lightning bolts kept shooting randomly from plate to plate. There appeared to be discomforting words formed by the bolts, like WRATH, and DESTROY ENEMIES, KILL, CONQUER.

Unconcerned, Sabin tied a rope around himself and went for a float. He helped retrieve the items mentioned above, and seemed to suffer no (further) ill effects.

It was commented that this would make a very lucrative attraction, but it was pointed out that without knowing what created the magic here, we’d be playing with fire. I did a read magic and determined the scroll was a scroll of burning hands.

Sedgwick read over the book, and announced it seemed to be a prayer book for LaMashtu, the mother of all monsters. The little demon we killed was apparently a “quasit”. The book was full of all sorts of fun LaMashtu facts, like an altar dedicated to LaMashtu appears to have dirty water oozing from it. Hey, we’ve seen one of those.

When we returned, I brought the garrison commander up to date on almost everything. He agreed to place a guard at the goblin barracks in case anything were to try to come into the city that way.

But as a party, we realized, we were all running a bit short of gold. And since the city was unlikely to pay us for our work to date, we felt that the items we’d found, if they had any value, should belong to us. And so it came to pass that we tried to sell the giant statue of the stern angry mistress that we’d found. Writing on the bottom identified it as “Elaznist”. Sedgwick thought that might be one of the ancient rune lords.

So we hauled it away — no easy task — and decided as a group to try to sell it. To someone, for some proper amount of money.

With time on our hands, we were able to inspect the items we’d retrieved a bit more. The wand, as I saw it, was a wand of shocking grasp with 28 charges. I am carrying it currently.

That evening, Kyras and Nolin and I were at the inn when there was a ruckus. A woman ran in claiming her husband had been attacked by a goblin. Avia, Sabin, and Olithar had remained at the glassworks factory, so we sent word to meet us at this woman’s house and we rushed to help.

And it really was a goblin. And her husband, I’m afraid, really was dead. And unfortunately (but we didn’t tell her) being used as goblin food. It didn’t take too much effort for three people to hunt it and kill it, but the poor husband didn’t have the advantage of superiority in numbers, nor a decent weapon.

I arranged for some pie for the kids, and a room for the family and we cleaned up the scene a bit so the woman wouldn’t have to. Father Zanthus will take care of the arrangements for a service.

Wealday, 25 Rova

Olithar got creative and seems to have made money for us all. Today he has sold the right to visit the things we found in the tunnel (altar, cells, etc.) — which we refer to as “the historical area” — for 1000gp, and arranged to sell the statue on consignment. It may go for again as much if all goes well.

But with cash in hand, all of us who needed additional training was able to afford same.

Avia, Sabin, Rigel, Nolin, and myself needed 100gp for our “continuing education credits.”

Sedgwick needed 150gp, and Kyras needed 200 gp. Of our 1000gp we’d received, this left 150gp. We purchased 2 scrolls of identify and 2 scrolls of cure light wounds for 25gp and 50gp, respectively, leaving 75gp in the party’s coffers.

And it was now, on Wealday, Lamashan 9, I think, that Kyras tried to thwart the will of the group. While Avia and Olithar were adamant that he’d done wrong, I was just upset because we hadn’t had a chance to decide as a group. It might have been the case that we’d make the same decision, but whether we did or not it was not supposed to be a personal decision but a shared one.

Ah well. He seems quite the independent spirit .. perhas our paths will cross again.

Oathday, Lamashan 10

In reading through Tsuto’s journal, there was mention of a sacrifice on “the Thistlestop altar” so we think perhaps our next clue will be found there. We do not expect the Thistlestop goblins to throw a party in honor of our arrival, so we are proceeding cautiously. I am carrying one of the scrolls of CLW as I’m one of the few that has a decent chance of using it if needed.

Despite our caution, it seems I was wrong. The goblins have thrown us a party. You could say they’ve invited us to dinner. I suppose it’s hard to be stealthy to a goblin in its home turf.

Battle ensued .. more details the next time I sit down.

Toilday, Rova 24, 4707; Glassworks basement, Sandpoint; Evening

Earlier today we trudged back into the smugglers’ caves and through the vile complex, used by the followers of Lamashtu, to reach last unexplored area. The door was unlocked, and after checking for traps Rigel opened it.

Beyond was a fairly long and narrow corridor ending in a closed door in the distance. Off to the side was another stairway turret leading down, which was disappointingly blocked by yet another cave-in.

The door at the end of the corridor opened onto a bizarre spherical room. The walls were of red metal. Black electrical sparks arced across the walls, briefly forming Thassilonian words for “wrath”, “kill”, “destroy”, “enemies”; much like the words etched in the walls of the cathedral complex. The entire room glowed with magic.

Floating in the middle of this room were several objects, which were retrieved by magical means.

[109] Dead raven (freshly killed, but with maggots floating about it)
[110] Ragged book: written in Abyssal with gruesome images. Later study revealed it to be Prayer Book to Lamashtu, with information about the creatures often summoned to do her bidding, with a list of strengths and weaknesses for each.
[111] Twisted metal wand with forked tip (later identified as a wand of shocking grasp with 28 charges)
[112] Scroll (magic, but I do not recall what was determined about it)
[113] Bottle filled with red fluid

Sabin tied a rope around himself and while I held on to one end, he drifted out to the center of the room, where he floated safely.

As interesting as all of this was, it brought us no closer to finding Nualia and putting a stop to her evil machinations.

Kyras thought a more thorough search of the woods across the river to the east of Sandpoint was in order, and so Rigel, Sabin and I joined him. What a relief to walk above ground in the pleasant woodlands as the dappled sunlight warmed our faces.

We did find the remains of a crude goblin encampment that overlooked the town, complete with goblin corpses — somebody had been here before us.

Lacking any clear course or better ideas, I suggested we return to the red marble statue and see if it held any clues.

It did, but not what we were expecting, and not helping with our current quest at all. Thinking that the statue might be positioned over a secret entrance we tipped it over. There was nothing but the bare stone floor beneath the statue, but on the underside of the statue’s base was inscribed the name “Alaznut.”

Sedjewick thought this was the name of a Rune Lord. Ancient history, and its presence here may predate the taint of Lamashtu… or in some sinister way be some how part of it and our quest. More questions, but no answers.

Trask’s regular reports to the Sandpoint Guard did yield some help in the form of one guardsmen, Barret, who was sent to watch the entrance to the tunnel complex from the goblin barracks to the north. This was one less thing for us to worry about, and we welcomed Barret and helped him settle into his post.

It is now evening, and Avia, Sabin and I are remaining in the Glassworks basement to keep watch, while Nolin, Trask and Kyras returned to their rooms at the Rusty Dragon. Rigel accompanied Sedjewick home — hmm.

 

Toilday, Rova 24, 4707; Glassworks basement, Sandpoint; Late Evening

Another entry for the day: there was a goblin in the middle of Sandpoint!

Indeed the filthy little bugger was hiding out in the home of a local family;right in the closet of some poor lad. Kyras thinks he set up a nest of sortsthere after the raid some nights ago, and had been foraging out at nights.

The boy had been complaining of monsters in his closet, and when his fatheropened the door to show him it was safe, out lept the goblin, dog-slicerslashing, and with a snicker-snack off went the father’s head!

The mother grabbed her two children and ran off to the Rusty Dragon, screamingfor help. Fortunately our trio of fighters were on hand, and after sendingword for the rest of us, ran to the goblin infested house. It turned out tobe an infestation of one, which Nolin and Kyras swiftly killed.

Sedjewick thought it might be a Thistlestop goblin. We alerted the townofficials and recommended they search Sandpoint for other goblin nests beforeanother innocent family fell victim.

Wealday, Rova 25, 4707; Glassworks basement, Sandpoint; Morning

With no new leads for us to follow or imminent threat to thwart, there has been talk of training. While I have no new skills to learn, my companions all do, but there is concern about the cost of hiring those skilled enough to teach. We are not wealthy and have little enough gold for daily expenses.

However, I have a plan, and am off to talk with the local Sages’ Guild.

Wealday, Rova 25, 4707; Glassworks basement, Sandpoint; Afternoon

All has worked out almost as well as I had planned, and we now have gold enough on hand for everyone to complete their training.

My idea was simple: rather than have father Zantus bury the underground complex, why not put it to good use?

Quinq, the local head of the Sages’ Guild was interested in what we had found beneath the Sandpoint, and agreed to pay 1,000 gold pieces if we could obtain permission for them to have exclusive access to the ruins. In addition he will find a buyer for the red marble statue of Alaznut for a commission.

Mayor Deverin is happy with the arrangement, as is Sheriff Hemlock (who returned from Magnimar earlier), because the tunnels will now be under constant watch.

Father Zantus was reluctant to agree to this arrangement at first, but the idea of dedicating the old cathedral complex to Desna seems to have won him over.

One odd bit of news from the sheriff (courtesy of Trask) is that he did indeed find out why the north gate was unguarded and unlocked on the night of the goblin attack: Lonjiku Kaijitsu (Ameiko’s father) had paid someone handsomely to ensure the way was clear.

Was this really Lonjiku’s doing, or Tsuto’s done in the name of his father?

Wealday, Lamashan 9, 4707; Sandpoint; Noon

It has been two weeks since my last entry, and while my companions have spentthe time training, I have worked with Father Zantus on dedicating the cathedralcomplex to Desna. Father Zantus has been filled with glee because Lamashtu andDesna are such bitter enemies.

Some of us have also made copies of the bestiary portion of the old book, andI gave a copy to Father Zantus.

This morning, however, has not gone so well.

We finally met with Ameiko to explain about the Sages’ Guild access to thecaverns (they will use a different entrance and the access via the Glassworksbasement will be sealed).

We also wished to discuss any information about her family to see if there wassomething there that concerned Nualia that had been overlooked.

During these discussion Kyras handed over the rather incriminating papers wehad found in the Glassworks safe while we were routing out the goblins andsearching for survivors.

Some of us were taken quite by surprise by this act, because the papers alsospelled out the wrong doings of the notorious Scarnetti family, who have anasty reputation in the region for evil deeds.

Avia and I were quite vocal in our disagreement with Ameiko taking thedocuments, and a great argument broke out among us. In the end Kyras walkedout in disgust — leaving us forever.

Ameiko left with the papers in hand (looking rather smug, I thought).

It seems there are two sets of laws in this land: a benign system willing to overlook justice for the reputation of the wealthy; and a stringent inflexible system for the rest of us.

Wealday, Lamashan 9, 4707; Sandpoint; Evening

Still reeling from the loss of Kyras, we all meat as a team this afternoon and decided upon a course of action.

It seems clear from Tsuto’s journal that Thistlestop is where Nualia has spent much time, and so it is for there that we shall embark in the morning.

May Sarenrae grant us the light to find our path.

Oathday, Lamashan 10, 4707; Sandpoint; Morning

We are about to leave. We plan to take the The Lost Coast Road up to the border of the Nettlewood, and then cut across the open country before the wood to the coast. From there we shall stealthily make our way up the beach to Thistlestop itself.

Wealday, Lamashan 9

I never understood why Joaqin spent so many of his nights writing in that book of his until now. If it’s not written down, it’s almost as if it didn’t happen, or as if it happened differently than it did. Memories are hazy and the farther back they are the worse the fog. I doubt that I will ever have the same discipline as Joaqin, and I clearly lack his gift for words, but I see the value in recording events, even if I am not very good at it.

I had what some might call an epiphany tonight: I understand why these goblins attack in what is effectively suicide waves. It is because each and every goblin truly believes that he will succeed where countless others failed and died. It is that simple. You can see it in their faces as they attack. It is as if they don’t understand their own mortality. You could send 100 goblins against an army of men and the last one standing would climb over the bodies of the first 99 to press the attack. The irony is that this works eventually…if you have enough goblins to spare.

Put any town under a loupe and you will find flaws. That may sound bitter and pessimistic but it is a lesson I learned early on at home, then later again, and once more here. It does not surprise me that there have been shady dealings between the elite of Sandpoint, though the consequences have been astonishing. I don’t know if their goal was to destroy this town or if these people simply didn’t understand how events can rapidly spiral out of control, but without our intervention I am sure that destruction would have been the result. It may still be for all we know. I have no doubt that we are only scratching the surface of something much larger. This much is so obvious even simplest of the townsfolk have the same suspicion.

The argument with Kyras was unpleasant though not surprising. We have not been together long enough to learn how to deal with differences in our ideologies (Joaqin would be impressed with my use of that word), and some of us are less flexible than others. I probably started the morning in the former camp but now I am not so sure where I sit.

Thanks to Olithar I can stop worrying about money at least for the near future. My extended stay here has slowly but steadily emptied my purse. I suspect we will be here a while longer.