== Fireday, Pharast 7, 4708; Turtleback Ferry; Evening ==

Night has finally fallen on this troubled day, and about us on the shore of the swollen Skull River survivors huddle in damp blankets. Smokey fires give off little heat and even less comfort after misfortune had piled upon misfortune to erase Turtleback Ferry from the map.

At least there are survivors — and far more than there might have been had the day gone much worse.

Hours before, as Kane and I watched the waters rising — threatening the sick and infirm that sought refuge in the beleaguered cathedral — we knew we had to act fast to save those who remained trapped in the drowning town.

Making judicious use of Water Breathing and Water Walking spells we recruited two young men to help us form a raft from the temple pews. The pews would help us float the weak to the relative safety of the shore, but of course they were in the flooded lower level of the cathedral. After about an hour we managed to manhandle four benches out to the front doors when we spied something wicked swimming straight at the cathedral.

A huge a snake like head with a gaping maw full of needle teeth rose up from the water as a dozen or more fanged tentacles wriggled about it menacingly.

I yelled to those within the cathedral to get out, but Kane stood his ground between the beast and cathedral as it thrust its ugly face towards us and belched forth a noxious cloud of greasy black vapor.

For perhaps half a minute I was in a state of utter panic and confusion, with no idea what was going on about me. I drew my knife and attacked the nearest thing near me, which always turned out to be Kane. I am not a fighter, and while I can scrape by in combat if hard pressed, I tend to leave the martial arts to those better suited for it. It was just as well, because to my lasting shame I actually injured my friend and ally when he was most in need of assistance.

All of this time the creature savagely tore away at the cathedral, attacking it with a cold deadly purpose, heedless of the helpless souls within.

Kane managed to dance away from me, and after a moment or two more I came to my senses. Seeing that Kane was only moderately wounded (by my own hand!) we quickly forced ten people onto one of the pews floating nearby and dragged it away to the western shore.

Of our two helpers I saw no sign, and learned later that they had fled as soon as the beast had risen from the waters.

As we turned to head back to rescue more, we saw the monster raise up to an incredible height and crash down upon the cathedral walls that were still standing, smashing them to stone dust. What was left of the structure disintegrated in the rushing waters, taking with it the bodies of those who had perished within.

The creature then screamed up to the rain laden clouds, as if in joy at what it had done, and slithered away down river.

And with that the rain lessened before stopping altogether.

We built a small fire, which heartened those we rescued, who gathered about the dismal smoking thing.

I calmed the horse upon which we had returned to town and rode about the area looking for other townsfolk who had survived. And so they began to return, all alone or in twos, or gathered together in bands. They came to our small camp fire, and about it their sense of community regrouped and reasserted itself.

Many came back with provisions which they had rescued from the flood, and some rode in on the horses they had taken at the outset of the catastrophe. My own horse, Butters, was among them, along with Trask’s trusty steed.

Hasty shelters were erected, and trees felled to provide fuel for more fires and longer term housing. The people of Turtleback Ferry are a resilient lot, and they voiced their determination to rebuild. As if to prove it they had in mind to start rebuilding right away.

In the midst of this hustle and bustle a stranger walked in from the west. His clothes were stained from days of hard travel, and he looked about the remnants of Turtleback Ferry as if it were no great thing to one as world weary as he.

He made his way over to Kane and I and introduced himself as a messenger from Magnimar. He expressed his condolences for the loss of the Black Arrows, but said that rumor of war kept Magnimar from sending any aid. As a reward for driving Lucretia and the ogres from Fort Rannick, our reward was the fort itself. He handed over a deed, signed by the Lord Mayor himself, and then walked over to the nearest fire and sat down.

Well, I can certainly see why they sent this somber fellow with such grim news and such a dubious reward as a twice sacked fort.

Townsfolk continued to trickle in from the woods as the day passed noon and our companions trudging on foot from Fort Rannick arrived. Pausing for a brief rest and a few spells to restore their vigor we began to discuss our next course of action, while Nolin set out to retrieve the rest of our horses.

The locals had no desire to journey to the fort, where shelter, food and safety awaited.

While talking with them we heard many curses and exclamations of horror about “Black Maga” — their name for the thing that had destroyed the cathedral. They shared many stories about the creature — some more believable than others — and said it served Lamashtu.

Sabin quickly pulled out a copy of Lamashtu’s Bestiary that my companions acquired during their adventures in Sandpoint, and found the pertinent entry.

Mothers of Oblivion. They are the favorite servants of Lamashtu, and have an unholy and insatiable hatred for all things uncorrupt. They can control weather, and as Outsiders can move through the planes (a warning was scribbled in the margins about not using teleportation magics near them).

Lovely. Local folk lore held that one of these things had been lurking in the depths of The Storval Deep. I can’t wait to tell the family about what has been hiding practically in our back yard all of this time.

We have decided that in the morning we will head up to the dam and deal with the threat of another, more catastrophic breach.

Nolin has returned with the rest of our horses (and a few stragglers), and so we will make good time on our travels tomorrow.

== Starday, Pharast 8, 4708; Turtleback Ferry; Morning ==

There was some good news this morning: the town’s cleric survived Black Maga’s destruction of the temple, and managed to save another parishioner along with himself. They plunged into the flood waters and spent most of the night making their way back. The cleric shook his head when we asked him what he knew about Black Maga, and said it was untouchable by godly magic.

We also found Malin Shreed, the mayor of Turtleback Ferry, and he insisted that the town would be rebuilt, and urged us to hasten to the dam to stop any risk of further flooding.

And so we are mounting up and heading back north.

== Starday, Pharast 8, 4708; Fort Rannick; Noon ==

We paused briefly at the fort to update our trio of rangers on the happenings in town. We urged them to continue to hold the fort while we proceeded on to the dam to take on the giants.

== Starday, Pharast 8, 4708; Skull’s Crossing; Late afternoon ==

The dam at Skull’s Crossing is another of those ancient Thassilonian works of engineering that grace the continent. Being from the Storval Plataea my family passed down its own tales of the Storval Deep and the massive work of stone that held back those icy deep blue waters.

And yet those legends do not do the mighty structure justice, and it pains me to see the recent damage wrecked upon it by the agents of Lucretia. Those who are incapable of creating such marvels can still destroy them.

We arrived in the thickening gloom of a building storm as we peered up at the wall of rock. Giant skulls were set in the stone, with water pouring out their gaping jaws. A huge fissure had been smashed from the top of the dam down through one of the skulls, and it was through here that the initial flood waters had spilled the day before.

Half a dozen hulking figures moved about the top of the dam, and the dim sound of stone crashing against stone echoed down to us. Even as we watched a fat raindrop splashed on the ground nearby, with many more of its siblings following in close pursuit.

A set of uneven steps, now wet and slick with rain, clung to the western wall of the rocky chasm, leading up towards the top of the dam. Rigel and Kane crept up the stairs while Trask and I huddled at the base, ready to offer magical aid if needed.

Skulls of every kind lined the stairway, each marked with a skull-like rune. Rigel and Kane soon returned with news that the stairs ended in a dark gaping hole in the side of the cliff, and that it would be best if we made our way through the tunnel in mass.

The others joined us, and Sabin recognized the rune carved into the skulls as belonging to the Skull Taker tribe of trolls. Trolls! Perhaps an easier foe than giants, but still a tough nut to crack. It is said that trolls quickly heal from normals wounds, no matter how lethal.

Trask slipped on the slick stone work and slid down some 60 feet, but Kane tended to his injuries and we were soon all grouped at the top of the stairs.

A pungent stench wafted out from cave entrance of sweat mixed with something else… something unpleasant.

At the end of a dim tunnel was a wall 15 feet high, and above that a little more light and the sound of something heavy moving about.

I quietly fashioned a set of stone steps leading up via a Stone Shape spell and Sabin crept up and peered over. An ettin stood guard with a large flail in either hand. It peered down at Sabin with its dull, stupid eyes set in both of its heads and said, “You not be here!”

A brief conversation ensued where we it proudly announced that it was the guard for the Skull Takers, and after we offered the ettin a bribe, it held a hot debate with itself about how it had gotten into trouble for taking bribes before. Apparently one of the heads was more susceptible to this sort of thing than the other, but unfortunately it was not the dominant head, and so I cast Silence about it before it could bellow out a warning to the trolls beyond.

It was sad, really, at how quickly it fell. I almost felt sorry for it. Almost.

Past the ettin was a sleeping alcove, in which we found a small cache of items it had no doubt looted over its sad little life.

693 gold pieces
1240 silver pieces
[500] 6 peals in a velvet pouch
[501] phylactery of positive channeling
[502] ivory scroll tube with jade
[503] scroll: Cone of Cold, Hold Monster, Telekinesis

Both Kane and I eyed the phylactery with great intent, and he graciously allowed me to wear it. The next time I am able to train I will focus on learning a new ability — a feat that will enable me to chanel energy more often each day — and so make better use of this device.

We scrambled up another shelf and found ourselves at the far cave entrance that lead out onto the top of the dam. Halfway across the dam was a tower in the shape of several giant skulls, and between us and the tower were half a dozen ogres.

One of the ogres was larger than the others, and appeared to be the foreman in charge of the others, who were smashing rocks against the dam. They looked weary, as if they had been forced to work for a long time with little rest and less food.

One fireball, courtesy of Trask, and a few arrows later and they all lay dead.

We cautiously approached the tower and peered in through the large windows. The interior was coated with matts of green ropey fungus, and we carefully climbed inside.

Avia detected four evil things hiding behind a curtain of the fungus, as four trolls stepped out and attacked.

We killed them, some more than once, and noted that the use of Trask’s Burning Sphere limited their ability to regenerate from injury. The lesson learned was that fire was good, and we needed to employ it whenever we fought these fell creatures.

We’ve rested only for a moment and are ready to move on.

Fireday, Pharast 7

So it was that Tekkad and Kane arrived in town on horseback some hours before we did on foot. In talking with them later, I learned that while there was the understandable confusion and panic, a fair number of villagers had already escaped the rising floodwaters. It was only those who could not move quickly, or could not move at all that were in danger. They set about doing what they could, but the town cathedral/church was about the strongest, safest building left standing so they directed people there for safety.

Their efforts were interrupted by some creature floating downstream that attacked them and, particularly, the church. When they realized what was happening, they tried, panic-stricken, to herd people OUT of the church but the beast was upon them too fast. In trying to drive it from its chosen task, they brought its wrath upon themselves: it rose up before them and cast its foul breath upon them, causing each of them to become confused and disoriented. Tekkad even wounded Kane with his dagger in the midst of his confusion.

The beast seemed to take pleasure in destroying the building and almost nonchalantly, the human souls within it. When all was said and done they still had their lives, but of nearly two dozen villagers, only eight survived. They had to remind themselves that that was likely eight more than would have survived without their efforts.

When we caught up with them and heard their story, I cursed. (Yes Father, I did.) We had seen this creature — a “Black Maga” said some villagers — floating down the river upstream and tried to do battle with it. It largely ignored us, except that my fireball seemed to annoy it a bit and sent one particular tentacle my way as it floated by, stuck it into the shoreline, and then out of the ground up to my leg. Fortunately it wasn’t poisoned, but we were in a hurry and didn’t have time to do more than quickly bind it and keep moving.

I wish we’d killed it, but it seemed impervious to fire and it didn’t seem wise to engage it hand to, er, tentacle. It is on its way to the Mushfens, and eventually Magnimar. Perhaps we will see it again someday. I hope not.

We gathered everyone on some higher ground and set up for the night. The water seems to be receding a bit. It turns out one of those saved was a (the expected) messenger from Magnimar. The message turned out to be: “Thanks for killing the ogres. Can’t spare any soldiers, as war is imminent. But very grateful: here’s the deed to the fort. Bye.”

And who are we going to sell a fort to??? It may be hard to turn this into cash. We’ll have to think this one through. In the meantime, the dam may still be falling to pieces at the hands of giants or ogres; we’ll need to proceed posthaste back whence we came. The townspeople, seeing the water receding, want to stay and rebuild.

The search for horses did eventually find all of our steeds. There was much discussion about the safety (and dryness) of the fort versus the uncertainty of staying in the town.

We’ll all sleep on it.

 

Starday, Pharast 8

Upon rising, we found the town more resolute than ever at staying. Maylen Schreed, the mayor (and pastor of the destroyed church) strongly favored rebuilding. When we pointed out the flood could get worse if the dam were breached further, he simply smiled and said, “Then go make sure it doesn’t.”

We learned more about the “Black Magga” (as we found it is spelled) from the books of Lamashtu we’d obtained back in Sandpoint. (Or was it from Thistledown? It all seems so far away now.) The Magga was considered “the mother of all oblivions” and “rumored to control the weather”. The relentness rain, which only made the water behind the dam that much higher, may now be explained. It sounds like a fairly powerful creature, possibly untouchable by us, which raises the question of what mission did Lemashtu find this creature was needed for?

In any case, the town is staying behind, and we take off for the fort. With horses now, we proceed at a much faster pace than when we arrived walking.

We briefly swung by where we’d left the bear and the prisoner. Neither was present, but blood near the area suggested there’d been some sort of battle. Oddly, the manacles were released, not broken. Kaven might have been a meal, or might have been rescued. We did not see any bear fur. We continued on to the fort.

Arriving at the fort around midday, we quickly briefed the rangers. Shelelu, Jakardos, and Vale agree to stay at the fort while we, the larger force, continue on the dam at Skull’s Crossing.

As we neared the dam, we saw giant skulls (not necessarily skulls from giants, just Big Representations of Skulls) decorating the dam. There was a treacherous looking path leading up to the left. In the distance, on the top of the dam we could see maybe a half dozen figures moving, but without some frame of reference we couldn’t be sure how big they were or what they were doing. We guessed they were too small to be giants, but then realized nobody here had ever seen a giant. There was a breach on the right side, through which water was still flowing, but not very quickly.

Giants around here, remarked Tekkad, are legendary for coming from Stone, being one with Stone. Great. Not just giants, but giants capable of working stone. Hiding within it even! Of course these are but legends, but usually legends have some basis in fact. All in all, not an encouraging situation.

But forward we moved, for it is in our blood to right wrongs and dispel evil. Philosophically I’m with that line of thinking, but there are times when even I think my judgment might be clouded.

Kane and Rigel silently snuck up the rickety stairs. Tekkad and myself went halfway with them so as to provide fire (heh) in case they were discovered and had to beat a hasty retreat. The stairs seem sized for large creatures (gulp).

The stairway was lined with skulls of many creatures and sizes, but each appeared enscribed with a particular symbol that I presume had some important meaning. From the voices they heard, there seemed to be a few ogres in the cave, although they didn’t actually see any and the stench (and there WAS one) wasn’t particularly similar to the one we’d been hammered with by ogres. The skulls looked fairly recent. They returned with a small one.

Sabin looked at the symbol and remarked that these were fairly traditional warnings … from a troll tribe. Trolls! Nobody signed up for trolls! We quickly reviewed what we knew about trolls.

a) hard to kill. Heal quickly, sometimes visibly. b) fire does real, unfixable damage to them (I did a silent happy dance) c) beheading them can also make sure they stay dead d) big and strong. Then see a) again.

Distance weapons and fire would be our friends. So maybe the odd stench was a troll stench. (Why did there have to be a stench at all? Why couldn’t monsters learn to at least clean themselves like cats?)

We silently entered the cave. Well, mostly silently. I tripped and actually hurt myself pretty bad as I slid down the stairs to the base and got to start all over again. I was quickly healed a bit, but still felt sore and showed various abrasions – it would have to do for now. Sabin led, with his dark vision, and reported that a short ways in there was a 15 foot ledge and something or somethings were up there. Still, there was a faint light source from somewhere, because it wasn’t completely dark in here. There were some handholds, so Sabin took a quick look over the peak.

And was noticed. It seemed to have two heads, was huge, and was munching on something (someone?) when it noticed Sabin peering shyly over the edge of the ledge. It moved surprisingly quickly, but Tekkad hastily cast silence at the roof over the area with the creature. It was a longer than average spell to cast, and before he was finished and it took effect, there was a brief conversation between Sabin and the beast:

Beast: “Humans not enter!” “No take bribe like last time! Got in trouble!”

“That was last time” Sabin quickly countered. “But this is different. If this time, instead, you -” And the silence spell kicked in, much to the confusion of the beast. It paused a moment trying to make sense of it and even tried saying something, but of course nothing could be heard.

The rest of us, used to fighting together, silently came to the same conclusion: this creature needed to come down 15 feet for the fighters to engage it, and all the non-fighters needed to break out their distance weapons. I considered my options and decided the quarters were too close to risk a fireball. Burning hands, maybe, but that might involve me getting a might too close for comfort.

The creature did not seem to be considering Sabin’s partial offer anymore. For his part, he backed down the ladder in the side of the ledge, trying to draw the creature down and incidentally removing him from the silence influence.

The beast dropped a flail, picked up a javelin, and flung it (fortunately, ineffectually). Avia shot an arrow that found its mark, and I tried flaming sphere. Appeared, but seemed to do nothing to it. Fireproof? Hope not. Sabin threw his ax to good effect. Nobody else hit it with anything. It picked up two javelins this time (man, he really needs to clean his cave) and threw them, but they both missed. Phew. But then it made the mistake of descending to our level. Nolin smacked it. Avia smacked it twice. My flaming sphere suddenly seemed to cause it discomfort as it backed away from it, and my magic missiles caused it even more discomfort. Sabin laid in some amazing blows and Nolin finished it off as it laid there bleeding out. The flaming sphere seared the victory.

In a side cavern a dozen feet from the body, we found a treasure hoard. Those bribes? Must have been good. First, there was a pile of gold and silver coins. While Sabin and I identified the rest of the items, the group counted and found 1240 silver pieces and 693 gold pieces. In a velvet pouch there were 6 pearls [500]; we also found a philactory [501] that was empty, an ivory scroll tube with strips of jade on it [502] containing a scroll [503] with cone of cold, hold monster, and telekinesis on it. We discovered if the philactory was worn by a cleric, that cleric would have 2d6 more energy to channel!

Coming out of the cave we found ourselves at the top of the dam, and we could see now a team of ogres working on it — working at tearing it apart. Some of the construction was making it difficult for them, and there seemed to be grumbling at times.

Perfect situation for a fireball. The first one hit five ogres, killing four of them outright. While arrows and other distance weapons peppered the survivor (who barely had time to note his smokiness) a second came sailing in. Two ogres who had turned tail and run were killed, as well as two others. The foreman of the work crew seemed a bit buffer, but the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune sealed his fate.

Nine ogres dead. Nary a scratch on us. Not bad.

Now to find out what was in that central skull tower. A couple of the ogres had tried to get in some doors on one side but were incinerated before they raised any answer. The doors seemed locked and there was a convenient window just 10′ off the ground. Nolin and Sabin thought that was a better way to enter. They got up and then helped everybody else up into a room that, we found, was apparently decorated in hanging green fungus. Those of us from Sandpoint were rather apprehensive of the fungus, given our past adventures, but it turns out it was what was behind the fungus that was of greater concern.

Four trolls. Big ugly creatures that didn’t talk about bribes, didn’t consider counteroffers and which, yes, healed visibly fast. Or so we were to learn.

Due to Tekkad’s and Rigel’s alertness we were not totally surprised by them. But our party was in a suboptimal arrangement (that is, I WAS CLOSEST TO THE TROLLS!) so it took a little dancing and several blows before we got the magic folks behind the beefy folks and assumed the usual position. By this time, everybody was too tight for a fireball, but a few burning spheres got the flame into it.

The battle took a surprisingly short period of time, but at least once a severed head rejoined its missing body, healed, and rejoined the battle. Nobody found themselves near death, but then most people took some injury as well. Nothing the clerics couldn’t handle; we did a good job as a team. So the lesson learned was that you cut off their heads AND burn them. Their danger lies not so much in the damage per attack, as the fact that they heal so fast there’s the potential to get a lot of attacks. Get the fighters up front, keep healing them, and keep the fire coming.

In a way, I like these trolls. They make me a bit more valuable 🙂 If these were the “giants” we feared (they ARE rather big) then I think we’ll be okay.