as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Moonday, 13 Arodus

Knowing now that we were going to assault Ravenscrag, and knowing, too, that it was supposed to be difficult to approach, we discussed strategy. We dismissed Fly as being straightforward but impractical; being able to Fly is not the same as being able to Fly well, and, not knowing the precise geography of the region, it was possible the duration of a spell like that might not be long enough for us to reach our goal.

Clearly we would not be doing this in broad daylight either, and while I have better than average eyesight at twilight, I’m as blind as anyone in utter darkness.

We came to the conclusion that we needed a) Dark Vision; b) some form of protection against falling: Feather Fall, Levitate, or Fly; c) Spider Climb – as we’d decided to assault the position by simply climbing up, as it would likely be unexpected and the spell lasted a fairly long time; and d) good, old fashioned silk rope for when the spells ran out, failed, or simply weren’t what we needed.

Spreading out a bit around town, we purchased 7 Dark vision potions (@ 150gp each), 8 Spider Climb potions (@ 150gp each), 300′ of silk rope (@ 10gp per 50′), an additional 150′ with knots in it to make it easier to hold on to [really, 135′ with the knots) (@ the same rate) and lastly, two grappling hooks (@ 1gp each). We spent a total of 2342gp, which would have left us broke if the RimeRunners Guild had not financed our trip 🙂

I myself picked up 4 travel rations @ 5sp each. I already had 3, and that would give me a week’s worth of sustenance. Just in case, we’re gone that long. Eventually, this ring on my finger will make that unnecessary but it takes a while for the magic to work.

Having returned to the caravan for the evening, we set a guard, per usual, and planned to start our journey in the morning. The watches were set up to be:

1st) Qatana and Etayne
2nd) myself and Sparna
3rd) Radella and Anavaru
4th) Ivan and Kali

But it was as the watch was changing that there was a loud thunk from Ameiko’s wagon. A quick inspection showed an arrow sticking out of the side of it. The arrow tip was coated with what Etayne identified as death blade – a deadly poison. And of course, there was a note attached.

“It was fulish of you to attak a sleping dragun.
Return whut wuz stolin.
Abandun your hopless quest now or those u luv will be distroyed!”

So, really, it wasn’t that misspelled. But at the same time, it was SO cliché it might as well have been. Really? We are protectors of the Regent princess and having read that, we’ll say, “Oh my! I had no idea it was so dangerous! My word, I guess we’ll have to go home now?” What I wouldn’t give for just a wee bit of light so that I could send the arrow back to its sender with a new note attached: “Surrender now and you may yet have a fair trial.”

For some definitions of “fair”.

I believe Ivan retrieved the arrow for later reuse.

Toilday, 14 Arodus

We left for Ravenscrag. As expected, it was just the eight of us: Ameiko, Sandru, Shalelu, Koya and the rest of the crew would wait for our return. We made no secret of our leaving, so if eyes were watching, it would become apparent where we were heading. But we saw no eyes, even though we were looking for them – including eyes from the skies.

We were arranged with myself and Anavaru in the lead, riding our … mounts …, then Etayne and Kali, Ivan and Qatana, and guarding the rear were Sparna and Radella. We travelled without incident into the foothills, although we noticed that in the valleys between hills it was not uncommon for the ground to be moist almost to the point of boggy.

As the path took us through a particularly wet area, the areas on both side of the path almost looked like very shallow pools with an obvious water surface. And even as I was wondering if anything other than floating plants enjoyed this humid, wet environment, my question was answered for me. A smooth .. arm, or maybe extension, rose out of the water and tried to grab Etayne. Another tried to snag Ivan. Neither one was able to latch on, but we all immediately came alert and drew our weapons.

Radella attacked the creature slowly rising from the water before it could attack, and struck it smartly with her arrow.

And it split. There were now two. Oh drowbreath. I’d heard of these creatures but never met one. They could not be killed with edged weapons; they simply divided in two and provided a new foe with all the same danger as the original one. I glanced at my armament. Dagger. Great sword. Bow and arrow. Longsword. What I wouldn’t give for a quarterstaff about now. I was going to be useless in this battle.

Kasimir snorted below me. Had he read my thoughts? Perhaps I did have a weapon after all. “Do not bite, Kasimir,” I said softly. “They will not taste good and may even do you harm. But kick with your hooves as hard as you can.” I moved us closer to Etayne and attempted to help her avoid the clumsy goo-arm that emerged from the glistening jelly.

For her part, Etayne scorched the creature with a Burning Hands spell. It seemed to almost recoil from that, but that would still not be enough to dissuade it from considering us a form of dinner. Qatana used her “sound bomb” to injure the three jellies (yes, in addition to the one that had split there was another.) The one closest to Radella seemed to grab her, and its grip appeared to be burning. Acid?

Radella was able to break its grasp and step back. But she two was realizing she needed a special weapon to attack this creature. Fortunately for us, the jellies were clumsy. But as Radella could attest, if they ever did get a grab, they were painful and strong. And with that, one tried to grab Etayne and succeeded.

Radella pulled out a wand and used it to send a scorching ray at the one that had attacked her. Sparna had a heavy blunt morningstar at ready, and was able to further damage the one by Radella. I looked at the one holding Etayne, and did a quick calculation. It had been burnt twice and hurt by the sonic blast. It was clearly injured by these things and was oozing a liquid in a manner that suggested bleeding. If I could strike it hard enough, even with an edged weapon, could I kill it before it divided? I didn’t like the thought of Etayne being pulled into the water, so I took the chance and did indeed land a hefty blow to it with my great sword, whereupon it lost its shape and basically sloshed flat to the ground. I heaved a sigh; I had been right, and Etayne was free.

With this new knowledge, we began to use our edged weapons, which could deliver substantially more damage than hitting it with our fists, intelligently; that is to say, only when the creature looked close to death already. And in a short time, the three – no, make that four – jellies were puddles. (It turns out that the spikes on Sparna’s morningstar were enough to, sometimes, cause the jellies to split. But fortunately, they were so weak that it did not prove a danger.)

Qatana healed all – I realized I wasn’t even injured! – and we were able to continue. However, we’d now used up some of our spells when we’d been hoping to have our full complement when we arrived. Well, couldn’t be helped.

We in the lead were asked to keep an eye out for tracks that left the trail .. perhaps avoiding obstacles like jelly-filled ponds. There are some other tracks on this trail, so we are not the only ones to use it.

By the end of the day, we reached Ravenscrag. It appeared to be a building – maybe a house – nestled in the valley between two peaks against the skyline. A long, wooden construct led to, I presume, the front door of the building .. and a volley of arrows or worse, I imagine. The front door was not to be our mode of entry.

Nihali did a little discreet reconnaissance for us, and we decided to use the spider climb to quietly climb up the crag but about 100 feet west of the building. As we came over the crest, we would find a dell, or maybe a courtyard, with a small river running through it and a small pond, that we hoped might afford us a quieter and more secretive way into the building. Nihali reported there were many ravens roosting on top of a small tower that appeared to overlook this courtyard; that might eventually be a problem but we’d deal with it if it came up.

The mission, we decided so as to maintain focus, was to rescue Ulf and kill Silverscore. If other opportunities arose, we were to make sure we stayed focused on those two objectives before going off on other interesting endeavors.

The Spider Climb worked wonderfully, and we were able to not only climb up, but enter the glade and get close to the house without being noticed. From behind the single door that we could see, we heard the sounds of food being prepared – it would seem this door led to the kitchen.

Qatana suggested we hastily use what was left of our spider climb to enter from the second floor, not the first. Qatana, Radella, and Ivan climbed up to what appeared to be giant arrow slits with shutters over them. They were braced from the inside, but not very well, and they were able to unshutter one of them and climb inside. There seeemed to be nobody around. The rest of us quietly followed their lead.

It appeared that not too far from us was a dining area, perhaps of an important figure because it looked down upon a much larger dining area.

The ceiling here was very high; probably close to 40′. It was relatively well lit by light from below and the occasional torch.

Quietly, we searched this floor. We found one room which seemed to be an armory; Ivan found a magic arrow [270] in among all the ordinary ones. I guess, to him, it just glows and it’s obvious, ut it looked like any of the other dozens stored here to me.

Another room contained cloaks and cold-weather clothing. Beneath some furs and bales of raw wool, Kali found rolls of scrolls. Not magical ones, but just written words – a diary, or journal. Reading further, she announced excitedly that it seems to have been written by Snorri Stoneye!

She scanned it. It was rambling, half mad. He referenced how his Eye had shown him the future and the past, and how a great beast would be unleashed. A special cache he had made upstairs in the fireplace flue would be of great help in defeating this beast. He wrote he was going on a long sea voyage to retrieve an artifact that would let him survive the coming catastrophe.

Kali kept this [271] to read it further, later.

Looking down a stairwell we could see what looked like maybe a lab at the base. In fact, it appeared there was a baby in a glass tank or case.

A door near the stairway demanded to be inspected, so Radella and Qatana checked it carefully and opened it. Unfortunately, inside was a large, hairy almost bearish man, who had been sleeping moments before but awoke and yelled “Intruders!”

Kali got a chance to glitterdust him before Qatana, to our amazement, cast Hold Person on him, and he was held like in a web? Radella took that opportunity to see how much blood was in his body (when she was done, the correct answer was “none”.)

But the noise was enough; there were sounds of alarm from above.

Kali was expecting the flock of birds at any moment. They were already making noises. Looking at the ceiling, it appeared there might be sufficient openings to allow them access from the outside. Kali called up 3 air elementals with the idea that they could probably keep the birds busy and out of our hair. (Literally).

And indeed, “a large number” of bird quickly entered the room, and we began to attack the group with arrows and, when they moved close enough, with swords. Kali told the air elementals, “go up and kill any birds you may find.” The birds quickly dispersed, with the remaining ones flying up the stairs (presumably there was no door up there.)

The elementals blew past us, pursuing the birds. We went up the stairs more slowly and carefully, and carefully looked over the edge of the landing.

There were no ravens here. But instead, there appeared to be a number (eventually we found six) ninja tengus, which, coincidentally, had a bird like appearance. The elementals had chased off or killed the ravens, and then turned their attention to these black-dressed creatures, and were already wearing them down. It was difficult, apparently, to injure a strong gust of wind.

The rest of us came up the stairs and deployed. I pulled out my great sword; now this was a battle I knew how to win! From across the room, a ninja pulled out a blowgun and fired a dart at me. The inconsequential barb stuck in my shoulder as, between parries, I reached over, pulled it out, and threw it to the ground. Ninjas and their little toys!

But then my body shuddered involuntarily, and I stumbled a bit. I felt a bit weaker. Glancing at the dart on the ground, the tip looked a little discolored. Had it been poisoned?

I shook again, and started to sweat a little. The ninja I was battling sensed a weakness and lunged at me. But I got a second solid hit with my great sword, and this opponent did not split into two ninjas. Although, with that second blow, I did come close to splitting him in two 🙂

And my vision got a little blurry, and my feet got a little heavy. There was still battle going on around me but it was harder and harder to focus. “I think,” I said a little unsteadily, “I think the dart was poisoned.” As I dropped to one knee, Etayne glanced at the dart and at me and shook her head worriedly. Somebody put their magic cloak on me, and Etayne mumbled a bit and urged me to “resist the poison”.

I felt very weak and was now kneeling on the floor. Everybody’s voice sounded like it was at the far end of the tunnel. Is this what it was like to die? One voice said “scroll!” and another said “not yet! might still be ok!” but as even my vision started to cloud over, I heard a voice chanting something, and suddenly I felt fine again! I looked up in time to see a scroll turn to dust before I suddenly felt nauseous again. Still?

The cloak was placed on me again and Etayne was doing something …

And several seconds passed. I felt .. no worse. I didn’t feel 100%, but at least I didn’t feel any worse. I looked up at my friends. Etayne heaved a sigh of relief. “It either is done, or he has overcome it,” she pronounced. “How do you feel?”

“A little sick,” I replied, “but I’ll get by.”

“You’ll feel better after a couple of days,” she said. “The worst is past. You should feel lucky; you’re one of the few to survive death blade.”

I felt proud. And angry. And lethal. And grateful. And ANGRY. But, looking around me, all the tengus were dead. Kali actually gave a slight chuckle.

“I did SUCH a good job on that!” she exclaimed. “I told the elementals to go after the birds … and these tengus look like big birds! They’d already engaged half of them when we came up the stairs! I did not expect that, but it worked out great!!”

Nevertheless, I was still angry. I supposed it’s hard to be brought to the brink of death and NOT feel angry about it. It’s not a pleasant journey.

We took inventory. From the ninjas themselves:

[272] 6 potions (blur)
[273] 6 potions (disguise self)
[274] whinnes poison
[275] death blade poison – I did not hear how much of
both poisons were left
[276] leather armor (6) – I’ve decided to take one of these,
if it fits, because I dislike being attacked in the night
and having to fight with no armor
[277] blowgun (6) specially constructed for corvids. I’m not sure
if I could operate it properly.
[278] masterwork wakizashi (6)
[279] dagger (18)
[280] climber’s kit (6)
[281] 50′ silk rope (6)
[282] masterwork ninja outfit – dark, tight fitting, +2 to stealth

From the footlockers in this room:
[283] ornate jade raven set with precious stones
[284] garments of fine workmanship (~200 gp)

Off to one side, near an opening in the wall to the outside, was what appeared to be a nest. Within the nest we found several disgusting things like teeth, but also

[285] onyx and ivory necklaces
[286] kit for creating bird messages

Remembering Snorri’s journal, we searched two fireplaces and in the flue of one we found his great treasure that would help him survive the end of the world: [287] boots of winterland.

Feeling a bit annoyed at the ninjas yet, I pulled one tooth from each of them and left them in the nest. But Kali managed to one-up me. She wanted to put a poisoned dart in the nest so that if the bird came back – we figured it was Silverscore’s familiar – it would impale itself on it and die.

So it was arranged. Using one in this manner left Sparna and Radella with the only two remaining death blade darts.

There was a trapdoor to the roof, but all we found up there were some cages and evidence that yes, there probably HAD been a messaging system here, but the elementals had taken care of the bird portion of that system. It needed no further destruction 🙂

Now of course, below us, somewhere, there is still Ulf and maybe Silverscore. So as we reminded ourselves, our mission is not yet complete …