Category Archives: Journal Entries

Journal entries for the Jade Regent campaign

August 13th, 2016

Character: Olmas

Annals of the Order of the Dragon

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as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Toilday, 14 Arodus

Since we had a number of short duration (~3hr) “rope tricks” at our disposal, we spent the night in another plane (well, four of them for a total of 12 hrs) in the cloakroom, setting guards to peer into the room and give us advance notice of any possible detection. Thus we knew that we were still being searched for, as two of the ninjas did enter during the night and looked around.  The lack of a hanging rope with these rope tricks was blessed indeed.

Other than that breath-holding moment, the night was uneventful.

Wealday, 15 Arodus

Exiting the cloakroom, we attempted to go stealthily toward the alchemy lab at the other end of the building.  The ninjas are so good at hiding in shadows that even moving, slowly, stealthily, and carefully, we walked past two of them before they sprang upon us. They may not have seen us in the cloakroom, but they clearly never believed we left.

The ninjas are quick, well-armed, and virtuosos with poison.  But what they are not, is well-armored.  Although there were eight of them, there were also eight of us.  Nine, if you include the celestial leopard that Kali conjured up to help us.

Being close to several of them when they emerged, I found myself the target of several accurate but not particularly deadly attacks. Although each individual attack was nowhere near lethal, I could see them adding up quickly if I wasn’t careful.  Qatana’s channel of positive energy was particularly timely.  As each ninja found themselves engaged in melee, they also found themselves falling down in a puddle of blood.  As I said, neither well-armored nor particularly robust.

There were still six standing, although few uninjured, when one gave a whistle, undoubtedly a signal for additional help.  As the ninjas began to drop like flies under the swords of our fighters, 6 thugs emerged from a doorway below us. I stepped up to the nearest, but missed.

Kali greased one thug’s weapon, but they were still proving remarkably tough to take down. Swords were doing the job faster than arrows, but we were reminded that they could dish out blows as well.  Still, I was embarrassed to find that I could not lay a blow to them. Fortunately our other fighters were much more successful, and the thugs lay on the ground bleeding out.

We were now free to search the many rooms on this lower floor.  There was nothing spectacular here, just several small rooms that appeared to have been used by the ninjas and the thugs.  In general, we found some higher quality stuff in the ninja’s room, which was also much neater. There we found

[288] 8 fugitive granades
[289] 8 potions

There was an altar here to Yaezhing, upon which we found ~500gp of gems.

In the room used by the thugs, we found an obvious trap door. Opening it yielded a coarse yell in some language: “Enough coal! No more! Close door!”.  Sparna was able to translate it for us.

Radella searched some foot lockers, and we added to our salvage operation:

[290] jade bracelet
[291] ebony antique fan
[292] IOU for Rimerunners, worth 80gp

Another room was cold, with carcasses in it – clearly a room for preserving food.  Two rooms appeared to be recently quarried; it wasn’t clear what that was about.  Each thug and each ninja had little jade raven statuettes … the ninja ones being of higher quality. And of course the ninjas had decent bows.

[293] 6 jade ravens (lower quality)
[294] 8 jade ravens (higher quality)
[295] 8 MW short bows

We realized we had never checked the werebear’s room, so we went back to check it out. We did find some stuff worth keeping there:

[296] under a small oak stauette of a warrior, a ring of keys

There was also a bag of about 40 Chellish gold coins.

From there we proceeded back to the alchemy lab, making sure that Etayne would retain her composure in the face of sucn an interesting room.  There was, of course, the intriguing “corpse under glass”. Looking it over carefully, we saw that its skin seemed to be writhing, as though something was underneath it.  As it beat feebly on the glass, it spoke – “Let me out” – this time in Infernal, said somebody.  We also found

[298] ointment: can be used either as stoneflesh, or as stone to flesh
[299] magic ring of counterspells (empty)

Etayne made a point of inspecting papers and research notes. Most were in common, but a few were in Giant.

Next was a room that was barred (on our side) from entry. Going inside, we found a 5’x10′ cell with a very pungent smell and a dead body with rats. But there was a (barely) live body here as well.  Lute, he said he was named, and he’d been here for maybe 3 weeks.  He gratefully came along with us.

While we were cleaning out the cell 🙂 Etayne found some mention in the notes about Infernal wasps that apparently could take over a body. Whoever was in the glass container was probably no longer really there, and breaking it would prove disastrous for us and maybe others in the building.   She also noticed that many if not all of the plants growing here were of the nightshade family and thus poisonous.  She hypothesized that this may be the source of the poisons we’d been encountering.

As we left, Etayne grabbed what research she could.

Leaving this level, we went downstairs.

Character: Ivan

Ivan’s journal Aug

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We held up for the night in the storage room using the ninja eggs to keep us out of sight. I wasn’t sure that using the eggs were necessary but I was proven wrong when the Ninjas opened the door and looked for us during the night. I assume that they did not detect that we were hidden.

While there is enough room for all of us in this rope trick it feels a little cramped. It is really hard to give the women space when you are packed into a rope trick. I am just not sure if some of the problem is because they are so much older then I am. It could be that big sister thing and I have always hated how my big sister treats me. Anyway changing rope tricks every 3 hours has been tough, It has been work to position myself away from the four of them. Qatana is bat crazy but I view her as a friend in spite of it and I know that I am not going to offend her. I really like Qatana as a friend but being her friend can come with challenges. For me I just have to accept that she gets into her own little world and you can’t force her to do what she does not want to do. The best I can do is provide a strong suggestion. I have come to accept that she will do things that look pretty stupid and I cannot save her from herself. I also like Redella as she maybe the most stable of all of them but no reason to tempt fate. I was trying to figure out if she would make a good big sister but the big sister I have is very judgemental and freely lectures everyone about the right way to live. Luckily none of the women that I travel with are as crazy as my big sister. The also have not shown to be aa devious as my mother and twin sister.

I have to just sit her on watch while the others sleep. Normally we can move around but there just isn’t room. For the record Olmas seems to be unlucky in combat and getting poisoned is just another example of it. He has been talking about keeping people safe and I guess he kind of is making that happen by being the focus for the enemy. I suppose if we actually had a healer he might not have so many near death experiences.

Soon after we left the storage room the Ninja’s appeared out of seemingly nowhere, obviously they are very good at hiding too bad they were not equally good at fighting. Had they been using poison this could have gone really bad for us. I have to wonder why the others had poison but these did not. Although considering that they slept across the main hall from the thugs makes me think that these were less important Ninja’s. The fact that the Ninja’s were spread on both sides of the main hall indicates that they did not figure out our exact location. After searching the area and all of the people we moved on deciding to check out the alchemy lab.

After getting the keys from werewolf’s room we moved down to the alchemy lab. Besides the strange body in the glass boxe we also found Lute. The body in the box seemed alive but we learned that this was just an experiment. For some reason it did not occur to the others that Lute might want to get away from his cell or to provide him some food. I provided Lute some food and had him look at the body in the glass box. He seemed to know what they were doing and told us that the person was already dead. That was good enough for me, still curious how we can kill whatever is in the glass box. If I understood correctly the head of the guild is an Orge mage and a purple one at that. Helgarval said that this is likely an Oni, too back the death arrow in not for Oni. Oh yea Kali said they were outsider native, Well at least the fire arrow should work on her. With Lute in tow we headed down the stairs and into the realm of the trolls. Ok in truth they are just working for the purple Orge mage.

Character: Qatana

Qatana’s journal entries for Arodus 13 – 15

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Moonday, Arodus 13, 4712 Evening
Kalsgard

With a destination named Ravenscraig it was a safe bet that we would be climbing over sheer rock faces, and (especially given our recent history) probably in the dark, and so we stocked up on things like rope, and potions of Spider Climb and Darkvision and the like.

Uksahka had given us a reasonably detailed description of Ulf that fit the description of about three quarters of the male inhabitants of Kalsgard — I thought it not useful to point this out, and so I remained silent.

Toilday, Arodus 14, 4712 Morning
Kalsgard

Someone shot an arrow into the side of Ameiko’s wagon last night. I had already been on watch and was sleeping when the shot was fired, but seeing as how the arrow hit the solid wooden frame of the wagon we determined that either the hired thug was a bad shot or his employers were trying to send a message.

Etayne was quite excited about the arrow because it was poisoned and the poison was a very deadly and very expensive toxin.

“What a bunch of assholes,” squeaked Star. Typically my friends and I have a benign “Live and let die” outlook on others, but in this case I had to agree with Star, and thought the leaders of the Rimerunners Guild could use a little nudging toward the “die” end of the spectrum. Back to bed.

Toilday, Arodus 14, 4712 Evening
Ravenscraig

We’re here! Darkness is already spreading beneath the trees where we are hiding and peering out toward the cliff wall atop of which is perched the fortress of Ravenscraig.

The ride here from Kalsgard took most of the day, and was mostly uneventful as we rode along well traveled roads, which became rough cart paths, and finally overgrown single track. It was obvious that regular traffic passed this way, but not much and not often.

The first part of the journey was tedious: plodding a long at a walk on the back of a horse through mostly flat and low lying woods and scrub makes for a dull time. Occasionally a hill would poke up on either side, lending some interest to the scenery, but we kept to the lowlands.

Eventually we came upon a boggy area with algae slimed pools on either side of the trail. It smelled bad and we urged our horses to move a little faster. We were well past the first pool when a large blob-thing rose up from the quagmire and struck Etayne and Ivan.

Jellies! I had heard of these before, but had never seen one in person. The horses were somewhat skittish, and so we dismounted and they trotted back up the path and stood huddled together. I think Olmas’ horse actually kept them from just bolting.

After a short battle, where we learned that using blunt weapons worked best on gelatinous creatures because edged weapons caused them to divide into more creatures, we had killed the jellies and discovered a small trinket of some value.

[269] black pearl necklace (1300gp)

A little further along and we saw where a new path joined the main trail: apparently we had missed the turnoff that would have taken us on detour around the bog.

We finally entered the hills as the day was ending, and a shale cliff rose up on our right as we continued on south. Eventually the woods ended and we saw a large clearing at the base of the cliff, up from which a set of wooden stairs climbed back and forth to a dark castle above.

Kali sent Nihali up to scout out Ravenscraig on the wing, and she reported that there was a large flock of ravens roosting in the highest tower.

We decided to wait until it was fully dark, and then using our climbing spells and gear scale the cliff and approach the fortress from behind. We will leave the horses here, and Olmas’ horse will keep them out of sight and waiting for our return. Pretty nifty, that.

Toilday, Arodus 14, 4712 Night
Ravenscraig

We clambered up and over the cliffs into a narrow valley that rises up behind Ravenscraig. A stream descends into the valley and forms a small pond before the fortress walls, and a path follows the stream and, leaping over a foot bridge, it arrives at a back door.

Listening at the door indicated it led to the kitchen, and as if to confirm it the aroma of cooked meats and baking bread wafted out and around us. But seriously, who bakes bread the evening for the next day? Sure, you want to set it out the night before so it will rise, but bread should be baked in the morning! The staff had clearly adopted some evil habits.

With the kitchen occupied by busy servants we made additional use of Spiderclimb and scuttled up the castle walls (just like spiders!). The upper windows were quiet, but also shuttered, using I knife I managed to lift up the securing bar within, and Ivan assisted with an Unseen Servant spell to ensure the beam would not clatter noisily onto the floor.

A dimly lit great hall stretched out before us. This seemed as good an entry point as any, and so we quickly scampered inside, closing the shutters behind.

We had entered on a dias above three sides of the hall, with the main floor of the hall below. Doors led into side passages and the main doors were in the opposite wall. At either end of the dais were doors, and we decided to check those out first.

The northern door was locked, which Radella quickly picked, and we soon found ourselves in the armory. While of reasonably quality, the weapons and armor were non-magical, except for a single arrow.

[270] arrow of Greater Magical Beast Slaying

The southern door opened into a store of furs, blankets, and cold weather gear. I poked around through the pile of and found a stack of scrolls written in the native tongue. Sparna read through them and discovered they were written by Snorri Stoneye in the days before he “died.” He claimed his magical eye gave him “the sight” and the a great conflict was coming, during which the world would be flung into a deep winter.

He also made mention of a store of special items he had hidden in an upstairs flue.

[271] Snorri Stoneye’s journal

The dais also led into the main tower section of the castle, and so we carefully made our way over and looked up and down the central shaft. Stairs ran both up and down, and while views to the upper levels were blocked by the wood ceiling, down below was a large and well stocked alchemical lab.

Etayne wanted to go down right away, but the rest of us thought it better to finish exploring the current level, and maybe the upper tower levels first. There was an unlocked door nearby and so we opened it.

“And that’s where you put your foot in it,” Badger quipped. It turned out to be the bedroom of one of the tower guards… and not just an ordinary guard, but some sort of were-bear. He screamed out, “Intruders in the hall! as he began to change shape.

So much for secrecy and the element of surprise. Radella and I quickly killed him, but we heard a large ruckus, like the flapping of many wings, coming in from the great hall.

Two swarming flocks of Ravens swooped in and attacked, but we managed to disrupt them through overwhelming physical attacks and spell casting. Even Helgarval joined in.

Kali had summoned an air elemental that arrived after the battle was over, but thinking quickly she sent it up the tower where Nihali had reported the ravens roosted. Moments later loud squawks of alarm confirmed that this had been a good tactic, and we moved up the tower stairs.

Waiting for us was a squad of avian ninjas, who used blowguns to shoot darts at us. Worse, some of the darts were coated with the same deadly poison that was on our “warning arrow.” Some of the darts hit their marks, and it seems that Olmas had a very bad reaction to being poisoned. He began to look rather ill, and even in the middle of combat we began to fear that we would win the battle, but then lose Olmas after the fighting was over.

The fighting did not last long. They might be fast and agile and armed with wicked poison, but quite frankly they were no match for us, and all lay dead within a minute.

This freed Etayne and I to look after Olmas. Neither of us had any means to neutralize or even slow the poison, but using a combination of healing and a scroll of Restoration we managed to bring Olmas back to health such that his own system was able to fight off what remained of the toxins in his blood stream.

“Which brings up the question,” added Beorn in a rather sly sort of way, “why is it Olmas that is always almost dying on us?” “Well, at least he always pulls through in the end,” countered Huffy. “Yeah, but sooner or later the only end he’s gonna pull through is his own.” And at this Beorn began to titter uncontrollably.

We sifted through the ex-ninjas’ belongings, taking what looked useful (or at least valuable).

[272] 6 potions of Blur
[273] 6 potions of Disguise Self
[274] 6 vials of Whinnis poison
[275] 6 empty vials (traces of Deathblade)
[276] 6 leather armor
[277] 6 blow guns
[278] 6 masterwork wakasashi (swords)
[279] 18 daggers
[280] 6 climbers kits
[281] 6 50′ silk ropes
[282] 6 +2 ninja outfits
[283] 6 jade raven statuettes set with precious stones
[284] 6 sets of Tien clothing (200 – 300 gp each)
3 poisoned darts (Deathblade)

In the northwest corner was a large, filthy nest spattered with copious quantities of bird droppings. Extra large bird droppings. Hiding in the twigs, rags and bird crap was a collection of human teeth, some gold coins, and a couple of other valuables.

[285] ivory and onyx necklace
[286] kit for making messages for delivery birds
27 gold pieces

There was a narrow door that opened onto a small room with a fireplace that had not been used in some time. Reaching up into the flue I found a a pair of magical boots.

[287] Boots of the Winterlands

A trap door led up into an aviary, with a coop and a small wooden table set next to platform. This was where the ravens roosted, and so we destroyed the coop and made it a generally unpleasant place for the ravens to settle back in.

We went back to the large nest below and carefully set two of our three poison darts in the nest, pointy side up. We thought this was where the large red feathered raven nested, and wanted to give it a special surprise when it returned. We tossed the ninja bodies down the stairs, and followed down ourselves.

Back in the cloak room we have used the magical eggs to generate an extra dimensional space (via Rope Trick) where we can rest undetected (or so it is hoped).

As usual I have the first watch (with Radella), and Helgarval is recounting some of his past adventures to keep us alert (or maybe he just needed to talk). In any event, I realized that Helgarval was not a helmet at all, but one of the lesser angels, and that he is susceptible to the same sorts of spells and attacks as the rest of us.

I’ll need to be careful when I wear him in the future. Too late to do anything about that now. Beorn seems unduly amused by this realization, and I can hear him chuckling softly to himself.

Wealday, Arodus 15, 4712 morning
Ravenscraig

The rope trick worked! During the night our watch saw the door to the cloak room open and close as ninjas searched the fortress for us. The search seemed to have ended, and so we continued with our exploration of Ravenscraig.

Out into the great hall, before we had gone far, ninjas started popping up out from the woodwork. And dropping like flies almost as quickly. A band of Ulfen guards joined in, but they too found themselves out classed and quickly dead.

We systematically went from door to door, exploring each of the rooms beyond. Other than a small trap door in the floor of one room, we found the usual sort of chambers one would expect in a fortress (barracks, guard rooms, supply rooms, and so on).

I opened the trap door and a booming voice from below called out something in giant. I looked over to Sparna, who quickly translated, “Enough coal! No more. All good.”

We did find some useful items in our exploration (and from the bodies of the dead ninjas and guards), plus a set of keys from the were-bear’s room (which we had failed to search the night before).

[288] 8 fugitive grenades
[289] 8 potions
[290] bracelet
[291] ebony fan
[292] Rimerunners Guild cache voucher for 80 gold pieces
[293] 6 jade ravens (lower quality)
[294] 8 jade ravens (higher quality)
[295] 8 master work short bows
[296] ring of keys (from were-bear’s room)
[297] 400 freshly minted Chelish gold pieces
500 gold pieces (offerings at altar)

Descending the tower stairs we finally arrived in the alchemy lab. In addition to the usual tables, benches, chemicals and equipment was a large glass tank. Within the tank was a human body. As we passed by a voice called out, “Help!” and the body began to feebly beat upon the glass.

It was obvious that this was not some poor human trapped in the tank, and we prudently decided to let it be. Sparna and some of the others who were closer to the body saw that something was wriggling and crawling beneath its skin.

While the others were busy with the lab, I was scouting out a small door in an alcove off to one side. The door was locked and it looked like a prison cell might lie beyond. Radella used our newly acquired keys to unlock the door, and opening it we found two bodies within.

One of the bodies was a corpse, but the other was of a living man. He looked half starved, and in need of food, drink and some healing, all of which we provided.

He said his name was Lute, and he had been brought here and locked up for daring to ask questions at a Rimerunners meeting. He warned of Silverscar, whom he said had been threatening him with the “wasps.” He thought Silverscar ran the place, and might be a purple ogre.

I asked, “What do you mean about the wasps?” To which he replied that Silverscar exposed victims to a swarm of wasps that would burrow into their body and turn them into some sort of zombie. The wasps were kept in the glass tank in the lab.

In the mean time the rest of our group had collected a variety of items from the lab (I swear Etayne’s pack and pockets are bulging).

[298] jar of ointment that can be used as stone to flesh, or as stoneskin
[299] ring of counterspells (empty)

The safest place we could think of for Lute to be was with us, and so he has joined our ranks rather timidly. There is a stairwell leading down from the lab into the dark dank depths below, and that is our next destination.

Character: Kali

Kali’s Journal, Arodus 15, 4712

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Arodus 15, 4712 (Ravenscraeg, early morning)

We spent the night holed up in one of the storage rooms. Or rather, in the extra-dimensional space created by destroying the eggshells. It was awkward setting them off among the shelves of wool, cloaks, and furs, but they only last a couple of hours each and we had to make do without being seen. That meant using an unlikely hiding place. I am told the guards here did at least think to look in the closet in the middle of the night, but it was apparently not an exhaustive search as the watches were otherwise uneventful. Either that, or they figured we’ll come out eventually so why bother? I am betting on the latter.

I was hoping our clandestine raid would stay clandestine a little longer than it did, but it seems our luck ran out rather quickly. At least we made it up the cliffs and inside undetected: that part of the plan went pretty well. What frustrates me is that we spent all that time preparing to get here, and none for what we would encounter once we arrived. I mean, it should have been obvious that we’d go up against poisoned weapons given how many of the damned things have been tossed around by these people—including the one the night before last—and yet here we are without a single defense against it, magical or mundane. Olmas nearly died because of it. This overnight stay will fix that, but the ultimate consequence of it is that we have lost whatever momentum we had. These people probably have a pretty good idea of what we are capable of, and now we have given them the time to prepare. It’s going to be a hard day.

I had a difficult time sleeping so I spent more time going over Snorri Stone-Eye’s diaries. He was known for his tremendously successful raids on settlements and colonies throughout the Steaming Sea, including within rival Linnorm Kingdoms and the occasional visit to northern Varisia, but it was the brutality of the same which would earn him the nickname “The Mad Reaver”. This proved to be somewhat prophetic in a different sense, as over the last several years he grew more and more obsessed with predictions of the end times. He wrote of a final battle between the gods and the freeing of Rovagug which would result in the ravaging of the world. His later entries are not so much diaries as they are the ravings of a madman in the grips of paranoia.

The gradual shift from rationality to mania happened slowly but it is clearly visible when read in one sitting. He really did believe his false eye turned him into some sort of seer with visions of the future. His last journey, the one where he apparently contracted his illness, was to a cluster of unnamed islands in the Steaming Sea. He was searching for something—he doesn’t say what—that would protect his fortress during the coming war, and that is where the diary ends.

I am not sympathetic to what happened to him. He was a thug who lined his pockets, and those of his backers, with coin and treasure taken from those slain by his own hand. Their only crimes were existing and possessing items of value. The man was a vile lunatic, and before that, just vile. He earned his fate.

(Ravenscraeg, mid morning)

They were waiting for us in the balcony when we emerged from the storage room and ambushed us as we made our way towards the tower. It goes without saying that they are good at hiding in the shadows, but amazingly we walked past two of them without even knowing they were there. Not one of us spotted them. It’s unsettling.

Did they know where we were? Or did they just guess that we were hiding somewhere on the upper levels? I suppose it would have been fairly easy to work out a likely where and when. They know where we had been and where we hadn’t, and probably worked out how we got in. We need so much rest, enough time to prepare spells, and so on. What this suggests is that we are easily predicted.

As impressive as the ambush was, the fight did not last long. As usual, it was brute force and magic, particularly healing, that made the difference. Few can stand up to Radella, Ana, Sparna, and Olmas face-to-face, and when Qatana, Etayne, or Ivan can tend to their injuries they are just short of implacable. When our adversaries called for reinforcements, I added to our own numbers by summoning a leopard from the Celestial realms. You would not think one large cat would have an impact but they are fearsome animals when they have the room to move. They charge their foe, leap onto them and attack with their teeth and all of their claws, all at once. It did this twice, and both victims fell in an instant.

I left a paper flower on one of the bodies, with a blessing to Shelyn and a message to those who would find it: it is not too late to abandon this place and this path. Life is a precious gift, and it should not be squandered by visiting hate and misery upon others.

Look, I am not naive. The main level appears to be mostly barracks and guard rooms, and the Tian ninjas had erected a shrine of sorts in theirs; a shrine to Yaezhing, the Minister of Blood, god of harsh justice, murder, and punishment. His followers are not going to suddenly grow a conscience. But I am compelled to reach out.

(Ravenscraeg, late morning)

A couple of days ago we had this discussion about whether or not the Rimerunners Guild was a legitimate business or just a front for the Frozen Shadows. Obviously, the guild has been around for far longer so they didn’t start out that way, but what about now? Could we consider the two organizations to be one in the same today?

It seems we can more or less put that question to rest. Meet Lute Haggersly: Ulfen merchant, elected member of the Rimerunners Guild board of shareholders, and prisoner of the Frozen Shadows. If Lute is to be believed—and again if this is some sort of ruse it is ridiculously elaborate—he committed the offense of refusing to support one of Silverskorr’s motions or proposals before the Board. When he would not be swayed by her arguments, she turned to bullying and threats. When he failed to acquiesce, she followed through by imprisoning him here. I am not an expert on the inner workings of either publicly held companies or criminal organizations, but I will venture a guess that most of the former do not routinely imprison dissenters and most of the latter do not outsource their governance. The rank and file of the guild may not realize it, but it is clear that they are now little more than a veneer of legitimacy over, and a source of funding for, something much uglier.

If that weren’t enough, he offered a rather jaw-dropping piece of news: this organization seems to be run by a purple ogre—purple—and he insists that the ogre is, in fact, Silverskorr. It sounded ridiculous at the time and his evidence was thin, based solely on having heard Silverskorr’s voice right before seeing the ogre enter his cell to taunt and threaten him, but then we stopped to think about it. Ogre mages have a place in Avistani legends, and in those stories they don’t seem to have a set description or appearance. Each story seems to describe them differently. Maybe there’s a reason for that, and purple skin would very much fit in with it.

And what about the oni? Maybe, like Kikonu, an ogre mage is a kind of oni, much like there are many forms of devils and demons. Kikonu could change his appearance and become almost human. Would it be so hard to believe that Silverskorr can change her shape, too? Assume the form of a human woman? And why stop there? If the ogre mage can change it’s shape, then maybe this isn’t even the “real” Silverskorr. Maybe the Silverskorr everyone knows is an imposter.

I know how this is starting to sound, but that is the thing about shapeshifters: they breed paranoia. You can’t trust what you see and hear.

We asked for Helgarval’s opinion and he had little to offer except to say that we have our work cut out for us. Thanks, but we had worked that out on our own. He then followed up with, and I am paraphrasing here, “I’m confident you’ll be victorious. And if you aren’t, then I’ll find another group.” Great. Thanks for that, too.

This room we are in is a prodigiously stocked alchemy lab. Etayne is the real expert here, of course, but I had enough instruction while in school to understand what I am seeing. I have no doubt that I could find just about any item I needed for casting a spell or brewing a potion, provided it wasn’t particularly rare or valuable. On top of that are all the flasks, vials, beakers, and other alchemical equipment one would need for creating infusions, brews, and, yes, toxins. According to Etayne, the plants here are all poisonous in some form, covering just about every plant-based poison known to man.

Etayne is searching through some lab notes, and it appears that all of this is Runecaster’s personal work and research space. This goes a long way towards explaining the glass box near the center of the room. The less said about that wasp-infested corpse the better. We watched it beat (ineffectually, thankfully) on the glass as it called out to us in what sounded like infernal. Etayne says he bought the wasps off of a Chelish wizard. What a surprise, right?

Gods. These people.