as written by the cavalier, Olmas Lurecia, himself.

23 Sarenith, Starday

Although we had dispatched many goblins, we’d not yet found the king, nor had we explored the whole complex.  Although part of the group stood before a likely pair of double doors, the group as a whole was still fairly scattered.  I hurried to the double doors, arriving at the same time as several others.  Radella had examined the doors and declared them to be free of traps.

Qatana waited for a moment, which gave me a chance to get closer to her.  But then for some reason, she illogically decided to open the doors and step in.  She is far too impetuous.

The room held goblins, including one that appeared to be the chief.  It was decorated in typical goblin fashion, with poorly preserved dog and horse heads adorning the walls.  Although decrepit and smelly, the room seemed to be their equivalent of a throne room, judging from the elevated “chair” that had been constructed for one of the goblins.

Meanwhile Etayne had gone below the room (to the ground) to get a different view of things.  The floorboards were imprecisely laid, which allowed him to get a vague idea of what was happening above.  And what was happening is that a bunch of goblins had moved in on Qatana as the chair goblin gestured and made a sound that was clearly an order to attack.

It didn’t take long for Qatana to get injured.  I managed to kill one goblin with a single blow but there was eight of them altogether and it was a bit like trying to kill a cloud of mosquitoes.  Fast little buggers.

Some of the goblins began to attack me, and although I have decent armor it only takes a few lucky hits to make me hurt.  Chief goblin fired off a skyrocket, of all things, and several of us were blinded or injured when it exploded … of course, so were several goblins. Chief must be an inherited position because he clearly hadn’t outsmarted all the other goblins.

Kali threw a color spray out, and between that and a couple more axe flurries, and we had a room full of goblin corpses, including one bearing two 250 gp ears.

We also found

[101] 5 +1 arrows with animal bane (2d6 extra damage)
[102] 2 potions of cure light wounds (one to Sparna, one to me)
[103] skyrocket
[104] 6 regular arrows
[105] MW composite longbow
[106] chain shirt (small)
[107] spear

There was a small “bedroom” just off this room (similar decor plus a bed with ratty looking blankets).  Qatana had been making notes about each room we’d visited, and suddenly announced that there must be something behind a particular wall.  I bashed it with the axe, and she was right – there as another small room, closet really, but it held an intriguing looking

[108] beautiful red chest

Someone said it appeared to be from the Minkaui kingdom of Tien (sure, ok). There were delicate edgings of cranes and frogs.  Opening it, we found

[109] 6 MW shurikens
[110] a long hairpin with a red pearl at one end
[111] a folding fan: one side had a painted picture of a gecko among cherry blossoms.  the other side had a scrawlings representing far lesser skill in art. In fact, they looked like a crude map of part of the swamp, with 3 x’s marked on it.

There were also 329 silver pieces and 112 gold pieces.

Technically we’d come to kill the goblins, retrieve their leader’s head for extra reward, and return to the town to claim said reward.  But now with this fan in front of us, we seemed closer to something bigger. Maybe worth more money.

We quickly decided to check out the closest X on the map.

On the way, we noticed some of the apparently skeletal footprints again. It appears that perhaps they were going – or rather, returning to, if I read the tracks correctly – the same way we were heading.

After about a mile, we found an odd sight. There was a two masted Chelish ship that was here on land.  Somebody – goblins, I suspect – had actually built a fence around it, apparently claiming ownership. A pile of goblin bodies laid out in an orderly pile outside the ship suggested, however, that merely demonstrating ownership had been insufficient.

I’d judge it had been there for maybe 20 years. There were goblin tracks everywhere, but there were more recent ones of skeletons. It had obviously  been on fire at some time in the past, and there was writing in a strange script on the side of the boat which was probably its name. If this ship ever held anything, it seemed the goblins had plundered it.

We returned to the goblin fort, retrieved the chest, and briefly talked about what to do next. The day was waning. We decided to visit another X, although we’d probably get there late in the day and might wait to seriously examine or explore whatever the X represented in daylight.

We returned to the regular road, but then turned off to the “witches walk” after a time.  Arriving at the edge of the swamp, we again saw bony footprints.  People began muttering to themselves, asking, what good is a sword against something with no flesh?  I think my great sword will still do good damage against a skeleton, should we meet one, but others are considering alternatives.

As night drew, we could see about 2000 feet away another shipwreck. There appeared to be a cave entrance nearby.  The skeletal tracks entered the cave.  We decided going into a dark cave that was inhabited by skeletons, at night, was not the best idea. We set up watches, and camped out closer to the road.

I suggested we might set a few traps that would make a racket if tripped, just to give us extra time if something got past the guard and tried to sneak up on us.  The group agreed.

The night passed uneventfully.

24 Sarenith, Sunday

Bit of trivia I picked up from another in the group: the Witches Walk is called that because, legend has it, it leads to Megus, also known as the Swamp Witch.  Legend has it that sometimes she comes to town for things, but that nobody has ever really cared to follow her back and visit.  Bit of a recluse, apparently.

Meanwhile, Qatana tried to estimate the number of skeletons that made these tracks, and concludes it was 6-12.

So we approached the cave – clearly, this was where we needed to go. Again, Qatana pushed past and went to the head of the group. I can’t imagine facing Shalelu if something were to happen to her, but I need to talk to her about her impetuousness, or she’s going to get herself killed in spite of the rest of us.

A clicking sound greeted us, which could be bones tapping or something else, like spiders.  And before we could try to determine one way or another, Qatana went deeper and yes, confirmed there were two spiders in the cave.  I rushed up with her and swung, but missed.  The corridor was narrow here, and our options were limited.

We managed to dispatch the spiders, and Qatana was off again in another direction, like a hummingbird flitting between flowers.  While the rest of the group entered the spider den, I followed Qatana.  I’d always expected that leading a group on a quest would involve me strategizing about where to go next, not reactively running to hastily protect someone who was apparently moving randomly.

She was standing near a pool that appeared to have some depth to it … maybe or maybe not over my head, but deep enough to hide something in it.

Meanwhile, I gathered from the noise behind us that something had been living in the spider den and disturbed. I found out later it was a giant amoeba.  Sheesh. I can’t be everywhere.

It was quickly dispatched (I think Sparna may have finally killed it) and the rest of the group soon joined us. We arranged ourselves, and continued moving forward, staying away from the water to our left as much as possible.

Ivan, I think, threw a glowing rock into the room, revealing a large cavern with piles of bones scattered throughout. Piles of bones which seemed to have some ragged armor attached to it.

Nothing moved.

I couldn’t help but believe that these were the skeletons and they would come to life at some point, so I approached the pile nearest me and began to try to remove the armor.  If it was going to come to life, I’d rather it didn’t have armor.

And by golly, they all came to life an stood up.

Qatana, instead of retreating, tried to attack.  She’s not really a warrior; it’s not her forte.  There were shouts of trying to retreat into the corridor so they could not surround us, but skeletons were emerging from the water too, and in short order it was not possible to retreat without giving the skeletons free blows at us as we passed.  We weren’t quite surrounded, but we were at least flanked.  And some of our stronger fighters were stuck out of position .. or rather some of our more vulnerable people were stuck nearer the front.

Ivan shot off a “blunt arrow” (I thought that was weird when he first mentioned he had those, but now I see the wisdom in these strange weapons_ and it connected.  But then we found the skeletons, once standing, were not slow to move and everyone in the front found themselves under multiple attacks.

Several of us found ourselves near death, including myself.  Qatana was, I thought, sure to leave this plane but in a very fortunate turn of events she was able to heal herself with a potion faster than I’ve ever see anyone do.  Ivan reached out and healed me when I thought I was in similar straits, but I fear I offended him when I, rejuvenated, immediately moved into thicker battle, not realizing that he himself was particularly vulnerable at that time.  I must remember to scan 360 before deciding on my next move since battle situations can change so quickly.

Ultimately we did defeat them without any deaths, but barely.  Now with time to look around the cavern, it was apparent that there was another exit than the way we came in.  Resolutely, we all marched that way to see if there were more undead waiting to attack us.

We were not incorrect, but this was a different creature.

There was but one, and it was sitting on another, grander chest. Qatana, of course, threw a rock at it, and like the other skeletons, it slowly rose.  This one’s armor appeared real and useful, and its eyes glowed from empty sockets. It was dressed in a foreign manner. As it stood, it scanned us like a hawk, and then turned to me. It pointed at me with its sword, and said a single word in a language that I didn’t know – and yet I knew what had happened. I knew how to respond. This is what it meant to stand in this role – to be identified as the champion to be defeated, the mark to be measured against.  Somehow this long dead champion had identified me as the main threat, and in its strange language, issued a challenge.

“I accept your challenge,” I replied. “And challenge you in return. To the death.”

I did not know if I could defeat him, but I also knew I had companions who could both join the attack and heal me during the battle.  But I didn’t fully realize the truth of that thought.  The battle, such was it was, was anticlimatic.  Sparna quickly disarmed him of the fine looking sword he held, and it was all but decided from that point. Radella found her inner warrior and unleashed some amazing blows before Anavaru finished it off. I had but one swing at it, connecting, but feeling as though I hadn’t really answered the challenge honorably.  Perhaps I should have asked my compantions to stand down first and given me a chance to make good on my challenge.  Perhaps next time.

This chest, a jade and cherry one, held amazing things like the other. Being bigger, it held bigger things.

First, there was the sword that had fallen from his fingers at Sparna’s beckon.

[112] +1 wakazashi. Once per day it could cast shield on another
companion if touched by the wielder. It had seven shrikes
coiled on a branch.
[113] a bronze key
[114] cherry and jade chest, lined with red velvet, opened by [113]
[115] 5 potions of cure light wounds
[116] 2 potions of cure moderate wounds
[117] 3 potions of lesser restoration
[118] wand of identify [19]
[119] MW Chain shirt
[120] MW cold iron wakazashi
[121] 11 fireworks (desnan candles)
[122] 4 skyrockets (as we’d found in the goblin fort)
[123] ring of climbing

and a pile of coins: 7640 silver pieces, 842 gold pieces, jewelry worth about 1100 gold pieces.

In addition, while examining the sword, we discovered a small hidden panel. A miniature scroll was concealed within.  It was also in that foreign script.  Kali smiled, and said, “I memorized Comprehend Languages just in case something like this came up.”

The scroll was a letter to a son – specifically, as she read on, to Ameiko’s father from Ameiko’s grandfather. It spoke of heritage and honor. “I was not angry at you. I was angry at myself.  The next few days will show.  The box holds our family’s treasure. It is in a secret vault under Brinewell Castle. Enemies will believe our line has ended; this is an advantage, because our enemies will never stop.”

It said more, and in more flowery language.  But clearly, Shalelu’s friend Ameiko was heir to a heritage that she was not aware of.  Or was she, and she was hiding from it?

Is there a greater quest, a greater cause here?  The possibility stirs my blood.