Oathday, Pharast 28, 4713 mid day
Beneath the House of Withered Blossoms

A partition blocked access through the southern archway, but those of us who were flying peeked over the wall and… hmm, yes, well, some things you cannot unsee. Takoda made a rude noise, and really there wasn’t much any of us could add to that.

The room was an elaborate bed chamber and the walls were painted with scenes of hobgoblinesque carnal delights. A massive bed squatted against the far wall, and a pair of the monk-like hobgoblins that had just attacked us outside were in the bed entertaining a pseudo hobgoblin type creature.

“Now we know the difference between male and female hobgoblins,” Pookie added helpfully.

I replied, “Right Pook, but the male doesn’t look fully like a hob-gob, I wonder if it might be an…”

“Oni!” I heard Kali whisper to my right.

The word was passed back to those waiting in the hallway, and Kali filled the room with webs while the rest of us jumped down.

The two female hobgoblins screamed threats at us, like “Begone and trouble not the offspring of our god!” But the, er, proverbial son immediately fell to his knees and began to beg for his life.

He surrendered once we went through the formality of killing his entourage (naked and unarmed they posed only a minor threat).

Ichirou was the spawn of the real oni that we originally came here to find, and was perfectly happy to betray his mother by telling us what he knew of the place and her defenses.

He was in charge of these upper levels, although it seemed obvious that Fuji, the samurai oni we had slayed earlier was the one doing all of the work. Ichirou provided a description the “upper” level where we were now and some rudimentary details of his mother’s stronghold, which was at the bottom of a deep shaft he called “the drain.”

He sketched out a crude map for us and described her defenses as being mostly the hobgoblin monks (the Sisters of the Broken Path) and his mother’s offspring, including his two sisters (his mother’s “true daughters”), who were apparently terribly mean to him and had the bodies of giant snakes. These sounded like nagas, and one of their names was Yassu.

This information was not quite as useful as it might have been in that it lacked pertinent details, or to be more precise the details were for the kind of things that interested Ichirou. What mostly interested Ichirou was getting into the pants of anything female (especially the “sisters”).

Several times during his questioning he leered at me with a squinty eyed stare and made lewd suggestions about how he could be of even more service.

I would have suspected that his previous success with the sisters was mainly do to their fear of reprisals from his mother should they be anything but receptive to his repulsive demeanor, however the sisters seemed to think of his mother as some sort of a god.

Maybe that’s why they are still here. It was obvious any of them could leave if they wanted, but they don’t. I simply do not feel bad for cutting them down like vermin.

I think that the actual Oni of the Five Storms are significantly more powerful than the minions we’ve met thus far, but even so it seems like hobgoblins have a lower standard for deities than we.

Ichirou had told us all he was going to say and I was just about to offer Olmas a toss of a coin to see who killed him when Ivan shot an arrow through his eye, slaying him instantly.

We did our usual job of loot collection.

Perhaps this place is starting to get to me, but lately I have found Beorn’s whisperings to make more sense than usual. He definitely has a think outside the box approach to tactics which I fear we may need once we confront the the head oni.

Ichirou’s lair reminded me a bit too much of the Runeforge area Takkad described as belonging to lust. Only without the decorum. Or restraint. And this place is pretty shabby: sort of like what would happen if you had hired the Runelords of Lust and Sloth as your interior decorators.

We moved on to the barracks when the remaining hobgoblins launched a surprise counter attack. It might have been more effective if we had not placed Zos’ giants in front. They took the brunt of the damage while turning the nearby hob-gobs into goo, and we took out the rest.

Soon thereafter we came to the top of a shaft leading down. A noisy river cascaded over the lip and plunged down the center and a ramp of slippery wet stone pathway cork screwed around and downward.

We sent the giants ahead of us, but they soon toppled off the ramp. Fortunately Dasi was ready with a spell of Feather Fall, and so they slowly drifted down as we walked the long way.

Perhaps halfway down we were confronted by another of the sisters blocking our way. We could make out another pair climbing up the walls to flank us from behind. Olmas took care of the sister in front of us and Ivan shot the surviving sister who menaced Zos (the other having plunged to her death after falling victim of a Hold Person spell courtesy of yours truly).

We finally reached the bottom of “the drain”, and happily our giants were safely waiting there for us. The floor was a pool of water, with stepping stones providing a way forward, but Radella has returned from scouting and has reported a pair of sisters standing guard on a ledge some distance off.

We will make use of the noise of the water falling down the drain to sneak up and swiftly take them out.

Oathday, Pharast 28, 4713 mid day
Beneath the House of Withered Blossoms

Zos’ pair of giant golem-like things finally caught up with us just as the drawbridge to the castle clunked down before us. I say “castle”, but really it was pagoda like in shape — like a tottering shamble of an imitation of the House of Withered Blossoms above.

The giants shambled after us as we crossed the drawbridge and entered the fortress. Kali’s illusion of Munasukaru led the way into a large guard room where a troop of armed hobgoblins had assembled.

One of them stammered out in fear (and bewilderment), “We weren’t expecting you to arrive from this direction.”

“Shut up!” non-Munasukaru snarled, “Which of you idiots is in charge here?”

The hob-gobs looked sheepishly at one another, but nobody volunteered for the coveted position of flunky in command.

Non-Munasukaru growled, “Line up for inspection!”

They complied, and I walked over to the first guard as they lined up and pointed at his weapon. Pookie then demanded that he hand over his morningstar for inspection. Pookie doesn’t speak hobgoblin, but then neither do I, and so her command came out as an angry, “Squeak!”

He just stared at us.

“Insubordination!” Star angrily squeaked, as I grabbed the morningstar and moved to the next soldier. “Squeak!” This one had already caught on and immediately handed me his weapon. And so it went on down the line until I had the complete set.

Pookie was especially pleased with herself, but Huffy only shook his head and wondered, “Why do they submit so easily?”

This was a good question. No doubt these hobgoblins were just as evil as any we had seen, and would sell their own mothers if their was profit in it. But these guards were so terrified that they were effectively slaves. I doubt they cared two goblin turds about Munasukaru and her desires, and they’ve obviously had plenty of chances to escape — hell they are sent out on foraging trips. And still here they are, shivering in their boots and pissing themselves any time Kali had her image so much as look in their direction.

I peaked out the open doorway behind our line of cowed hob-gobs onto a large open area that smelled truly awful. It was the refuse pit and latrine for the fortress.

Dasi and Zos discovered a store room behind a door, and non-Munasukaru ordered all of the guards save one into the room to await further orders. She sent the special chosen one out to bring back his superior.

While he was away we decided to bring out the hobgoblins one at a time and quickly dispatch each to whatever afterlife awaited them. But after the first victim came out we heard the sound of feet running our way from a chamber to the east, and a voice called out, “To arms! Intruders!”

The hobgoblin before me looked at me in surprise, and I looked at him, and after giving a final “Squeak!” I clobbered him with my flail. He did not survive for much longer.

At about that time a blast of frigid air engulfed many of us, alerting us to the presence of an enemy spell caster. Several hobgoblins swarmed in from the east, and looking through the doorway I spotted someone dressed like a samurai, but acting very much like a mage.

Soon combat was fully engaged, and those hob-gobs Zos’ giants did not pulverize were quickly slain by the rest of us. But the samurai met his end much sooner than his hapless followers. Ivan quickly placed a ring of fire around him just before I called a Flamestrike down upon him.

Kali summoned an awesome dinosaur to run around thrashing foes in the chamber next to us, but as it appeared a large statue sprang to life and beat it to death. Let me repeat that: it beat a large dinosaur to death in mere moments.

The giants moved over to the storage room doorway and took turns turning the hobgoblins that came out into pate’.

Soon everything was dead except the statue thing, which someone said was a flesh golem. And it was nasty. Wounds it created would not heal right, and it took a lot of concentration and effort to keep the fighters engaging with it from dropping.

Eventually the battle was over over. I tried to heal the giants with Make Whole as you would mend any golem-like construct. But it turned out they were more like creatures than things, and regular energy channels healed them just as it did the rest of us. Hmm, interesting.

We looted through the bodies for items of interest.

A set of stairs led up from the ante-chamber to a large room manned by four hobgoblins stationed near arrow slits looking out. We charged them and they died soon after.

The walls in this room were painted with scenes depicting people being tortured.

Seriously, with reminders like this I find it impossible to feel sorry for the way we’ve been slaughtering the inhabitants down here.

We used six charges from the wand of Cure Light Wounds to put everybody back into the peak of health before the giants opened the large double doors leading further into the fortress.

The room was filled with… hobgoblin lepers. They moaned and made menacing gestures at us as they slowly crawled in our direction. We simply flew over them and Kali put them out of their misery with a Fireball.

We next encountered a long wide hallway with a towering arched ceiling overhead, and open archways along the walls. A pair of closed doors was at the far end and massive pit in the floor blocked the way. Thick bars criss-crossed across the lip of the pit, widely spaced as if whatever the bars were holding in was monstrous in size. From below we could hear something large and menacing moving about and making deep throaty sounds.

While we were looking at the pit a trio of hobgoblins came out from the archway to the north, and they gracefully danced across the bars and made threatening gestures at us.

“How depressingly stupid,” said Timber.

We flew up and out of their reach. I used a Chain of Perdition to knock one of them from the bars, while arrows peppered another. The third tried to flee through the doors on the far side, but I sent the chain his way tripping him, and arrows finished him off.

Voices came out from the southern archway but they sounded distracted and unconcerned with what was going on in the hall.

We’ve taken a moment to plan our next course of action. Dealing with the voices to south seems like a priority, as well as investigating what lies to the north. After that the doors beckon.

Wealday, Pharast 27, 4713 afternoon
The Spirit Forest, House of Withered Blossoms

The day is barely half over and already it feels as if weeks have passed since waking this morning.

Olmas and I crept down the circular stairs, and Dasi and Zos followed after. At the bottom was a small pillared room with a four gibbets hanging from the ceiling. Two of the cages were occupied by a pair of Tien looking humans (at this point in time almost everyone we meet is Tien, and I suppose there is no point in mentioning ethnicity unless someone is not).

They appeared to be unconscious and in rough shape and Huffy was cooing his concern so I channeled to heal them. The woman opened her eyes and said, “I hate it when they do that.” She was startled when she saw Olmas and I, but kept quiet when I motioned for her to hush.

We cautiously moved out into the maze of partitions.

At the same time Radella, Ivan and Kali lifted up one of the grates and dropped down before a metal door, which they opened and continued on into the partition maze.

I drifted up to look over the walls and saw the others as well as a pair of “Morg” skeleton/zombie things. After a brief encounter the creatures were dead and searching the area revealed no additional hazards.

We returned to the captives and set them free. They had been traveling along the forest road some weeks ago when their party had been attacked by the spider kin and dragged back here. They were traveling north to flee the nearly regular raids upon the rural villages in Minkai. This sounded odd, but they thought it normal.

We led them up to the ground level above us, and armed them with some simple weapons that were lying around.

We then descended down the next stairway to a web cluttered hallway that led around a large square room. Four pillars held up the ceiling, but the floor tilted down towards the center where a large dark hole dropped into darkness.

Kali and I drifted nearer to the pit as the others filed in, keeping well back from the center. A quartet of aranea spider beings scuttled out from the webbing and attacked, but they were seriously over matched and soon fell twitching to the floor.

Kali became invisible and flit down the hole to quickly scout around. She returned and reported that the pit dropped down some fourteen fathoms, but after the first three were stone steps circling around to the floor far below. The steps landed in the corner of a vast cavern, at the far end of which stood a mighty wall reaching to within a couple of feet of the ceiling. Hobgoblins could be seen patrolling the top of the wall along the parapet behind battlements.

She paused for a moment before saying a double gate was set in the wall, and a couple of humans had been impaled upon the large spikes protruding from the gate.

Other than a soft angry chittering from Star, all of my friends (even Beorn) were dead silent.

We discussed our options and decided to go for a two prong approach. We would all fly down the pit where Kali would summon a large earth elemental, which would rush through the wall and attempt to unbar the gates. Once the elemental appeared we would all fly toward the wall, and Ivan would use Stone Shape to lower one of the battlements by a couple of feet to provide us with easier egress to the courtyard beyond.

The plan mostly worked — certainly well enough to get us inside, where we made short work of the half a dozen hobgoblin guards within. In the courtyard two large doors were to the north and a smaller door was east.

Radella and I opened the gate and lowered the two men impaled on the spikes. I healed them, and they volunteered some useful information about the fortress.

“Nobody goes through the northern doors. At least we’ve never seen them. The guards on the wall change every twelve hours. They impale prisoners on the gate with less regularity, but more than often enough for us.”

“The single door leads to ”her” domain — I’ve never seen her and from what I’ve heard I don’t want to. She’s truly awful.”

Dasi pressed him for a name, and he finally sputtered out, “Manusikaru.”

The other fellow continued the audio tour. “First there’s a torture chamber, and beyond that is a walkway where stone giants patrol: it is called ”The Balcony of Pillars.” Why? Well because it is a balcony with pillars. Further in you’ll come to ”The Agonies” and the ”Great Ledge”. This is what the hobgoblins call a pit with no bottom. That’s where it is rumored that ”she” dwells. Most of the hobgoblins live around the pit, and they are led by a Budo, a great hobgoblin who rides a great big pig. He calls himself ”Budo the Swine Shogun.””

His friend chimed in, “Yeah, but we prisoners call him something else behind his back that doesn’t sound as nice. Rumor has it riding isn’t all he does with pigs.”

Bless his little heart, but this gave Beorn a bad case of the giggles, which we had to endure for the next hour or so.

We took them up to the ground level where they joined with the other couple to wait for our return, or if things looked desperate, to escape out the front door.

In the meantime our companions had taken various useful items from the corpses of the hobgoblins.

We discovered that each of the two northern doors opened onto a trap room with a dummy door at the far side. Radella disabled the traps, thus making the rooms useable to us.

The small eastern door led to a long narrow room with bodies in various states of decomposition hanging from the walls and a door at the far end. Radella entered and I followed, floating six inches above the floor. It was just as well that I did not walk in, because Radella found several pit traps in the floor.

My interest was taken up by the series of small holes in the wall. I almost thought a felt a breeze coming through one, and had called Radella over to look when we heard a loud shout of “Fire!”

Both of us were peppered with arrows fired through the holes. Radella ran for the door at the far end, which was locked. I drifted to the center of the room and began to emit an aura inspired by Groetus which I find calming but others usually less so.

Olmas used some magic device to blast the door from its hinges and the gang all rushed past me to attack the attackers. Steps led up from the room beyond to a pillared balcony where a pair of stone giants looked over at us and yelled.

I blasted them with a Confusion spell while Kali put up a wall of force at the top of the stairs.

Things weren’t going well for the hidden archers. Sure, a few continued to fire, but some stood and stared, others shot their comrades, while still others poked themselves with their arrows. This plus the onslaught of my companions made quick work of these hobgoblins.

The giants had not fared much better. While one wandered about bashing the invisible wall, the other first injured himself and then took exception to the other giant’s presence (can you blame him — have you ever smelled a giant?) and began to beat on him.

Soon one giant fell, and Kali dropped the wall so the rest of us could finish off the survivor.

And so here we are surrounded by more dead hobgoblins and a pair of dead giants.

Wealday, Pharast 27, 4713 morning
The Spirit Forest, House of Withered Blossoms

We were treated to a spectacular show of vegetarian delights in the wee hours this morning. The vines of ivy that cover the house sprouted shoots that rapidly spread and put forth buds which just as rapidly bloomed. The flowers opened and blasted out great poofs of pollen that engulfed the house, obscuring our view. Presently the flowers wilted and dropped, presenting us with the same scene that met us when we first arrived.

As soon as it was light we took to flight and hovered above the roof of the structure. A large hole had been blasted in, and peering down into the dim morning light we could see a wall to wall tangle of webs.

None of us much liked the idea of dropping down into that matted sticky mess, and so Zos tossed down a vial of alchemist fire.

Beorn chortled out a diabolic song of, “Burn, baby burn!” while my other friends tittered nervously before joining in the chorus.

A pair of voices wafted up, speaking in common.

“Get that.”

“Get what?”

“The fire.”

“Oh, hold on.”

Neither speaker seemed overly concerned that their lair was being set alight like a roman candle. Zos seemed to think the pollen from the flowers was some sort of opioid. It was a good thing Ivan and I had protected the party with Air Bubble.

We became a bit impatient and continued to set more webs on fire, and yet the only reaction we got was a somewhat disinterested exclamation of, “Intruders.”

Finally we saw a half spider and half humanoid creatures scuttle into view and Ivan, Radella and Zos promptly shot it dead.

Taking advantage of our active fly magics Olmas, Radella and I dropped down. This was a mistake. In addition to the spider things there were shadows, which floated over and began to sap our strength.

Ivan provided cover with a circular tube of flame and we fled back to the roof top, where Radella and I used wands of Lesser Restoration to undo what the shadows had done.

We then set about torching the space below with some serious fire. Soon most of the webbing had been burned out and I entered and verified that the shadows and spider creatures had either perished or fled.

Dasi said he had detected the thoughts of others below us… and moving down and out of the range of his ability to detect them. We then heard a scream suddenly cut off.

We searched the space we had cleared and found a stash of loot, mostly burned to char. Sometimes you have to choose between prudence and profit, and in this case most of us agreed the loss had been worth it. We did manage to salvage a handful of things, and found a few additional items on the one spider corpse.

There was a wide hole in the floor and more webbing beyond. While the others gathered the loot Ivan and I lit the area on fire using Spark.

Someone below called up that we should give up and leave. I called down that the oni had sent us to help out, but this sent the voice into a fuming rage — well, not really a rage exactly, but more like a “you’re really bumming me out, man, but lets not make too big a fuss about it, and could you go away and leave some munchies while your at it” kind of general unhappiness.

Apparently the spiders controlled the part of the house above ground, and the oni were supposed to stay below ground in the part they controlled, and we were putting a serious harsh on his mellow.

Large spiders clambered out and attacked, but we made quick work of them. We could see more half spider half humanoid creatures below, and so Olmas and I sent down spiritual allies to beat on them.

Things appeared to be going our way when a bolt of lightening arced up from below and struck me, and then exploded into a other arcs that zapped my companions.

Suddenly the humanoid in filthy silk robes that Kali seen with her Arcane eye teleported up to us, and was immediately met by a serious combination of psychology and extreme violence, but without the psychology.

In short, he dropped like a sack of potatoes.

“Dude, ” squeaked Badger, “are you sure that air bubble spell thingy is really working? You sound a little spaced out yourself.”

“Badger,” I calmly replied, “I’m writing it that way so folks know how these guys sounded.”

We pawed over his corpse and removed everything of value.

We could see nothing living down below and so we drifted down and explored, mindful of the spikes sticking up from the floor.

I found a series of iron grills set in the floor around the perimeter of the room, through which shown a dim light. I saw some sort of skeleton that still had its vital organs pumping and pulsating in its rib cage. It moved stealthily as if it were hunting something.

Meanwhile the others had been busy searching all of the debris that littered this level of the house.

Nobody was too happy upon hearing about the skeleton thing below, and with all of us looking through the grates we found that there were two of them, and that they were patrolling along a set route.

We made a quick, but efficient plan. Most of the party would concentrate on one of the skeletons while Olmas guarded the circular staircase that led down, and I kept track of the other bony fellow.

The archers quickly blasted the one into flinders, and I charred the other with a Flame Strike before the others finished it off.

Where to go next? Well, down, obviously.

The others are fiddling with one of the grates, which lifts up just before a door in the metal wall.

Olmas and I are standing before the stairs, and he’s looking at me and I’m looking at him, and it is as clear as day that we’re heading down.

Moonday, Pharast 4, 4713 evening
The Spirit Road

We have settled back into our travel routine, albeit with a much smaller caravan than before. Setting up and breaking down camp is a breeze, and preparing meals for the reduced staff takes little time. Most of us do not need to eat, but even just a bite of something hot at the end of the day lifts one’s spirits enough to make it worth the while.

We remain off the road by a hundred yards or so and occasionally see travelers pass by, but we keep to ourselves as do they. The ground undulates in a lazy series of low grass covered hills with patches covered by a thin veneer of snow. Our travel time is good and during breaks our horses are able to graze.

We’ve not forgotten last week’s ninja attacks, but the repetitive nature of this sort of travel dulls the senses — at least until the next unexpected event.

By noon we began to pass some sporadic clumps of trees. By mid afternoon we landscape was dotted with small groves of conifers. But these were still far apart and offered no real obstacle, and the trees broke up the monotony of the grassland.

This evening Ivan handed me a morning star to use while he is enchanting my flail. “You can use this.” he declared in his matter of fact way. I swung the handle around a few times, but using a morning star is pretty much just hitting things with a stick and I had little doubt about my ability to use it.

“I hope this isn’t a permanent change,” Star grumbled. “Be quiet!” I replied before adding, “And be nice!”

Ivan raised an eye and said, “I assume you are talking to one of your mice.”

“Yes, Star was being… Star, and was commenting on the temporary downgrade of our gear. She can be impatient and does not always take the long view.”

“I’m curious if they will talk to others,” Ivan continued.

“That’s funny, Dasi asked the same sort of thing the other day. They’re not exactly quiet when offering advice, and I bet if you ask them something they’ll answer,” I replied.

Badger was quick to exclaim, “Wait, what? You’re constantly telling us to keep our voices down!”

I sighed and said, “Badger, that’s when you guys are clamoring with your opinions in the middle of combat when people are trying to stay focused.”

Ivan asked, “So what are they telling you now?”

“They are mostly curious about what you plan to do with my flail. Star seems particularly concerned,” I explained.

“Well then, Star, why don’t you help me make Qatana’s weapon something special. You can infuse some of your wisdom into the magic. It’s going to take four days, and so all of you are welcome to come add your own magic to the weapon during the process. You can also keep an eye on me while I work on it,” Ivan countered.

My mice erupted with all sorts of guidance for what Ivan could with the flail, and after a moment when I realized he couldn’t actually hear them, I passed their comments on — well, most of them.

“Make the ball shoot out tiny explosive spikes on impact!” Star gushed.

Pookie said, “I want to see little ghostly mice spring from the flail to the target when Grayflame is active.”

“Make the ball fly off and around, hitting all of our enemies before returning back to its chain,” Badger suggested.

“Maybe make the face of Groetus look a little happier.” This, from Huffy.

Takoda added, “But not while in combat: then it should grow fangs and growl!”

“I think it needs to scream whenever you swing it,” Timber stated.

“I want to see how you’re going to do this so I can add some magic to my tail,” McLovin said whimsically.

And finally Beorn offered, “I really don’t care what it does, as long as I get to decide who lives and who dies.”

Ivan thought about these suggestions for a few moments before saying, “Okay, maybe with all of you helping this could happen. I’ll talk with the gods about letting me enchant Grayflame on the weapon, and you guys can help out with the other stuff.” He then turned around and walked away.

“Ooh,” Pookie replied, “I’ve always wanted to enchant a weapon.”

Wealday, Pharast 6, 4713 evening
The Spirit Road

Kali and Dasi returned from Miliwan. Kali went disguised as a monk, having cur her hair the night before, and Dasi went as himself. Additional precautions included the use of phantom steeds to quickly ride from the caravan, camped a half a mile or so out of town, and back again; plus scrolls of teleportation for emergencies; and complete back stories for who they were pretending to be.

None of it was needed, and they were able to quickly sell off all of our excess items for a reasonable amount, and to buy the items we needed at very good prices (apparently Dasi has the gift of haggle). But then maybe had they not been so cautious they would have had trouble.

We have become a paranoid lot.

I now have a new set of boots, having handed over my old Boots of the Winterlands to Ivan in favor of Boots of Striding and Springing. I also got expensive components for some of the more exotic spells that I know, but have been unable to cast for lack of materials.

And Shalelu now has her own Ring of Sustenance. She was delighted with the gift, and I am delighted that she will be up with the rest of us overnight. No more waking up in the middle of combat and walking into a wall of fire for her.

Tomorrow we enter the Spirit Forest, and at dinner tonight Miyaro explained the name. Over the millenia thousands of people have died there and many of their souls still roam the forest.

This seems like an inadequate explanation. Any city can boast the same number of deaths over the same interval of time, and yet we don’t hear of “The Haunted City of Magnimar” or the “Ghost Infested Metropolis of Korvosa.”

Something else is going on in the Spirit Forest, and given the amount of time we’ll spend traveling through it (from north to south) I suspect we’ll discover more about it than we really want to know.

Oathday, Pharast 7, 4713 evening
The Spirit Forest

We entered the forest around mid morning and before mid day we had encountered our first spirit. We had followed a wide path that led away from the road and plunged into the trees. Snow was falling gently, gathering on the branches of the spruces, firs and cedars, making for a lovely journey. And quiet too, with the snow absorbing the typical woodland sounds, and muffling the sounds of our wheels and steeds.

About ten miles in a standing stone lay toppled across the path, and so we naturally set it back up and brushed away the snow and loam.

“Forest of Spirits, 1200 miles to Minkai”

It was a way marker, and it reminded us of just how long we would be in this forest. Miyaro suggested that we leave a gift at the foot of the marker, and several of us did so. A feeling of goodwill washed over us, and a moment later a small man, no taller than my knees, walked out from the trees and bowed. He was a wizened old thing, dressed in simple robes, and several of us bowed before him. He bowed in return.

He was a forest spirit and this was his way marker.

Miyaro introduced herself, and the man said a disturbing thing, “You are not Miyaro. I know Miyaro and she does not look like you.” Miyaro said something to the little man and he made a face and replied, “I am no longer as good at recognizing faces as I once was.”

Miyaro explained our purpose in passing through the forest, and the man said he would send word of us to the other spirits. He then walked up to the way marker and merged into the stone.

Perhaps it was just my imagination, but after that the feeling that we were being watched grew throughout the day.

Oathday, Pharast 7, 4713 night
The Spirit Forest

We’ve had another meeting with a spirit — this one was a lot less cute and friendly than earlier today, but at the same time not confrontational. I guess.

We were sitting around the camp fire and Miyaro was telling us more about the forest when all of a sudden she just stopped. At the same moment Sandru said, “Do you hear that?”

A lovely humming filled the air, softly at first and then gradually louder. A shimmering figure of a young woman faded into view. She was humming and seemed to be lost in thought. She approached Sandru until she was standing (floating?) right before him, and then began to merge with him.

Olmas tried to hit the ghostly figure before it joined with Sandru, but to no avail. I tried Ghostbane Dirge, but it too was ineffectual. Ivan cast Protection from Evil on Sandru, but the ghostly form joined with him anyway.

Suddenly Sandru began to speak in Tien, telling a tale about samurai. Kali called out to Sandru and asked when he had learned Tien. “Uh, other than a few words I picked up from you folk, I don’t know any Tien. But I do remember telling a story about a samurai. Odd. I don’t know any stories about them either.”

Dasi then spoke with the spirit within Sandru. She was a famous poet and based upon her poems, Dasi realized she must have lived a hundred years ago. But she was clearly unaware of her own death. She thought the Amutatsu family still ruled Minkai, and that she was having a strange dream.

Ivan cast Dispel Magic upon Sandru and the spirit apparently left, but whether she has at long last gone to her final rest or was still wandering the forest we did not know.

Maybe this thing wasn’t harming Sandru, but maybe if we had left it alone it would have eventually displaced him altogether. It is best in situations like these not to take chances.

Fireday, Pharast 8, 4713 evening
The Spirit Forest

I have found our trip through the forest to be quite pleasant. We’ve not seen any more spirits since that first day, and we are making good time.

Ivan finished my flail and handed it back to me after dinner. I could tell right away that it was different, and my little mice friends are all in awe of Ivan.

Of course he had already impressed them as we watched him work on adding the enchantment, and a small mouse scampered out from his pack to watch as well. When I asked him about the little figure he simply shrugged and said, “I don’t know its name.”

“It must be nice to have a quiet mouse,” I said.

“Hey, look at that!” Badger exclaimed. Running around the flail’s handle was etched a troop of eight mice, each posed ready for combat.

Starday, Pharast 9, 4713 evening
The Spirit Forest

Early today we began to climb up along a broad ridge. The trees followed along from much of the way, but now they are thinning out, and we can look out on the tree tops below. It is like staring out onto a sea of needles and snow.

Sunday, Pharast 10, 4713 evening
The Spirit Forest

By mid morning we had reached the top of the ridge. The trees had all but given way to a rocky stone strewn land. Snow clung in the shadows of the larger boulders and at the foot of cliff faces, but the path was mostly clear.

Some time after noon we heard a bird calling a short distance away. This was the first animal sound we had heard since entering the forest, but Nihali swooped down to Kali’s shoulder and said, “That’s some creature pretending to sound like a bird.”

Presently a stone giant shambled out onto the road ahead and called out, “How come you to my home?”

Kali and Ivan replied in a friendly enough way, but the giant seemed intent on pressing his hostile attitude and lumbered towards us.

A moment later and a pair of small boulders landed among us. Looking around I spotted two other giants off on either side of us, tossing rocks and ducking back down behind cover.

Really? You guys are going to attack a caravan with clearly well armed guards all about it? I realize that giants aren’t the smartest of creatures, but this line of thinking takes a special kind of stupid.

As expected, they did not survive for long. Near the end one of them tried to run away, but things had gone too far by then. I’m not sure why this sort of thing makes me sad. It just seems so needless. At least we made it quick.

We followed the giants tracks back to their lair, which was a surprisingly well built stone house, and gathered everything that was useful or of value.

We continued on our way, and finally began to climb down from the ridge back into the forest just before making camp.

Moonday, Pharast 11, 4713 just past noon
The Spirit Forest

We had followed the path back down onto the forest floor the night before, and were preparing to break camp (“Only a thousand miles to go!” Timber quipped) when all of a sudden a giant white tiger crashed through the trees before us.

Our presence startled it, and it slowly approached Miyaro, stopping some thirty feet or so from her, sniffing and growling. “This kind of tiger is sacred to the Kami, “she said, “and it should not be acting in this way at all!”

Radella made some sort of soothing animal noise as she slowly approached it.

Dasi thought he detected grief in the tiger’s stance, and so I cast a cure wounds spell on it, just in case it was injured.

The tiger sniffed Radella, who was now quite near, and then bounded off into the trees. Radella followed and I was close on her heels, although some sort of force tried to hold me in my spot (where they hell did that come from?).

With my new boots I was able to keep up with the tiger, but Radella was falling behind. Ivan threw some bacon, but the tiger was not interested. This told me that it must be very stressed: I mean, come on, bacon!

We returned to the caravan, but Radella really wanted to follow the tiger, and Miyaro kept emphasizing how wrong its behavior had been. And so I went along with Radella as the tracker and Ivan came to offer support.

A half an hour on we began to smell smoke — a very subtle smell, not of an active fire, but perhaps of the dead embers of a fire long extinguished. A shifting translucent form of a woman stepped out from the shadows toward Ivan.

Ivan wisely ran away, and the woman came toward me. Beorn greeted her with a toothy, “Hi there!” to which she recoiled and followed after Ivan.

I channeled energy and the wandering wispy woman faded out from existence.

The tiger tracks led to a cave entrance. Radella entered, still speaking softly in her animal language (I had no idea she could do that), and within she found the tiger mourning over the dead figure of a small man, much like the first forest spirit we had encountered.

Ivan used Sending to Miyaro for advice, and she recommend we remove the body. Radella offered the tiger some meat, and she brought the body out, where we buried it.

Back in the caravan Miyaro said that there must be a serious problem in the forest, and that she would tell the kami what we had found.

We still have half a day for travel, and so we are finally heading out.

Fireday, Calistril 1, 4713 late morning
Caravan, Necropolis, Path of Spirits

“You can never have too many diamonds.”
— Takkad of the Shoanti

One of the things I noticed when reading through the journal’s of the Sandpoint Heroes that were available from the Pathfinder Society was that Takkad carried a lot of diamond dust and diamonds. I thought it a bit much. On their trip to the city of Xin Shalast he wrote that they brought over twenty thousand gold pieces worth of the stuff. “Seriously,” I thought, “who needs that many diamonds?”

Apparently we do. Maybe not that much (Takkad seemed obsessed with healing), but more than the meager amount we have… had. We are not fabulously wealthy like the Heroes, but it seems we should have invested more of what we did have in this crucial spell component.

I woke this morning feeling much better and sure that I would fully recover by the afternoon.

Olmas did not fare as well. I placed a most of our remaining diamond dust in an outline surrounding him, and as I cast Restoration the glittery, sparkling dust turned to ash and vanished as if blown away by an ethereal breeze.

I wondered if the process could be reversed? Start with ash and absorb life force to create diamond dust. Beorn seemed intrigued by the idea, but the others thought it best to not dwell on it.

In any event Olmas felt noticeably better, but is still in need of another casting. He’ll have to wait until we can get more diamonds. As will poor Bevelek, who remains dead.

The night had passed mostly sort of without event. Some yetis climbed atop the portable shelter Kali had used to partially obstruct the passage from Yeti-ville to the caravans, and they kept watch for most of the night. Nothing came up the tunnel from behind us, which after restoring Olmas I blocked with a make-shift wall of stone (courtesy of several castings of Stone Shape).

Kali told us some useful things about the yetis: they are aggressive, they are adapted to living in the cold and in fact radiate intense cold. We had already discovered this about them the hard way, and decided to focus on the gold door and leave the yetis for later.

Using combinations of Fly and Airwalk we crossed the chasm and approached the golden door. Upon closer examination we saw that it was a heavy wood door gilded with gold, which had been scraped away in places. A daemonic tusked skull grinned back at us from the center.

Radella looked carefully at the latch and said that it had once possessed a lock and trap, but both now were broken.

I cast Hide from Undead upon the party, after which Ivan raced back to the caravan to do the same for those left behind. When he returned Radella opened the door.

A short hall led to an octagonal room from which firelight flickered. As we gaped a dark shadowy form materialized and approached. From behind us came an unnatural screech of hatred and despair. The revenant had reawakened and was heading our way.

The shadow arrived first and touched Radella with its ghostly claws. She recoiled, looking visibly weaker, and wisely stepped back.

Sparna summoned his dwarven Spiritual Ally, which hacked at the shadow. Kali hasted us as Ivan shot arrows into the shadow.

The revenant moved through our group ignoring us and setting its pale gaze upon the shadow, which it clawed at ineffectually.

I created a Spiritual Ally to pair up with Sparna’s, and the two beings of force hammered hard on the shadow, which fled towards Olmas. Why do things always flee toward Olmas? He managed to land a solid blow with Suishen and the shadow dissipated into a swirl of smoky wisps that faded away.

The revenant dropped to the ground.

“Third time’s a charm!” Timber quipped as I reached down for the revenant’s possessions.

We used three charges from our wand of Lesser Restoration to bring those of us touched by the shadow back to full strength. Kali sent an archon lantern summoned for the fight into the octagon room to reconnoiter, and it reported back, “Bodies laying in state, not moving.” We moved in and found dark blue walls painted with red daemon faces. Atop a large blue painted stone sat a skeleton with a golden mask. The light came from a crystal lamp.

We took the time to relieve the skeleton of its accoutrements.

Sparna said the theme of eight items was symbolic of Fumioshi.

Having had a successful encounter with the shadow we decided to push on and explore the catacombs that led to the yeti king’s throne room. As expected burial niches lined the walls in the side corridors. Back in the main corridor more red faced daemonic faces were carved in the corners of the intersection leading to the yeti king.

Some distance down the corridor stood a pair of yetis with their hands out, palms up (the universal sign for, “Thou shalt not pass!”). A large area of magic lay before the corridor: another anti-life shell, making the yetis’ gestures moot.

Kali cast Code Speak and include the yetis and myself, and so we put down out weapons and approached as close as possible to parley.

A yeti opened the discussion with “You stop here.”

Kali countered with, “We mean you no harm. We simply wish to pass.”

“King say you not pass. King prophecy you come, and here you come, just as king say. King powerful.”

“We can offer your king a rich tribute for our safe passage through his halls.”

“No. King say you evil and must be destroyed. You wait there and we come get you.”

“How does your king know we are evil? We only wish to pass.”

“Not many moons ago our king become smart. Now has power stone that goes ’round his head. He say ”soon humans arrive in wagons, and we must kill.” Now here you humans are in wagons, just as king prophecy. Soon you all die.”

It was clear that negotiations were not the way past the yetis, and it was equally clear that they had signalled for a force of yetis to circle around us while these two cretins kept us distracted. We opted to move back to the lake cavern and take on the yeti force as it arrived.

Kali erected another magical shelter that blocked the narrow way into the cavern, and we used Resist Cold spells to prepare for the encounter. This slowed them down, and as the yetis began to force their way through the shelter, we began to pound them with attacks.

Yetis began to drop at a steady rate, but as the last one fell more began to squeeze through a narrow tunnel to join the fight. An aura of confusion courtesy of yours truly soon put their plans of an organized attack to rest, and as they began to retreat back down the tunnel Ivan placed a wall of Flame along their path, causing much harm and even a fatality.

Kali asked for Ivan to drop the wall of flame and sent fire elementals swarming down the tunnel and into the yetis’ living areas. The sound of yells and caterwauling told of the mayhem they were wreaking. I followed a short way down the tunnel when an ice storm struck.

Behold, our king has power to protect us. All hail king!

Hmm, ok, a spell casting yeti. I used Dispel Magic to stop the ice storm giving those of us caught in the area of effect a chance to retreat.

Or were we advancing? Sparna, Ivan and Olmas though now was a good time to press the attack, which I thought sounded reasonable. But Kali thought we should return later when we had a full complement of spells. This too seemed reasonable, especially considering we had just learned that the yeti king was a spell caster.

After an intense discussion we decided to head back to the caravan and wait for tomorrow. We are on high alert and are expecting an attack before the night (or even the rest of the day) is over.

Oathday, Abadius 3, 4713 evening
Caravan

We dropped down from the high ice this morning, which was a harrowing experience in and of itself. The day started as usual with us tediously moving along the flat plane of ice when we came upon a dip in the ice, which led down into a deep wide crevasse that snaked away to our right.

“Not this one,” Ulf called from ahead, and we passed it by. An hour later we came to another dip to our left, which we followed down. Gradually we descended as walls of ice on either side rose steadily higher. The wagons had bunched together when the walls closed in and I heard Ulf explain that the previous ice canyon ended in the Khumba Icefall, a cascade of ice that was impassible by wagon, and effectively suicide to try even on foot.

By noon we had passed out from the ice and onto solid ground. A few stunted trees sprouted from the glacial till surrounded by clumps of bunch grass and a low succulent ground cover peeped through where the wind had blown clear the snow. The caravan route passed by frozen interconnected ponds and large boulders covered by lichens of bright orange and vivid yellow-green.

In the summer this place must seem like paradise after coming down from the frozen wastes, but even in the winter it seemed to us like a garden of unsurpassed beauty. We made camp here, much to my delight.

Looking back I saw a massive wall of white and turquoise, split with with many fissures and adorned with towering pinnacles of splintered ice. It was an imposing sight, and I knew at that point that I would not be taking this way back if I ever returned.

At least there is now something that can be called daylight. Sort of. It’s more like dawn followed immediately by dusk, but the brightness and duration frows with each day we move south.

Fireday, Abadius 4, 4713 evening
Caravan

This morning I cast another restoration spell on Vancour, our sick driver, after which he announced he was ready to drive a wagon again. I suspect coming down from the ice shelf helped about as much as my spell.

Speaking of spells for assisting others, I had known for some time that every morning Ivan cast a spell with Koya and Ameiko standing nearby. A few days ago I watched more closely and realized he was using Status. Why hadn’t I thought to do this with Shalelu? I am doing so now along with Ameiko.

In addition to monitoring their well being, Status also gives an indication of distance and direction to the target, which could prove useful if Ameiko were taken again.

I then realized that the Enter Image spell would be useful in the event that either Ameiko or Shalelu went missing. I gave each of them a small statuette of myself, which I had crafted in Kalsgard, and asked them to keep in some outside pocket for easy access.

Sunday, Abadius 6, 4713 afternoon
Caravan

At noon we came upon a small cabin not far from the trail. The area around the house had a lived in look, and smoke was rising from the chimney. Several of us approached and Sparna called out a greeting. The bottom half of a dutch door opened and a sturdy looking halfling walked out.

“Oh, visitors. I wasn’t expecting to see anyone come from Ul-Angorn until later on in the year. I don’t recommend you try the ice this early, and it seems to me you could use a better guide. My name is Kobi, may I offer my services?”

Despite some grumbling from Ulf to the contrary, Kobi seemed friendly enough, and he was the first fresh face we had seen in months that didn’t belong to someone trying to kill us. Takoda and Huffy liked him right away and I agreed with them.

It took a while for him to understand that we already had a guide and that we had in fact come from across the high ice. “What, you came across in the winter! Who was foolish enough to guide you during the worst time of the year?”

We told him.

“Ulf, oh yes, I’ve heard of him. Still, you might find my services more to your liking. I for one would have recommended you wait. The winter storms have been worse this year than ever before, and I am surprised you made it without suffering losses. Or maybe you didn’t,” he said looking curiously at us.

“Oh, we encountered quite a few trials on our way here,” I replied, “there was the white dragon at the beginning, then the sylph in the storm tower, and an army of undead. But we defeated them all and made it through no worse for the wear.”

“Uh, huh, sure you did,” Kobi said skeptically.

His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when we pulled Katiyana’s severed head from a bag of holding.

We shared a congenially lunch with him, and then moved on. As Kobi reminded us (with a “Yes, yes, I already know that!” from Ulf) we had to climb back up onto the high ice after leaving Ul-Angorn, and did not want to lose our hard-earned acclimation to the altitude.

Wealday, Abadius 9, 4713 evening
Ul-Angorn

We made it to Ul-Angorn by mid day. The town is a small trading outpost that mostly serves the passing caravans in the warmer months. In the winter it acts as home base for the rugged group of area trappers. While small it provided a welcome taste of civilization after so much time in the wilderness.

Earlier we had decided on a public explanation for our unusual winter time trek across the frozen wastes: Koya was old and dying and wanted to visit Tien Sha while she still could. It seemed a reasonable enough story, and safer than revealing our true purpose.

After seeing to the needs of the caravan, we wandered into town along with Ameiko, Koya and Shalelu. Mostly we wanted a place to relax and get a hot meal and a drink or two, and maybe socialize with the townfolk. There was only one option: a pub called The Frozen Spike.

Inside the inn was warm and cosy, with a large hearth in the corner and several lamps hanging from heavy wood beams. The barkeep, a friendly lass named Gerta, bade us to sit where we liked and soon brought us food and drink.

There were a handful of other patrons, including a pair of dwarves, toward whom Sparna quite naturally gravitated.

But even when seduced by the comforts of the pub we were on guard. We knew we had been tracked by the Five Storms all of the way to the high ice, and were certain they would be looking for us to appear on the far side.

After finishing our meal Ameiko offered to play and sing, to which Gerta happily accepted. This seemed like a bad idea, and all of my friends squeaked out warnings, “She’s going to draw attention to herself!” But there was nothing I could do to stop her that wouldn’t have drawn even more attention to us.

By this time Sparna had returned to the caravan, and Ivan was outside keeping an eye on the pub’s door. Radella had blended in with the crowd, which had steadily grown during Ameiko’s performance.

Nothing happened, and as Ameiko returned to the table amidst enthusiastic applause, I began to think that perhaps we’d have a quiet stay afterall.

Some time later a man came up behind Ameiko and asked if she’d like to see some music he had written. He too was a performer and would appreciate her opinion of his work, and maybe she would want to play some of his songs. “Just come back to my home with me.”

Beorn

Much to my shock and horror, Ameiko stood and said, “Sure, I’d really like that.”

Several things then happened at once. First, Beorn began to scream, “He’s done something to her. You need to do something. Now! Do it now!” Second, I realized that the Status spell showed that Ameiko had been charmed. Finally, without thinking I put my hand on Ameiko’s shoulder and pulled her back down into her chair and tried to distract her.

But she was having none of it. “What? No, I want to go see his music. I am free to do as I like.”

The stranger eagerly repeated, “Yes, you should come with me.”

Beorn was yelling, “Do something! Do something now! Now! Do it now!” I looked around for Kali, but she was no longer there, and so I did the first thing that came into my mind and cast Hold Person on the stranger.

He froze, and Ameiko looked puzzled. My companions looked alarmed, but Beorn hissed, “Yes!” Olmas was trying to move Ameiko away, but she too had noticed my spell and was sputtering angrily, “What do you think you’re doing?” as she reached for her rapier.

I said, “He’s charmed you.” just as Ivan burst through the door shouting, She’s been charmed! Kali followed in right behind, and after glancing at the man said, “He has a transmutation aura.”

Radella appeared behind the stranger with her blade set against his back and said, “If you move you die”. Olmas moved closer in and Shalelu jumped to her feet, sword drawn.

I then lost hold of the stranger, who vanished, and in his place stood a purple ogre. Another oni!

The townfolk panicked and fell over one another, toppling chairs in their haste to get away. But Ameiko was angry at having been charmed and rushed the oni with Shalelu at her side. The ogre had no chance of surviving our onslaught, and realized its error too late. It tried to evade us by turning to mist, but Ivan immediately dispelled it, allowing Ameiko to fell it with a well placed stab. I finished it off by clubbing it to death.

Both surprisingly and disappointingly the oni had only two pieces of mediocre gear.

Olmas and Kali tried to calm the bar patrons down, and discovered that none of the townfolk had seen the stranger before that night.

Ameiko performed a second set while Kali danced to the music. This had the desired effect and the crowd settled down. I glanced over at Olmas, who was mercifully sitting quietly by. During her earlier performance Olmas had tried to sing along, but it sounded more like cows bellowing in labor than singing, and I was glad he did not join in this time.

At the end of the evening Olmas gave Gerta the ogre’s great sword to display as a memento of the event, which greatly changed her outlook on the proceedings.

Oathday, Abadius 10, 4713 late morning
Ul-Angorn

We did our usual Speak with Dead routine soon after waking.

Who were you working for?

I am an agent of the Five Winds.

How did you find out we were here?

Waiting to see if you would come.

How did you get here?

Traveled by magic.

Did you communicate our presence to others?

Yes.

The Five Winds? Was that just another name for The Five Storms?

The most significant of the oni’s answers was that our presence was now known to others, and we could expect more encounters like this as we made our way south.

The wagons were still undergoing repairs, and so we had another day to spend in town.

Several of us visited the village’s shrine to Desna, which was a simple but elegant structure. I asked if we could add a small addition to Groetus, and after some initial hesitation, the townsfolk agreed (I think they realized what a comfort Groetus’ promise of the end of times would be during the long dark hours of winter). On the back side of the temple Kali and I shaped stone into the form of Groetus’ benevolent grinning skull and inscribed simple words of comfort for the village faithful.

Moonday, Abadius 14, 4713 evening
Caravan (back on the high ice)

We climbed back up onto the high ice today. We are crossing a narrow band of the ice cap, and will only be on it for a relatively short time.

Rather than climbing up through a chasm like the one through which we came down off the ice, the ground here rose up in a mounting series of cinder cones and ridges around which the ice flowed. The trail simply led up into the highlands and onto the ice.

The smell of noxious fumes filled the air, and we stopped so I could collect samples of liquids from the steaming, bubbling noisesome pools. After we stopped for the day Radella set up our alchemical lab and was able to isolate several vials of useful chemicals:

• 1 vial sulfuric acid
• 2 vials arsenic
• 2 vials cyanide

I wondered where Etayne was and what she was up to.

Toilday, Abadius 15, 4713 mid-day
Caravan, Domagolki Forest

The caravan climbed over a pass between two peaks. The wind picked up, but the trail entered a forest which provided some protection. Unlike the trees we had passed below these were coated in a thick layer of ice, giving them an other worldly look.

We had not gone far into the forest when we spotted a pair of giant white spiders emerge from the trees, one on either side of us. Unfortunately our scouts were far out in front and to the rear, leaving a smaller crew to defend the wagons than usual.

These spiders were able to fling poisoned barbs from their limbs, and bit with a potent venom. As usual Olmas was the first to experience the venom’s effects. The battle was fierce and we were able to slay both creatures, but Sparna had been bitten multiple times and was lying unconscious by one of the wagons by the time the fight had ended.

We’ve managed to restore Olmas to normal, and to bring Sparna back from imminent danger, but he still needs additional restoration.

Radella and I worked carefully to harvest spider venom.

I think tonight Ameiko and I should cook something special for dinner using some of the fresh supplies we purchased in Ul-Angorn. Despite our victory the encounter with the spiders was unexpected, and seeing Sparna lay helpless in the snow next to a wagon wheel was demoralizing.