Wealday, Arodus 15, 4712 mid day
Ravenscraeg

We descended the stone steps into a claustrophobic narrow hallway. The mortared stone walls were wet from condensation and fuzzy from green-black mold, and the air was damp and smelled unpleasantly of soggy shoes.

“It smells like Badger’s butt!” quipped Pookie. This set of such a round of snickering from the others that I had a hard time concentrating on anything else for the next few moments.

A pair of iron bound wooden doors, one to our right and one dead ahead, lay before us.

The right door opened onto a short corridor that led to a large cavern — an underground stream crossed the corridor from left to right, effectively blocking access to the chamber beyond. On the far side was a large plank that would span the water, but we had no way to reach it.

Through the door ahead was a smaller chamber with a waterfall erupting from high up on the left wall, and then collecting itself in a pool that covered most of the floor the water flowed out to the right. Across the water was another door, next to which were a small cask and what looked like a hand bell.

We decided to check out the door to the right first, and so Etayne flew across to try and move the plank. It was too heavy for her to lift on her own, but before we could decide what to do next, a troll plodded over.

“What going on here?” it grunted in giant, which Sparna later translated for the rest of us.

“Prisoner transfer,” Sparna replied.

“Uh,” the troll grunted, clearly taxing its vocabulary as its heavy brows knit together in deep thought. “Maybe you leave for trolls to have fun?”, it asked in an almost whimsical tone.

“Orders from Runecaster,” Sparna cleverly replied. He then showed him one of the carved ravens the ninjas had been carrying.

“Uh,” again the troll replied before adding a few moments later, “Trolls not want any trouble. Carry on.”

Indeed, the troll was so confounded by the mention of Runecaster that he placed the plank over the water for us to cross. To the right was a large cavern with a massive furnace set against one wall, and a mountainous pile of coal against another. Three other trolls stood there in the gloom, looking suspiciously at us as we approached a door to our left.

Kali whispered something to Sparna, who turned to the trolls and asked, “Do you need more coal?” To which the troll, thoroughly vexed by now, bellowed, “NO MORE COAL!”

This door was locked, and none of the keys we got from upstairs worked. Fortunately Radella did not need a key, and soon the door was opened. We quickly scuttled into the room beyond and closed the door behind us.

This room was large and paneled from floor to ceiling in rich, dark hardwood. Tien style tapestries draped down over the walls from a twenty foot high ceiling. Seven straw mats lay arranged on the floor, which squeaked beneath our feet as we spread out.

But before we had a chance to discover more there was a loud blast, like a clap of thunder, and ninjas began to drop to the floor or throw spears at us from perches high upon the walls.

Ana called out, “It’s a trap!” as we engaged the enemy. Another thunderclap deafened Kali, Olmas and Lute, although the rest of us did not realize it at the time.

As we discovered before, while the ninjas were deathly quiet and deft with their actions, they were fragile and most of them quickly succumbed to the combined might of our onslaught. One of the survivors called out, “Invaders, help!” and the sound of heavy feet thudding up from behind warned us that the trolls were about to join the fray.

Fortunately the last ninja dropped just as the first troll smashed open the door. A quick Touch of Idiocy spell rendered the lead troll inert, and Kali trapped the second in an Aqueous Orb. One of the trolls in the back banged against the coal shoot and yelled, “Intruders!” but we suspected little help would come from upstairs.

Eventually the combat narrowed down in scope to a handful of fighters up front at the door bashing against the trolls who stupidly approached the narrow passageway one by one. This left the rest of us with nothing to do.

Earlier Kali had checked out the nearest northern door and found it was a simple sleeping cell, and had shoved Lute in and closed the door after him. Radella continued investigating the northern doors, and so I turned my attention to the two doors on the far side of the room.

Listening at the first door revealed nothing, and because Radella was coming this way anyway, I moved to the southern door. Again, no noise from beyond, and so I opened it.

It was an empty cell. “Empty?” I thought. “That’s just what they want you to think,” volunteered Timber.

Closer inspection proved Timber right: there was a secret door hidden in the southwest corner.

But before I had a chance to further explore our discovery, someone called out, “We need a little healing help in here! and I rushed out to see what was afoot.

It turned out that there was a ninja hiding in the cell I left for Radella to explore, but she had Olmas rushing over to help, and Ivan lobbing arrows in support. Over by the trolls I could see that one was left standing, with Sparna looking a little worse for wear.

A few channels later and Sparna had perked up and felled the troll just as one of the trolls we had “killed” earlier stood up. Kali used an acid arrow to put it down and keep it down.

Meanwhile over at the cell Ivan had put an arrow through the ninja’s eye, but not before she had stabbed Olmas with a (can you guess?) poisoned dagger. I used Delay Poison to block the effects, and by the time the spell expired the poison had too. Maybe we need to make this permanent on Olmas.

Anyway, it was time to do the usual and loot the bodies and rooms for anything valuable or useful.

By now Lute was rethinking his decision to stay with us for safety, and decided to take us up on our offer to place him in the cloak room upstairs until either we returned to him, or he decided to leave on his own. We accompanied him upstairs, and gave him two of the rope-trick grenades plus a vanish potion.

We had just shut the door to the cloak room and I was leading us back to the stairs (anxious to see what lay beyond the secret door) when an arc of lightening zapped between Sparna and I, catching must of the group in between.

“Bastard!” growled Star, “Someone is going to die for that!”

But at that moment there was the twang of a bow string, and a large raven with a red feather fell down from the rafters with a soft thud onto the flagstone floor. Ivan was holding a bow with a very satisfied look on his face. Star cooed an appreciative, “Ooh!” while Beorn cackled.

It was dead. Just like that. Ivan had been carrying the arrow of Greater Magic Beast Slaying since we found it, keeping it in an easy to reach pouch. He had quickly spotted the giant raven hovering near the ceiling above and immediately shot the damned bird, which was now laying dead at our feet.

The raven was wearing a ring of protection around its leg, which we gave to Nihali, Kali’s raven.

I grabbed the raven corpse and tossed it into the furnace as we returned to the secret door. This led to a long hallway that stretched off into the darkness. Near at hand a door opened on our left. It looked like it might lead to the other side of the waterfall room, and so I was anxious to see what lay beyond.

It was a bedchamber with lots of odd things inside. There was a bed, the headboard for which was in the shape of a daemon’s mouth, a brazier burning in a corner (and giving off the aroma of burnt flesh), and bits of torn paper and debris collected in the corners.

Radella and I had entered the room when Helgerval announced, “There is something evil beneath the bed.”

A pair of giant hands crawled out, spider-like, and launched themselves at Radella. When I say “giant hands”, I do not mean the hands from a giant, but really gigantic hands!

Radella, Olmas, Anna and I bashed the things to death, leaving the earth elemental that Kali had summoned without a job, and so she asked it to pass through the wall to the south and look for the room beyond the waterfall.

The elemental returned and described a room with a well, but no entrance other than through the door we had already seen.

Radella discovered that the daemon’s mouth head board was a secret storage area holding some scrolls and supplies.

Sparna and Ivan had gone down the hallway a little further and discovered that it bent to the left and plunged down a flight of stairs. We decided to check out the remaining unexplored room on this level before heading down.

With a rope tied around my middle (just in case) I jumped into the water and waded to the far side. I tied my end of the rope fast to the doorknob in case someone else wanted to use the rope to cross.

The item we thought had been a bell from across the water was in actuality an aspergillum — I hadn’t seen one since I left Pharasma’s temple in Magnimar. The door was locked and so I called Radella to join me. Picking up the cask I found that a key had been hidden beneath it, which unlocked the door. Radella had come across and opened the cask to find it full of a quality saki.

I opened the door. It was a circular chamber with a tiny well in the floor and a lot of fungi growing on the ceiling and walls. Upon hearing the latter Etayne flew across and pronounced they were “death hoods,” which dropped onto the heads of the unwary, suffocating them.

I filled the aspergillum with saki and entered the room, swinging it around in broad arcs, causing the death hoods to retract and melt. Then using Detect Magic I found something very magical in the wall far below.

But the well was only about a foot in diameter, and whatever was in it was fifteen feet below. Kali sent an Unseen Servant into the water to retrieve whatever it was.

The well instantly began to glow with a fierce light as a shining katana emerged from beneath the surface.

“I SENSE AMATATSU SCIONS AT LAST,” a voice boomed in our heads.

It was Suishen! Apparently Runecaster had stolen it, but could not figure out what to do with it (because Suishen refused to serve her), and so she tossed it in the well as a “safe” place to dispose of it.

Olmas reluctantly agreed to wield the sword (clearly one of us needed to), and as he grabbed it there was a moment’s pause before I heard a voice say, “You’ll do.” To be honest I wasn’t sure if this was from Suishen or Badger.

Suishen has confirmed that Runecaster is an oni in the form of a purple ogre, and I suspect that her careless discarding of Suishen will prove to be a costly mistake.

The stairs down await us, but we might need to recover spells before descending to face what might prove to be our greatest challenge yet.

Oathday, Arodus 8, 4712 evening
Ullerskad

After a day of uneventful travel we arrived in the small city of Ullerskad. It was late, and so we set up camp on the outskirts by the river (which we all now viewed with suspicion) and I made dinner. Kalsgard is a day and a half travel west from here, and because we plan to arrive in the city at sunset, we have tomorrow morning in Ullerskad to do with as we please.

As usual, Kali has a long list of must do tasks, but it feels more like a holiday than a work day to me.

Fireday, Arodus 9, 4712 evening
On the banks of the Rimeflow, one day from Kalsgard

There is a rather large temple dedicated to Gorum in Ullerskad which many of us decided to visit. It was rather austere and seemed more like a fortress than a church, but then I guess that’s what you get from a diety whose sole purpose is to encourage combat. Not good versus evil or right over wrong combat, but just combat for the sake of combat. This is rather arbitrary and cruel, and church doctrine states that when all warfare stops, Gorum will cease to exist.

Good riddance.

Next to the temple is a grove, and hanging from the trees are corpses of all kinds. We asked and found that these were sacrifices made to Gorum.

Gorum is not considered an evil god, but he is clearly cruel and heartless. Word of this place would serve no better purpose than to spread enthusiasm for Groetus and the end of the world. I spent the rest of the morning sketching what I saw to share with others as the occasion sees fit.

Kali and Sandru spent their time talking to guides and buying maps for our trek across “The Crown of the World.” Kali seems upset by the sheer magnitude of the ice over which we must cross for many leagues, and is driving herself crazy with the logistics of successfully making such a crossing… possibly in winter.

I still think we should have gone for a sea route. The shortest distance is not always the quickest, or the easiest, or the surest.

Starday, Arodus 10, 4712 evening
Bone Quarter, Kalsgard

We spent the day traveling to Kalsgard, and on the way Kelda shared some tidbits about her home.

Kalsgard is a walled city surrounded by farmlands. The region is hostile, and so the city walls are tall and thick, and farmers either return to the safety of the walls at the end of each day, or dwell in fortified manor houses.

Kalsgard is divided into districts, which the locals call “quarters” even though there are more than four. The quarters are separated by walls, but unlike the main city walls, these have been breached over the years to make travel and commerce more convenient.

The Bone Quarter is the poor section of town, but it is also where visiting caravans stay. The inhabitants look down on the people who arrive in the caravans, and so we should not expect a warm welcome.

The Jade Quarter is where the people from Tien live, who usually remain isolated in their own little part of town.

The Amber Quarter is where goods are crafted, with a large presence of skilled jewellers. Most of the citizens wear some jewelery (some more than is tasteful, I have already noticed) and each clan has its own design.

The Fire Quarter is the rowdy district, with pubs, brothels, gambling halls and such.

The Ice Quarter is the center of the city’s trade, and it is also where the Runestone sits. This large chunk of rock marks where the city of Kalsgard was founded more than 5,000 years ago.

The Horn Quarter is where the farmers live and sell their goods. Kelda gazed off into space at this point, mumbling something about “honey” in a dreamy voice.

The Oak Quarter is home to lumber mills and shipwrights. This is where Kelda’s family lives.

The Stone Quarter is a quary, and is where the stone and metal smiths live and work, but there is a temple to Torag here too.

The Ivory Quarter is the business district, which is also where the trade guilds are located.

There is an under city where much Kalsgard’s dwarven population dwell and work. Dwarves are held in high esteem here, because of their reputation as excellent smiths and their prowess in battle.

By sunset we had passed through the city gates and circled the wagons on a grassy field somewhat away from the more squalid parts of the quarter. Conflicting smells of smoke, hay, horse manure, rotting vegetation (or was it just cabbage?), and chamber pots mingled and worked their way into our clothing and hair

Sunday, Arodus 10, 4712 late afternoon
South of Kalsgard

Kelda wished us well and left for her home in the Oak Quarter along the river.

We rented rooms at an inn in the Ivory Quarter (“Sven’s Honorable Retreat”) in order to make a more favorable impression on the locals, and then went over our list of things to accomplish in Kalsgard (thanks, Kali). Etayne and Ana remained in the Bone Quarter to guard the caravan.

We needed to find the person to whom Ameiko’s grandfather had sold the family sword. Fortunately we have a name (Fyn Snaevald) whom we can ask after around the trade guilds. Kali and Sandru would do this, but first Ameiko insisted on going to the Jade Quarter to… I don’t know, mingle?

This seemed like a bad idea and a waste of valuable time, but Kali and Olmas accompanied her on her social call. And while Ameiko did take the precation of changing her appearance via a magic ring, an ever growing flock of ravens followed her around wherever she went. Eventually she admitted defeat and returned to the inn, where she sulked in her room.

Kali was now free to go with Sandru to the Ivory Quarter to find out about Flyn.

Radella and Sparna had taken off early to check out the Under City, and snoop about town to see what they could find.

Spivey and Koya seemed to think we were on vacation, and went into the market to shop. Ivan went along as an escort, but did not seem overly thrilled.

Shalelu and I went to the Fire District to investigate the armbands our attackers had worn.

The Fire Quarter was clearly best seen at night, when darkness hides the ugly sorted truth and warm lamp light casts everything and everyone with a healthy and inviting glow.

In the harsh bright light of day the reality was far less welcoming. Dirty and often hastily constructed buildings crowded in upon one another, creating a tangled warren of cobbled passageways, and leaning drunkenly against each other. The predominant smell was from the vomit and urine that coated the lower walls and slushed out onto the pathways.

But the bars were still open for business, and stepping over the slumped form of a man sleeping off the excesses of the night before in the doorway, we entered one such fine establishment.

It was dark within, for there were no open windows, and a smokey fire provided the only light and thankfully masked the most offensive of the quarter’s aromas. We sidled up to the bar and ordered drinks.

I put a silver coin on the counter to pay for the drinks, and followed that with its gold cousin, upon which I kept my finger. This caught the eye and interest of the barkeep, and I drew forth an armband.

“I found this on the bank of the river some days ago, and want to return it to its owner.”

The man looked a little startled, and stuttered, “Th, th, that’s the symbol of Asvig Longthews. He has a lot of men, and each wears that armband.” He then lowered his voice, as if realizing he shouldn’t be heard talking so freely about such things, and offered, “He’s a powerful chieftain in these parts and is best left alone.”

He would say no more to us about Longthews or anything else, and so we left and worked our way over to a higher end of the quarter.

From the outside “The Lustful Gnome” was relatively clean, and so I asked Shalelu, “What about this one?” She cast a scornful glance at the garishly painted sign depicting a gnome peeping through a window, with one hand down his trousers and the other making a lewd gesture, and replied, “Sure, this is just the sort of place where I want to spend my morning.” Takoda quipped an encouraging, “Perfect!”, and we went in.

The bar stretched along the entire length of the entry hall, at the end of which steps led up to the private chambers above. A few bleary eyed locals were sitting at one end and a dwarf snored loudly at the other. We took a pair of stools in the middle, and I immediately set out two gold coins.

“What’ll ya have?” asked a dapper little man with a towel draped over one arm, eyeing the gold eagerly.

Quietly I replied, “We need to return something to Asvig Longthews, but do not know where he lives.”

The dapper man hesitated, and from the dwarf end of the bar came a tremendous roaring loud greasy honk of a fart. Shalelu whispered urgently in my ear, “We really want to move this along a little faster…”

I put another two coins on the counter, and our well dressed server quietly said, “His estate is about a two hour walk south of town.” and the coins vanished into his vest pocket.

We made good our escape, just in the nick of time judging from the groans and shouts of protest from the patrons as the noisome cloud of dwarven effluent filled the bar.

We all met up back in our rooms at Sven’s, where we exchanged news. Kali and Sandru had found where Flyn lived (and Kali had apparently established a contract between her family’s trading company and a local guild). Radella and Sparna found nothing of interest in the Under City, but while wondering about they noticed a boy keeping a watch on Koya and her party.

When captured, the would be spy said he had been paid to leave notes about our activities in a rain barrel on a specific corner. When Ivan and company checked, the barrel was gone.

Ivan then shot an evil grin my way and said, “We went shopping for clothes, and we got you something too!” He pulled out a pair of trousers and a blouse of purple and green. My first thought was to reject these outright, but Pookie chimed in, “Ooh, what bright colors. People will pay attention to you when you wear those while teaching about Groetus.” Great idea! I enthusiastically accepted the clothes, and thanked Koya, Spivey and Ivan for thinking of me.

We needed to get to Flyn’s before whoever was watching us did, but at the same time we did not want to lead Koya or Spivey into a dangerous situation. Olmas agreed to accompany them back to the caravan and exchange places with Etayne. I think he was missing his horse. We also sent word to Kelda that she was being watched and in danger.

When she arrived Etayne told us an interesting story of her morning. A man came over and warned her that we were being watched, and that word had spread about the quarter describing each of us and offering coin in exchange for news of our actions. She gave him some gold coins, and he agreed to return with more information about the people asking after us. She hid in an out of the way spot waiting, but the man never returned.

We made our way to Flyn’s house, but a few blocks away an old blind beggar croaked, “They know who you are and they are coming for you.” We asked him what he meant, and he said that someone paid him (using Menkai coins) to say that line when someone who smelled like cabbage came by.

I took a quick sniff and looked at Etayne. “What? When I was hiding in the Bone District I must have ducked behind a cart of cabbages.” Timber unhelpfully added, “And I thought that dwarf smelled bad.”

The good news was that Flyn was still alive after all these years (and after all we had encountered today) and he remembered buying the sword from Ameiko’s grandfather. The sword’s name was Avril’s Hammer, and he purchased items like that to sell to collectors. But this sword was special, and he kept it above the mantle place.

We looked at the indicated spot to see hooks where a sword had once hung, and turned expectantly back to Flyn. Just two weeks earlier someone had broken into his house while he was out, killed all of his servants, and stole the sword. One of his servants was barely alive when he returned, but the only thing he said was, “Pay the lion’s due!” before dying.

We mentioned that we suspected Asvig Longthews was behind it, and Flyn replied that if it were true, then he was within his rights to claim blood vengeance against Asvig. Apparently this legally (or at least socially or culturally) allows one to take the law into ones own hands when someone has done you great harm (and refuses to compensate you).

Flyn said if we brought him Asvig’s head (and the sword), he would give us the sword.

And because Asvig sent his men to slay us, we too held this right against him, which pretty much meant we could deal with Longthews as we saw fit. And no time was better than the present, so we thanked Flyn and returned to the caravan to gather Olmas and Ana.

Kelda was waiting there for us with a gift. She thanked us for the warning (she had thought she was being watched), and once again thanked us for saving her life in Brinewall and accompanying her home. She bowed, turned and walked off.

[256] scabbard. Once per day when a sword is drawn it receives an attack & damage bonus:
+1 for 10 rounds
+2 for 5 rounds
+3 for 3 rounds
+4 for 1 round

On our way south we noticed that a flock of ravens was following us. Kali’s own raven, Nihali, said they were just a family of ravens. It was odd that they were following us, but she could neither see nor sense anything wrong or unusual about them.

Unusual or not they were clearly spying on us for some purpose, and this would not do for what was supposed to be a stealth mission. We casually walked up to a tree where most of the ravens had come to roost, and I set off a Sound Burst in their midst. A few arrows later and the flock had dispersed, with the ravens flying back to Kalsgard.

The road led right to Asvig’s estate, which we could see through the trees some distance ahead. We approached it from the woods on our left, and could see a large house had been built in a clearing, which was surrounded by a ring of large and tall wooden posts. At the top of each was carved the head of a lion, much like the ones on the armbands.

We discovered that a magical trap was set upon each post, with the space in between acting as a trigger. We debated various ways of getting past when Sparna pointed to where the road passed through the ring. A symbol had been drawn on the ground, but had been brushed away… but hastily, by someone in a hurry, and so much of the rune was still visible.

I have sketched the rune on some paper, and we think we can redraw it when we want to enter the circle. But that will wait until after dusk. From where we are hiding we could hear the sounds of a riotous party well underway, but we want the cover of darkness before moving in.

Oathday, Erastus 19, 4712 afternoon
Brinewall Castle

I feel chilled to the bone.

We are under the castle, in some vast natural cavern, and below us, deeper in, lies the gory remains of our foe. Our victory came at a cost, at least for me, and the weakness, or sickness, or whatever it is that the bloated flying thing set to work against me is slow to pass.

Just a few hours before we were out in the bright sunshine, heading toward the wooden structure that leaned against the northern wall inside the castle bailey. By tacit agreement I would open the door, and Sparna would step inside.

“Spiders,” he called out, “and something else… I think it’s an ettercap.”

We mostly held back, waiting for them to come to us, but Etayne was overly enthusiastic and charged past our front line. She received some venomous bites as a reward. Quickly we killed the spiders and their keeper. Back out in the sun Etayne looked a bit sick, and her skin had a greenish pallor. Ivan handed her a portion of Lesser Restoration, which she quaffed.

With all of the above ground parts of the castle explored it was time to descend to the castle basement, and we chose the stairs in the troglodyte room as our point of entry. Once again Sparna led the way down, with me at his back, and after a turn there was a closed door, which Sparna opened.

In the flickering shadows from my light I could see a large dining hall full of troglodytes, who were just finishing up lunch. They advanced, and we backed up the stairs with the intent to lure them singly into the room above where we could set upon each en masse.

Kali whispered, “I have an idea… let me known when Sparna has cleared the steps. This should be good.” A moment later I heard her complete a spell, the result of which was that the first troglodyte slipped on the now greasy stairs and fell back down among his companions. Others attempted the climb, and many of them slipped and fell as well. One made it into the room, and was summarily killed.

We all had a good laugh, but the troglodytes retreated back down the stairs, and in fact fled back into an inner chamber, where they joined with more of their kind, and their leader.

Upon hearing the tactical details of the situation, Kali and I glanced at one another and grinned. This briefly took me back to happier times when we were girls growing up together in Sandpoint, always on the prowl for mischief; hatching silly plans and working together as one to see them out.

Using a combination of Obscuring Mist, Sound Burst, and Color Spray we made a significant dent in the health and morale of our confined opponents.

Suddenly a very large Sparna (a seven foot high dwarf?!) ran past us through the mist and into the room. The rest of us followed and within a minute all of the troglodytes, including the rather largish leader (whom Sparna had hewn in half), were dead.

Kali and Ivan had explored the adjacent room while the fighting was underway, and discovered an armory with useful items, which when combined with the troglodyte leader’s magic morning star provided us with a valuable haul.

[231] bone dice
[232] +1 cold iron morning star (from troglodyte leader)
[233] half plate
[234] master work heavy steel shield
[235-238] heavy crossbows
40 crossbow bolts
[239] case: 10 flasks of Alchemists Fire

We returned to the dining room and after Radella determined the wide double doors were neither locked nor trapped, we opened them and entered the castle’s kitchen complex. The floor was dusty, and a regular trail of prints led to one off to our right. Doors were set in all of the walls.

I sniffed the tracks on the floors and could easily tell that both troglodytes and ogres had passed through. We opened the first door on the right and saw the stairs that led down from the ballroom. A set of double doors next to the stair door led to a large circular room with a cistern in the center, flanked by four columns. Another pair of double doors was east, but they were closed and so we returned to the kitchen.

The door in the eastern wall led to a natural cavern.

The door to the north opened to a small hallway that ended with another door, but it was locked and Radella was called over. After a few moments of fiddling with the mechanism she grunted, took off her pack and pulled out a complex set of tools carefully wrapped in a leather pouch. She quietly worked nearly half an hour before I heard a soft click followed by a snort of triumph from Radella. She opened the door, beyond which was a large natural cavern with stalactites and stalagmites reaching down and up toward one another. Sparna and I wandered through the cavern, where I found what looked like a secret door cleverly hidden in the west wall. Radella once again spent some quality time with the lock, but in the end it yielded to her skillful fingers. She opened the door, which lead to a natural cave.

We followed this tunnel to its entrance on the shore of the northwest corner of the peninsula upon which the castle was built. There were no signs of recent activity here, and so we went back to the kitchen, locking the door behind us.

The western door was also locked, and this too took Radella some time to pick. Beyond this door was a passageway leading down.

Before moving on to another level we thought it prudent to finish exploring this one, and so we returned to the cistern and I listened at the door and heard the sound of large creatures snoring loudly. We arranged ourselves for a quick and quiet entry, and I thrust them open.

The room was a dungeon/cell complex that had been converted into a torture chamber, and two ogres were slumped against one another near the far wall. The larger one opened an eye and grunted, “You not supposed to be here.”

Really? How could it know that? I figured it couldn’t and with a little fast talking managed to bamboozle him into thinking we had been sent down to offer them something to eat. We were getting along famously when an arrow whizzed by my ear and stuck into the ogre’s chest. It looked stupidly at the quivering shaft sticking out from its shirt before yelling loudly at its companion to wake up.

Apparently Ivan was bored by the conversation and decided to initiate the inevitable sooner rather than later.

It was a short fight, made all the more short by a Hold Person cast by yours truly upon the larger ogre, who had just been hexed by Etayne. The smaller ogre lasted a few seconds longer before tottering over on its side and releasing a large volume of gas, and judging by the dark stains on its trousers, it had released the contents of its bladder and bowels as well.

Looking around the chamber we saw a woman’s pale blank face staring out from one of the cells. She was tall and blond and had the physique of a warrior. We asked her a number questions — all at once, which seemed to overwhelm her. I pointed at a nearby pile of rather nice looking adventuring gear and asked if that was hers. She nodded, and as Radella unlocked the cell door (the large ogre had the key) I indicated she should take her equipment.

She seemed to relax some after that, and said her name was Kelda Oxgutter. She and some friends had come down from the north (Kali seemed to know the kingdom from which she came, naturally) to see if there was anything left to plunder in the castle. They got down to the basement level before being overwhelmed. Her friends had been killed, but she had been knocked out and locked up.

She was suffering from some sort of stigma about not falling in battle, but when Ivan and I agreed to accompany her back to her home once we were done with the castle, she perked up a little and agreed to help us. Star in particular was happy to have another fighter on board, and passed on her appreciation to Kelda, who for some reason seemed confused. Maybe she does not like mice — it takes all kinds.

One of the ogres had been carrying a few interesting odds and ends in a sheep stomach pouch, which we took.

[240] master work dagger (Kali)
[241] elemental gem: when crushed, smashed or broken a large earth elemental appears under the control of the breaker
shiny river rocks
77 gp
sheep stomach pouch

The northern door opened onto an east/west natural corridor, which led back to the kitchen to the west, and on to a small chamber hewn from the rock to the east. An intricate iron screen blocked the way east, in the center of which was a door with the painted image of Pharasma upon it. Peering through the screen I could see a crypt, with the ceiling partially collapsed at the far end.

The door was locked, but the iron key from the lighthouse unlocked it, and we walked through. Alcoves lined either side of the crypt, but the sarcophagi had been toppled over and smashed, and the bodies were missing. Where the ceiling had collapsed was an opening to a vast natural cavern, and the missing walls from two of the southern alcoves led down into the space.

I had walked down a short distance when Kali called me back.

There, hovering in the large opening of the crypt was an image of Pharasma — exactly the same as the painting on the door. This seemed too much of a coincidence, but I felt it best to be cautious, and so I bowed and asked, “What may we do for you, my lady?”

“This place is holy to Pharasma. Lay down your weapons and enter the cavern below in peace.”

This seemed an odd request, and when I pressed her for details she responded with some sort of twisted dogma that might fool some people, but it was clear to me this was an imposter.

“This is not Pharasma,”, I stated matter of factly and strode out of the chamber and into the cavern below. The image blustered on with some sort of reply, but I heard Kali say, “Bullshit!” and she came down by my side. Most of the others soon joined us.

It was not dark. There were odd speckled motes of light drifting through the air, like dust lit by a sun beam, and these illuminated the cavern in a dream like haze. The walls were covered in paintings of four winged humanoid shapes. Pazuzu again!

Kali was scanning the ceiling, as if looking for something specific (she later explained how the Illusion spell worked) and grabbing my arm she quietly whispered in my ear, “There, circling that large stalactite, that’s our foe!”

A large, shadowy creature that looked like a ten armed octopus drifted among the shadows of the irregular ceiling.

The thing rippled and we were blasted by an Unholy Blight. I cast Cause Fear upon it, which angered it enough to drop down and touch me, bleeding off some of my health. Star and Beorn snarled with fury, while the rest of my friends offered soothing words.

Kelda was standing near enough to slash it with her long sword, but the creature’s wound immediately healed.

Kali summoned an archon lantern (I didn’t know she could do that!), and it began to shoot shafts of light at the creature, which roared wrathfully in pain.

Others shot arrows or threw weapons at it, but it was difficult to tell if these attacks were doing much, if any damage.

I struck it with Touch of Idiocy, and it was not happy. It sent a Scorching Ray back at me, but Sparna shoved me aside and the rays hit him instead.

It was clear thing did not like light, but it also seemed vulnerable to anything with a divine relationship. Its focused attacks on me also implied this same weakness. I called out, “Use divine magic, or call upon the faith of your diety to aid in your attacks.”

The creature swooped in again, and I bashed it with my flail, the ball of which served as my primary holy symbol to Groetus and was glowing with divine light. The beast screamed in agony as my companions acted similarly, and it retreated to the ceiling, calling out, “Father, help me! Pazuzu!”

I recast Sound Burst centered on the creature, and it exploded in a blast of ichor and pulpy flesh.

Unfortunately the affliction caused by the thing’s touch continued to work its way upon me for a while longer, and my health and resistance to illness felt depleted somewhat. Drinking a Lesser Restoration potion has helped some, but I am not fully recovered. Perhaps when we return to the cemetery tonight Spivey can offer assistance.

Wealday, Erastus 18, 4712 evening
Brinewall Cemetery

After our encounter with the bat we explored the eastern battlements where Radella found a secret door leading into the armory. Where to go next?

There were several stairways leading down to the main level, and one leading up in the large tower. Up seemed like the better option (there could only be so much up, whereas down presented us with the entire castle plus whatever lay beneath), and so I led the way back to the tower and up the stairs.

The top of the tower was a library, with shelves lining the wall and a door leading out to a small balcony. Sitting in a large nest off to one side was a harpy. She had been perusing a book, which lay open before her, as I entered, and although startled, she looked more curious than menacing, and smelled oddly of washed linen and ashes.

She beckoned for me to approach, and remembering the lessons on diplomacy from the Temple of Pharasma, I moved forward, and she reached out and touched my arm.

“Greetings, I am Zaiobe, and I can communicate in this way when we make physical contact.”

Her voice was soft like the wind through reeds, but she did not speak aloud — instead her words formed directly in my mind as she thought them. Telepathy!

She wanted to know who we were and why we were here, which, judging from the whispers of my friends on the stairway, was what we were keen to learn from her.

I explained that a friend was sick, and that we were sure the source of her illness resided in Brinewall Castle. We had volunteered to explore the castle and find and eliminate the cause of her affliction.

In turn, Zaiobe replied that she was an oracle, and had lived here for some time, but the castle was already occupied by the corbies when she arrived. She kept mostly to herself in the library, studying. It was clear she thought little of the bird-men, and seemed unaware (and unconcerned) of their reason for being here.

“However,” she replied coyly, there is a favor I would ask of you that could be to our mutual benefit. My lover, Kikonu, has become an insufferable boar, and I wish to be rid of him for good. He commands the corbies and appears to have some greater goal for being in the castle. Help me kill him and I shall leave you alone to do as you will in the castle so long as you leave me in peace.”

I asked what sort of being was Kikonu, and she replied that he was an outsider who took the form of a red skinned human with black wings, but he also could assume the shape of a giant raven with humanoid arms and legs.

“He sounds like a daemon,” I said thoughtfully. “Some call his kind that, yes,” she replied. “Where did he come from?” I asked.

“In far off Tien, when mothers wish to frighten their children into obedience, they speak of Kikonu. When the solitary traveler looks anxiously over his shoulder, it is Kikonu he fears to find. Many years ago he came here from his native land on some mission which he will not reveal even to me. He has dealings with those who dwell beneath the castle, and he organizes the corbies and other, equally offensive beings to guard the upper levels.”

“So was that his play in the room below?”

“Yes!” she spat out with obvious contempt and loathing. “This is what he has become. A weak minded fool who imagines himself the king of the corbies! Who but a dullard would even think of such a thing, must less desire it for himself? He spends all of his days writing that insipid play of his, and then organizing performances of the latest scenes with the corbies… and forcing me to watch. You can see why I must be rid of him, surely?”

“I can see how you would want him gone, but please don’t call me Shirley.” She didn’t get it.

I explained to my companions what Zaiobe had suggested, and we agreed to help her kill Kikonu (something we would clearly have to do on our own if we did not help). She suggested that we hide ourselves in the derelict inn just down the road from the castle gates. She would arrive after we were there, and call Kikonu to her. We would all attack once he entered.

And that is basically how it played out. We hid at the inn and Zaiobe arrived a short time later. She called Kikonu, and before too long we heard him walking up the road toward the inn. He had four corbies in tow, but he was the main threat.

He entered the inn, gushing about the latest scene he and the corbies had been rehearsing, and how she was really going to enjoy watching their performance.

He was in his bird form, and he was wielding a scythe at the end of a chain (which Kali later identified as a kusaragama). Ivan drew first blood with a shot using one of the evil outsider bane arrows we had found earlier. Sparna pressed the attack up close, taking a hit himself in the exchange.

“Beware my dear, there are enemies lurking here. Kill them!” he screamed.

Olmas charged in and contributed to his discomfort. The corbies began to enter the fray, but we were ready for them and I quickly cast Cause Fear on one, which fled. Etayne kept another corby at bay in the kitchen.

Zaiobe then shot Kikonu with a flaming burst arrow, which caught him by surprise. It suddenly dawned on him that she had lured him into a trap, and shaking with rage he shrieked, “You!” and teleported to her side.

We adjusted to his unexpected move, and the fighters charged in again. I channeled energy to heal my friends, while Kali Color Sprayed two corbies, who dropped.

And then quite unexpectedly, the remaining corby charged Olmas, dropping him to the ground. Radella returned the favor, and the corby also dropped.

Zaiobe clawed at Kikonu, who fell to the floor. Sparna removed Kikonu’s head while Ivan and Etayne took care of the unconscious corbies. I used a Cure Light Wounds spell to revive Olmas, who still required additional healing to set him to rights.

I asked Zaiobe if we could take Kikonu’s gear in payment for helping to slay him, and she agreed. But she had a queer look in her eye that made me feel uneasy. Kali picked up on this right away and suggested we haul Kikonu’s body outside and search it for valuables there.

[218] Dancing Wasp, +1 kusaragama: it makes a shrill whistling sound in
battle. Once per day the wielder can summon a giant wasp to follow
orders for as long as the kusaragama is kept swinging (max 5 rounds)
[219] small leather pouch
[220] 4 vials of ink
[221] 5 shiny pearls
[222] dark-wood and silver disk etched with an image of Brinewall with the
sun shining upon it (could not be identified: transmutation magic)

Zaiobe announced that she was returning to her rooms, and we told her we would meet her in the library the next morning. She flew off, and the arced gracefully around and began to shoot arrows at us.

This seemed so stupid and so short sighted that I did not understand it. We had just handily defeated Kikonu and four of his minions, and yet she thought to attack us on her own?

We scattered, with those capable of shooting ranged weapons doing so. I helped, but I am not very skilled with weapons of this sort, and my primary contribution was not shooting my friends.

Eventually, as predicted, Zaiobe’s arrow riddled body plunged to the ground with a bone crunching thump! We looted her body.

[223] potion of Cure Moderate Wounds (Sparna)
[224] potion of Cure Moderate Wounds (Radella)
[225] chain shirt
[226] +1 composite longbow (STR12) (Ivan)
[227] wood holy symbol of Pazuzu (wood)

We returned to the cemetery and met with Spivey. She happily healed Anna and Olmas, reading from a pair of tiny little scrolls. Kali sent Nihali back to the caravan with an update on what we had encountered.

Oathday, Erastus 19, 4712 mid day
Brinewall Castle

We returned to the castle early this morning and went directly to Zaiobe’s library. There we found a handful of interesting tomes, but of more immediate importance was a set of blueprints for Brinewall castle. Using these we could see that we had explored the entire upper tier, which left the main level and whatever lies beneath. Unfortunately other than showing a handful of tantalizing stairways leading down, the plans provide no clue as to what is below the ground level.

Following the tower stairs all of the way down we entered a tumble down room of broken furniture. As we descended the stench intensified, triggering a severe gag reflex in many of us. Moving stupidly about the room were a quartet of troglodytes. At least that explained the stench.

Those of us near the lead quickly rushed in to make room for the others still on the stairs. The trogs moved in and the bashing party began. One of them seemed to realize that they were out numbered and, opening a door, yelled for help (so I was later told by Kali, who speaks draconic). Soon they were all dead.

The door through which the troglodyte had yelled led to stairs heading down. A door to the west opened onto a ruined barracks in which a large lizard was kept. The lizard lunged at us and was killed.

To the northeast a door opened onto a room full of troglodytes. All of them were sleeping, making an awful racket and smell with their snores, burps, farts, and various other bodily emissions. We crept in, and by the time they realized they had unwelcome guests they were already well along the path towards death.

A large hall was beyond the final door out from the tower chamber. Columns supported a high ceiling, and a red carpet led from a pair of double doors to the southwest to a throne at the northeastern end. Oddly enough, fresh splashes of blood were splattered on the floor nearby.

I led the way across the hall to a small door, behind which was a hall with a door on either side. To the west was a washroom and latrine. To the east was a wide hall with columns supporting the ceiling. The ruins of cages lined the walls and a massive heap of rotting carcasses and refuse was piled up in the center. Perched atop this mound of carrion was a female ogre-kin, shoving fist fulls of rotting flesh into her mouth.

We ran in and placed ourselves around the dim witted creature. She blinked and looked about before cackling, “You has disturbed my dinner. Oh, but you has half-elvsies. They is not as tasty as elvsies, but halfsies is close enough!” She smacked her lips, belched and descended from her throne.

She died surprisingly quickly.

[223a] +1 flail
140gp (in a small sack with “rent” written on it)

We returned to the main hall and Radella opened the double doors to the lower level of the ballroom. Bloodstains (old, not like those we found in the hall) coated the walls, and the same deep gouges we had seen in the upstairs armory were here too.

As I was sketching the layout of the room it became clear that it was not symmetrical. The columns were not centered in the room, and consulting the blueprints it seems that budget cuts may have reduced the size of the room after construction had begun.

Stairs leading down were behind a small door to the west, and a pair of double doors were east. Through these were another pair of double doors directly ahead, and small doors to the north and south. The two smaller doors opened onto rubble strewn storage rooms, with another door in the far end of the room to the north.

Searching the rubble we found some useful items.

[224a] case with 20 masterwork cold iron arrows
5 Sparna
5 Ana
5 Radella
5 Olmas
[225a] +1 flaming burst arrow (wrapped in red silk) (Ivan)

I paused and listened at the double doors.

“Oh you are so pretty, but then I love elves — they have such a natural beauty about them. I do hope you will be happy here. Now let’s see, I have already introduced you to my half ogre and half orc…”

It sounded like an elf was being held captive, and so I swiftly opened the door and moved in. It was an oddly shaped long room, filled with all sorts of creatures and humanoids (including humans). But they were not living… and they had been altered in unusual ways and posed in bizarre positions.

Something very small and elf-like (but with twitching antennae) stood before me.

“Oh, hello. I am Buttersnips, the castle’s resident artist. What do you think of my work?” And here he… she… it waved its tiny little hands about, gesturing proudly at the monstrous examples of taxidermy. But worse was still to come.

“Now this elf, she is my most recent work, and she is a masterpiece! I am sure she appreciated how I transformed her. I take great pride in the fact that I keep all of my subjects alive as I work on them so they can see how beautiful I have made them. But the elf, well now, she really is something special, don’t you agree?”

That was all we needed to hear. Kali cleverly coated the thing in Glitterdust just before it moved like a blur to one side of the room and grabbed a sword. “I hate glitter!The fighter closed in and began to pummel the thing, which once again moved as a blur out and into the hall, but Ivan shot it with an arrow and it dropped.

[226a] 5 doses of spider venom (identified by Etayne)
[227a] short sword

Etayne said it was a quickling, and that we were very fortunate that Kali covered it with glitter or we would not have had a chance to see it (much less hit it) because they flitter about so fast.

Etayne and I next explored the outside area beyond the northern store room. There was a weedy courtyard that had at one time been a garden, and a murky pond slimed with algae. Etayne poked the water with her spear and a giant beetle clambered out. We wisely retreated back through the door, closing it behind us.

Those with ranged weapons raced up the ballroom stairway and out onto the wall, where they shot arrows at it. Olmas and I ran out and around to get to the door on the opposite side of the courtyard where we could attack the massive beetle from the other side. Olmas was anxious to join in and kept getting in my way. By the time I finally opened the other door, the bug had been slain.

The others joined us and we moved on to the circular chamber beneath the armory. Opposite the stairs from above were stairs leading down. This stairwell had been sealed off by a door, but the door lay in fragments.

A short hall was to the south with rooms off either side, each with its door hanging on its hinges. The west room was an office where another set of stairs came down from the upper level.

We heard something moaning in the eastern room, and quickly backed out as a shambling mockery of a man lumbered out after us. It wore a dragon shaped helm and the blood stained remains of half-plate — it was a wight. It bore a long sword but rather than swing it it simply reached out with boney fingers and touched me. A wave of cold ran through me emanating out from the spot where the wight had made contact, and I realized we needed to slay it quickly or face dire consequences. Another wight came out from the room, moaning as it advanced upon us.

Mercifully I was surrounded by friends, and we swiftly killed both wights.

[228] +1 long sword
[229] dragon helm
[330] pieces of half-plate

Kali recognized the helm as the traditional helmet of the captain of the guard at Brinewall Castle.

There was a desk in the room where the wights had been, and a number of interesting papers were in the desk. But the most interesting was a letter sitting on top of the desk: an account of the attack on the castle written on the very night of the attack, but unfinished.

Kali took great interest in these papers, and has been reading through them as I have been writing this entry. Apparently the corbies had attacked the castle before. In fact the castle itself may have been built upon and underground dwelling of corbies (and other creatures), who broke through some time before the final attack on the castle. They had been driven back into the depths and the hole sealed up, but it seems pretty clear to me that they returned, but now they were in the company of some powerful allies.