as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Toilday, 12 Pharast

Giants, tigers and bears. Oh my!

Well, no bears as of yet.  But hobgoblins.  For a feared and uninviting forest, this area sure seems to have a lot of things that “do not belong.”

We were carefully and reverently going through the Spirit Forest when we heard a commotion up ahead.  Slowing, we approached cautiously.  Ivan, Qatana, and Kali went ahead to see what the ruckus was about.  Ahead, a band of hobgoblins appeared to have attacked a wagon.  It wasn’t immediately clear how many of each there was, but it was a pretty good bet that Ivan, Qatana, and Kali would help the non-hobgoblin side.

They called back to us as Ivan shot four arrows, Qatana caused some snakes to appear, and Kali cast Slow on as many of the hobgoblins as she could.  I told Suishen to flame up but was wary that this could be a distraction for an attack on our own caravan.  Haven’t we gotten paranoid lately!?  Radella had the same thought, and fired off a couple of arrows herself before quickly moving to the rear of the caravan to watch for an attack circling back around.

Meanwhile, the hobgoblins were now not only fighting what was left of those on the wagon, but us as well, and we weren’t doing too badly.  Ivan pulled a surprise move, using telekinesis to grab one hobgoblin and throw him back near us. I moved up and skewered him and Kasimir chewed on him.  A web appeared, courtesy of Kali. Ivan finally moved in closer, and, convinced nothing else was coming in, Radella moved closer to.  I stayed to guard Ameiko’s wagon, but it didn’t take too long for the others to finish off the hobgoblins.

Suishen was, of course, pleased with my staying close to Ameiko, but my duty lies also with the remainder of the party.  Nothing ill happened this time, but the whole series of events has caused me to think hard about my duty to Ameiko and my duty to the rest of the party.

And then they found a small, purple hairedo person who hesitantly identified himself as Zosimus.  He was an alchemist-for-hire that was now an alchemist-with-no-employer, thanks to the hobgoblins.  All he really wanted, at this point, was to survive getting out of the Spirit Forest.  His abilities in dealing with potions (and other things contained by flasks) seems uncanny.  It would seem he’ll be joining us for at least part of our journey.  He gave Qatana a flask of cure light wounds. and she seemed to take a shine to him.

I suppose that because he’s a purple haired gnome, he seems less threatening than the mysterious Dasi.  But while it’s taken some time for us to warm to Dasi, Zos (as he told us we could call him) seems to be more readily accepted. Maybe it’s his small stature – he’s what, maybe three feet high?? – but I mean, c’mon, the man needed a shielded and armored wagon to do his work safely.  How can that not seem threatening?

Oh, and since he IS coming along, his standard-issue-armored-wagon would slow us down if we brought it as-is.  So we’re going to take the rest of today, and a good chunk of tomorrow to improve his undercarriage and make the wagon itself faster (and smoother – judging from Zos’ description of how he works, I suspect this is not a wagon we want jostled around!).

Wealday, 20 Pharast

It had been an uneventful week or so when, around midnight or so, Dasi called out.  Another spirit had appeared and seemed to want to move with Dasi, who was showing off his dance moves in simply eluding the spirit.  His avoidance (and no doubt Ivan’s mass cure light wounds) made it angry, and it eventually turned its attention to Kali – not really a better choice if it was looking for acceptance and flowers.  (Maybe origami flowers …)  Qatana’s use of positive channelling and greyflame finally made it fade away.

Of course this happened during the one two hour period I’m scheduled to sleep each night, so I barely had a chance to wake up, stand up, and grab Suishen before it was all over.  But I don’t think swords are how you defeat these shades anyway.

Sunday, 25 Pharast

This morning started with an interesting question for Miyaro. “How do you move through the Spirit Woods without running into all these spirits?”

You might as well have asked one of us “Why do you have two arms but tend to favor one?”  It was apparent this was a question she’d neither been asked before, nor spent any time pondering on her own.  She finally responded, “I just don’t – they don’t – it hasn’t really been a problem.  I’m known here.”

I don’t know if that question guided her thinking today, but by about midday she had led us to a clearing … an unusually quiet clearing.  The treetops here blocked the sunlight, but a feeling of … restfulness seemed to emanate from it.  What appeared to be a gate marked the entrance to it, while dense underbrush seemed to provide an enclosure around it.  With the sunlight blocked, the clearing was never brighter than twilight during the day.  The gate seemed wide enough to admit the wagons.

It would be unusual for us to stop this early in the day, but the place seemed to be a safe haven in a land where we’d seen none yet.

Qatana, of course, was the first to run to the gate, and suddenly a warrior appeared.  “Hail, travellers” it intoned.

“Hail warrior” responded Qatana.

“Where goes you?”

“Thru the forest, on the way to Minkai” replied Kali.

The warrior seemed unimpressed.  “What is your business?”

“We are just passing through. We have no business in the forest. We seek safe passage.”

“The road to the south, along the river, would serve you better.”

“That road,” said Qatana, “we believe to be controlled by the Oni, and they attack us when they find us.”

The warrior seemed interested again. “Do you oppose the Oni?”

“We actively seek to displace them from Minkai.”

If he could smile, I sensed he would.  But instead he stood aside. “You may enter.”

Once we were in the clearing, I could confirm. It was peaceful.  It was quiet.  It was … hmmm.  Watchful.  Now I was a little nervous – again, I realized we were now trapped.  If we were attacked, how powerful was that warrior?

As if reading my mind, Miyaro offered, “This is a place sacred to the Kami.”  She had been here before and said she found it restful.  So I guessed we were indeed stopping for the day.

As time passed, and the light faded more, I could have sworn I heard faint whisperings or rustlings.  At first it was just me but it didn’t take long before several others noticed it too. Miyaro seemed unconcerned: “The Kami are curious.”  After a while you could actually see the woods move – bits of the surrounding forest were entering the clearing and we were reminded that almost everything in the forest had an associated kami.

And at last, one deigned to speak.

Our statement that we opposed the Oni had drawn a great deal more attention than we’d thought.  The Oni, after all, had been imprisoned here in the Forest before escaping and taking over Minkai.  They had escaped from their ‘prison’ over 150 years ago, but the Kami didn’t really understand how.  By their original arrangement, they were forbidden from entering the place where the Oni lived while they were there, even now that the Oni had broken out they were unable to enter. That meant at least one remained.

They would consider it a favor if we could investigate.  One Kami in particular asked if we might be able to retrieve a bonsai tree that was tied to him – it had been taken by hobgoblins and thought to be at the House of Withered Blossoms – where the Oni used to be.  It is about a day’s travel away.

We are told there are spiders, hobgoblins, and Oni.  What’s not to like?

Moonday, 26 Pharast

We decided to leave the wagons and the non-combatants in the clearing.  Non-combatants included Shalelu and Ameiko and while Shalelu offered no arguments, Ameiko looked like she had something to say.  In the end, though, Suishen had more to say than Ameiko.  He seemed concerned that I would be leaving the heir unprotected, but I pointed out she was NOT unprotected.  In this clearing, the whole of the Kami were prepared to defend, and while many of them may be physically small, collectively they represented quite a power.  Gripe gripe gripe – he kept bringing it up the rest of the day. Twice I almost walked into a tree while arguing with my sword. What has my life become?

We arrived late afternoon.  We were of one mind in that nobody wanted to enter the building in the dark.  We would do a little scouting, sleep inside a hidden rope trick, and approach first thing in the morning. Kali sent an arcane eye out, revealing that there was at least one human-appearing person, and there were spiders around him.  While the eye looked on, he picked one off and ate it.  Ugh.  We found a room full of screens, as well as stairways.  The Oni appeared to be one floor below the top; that is, if the Oni had a spider like form with a huge clump on its back.

The ground floor had front doors made of bronze, but the roof also had a hole.  We figured that entering by the front door would be expected; so we’d enter through the roof via fly and airwalk spells and gain the benefit of surprise.

I’ll tell you this – watches are a lot easier when everyone is inside an extradimensional space.  The plants surrounding and covering the House of Withered Blossom seem to flower, fruit, and reset each night.  The smell in the morning was both pleasant and unpleasant … definitely distinctive.

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Toilday, 5 Pharast

Since the ninja attack on the 26th, it’s been quiet and uneventful, although that’s entirely in hindsight. Every night before we go to bed there is still this feeling that you may be awakened at any moment with a knife at your throat. Our watch system did exactly what it was supposed to do in the ninja attack, and surprise was minimal from a strategy standpoint. But the feeling of vulnerability and accessibility lasts long after the attack itself is done. Each attack serves to revitalize and underscore the feeling of danger, and make us more wary, and less trustful.

On Miyaro’s advice, we are travelling near but not on the road, on the theory that travellers here are generally unhelpful to and distrustful of “outsiders” which of course we are. It is hard to forget that in the city it was uncomfortable to be viewed as outsiders and placed on a pedestal, and outside the city it is uncomfortable to be viewed as outsiders and placed on a target. In other words, there is no time when we feel safe and appreciated. It is a subtle thing, but it wears on one. I can only hope we find some (more) allies within the forest or in Minkai when we reach it. We desperately need to feel there are others beside us who feel this is a right thing to do.

Hah, and who am I to determine the “right” thing to do? This whole journey was originally due to Shalelu suggesting, “come along, you might enjoy it” and now I am effectively the personal guard of Ameiko. Who, by the way, doesn’t really want a personal guard half the time.

At least half the time she finds it tolerable now, up from 10%. That’s a faint silver lining.

But enough of that. Today, talk turned again to how best to obtain supplies for the coming trip without exposing ourselves to risk in Muliwan. It was decided that Kali, with her hair cut short by way of easy disguise, and Dasi, by virtue of his existing familiarity with the region, would make the best choices. I was torn, as I hate to see any of the group at risk and when the group is separated there is always risk. But ultimately I decided, and I’m sure Suishen would agree if I thought it out loud (!) that my primary duty is to protecting Ameiko. With two of our party missing for a half day, she is arguably at greater risk simply because there are fewer protectors.

The group provided the two with their ‘shopping lists’ and they also took the bag of holding with the stuff we would offer to sell. I am providing them with 3000gp of my share and my cash so that I may get the ingredients necessary to have Ivan enchant Shalelu’s sword. If she is going to insist on entering the battle half blind and on fire, she can at least do so with a rapier of high quality! 🙂

With the intent to be gone as short a time as possible, Kali planned to conjure phantom steeds for the trip there, dismount, dismiss them, walk rather than ride into town, do the shopping, leave the town, and then use Teleport to get back. (Teleport wouldn’t work on the way there because while Dasi might have some knowledge of the town, Kali has none and cannot teleport to place she knows nothing of.)

And after all was said and done, it was done. No issues – everything went according to plan. Better, in fact – Dasi turns out to be quite the negotiator when it comes to trade. They were back by 5pm with all we’d asked for.

During and after dinner, we quizzed Miyaro about the Spirit Forest. “It is so named because of all the spirits in it,” she offered unhelpfully. But she couldn’t describe the number, or type, or even whether they would be willing to help us as she was. Be prepared for anything, I guess.

Like usual.

Oathday, 7 Pharast

It was about 5pm today when we came across a stone marker overturned along the path. Upon righting it, we could clearly read “1200 miles to Minkai” on it. Hah.

But Miyaro seemed very serious about it. “You should leave an offering,” she suggested. Soon there was a silver piece, a flower of origami, and a song sung. Much to our surprise, a small, old looking man appeared from nearby and looked over the marker. He thanked us and we had a brief conversation. “If you help others,” he offered, “you will earn blessings of the local spirits.”

[ +1 to saving throws for one week ]

We set up camp that evening after a good day’s travel. We were sitting around the campfire earlier in the evening when some of us heard a humming, in a musical sense. Except, none of us were humming. As we looked around, first subtly and then more obviously as it became apparent more than one person had heard it, I began to see the figure of a woman appearing among us. It moved to be next to Sandru, and seemed to be oblivious to us.

And then it seemed to merge with him.

Several of us tried to stop that both with weapons and spells, but the spirit sank within Sandru and disappeared. We held our breath and looked at Sandru, who looked back and said, “What?”.

Or his eyes did. His mouth began humming a now-familiar song. Dasi tried the direct approach, asking Sandru/spirit, “Where’d you hear that song?” Sandru/spirit responded with, “I’m a poet. I wrote it.” The conversation was taking place in Tien, a language that Sandru does not know. As Dasi continued the conversation, he translated for us. The spirit seemed to not realize she was a spirit, nor that she currently inhabited a man, She spoke in the present tense, but from time to time Sandru would also respond. For now, they seemed to be harmlessly coexisting, but we had no idea how long that would remain harmless.

It was Ivan who finally hit upon “dispel magic” as the means to make the effect disappear, after protection from evil, channelling, swords, and even ghostbane dirge seemed to have no effect. With the spirit gone, Sandru seemed to return to his normal self, although … I wonder if Sandru will retain some knowledge of Tien now …

Moonday, 10 Pharast

Around noon this day, we heard a birdcall. It was the first sign of life we were familiar with in some time, so it should not have surprised us when Nihali reported, “that was not a bird.” And in short order, a stone giant stood in our path and asked under “what right we came to his home.” When he made a comment about horses being tasty, Kasimir trembled angrily, and I calmed him, saying this was not his fight. I quickly dismounted, drew Suishen, and turned on his flame.

There were three altogether; two others were heaving rocks at us (fairly inaccurately, thank goodness.) Qatana quickly put a hold on one of them, and the other two quickly fell, in no small part to Ivan’s Deadly Arrows. I think the man has three bow arms and two quiver for each bow! I personally decapitated the giant who had been held by Qatana – like killing really big fish in a really huge barrel.

With a little tracking, we quickly found the giants’ residence. Inside were 20 cargo units of salted and preserved meats! But we have room for but a little more than 3 on our downsized caravan. We also took

[458] 25′ woven tapestry (about 300gp)
[459,460] white tiger skins (about 500gp each)
[461] 3 barrels of sake
[462] 2 bolts of fine silk (about 150gp each)

That evening, I was able to accept Shalelu’s finished weapon from Ivan and formally present it back to Ameiko as a +2 rapier. She seemed pleased.

Toilday, 11 Pharast

We had barely gotten started for the day when a giant tiger approached us, roaring and snarling. However, it stopped a good 30 feet away from us instead of closing and attacking.

Miyaro observed this tiger was not acting right; Radella tried using all her ranger skills to befriend it. Dasi said, after some concentration, that he sensed grief. The tiger finally turned around and loped away.

Radella followed it. Qatana ran after her. I was a bit concerned about them, but also concerned that this could be a ruse to distract us before attacking the rest of the party. Radella, however, broke into a run. Ivan joined in, so Ivan, Qatana, and Radella were now hunting a large tiger.

Regardless of the tiger’s intentions, this just seemed like a bad idea. But my hands were tied – Ameiko and the majority of the party had to remain my primary focus. Off the three went.

Upon returning – they did return – they told us how in short time they noticed the smell of smoke in the air. Trying to locate it, it wasn’t long before they noticed the translucent form of a female human appear and move next to Ivan. Remembering Sandru, Ivan promptly ran away. Qatana’s channeling positive energy had a noticeable, deleterious effect upon it. It kept moving towards Ivan, though, and Ivan could easily keep away from it. A second channelling, though, caused it to fade away, leaving a smell of acrid smoke. There was clearly a story here, but we’ll never know it.

Twenty minutes later, they did find the lair, or rather home, of the tiger. There was a dead body in the cave, but it was not dead at the tiger’s efforts. Still, weren’t these things supposed to be immortal or nearly so? It appeared to be the figure of a small creature not unlike the one whose marker we righted.

Radella offered a small amount of food to the tiger, which hesitantly accepted it before seeming to relax a little. The three of them, upon the advice of Miyaro (via sending) took the body out of the cave and gave it a proper burial.

Miyaro expressed concern about all this, and said she would mention it to the Kami,

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Wealday, 20 Calistril

One minute there were dragon dancers, and the next minute there were not.

There were ninjas, wearing the standard tight-fitting ninja uniform, armed with the standard poisoned throwing stars, and not, for once, attacking with the typical ninja stealth (we were, after all, looking right at them as they emerged from beneath the dragon.)

To be truthful, I saw eight emerge from the dragon, but they were joined by four more that had quietly infiltrated the crowd.

Ninjas, I have learned, are pretty much on suicide missions.from the time they leave Ninja HQ.  They are most dangerous from a distance, when their poisoned shurikens can seriously weaken or even kill you before you ever can make contact.  If they ever have to close with me, their tight-fitting ninja uniform is usually insufficient against my attacks with Suishen, and they seem unable to throw at such close quarters.

My main concern, of course, was that in a situation like this, Ameiko was not secure.  If the ninjas knew her for who she was, she could be swarmed upon, and she did take on some poison from a shuriken.  Ivan quickly cast delay poison upon her, however. Dasi also made good on his promise to protect her, and I’ll admit that although I was distracted at times, I could swear Dasi walked up to more than one ninja and simply take their weapon out of their hand in the same motion that a magician pulls a coin from behind your ear.  He is neither a swordsman nor an archer, but … I’m not sure what the name is for what he does.

Qatana found herself somewhat in the middle of battle simply by fate of where she stood as the dragon passed, and took a bit of strength damage from the initial flurry of shurikens.  (I also found myself faltering a bit from one until Ivan put delay poison on me.) Kali created a wall of ice to help provide a “rear” that we could not be attacked from, and later managed to haste us so we coiuld finish the battle more quickly..  Ivan calmly pulled out his bow and began shooting arrows faster, it would seem, than is humanly possible.   It seemed at times he was nocking them two at a time.

Ameiko started swinging at a ninja that came near her, but Dasi and I quickly flanked her and after it was dead, took on additional foes as they approached.  While she kept her sword drawn and ready, she allowed us to take the lead.

Partway through the battle, though, it appeared we had gained an ally.  A non-descript woman from the crowd suddenly joined the fray and began attacking ninjas.  The palace guards assigned to us fell quickly, but the woman seemed to be holding her own quite well.  Radella seemed to be hitting the ninjas hard and then …

… it was over. We managed to catch one ninja alive, but his tongue was cut out already (note previous comment about ninja HQ).  And the woman mysteriously said, “We should talk, but not here.”  The crowd had scattered, or was still scattering, in some cases, but we could also hear an approaching force we presumed was the City Guard.

I moved towards the approaching guard to give Ivan a smidge more time to loot the bodies.  While I occupied them by telling what had happened and how awful it was, he was able to retrieve

[453] 5 potions of CSW
[454] 7 empty (used) potions
[455] 8 doses of shadow essence (poison)

They were wearing chain mail shirts which couldn’t really be removed in the short time we had.

Dasi heard the guards looking around worriedly and mumbling, “This was not supposed to happen today.”

While the “cleaning crew” began their effort at making it appear this never happened, the woman, whose name was Miyaro reiterated “we need to talk.”  We returned to our palace accommodations, noticing that this time, the people in the streets and in the palace did not smile as brilliantly or greet us as enthusiastically as in the past. What, it was our fault that their dragon-dancer HR filtering process was poor?

Miyaro, it turns out, knew of our mission.  First Dasi, and now her?  So much for arriving in secrecy.  Although I suppose the oni have been after us for some time now, so it shouldn’t be TOO big of a surprise.  She grew up in the Forest of Spirits – yes, that’s right – and the Forest apparently has taken a side in this issue.  At least some residents there would like to see the rightful heir back on the throne.

Travelling through the Forest is an option now, although Miyaro warned us she would need to guide us.

While we were quietly discussing this, Chua came by and Kali told him abruptly we were leaving before slamming the door in his face.  Radella threw her a look and opened the door to a chastened and confused Chua.  Turns out that the Prince had the same idea.  It was unfortunate, of course, but the safety of his city was at stake, yada yada.  But by way of parting gift, he was happy to give us eight fine steeds to aid us in our departure.  I was about to mention I had no need of a steed but was shushed by several others.

They will be worth money, somewhere, so why throw away money?

[456] 8 filigree saddles, ~200gp each
[457] 8 light war horses, ~300gp each

Qatana used our wand of lesser restoration and soon everybody had their strength back.

Late that afternoon, we took leave of Ordu-Aghanei, the once future home of Princess Kali!

Moonday, 25 Calistril

Travel has been relatively uneventful, and the safer we are the more nervous Kali gets.  I think the whole experience in the city has upset her equilibrium.  Yes we are targets, but we’re increasingly capable of handling ourselves, and her nervousness is contagious.

Today we saw some other riders at a distance, and she was careful to point them out and give them a wide berth.  I’m not worried about the people who approach us openly.  I’m more nervous about those that don’t announce themselves.

Toilday, 26 Calistril

Like today.  More ninjas, and they again did not announce themselves. How rude.

Qatana was on guard duty and saw them coming a little before midnight Moonday.  Apparently ninjas are ordered by the dozen, as it was again 12 that came for us.  But Kali had a new trick up her sleeve.  She created a hut which was transparent for those inside, and opaque to those outside.  You could also pass through it at any point.  That meant we could shoot arrows at will (go Ivan) and if any of them crept alongside the hut, somebody with a sword (ahem) could slash them with impunity.

Being on guard duty, Qatana was outside the range of this hut when it was formed, but she had her own trick up her sleeve.  She projected some type of aura so that when enemies got within 20 or 30 feet of her, they would get confused and either wander off or attack each other.  (Nice to know she can have that effect on somebody other than us!)  Consequently, about a quarter of the ninjas entertained each other.  The others were picked off one by one.  Ivan provided a wall of fire to again restrict the direction we had to defend.

Dasi again smiled as he stole weapons right out of their hands.  How DOES he do that?

Suishen and I managed to lay open a couple of ninjas quite satisfyingly.  If it weren’t for their poison, they wouldn’t be a big deal, I think.

Ivan created a second wall of fire to protect one of the wagons, only to discover that Shalelu had snuck out the back of the wagon to help in the battle.  Oops – well, he couldn’t see her and that wasn’t expected. Still, it was disheartening to see her scorched!

Then at the end, it got strange.  Two of the ninjas ran off, and Kali and Qatana insisted on chasing them.  They cast Fly and took off by themselves.  Apparently Kali summoned a cheetah and had it hunt them down.  Qatana used a spiritual ally.  Seemed a bad idea to have two magic users and no fighters out in the dark, but it turned out okay.  Ivan burned the bodies; in theory their employers will not know what happened but I get the sense we’re still being tracked so they’ll know.

We’re a little less than halfway to Muliwan and are discussing whether to swing wide of it entirely.  Miyaro would have us do that, but it may be the last place for a while where we can resupply and buy a few things.

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Oathday, 19 Calistril

Tonight was the night of the Varisian feast.  Qatana and Ameiko were the primary artisans on this one although the prince provided a staff of dozens.  We successfully prevailed upon them not to make the entrees look TOO much like the local fare.

While they were instructing kitchen staff on the finer parts of Varisian cooking (and frankly, that took a good amount of time),  we were working on the theatric entertainment we would be providing.  Chua arrived in the early morning to (of course) invite Kali to a luncheon.  I informed him that since Kali was an unmarried young woman, I would be accompanying her as an escort. He reluctantly acknowledged that.  We told Chua we would be needing a lute and 4 actors, and after we described a lute in some detail to him, he nodded and left.  Around 10am, 4 actors showed up, carrying the lute.

A few minutes before noon, Chua arrived to take Kali to the Prince.  I assumed my most intimidating position, with Suishen at the ready (but not aflame).  He brought a silk dress with flowers for her to wear, and she spent a moment changing into it.

The prince’s attractive bodyguard accompanied us as well.  The four of us first toured the castle – “I added that whole wing”, pointed out the prince – before moving on to the original courtyard we’d met him in, where a generous lunch was already on display.  “Everyone agrees,” he offered, “that the palace is so much prettier with you in it.”

He’s not subtle, but at least so far he was polite.

“On occasion, the King passes through this part of the country,” said the prince, smoothly.  “He has not been here for a few months, however.”

In response to her question, the prince took Kali to a Shelyn temple.   Kali noticed a number of heads on pikes and asked about them.  The prince proudly replied that he kept a very safe city, and that criminals could expect to be treated harshly.  Temple personnel hustled about with purpose, and the high priestess hurriedly bowed and said they were preparing for the evening’s festival in response to Kali’s query.  There will be dragon dancers!

Kali looked awkward and uncomfortable at the attention she was drawing, but the worst was yet to come.  Returning to the palace, Kali seemed to offer some genuine compliments about the luncheon and the prince practically beamed. “‘Kali,'” he said, “flows off the lips like honey.”  I channelled Sparna and did an admirable but mostly hidden eyeroll. “It’s so pleasant having you here!  I wish to put the city at your feet! Kali – marry me!”

Well there it was, lying there in the open like a field dressed musk ox.  Swarming with flies, too.  A proposal.  I glanced at Kali and she appeared mostly composed, but I also knew she’d been preparing for this moment. “I am honored by your proposal,” she began, “and flattered by your attention.  Please take no dishonor at my reply, but it is the way of my people to require my father to approve any marriage.  While he will no doubt find your proposal worthy of consideration, it is a formality we must go through.”

The prince hesitated briefly before smiling a little less brilliantly.  “How can we know of your father’s wishes?    Perhaps one of my many wizards or clerics can arrange for him to appear here.” He looked left and right and, finding none but the four of us, prepared to clap his hands.

“There is no need for a wielder of magic,” said Kali, stopping him in mid-summoning.  “I know a spell myself which we can use to communicate with him as though he were before us. I can perform the magic after dinner tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?!” responded the prospective husband, almost pouting.  “We shall do that, then.  Until this evening, I thank you for sharing lunch with me, and gracing me with your beauty and elegance.  I will make arrangements for the ceremony to be performed after dinner tomorrow, then!  Chua!” and I swear the man appeared oiut of thin air like a summoned demon. the prince lowered his voice but not by much.  “Make arrangement for the ceremony to be performed after dinner tomorrow.”

“Yes, m’lord,” he responded, and escorted us back to the group’s quarters.

I started to ask Kali a question but she waved her hand and silently shushed with her finger.

Dinner was not far off so she indicated to wait until then.

(later)

At a lull in the dinner, Kali cast code speak and brought everyone up to date.  Everyone, that is, except Sparna, who was absent.  Ivan said he was leaving the party because he’d “lost his nerve”!  This came as a complete shock to everyone, including me. I thought we shared a bond, but apparently he sought out Ivan to relay this decision to us.

We are down to five.  We are surviving the attacks of the oni, but losing to the attacks of life.

The rest were alarmed at the marriage proposal, and we had a hasty but fairly blunt conversation about how to handle this.  Kali believes we should leave town, and then she’ll catch up with us later.  That seems like a bad plan, and I wasn’t alone in that assessment.  Kali insisted she could use a scroll of teleport to catch up with us, but we pointed out that for teleport to work she needs to go to a place that is familiar to her, and wherever we are will not be familiar to her.  She responded she could scry for us.  We still had concerns about having an angry prince behind us.  However, the conversation was starting to draw unwanted attention, even though nobody else could understand it, so we agreed to finish it later.

The dinner attendees found it all satisfactory, by the way, and I myself found it muchly welcome.  It was still high-end food – nary a single rabbit drumstick to be found anywhere – but it was rich, high-end, FAMILIAR food.  I have never appreciated Qatana’s and Ameiko’s culinary talents as much as this evening.

The play, reflecting the genuine insanity of its author, made little sense other than the moral that it was great, or possibly horrible, to be human.  The actors did receive more than polite applause, and we  received a jewelled scabbard ([451], radiates magic) in gratitude.

One of the actors, Dasi, seemed interested in our party, or more to the point, our heritage.  He seemed interested in our Varisian roots, and hung out in the ‘afters party’ longer than any of the other actors.  He had a scroll with an artist’s rendition of the old Minkai emperor and basically seemed to be sizing us up to see how much we looked like it.  I laughed and said, yeah, we get that a lot. Everybody here says all Varisians look alike.  But this old emperor wasn’t Varisian, so why are you waving that picture around?
ato our mildly babbled replies, he offered, “I can tell some of you are not being entirely truthful.”  The room fell silent.

I pulled out Suishen and set him aflame.  “Perhaps this is what you seek.”  Dasi’s eyes widened.  “You have Suishen!”  THAT caught me off guard, although I’m not entirely sure why once he revealed he knew the family name.  “You are the heir!”

“No,” I said sternly. “No man we’ve encountered has proven to be a worthy heir.”  Suishen lightly snickered in my head. “But, like you, we are … genealogists seeking a family.”

“May I touch it?” he asked, still in awe.  I thought, heh, this could end it all right here.  “You may,” I replied as I held the blade out.

But then Suishen surprised me.  He said, apparently to everyone in the room including Dasi, “Do you swear fealty to the rightful heir to the throne of Minkai?”

With a mixture of fear and awe, Dasi grasped the blade and said, “Yes”.  And nothing else happened.

“Well then,” I said authoritatively and hesitantly at the same time.  At the same moment, Suishen said to me, “ok, he’ll do.”  This was all very fast, and I was still very uncertain about all this. “Why? Don’t you trust me?” asked Suishen.

“Stop reading my mind,” I sent to him.  “Don’t think so loud,” he replied, but then he did at least shut up.

Fireday, 20 Calistril

Qatana memorized a zone of truth to further delve into Dasi’s motives.  The questions that she and the others asked, seemed to reveal little else of his motives.  Was he a spy, or a royal family groupie?

Then Qatana surprised us all by pointing at Ameiko, saying, well, there’s your heir.

I immediately drew Suishen, added flame, and stepped in front of Ameiko.

“The champion,” murmured Dasi.  “And the sword.”

“I will be watching you, historian,” I said.  But he was appraising Ameiko over now.  From a safe distance, I might add.  Great. Now Ameiko had a stalker too.  How long before Radella or Qatana acquire creepy admirers too?

The town is very busy preparing for the Feast of the Dragon.  But the shops are open, and we have a few tasks to accomplish before then, not the least of which is purchasing some teleport scrolls.

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Moonday, 2 Calistril

Qatana and Kali spent a lot of time trying to rededicate this area of the cavern to Desna. Kali was concerned, I think, about the miles behind us that will be left unclean, but acknowledged that we can only do so much. We did ask the yeti to remove the heads in the passageway, and the did agree, but it’s a coin toss as to whether they really understand what we’re looking for.

We looked into cleansing the tree/lake of the shadows that seem to be held there, but all we really did was end up arousing (or summoning) two more. We dispatched them for the safety of others, but were disappointed we can’t clean this part up. We added signage to warn future visitors, and of course told the yeti too.

Koya theorized that the shadows there may be souls that got trapped on their journey through the mountain. What trapped them, and how to free them if she’s right, is beyond us.

Despite our inability to cleanse the area to our satisfaction, there is a palpable eagerness for much of the party to be moving on. We’ve been in this necropolis too long for ANYONE’S comfort.

Toilday, 3 Calistril

Qatana helped form an alternative stone bridge over the chasm in order to bypass the anti-life field for the caravan. We proceeded uneventfully for about all of five minutes before running into the predicted stone wall. Another stoneshape spell turned that into a large doorway, and off we went.

The air smells fresher and crisper, but after several days in the necropolis among the yeti, that may not be surprising.

Fireday, 6 Calistril

That was it! Just three more days through the mountain and we emerged into daylight. With Katiana dispatched (again) it was a welcome experience to find nice weather and sunshine. Cold yet, of course, but I don’t think anybody cared. According to Kali, the next town of size is Ordu-Aganhei but it’s still another week or more away.

But we can breathe again, and we can hunt again, which will make our food go even farther. We have rationed ourselves well, even with our delay at the necropolis, but one never knows what the future may hold for us. I would not have believed that travelling in bitter cold, hunting for sparse game, and sitting in a wagon for hours a day with nothing else happening would be something that would make me happy, But believe it or not, it’s a step up from the last several days.

Moonday, 16 Calistril

A couple of days ago, we saw our first sign of human life, other than ours. There was what looked like a hunting party not too far off, but we waved a hello, they waved a hello, and that’s all the interaction we could spare. We are making good time, and the weather is slowly getting warmer.

Ulf says that the area we are travelling into (and in a sense, are already in) is something of a “barbarian kingdom”. Last he knew the city was ruled by a prince. He advised us to stay on the trails since despite being barbarians, perhaps, the people here are a bit territorial and not terribly fond of outsiders. He suggested we keep our business to ourselves and let Ameiko do the talking.

Not sure I’m okay with that, but I will try to keep an open mind. I asked Suishen if he might likely be recognized now that we’re over the crown of the world, and he admitted he wasn’t sure. It’s been a while.

(later)

We reached the city. “This is the gateway to Tian Xia!” proclaimed Ulf. Ordu-Aganhei boasts about 8000 people. We could see as we approached that the city had a massive 40′ tall wall surrounding it, and guards were actively moving on and around it. There were colorful, sloping roofs with peaked corners. The northern gate was equally impressive, being a 30′ tall iron door. Ulf also reminded us that his journey ends here, although he’s happy to hang out with us as long as we remain in the city. Sandru, however, said he would stay with the group. It sounds like we may continue as a caravan, just sans guide.

However, as we reached the gate, which was open, several guards blocked our way. “Halt – who comes to our city?” Kali responded that we had just come across the crown of the world, and —

“Unlikely!” sneered the guard. “In winter?”

Kali tried to explain before being interrupted again. “Where are you from?”

“Kalsgard,” she calmly replied. “Our grandmother, who is old and in the twilight of her life, wished to see the great nation of Tian Xia before she died. It’s why we risked the winter winds and -”

“You LIE,” responded one guard. Other guards started moving towards the wagons to search them.

“We will not tolerate your searching through our private belongings,” said Kali. “Is this how all visitors to your city are treated?”

“If they are lawless ruffians, yes they are!” responded one who seemed perhaps to be their captain. We had begun fingering our weapons when a voice called out from above, “Enough!” The guards all looked up, surprised. A well dressed man emerged from the entrance and the guards bowed before him. Apparently, this was the prince’s right-hand man.

“The Prince bids you welcome to our fair city,” he said, “and invites you to be his honored guests.”

Ulf quietly whispered to us that the Prince would be a powerful ally, but he also had a reputation for treachery.

On behalf of the Prince, each female in our party received a black rose. Despite being a bit macabre, this was apparently an honor here, so they each accepted graciously. The guards fell back as the advisor indicated he would take us to the prince. We were all on alert as we walked through the city, but everywhere we went we (more likely, the advisor Chua) people politely gave way and stared at the foreigners. The castle is in the middle of the city, Chua explained, and we were to be housed there as honored guests. The caravan was escorted to a safe place before we all headed for the castle. As we entered the castle grounds, we could see it was, not unexpectedly, quite ostentatious.

And still nobody had attacked us. How unusual. Life in the wild has changed me.

In a giant courtyard was a huge bed, and on the bed we approached an enormous, smiling man. “The golden one,” offered Chua by way of introduction. Chua cheerfully advised us to be extremely polite. It was apparent that honor and protocol ruled here.

The prince welcomed us warmly, ordering food and wine be brought. “Tell me your tale!” he implored in Common. Eager to show us to be other than simple ruffians, Kali replied in Hon-la, “Thank you for your hospitality.” A close observer may have noticed a slight darkening of the Prince’s face before it was again illuminated in smile.

Kali regaled him with tales of wild, almost living storms, and a fierce white dragon before pausing to catch her breath. The prince observed, “Not all dragons bring good luck! But I must hear more. I declare a holiday and we shall celebrate the Five Feasts of Hongul! You must join me for dinner this evening!”

Of course we accepted, and we were escorted to individual rooms, with individual beds and baths and various food (like fresh fruit and snacks) already available on a table. So VERY different from our life of late.

Sparna asked about making contact with a local weaponsmith; apparently he wants to know more about forging the type of weapons we see around us. Chua assured us that would be possible. (Apparently, as royal guests, very little was IMpossible.)

A few minutes before 8, we were escorted to a great dining hall – this was not to be a private affair. There were 300 people there if there was a dozen. We were provided a place of honor near the prince and the first course was brought out. It was immediately apparent that what we were having for dinner was diplomacy, because what they brought out – as a delicacy no doubt – was duck heads in some sort of pungent sauce, and chicken feet in … well, I managed to eat a polite amount.

Part of dinner was, apparently, the three games of Hongul. This involved mounted archery, bareback riding, and wrestling. After a demonstration by our host’s champions, we were invited to show our prowess. Surprisingly, Ivan nailed the mounted archery, and Sparna proved to be a future wrestling champion by winning that bout. I retrieved Kasimir but my bareback riding is limited, and I’m afraid I was not able to clear the hurdles they had set up. Rather than seeming disappointed, though, the Prince seemed to take pride in the fact that his riders held a superiority over us and he was comparatively gracious in his victory.

One thing we noticed was that every subject in the dining hall watched the Prince closely, and no matter what transpired, closely mimicked whatever the Prince’s reaction turned out to be. There is a fine line between respect and fear, sometimes.

As a result of our competition, the prince gifted us with

[446] a composite short bow
[448] 10 +1 arrows
[447] an efficient quiver

“Tomorrow,” proclaimed the Prince, “we shall celebrate the Feast of the Ancients!”

But I must say that if today’s menu foretells our dinners during this holiday, I’ll be making quite a dent in the fruit in our room.

Toilday, 17 Calistril

Today, during the day, we will start to sell some of the things we acquired but have no particular desire for. I’ve decided to buy the terra cotta warrior with my share of gold, and will buy the materials for Kali to make my +2 belt of strength a +4 belt. Similarly, I’m going to see about getting my +1 amulet of natural armor improved to +2. Those three items will use up most of my share, presuming the prices here are fair.

We did not want to be caught by surprise again, so we asked Chua what was involved with the Feast of the Ancients. He told us it would be a feast of storytelling.

Kali discovered in the morning that the prince had sent a dress for her to wear to dinner. She is apprehensive of this gift, as she does not relish getting too chummy with the prince, given what Ulf told us of his reputation.

(later)

It was around 5pm that we gathered to raise Bevelek. I have never seen anything like this done, and Qatana seems so unlikely a person to do it. It took an incredibly large diamond (which turned to ash during the ceremony) and maybe every one of these goes differently, but it didn’t take all that long before Bevelek was breathing before us again – weak, a bit shaken, but alive. Vankor was beside himself, and later I saw him holding a piece of parchment that had been written on an arm’s length away from his brother. “This need not be sent now, and there’s nothing to read here” he said, but Bevelek insisted on reading it first. He paused, and then looked at his brother before hugging him tightly. “I agree that they need not know,” he said before he tore it in two, then four, and finally into small pieces. I’m not quite sure what that was all about.

It was a bit before 8 when we were again escorted to the hall and served dinner. The tale that the prince’s storyteller related was, loosely translated, “why the marmot has no thumbs”. It was elegant enough, but we decided to augment our tale of how we defeated the white dragon with minor magicks and accompaniment by Ameiko, which was very well received. The prince bowed before Kali for her efforts, making her visually uncomfortable as she politely demurred and downplayed her role.

No doubt making her appear even more attractive.

We were presented with

[449] A masterwork horsehead fiddle

The food, unfortunately, was as … distinctive … as last night’s.

Tomorrow: The Feast of the Fire.

And Kali was invited to breakfast. Sparna offered to be her honor guard, and although my primary duty is to Ameiko, I really want to assist Sparna. Two armed warriors would probably be too much though, so …

Wealday, 18 Calistril

Chua arrived at 7am and was mildly surprised to find Kali had an escort. We explained that as an unmarried woman, in our culture she was owed an escort to any social activities. He quickly covered his surprise and escorted her to the prince’s quarters, where a sumptuous meal awaited. According to Kali, and Sparna, the prince was polite but a bit more … touchy … than Kali was comfortable with.

Again a little before 8 a servant escorted us to the dining hall and, as expected, there were displays of fire and fire control. When we were invited to show off, I took the stage with Suishen for this one, and Ivan utilized his walls of fire to great effect. Radella’s and Sparna’s weapons were lit with oil, but Suishen of course needed no such aid. The display was again roundly applauded, and the menu was typically heinous.

We were gifted, this time, with
[450] 6 vials of flaming breath

The prince’s eyes rarely left Kali, and she is visibly concerned.

Tomorrow: The Feast of Varisia – we are the chefs for this one, although we have the entire kitchen staff at our disposal to assist us. Qatana and Koya are putting their heads together. Finally! a meal I’ll be able to eat!

However, the prince’s growing interest in Kali may ultimately have us leaving hastily. We are also preparing the caravan, as innocently as we can, in case we need to leave separately and meet elsewhere, maybe outside the city.

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Sunday, Calistril 1

It was unusual to be doing battle so early in the day.  After arguing with the yeti, and then killing a half dozen of them, and dispelling an ice storm … it was still at least two hours before lunch.  Our magic wielders found their magic moderately depleted much earlier in the day than usual, and we’d really made very little progress.  So we decided to spend much of the day resting and, for our magic wielders, recovering spells.

To ensure that we would not be surprised and they could indeed recover their spells, we were extra diligent with the guard around the caravan.  To the rear, we had a stone wall that (we hoped) the wardens would not be able to get over or around.  And then, to the yeti side of the caravan, we had the bridge with the anti-life shell over it.  But we weren’t entirely sure the yeti couldn’t bypass that.

There was a long discussion about the ghost sword we had obtained.  We now had the ability (or at least the opportunity) to banish a possessing spirit.  Should we be trying to defeat the yeti king, or exorcise him?  Sparna agreed to take it up, but as a group we were still undecided on how to proceed the next day.

In the meantime, I tried to find some common ground with the yeti.  I saw one yeti watching from behind a rock, and I wanted to show him we were harmless, so I tried standing with my sword sheathed and my arms open.  That got no reaction.  I told him to come out with open arms and we would welcome him, but of course he did not understand Common.

Shortly, however, three more yeti appeared, also taking cover.

I asked Ivan to cast continual light on a small rock, and I underhanded it towards the yeti.  The yeti looked a little nervous, but didn’t approach it.  “C’mon, pick it up” I yelled but they just looked at the rock.  I conferred with Ivan, and he cast light on a bigger, slightly-smaller-than-head sized rock. The other rock stopped glowing, and I tossed the bigger one.

The yeti disappeared, and then reappeared with an object. One tossed it to us over the chasm – it was the revenant’s head.  Clearly he was not understanding.  Sparna kicked the head into the chasm.

I threw another large glowing stone.  It was ignored.

At this point, Sparna and Ivan talked quietly for a moment and then Sparna turned and faced the yeti.  Ivan mumbled quietly and Sparna suddenly increased in size to that of a small yeti, and Kali, getting into the swing of things, created the image of an ioun stone circling his head.  With a look of anger, Sparna took the head of Katiana (I missed how THAT made it out there!) and in a split second and with a gesture from Ivan, it too was glowing.  Sparna threw the head across the chasm.

The yeti threw the head back.

Ivan cast comprehend languages and began translating for us as Sparna kicked the head into the chasm and stared hostilely at the lead yeti.  The staredown was on.

The yeti did not break gaze as he said, “Come, cowards, and meet king.”

Kali made the ioun stone circle Sparna one last time before it flung itself at the leader.  The leader dodged and called for more yeti, including “the king’s men”.  And soon, 10 or so yeti were crowding the entrance, now some with spears.  They were gesturing and shouting and the leader said, “Come now and be escorted to king for death sentence.”

Clearly this little bit of negotiation was not working, and I was tired of it.  Now that there were distance weapons (spears) on the other side, I was feeling less charitable.  So I drew my bow, nocked an arrow and hit the leader.

He was clearly surprised, but on our side, Ivan was quick to let more arrows fly and they too hit the leader.  In a twisted bit of logic, the leader threw his spear at Sparna (!) and hit him good.  Another spear missed him.  Kali cast an aqueous orb as this strange, distance battle over the chasm continued.  Both Ivan and I hit our targets again, and the leader looked to be bleeding pretty good.

After a bit of confusion the horde of yeti hastily retreated to less open positions, and no clear target presented itself anymore.  Ivan defiantly threw an obscene gesture that, I think, transcends spoken word.  Qatana healed Sparna as both Ivan and I hit with arrows one last time before the yeti disappeared entirely.

Diplomacy is harder than it looks.

(around lunch)

We heard a noise from the rear of the caravan.  Qatana flew high enough to see over the stone wall she had erected, and saw more of the headless zombies mindlessly trying to walk through the wall.  While they appeared to be in no danger of reaching us, Qatana nevertheless lit them on fire with oil until they stopped twitching their charred limbs.

That night, after dinner, Kali proposed a startling plan: she would go invisible, and fly into the throne room and see if there was evidence that the king was an oni, or evidence that the king was Katiana’s ghost.  Although it was of general consensus that we needed to deal with the yetis in order to make progress, there had been absolutely no consensus on how best to do that.  I was convinced that if we could limit the yeti to one or two at a time we could methodically slice through them.  Kali, and I think one or two others, were opposed to the needless killing of the yeti.  Frankly, I was too if I could be shown it was really needless but I saw no other way.  Sparna, bearer of the ghost sword, was willing to plunge the sword into the king if we had evidence that he was possessed instead of being a polymorphed oni or even just an angry yeti leader … but he could do much more damage with his usual weapons if there was no need to exorcise a spirit and was wary of going in under-armed.

Kali elaborated on her plan. With detect magic running, she should be able to make that determination.  We would advance to a point nearby and she could use a Message spell to communicate what she learned back to us.  We would then adjust our strategy appropriately.  It was a plan that put Kali at great risk, but it also gave us a possibility of resolving the situation without annihilating the yeti.  If the king could be made our friend, a simple command from him would save us many battles.  And even if I thought it possible to destroy all the yeti, I was by no means certain that it would not come at the cost of the lives of some of our party.

So while I believe the group was still divided on what the yeti king actually was, we did come to the agreement that Kali’s plan gave us the best chance of success.  Normally, the well-armed and buff Radella would be our choice for spy, but this mission required more magic than mere silence.

Moonday, Calistril 2

It was around 7:15am, I think, when I heard Sparna yell something across the chasm and – did I hear right? – something in the language of the yeti?  Later, he told me he’d spent much of his watch learning and practicing the language.  Astonishing.  I later asked Suishen if he could learn new languages, and with typical disdain, he responded that language was only useful in slowing down conversation and the world would be better if everyone was telepathic.  I took that as a no.

We prepared for our foray.  In addition to all the spells Kali would need, we used resist cold (I used protection from cold, from Suishen) and variants of fly or airwalk and dark vision. Kali added magic circle; if she was right and Katiana’s ghost was involved, that ward might give a possessed creature another opportunity to shake it off.

We crossed the chasm and noted there were no yeti present.  Kali added comprehend languages to her spells and took off. We needed to give her 30-60 seconds to get there first and communicate back to us.  I told Suishen to turn the flame on.

We quickly reached the other anti-life shell, and two yeti – I think at least one was one we’d hit yesterday – silently glowered at us from the other side.  With the assistance of Ivan, I took another glowing rock and tossed it over to them.  They were unimpressed. Apparently somebody had updated them on the fact that not everything glowed was fire.  Sparna announced, “Let us pass, and will spare your lives”.

Surprisingly, the yeti replied, “Ok”.  And they each stood off to one side.  This soooo smelled like a trap, but this was the plan.  We flew or walked over the anti-life sphere, as appropriate, and proceeded to the throne room.  Although there were many yeti there – probably more than a dozen – they just stood and stared at us. Qatana announced there was a magical aura over the whole room.

And no king.  Sparna pointed this out: “Where is your king???”  Qatana cast invisibility purge – cleverly missing Kali – as one of the yeti moved down off a ledge and announced, “King? You want king?  ATTACK!”  And the battle we’d hoped to avoid began – including a lightning bolt directed at me.  Wait, lightning??

The mayhem had barely begun when another yeti emerged from a stone wall. Really.  Judging from the others’ reactions that had to be the king.  Kali, who saw the lightning and already knew what the king looked like from previous scrying, realized this really might be Katiana and that this was her chance. Kali flew over the king and put him within the influence of her magic circle.  It had some of the desired effect, as the king cried out, “Stop fighting! Evil spirit … help me defeat evil spirit!”

The yeti stopped, but were very uncertain.

Sparna stepped up and explained before he swung that he must hit the king with the magic sword to expel the spirit.  The king agreed, as Kali reached down and applied a magic circle directly to the king.

The sword hit, but the king was still fighting possession and Katiana was still shooting lightning.

Sparna hit again and this time, Katiana’s ghost emerged from the king, cackling as though it was all her idea.  With her flying, and incorporeal, only we could defeat this enemy now.  There was dispel magic, and there were magic missiles, and there were force beings, and there was, of course, Suishen and flames and shrieking (from Katiana).  She summoned a lightning elemental, but just as quickly Ivan made it go back.  It was Radella that had the killing blow – or at least so we believe since it seems we killed Katiana once before – and the room was finally silent for a bit.

Now the real diplomacy began, as praise was heaped on each party, and gifts exchanged: the king gave us the ioun stone, and we gave him a magic breastplate. Backs were slapped, hands were shaken, and promises were made.  We told the king that the revenant was dead and he was pleased.  We told him the shadows were gone and he was pleased.

[445] ioun stone of Alertness (dark blue)

The king spoke Common, thankfully, but that also meant I got to hear the exchange between the king and Qatana about how Pookie was responsible for his being freed.  It’s a tortuous story, but the next party coming through the caverns will likely find yeti-art resembling a warrior mouse-yeti.  And Qatana will be insufferable for a week.

The King, whose name was Bormurg, also, of course, gave us free passage through his realm, but commented that only a few minutes away the road ended in a blank wall.  He was confident his powerful new friends would figure out how to pass through the wall however.

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Starday, Abadius 31

Everyone was affected by Bevelek’s death, but we also realized that we were not yet safe. We asked ourselves (and answered, mostly from Kali) what we may know about yeti.

1) They can climb.
2) What we’ve seen so far is normal behavior.
3) They are well-adapted to the cold; in fact, they radiate cold themselves.
4) They emit a fear effect of some sort which can cause one to hesitate for a period of time.
5) They have no trouble seeing in the dark.
6) They have no particular weakness, except maybe fire.
7) They may have a language, called aklo?

So while the yetis could not cross the anti-life shell on the bridge, they were good climbers and might have another way to reach us. Heaven knows we’ve made some assumptions before that we were wrong about. So we spent more time than usual setting up our watch to make sure any attack would be promptly noticed, and notice quickly given.

Around 11pm, Qatana saw a yeti on top of the shelter that Kali had conjured up, but it just sat there and watched us as she watched it.

Sunday, Calistril 1

Around 3am, Nehali flew up and looked behind the shelter. There was nothing there.

Around 5am, everyone was rested and up. Qatana used stone shape to create a ten foot high wall behind us – hopefully that will stop the headless miscreants from coming up behind us again.

It was around 6:20am when Suishen gave me airwalk, and the others used their various methods to cross the chasm into the necropolis. There were no yeti waiting for us on the other side.

We carefully made our way to the ornate door in the “tree” room. The revenant’s body still lay silent on the ground where it fell the last time we killed it. Qatana cast hide from undead on us, and Ivan did a hand-plant to his forehead.

“Just a minute,” he said, and ran off back in the direction of the caravan. He returned shortly, explaining he’d just cast the same on the folks in the caravan.

Radella, inspecting the door for traps, immediately noted that the door was gilded, or mostly so. It was obvious that some of the gild had been scraped off, though. Ivan did a detect poison on the door, and the two of them concluded that the door had once been both locked and trapped, but no longer was either. The door opened towards us, and bore a demonic, tusked skull face on the door.

Inside there was a flickering firelight illuminating the room and corridor. A large shadow began to materialize; more undead. It approached Radella and took a swipe, noticeably weakening her. I had Suishen turn on its flame. But then from behind us came a deafening scream. The revenant arose, and made a beeline to the shadow. He started to hack at the shadow, but his efforts seemed ineffectual.

“Force weapons” yelled somebody. Sparna called upon his spiritual ally, but it missed. I had no such force option but held Suishen at ready as I looked for an opening. A lantern archon appeared, courtesy of Kali, but also missed the shadow. Ivan hit it with some arrows, but the damage looked small. Qatana’s spiritual ally thumped the shadow pretty good; then the shadow made a point of giving me an opening by approaching me and taking a swipe. I felt a bit weaker but swung hard with Suishen. The sword and the flame hit solidly and the shadow evaporated in fading black wisps.

At the same time, the revenant dropped to the ground and lay motionless, its reason for life gone.

We paused a second before Qatana, of course, stepped toward the body, and I swear I heard her say “third time’s the charm!” For the first time, she successfully picked up

[434] rapier +1
[435] cloak of elvenkind
[436] goggles of minute seeing
[437] MW thieves tools
47 platinum pieces
a backpack
[438] 200-300gp worth of scraped gold leaf

This appeared to be another “converted” room. There were red demonic faces on the walls; certainly not a Desna design. The center of the room was dark, but a skeleton with a mask was lying on a blue stone there. Here there was

[439] crystal lamp with a continual flame
[440] ghost armor +1 (breast plate)
– can cast death watch 3/day
– automatic protect from evil 1/day when attacked by undead
[441] ghost touch sword with nine rings +1
– use 1 ring – undead bane for 1 min
– use 2 rings – attempt to banish a possessing spirit (DC17)
– use 3 rings – destroy an undead creature
sword recharges at 1 ring/wk
[442] 8 matching bracelets
[443] 8 matching rings
[444] mask, gold w/jade eyes

Outside, in the “tree” room, Ivan and I both used our airwalk to walk up to the ceiling and see why it seemed to sparkle with starlight. Turns out it was just reflective flakes in the rock.

It was 8am now, and we had decided to head in to the yeti. I asked Suishen to give me protection from cold.

We passed through the catacombs and continued north. I could see ahead there were two yeti with their hands held palm out towards us. Clearly they understood the symbol for Stop 🙂

Kali, at this point, cast a special spell that would allow her to create and then use a special language with the yeti; at least that’s what I think she said. Qatana was included in the magic, and they did indeed seem to have some sort of conversation with the yeti. Kali told us that the King had said we were not to pass. He foretold one or two moons ago that strangers in wagons would appear and now here we were. In fact, we must be killed, also per order of the King. The King is very smart, and has a glowing rock flying around his head. We were assured, however, that we would be killed honorably.

During this conversation, many in our group received resist cold. I wonder what may them so nervous …

It was pretty clear that talking was not going to solve this problem. In fact, the conversation suggested a party may have already been dispatched to “greet” us. Reluctantly we retreated to the “tree” room again. Kali used a magical shelter to block one entrance to the room and we waited. It wasn’t too long before, sure enough, yeti started to appear.

During the course of the battle, several of us were momentarily struck by fear, but never enough at once that there wasn’t at least one fighter available to defend us. Additionally, Qatana cast both confusion and aura of madness at one point, and this caused the yetis to start attacking each other. Ivan created a wall of fire that made them very uncomfortable. I think all the fighters eventually got a killing blow on a yeti, and even one of the yetis got a killing blow on a yeti 🙂

But then it got weird. As the last yetis ran off, injured, Kali ran after them! Qatana threw a look of, sure, why not? and ran after her too! I looked at Sparna, and he looked at me and we shared a look that said, “I suppose we need to go protect them.” As we approached, a giant sleet storm enveloped them both. We each heaved a sigh and prepared to move in when, just as quickly, it disappeared: we found out later that Qatana had successfully dispelled it.

Now Kali created 4 smallish fire elementals and sent them into the yeti passages. What? This seemed like a good time to retreat, having driven them off, but it seemed we were moving forward with an attack. Yet Kali seemed to be telling us to fall back. Having intentionally introduced confusion, were we not now going to attack? Sparna and I were ready to move forward and make the most of this advantage, but moving forward, we found nothing to fight. If we continued to move farther, we would be even more separated and nothing good comes from that.

“Hear anything?” I said softly to Sparna. He shook his head no.

Confused, we headed back, and then the group as a whole moved back to the caravan to regain spells and decide on a strategy.

Starday, Abadius 31

The guard towers were not empty.

I’m not sure why a necropolis needs guards anyway – aren’t dead and undead people enough of a reason to steer clear? – but these headless wonders seemed to be everywhere.  The biggest problem in dispatching them is that they look so … startling, that it causes people to freeze up sometimes.  This has happened to myself, and Sparna, and others.  While you’re struggling to refocus, they get free attacks on you.  And their attacks are not just physical damage – they do something deeper.  At some level, they just make you feel weaker, like they’re also draining life force yomehow.  And every one of them can do this startle thing from a distance.  They are most easily handled  one at a time; with a group it’s far too likely that at least one of them will startle you.

And so we’ve developed the strategy of separating them with walls of fire. The wall not only visibly blocks them and their startle ability, but also does them damage. Ivan is also great at picking them off with arrows.

So as they started to come out of the guard towers, up went the usual wall of fire.  I got a swing at him as one walked past me, but then without even turning, he startled myself and Kali.  While we stood stock still and gathered our wits, Kali, Sparna, and I watched Radella and Qatana destroy those that walked through the fire.  When I finally recovered, most of the headless were dead, and Radella got the last one before I could move closer to take a swing. Disappointing.

Qatana ran into a guard tower without backup, per usual, to check it out.  I quickly followed her, and we found that inside the tower was a room that looked to have alcoves suitable for bodies.  A door at the far end led to a more ornate room with room for a few more bodies.  All looked like they’d been disturbed, but whether by grave robbers or these headless creatures themselves I couldn’t tell.  There were pictures of the dead attacking the living which, given the history of this place, I have to believe were a late renovation.

Exiting the guard towers, Qatana next went to the bridge. There were runes on the supports of the bridge, that seemed to translate to “Here the dead walk. Trouble them not and do not bar their path.”  And there was a whole pile of magic surrounding the bridge, according to our staff who could see magic.  Qatana tried crossing the bridge and was stopped – we surmise the abjuration magic we detected is an anti-life field.  We were not able to dispel it, so for now we decided to go around it.

Suishen gave me air walk, and others used either air walk or fly to cross the bridge. Radella received darkvision since she was the most adept at finding traps and would be near the front.  We judged that the caravans would be safe since there could be nothing behind us, and everything in front of us had just been killed.

Ahead lay a purple glow, and as we approached we found that it came from a pool of water surrounding a tree like pillar.  The ceiling looked like a night sky, with tiny lights resembling stars.  The pool seemed deeper than we could see, and at the end farthest from us, on the ground there was a corpse.

“Undead” warned Ivan briefly.

Qatana reached down to take its sword, and it came to life. Or at least, it attacked.  It had glowing red eyes, which is always a good clue to identifying enemies.

We surrounded it easily, but at the same moment, a creature entered the room to the north – looked to be a yeti, according to Sparna.  Now there were issues on two fronts.  Kali summoned (ironically) a dire ape, and the ape and Sparna battled the yeti while the rest of us battled the revenant.  I managed to put a final blow onto the revenant and was going to turn my attention to the yeti, except Qatana again reached for the sword.  And it sprang to life again and we had two enemies again.  The revenant actually got ahold of Qatana at one point and started to squeeze her, but it was Radella this time who brought it down and saved Qatana.  Meanwhile Ivan managed to nail the yeti with some well shot arrows and it too fell.

There was healing all around and then we noticed something flitting about on the tree/pillar.  Qatana stepped to the water’s edge, and it came over and touched her. She visibly withered, and I rushed over to attack it and with a particular adept hit, Suishen momentarily created an even bigger burst of flame – perfect timing!  But our blows didn’t seem to damage it as much as I might have thought they would.

We quickly realized that weapons of force – magic missiles, spiritual allies, that sort of thing – was our best bet.  But at about the same moment it got through my defenses and touched me as well … and, just like Qatana, I suddenly felt weaker, like I’d lost a step.  I backed off, and the group slowly attacked them (there were 3 altogether) by force and distance weapons.

And just as we were getting the upper hand, two more yetis appeared near the corpse of the other yeti.  Ivan threw up a wall of fire, and it looked like the battle would never end when Kali paused with a distant look on her face and yelled, “The caravan! The caravan is under attack!” She cast haste on us all and we all hurried back as fast as we could. For Ivan and me, with airwalk still in effect, that was as fast as I could run. Others required another application of a fly spell.

The sounds of battle led us to the rear of the caravan, where we found Ameiko, Sandru, and Shalelu grimly holding back more of the headless wonders.  Ivan immediately threw up the ever-ready wall of fire to put some space between the undead and the caravan.  I immediately moved to protect Ameiko, who threw me a quick look like, “took your time”.  I asked Suishen for protection from cold, on a hunch, while we waited for the undead to try to come through the wall of fire.  Others began to arrive, and Sparna used his flight to stay above the undead while still being beyond the range of their startle ability.  Radella was able to engage them and start slashing at them.  I think she laid the killing blow on all three.

I had thought we were lucky to have gotten back to help before any of our party was seriously injured.  Ameiko, of course, was my first concern, but Sandru seemed stricken by grief.  I asked if he were seriously injured, and he gaped at me momentarily before gesturing to the ground beside one of the wagons.

There lay Bevelek.  Dead.

We’ve been very occupied with how this quest has affected us and our lives. We are scions now, and heir to the throne after Ameiko.  We have been learning new skills and spells, and acquiring new magic items, and to some extent enriching ourselves, in the name of increasing our chances of success, but because he’s a driver and not a swordsman or a woodsman or a cleric or a wizard, we have not done the same with all of our companions.  The idea was that they would never face danger, but when danger came anyway, he grabbed a sword and did the best he could.  I wouldn’t be surprised if he was startled by the headless undead and made easy prey by his hesitation.

A quick discussion with Qatana, Kali, and others revealed they felt similarly.  I think we have a consensus that if we can, we will resurrect him.  A gentle repose applied now will allow us to acquire the components necessary for that spell … which may take some time.  But he is important to our journey and our goals too.

It’s the right thing to do.

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Toilday, 15 Abadius

Kali, ever the accountant of our group, quietly told each of us that as a result of selling acquired but unneeded equipment, we were each 9616.43 copper pieces richer.

That evening, as I sat listening, somewhat contentedly, to the rest of the group talk about various things, I heard/felt/sensed a clearing of a throat.  Internally, I rolled my eyes, because I knew what this meant.  There was no clearing, and really, there was no throat.  And only I could hear it.  But this is the way it began every time:  the fabled sword Suishen was about to bless me with some pearl of his wisdom.

Since I’ve become his human caretaker, I’ve come to recognize his method of introducing himself.  There is a noticeable lessening of outside noise, as if I’d just lightly covered my ears.  Then there is a sound which, for all the world, sounds like a briefly clearing throat, followed by that voice that seems to always have a tinge of superiority somehow infused in it. “You know,” it may say, “you’d get more power from your swing if you drew your arm back further.”  Or “Not bad, for a standard-bearer with no formal training.”  Or “It’s hard to believe that of all the swordsmen in the world, I chanced upon one that wields a sword much like a halfling housewife might wield a flyswatter, but with half the skill and a quarter of the charisma.”

Sometimes I have a clever response, and sometimes I don’t, but it always ends with my realizing my companions are staring at me, because I’ve stopped what I was doing, sometimes in mid-sentence, and my eyes have taken on an unfocused gaze almost as though I was scanning a distant horizon.  It is sufficient at this point for me to shake my head lightly, grimace, and mutter “Suishen” and my friends nod knowledgably but look away, as if they’ve been witness to something they’d rather not, and clear their throats, quickly resuming the conversation with “soooooo, anyways …”.

And this time, my face must have looked different; perhaps my eyebrows raised in surprise. Because this time, for the first time I can remember, Suishen said nothing critical.  He said, slowly, “I am impressed with your battle with the oni.”  He paused. “I feel compelled to tell you I have more capability to assist you than I have previously revealed.  Should you find it useful, three times a day I can grant you protection from energy, and additionally, on exceptional hits, I can create a burst of flame that will do additional damage. While you need ask for the first, the second is granted unconditionally.”

I realized my companions were staring at me at the same moment that I realized my jaw had dropped perceptibly.  “Suishen?” Qatana asked consolingly.  I nodded my head slightly, almost as if to break a trance. “Uh, um, yes,” I replied. “But he just revealed to me he has more power than he’d previously let on.”  Qatana looked mildly interested. “Oh?”

“He, uh, he …” I said, still a little stunned.

And then the old Suishen echoed in my head: “Quit stammering like an imbecile. You’re about as comprehensible as an ogre with a mouthful of tree sap.”

I shook my head again and glared at … at a mental vision of me beating Suishen against a rock.  And Qatana said, “sooooooo, anyways …”

Sunday, Abadius 20

We have reached Jaagiin, with no additional notable events – notable in itself.

Jaagiin is the “capital” of the loose confederations of tribes which live on and near the high ice.  Perhaps because of the greater mix of heritage and culture, Ulf says they are more welcoming of outsiders here than some of the previous places we have stopped.  Having arrived after midday, we decided to stay the remainder of this day plus one more, which should give us adequate opportunity to reprovision, rest a bit, and perhaps pick up some more news of what lay ahead on our path.  To that end, Ameiko announced she would go shopping, looking directly at me. I sighed and announced I would do the same. In the end, the two of us plus Shalelu and Qatana went into town.

We heard a number of things both in conversations we had and in conversations we passed near to, but the most interesting things were that a white dragon had been killed over in Iqaliat (“imagine that!”) and that storms had been stronger than usual this winter (“do tell!”) and that storms in Altan Zuud, the route we intended to take, seemed to be getting worse even as the winter and storms started to ebb everywhere else (“wait, what?”).

That evening, Ameiko again looked me in the eye and announced she wanted to take her lute and visit all the pubs in town.  I swear, that woman .. but of course I went along. Keeping her safe is what I do these days.  Fortunately I am not alone in this … the entire party spontaneously decided to do the same.

And nothing happened.  Maybe we overthink this.

Oathday, Abadius 24

We have been out of Jaagiin now for three days, and it’s been uneventful.  Well, the weather has been formidable, but after all the time we spent on the high ice it’s barely noteworthy.

We saw a cabin, today, with (apparently) some trappers in it. They came out and waved, but we waved back and kept going.  We may have to weather a storm or two while in the pass so we don’t really have any time to spare.

Fireday, Abadius 25

Today it was a pile of frozen, and arguably mutilated, animal corpses that we came across.  Is this connected to the trappers?

Sunday, Abadius 27

We are now in the shadow of the mountains surrounding the pass. The storm has not abated; if anything it’s gotten worse since we approached.  Aside from the dark clouds and fierce winds, there is thunder echoing from the waves of blowing snow. Worse, Kali has heard the same mocking laugh we heard on the high ice at Dead Man’s Dome. I’m 90% certain this is not a natural storm, but I’m not sure what to do about it.

We will hope for better weather tomorrow.

Moonday, Abadius 28

It is not better. We can now hear rockfalls in the distance.  It’s not just the weather and the cold anymore; now there are physical dangers that would be difficult to defend against.  We discussed our options, but according to Ulf and Sandru, there really aren’t any.  This pass is the way through the mountains, and it’s far too dangerous to attempt to negotiate it. Going around the mountains is hundreds if not a thousand miles out of the way, and would take months – and even then we’d have to try to rejoin the main path at some point by forging our own path through the mountains and surrounding highlands.  We are stymied.

(later)
Kali, with Koya’s guidance, did a harrowing.  We were hoping the gods might give us a clue, but they mock us as much as the wind.

Toilday, Abadius 29

The cards did not give us any clue, but Koya claims that in her dreams, the gods did provide one after all.   She says the cards made her remember a story about how a traveller once took a path that went through the mountains (literally, as in a tunnel or cave). Desna is sometimes known as the Queen of the North, and legend has it that the tunnel was created so that faithful from the south could make the trek to the north – Desna – in relative safety.

Supposedly it is marked on the north side by two statues of Desna. No telling how large or obvious these statues may be, so I hope they are not buried under snow and only visible in summer.

Kali sent Nehali out to search; she can do it faster than any of us could.  Marching to the west, we began to parallel the mountain range.

Behind us, it almost seems that the storm has erupted from the pass, and is now following us.

(later)
Nehali did find a statue, and it was only about 5 miles away.  We can hear the wind building behind us, and the skies are darkening. This is no natural storm; it now pursues us.

But the statue did mark the entrance to a tunnel into the mountain.  A second statue, it appears, used to stand here but has fallen over and pieces lie broken on the ground.  The tunnel is large enough to accommodate our wagons, if we string them out single file.  Glancing at the sky, we have little choice.  The storm is perhaps ten miles away and is inexplicably moving west towards us.  We enter the tunnel, and shortly after we hear the storm howling furiously and helplessly outside the tunnel entrance.

However, the legend foretold there would be statues praising Desna in the tunnel, and while there were statues, these were no longer focused on Desna. It would seem they had been mutilated by followers of Fumioshi, and now each stately figure bore the visage of a red, demonic face.

We did not make it far into the tunnel before we decided to stop for the night. But the mutilated statues told us we would definitely want guards for the evening. And were those footprints in the dust fresh, or did the lack of wind here in the cave allow old things to look new?

Fireday, Abadius 30

Last night, or this morning, to be perfectly accurate, as we feared, we were attacked.

Four shambling, headless figures headed for our camp, and Sparna raised the alarm. I awoke, and ran to join him.

While I was ready to fight and defend, something about the creatures froze me in my tracks.  We had no idea of what these creatures may be capable, and there was only the two of us.  The rest would be coming, of course, but these things were evil, I could sense it. They might be capable of horrific acts.  Should I move forward, or drop back to protect Ameiko? What if I failed in my mission to protect her?

And while I considered this, my legs unthinkingly locked into place.  Fire erupted around the figures and it appeared to affect each of them differently. Some tried to escape. Some plowed through. Some simply stood still and started smoldering.

It wasn’t until the last one was a smoldering corpse (instead of just a corpse) that I found myself free to move and realized I had been locked in place the entire time. Sparna came to the same realization at about the same time, and we glanced at each other guiltily.

At least, I suppose, we physically blocked their advancement.

Travelling this day, and being more interested in our surroundings, we did see many footprints around.  It would not be unexpected to have more visitors.

Starday, Abadius 31

We are standing at the entrance to what appears to be an underground city.  Koya grimly tells us that the legend did speak of a necropolis where the dead could rest before finishing their journey to Desna. Fantastic. A whole city of shambling headless figures.  But it lies directly in our path, and it’s not like we can skirt it.  We’ll just have to be smart about it.

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Sunday, 6 Abadius

The undead armies of Katiana were truly defeated, and the legend of the Dead Man had grown. Despite the positive outcome of all that, we were in a hurry to put some distance behind us. We are close to both coming off the high ice, and to seeing daylight return as a regular and lengthy occurrence, and those possibilities have made us eager to move forward.

2 days ago, we determined we needed to magically complete the healing of Vancour. Waiting for nature to fix it was taking too long, and we needed our party, our passengers, and our staff all to be in good shape. Coming off the ice, we rather expected to find agents of the Five Storms to again try to thwart, mislead, or kill us; it was to our advantage to be as rested and healthy as possible, under the circumstances.

And today we saw the first signs of life in a while. There was a cabin, not far off the trail, with smoke curling from its chimney. I’d have as soon moved on – after all, our strategy has been to try not to call attention to ourselves – but Qatana was insistent on dropping in for a visit, and nobody argued with her.

Although he was one of the first to the door, Sparna later insisted it was my day to watch her, but I don’t think I’ve been tracking that closely enough. Seems like it’s always my day to watch her.

Anyway, the resident there surprised us a bit by responding to our knocking by emerging from the bottom half of a split, 4 hinged door. He was short in stature, not unlike Sparna but yet very unlike Sparna. Then I realized: Gods we’ve been away from civilization a long time. He was a halfling! and although it struck me as strange to find him here, upon reflection it was strange to find anybody at all living in the wilderness. Not that we were that far from town, but who would choose the solitude over …

Oh wait. Boy that felt weird. Mr I-don’t-fit-in-with-the-elves wondering why solitude is a blessing. I guess these days I’ve formed something of a camaraderie with, well, with the whole caravan. This is a group I feel comfortable with, and I would risk my life to rescue any of them. They each bring something different to the table, and yet I feel a bond with each.

Shalelu – I thought I knew her, but I guess I knew a side of her that is different from her “adventurer” side. She was something of a mentor before, but I see she is much more rounded than that. And it seems odd, but I daresay that the student is close to surpassing the teacher in a few ways. Odder still, she seems happy to have that happen.

Ameiko – the heir, of course, though nobody dare say that out loud. Thanks to Suishen I’ve come to know her much better than I did, say, a year ago. Not because it told me anything; heaven forbid it actually be that useful. But because of the role that possessing it has forced upon me – “Guardian of the Heir to the Throne” – Ameiko and I have been forced to have some serious talks about how we interact with each other and what our duties and responsibilities are. In that sense, I almost know her better than I know Shalelu now, and while I struggle to keep her out of harm’s way, I’m impressed with her battle skills, even after their being unused for a number of years.

But the halfling – right. Kobi is his name, and he is a guide like Ulf. There seems to be a friendly rivalry between them, and Kobi mentioned several times that were it up to him, he would not have recommended the ice in the winter. He said there were mostly humans/halflings/elves in town. We offered him a bit of lunch by way of friendly thanks, and being a halfling he politely accepted.

Wealday, 9 Abadius

It was the middle of the day when we reached Ul Angorn. Sandru informed us in a low voice that we should plan on staying overnight; while provisioning and minor repairs might be something we could accomplish in an afternoon, his crew badly needed a ‘shore leave’.

And so we found ourselves pulled to The Frozen Spike, the only place to obtain food and drink in the small town.

As expected, talk eventually turned to why we were here, now, at the worst time of year. The cover story we’d agreed upon was that Koya, our family matriarch, was dying, and wanted to see Tien Sha before she passed. It explained an urgency that otherwise transcended common sense. It seemed to make Koya vaguely uncomfortable as strangers offered their condolences and spoke to her in the same ginger manner one carries an heirloom teapot – and I’m sorry to say her discomfort played beautifully.

Stories flowed freely – the waitress confided that just over a week ago, a party of 12 lost half its membership in a winter storm. Last season, another local patron offered, there was a party attacked by a dragon. We had to bite our tongues to avoid saying, “yes, oh, I wonder if that was the one we killed?” Low key, little attention. Low key, little attention.

And then Ameiko, of all people, suggests maybe she could play a little music. A little concerned, I offered to sing with her, so that I could keep close with her even on stage. Normally that would have been passable although nowhere near virtuoso, except the cold air seemed to have affected my voice and what came out was startling even by my standards. Ameiko managed to look simultaneously amused and annoyed at my effort, while she played some very nice music. The pub gradually filled over the next half hour or so and, presumably, word spread. I gave up on the singing but did sit on the edge of the stage with her, keeping time and surveying the crowd.

She ended her piece to universal applause. I noticed during her piece that I was not the only concerned one; Qatana kept close to her as she returned to the table, and I’d noticed Ivan had slipped outside, probably to pre-filter any new patrons. Kali must have gone out there too, while Radella was inside but looking inconspicuous.

A man strode over to Ameiko and complimented her on her piece. She thanked him, and he said, “I play a bit myself, and I have a new piece I’ve been working on. I’d love for you to help critique it. I’ve got it at home.”

And I did a theatrical doubletake when Ameiko said, “I’d like that.”

What? She agreed?? As protector at the very least I’d be going along to observe. Then I caught Qatana’s eyes, which had gone beyond concern. Did she know something more? Her eyes cleared for a second, she mumbled a few words, and the stranger stopped speaking in mid sentence. I realized she must have cast Hold Person on him.

Ameiko was livid. ‘I can go where I want and I do NOT require a chaperone,” she insisted. I moved to put myself between the stranger and Ameiko, saying, “We should discuss this elsewhere.” And then things went quickly from awkward to dangerous.

Ivan burst in from outside. “She’s been charmed!” he cried. I drew Suishen. Radella appeared behind the man and softly said, “you move, you die” while swiftly disarming him. The man shook his head imperceptibly as he apparently broke the Hold, and suddenly roared as he became a purple ogre. Patrons began to scatter, tripping over each other in their eagerness to avoid adventure.

Ameiko looked uncertain, and then drew her own rapier. Radella made good on her threat and cut up the oni substantially. It looked startled and tried to go to gaseous form, but Ivan dispelled it. It was, ironically, Ameiko who dealt the killing blow to the oni, and when I reminded her in a solemn low voice that she should let her protector do that sort of thing, she threw me a hard look.

A little more magic helped mend the broken chairs and clean up the blood, and one more short concert by Ameiko helped soothe the crowd. I gave the oni’s ogre-sized great sword to the proprietor as a memento (“here’s a frozen spike for ya!”). But then the night was over, and while 20 or 30 people had a story that would likely grow in the telling, it was clearly time for us to go. We took the body, because of course we were going to Speak with Dead in the morning and after all, after a bar brawl where you skewer your 8 ft competitor, and splatter blood upon all within 10 feet, it’s only good manners to take the body with you.

Oathday, 10 Abadius

We of course invoked Speak with Dead, and asked four questions. This one was less evasive then some of our previous interviewees:

Who were you working for? The Five Winds
How did you find out we were here? Was waiting to see if you’d come
How did you get here? Travelled by magic
Did you tell others we were here? Yes

There are still a few repairs to make to the wagon, so we will stay another day.

Toilday, 15 Abadius

We were attacked today by two huge (wagon-sized) spiders from either side of the trail. I put myself between Ameiko and the nearest spider and she did not complain. Their bite was extremely venomous, Sparna verified, and even I found out they had body hairs that could be thrown like little darts and cause one to be sickened and unable to defend oneself.

We did eventually defeat them, though. Sparna was gravel injured by the venom, and while the venom did not get to me directly, the hairs sickened me and hampered my efforts to protect Ameiko. I provided, at best, a physical barrier rather than a credible threat.

Starday, 22 Kuthona

We had decided to do the almist-customary-now speak with dead with Katiana, but somewhat to my surprise, this time Qatana wanted the whole body. I thought we only needed the head?  Certainly we’ve done that in the past, but she said something about “it works better if you have more of the body”.

Well it also works better if you don’t kill the body (you’re not limited to four questions!), but I’m not really recommending that as a strategy. I may be half elven with a magical heritage, but sometimes I just don’t understand how these spellcasters work.  So, okay, we’ve got a whole-but-grievously-wounded body for tomorrow. We’ll see if this improves the quality of the answers.

Sunday, 23 Kuthona

Before we set off in the morning, Qatana spoke with Katiana. I was not impressed with the quality of the answers.  I paraphrase here:

Q: Who were the others you were working with?
A: Fell creatures of the frozen north who are allied
against you and your cause!  they may yet thwart you!

Q: What was the purpose of the storms?
A: To further the glory of the lord Sithud! You will feel
his wrath and die at his hands and he will serve death to
you on a putrid platter with a side of fell broccoli.

Q: Who else is assisting Sithud?
A: My underlings, the fell creatures of the frozen north
who are allied against you and your cause!  They will
defeat you and you will join their ranks as the frozen
ice becomes your new home and … and you bow down before
the great Lord Sithud as he, ah, as he serves you death on
a fell platter of MASTER construction with a side of, uh,
moldy yams. Frozen moldy yams. Of death. But which may
once have been candied, but their being of death it
really matters not. Ha ha-ha-ha!

Q: Are you working with the oni of the 5 storms?
A: I serve the great Lord Sithud whose legions of foul
creatures, a subset of which also serve me although
of course his orders would supercede mine should he
give them any, which he doesn’t, so it’s irrelevant,
the legions of which shall oppose you at every step,
or rather every third step because fell creatures
lose a step or two when they originally fell, but
not so much that they fall very far behind, for they
are tireless, and, uh, right.  Who will oppose you – I
mean do ALREADY oppose you with great … opposition
and will defeat you in battle – no, it will be no battle
at all when you fall before the frozen but plodding
armies of … wait, curse Common, I don’t think that’s
the right word .. frozen but STEADFAST, that’s it,
frozen but STEADFAST armies of Sithud that shall –

and at that point the head stopped talking and Qatana informed us the spell had run its course.

Or at least, that’s what I remember. I didn’t have a pen ready so I may not have captured it word for word.  Overall, having the whole body there seemed to mean she spoke more but said less.  Not sure if it  was really worth the trouble. I guess we did learn we may want to be more vigilant.

Ulf told us that our best route out of the ice now would be by way of Dead Man’s Dome, and being a fantastic shill I immediately said, “Dead Man’s Dome?  Why is it called that?” and Ulf managed to look ominous, sinister, and mysterious even though it was the brightest darkness of the day, and said, “aye, there’s a story there, but it needs wait for dinner” because Ulf realized, of course, that the dancing shadows and captive audience provided by the evening fire would be needed to properly tell this story.

In the evening, as our relatively small fire shone brightly across the miles of flat unbroken ice, he told us a tale of a tower that, over two hundred years ago, was used to guarantee safe passage between the ice and the lands beyond.  The area was known to be home to not just fell beasts but disagreeable giants and others.  The last caravan of the season was exiting the ice later than normal, and their scouts reported having seen signs that they were indeed being followed. They reached the guard tower just as an army of undead and giants attacked them.

At this point I realized uncomfortably that this almost perfectly described OUR caravan’s current situation.

The tower was not without armaments, and the caravan had at least reached its elevated base safely.  Still, the attack was ferocious and it didn’t take too long to realize that the tower (and the caravan it was guarding) was destined to fall.

One of the remaining soldiers from the tower came forward and offered a plan.  Since the attacking army may not know how close the tower was to falling, it might be possibly to make the army think there was a massive counterattack preparing.  Distracted by the apparent counterattack, the caravan may yet escape even as the tower fell.  It was, of course, a suicide mission for the lone soldier but it was all they had.

And it was successful.  What was left of the attacking army – for they too had truly taken significant losses – moved up to defeat the apparent counterattack.  The soldier used what little magic and weapons he had left to appear to be a small platoon of troops, when in fact it was just him.  As the attackers angrily surged forward, he played his last card, collapsing the tower upon the attackers and guaranteeing there were too few left to chase the escaping caravan.

Nobody ever learned of the soldier’s name, but the tale of his bravery moved rapidly from campfire to town to garrison, and the remaining wreckage became known as Dead Man’s Dome.  And legend has it (of course) that he guards the pass still, against any evil that would dare attack a passing caravan.

When we get there, we’ll see how much of what remains supports the story. We anticipate it taking over a week to get there.  But Ulf certainly did tell it well.

Fireday, 28 Kuthona

Things had been pretty uneventful until tonight, when a guard reported a woman out on the ice, approaching our position.Ivan, Qatana, and I cautiously approached the figure.  Ivan had cast a spell called ‘deathwatch’ which apparently allows him to discern at a glance if a being is truly alive or not.  A maiden in a red silk robe – which looked dreadfully out of place here on the ice – hesitantly drew nigh and announced, “My name is Uki.”

Sparna quietly moved to the perimeter.

When we bade her to come nearer, she said she was afraid and actually backed up.  We looked at each other, and Ivan shook his head. There was no life here.  We called for the rest of the party, and at that moment the wind inexplicably increased and started becoming an issue.  Hailstones fell from what had previously been a clear sky, and they definitely hurt.  I instructed Suishen to turn up the flame, and Ivan provided a wall of flame behind Uki to encourage her to move closer.

She tried to use her waif looks to captivate us, but was unsuccessful. We then attacked, and although she was much tougher than she looked, she was soon not a threat at all.

Moonday, 31 Kuthona

One of our wagon drivers has been acting strangely, but today it turned to the irrational.  He became afraid of the horses and refused to drive.  We suspect this might be a case of the “Howl of the North” that Ulf had warned us about.  So far we have been fortunate to avoid it, but we had acquired resources before we left town that would allow us to mitigate it.  Qatana was able to use some diamond dust to create a spell of Restoration to help with the healing.  While that did make him better, he is still by no means healed so we have shifted some of our roles around to cover for the missing driver, who now is under the personal care of Koya.

Toilday, 1 Abadius

Owing to Katiana’s clear premonitions, we suspected this day would come. Today, we noticed in the distance, figures following us.  I quickly rode back a bit with Kasimir and observed, yes, I saw at least 10 skeletons plodding, er STEADFASTLY plodding towards us.  They were not really overtaking us, but the problem is that they were tireless, but we’d have to stop and rest at some point. They would eventually catch up to us.  Ivan scouted ahead to make sure we weren’t being herded into a trap, and as far as he could tell, no, we weren’t.

Ulf pointed out we could probably make Dead Man’s Dome and in a quick meeting, we concluded it probably would provide the most defensible place.  It was apparent that more undead were joining the skeletons and it was anybody’s guess how many we’d ultimately be facing.  High ground seemed like a good idea.

By evening, we’d reached Dead Man’s Dome, and we quickly sized it up. We probably had 20-30 min before the horde caught up to us, and in consultation with Ulf we came up with a plan to funnel the undead towards us using walls of fire.  Once they were in the kill zone, some area effect spells would hammer them before the fighters moved in to clean up.  I asked Suishen for protection from cold, and we moved up to execute.

As the greatly reduced undead advanced towards us, among our fighters rose a ghostly figure from the ground. The Dead Man had risen to defend the caravan, just as legend foretold!  His great sword sliced a wight in half as he gave a half nod to the fighters around him.

Ivan kept a steady stream of arrows heading out to the advancing undead.  We destroyed the rest of the undead in short order, with little damage to us.    And that’s when we saw the second wave advancing.

Since we again had a few minutes to prepare, we quickly brought Ulf up to see the Dead Man.  Ulf never expected to see the subject of one of his stories before him 🙂 and the look on his face was worth the effort.  For his part, the Dead Man again politely nodded at Ulf much as he had to us.

The walls of fire had provided not only a funnelling effect, but also light.  But they would be expired for the second wave.  We adjusted our strategy a bit.  Ivan shot some lit arrows out behind the second wave, and that provided some backlight to help see them advancing.  A few tried to move off to flank us, but the nice thing about undead is that they don’t think very hard. they pretty much move directly to the target.  Our basic area effect spells still took out a goodly number.  The Dead Man again proved indispensible. In the end, we easily killed over 30 undead between the two waves, and we did save the caravan.

Instead of disappearing or sinking back into the ground, the Dead Man walked slowly up the hill. He still looked very distinguished in his dated full plate.  But then he reached a pile of rubble, and slowly pointed at it.  I thought we might find his remains there, but what we found was more valuable than that.

[431] terra cotta statue
-once per day one can reroll a d20 attack roll w/+1
– once per day one can call upon a spiritual ally for 7 rds

We believe we have exhausted the undead army, but we will nevertheless proceed with caution for the next few days.

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Starday, 22 Kuthona

The machine now silent, the group moderately weakened (at least spellwise), and with yet another floor above us, Kali asked for time to recover 3 spells.  Radella continued playing with the controls, and while it could not be said she mastered it, she could get it to do what she wanted about, I don’t know, half the time.  It was apparently pretty complex, even for her. A couple of others slowly recovered from a touch of idiocy that the little glass scorpions had bestowed upon them.  When you’ve been touched by idiocy, time is your friend.

Kali then announced she was going to do some recon.  She summoned a small air elemental to (easily) go up the still-windy center and report back on what it found up there.

It reported, and I’m paraphrasing here, that “there was a great tumult of wind in the center, the room held many frozen dead, the room had gems with lightning passing between them.” Kali concluded that the only thing lacking was a fireball, so from the edge of the shaft, she sent up a fireball to complete the scene.

Kali sent up another surprise: two earth elementals who were told to push any undead down the shaft.  Then we quickly arranged for us all to have cold resistance (Suishen supplied it for me) and prepared to head up ourselves.  Before we could summon the platform, we did see two bodies fly down the shaft so apparently the elementals were following instructions.

Ivan gave us Hide from Undead, and Qatana put a circle against evil on me, and all the fighters got fly or air walk.  Upon arriving at the next level, a quick glance filled in the details the air elemental had not been able to provide. Six equally spaced gem circled the outer wall, with great arcs of lightning going from them up to the ceiling, where they converged in a giant blue all of energy.  Also on the outside edge, 4 platforms rose from the floor to the level of the gems – at least fifty feet – with each ending near an open window.  Standing on one of the platforms was a blue-skinned woman: Katiyana.

As we arrived she looked down upon us and produced an energy burst which seemed to affect some of us worse than others. I did not escape damage, but seemed to fare better than some  of my companions. Kali hasted us all, and I started airwalking my way up to the sylph.

Then the sylph started som intense chanting that seemed to take way longer than a regular spell. Kali yelled, “Summoning!” and I closed the distance to to try to attack her. But the wind from the center blew me against an outer wall as I stopped moving, so I used the ring of ram to try to smack her – and missed. Little did I know that that broke the hide from undead spell for everybody; I had thought as long as I left the undead alone the spell would hold.  Oh well. Qatana successfully inflicted a touch of idiocy on Katiyana, but below us suddenly the undead noticed Ivan and Kali and began attacking them.

Allowed to finish her spell, Katiyana did indeed summon a demon, but because of my circle of protection, it was forced off the ledge and dropped 50′ to the ground.  That did not start off its involuntary visit to the material plane on an up note.  In a quicker move, she also conjured a being of pure force using a spell that Qatyana recognized as spiritual ally, and she briefly warned me that I could not attack it physically.  It, of course, would have no trouble attacking me.

Below me, it turned out, the demon was looking at an easy, paralyzed target named Ivan.  Kali, however, created a pit underneath it and it dropped another 20′ and could no longer reach Ivan.  Welcome again to the material plane.

I, however, was learning a big difference between air walk and fly. The latter allowed for the possibility you might be able to reach a point and hold it, even in a strong wind.  Air walk, however, was an automatic fail – if I wasn’t walking, I was being pushed by the very strong wind. Another attempt got me blown right next to one of the arcing crystals and almost out a window.  A thought occurred to me – if I can’t get to the sylph, perhaps I can get the sylph to come to me.  I turned and attacked the crystal, which terribly vexed Suishen, who wanted me to attack living creatures. That would make me happy too, but I’m working with what I’ve got …

Radella finally made it to the demon, and smacked it so hard she splattered whatever constitutes demon blood all over the walls. Welcome to the material plane.

In general, our resistance to cold was helping a great deal with the frozen undead.  However their ability to paralyze us we had no defense against, and once held in place we were easy targets.

The sylph did seem annoyed at my attacks on the crystal, which by now was greatly diminishing its arcing contribution to the ball of lightning. It was not yet destroyed, but clearly significantly damaged. The battered demon swung at Radella and missed, but Radella returned the favor with a powerful swing and sent it back from whence it had come. Thank you and please don’t visit again.

The crystal I’d been hacking on finally shattered and electricity ceased to flow from it. I (air) walked down to the ground but as I did so, the wind suddenly stopped. I looked up and Kali had flown up and blocked the input somehow, so now there was no downflow. I could walk to and attack Katiyana again!

But I was too late. The rest of the party had been slowly but steadily diminishing the frozen undead, and I’d seen at least one tumble into the shaft when the platform disappeared.  And the sylph had tried to impudently walk pasr Sparna while he had a weapon ready, and he simply struck her down as she passed.  How ignominious.  Or desperate.  Maybe it was just a cry for attention.

From her body we collected

[424] scroll of cleanse
[425] magic breastplate +1
[426] MW buckler
[427] headband of mental superiority +2
[428] spell components
[429] unholy symbol of Sithud

and just in case they should prove useful,

[430] crystal shards

We took the time to destroy each of the crystals, and as we suspected, the ball of lightning faded and finally disappeared altogether, and when it did, the wind stopped.

Returning to the ground floor, it was apparent that it was not just the central shaft that had lost the wind. The surrounding area was no longer suffering the effects of storm. In fact, the clouds had cleared and we could see stars.

There was still the mushroom room on the ground floor that we had not inspected, and in the interest of being thorough, we decided to go there and encounter the invisible carnivorous fungi.  Using my last favor from Suishen today, I asked for see invisible and I was able to strike some down as well as direct others in their battles and spells.  Whenever the man-sized fungi attacked they became briefly visible, so we knew they were real 🙂 For our troubles, upon defeating the four of them we were able to harvest a modest amount of (allegedly edible, according to Qatana) mushrooms to add to dinner.

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Sunday, 11 Neth

Our trip to Unaimo was uneventful, but productive. I was able to get a stronger bow. Additionally, I was able to get the raw materials so that Kali, with all the “spare time” that our travelling has entailed, was able to construct me a handy haversack, as well as improve my cloak of protection to +2. I’ve a sense that we’re going to need every edge when we get to the Storm Tower.

Wealday, 14 Neth

I’m finding that I get tired a lot faster. Not tired as in “I want to sleep” but tired as in “let me catch my breath.” Kali says we’re at an elevation on the ice, now, where the air is not as effective. Apparently as we get higher, the air gets less effective. She tried to explain it to me but the key thing is, we just need to go slower. It’s not just me; others (and the animals) are having the same problem.

Consequently, today we only went about half as far as yesterday. We had a quick meeting tonight and decided we should not travel every day for a while, so our bodies/lungs can rest. In fact, we’re talking about moving only a couple of days a week. Kali says after a few weeks, our bodies will adapt and the air will be just as effective as before. I don’t think this is a spell she’s doing, it just is.

I’ve never encountered it before. I don’t know if this only happens in the cold or if the same thing would happen in a warm, but tall mountain. I’ll have to remember to ask Kali. My head hurts.

The wind is a constant now. Even though there’s no trees or even rocks for it to whistle through, if you listen closely you can hear something on the wind, like an animal calling or something. It must be up ahead, given the wind direction, but it’s impossible to say how far.

Starday, 17 Neth

Rest day again today, but I think we’re getting closer to the animal. I’ve mentioned to the others, but their hearing must not be as keen as mine because they don’t hear it. It is rather high pitched so maybe only an elf or half-elf can hear it. I’m tempted to take an hour or two and go check out the ice ahead, but we’ve agreed to rest and whatever it is hasn’t attacked yet. But I can hear the desperation in its voice; it may not be long before it attacks.

It’s basically dark all day now, and sound is the only way to track it. Thank goodness for my elfin hearing. I haven’t mentioned it again to the others, since there’s no point in worrying them until I can sense an attack is imminent. Their safety is paramount, and if they’re on edge all the time, they’ll be tired, not battle-ready. It’s second nature to me, but not to them.

Starday, 24 Neth

It seems the creature I’d heard has backed off, or abandoned us. Even with my keen hearing, I don’t hear it anymore, and haven’t for several days now. The wind still howls, but it’s just wind. I’m glad I didn’t alarm the others; it would have been wasted effort.

I’ll keep an ear out, of course, but I’m sleeping much better now without that as a constant background.

Starday, 1 Kuthona

Kali and Qatana were on watch when they noticed one of those strange blue-green lights Skygni had told us about. They roused us and we noticed one actually head towards us. Kali hasted us all with a want just as the world exploded around us in shards of sound.

Or at least that’s what it seemed like. The thing shrieked, or yelled, or did something that was VERY easy to hear, and the impact of that sound turned the ice at our feet into flying shards. Several of us took damage, from the shards as much as the sound. I quickly shot it with an arrow, but fighting in darkness, even with some degree of dark vision meant my ability to aim arrows accurately was limited. This creature was flying and for all we know, couldn’t land in a controlled fashion. We were going to have to take the battle to it. Suishen bestowed airwalk upon me.

In general, this was a smart strategy. But the creature had unexpected grace and speed, and it descended to me and hit me with a ferocious sonic blast before I could react. I almost passed out, and realized I needed healing. I quickly pulled a CLW from my belt and drank it, but it only made me feel marginally better, so I called out for healing and walked toward the ground, hoping I would not get hit again before Qatana or Ivan could reach me.

Qatana was able to heal me, and all of us were able to take a nick out of it. A spot of acid finally did it in and it plummeted to the ground, but it truly was a team effort. Ivan and Qatana gave me additional healing to bring me back to full strength, in case others came by … but none did. We noticed it had really small eyes so that and the complete darkness present here made us think that the thing may have used sound, like a bat, to locate its prey.

I came away healed, but with a fresh respect for this foe.

Sunday, 9 Kuthona

Kali said we should find ourselves acclimated to the altitude sometime this week. I must admit, I don’t find myself tiring as easy as before so I think she may be right.

Sunday, 16 Kuthona

We’re resuming full speed. Everybody seems to be acclimated.

The Storm Tower is visible in the distance; the lights and flashes it seems to generate make it easy to follow in the darkness.

Fireday, 21 Kuthona

We have made it as close as Sandru will allow the caravan to go. The wind here is unbelievable, and that’s part of why Sandru wants to stop here. There are intermittent flashes of light from around the tower. We will rest tonight, recover spells, and investigate – likely, “assault” – the tower tomorrow.

Starday, 22 Kuthona

And so it begins.

The tower is several hundred feet high. The wind only got stronger as we got closer. There is a black slush here and there that Ulf has told us is not uncommon in this area … but it’s also toxic, poisonous, and likely lethal, so … no samples, no dipping, and no ugh tasting!

The tower had an opening to it. I flamed Suishen and we entered.

Inside, we encountered three creatures which seemed to be wights. They were easily dispatched – surprisingly easy. But they were just a prelude to an adjacent room, which held a plant of some sort. The ceiling here must have been a hundred feet above us, but the plant was “only” man sized with a tangle of roots that spread around the room.

Make that a carnivorous plant of some sort, because after emitting a bright blinding light, it quickly ingested Qatana and spit her back out contained in a constricting and apparently acid producing casing that was slowly killing her. While we attacked the plant, Qatana attacked the casing. The plant soon died, and others assisted Qatana in exiting the pod.

I looked at the corpse and thought – how does this even survive here? Thinking it over, it probably is only here as a sentry.

Examining walls around the center section revealed some embedded crystals that made us believe it might act as a lift. Radella played with them a bit and believed she could operate them. We arrayed ourselves, stood on the center platform, and had her work her magic.

The center section quickly rose to a room that contained two large worm-like creatures. Moving without being attacked was difficult, yet we knew the floor would sink soon. Several of us took injuries only because we needed to hastily move without regard for the creatures before us. And wisely so – several seconds after arriving, the floor did indeed descend back to the first floor.

But by that time we were battling these hungry creatures. Hungry? Well, yes, these too seemed to want to eat us. We did kill them both, but not without some peril. And an ominous sign was that the symbol of Sithud had been carved into a scale on each body.

Surprisingly, given the cold clime, these beasts did not seem to shun the flame of Suishen. In fact, he thought they might be immune to it.

There were doors indicating other rooms on this floor, but they seemed sealed (yes, sealed, not locked). Qatana used stoneshape to create an opening next to one of the doors … and it revealed a most peculiar scene.

Inside were many crystalline scorpionlike creatures – perhaps a dozen or more. The walls seemed embedded with crystals that were connected by metallic strips or wires, and the whole room appeared to generate random blue light. The scorpions appeared to be monitoring or maintaining the crystals … until the opening appeared, that is. Then they approached us.

Oh. And they could teleport. Hmm. And apparently they could cast spells, like touch or idiocy.

On the plus side they didn’t seem too hard to kill, although blunt weapons seemed more damaging then edged weapons (sorry Suishen). Despite the large numbers of them, we managed to dispatch them.

I wondered if the now damaged and unmonitored crystal room would explode or something now. But it didn’t seem to; in fact, we ended up taking out all the crystals and caching them. Using detect magic, we determined that 4 of the crystals actually seemed to radiate magic. We spent some time identifying them and found we had

[422] 2 cubic crystals, radiating abjuration. Able to create a 10′ cube within which the temp would remain 65 degrees and absorb cold-based attacks – no more than 50 in one round or 100 in ten.

[423] 2 prism shaped crystals, radiating evocation. They each had 50 charges, and they could
* act as a hooded lantern (1 charge)
* a 1′ diameter ray of light 50′ long that could blind a
creature 1d4 rds (1 charge)
* blinding flash for 30′ cone, blinded 1d4 rds (5 charges)

And we noticed that as we pulled out crystals, the humming decreased bit by bit. Each crystal pulled lowered the sound in the room, until the room was silent.

Up, again, I suspect. But do we need to recharge our spells? Would we lose the element of surprise if we recharged?

It very much seemed that pulling the crystals disabled some aspect of the tower.

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Wealday, 17 Lamashan

The town shaman is dead at our hand, and although it was perfectly justified, it was going to require some explanation.  I suspect “he started it” after specifically warning the town about the dangers of the outsiders is not going to cut it.  However, if we return with the hearthmistress … she was at least neutral to us, and this evidence plus our story might be sufficient for her to remain, at least, neutral.

In the meantime, there is one way that the shaman can still help us, and that is by his generous bequest of his belongings to the victors (us).

[399] 2 potions bark skin
[400] cloak of resistance +2
[401] ring of mindshielding
[402] staff with a decorative fork on top [5]
with 1 charge
detect snares and pits
endure elements
long strider
pass without trace
with 2 charges
freedom of movement
[403] cold weather outfit
[404] unholy symbol of Sithud

The latter was recognized by Kali and Qatana, who informed us that Sithud was a powerful demon lord who once was a god.  So, checking my list, I see, ah yes, there it is.

[*] Antagonize enemies that are more deadly than a white dragon

Glad I can put that one behind me.

Right, retrieve the hearthmistress. Fly spell has worn off, so we’ll have to hoof it.  According to Radella, there might yet be a guard to get past. It occurred to Kali that the guard, if there was one, might be controlled and not inherently evil, so we might not want to kill it. Good thought, although at this point it would not likely have occurred to me.

And sure enough, we did find the guard. Although he took a swing at me, he missed, so I gave him the free swing and held up my hands: “Whoa whoa whoa, friend here!”  Qatana tried hold person – didn’t work.  Ivan tried a dispel magic – no apparent effect.  Sparna tried to intimidate: no go.  Kali created a circle against evil but that too seemed to have no effect. Sigh.

On his next swing he cut me good, but mindful of our goals I tried to disarm him rather than kill him. I succeeded – he dropped his weapon, fell to the ground, and we could now see a small, 1′ tall creature riding on his back.

I can’t imagine a situation where that is harmless, so Sparna and I quickly dispatched it. Or, at least, it disappeared.  The guard quickly came to, and looked both frightened and defensive.  “Do you serve the traitor?”

Ah. Fate has brought us exactly the thing we needed: a witness.

Naquun told us that he had been in service to the shaman willingly, but many days ago, after returning from his visionquest, he called him down. He summoned the creature we saw to take control of him and after that Naquun was helpless to disobey him.

Some drawings and runes on the wall had drawn the attention of both Kali and Qatana, but Naquun had little to offer about them.  We sent our grateful witness back to town to retrieve the hearthmistress.

When the hearthmistress and the chief returned, they were speechless. We barely needed to say anything at all, since Naquun retained all memory of what he’d been forced to do.  We confirmed that the shaman was dead, and asked if the five pictographs – one of standing stones, one of blue towers in a frozen city, another of a single tower beneath pale peaks, yet another of a storm that appeared to be devouring towns, and lastly, one of a blue-skinned woman.

They were aghast at the sight of the broken dragon egg, but knew not why it was there or what it meant.

We climbed to the altar at the top of the peak to make sure it had not been desecrated or damaged.  (It hadn’t.)  We discussed the frozen spirits we had dispatched, and the chief griml acknowledged that some of them were indeed from the village.

The chief and hearthmistress wanted to destroy the body immediately, but Qatana convinced them to keep the body until tomorrow, because she wanted to try Speak with Dead with it. they agreed on the condition that they also be able to attend.

Oathday, 18 Lamashan

Everyone eagerly reconvened to talk to the dead shaman.  Qatana performed the increasingly-familiar ceremony and asked:

Why is the dragon attacking the village?
– So that Sithud’s will be done.
What is the will of Sithud?
– Return to his rightful place.
Why did you trick the dragon into attacking the village?
– I did what must be done.

I felt those were fairly useless answers, but Kali and Qatana seemed satisfied.  As per her new and slightly disturbing habit, Qatana retained the head.

We conclued that we needed to journey to the white dragon. None of our success here would have any reason to stop the attacks. If the dragon knew the human responsible had been executed, maybe it would stop. But again, none of that can happen without notifying the dragon.

By way of thanks, and aid, the chief offered us

[unnumbered] claws of the ice bear – +2 confidence on climbing,
3 times/day spider climb for one round

Fireday, 19 Lamashan

We’ve left on our trip to the home of the white dragon.  Regrettably, the caravan will not be coming with us – too much of a target with no real benefit (other than making the trip a bit more comfortable for us).

Sunday, 21 Lamashan

Weather acted up, slowed us down.  Snowstorm. Very cold.

Moonday, 22 Lamashan

We have arrived.

Unlike a “traditional” dragon lair, in this environment there is only one place for a white drago to live, and that is underground. We have found a rip in the ground which, we are told, is the lair of the dragon.

Dragons. Everybody talks about them but nobody ever does anything about them.  Well, that’s about to change.

We magicked up with protection from cold, and resist cold (mine, courtesy of Suishen), even Draconic Reserve for Sparna.  We added Fly, and Dark Vision.  And down we went.
later
So much for negotiating.

The dragon was, understandably, predisposed against local humans.  Its nest had been clumsily staged to look like it had been raided by the town of Iqaliat.  When we found the dragon, both Qatana and  I tried to tell it we had caught and executed the real murderer, but it was a mother filled with bloodlust.  She went on about how all 2-legs were murderers and untrustworthy, and she kept breathing wintry blasts at us. Surprisingly, due to our magicks aforehand, those were much less painful than the claws and bites.  Still, when we decided to swing instead of talk, it took maybe 30 seconds for us to, collectively, bring her to her death.

Although – she did come close to exiting the hole and wreaking havoc on the town.  Sensing she was close to death she decided to go out in a blaze – er, frosty haze – of glory.  It was only as it attempted to exit that some bit of Qatana’s magic was able to reach it and drive the killing blow.  Having shot dozens of feet out of the hole, the dragon peaked, then fell back down the hole, falling past us, and slamming into the floor below.

A quick examination told us she was dead … but also revealed the older skeletal remains of another dragon, which probably explained why the dragon had no hope of replacing the eggs, increasing her despair.

Kali and Qatana were both morose about this turnout, and while I’m disappointed we had no choice but to kill it, I was fully prepared for this very likely outcome.  I’d have frankly been surprised if diplomacy had worked.

We took time to catalog the things we found in the ice cave.

[405] arrow of lesser dragon slaying
[406] short sword +2
[407] 2 potions of protection from arrows
[408] ring of featherfall
[409] terra cotta horse – 1/day reroll an attack roll +1, 1/day summon
a phantom steed
[410] wand of enfeeblement [15]
[411] MW light steel shield
[412] MW cold iron spiked gauntlet
[413] MW composite shortbow +2 ST
[414] 11 arrows
[415] MW spear
[416] climber’s kit
[417] 200′ silk rope
[418] 2 pieces of amber (100gp ea)
[419] 6 bloodstones (50gp ea)
[420] 2 blue sapphires (500 ea)
[421] quiver decorated with winter wolf fur (500gp)

And there was coinage. Lots of coinage.

6208 copper
5042 silver
1188 gold
404 platinum

We shrank and brought back the dragon bodies.  There was talk of making armor from the dragon’s hide.

Fireday, 26 Lamashan

We have returned to the village, and are being hailed as heroes. A big celebration is being planned – as big as one may party in a small town in the frigid north in the winter season – and to be honest, a little rest and relaxation sounds kinda good right now.

Starday, 27 Lamashan

We are leaving for supplies at Unaimo, probably the last major supply town before heading out on the high ice.  After peering at the pictograph some more, the elders say they blue-skinned woman may be a disciple of Sithud, and may be trying to restore him to power. She may have already succeeded.  If the woman can gain control of the “Storm tower”, that would be Very Bad.

It would seem we have another purpose to our journey across the ice.  No longer is it enough to save the town. Now we must save the region.

Before leaving, the hearthmistress gave us additional gifts. One was, not surprisingly, a totem of friendship – we would always be welcome in town.  And the other may prove quite useful:  the sashimono of comfort. By attaching it to a lance or a caravan frame, it can grant protection to well below zero.  This may be how we sleep comfortably in the horrible northern cold.