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.

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Toilday, 9 Lamashan

Travelling in a caravan is, for the most part, a boring use of time. Oh sure, there’s the duty of it all, and I want to see the caravan succeed, and I’m even one of the active people, not just sitting in the wagon, but actually out riding on Kasimir, but nonetheless, it is a lot of “nothing happens”.

Ulf seems to enjoy this – as much as anyone could enjoy bitterly cold weather that is. Suishen grants me endure elements, so for me it never really rises above discomfort, but it’s the tedium. The cold numbs the mind as much as the body. So it was with a slight quiver of excitement when a large white dragon – no, make that silver, which is a much better tiding – flew towards us and as it passed overhead, reported, “Travellers! Be careful! Ice trolls ahead in your path!” before ascending again and flying off.

Nehali, able to scout further ahead than any of us (and less obtrusively, too), checked it out and reported back that there were a group of the creatures apparently camped just off the trail. They were not likely visible from the trail, but nevertheless within easy striking distance of it. Likely their campsite was chosen because it made it easy to ambush people on the trail.

A brief conversation with Ulf yielded the opinion that ice trolls were like normal trolls, only different. When more detail was requested, we learned they were likely blue and probably smarter. “Smarter than a troll” if said in the wrong context could lead to swords being drawn, but it sets the bar so low that we were genuinely unsure of what to expect.

We arranged ourselves in what we thought would be a battle-helpful manner, and advanced, leaving the caravan behind. the biggest surprise was that upon finding the troll camp, one of them advanced to us with his arms open, saying in broken Common, that “if you lost, we help. No big worry.” He then said something in Giant to his companions and they slowly, calmly, began to walk not toward us, but around us, as if to flank us. (I learned later that the troll had foolishly said, “We don’t have to find dinner, friends! Dinner finds US tonight!”)

Since I didn’t think even a smart troll would be all that smart, I approached the lead troll glibly. “We’re not so much lost ourselves, but this rock is. It is not of this place – you can see that, right? Look! Its edges are worn down, no doubt from the harsh cold. You seem to be comfortable in the cold, so I’ll bet you can explain, right?”

The troll stopped and if it were possible for the troll to look perplexed, he did so. “The .. rock? It is … it does not matter!” But his companions continued to gently try to flank us.

“Oh, I quite agree,” I responded, “but this rock is real.” I nodded at the rock and raised an eyebrow to the troll in a “you know what I mean” gesture. He stood their speechless, wondering what part of Common he was not understanding correctly.

About this time, one of the trolls realized my sword was on fire. “Firewielder!” he shrieked, and all pretense at conversation was off. But the task was done – the delay had allowed Kali to summon three fire elementals. While they were not huge by any stretch of the imagination, the ice troll were very much against their appearing. He attacked me, I swung back, and the battle was one.

They were armed with axes the size of battleaxes to us, but they obviously were relying more on numbers than sheer fighting skill. Suishen cut happily into their cold flesh, and a glance around me revealed that Sparna, Radella, and even Qatana were doing a number on them as well. The real fire elementals made the trolls very wary of Ivan’s false image of one. Kali levitated above the fray and cast spells while safely out of harm’s way.

In the end, the eight ice trolls would trouble this world no more. A search of they and their camp revealed only two things of any interest: 80 gp, and

[385] a ring, which later was identified as a ring of sustenance.

The danger removed, we returned to camp. At dinner, Ulf told us a tale of the “Arctic Chimera” which was part walrus, part polar bear, and part white dragon. It tried to bring an avalanche down upon his caravan, but he lured it away and saved the caravan. Or so the story goes

Oathday, 11 Lamashan

Really cold. REALLY cold. Even with Endure Elements – “enduring” is not the same as “enjoying”. The wind picked up today, and it is snowing. We only got about half as much travel in.

Fireday, 12 Lamashan

Wors ! Didn t th k it p sibl , but it is. Ink fr z ng in b ttl . Only 1/4 as m ch t day.

Starday, 13 Lamashan

C uldn t m ve t day. At al .

Sunday, 14 Lamashan

Less cold. Deep drifts. About 3/4 speed. Seems almost warm by comparison. Snow is not my thing.

Wealday, 17 Lamashan

We have made it to Igaliat. The normal caravan route normally bypasses this town, but Ulf wanted to consult with them about conditions over the Crown. Ulf has a talisman of friendship which was given to him by the hearth mistress and which should afford us entry.

— later —

Town very suspicious of us. Even Ulf feels it. The hearth-mistress welcomes him, but the town is tense. Apparently, a white dragon has been harassing their town, to the point of taking or killing townspeople. Their shaman thinks it is a holy retribution for failing to honor their religion, and insists a more rigid adherence to sacred rules is needed. In fact, we discovered upon talking to him in public that he believes we should be sacrificed.

That really is unwelcoming.

The hearth-mistress vetoed the idea, but did suggest that overnight might best be the total length of our stay. We offered to look into the white dragon issue and she was certainly accepting of that .. just don’t stay in town to do it. 3 parties of men from the town left to do the same, and never returned, she pretty much doesn’t expect to see us return again.

Oh, and she also offered the northern route is already blocked by “hungry storms” not unlike the one we encountered this last week. The old gods of winds drives the storms, it is said, and they believe they are but one more bit of evidence that the gods are angry with the town.

Meanwhile, Radella noticed the shaman drifting away, and with a deft invisibility spell from Kali, she went to follow him. She apparently found him taking a path into the mountain that was guarded by both locks and guards, and she followed as long as she dared before returning and bringing us up to date. She encountered a ghostly figure that seemed to see her even though invisible, and Ulf said it might have been a frost spirit – basically a soul that has died at the hands of cold.

The dragon, we were told, is about 60 mi north of the town. It’s about as big as a horse. That’s probably our next stop, but first we wanted to learn more about this shaman. As a group then, we returned to the area Radella had seen, but in a slightly different manner. She had seen an opening in the mountain leading to the same area, and rather than deal with the locks and the guard, we chose to use the more direct route, courtesy of Fly spells.

Owing to their dark vision, Radella and Sparna entered first. As I entered, I had Suishen turn on his flame. I sensed we were about to be in battle and wanted every advantage I could have.

Below us we could see the shaman, and an altar. As he saw us, he seemed to cast a spell, and eight frosty looking spirits appeared near us. Radella nodded; yes, these looked like the figure she had seen. And while we’ve no way of knowing whether they were created as Ulf said, we do know they were undead. One managed to hit Sparna and his shout (and behavior) seemed to leave him less nimble than normal.

I also know that flaming Suishen made the spirits most uncomfortable.

Eventually we worked our way to the shaman, and after dispatching him discovered something on the altar that was both shocking and telling. There on his altar lay shards from what appeared to be a white dragon’s egg.

Wealday, 12 Rova

I knew I had been tracking this giant-mage for two days now, and I could sense I was getting closer. The signs were fresher and every now and then I imagined I could actually smell his stench. Sparna was right; you really could smell them if you knew what you were … smelling for. There’d been no sign he knew he was being tracked.

I crept slowly to a clearing. At the far side, there was a small fire, and there looked to be something cooking over it. Perhaps today would be the battle. The others were too far behind to give them time to catch up, but with the element of surprise this was very doable. But first, scout, always scout. Shalelu had certainly taught me that much. I began to carefully, silently circle the clearing, searching for traps or additional enemies.

About 3/4 of the way around, I came across a track too small to be that of any giant. Did he have minions? I had not observed any before today. I studied the track. It was relatively fresh; probably only a couple of hours old, and it too headed cautiously towards the clearing.

Curious, I followed this new track. The small boots could be that of a true elf, or perhaps a small human or half elf. But there should be no others in this area. A disturbed area seemed to indicate a scuffle … did the giant now hold a prisoner? That would complicate things.

I was startled by a booming, stilted voice in Common.

“Ah, you have arrived,” the voice echoed from the far edge of the clearing. “I felt it appropriate to wait.”

Was he talking to me? I had been silent; there’s no way …

“You can bear witness to my success!” I could see now that the giant was indeed facing my direction, and seemed to be holding a struggling, bound figure.

It seemed the element of surprise was lost. From the cover of the woods, I replied, “You will not have success unless you kill ME. And that shall not happen tonight. I will be there when you rest, and I will be there when you sleep. You will die of exhaustion when you find you cannot adequately –”

“Stop your prattle and view your defeat yourself!” As the bound figure swung behind the fire, and the fire’s light shone upon it, it’s face was evident.

It was Ameiko.

That couldn’t be! She should not be here! She .. she … sigh. She was fully capable of moving as quickly and silently as myself. Again, the lure of adventure had taken ahold of her and now in a moment of carelessness …

“I will be rewarded richly for this!” he laughed, and with his free hand, he swung a mighty, spiked club that landed with a sickening, dull thud on Ameiko’s head. She immediately stopped struggling. He laughed again. “Despite the magic at my disposal, there’s something so pleasant and visceral about a good stout tree! I am not so skilled at this as some so I apologize if this will take several attempts!” And he swung again, and there was a dull crack this time. “Ah, that was much better!” he said, grinning. I leapt forward from my place of hiding and
And awoke in a cold sweat. At my side was Suishen, and I was still in my mithril breastplate, which was my standard sleeping garb these days. I was wet, cold, and uncomfortable.

For the last three nights I had had variants of the same nightmare. My responsibility. My failure. In every one of them, Ameiko had been trying to escape my custody like a child from a parent. She was working against me, not with me.

It was still relatively early in the night, but this needed to happen now.

I nodded at this hour’s guard as I walked over to where Ameiko slept. I moved her blade just out of reach before gently waking her, and smiled slightly as her instinctive grab did not find the expected blade. Her eyes narrowed. “Olmas?”

“I would like us to talk,” I said softly. “Alone.”

“NOW?”

With a sad sigh, I replied, “Yes. Now is best if we wish it to be private.”

She looked at my face, nodded, and arose. Together, we moved to a place well within the camp but still away from other sleepers.

“Ameiko,” I began, “I completely understand what it is like to have expectations of you that you did not set yourself. As a half elf, it has been a large part of my existence. But what I have come to realize is that those moments require not simply introspection nor dismissal, but instead, discussion and compromise.”

“My, Olmas,” she said almost mockingly. “You’re talking like some kind of diplomat now. Vying for a position in my court already?”

“Please. I am serious. Until the past few months, I knew you only through Shalelu. I had met you a few times, but I didn’t really know you. I knew of you more than I knew you.

“Then came the revelation that you were heir to a legacy nobody in our corner of the world suspected to exist, least of all you. You do not feel like royalty and you do not wish to be treated as royalty. And yet you find yourself in that role, and with a giant bullseye painted on your back for good measure.”

“Tell me about it,” she almost snapped back. “It’s an incredible shock and change for me. I never pictured myself living up to the expectations of my own father,” and her eyes drifted a bit, “let alone an entire empire.” Her eyes focused again, and she continued. “I need to surround myself with advisors and protectors I trust already.” Looking directly at me, she said, “I’m glad to have you as one of those, Olmas.”

I gestured back towards my belongings. “A few weeks ago, that sword came into my possession. It would seem it chose me as much as I chose it. It bestows upon me a … I will stop short of calling it an obligation but instead, a responsibility.” I took a deep breath.

“However, members of my order take responsibility very seriously. I find myself needing to protect and defend a person who has, so far as I know, never found themselves needing protection or needing to be defended. Someone who feels much more at home fighting for their friends than having their friends fight for them. Someone who abhors being dependent.

“And yet here we are.” I fiddled nervously with my hands.

“You represent both an office, and a person. I want to see you survive to fill that office, but I wish to do so without driving away the person I am growing to know. We can joke about ‘your highness’ and ‘my protector’ but we truly need to have a way that I can communicate to you my concern and you can communicate to me your desires without either getting angry with the other.

“When the day comes when you are truly worried, and truly need help, I want you to be able to tell me that, knowing that I am only there to help and that it does not diminish you, in my eyes, as the brave soul you already are.”

Ameiko paused a moment before replying. “Thank you for your service, oh protector of mine.” As my face fell and I prepared to reply, she laughed. “Yes, I understand well enough that when we are done with this journey we will need to be more regal and watch our demeanor when in public.” She paused again. “Will you then serve me as my personal guard or is it your quest simply to deliver me there?”

“I believe,” I replied slowly, “that that will be your decision, not mine. When you ascend, we should revisit this question.” I smiled at her, and she gave a goofy grin back.

For the first time in weeks, I slept well the rest of the night.

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Wealday, 15 Arodus

Rested, and slightly healed, we quickly discussed what our next steps would be. It was clear the group had a variety of ideas about how to proceed, so we focused on more immediate problems: we had (unexpectedly) rescued Ameiko, and (expectedly) Ulf. The original mission was to return after rescuing Ulf, and nobody disagreed on that.

There was a brief discussion that then focused on what to do with the growly thing behind the cold door. It was evil, we knew, but it wasn’t clear if that meant we should release it, leave it, or kill it. It didn’t seem we’d actually come to a firm conclusion yet when Qatana boldly walked up to the door and began a conversation.

The creature inside had been captured by Kimindatsu, but other than incarceration, not much else had happened. It seemed encouraged to find we’d killed the mage, and offered it was a wolf. We had a brief side conversation about wolves that could talk and how dangerous they may be before Qatana resumed and learned that cold is comfortable for this wolf, and that the reason it got captured was that “any idiot can get a lucky shot once”.

Well, we’ve certainly lived that life.

We concluded, not unanimously, that we would release the creature, but first would take Lute “out of harm’s way” (that is, out of sight so he wouldn’t know). Anavaru took him to a “safe” room which would not be on the direct path out of the building that we presumed/hoped the creature would use.

Finally, Radella unlocked the cold door (the necessary key was on the keyring she had.) The rest of us, but for Ana, stood nervously nearby.

Out came Skygni. He was not just a wolf; he was a HUGE wolf. A “winter wolf”, we were to learn later. Qatana proudly held Kimindatsu’s head aloft, and Skygni sniffed it. “There are fresh bodies in the adjoining room if you are hungry”, said Qatana. I was a bit startled at that, but upon reflection, it did seem practical. We had no use for them and they had been killed in a fair (heh) battle. I’d have had more problem with that if we had left them to be killed or had killed them for that purpose. In addition, bodies that had been gnawed upon would further muddy the trail we were leaving behind us, which would only help.

We told him we would be travelling north in a few days, and he thought about it and said he may meet us on the road. We then parted ways.

Helgarval was positively livid, if it is possible for a celestial being to be livid, but seemed a little taken aback, and calmer, when I pointed out we had cleverly tricked evil into helping us do good.

Qatana put some wards on the obvious entrances to dissuade any unwelcome visitors in our absence. In discussing things with Lute, it became apparent that covering our tracks and the future of Ravenscrag was not going to be a problem at all. He intended to go to the King and rat out the guild, demonstrating all “he had to do” to get free and regain control. If our part in this were to come up at all, it would be as, at most, some nameless mercenaries he’d hired to assist in the cleanup.

No mention was made of the treasure room, and Lute did not ask about any remaining things of value. The “compensation” was left unspoken and uncounted.

For the moment, anyway. Most of us were already thinking about what special, probably expensive, items we would need for the mission over the crown of the world. Radella had given a very rough estimate of each person’s take on what we’d found to be in the neighborhood of over 10,000gp.

It was late, so we slept, knowing, for once, that we were not likely to be awakened by our guards and find ourselves in peril.

Oathday, 16 Arodus

Ivan suggested we simply all float down to the valley below, but several of us felt we needed to test the rickety stairs and determine that it was not a hazard to future owners. The stairs did not prove to be a horrible problem – they were sturdy enough while still looking rickety 🙂 – but the real problem was the insect infestation. Namely, two giant wasp-like creatures which were living in a crevice in the cliff face, and which seemed to consider us as potential food. Etayne labeled them “spider grabbers” and while collectively we exceeded eight legs, the creatures apparently were either quite flexible in their food choice or could not count very well.

Lute quickly asked to be floated down, and Kali complied. He was SO done with the stairs.

Of more importance, however, was a more personal interaction. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ameiko pull her weapon and prepare to move forward. Even though my companions were in peril and my place is alongside them, paramount to that is the protection of Ameiko. I stepped between her and the danger and said, “Let me handle this, Ameiko.”

Her vaguely mocking response was to look at me and say, “defend me if you wish” as she moved past me. I hurried after her and, although the others had done most of the damage already, landed the killing blow upon the last spider grabber. I whirled to face her, angry, and she smirked. “Well done, brave warrior” she said without a trace of a smile. I glared at her and said, “Your will, my grace” and was pleased to see her flinch and glare.

But only momentarily. We can’t continue this way. In one way, this is exactly the sort of responsibility and duty I’ve been seeking, and in another way it so NOT what I want to do to/for Ameiko. We will need to talk. I do not wish to antagonize her, but she also has a new responsibility and it will take all my tact to try to introduce that idea to her.

Meanwhile, inside the crevice we found a grim sight. An elf lay there unconscious, with dozens of little holes in him. It was apparent that although he was technically still alive, he was nothing but food for the little grubs that had been laid inside him. It would take major magic to rid him of them without costing him his life. Ivan bore the sad task of hastening him to his destiny.

We reached the horses without further incident, and estimated another day’s journey to return to Kalsgard.

Fireday, 17 Arodus

During the return trip, I tried to have that conversation with Ameiko. It did not go well, in part because I had not counted on much of the rest of the party eagerly watching both our discomforts. Ameiko got defensive, and I got angry, and Suishen threw in a not-so-helpful comment here and there and the end result was, well, at least we did not physically hurt each other. But I felt, in reality, we got farther apart. We will need to work on this more.

We estimate we will need one to two weeks to accumulate gear for our trip north. We know now that we each have 13,255gp of additional wealth with which we can outfit ourselves. For me, this translates to:

First, I paid off the loan from Kali. Since I believe she might actually be offended were I to offer any extra as a token of appreciation, I have instead made a small donation to the temple of Shelyn, to be distributed and used at her discretion. She seemed to like that.

Second, I have been restricted in this chainmail. It has served me well, but now with sufficient funds, I went and bought myself a +1 mithril breastplate. It affords the same protection but is much much lighter.

Third, I realize that the stronger I am, the more dangerous I am. I bought a belt of giant strength +2.

Fourth, I’ve been wearing an amulet of natural armor +1 that we acquired from our foes. I formally purchased that from the group.

Fifth, Suishen will protect me from the elements so long as I have it near or on me, but Kasimir will have no such protection. I paid Kali 500gp to enchant his halter to provide similar protection for him.

Lastly, I feel I’ve been lucky more than I have a right to be. To insure that streak continues 🙂 I bought a cloak of resistance +1.

Later this day we visited Finn, and displayed Suishen (who mercifully was silent). He identified it as the missing sword (unnecessarily 🙂 ) and it seemed to provide a bit of closure for him to know it had been retrieved.

Etayne also took time today to announce, with little ceremony, that she needed to leave us. She has had troubling dreams that she believes may be portends, and she needs to investigate. This will hit us hard, as she has been a strong force for healing. This leaves us only Qatana to rescue us in battle – tactics will have to change and I suspect more potions will need to be purchased.

Starday, 18 Arodus

Qatana was able to Speak with Dead to talk to Kimindatsu and verify that she had killed Silverscore, and also got some noncommittal answers about the Oni. Hard to tell if that’s all she knew, or she was intentionally trying to be vague (the spell only compels truthfulness, not completeness).

Helgarval took this opportunity to celestially exclaim “my work is done here!” and leave us. Since I got the impression he was trapped on this plane I’m not sure where he’ll go, but it’s not like we can stop him. Perhaps we’ll run into him again at some point.

Sunday, 26 Arodus

We are in Turvik, and it is time for Etayne to take leave. She has left us with

2 potions of water walk
5 potions of CLW
2 potions of CMW
[118] 1 wand of identify
2 potions of lesser restoration
[204] 1 scroll of CMW
[214] 1 scroll of remove curse
[207] 1 wand of inflict moderate wounds

A great celebration (well, great for the town of Turvik) was had, and she will be missed.

It is the end of summer now, and we are considered adventurous by most in the town. The last caravan left two months ago to avoid the winter, while we intend to embrace it.

Moonday, 27 Arodus

Today we departed and left what will constitute civilization behind. Life will not get any easier from this day forward.

Toilday, 18 Rova

Skygni appeared today. Helgarval notwithstanding, we seem to have made a friend, or at least an ally.

Fireday, 21 Rova

Today we discussed routes. Ulf mentioned that we could take a “shortcut” straight north, but the price would be a difficult crossing at the river later. We judged the risk to the caravan to be too great and chose to take the longer, but ultimately safer route.

Ulf also mentioned we were entering a valley where, by legend, giants come to die. I have no trouble with dead ones, but I hope any not yet dead will just finish their task quietly.

Moonday, 24 Rova

While minding our own business (!) we suddenly heard a booming voice in the air: “I am Kjaelrulff! Why do you bother the spirit guardians of the giant lands?”

Qatana, as is her style, stopped and asked why they needed to know, and what they intended to do about it.

The voice replied, “The spirits will rise up and destroy you!”

About this time, somebody with detect magic announced that, well, they detected magic. The voice continued, “There are 1000 giant spirits here!”

Qatana asked, “If you’re a spirit, why must you use magic to speak?”

“Oh confound it!” and bounding over a hill came two wolves. They were large enough they might be winter wolves like Skygni. By the way, where was he now? Would he be upset about our fighting the wolves?
We paused.

First wolf attacked Qatana. If this went unanswered, we would need to defend ourselves and we could not do that without blood being shed. But Skygni arrived then and cleared the air by savagely attacking the wolf himself. Then Kjaelrulff himself appeared – a live, not dead giant – and cast an obscuring mist over part of our group. Ivan promptly dispelled it, much to Kjaelrulff’s obvious displeasure.

A magic-wielding giant is unusual, but not unheard of. With Skygni helping to occupy one of the wolves, we had no real trouble dispatching them. Kasimir and I waded into battle, and did not do as well as I might have hoped. Sometimes the fates do not smile upon you. Ameiko, thankfully, did not participate.

When all was said and done, we were left with an old looking, ragged, giant (dead) and two thin, underfed wolves (dead). I guess everyone needs to earn a living but this “waylaying travellers” gig did not pan out well for Kjaelrulff. We recovered

[381] wand of elemental touch (12)
[382] great axe, badly rusted
[383] gold plated astrolabe

We noticed faint tracks to the east. Following them led us to, I suppose, his home. There was a broken wagon there, and a corpse that was pretty well preserved in the cold. Ulf, unfortunately, recognized him as a fellow guide. We found a scroll tube [384] containing a magic map, which would make travelling through the area a little easier.

The battle helped break up the monotony, but you couldn’t help feel that life was very hard here.

Fireday, 28 Rova

We have been travelling through an area generally called the “Bear Leg Lakes”. Here there was the occasional grouping of cabins, as this was known to be a good hunting and fishing area. This time of year, however, the cabins were empty, even though Ulf assured us there was still fish and game available.

And he was right – we were able to actually increase our provisions a little as we passed through this area.

Starday, 29 Rova

Today we crossed the Taraska River. Although this was the “easier” crossing, it nevertheless took us a full two hours to get the entire caravan across. The river was not frozen, so it took some care, but we did well and didn’t lose anybody or anything.

Moonday, 1 Lamashan

Nehali reported we are being tailed by a pack of dire wolves. While the advance notice would allow us to not be taken by surprise, after consulting with Skygni we decided it might be easier to just not encounter them at all. By choosing our route carefully and not presenting ourselves as a target, we encouraged them to pass us by.

Fireday, 5 Lamashan

A most peculiar and grisly sight. We came across a stack – and I mean actually, neatly, stacked – of human corpses. They were frozen, and didn’t appear particularly recent although they had not been fed upon by anything and were, of course, frozen solid. Anavaru looked them over and said that something with impressive claws had torn them up. Some sort of battle had happened here, but then the corpses were stacked afterwards.

I can’t imagine this means well for us.

Starday, 6 Lamashan

Today we saw a large, flying thing off in the distance. It appeared to glisten silver at times, but did not approach us. It may be a dragon. It came from the north, seemed to parallel us for a while, and then flew off to the east.

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Wealday, 15 Arodus

Having picked up Suishen, I felt more powerful, but I also felt a greater responsibility.  While I’d become adept with the great sword, Suishen just seemed to fit comfortably right into my hand.  I felt like life had just gotten a bit more challenging for those that opposed us.

We returned to the stairs we’d found earlier, with Radella and Ivan leading the way. Radella spotted a trip wire, and even though she pointed it out, my feet betrayed me and I tripped over it. That made some bells ring nearby, and we knew we’d just alerted our presence to somebody.

And sure enough, from around the corner we heard noises.  A dozen zombies started lurching toward us.  The good news is, Suishen cut through them easily, although they were giving as good as they took, too, and I was bleeding in several places.   But then, beyond the zombies, we saw a figure gesturing.  It vaguely resembled a troll, but was using a crossbow and, apparently, magic too!

It seemed amused until we mowed through the zombies, Ivan shot at it, and Radella walked up and smacked it just as Kali summoned a lantern archon.  This seemed to discourage it some, and it suddenly created a 20′ deep pit in front of it and moved off down the corridor. I asked Suishen to cast airwalk before Qatana healed us all a little.  I was still pretty bloody though.

Ivan held onto me and I airwalked over the pit.  Qatana cast fly and she and Kali went over, and the archon floated over easily, of course. Etayne still had a little fly left in her, so she also moved over the pit.  With the rope that Ivan had carried over, Radella was able to swing over the pit.  I felt I needed to take a moment to down a potion of healing. Etayne threw a little burning gaze the way of the troll, and Qatana whacked it with her flail. It looked oretty bad as it slumped down in a corner.

However, I had noticed four statues with Tien origins and twisted grimaces on their faces near the door the troll had run to.  When Qatana ran up to thwack the troll, two of these came to life and advanced on her beating her badly. Quickly, she displayed her raven figurine, and the statues, thankfully, returned to their stations.

The troll-thing carried

[330] fugitive bomb
[331] wand of undead control [11]
[332] MW heavy crossbow, 19 bolts
[333] heavy pick

After a brief discussion, we decided to inspect the unopened doors behind us before opening the double doors that the Tien figures guarded. Returning, we found the pit gone now.  One door had boxes of things on shelves, in a vaguely orderly manner.  There was a slightly sickening odor in the room, but Qatana took [334] 6 bottles of Korvosan wine as a trophy.

The next room was locked and trapped, but Radella was able to disable it.  Upon entering the room, we knew we’d found our reward.  There were stacks of coins and bars – so much that all we could do was estimate what was there. However, one trunk was radiating magic, so we went there first.  As we pulled out the items inside, especially those radiating magic, we slowly came to the conclusions that we might be looking at Ulf’s possessions.  If he were still alive, then he must lie further down the corridor somewhere.

As we continued to pull things out of the chest, our happiness started to ebb. When we pulled out the mithril rapier and the gold signet ring, we stopped and looked at each other.  These were Ameiko’s things.  She must be captured too.  The search took on a new urgency.

But there was nothing left to find.  She must lay behind those double doors.

We quickly but efficiently made our plans. When we go in, you go this way; I’ll go that way. You be ready with this; I’ll be prepared with that.  Before we entered, I asked Suishen to give me see invisible, because I had a hunch that if Silverscore was behind this door, he/she/it wouldn not make it easy.  For the same reason, I activated the flame on the sword.

We burst in the door with the Ring of the Ram to the sight of 8 ninjas and a human. The ninjas attacked immediately, as Silverscore hid behind a screen.  A ninja downed a potion and became invisible …. but not to me!  I called him out, even as Silverscore did the same thing.  A dire bat appeared as glitter fell from nowhere and revealed Silverscore standing where I’d pointed. I wasted no time in taking out ninjas even while I kept my eye on Silverscore. They were vicious from a distance with their poison weapons, but when they were standing next to you they were not so tough.

She finally assumed what is her actual form,  Kimandatsu, but my vision and ample glitterdust kept her visible for all to see.  She had a nasty cone of cold for me, and although I was close to death I sensed victory and kept fighting.  My perserverance was rewarded a moment later when she finally fell.

We picked off her body

[368] wand of flame arrow [9]
[369] scale mail (tien)
[370] +1 tetsubo
[371] MW Composite longbow, 18 arrows
[372] lesser bracers of archery
[373] ring of 3 keys

We also picked up something that looked valuable: [374] 2 silver braziers.  Also in the room were

[375] 6 fugitive grenades
[376] 9 potions
[377] 16 tindertwigs
[378] 8 jade statues
[379] MW thieves tools
[380] 8 ninja suits
8 dagger
8 MW short bow
8 MW siangam

Radella found a secret door, a corridor behind that, and two more doors.  One radiated cold, and appeared to have evil behind it.  We heard a low growl.

The other was locked, but the keyring was our friend.  Inside, it was dark but we could make out two figures lying on the ground.  There was a small pond, and it too radiated evil.

“I will go in and put myself between the pond and the people,” I told Ivan. And “they” were Ameiko and Ulf, as it turned out.  The creatures that came out of the pond reminded me of large frogs, and lights came out of their eyes which could blind people (they blinded none in our party, however.)  I and the others ultimately slew the frog creatures … safety first!

Both Ameiko and Ulf are dazed and injured, so we are pausing a second to help them recover.

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Wealday, 15 Arodus

Downstairs we did not find bright colors and spacious rooms. Is it any surprise that it got darker, and mustier, and .. well, what would you expect from rough hewn rock? We were descending into the mountain, and our level of caution went up correspondingly.

Qatana seemed to have a high energy level. She aggressively made her way to the front, and, glancing at Sparna, I acknowledged it was my turn to look after Qatana, and moved to the front as well. The stairway down, and the passage we found at the bottom were both narrow, allowing no more than one person to pass comfortably.

As I mentioned, the walls here were carved from rock, and were apt to be moist. Occasionally there would be active drips, and in the distance we could actually hear running water. The passage opened into a chamber with a door leading off to the north, and another door to the west. Opening the former, we found a corridor with a stream running through it, and a plank that might be big enough to cross it on the far shore. Opening the other, we observed pool of water plus a small waterfall from the southern wall. Intriguingly, a small dry shelf of land was on the far side of the pool, maybe 25 or 30 feet away, and there was a door there, along with a small cask or barrel.

Etayne surprised us by simply flying over to the other side, but when she tried to retrieve the plank, she found it was too heavy for her, even with her fly spell. Before we could come up with a plan B, we were inspired by the appearance of a troll on the opposite side. “What going on here?” said the troll in Giant. There was a pause, before Sparna loudly replied, “Prisoner transfer!” And he waved one of the raven figures we’d lifted from the ninjas. “Orders from Runecaster.”

The troll thought hard – really hard, because he was a troll and that didn’t come naturally to him – and finally concluded there was nothing going on here worth getting in trouble over. “No want trouble” he said, in fact, and easily picked up the plank and laid it across the stream.

Looking to the right we saw a room with a huge furnace on one side, and a huge pile of coal on the other. There were four trolls there altogether. Sparna got that dwarven-joker look on his face, and with as innocent a look as he could muster, called into the room, “Do you need more coal?” The troll replied quickly, loudly, and just a mite angrily, “NO MORE COAL!” I saw Sparna quietly smirk.

To the left, the door was locked. With the still suspicious trolls looking on, we pulled out the keys we got from upstairs, but none of them opened this lock. Radella sighed, bent over it for a bit, and suddenly the door slowly swung open.

The room was large, and nicely decorated in wood paneling and art. The ceiling here had to be 20′ high. We entered the dimly lit room, peering at the tapestries, before Ana called out, “it’s a trap!” Clinging to almost unnoticeable handholds on the walls, were six darkclad figures. A couple of them made a throwing motion, and there was a small flash and a big noise as each hit the floor. It appeared from their gestures that perhaps both Kali and Etayne had been close enough to be deafened by the blasts, hopefully temporarily.

With the attackers all being above us initially, arrows were the answer of choice. Ivan, as always, was firing arrows faster than anybody I’ve seen and making them stick too. One of those who’d dropped a thunderegg was among the first to die, at the end of Etayne’s spear. Once on the ground, these ninjas were neither well armored nor particularly hardy, and swords became the weapon of choice. Radella, Anavaru, Ivan and myself all racked up a kill in dispatching them.

However, not before they yelled for help from the trolls. And just when we thought we’d removed them as a problem … But trolls are large creatures. It turns out that the double doors leading into this room made a very nice bottleneck so that we didn’t have to deal with more than one at a time. Don’t get me wrong – the first troll totally destroyed the doors, but had less luck on the door frame. Still, for that strategy to work, we needed at least two of our party to engage them right at the door. That fell to myself first, and eventually Anavaru and Qatana (!).

Kali helped with another aqueous orb like she’d used on the earth elementals a few days ago. That made the troll a little helpless and at risk of drowning, but with others waiting behind it, it wouldn’t be particularly helpful to move the disabled troll around as she had with the earth elementals.

After a short time, Qatana quietly moved away from the trolls, and strategically went searching for other potential enemies in the room, just in case we killed all the trolls, I guess. Being the guy in front had drawn a fair amount of blood from me, but glancing over my shoulder at one point, I was a bit surprised to see Qatana listening at and trying other doors in the room. “Noooo” I roared, and Sparna, now helping me with the trolls, looked at me, surprised. I nodded to my back, and as he saw Qatana opening a door, he grimaced and nodded at me.

But we were both engaged with the trolls at this point, and couldn’t step back without letting them in the room.

I think it was Kali who reminded us that it was not legend: trolls needed to be burned to prevent them from regenerating. Etayne obliged by bestowing alchemist fire upon our first kill, and Kali was able to throw some acid splashes too.

Qatana had cleverly uncovered a secret door, but then left Radella to find the ninja hidden behind it. How does she do that? Anyway, at that particular point, I happened to be troll-free so I rushed over to help. I managed to get a good blow in … only to have her disappear. Crap. Invisibility. She reappeared quickly, though, and surprised me as she cut me up – and apparently poisoned me (again). This time, though, Qatana quickly cast delay poison on me so the damage was minimal.

For the first time in several minutes, the dungeon was quiet.

We took inventory. The female ninja carried several useful items.

[300] vial (poison – stronger than the deathblade poison from before)
[301] masterwork dagger (Tien style, blue metal blade) poison residue
[302-304] shuriken, engraved with image of erupting volcano
earthfire, +1, flaming burst – DC15 reflex or catch on fire
[305] blowgun
[306] 10 darts
[307] 5 plain shuriken
[308] black body suit – MW, +2 AC, +5 stealth
[309] MW Thieves tools

Searching in the room with the coal bin, Ivan and Sparna found

[310] 42 gold armbands
[311] 100 amethyst in a bag

(How the trolls came into the possession of 42 armbands with no evidence of 42 arms is left as an exercise for the reader.)

Lastly, the monks that attacked us left

[312] 10 thunderstones
[313] 6 MW spears
[314] 6 amulets of finely polished bones, found to be +1 natural armor
[315] 4 nice jade raven statuettes

In the room where the ninja had been hidden, there was an ornamental screen [316] and a small leather trunk [317]. Inside the trunk we found

[318] ornate blowgun (jade and lapus lazuli)
[319] 300gp of Tien coins
[320] a scroll- decree to commandeer resources within 2 mi of Kjelsgaard
[321] disguise kit

While we’d been battling monks, ninjas, and trolls, Kali had shoved Lute into a safe room. Now that there was no immediate danger, Lute told us more of his story.

Lute was elected to the RimeRunners Guild council fairly recently, but Silverscore is a daunting political opponent. A young woman joined and was friends with Silverscore, but she died on an excursion (trading voyage to the south .. storm at sea, apparently). Kimindatsu was her name, and this happened within the last year.

Although grateful for our assistance, Lute decided, after having seen the type of people we were dealing with, that he might be better off on his own. I can’t say he might not be right. We escorted him to the cloakroom we’d originally hidden in, and left him with two fugitive bombs and one vanish potion.

Returning to the basement, we again saw ravens congregating on the roof. Left me with a bit of a creepy feeling. I really want to put an end to the aerial surveillance.

And perhaps that distraction left me a little less vigilant than normal, as the air crackled with electricity just before a bolt of electricity ran through our group, hitting most of us. I noticed a flash of red among black feathers again, overhead, and hit it quickly with an arrow.

But Ivan had been waiting for just such a moment, and in a flash he’d pulled out his arrow of Greater Magical Beast slaying, nocked it, and shot at the figure. He hit it square, and it paused for a moment before falling ungracefully from the roof to the ground before us. The ravens on the roof scattered haphazardly.

There was a magic band around its leg, which we later identified as a bird-sized ring of protection +1 [322]. It was bestowed, of course, upon Nihali. Nihali, for her part, remarked that the dead bird was “raven, but it’s wrong.”

Returning to the basement, we continued our exploration – this time as a supportive group rather than simply as a couple of individuals unlocking and opening doors. I had the lead, trying to stay ahead of Qatana. We entered one room where we found what appeared to be a circle of protection drawn on the floor in chalk. I heard a noise from under the bed, and the strangest sight emerged.

Two giant (not giant-sized, but mpnstrously bigger than that) hands crawled out from under the bed. The nearest figure to them was Radella, so they moved to attack her. A bizarre engagement proceeded as a giant hand attempted to attack Radella. It was surprisingly strong and quick, and did draw blood, even without a weapon. The other hand behaved similarly, and had similar success, but it was when Anavaru struck one that it displayed a deplorable capability: upon successfully being cut by Ana’s sword, it emitted a viscous fluid like pus, and Anavaru fell away, wretching.

This added a new element to the battle. Each cut could render the attacker helpless. But they certainly weren’t going to fall over and die on their own, so I pressed on the attack. Unfortunately, during this encounter, the most I was able to do was be grabbed by a giant hand briefly before breaking free. The hands were eventually dealt with, but not without a surprising amount of damage to ourselves. Qatana was able to channel a fair amount of healing back to us.

We suspected this might be Silverscore’s room, but other than finding a surprising amount of research papers and notes, the room seemed a disappointment … until Radella fiddled with a decorative piece of the bed and found a compartment holding [324] 3 scrolls of magic circle against evil, and [325] a vial of powdered silver, roughly sufficient for 3 circles.

Etayne, for her part, took the opportunity to collect a sample of pus from what was left of the now motionless giant hands.

Looking at Qatana’s map, we had hoped this room might have an entrance, secret or otherwise, to the room behind the door in the room with the waterfall. Kali had summoned an earth elemental, and in its waning moments, it examined beyond the walls of this room. That revealed there was no entrance from this room, so we returned to the waterfall room.

There seeming to be no other way about it, Qatana tied a rope to her and waded through the pool. The water did not crest her head, and she came out near the door, where there was also a small barrel. There was room for one more before the door, so Radella made a similar journey.

The barrel, it seems, was a cask. And the cask held … apparently some fairly decent sake! And in discovering that, they found, of all things, a key hidden beneath the cask. A key which unlocked the door before them.

Qatana opened the door. Inside there was a chamber with a tiny well in the floor and a bunch of fungi growing on the ceiling and walls. When Etayne heard there was fungi, she literally flew across to inspect them. She said they were death hoods, known for dropping onto the heads of those underneath, and then killing them.

However, Etayne also revealed that this fungi was repelled by alcohol, so Qatana took some of the sake and spread it liberally around the room. The fungus reacted noticeably to that. Qatana also said her detect magic said there was something magic at the bottom of the small well.

We were stymied for a bit until Kali (by this time, most had come over) suggested an unseen servant might be able to retrieve it. At that same time, there was a burst of flame from the bottom of the well. When the unseen servant came to the top of the well, it brought with it … a sword. A sword that said, “I sense Amatatsu scions”.

Yes. It said that. We had, at last, found Suishen [328].

“The orc threw me away.”

As we all looked at it – it looked quite impressive! – Ivan picked up the sword and hefted it. “Who shall carry it?” he asked, looking at me. “It’s a commitment,” he warned. But I needed a better sword, there was no doubt, and there was also no doubt that a better sword was there before me.

As I took the sword from Ivan, I felt … a surge, I guess. The sword just seemed to thrum. And I heard a voice that I later learned nobody else heard: “So you, then, are the Amatatsu champion.” It was not a question, but had it been I can’t imagine any answer other than yes.

Whereas before I had struggled with how much I should concern myself with Qatana’s welfare, and what Shalelu would think if harm should befall her, I realized now my concerns were much larger. As the Amatatsu champion, I was responsible for the heir – for Ameiko, currently and hopefully only – first and foremost. But because of the line of succession, I was also responsible for each and every one of the scions, too. My responsibility had transformed from a concern and a duty, to an obligation. Despite Ameiko’s position as heir apparent, because of their positions as scions, my concern for Qatana and all of the others suddenly had increased tenfold.

Well, ok, maybe with Qatana it only doubled, because I have been convinced for some time now that she was poised to die about every 15 steps.

I am not a religious person, but I have to believe this is almost what a revelation must feel like. I have new responsibilities. While I don’t disagree with that conclusion, I could also feel that strongly pushed from the sword. It was like being in the room with a very persuasive person. Suishen had been hidden, and disconnected, for a very long time, and the full force of its perceived destiny was now manifest.

As I held Suishen, I came to understand some of its capabilities.

neutral good
+2 defending, flaming katana (1d8+2)
confers endure elements by possessing it
3/day: airwalk, daylight, resist energy (cold), see invisible
darkvision