as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Toilday, 14 Arodus

Since we had a number of short duration (~3hr) “rope tricks” at our disposal, we spent the night in another plane (well, four of them for a total of 12 hrs) in the cloakroom, setting guards to peer into the room and give us advance notice of any possible detection. Thus we knew that we were still being searched for, as two of the ninjas did enter during the night and looked around.  The lack of a hanging rope with these rope tricks was blessed indeed.

Other than that breath-holding moment, the night was uneventful.

Wealday, 15 Arodus

Exiting the cloakroom, we attempted to go stealthily toward the alchemy lab at the other end of the building.  The ninjas are so good at hiding in shadows that even moving, slowly, stealthily, and carefully, we walked past two of them before they sprang upon us. They may not have seen us in the cloakroom, but they clearly never believed we left.

The ninjas are quick, well-armed, and virtuosos with poison.  But what they are not, is well-armored.  Although there were eight of them, there were also eight of us.  Nine, if you include the celestial leopard that Kali conjured up to help us.

Being close to several of them when they emerged, I found myself the target of several accurate but not particularly deadly attacks. Although each individual attack was nowhere near lethal, I could see them adding up quickly if I wasn’t careful.  Qatana’s channel of positive energy was particularly timely.  As each ninja found themselves engaged in melee, they also found themselves falling down in a puddle of blood.  As I said, neither well-armored nor particularly robust.

There were still six standing, although few uninjured, when one gave a whistle, undoubtedly a signal for additional help.  As the ninjas began to drop like flies under the swords of our fighters, 6 thugs emerged from a doorway below us. I stepped up to the nearest, but missed.

Kali greased one thug’s weapon, but they were still proving remarkably tough to take down. Swords were doing the job faster than arrows, but we were reminded that they could dish out blows as well.  Still, I was embarrassed to find that I could not lay a blow to them. Fortunately our other fighters were much more successful, and the thugs lay on the ground bleeding out.

We were now free to search the many rooms on this lower floor.  There was nothing spectacular here, just several small rooms that appeared to have been used by the ninjas and the thugs.  In general, we found some higher quality stuff in the ninja’s room, which was also much neater. There we found

[288] 8 fugitive granades
[289] 8 potions

There was an altar here to Yaezhing, upon which we found ~500gp of gems.

In the room used by the thugs, we found an obvious trap door. Opening it yielded a coarse yell in some language: “Enough coal! No more! Close door!”.  Sparna was able to translate it for us.

Radella searched some foot lockers, and we added to our salvage operation:

[290] jade bracelet
[291] ebony antique fan
[292] IOU for Rimerunners, worth 80gp

Another room was cold, with carcasses in it – clearly a room for preserving food.  Two rooms appeared to be recently quarried; it wasn’t clear what that was about.  Each thug and each ninja had little jade raven statuettes … the ninja ones being of higher quality. And of course the ninjas had decent bows.

[293] 6 jade ravens (lower quality)
[294] 8 jade ravens (higher quality)
[295] 8 MW short bows

We realized we had never checked the werebear’s room, so we went back to check it out. We did find some stuff worth keeping there:

[296] under a small oak stauette of a warrior, a ring of keys

There was also a bag of about 40 Chellish gold coins.

From there we proceeded back to the alchemy lab, making sure that Etayne would retain her composure in the face of sucn an interesting room.  There was, of course, the intriguing “corpse under glass”. Looking it over carefully, we saw that its skin seemed to be writhing, as though something was underneath it.  As it beat feebly on the glass, it spoke – “Let me out” – this time in Infernal, said somebody.  We also found

[298] ointment: can be used either as stoneflesh, or as stone to flesh
[299] magic ring of counterspells (empty)

Etayne made a point of inspecting papers and research notes. Most were in common, but a few were in Giant.

Next was a room that was barred (on our side) from entry. Going inside, we found a 5’x10′ cell with a very pungent smell and a dead body with rats. But there was a (barely) live body here as well.  Lute, he said he was named, and he’d been here for maybe 3 weeks.  He gratefully came along with us.

While we were cleaning out the cell 🙂 Etayne found some mention in the notes about Infernal wasps that apparently could take over a body. Whoever was in the glass container was probably no longer really there, and breaking it would prove disastrous for us and maybe others in the building.   She also noticed that many if not all of the plants growing here were of the nightshade family and thus poisonous.  She hypothesized that this may be the source of the poisons we’d been encountering.

As we left, Etayne grabbed what research she could.

Leaving this level, we went downstairs.

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Moonday, 13 Arodus

Knowing now that we were going to assault Ravenscrag, and knowing, too, that it was supposed to be difficult to approach, we discussed strategy. We dismissed Fly as being straightforward but impractical; being able to Fly is not the same as being able to Fly well, and, not knowing the precise geography of the region, it was possible the duration of a spell like that might not be long enough for us to reach our goal.

Clearly we would not be doing this in broad daylight either, and while I have better than average eyesight at twilight, I’m as blind as anyone in utter darkness.

We came to the conclusion that we needed a) Dark Vision; b) some form of protection against falling: Feather Fall, Levitate, or Fly; c) Spider Climb – as we’d decided to assault the position by simply climbing up, as it would likely be unexpected and the spell lasted a fairly long time; and d) good, old fashioned silk rope for when the spells ran out, failed, or simply weren’t what we needed.

Spreading out a bit around town, we purchased 7 Dark vision potions (@ 150gp each), 8 Spider Climb potions (@ 150gp each), 300′ of silk rope (@ 10gp per 50′), an additional 150′ with knots in it to make it easier to hold on to [really, 135′ with the knots) (@ the same rate) and lastly, two grappling hooks (@ 1gp each). We spent a total of 2342gp, which would have left us broke if the RimeRunners Guild had not financed our trip 🙂

I myself picked up 4 travel rations @ 5sp each. I already had 3, and that would give me a week’s worth of sustenance. Just in case, we’re gone that long. Eventually, this ring on my finger will make that unnecessary but it takes a while for the magic to work.

Having returned to the caravan for the evening, we set a guard, per usual, and planned to start our journey in the morning. The watches were set up to be:

1st) Qatana and Etayne
2nd) myself and Sparna
3rd) Radella and Anavaru
4th) Ivan and Kali

But it was as the watch was changing that there was a loud thunk from Ameiko’s wagon. A quick inspection showed an arrow sticking out of the side of it. The arrow tip was coated with what Etayne identified as death blade – a deadly poison. And of course, there was a note attached.

“It was fulish of you to attak a sleping dragun.
Return whut wuz stolin.
Abandun your hopless quest now or those u luv will be distroyed!”

So, really, it wasn’t that misspelled. But at the same time, it was SO cliché it might as well have been. Really? We are protectors of the Regent princess and having read that, we’ll say, “Oh my! I had no idea it was so dangerous! My word, I guess we’ll have to go home now?” What I wouldn’t give for just a wee bit of light so that I could send the arrow back to its sender with a new note attached: “Surrender now and you may yet have a fair trial.”

For some definitions of “fair”.

I believe Ivan retrieved the arrow for later reuse.

Toilday, 14 Arodus

We left for Ravenscrag. As expected, it was just the eight of us: Ameiko, Sandru, Shalelu, Koya and the rest of the crew would wait for our return. We made no secret of our leaving, so if eyes were watching, it would become apparent where we were heading. But we saw no eyes, even though we were looking for them – including eyes from the skies.

We were arranged with myself and Anavaru in the lead, riding our … mounts …, then Etayne and Kali, Ivan and Qatana, and guarding the rear were Sparna and Radella. We travelled without incident into the foothills, although we noticed that in the valleys between hills it was not uncommon for the ground to be moist almost to the point of boggy.

As the path took us through a particularly wet area, the areas on both side of the path almost looked like very shallow pools with an obvious water surface. And even as I was wondering if anything other than floating plants enjoyed this humid, wet environment, my question was answered for me. A smooth .. arm, or maybe extension, rose out of the water and tried to grab Etayne. Another tried to snag Ivan. Neither one was able to latch on, but we all immediately came alert and drew our weapons.

Radella attacked the creature slowly rising from the water before it could attack, and struck it smartly with her arrow.

And it split. There were now two. Oh drowbreath. I’d heard of these creatures but never met one. They could not be killed with edged weapons; they simply divided in two and provided a new foe with all the same danger as the original one. I glanced at my armament. Dagger. Great sword. Bow and arrow. Longsword. What I wouldn’t give for a quarterstaff about now. I was going to be useless in this battle.

Kasimir snorted below me. Had he read my thoughts? Perhaps I did have a weapon after all. “Do not bite, Kasimir,” I said softly. “They will not taste good and may even do you harm. But kick with your hooves as hard as you can.” I moved us closer to Etayne and attempted to help her avoid the clumsy goo-arm that emerged from the glistening jelly.

For her part, Etayne scorched the creature with a Burning Hands spell. It seemed to almost recoil from that, but that would still not be enough to dissuade it from considering us a form of dinner. Qatana used her “sound bomb” to injure the three jellies (yes, in addition to the one that had split there was another.) The one closest to Radella seemed to grab her, and its grip appeared to be burning. Acid?

Radella was able to break its grasp and step back. But she two was realizing she needed a special weapon to attack this creature. Fortunately for us, the jellies were clumsy. But as Radella could attest, if they ever did get a grab, they were painful and strong. And with that, one tried to grab Etayne and succeeded.

Radella pulled out a wand and used it to send a scorching ray at the one that had attacked her. Sparna had a heavy blunt morningstar at ready, and was able to further damage the one by Radella. I looked at the one holding Etayne, and did a quick calculation. It had been burnt twice and hurt by the sonic blast. It was clearly injured by these things and was oozing a liquid in a manner that suggested bleeding. If I could strike it hard enough, even with an edged weapon, could I kill it before it divided? I didn’t like the thought of Etayne being pulled into the water, so I took the chance and did indeed land a hefty blow to it with my great sword, whereupon it lost its shape and basically sloshed flat to the ground. I heaved a sigh; I had been right, and Etayne was free.

With this new knowledge, we began to use our edged weapons, which could deliver substantially more damage than hitting it with our fists, intelligently; that is to say, only when the creature looked close to death already. And in a short time, the three – no, make that four – jellies were puddles. (It turns out that the spikes on Sparna’s morningstar were enough to, sometimes, cause the jellies to split. But fortunately, they were so weak that it did not prove a danger.)

Qatana healed all – I realized I wasn’t even injured! – and we were able to continue. However, we’d now used up some of our spells when we’d been hoping to have our full complement when we arrived. Well, couldn’t be helped.

We in the lead were asked to keep an eye out for tracks that left the trail .. perhaps avoiding obstacles like jelly-filled ponds. There are some other tracks on this trail, so we are not the only ones to use it.

By the end of the day, we reached Ravenscrag. It appeared to be a building – maybe a house – nestled in the valley between two peaks against the skyline. A long, wooden construct led to, I presume, the front door of the building .. and a volley of arrows or worse, I imagine. The front door was not to be our mode of entry.

Nihali did a little discreet reconnaissance for us, and we decided to use the spider climb to quietly climb up the crag but about 100 feet west of the building. As we came over the crest, we would find a dell, or maybe a courtyard, with a small river running through it and a small pond, that we hoped might afford us a quieter and more secretive way into the building. Nihali reported there were many ravens roosting on top of a small tower that appeared to overlook this courtyard; that might eventually be a problem but we’d deal with it if it came up.

The mission, we decided so as to maintain focus, was to rescue Ulf and kill Silverscore. If other opportunities arose, we were to make sure we stayed focused on those two objectives before going off on other interesting endeavors.

The Spider Climb worked wonderfully, and we were able to not only climb up, but enter the glade and get close to the house without being noticed. From behind the single door that we could see, we heard the sounds of food being prepared – it would seem this door led to the kitchen.

Qatana suggested we hastily use what was left of our spider climb to enter from the second floor, not the first. Qatana, Radella, and Ivan climbed up to what appeared to be giant arrow slits with shutters over them. They were braced from the inside, but not very well, and they were able to unshutter one of them and climb inside. There seeemed to be nobody around. The rest of us quietly followed their lead.

It appeared that not too far from us was a dining area, perhaps of an important figure because it looked down upon a much larger dining area.

The ceiling here was very high; probably close to 40′. It was relatively well lit by light from below and the occasional torch.

Quietly, we searched this floor. We found one room which seemed to be an armory; Ivan found a magic arrow [270] in among all the ordinary ones. I guess, to him, it just glows and it’s obvious, ut it looked like any of the other dozens stored here to me.

Another room contained cloaks and cold-weather clothing. Beneath some furs and bales of raw wool, Kali found rolls of scrolls. Not magical ones, but just written words – a diary, or journal. Reading further, she announced excitedly that it seems to have been written by Snorri Stoneye!

She scanned it. It was rambling, half mad. He referenced how his Eye had shown him the future and the past, and how a great beast would be unleashed. A special cache he had made upstairs in the fireplace flue would be of great help in defeating this beast. He wrote he was going on a long sea voyage to retrieve an artifact that would let him survive the coming catastrophe.

Kali kept this [271] to read it further, later.

Looking down a stairwell we could see what looked like maybe a lab at the base. In fact, it appeared there was a baby in a glass tank or case.

A door near the stairway demanded to be inspected, so Radella and Qatana checked it carefully and opened it. Unfortunately, inside was a large, hairy almost bearish man, who had been sleeping moments before but awoke and yelled “Intruders!”

Kali got a chance to glitterdust him before Qatana, to our amazement, cast Hold Person on him, and he was held like in a web? Radella took that opportunity to see how much blood was in his body (when she was done, the correct answer was “none”.)

But the noise was enough; there were sounds of alarm from above.

Kali was expecting the flock of birds at any moment. They were already making noises. Looking at the ceiling, it appeared there might be sufficient openings to allow them access from the outside. Kali called up 3 air elementals with the idea that they could probably keep the birds busy and out of our hair. (Literally).

And indeed, “a large number” of bird quickly entered the room, and we began to attack the group with arrows and, when they moved close enough, with swords. Kali told the air elementals, “go up and kill any birds you may find.” The birds quickly dispersed, with the remaining ones flying up the stairs (presumably there was no door up there.)

The elementals blew past us, pursuing the birds. We went up the stairs more slowly and carefully, and carefully looked over the edge of the landing.

There were no ravens here. But instead, there appeared to be a number (eventually we found six) ninja tengus, which, coincidentally, had a bird like appearance. The elementals had chased off or killed the ravens, and then turned their attention to these black-dressed creatures, and were already wearing them down. It was difficult, apparently, to injure a strong gust of wind.

The rest of us came up the stairs and deployed. I pulled out my great sword; now this was a battle I knew how to win! From across the room, a ninja pulled out a blowgun and fired a dart at me. The inconsequential barb stuck in my shoulder as, between parries, I reached over, pulled it out, and threw it to the ground. Ninjas and their little toys!

But then my body shuddered involuntarily, and I stumbled a bit. I felt a bit weaker. Glancing at the dart on the ground, the tip looked a little discolored. Had it been poisoned?

I shook again, and started to sweat a little. The ninja I was battling sensed a weakness and lunged at me. But I got a second solid hit with my great sword, and this opponent did not split into two ninjas. Although, with that second blow, I did come close to splitting him in two 🙂

And my vision got a little blurry, and my feet got a little heavy. There was still battle going on around me but it was harder and harder to focus. “I think,” I said a little unsteadily, “I think the dart was poisoned.” As I dropped to one knee, Etayne glanced at the dart and at me and shook her head worriedly. Somebody put their magic cloak on me, and Etayne mumbled a bit and urged me to “resist the poison”.

I felt very weak and was now kneeling on the floor. Everybody’s voice sounded like it was at the far end of the tunnel. Is this what it was like to die? One voice said “scroll!” and another said “not yet! might still be ok!” but as even my vision started to cloud over, I heard a voice chanting something, and suddenly I felt fine again! I looked up in time to see a scroll turn to dust before I suddenly felt nauseous again. Still?

The cloak was placed on me again and Etayne was doing something …

And several seconds passed. I felt .. no worse. I didn’t feel 100%, but at least I didn’t feel any worse. I looked up at my friends. Etayne heaved a sigh of relief. “It either is done, or he has overcome it,” she pronounced. “How do you feel?”

“A little sick,” I replied, “but I’ll get by.”

“You’ll feel better after a couple of days,” she said. “The worst is past. You should feel lucky; you’re one of the few to survive death blade.”

I felt proud. And angry. And lethal. And grateful. And ANGRY. But, looking around me, all the tengus were dead. Kali actually gave a slight chuckle.

“I did SUCH a good job on that!” she exclaimed. “I told the elementals to go after the birds … and these tengus look like big birds! They’d already engaged half of them when we came up the stairs! I did not expect that, but it worked out great!!”

Nevertheless, I was still angry. I supposed it’s hard to be brought to the brink of death and NOT feel angry about it. It’s not a pleasant journey.

We took inventory. From the ninjas themselves:

[272] 6 potions (blur)
[273] 6 potions (disguise self)
[274] whinnes poison
[275] death blade poison – I did not hear how much of
both poisons were left
[276] leather armor (6) – I’ve decided to take one of these,
if it fits, because I dislike being attacked in the night
and having to fight with no armor
[277] blowgun (6) specially constructed for corvids. I’m not sure
if I could operate it properly.
[278] masterwork wakizashi (6)
[279] dagger (18)
[280] climber’s kit (6)
[281] 50′ silk rope (6)
[282] masterwork ninja outfit – dark, tight fitting, +2 to stealth

From the footlockers in this room:
[283] ornate jade raven set with precious stones
[284] garments of fine workmanship (~200 gp)

Off to one side, near an opening in the wall to the outside, was what appeared to be a nest. Within the nest we found several disgusting things like teeth, but also

[285] onyx and ivory necklaces
[286] kit for creating bird messages

Remembering Snorri’s journal, we searched two fireplaces and in the flue of one we found his great treasure that would help him survive the end of the world: [287] boots of winterland.

Feeling a bit annoyed at the ninjas yet, I pulled one tooth from each of them and left them in the nest. But Kali managed to one-up me. She wanted to put a poisoned dart in the nest so that if the bird came back – we figured it was Silverscore’s familiar – it would impale itself on it and die.

So it was arranged. Using one in this manner left Sparna and Radella with the only two remaining death blade darts.

There was a trapdoor to the roof, but all we found up there were some cages and evidence that yes, there probably HAD been a messaging system here, but the elementals had taken care of the bird portion of that system. It needed no further destruction 🙂

Now of course, below us, somewhere, there is still Ulf and maybe Silverscore. So as we reminded ourselves, our mission is not yet complete …

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

7am Sunday, 12 Arodus

This had been an exhausting night. But despite my heavy eyelids, there were still a couple of things we needed to deal with before we could rest.ta

It was Qatana, I think, who commented that Stoney-eye probably had become a draugr which, frankly, is not really a fixable problem. I’d never heard of them before but apparently he fit all the criteria: wet, slimy, foul smelling – although, come to think of it, a fair number of pubs may house this creature then …

Anyway, it was off to Fynn to bring him up to date on things, and then, because we are a curious lot, we spent time identifying the more interesting objects we’d picked up before finally resting.

[258] Snorri’s eye was actually an ioun stone, that would
protect one against the ravages of aging.
[259] the helm … just couldn’t figure it out. Had a faint
divination aura, and good alignment
[260] the 4 eggs were fragile smoke bombs; if broken, they each
provided 12 seconds of fog.
[261] 4 potions of Vanish

Even with our wand of identify, we couldn’t figure out the helm. Against some people’s advice, Qatana decided to put it on. Seemed to fit okay, and although we were concerned somebody might recognize it as Snorri’s if she wore it about town, she was unconcerned.

Anyway, blessed sleep. It was probably 8 or 9am by this time and I had no trouble falling asleep.

5pm Sunday, 12 Arodus

When I awoke, I felt so much better. I was a little surprised to find Qatana still alive, but apparently shortly after I laid down, Ivan had asked her nicely to remove the helm, and she did. So my concerns about harmful side effects were lessened.

Although it was late in the day now, it couldn’t be helped, and it was time to head to the temple to try to find Ook. I was still a bit suspicious about how she seemed to be leading us from conflict to conflict, but then I suppose when restoring a lost princess to her long vacant throne, this sort of thing is expected.

As we got into town, I noticed Kali take one of the many paper foldings she’d been practicing on – I think this one was a bird – and give it to a random person. They looked surprised, but then smiled at her.

And with that, we heard a noise from up ahead, where we expected the temple to be. Rounding the corner, we found debris, we found a prone body, and we found … two large earth elementals beating the temple into dust.

Well, I guess this struck a nerve with Kali – she immediately cast a giant water drop on one of the elementals. Now that sounds pretty useless, but you had to see it. The water completely surrounded the elemental, separating him from the ground and moistening him thoroughly. In effect, he became a blob of animated, angry mud that couldn’t direct itself anymore. It rendered it … completely harmless. With Kali’s control over the water drop, she moved the elemental out of our way and to a position it could not harm anybody or anything further.

About the same time, Radella glanced up and noticed a large raven with a red feather overhead. She quickly nocked an arrow and shot at it while the rest of us were dealing with the remaining elemental. She hit it, and it exploded into a mist and seemed to fade away. She kept one eye to the sky, but never saw it again.

Meanwhile, Sparna and I had sprung into action against the remaining elemental. I got the sense that a magic weapon might work better so I gave up the great sword in favor of the +1 longsword I had. Eventually, it becames I, Sparna, Ivan, Anavaru, and even (sigh) Qatana were beating on the elemental. If one hadn’t been effectively disabled, it could’ve been real ugly. As it was, Etayne and Qatana both had to step back and do a little healing, as the first elemental took some good chunks out of me and when the water drop expired, so did the second. They drew a fair amount of blood from Sparna too.

But when they were finally gone, we turned our attention back to the injured priest and the damaged temple. The priest had been included in some of Qatana’s and Etayne’s heals, and was greatful. When he found out, though, that we were there for Ook, he mentioned how she was safe, as she’d been put in a penitent’s cell at the rear of the temple.

But it became apparent that the elementals, for all their destruction, had been a distraction. The cell was broken, and Ook was gone. In her place remained only a large black feather, and a blowdart. Etayne recognized the poison on the dart as a paralyzing poison. It seemed she was important to somebody. Or maybe our attention had made her important to somebody.

In any case, she was now missing. It was either an elaborate attempt to push us in some direction, or she genuinely was a victim. My suspicions of her began to fade.

Qatana suggested, “Why not go to the RimeRunner’s Guild and just ask for a guide?” which was crazy, of course, since we were pretty sure they were behind making sure we didn’t find one. They would just, um, they would just, well, they’d have to, uh ..

It might just be crazy enough to work. What can they say?

Something strange happened about then. Well, it didn’t start out strange – Qatana said she heard a voice inside her head. (It was strange to hear her admit it.) But it turns out the voice was real. It was the helm.

The helm was alive.

“I was summoned as a familiar, but my master died,” said the helm. Its name was Helgarval. “I come from the plane of Elysius. I have been following an evil plot. I remember everything I see and hear.

“You are walking into a plot,” it continued. “Ani of the Five Storms are active in Kalsgard. There is an organization named the Frozen Shadows that carries out assassinations, and the RimeRunners are only a front for them. But most of the RimeRunners may not realize the extent of their involvement. Snorri was trapped in this somewhat unwittingly, although by no means innocently. He contracted a bad case of undeath. Asvig was a minor ruffian; Helva too. There was a sword that StoneEye talked about sending to the HQ of the Frozen Shadow.”

“The head of the RR guild is Silverscore, who has as a familiar a large black raven with a red feather.”

This tied together a few loose ends for us.

He had hesitated to reveal himself until he could discern if we were good or evil, but he’d obviously concluded we were good enough. He would help us find where the evil lurked, and bring light.

We went to the RR headquarters, but the plan quickly morphed into a more subtle plan. The guild office was closed by this time, so Radella and Ivan were going to try to sneak into the RR guild office and see what they could learn. Meanwhile, I, Anavaru, and Sparna went to a nearby pub to pass the time; Etayne chose to wait outside.

While there, there was a little excitement. An Ulfin guy stumbled up to the pub and Etayne engaged him in conversation. Turns out he was convinced that there were three people inside responsible for the death of his best hound, and it was clear that he was describing us. Etayne recalled that moments before he’d been talking to a dark figure and guessed (correctly) that this was an attempt to cause trouble for us.

As the man entered, he was loudly declaring wereguild for his dog. He walked up to us and accused us, in a beer-breath sort of way, of killing his dog. Other patrons paused to watch this play out.

I looked at him and said loudly, “Man I am glad to see you here! You are sure hard to find!” The man looked a bit confused and then repeated his demand for retribution. “I KNOW!” I replied. “You’d have to be crazy not to, right?” and took another sip of my beer.

More patrons put down their mug to watch this interesting drama.

The man looked a bit confused, and then said, “So, then, that’s what I’m here for!” And I said, “I can totally believe that. Can I help you with that?” “Well you’re the one that kilt him!” he roared. “Oh, no,” I replied. “That was the guy in here before; that’s who I thought you were talking about. Tell you what, let’s go find him together. I can’t believe somebody would kill a dog for no reason at all.” The blurry eyes and slurring mouth paused again and tried to regain control of the situation. “But …”

And then Sparna spoiled my fun by grabbing some gold from his pack, giving it to the man, and saying, “there, get another dog.” He looked at the gold, looked at me, looked at the people, and mumbled, “well, that’s what I was sayin.” And wandered off.

“We don’t want the trouble,” said Sparna to me.

“Really, it would have been no trouble at all for me to help him resolve it,” I said mildly.

Meanwhile, we learned later that Radella and Ivan had actually found Ook imprisoned, managed to free her, AND ransacked the headquarters, recovering both gold and records in the process. From the records we learned that Snorri had sold his family home, Raven’s Crag, to the guild three years earlier. Ook confirmed that she’d heard voices saying that where they were going to take her.

Other records in the ledger confirmed that the guild had rented the boat that attacked us. Another entry detailed a contract to retrieve a “Tien antique” from a particular address that we recognized as Fynn’s.

Large amounts of money had gone to Raven’s Crag, including a “Tien antique” acquired by Thorburg Silverscore.

So it seems that will be our next goal/target/destination.

One other odd thing of note occurred. When Koya was introduced to Helgarval, she gently said, “You have a strange shape.” And Helgarval polymorphed into a small cherub for a while. Koya and Spivey and Helgarval seemed to have a private conversation for a while, but in the end, Helgarval resumed form as a helm.

Moonday, 13 Arodus

Kelda was able to find a bit more information for us about Ravenscrag. It is high up in the rocky crags south of Kalsgard. Only birds and crazy people go there, it is said. “Word is,” she said, “it had a new owner in the last couple of years. Some say it’s haunted.”

Yes indeed.

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Sunday, 11 Arodus

Still need to buy better ink. But I think I know how to make do wi h this for now. Dammit!

Anyway, Kali, called out, in Elvish, for me to come to her. She conjures up two horses, and quietly tells me at least one escaped out the back and we need to make sure they don’t create more trouble for us. Riding quickly in that direction, we quickly came across a mutilated body. It hadn’t reached the perimeter. Does that mean …

Something between a purr and a snarl sounded way too close, and we both turned our horses and rode back towards the house. It turns out that while these magical horses weren’t too bad, the magical lions were better and tended to gain on us. Two lions took up pursuit. On an open field, we’d have been lion food. But we both aimed for the exit with the rune, hoping that if we shot through it the lion would be trapped within. And fortunately for us, we were right.

I had a brief glimpse, I think, of Etayne in the doorway of the house looking first surprised as we approached at a high rate of speed, and then concerned as she saw why. I’m a little concerned myself that her apparent response to that was to close the door.

Meanwhile, Kali talked to Nihali, who told her that the escapees, as it were, had been handled by the cats. But she called them le pards. Dammit!

If I’m not mistaken, leopards are faster than lions. It’s good that they stopped when they did. The only other alternative would have been to try to lead them somewhere harmless (to us, like a party of arriving revelers). Which, it turns out, Nihali said was coming up the road. We took our horses off the road to quiet their hooves, and cautiously rode towards them, as much to check them out as to check for escapees meeting them.

Encountering none, we turned back before reaching the group. Returning cautiously to the perimeter of the yard, it appeared that the leopards had disappeared. Although, I suppose they could have been hiding in wait, but we both had the impression they were there for protection, not ambush.

We encountered the rest of our group exiting the house. Apparently they’d questioned Asvig and he’d died rather than answer their questions. And from all appearances, it was not his choice. His wife at first held us responsible but realized from our questions that perhaps he was wrapped up in more than she knew. Technically, the wereguild had been satisfied with Asvig’s death, but we still didn’t have the sword. We had more work ahead of us. When the rest of the group had left, they had left with the understanding that business between us and Asvig’s wife was concluded. Neither of us was happy with the result, but neither could dramatically improve on it either.

An uneasy truce. She did not know where the sword was, but if Snorri had it, it would probably be valuable. And a funeral boat is not just a means of saying goodbye .. it’s a means of taking it with you to the afterlife. Could the sword be on the boat?

About this time we heard the other party coming closer. We all hurried off into the bush. They had been preparing for the party (and a couple of them were already well prepared, if you get my meaning) so they weren’t really looking around much. We did overhear some comments about Stone-Eye that suggested whatever he’d died of had not come up suddenly, but rather had been noticeable for a while. “He ain’t been right for a few weeks” is what I recall hearing.

Moonday, 13 Arodus

Technically, it’s now Moonday, but yesterday is running smoothly into today with no interruption for sleep. We decided we needed to go to Flyn’s and let him know of our failure, but we were surprised to find when we got there that light shone from within. It was after midnight by this point, and although we’re not familiar with Fynn’s normal sleep habits, it seems late by almost any standard.

He was still awake, talking with someone by the name of Ookshaka. She looked bruised, or battered, andwsa worried that her husband Ulf had gone missing and that Asvig might be responsible. We grimly told them both that if he was responsible we’d never get a confession now …

Our interest in this was doubled as we heard more of the story fro Ookshaka. Two weeks ago, in response to our need for a guide through the north (we suspect) Asvig had imposed upon the guild for the guides to be busy for a while. Now Ulf had chosen to remain independent and claimed no allegiance to the guild, but Asvig had asked to hire him specifically for a special job over the next several weeks. Asvig was not happy when he’d refused.

And now he was missing.

But there was no body, no blood, just a strangely missing person. And it occurred to us that if the sword was on Stone-Eye’s funeral boat, maybe they’d try to get rid of Ulf the same way. It cemented our belief that we needed to inspect that boat.

Fynn and Ook looked at each other. The boat, it turned out, would be set ablaze at sunrise. There’s a good chance it had already launched, with a lengthy “fuse” so that it would be ablaze at sunrise. Ook said she could bring kayaks, however, for us to paddle out if we wished. Since the boat would be solely drifting, at the mercy of wind and tides, we stood a good chance of catching it.

Sigh. But still no rest. This will take its toll on us eventually; our spellcasters must be feeling it even more acutely.

And since, technically, that ends another day I shall report, again, that Qatana is still alive.

4am, Moonday, 13 Arodus

We found ourselves at Spearshaker’s Point, with Ook quickly explaining how one uses and balances in a kayak. Reluctantly, I left my armor at the caravan because armor and water simply don’t mix. Aside from the maintenance required after any lengthy exposure to water, there’s the whole idea that it makes me dozens of pounds heavier, in a medium where walking on the bottom is a poor choice. Ook said she’d meet us at a temple afterward and wished us luck.

The kayaks were all two-person, and we were bringing an extra one on the assumption that we’d be bringing back a sword, an extra person, or both. That meant two of us were riding solo – Sparna and Etayne. I rode with Qatana, in a half hearted attempt to keep her, well, I don’t know, I guess safe. Or maybe to stop others in the group from being annoyed by her. Or maybe to punish myself for some past or future misdeed.

Before we could launch, however, I noticed something in the water. It actually wasn’t too subtle. A giant crab was lying in the water near our kayaks, and rose up as we approached the shoreline. Apparently we looked like food, but food doesn’t bring sharp objects to dinner like we do. A tremendous amount of crab meat is available to us now … I wonder how long this will remain edible? I do like crab the few times I’ve had it.

Focus. Need to stay focused. But a little melted butter … focus.

We finally boarded the kayaks and took off, which allowed me to experience Qatana talking to me about the importance of Groetus. I reminded her that the end of the world was not happening at this instant, and that we should stay focused. But in terms of focus, I fear she had the better of me, because all I remember is replacing her words with visions of a great seafood breakfast. And regular, synchronized stroking to get us closer to the future funeral pyre that was our goal.

Etayne tipped over, and needed a little help. Otherwise, nothing of significance happened.

Finally we reached it, tying three kayaks to port and two to starboard. First item of importance was killing the “fuse” of embers that would otherwise burn through and set the boat on fire in a couple of hours. We hoped to be long gone by then, but why take the chance?

Radella and Ivan thought they heard something down below and went to check. This was an ordinary longboat, but with some planks laid across the gunwales to create an upper ‘deck’ and of course a lower one as well. Since we felt particularly vulnerable out here – none of us are really sailors – we (myself, Etayne, Kali, and Anavaru) stayed up top watching for unpleasantness while they (Rudella, Ivan, Qatana, Sparna) went under to find what was down below. We heard noises and the “corpse” topside was nothing but a mannequin.

It wasn’t too long before I spotted two boats in the distance, approaching us. They looked to be camouflaged to approach secretly, and each held four people dressed all in black. I doubt it was any local fishermen. Meanwhile, down below I caught bits of sound indicating there was a battle of some sort. Kali and I discussed how to best address the advancing figures. What we came up with (mostly her) worked very well.

When the figures got within range, she dropped rocks on them. That damaged some of them individually and their boats generally. At the same time, Nihali had been convinced to try dropping some alchemist’s fire on one of the boats. We held our breath as the flask bounced harmlessly off one boat, but then onto the other, shattering into flames.

Attackers started drinking potions of invisibility, but not being at the boat yet meant that as they entered the water, it was still apparent to our archers where they were. One, then another, then more found themselves at the gates of whatever afterlife they believed in. The very last one did in fact reach the boat, but when we offered him the opportunity to surrender, he replied, as though a mantra: “We are the shadows of the night. We are not the first and we will not be the last to come for you.” So we shot him.

Meanwhile, I was a little surprised to see our companions emerge from below carrying … well, a lot! They had not been counting, of course, but Sparna thought we’d brought up at least 12,000 gp worth of items and coins. Old Stone-Eye had apparently been some sort of undead, but true to funeral pyre form, the boat had indeed been loaded with his wealth and belongings.

But not the sword, and not Ulf. However we were able to recover from the four ninjas who had not sunk too deep …

[260] 4 things that look like eggs with delicate shells
[261] 4 potions
[262] 4 tindertwigs
[263] 4 daggers
[264] 4 MW shortbows
[265] 4 MW short shaft w/point
[266] 4 closefitting suits (MW)
[267] 4 jade raven statues
[268] MW thieves tools

We set the ship ablaze, Etayne gleefully using a spark, and made for shore. I don’t believe we got everything that was on board, but we got a good fraction of it and time’s just working against us. I am ready to take a good sleep, even though now day is breaking. Closing my eyes is all the darkness I need …

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Oathday, 8 Arodus

Ugh. Ink vial cracked at some point.  Made a mess in my pack.  Can probably be clean d, but running low now; must be brief. Qui l not
work ng right.

Went to Ullerskad. Small.  Q tana still alive.

Fireday, 9 Arodus

Is Gorum temple in Ul erskad. Corpses not touristy.

Got maps. Ka i worr ed.  All normal.

Qatan  st ll al ve.

Starday, 10 Arodus

Arrive Kalsgard late.  Kel a happy.

Population seg egat d by caste here.  Noth ng new ther .

Qa ana  till aliv .

So ebody must sell ink he e. Th s is f c ing anno i g.

Sunday, 11 Arodus

Kelda g ne. Bumm r, she was gr win  on me.

No camp ng. City rooms! (Kas mir with car van.)

Amei o bei g touristy.  Went with to gu rd her.  Kali to .  Others went elsewhere; saw stuf .  Talke  abo t it.  Raven . Migh  find F yn.

Bought ink; not good.  Less pig ent than I’m used to; still hard
to  ead. Better tha  none at al  I s ppose.  Stil  annoy  g.

So much to rec rd. Frus rati g to b  out  f ink!

All wer  fol owed toda . Wor isom .

Kelda brou ht presen .  Nic ! Magic s abb rd!

Aft   talk, prett  sur  we ca  find  Fly .

Lots of st pid rave s ever whe e.  Nihal  says “ord nar “.

Qata a expl de birds.  B rds fly of .

Hey! Local cus om say  we can kil  Asv g Longt ews! Whol  gro p in
fav r!  Off to kil  him and r cov r swor .

Find plac .  Sneak up. Party. Battl ! Subdu  Asvig. Dies whe questioned, but not voluntarily.  Suspect magic – geas?

Wait, that last is all legible.  What’s up with …

Stupid ink. Pigment settled out?  Must shake

That’s just great. I apparently must stopper it, and shake it every single time I want to dip the quill,  and then if I’m quick to dip teh quill, it actually loads useful ink onto the quill.  If I don’t shake it, whatever they used for pigment settles back into the vial within about fifteen seconds and I get the results above.  NOW I find out.

BTW, Qatana is still alive.  Another good day.

[Apologies to you, the reader of the annals.]

as written by the cavalier, Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Oathday, 19 Erastus

The unusual (and hard to kill) deck-a-pod lay in pieces before us. I quickly examined the alcoves and sarchophagi, and found this seemed to the remains of various commanders at Brinewall. Was this our “secret behind two seals”? Were the seals the hidden doors, or perhaps a sarcophagus?

In any case, there was more cavern to explore. The deck-a-pod seems to have been carrying/wearing

[242] wand of scorching ray [30]
[243] circlet of +2 charisma

The caverns were lightly aglow with what Etayne exclaimed were phosphorescent spores. He giddily collected some.

Kali commented that deck-a-pods were normally not this big.

To the south we followed the cavern to a room with a flat table upon which sat a number of items, the most disgusting of which was a still pulsating leathery pouch from which goo was leaking. Etayne looked at it thoughtfully, and poked, discovering there was enough liquid associated with it yet that it was able to make a loud plooook sound.

Surrounding it, though, we found

[244] +1 light steel shield w/image of Brinewall on it. Later analysis
revealed it was magical +1 75% of the time, and ordinary 25% of
the time.
[245] +1 returning star knife
[246] a magical pearl which would allow a wizard to recast a spell he’d
cast earlier even if he’d not had time to relearn it
[247] Ring of the Ram [10 charges] – With the group’s permission,
I took possession of this one.
[248] a compass of sorts, silver w/gold accents. On command, can shine
per light spell. +2 on survival checks to avoid getting lost. It
also has room for an ioun stone which would then function as
expected for that type of stone.

There was also a pile of gold (later found to be 2620 pieces) as well as a pile of gems (later assessed to be worth about 1750 gp).

While counting and assessing the gold and gems, Qatana also came across

[249] darkwood + silver disk under a moon (faint transmutation). A
similar disk (with a sun) had been taken earlier. The matched
set was likely to be important at some point.
[250] stone statue of Paizuzu which grants the bearer +4 CH

Qatana was less interested in a +4 bonus and more interested in destroying anything of Paizuzu, so she took up the statue and made to dash it to the ground. But in an awkward movement, she drove it all the way to the ground and broke off it’s wings; having done so, it reappeared, whole, in her hand. As she moved away from the spot, she felt a great heaviness. The statue had been cursed, and seemed to burden her as much as a large heavy rock would.

Thus burdened, Qatana asked the group if anyone had remove curse. None did. I caught Sparna’s eye and it was clear we were both thinking the same thing – this might be less of a curse than one might think.

We explored the remainder of the passages and discovered Qatana tended to stay to the rear of the group and was almost always the last to enter a room. I believe Sparna actually grinned at me. Well I don’t recall the actual physical expression but I could feel the grin from across the room.

Returning to the kitchen, we started working on a door that had resisted opening earlier. It seemed not to be locked, so much as just stuck. Radella and I threw our bodies into it, and it sprung open. Once opened we discovered the smell was awful. This may have once been a laundry room, but it was now full of fungus or mildew. Water seemed to be running down the walls, the was a green mound w/purple mushrooms in the center of the room. Etayne commented that the purple mushrooms looked like some that are known to throw spores that …. We quickly decided there was nothing to be gained in exploring this room, and closed the door.

It was probably my imagination, but it seemed that the green mound w/purple mushrooms had started to move closer as we were closing the door.

Consulting the blueprints she’d snagged, Qatana remarked there was only one staircase we’d not yet explored. We crossed the castle to reach that staircase, and descended. An iron lattice, fitting into the ceiling and floor, blocked our advance. We noticed a pair of slight depressions in the wall, and in a flash had pulled out the two disks we’d discovered. They fit perfectly, and the portcullis lowered into the floor.

The dust before us swirled in an unfelt wind and then formed the not-quite-solid figure of a samurai warrior in a defensive posture. Some in the group recognized it. Kali was the first to say, hesitantly, “Rokuro?”

The figure paused and its posture changed. The shoulder slumped and it suddenly looked tired. “I know that name,” it said, in a voice that was both a whisper and a question. The sword pointed at a place on the wall. “Take this to my child. I’m no longer worthy.” And in a swirl, but again without any obvious wind, the figure evaporated.

Radella searched the area that the figure had indicated and did indeed find a secret alcove. Inside lay three darkwood boxes. We found box #1 was unlocked by Radella and found to contain 4267 gold Tien coins and two rings:

[252] ring of chameleon power
[253] ring of improved climbing

Chest #2 had seemed locked but yet seemed to open to Radella’s touch. It contained only one thing: another box (which radiated magic) but defied Radella’s attempts to open it.

Chest #3 also needed to be unlocked but yielded a variety of magic items.

[254] bracers of defense +1
[255] necklace of fireballs (1 5d6, 2 3d6)
[251] bag of holding [type 1]

Since Radella took the ring of improved climbing, I took her ring of climbing [123].

A full day, indeed. We went back to the cemetery, and asked Spivey: no, it turns out she couldn’t remove the curse from Qatana. Kali sent Nehali back to the caravan, and Nehali returned with a note stating that Ameiko still slept uneasily.

We slept only slightly more easily. We felt we had recovered important artifacts but were unsure of how they should be used. Tomorrow we would go back to the caravan.

Fireday, 20 Erastus

Upon returning to the caravan, we found the first order of business was introducing Spivey and Kelda. Then we went to see Ameiko, who was still asleep/unconscious. We laid her hand upon each of the chests and the mysterious box, but her touch evoked no change in either her or the objects. Then Kali figured out it was a puzzle box, and if you pushed there and pulled here, it would –

I had time to see there was a small stone statuette resting in the compartment she opened before there was a flash and –

There was an army of monsters, with glaring eyes, and tusks, wearing strange armor and wielding exotic weapons, emerging during a storm from a vast forest, then attacking a country I somehow knew to be Tian, and –

My head hurt, and –

There was a young royal stood with a friend by his side. Suddenly, the friend grows nearly three times in size and is wearing a suit of jade armor. The jade warrior draws a sword and kills his friend, then holds the bloody sword aloft in triumph, and –

My heart hurt, and –

There was a young Tian man selling a beautiful sword to an Ulfen man in exchange for a bag of gold. And –

My soul hurt, and –

There was Ameiko! waking from her deep sleep, but she was dressed in royal garb. She was within the arms of a jade throne.

And my body hurt, and –

The fog cleared and I was staring at the astonished faces of my companions, but then I felt like someone had tried to put an entire bucket of water into a single cup, and I was that cup, and –

I knew. Somehow I knew, and I knew that they knew.

I knew that the land that had been invaded was Minkai,

and I knew that the man I’d seen murdered by the warrior was Emperor Shigure of Minkai,

and although I had barely known Ameiko before we started this journey, I knew Ameiko Kaijitsu’s true family name was Amatatsu, and that that was royal blood,

and although I had no reason to because I’d never met him, I recognized the young Tian man selling the sword as Ameiko’s grandfather, Rokuro Kaijitsu,

and I knew that he was formerly Amatatsu Tsutoku,

and I knew he had sold the family’s sword Suishen to the Ulfen merchant Fynn Snaevald in the city of Kalsgard to finance his family’s flight from Minkai,

and I knew that Suishen is intelligent, and could tell us much more about the Amatatsu family if we were to find it,

and I knew –

I knew – Ameiko is the heir of her line.

And I knew all this like you know in a dream things that you have no right to know, but you do, as casually as you might draw a breath.

And with a blend of horror, fascination, and disbelief, I understood that I and all my companions were also now heirs to the throne, should Ameiko fail to reach it.

And I understood all that the Seal was capable of, and that others still sought it even today, even after all these tens – hundreds? – of years.

And … and … Ameiko awoke.

She too had had the visions and as overwhelming as this experience was to me, it had to be even moreso to her. It was her family and her heritage, just when she thought she’d understood it.

We were all a bit stunned for a moment by the amazing amount of information we’d absorbed.

A quick but intense discussion was had. Ameiko recovered quickly and the adventurer in her was quick to assess the situation and decide the right thing, for her, was to go reclaim that throne. Not that she had ever dreamed of being a princess, queen, or empress – in fact she commented she’d kill the first person who addressed her as “your Highness”. But given what she knew now of her heritage, she was confident of her path.

The rest, less so; hence, the discussion. It was fair and right that everybody have a chance to reassess their goals and desires in light of the flash flood of information that had just been pushed into our brains.

In the end, it was decided a few (Ameiko among them) needed to tie up some loose ends and/or make some arrangements for a trip that might take weeks or months and from which we might not return. But each and every one of our original party did commit to following Ameiko. Kelda offered no opinion; she’s a quiet type and perhaps she’s still looking forward to going home to the north.

The Seal was able to issue remove curse to Qatana and we decided to move on to the next largish town, which is Riddleport. From there, people could get teleported back to Sandpoint or Magnimar or wherever they wished to take care of whatever they needed to take care of.

Watching my companions, I’ve decided that I need to upgrade my weapon. I’ve been watching Ana using a great sword and admiring how it seemed adept at dispatching opponents more quickly. I like my great axe, but I have to be able to pull my weight, as it were, in defeating foes, and I need to use every advantage I can.

Starday, 28 Erastus

So while we paused in Riddleport, I acquired a masterwork great sword [400 gp] (I’d like to get it enchanted some day), as well as cold weather gear for both myself [16 gp] and Kasimir [32 gp]. As much gold as we have acquired, I still feel poor whenever I go to a shop that sells anything other than stone knives or apples. How do people afford some of this stuff??

Today we left Riddleport. We will have days between cities, again. Jol, I think, is the next.

Fireday, 3 Arodus

We will arrive late in the day. Supposedly this city is known for its formidable odor.

===

Um, yeah. It has an odor.

Starday, 4 Arodus

Relatively boring trip, except there is an unusually large black bird .. a raven? … that seems to be following us.

Now that we have this artifact-that-evil-things-scry-for, every bush looks menacing, every animal is a familiar, and every person is a potential instrument of death. But still, that raven looks odd.

Sunday, 5 Arodus

Okay, this is a little freaky. We just entered and exited a dark woods (in a single day) and the raven was waiting on the other side. Immediately after we left the forest, it flew off. Someone noticed it had a red feather or two and sure enough it did. Same one. Ominous.

Moonday, 6 Arodus

We’ve arrived at a crossroads late in the day, and decided that this was a good place to stop. Kali went on and on about how this was too exposed, but we’ll set guards. It’s fairly flat here and you can’t move an attack force by river noiselessly.

I admit that the raven is unnerving, but you can’t be jumping at shadows.

===

Well, yeah. Who sends 40 soldiers to attack a caravan of maybe 15 people at most?

While Kali is trying to emphasize we didn’t heed her warning, she’s missing the point that I was right too. We had guards, so we received advance notice because the guards (kelda, I think) did indeed detect the force approaching camp. And you couldn’t actually move that force noiselessly – we heard their boats approach. And the rivers did technically limit the attack quadrants, since they couldn’t fight effectively standing in water.

In any case, Kali was instrumental in the defeat of the forces. We faced about half of them, while Sandru, Ameiko, and the rest of the caravan faced the other half. Kali cast a spell which made the ground rough and uneven and sharp; simply walking it on it caused them to injure their feet. Ivan field-tested that necklace of fireballs, to good effect. Qatana used her sonic burst. These area effect spells helped start the invaders bleeding before they ever got close to us, making them easier to kill once they did.

Unfortunately, one thing I had not considered is that everyone who was on guard was also not in armor – including myself. This made me a bit more vulnerable than I wished. There is something called “sleep armor” that I may have to look into.

But they are dead. No clue who sent them, other than they all wore golden armbands with an engraved lion head on them.

After a brief discussion we decided that although boats and oars probably had value, there was more value in having the source of the attack wonder what happened than in letting them know they failed by selling the boat and oars on the open market.

And back to sleep.

as written by the cavalier, Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Wealday, 18 Erastus

We consulted briefly and determined there were a few areas on this level we had not yet inspected. Qatana quickly whipped out some paper and a pencil and started taking notes. Looking over her shoulder, I shook my head. When had she had time to take such copious notes? Did one of her mice tell her to do this? How did she focus long enough?

Perhaps that’s not fair, but I must say I’ve learned more about Qatana in the last several weeks than I’d learned about her in total, previously. And I have to hand it to Shalelu – she has much more patience and understanding than I ever gave her credit for.

One area we inspected was what used to be stables in the courtyard. Our first hint that things would not proceed harmlessly was when I heard a voice say, “Oh, they’ve come this far! Get them!” And so began the Battle of the Two Spiders and the Ettercap.

Etayne, of all the people who should know better, took the point on this one using her Burning Hands to good effect but not without getting bitten by a spider. I attacked both spiders and the ettercap, connecting in general, but it was Etayne, Qatana, and Sparna who ultimately moved them all to another plane.

Returning to the room we first encountered the troglodytes, we did a more thorough inspection. While nothing of monetary value was found, we did find scraps of paper that appeared to be from reports the night the castle was overrun. We took away from the reports that the guards in the castle, anyway, thought the violence had started first in the village and didn’t think the castle was in danger until far too late. It’s hard to tell if the attacks were serial or simultaneous, but we do know now with hindsight that the castle guard underestimated the seriousness of what they were seeing.

We did find [231] dice made of bones, which suggested they were pretty firmly entrenched here.

From the trog room, we went down the stairs, where we found 8 more troglodytes. We quickly retreated, expecting to pick them off one at a time as they exited the stairwell. Kali cast grease about three steps down, thinking to make them even more unstable as they emerged, but what it really did was prevent them emerging! Two did stagger to the top, but I’d say twice as many ended up slipping and falling back down the stairs. Finally, they stopped trying. Drat. We’d have to go flush them out anyway.

What started as a rather simple attack plan ultimately evolved into a complicated theatrical presentation. It was effective but at the same time almost comical. It involved a sonic burst, a color spray, obscuring mist, and – this was the kicker – a 7 ft dwarf. Yes, Ivan cast enlarge person on Sparna, who subsequently went in and kicked troglodyte butt. The sonic damage weakened them, the color spray knocked several unconscious, and the fighters (Radella, Sparna, and myself) made short work of the rest. Their leader looked buffer than the rest, but Large Sparna knocked him into next week with one of his powerful blows.

Meanwhile, Ivan and Kali inspected other doors in the hallway outside, finding an armory that had apparently been picked over before.

Nevertheless, between the armroy and the fallen troglodytes, we found

[232] +1 cold iron morningstar
[233] armor (half plate)
[234] masterwork heavy steel shield
[235][236][237] heavy crossbows
40 crossbow bolts
[239] case of 10 flasks of alchemist’s fire

Etayne took two of the flasks. The rest we left behind for now.

The next room we inspected looked to be an old kitchen. There was dust in here but for a couple of detectable paths. One was obvious, and the other was more subtle. We followed the subtle path first, which appeared to be corby-created. After several very complicated locks, Radella unlocked the last to find we’d exited the castle. This was a well-secured bolthole. And it wasn’t well-secured only to hide it from view. The wet walls around the last door suggest that at high tide, this exit is not navigable. Leaving the doors open could actually flood some of these lower levels.

The other trail led to another cavern which ended abruptly before a deep pit. A few black feathers were scattered near the edge. Was this a means of execution? More likely, we realized, is that this is the source of the corbies. This may be the way to their underground world, and also the source of any reinforcements should they decide to do so.

We returned to a room I’d peeked into briefly before we checked out the kitchen. It had a low walled cistern in it, and we now inspected this room more closely.

Radella and Qatana heard snoring from behind one of the doors. They opened the door and found two ogres, one noticeably larger than the other, sleeping next to what was left of a centipede that had to be as big as a horse. The big one woke up at the intrusion.

Sparna and I moved closer at that. Ivan stayed back.

Qatana then had the strangest conversation with the ogre, who was not exactly the sharpest blade in the drawer. She almost had it convinced we were here to take its order for fresh food when an arrow went thwack and stuck in its chest.

Ivan had become impatient.

Ogres may not be bright, but what they lack in intelligence they make up for in sheer strength. Qatana, bless her heart, was able to cast hold person on the big ogre. That allowed us to concentrate on the small ogre. I found out that he apparently has quicker reflexes than I’d thought when I tried to sneak closer to attack him and received a horrendous blow for my efforts. It left me near death, but fortunately my companions were able to finish off the ogre before he could beat on me again. The big ogre was then dispatched easily, since he was unable to move.

Looking around, we noticed what seemed to be a prisoner, probably potential food. We freed her, and allowed her to take her gear from the other side of the room. She carefully introduced herself as Kelda Oxgutter from the north. Her companions had not made it even this far, having lost their lives when their boat in the lagoon had been attacked. She was suspicious of us, but seemed to reluctantly and perhaps temporarily accept us as allies. I suspect there is yet more to her story that she has not shared.

Meanwhile, killing the ogres yielded

77 gp
dead turtles
[240] a masterwork but filthy dagger
[241] a nicely polished rock which, if crushed, struck, or broken would
summon an earth elemental

To the north, a passage led back to the kitchen but to the east it led to a grate over the entrance. The grate looked formidable, but apparently one of the keys we’d picked up was sufficient to unlock it. This appeared to be a crypt.

But, unfortunately, a defiled crypt. Tombs has been previously desecrated and perhaps looted. But quickly what drew our attention was not the destruction. It was the image of what one of our clerics identified as the image of Pharasma at the far end of the chamber.

Kali immediately suspected trickery – how often do gods visit this plane anyway? – and started an intense scrutiny of the apparition to determine if it might be an illusion. Meanwhile, it engaged us in conversation. The image reminded us continually that this place was holy and we should not desecrate it. She told us that we should lay down our weapons before proceeding further – another suspicious statement. Why would a god fear our puny weapons?

Then Kali determined it really was an illusion. This was no god. Now to find what was casting it.

It was Kali again who spotted a creature high up near the ceiling. It seemed to have many arms but it wasn’t clear if it was holding on or floating. Did its voice raise a note when it realized we were ignoring its warnings?

Ameiko’s mumblings returned to me. “The key you seek lies in the grip of the 10-handed one. His fear is your greatest ally.”

Did it fear us?

With that we were all struck by something one of the clerics identified as unholy blight. It hurt most of us substantially, and weakened some of us even more. It seemed easy to hit, but difficult to damage.

“His fear …” Could it be that its own beliefs could hurt it?

“Finally,” I announced loudly. “I have a use for my bolt of Destroy God!” I grabbed an ordinary crossbow bolt and shot it.

It missed miserably. But as it clanged harmlessly into the ceiling above it, the creature shuddered and moved away. Did it fear even being touched by it?

I had no reason to believe my bolt would have harmed it, but perhaps the fear generated by not hitting it was even more important. Using all my skill at bluffing, I stepped forward and sequentially clapped my hand on the shoulder of each of my friends in front of me. “It will take the blessing of Desna to defeat this. Through me may she grant you the accuracy to destroy this beast in a ray of holy light!” A couple of friends looked at me like I was crazy, but it was working. The creature started wailing to Paizuzu to save it. The fact that Kali somehow managed to summon a light archon that really was doing real damage to it only underscored the bluff.

Ivan was firing cold iron arrows and finding they seemed to do lasting damage as well. And suddenly with a loud noise and a disturbing and loud explosion (“save me Paizuzu my father!”) it became messy purple bits as Qatana hit it with one last sonic blast.

And we paused to contemplate what we’d just experienced and learned.

as written by the cavalier, Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Toilday, 17 Erastus

There was still much to explore. Certainly down was an option, but it was pointed out that the (upper part of the) tower to the NW had not been fully examined. So Qatana (naturally), Ivan, and Sparna headed up the stairs. I stood watch at the base, along with Anavaru, Radella, Etayne, and Kali.

There they encountered a harpy whose name was Zaiobe. I’m told she could only communicate telepathically, and then only by touching a person. Harpies are known for their songs which can harm mere mortals, but this one was apparently different. She was much more into reading and studying. She made them an offer: if they would help her kill her boyfriend, Kikonu, who apparently was some sort of demon, then she would let us have free run of the castle.

(When I heard of this later, my first thought was that we could probably achieve the same by killing her, but the fact that she made the offer first seemed to sway some of the party. Plus, I’ve no idea how easy it is to kill a harpy (although killing a demon sounds harder and more dangerous.))

Anyway, she’d apparently been here for some time, and was able to tell us the corbies were here already when she’d arrived many years ago.

It seems her boyfriend was from Tien and was feared there. But he was also the playwright whose work we’d found earlier, and she had tired of his efforts to be “king of the corbies” and consummate theatrical director.

She recommended attacking him outside the castle. He does have raven wings, if he chooses. In hindsight, if your victim has wings, wouldn’t you want to attack him in a small room? Ah well, live and learn.

Zaiobe arranged to meet Kikonu at a location outside the castle, and we arranged ourselves well before that. Ivan enchanted a weapon for Sparna just before Kikonu entered the small building we were in. He brought with him four corbies, but he approached first, proudly saying something about fresh changes to the play.

Qatana and Etayne attacked two corbies, while the rest of us attacked Kikonu, presuming him to be the tougher opponent. At first he looked angry and called to Zaiobe (“we can take out these intruders together!”) but he understood what was at stake when Zaiobe fired a flaming arrow at him herself. At that, he teleported directly to her.
Ivan used an external bane arrow on Kikonu to good effect, and Sparna also dealt a hard blow. I tried the same, but all I got for my trouble was the empty swish of my axe and a fairly deep cut from his odd looking sickle-on-a-chain. That wouldn’t have been so bad, but one of his corbie buddies got in two solid hits as well, and I fell to the ground, gravely wounded.

I awoke again to Qatana standing over me, with sounds of battle still going on around me. Kikonu lay prone and bloodied near me, and his head was at an unnatural angle. As I struggled to my feet, I saw the last of the corbies fall, denying me some small measure of revenge.

Zaiobe said it was ok to take whatever we wanted from his body. Qatana healed me more and I was back to full strength.

Before we closely examined Kikonu Etayne took both blood and feathers from the body. Witches. Anyway, we found

[218] Kusarigama – I’m told this is the name for the sickle thing. It’s
+1, and once per day its wielder can summon a giant wasp. Not
surprisingly, it is named the Dancing Wasp.
[219] small leather pouch
[220] 4 vials of ink
[221] 5 shiny pearls
[222] dark wood and silver disk. Intricate drawing of Brinewall.
Radiates transmutation magic but we couldn’t identify it.

Zaiobe announced she was flying back to the castle and would see us in the morning and flew off. But instead of doing so, she circled around and started shooting arrows at us. Although she had an advantage on us by flying, there was adequate cover around and she had just seen us defeat a demon and four corbies. Some beings just don’t know when to declare victory.

Naturally her first flaming arrow hit me. As we scurried under the bushes and trees, Ivan got off two shots that both hit her, so her next arrow hit him. Anavaru, Radella, and Ivan again all hit her with arrows, but I continued to have abysmal aim. As Kali and Radella hit her again, she paused in her shooting to heal herself. But if she needed healing, the battle was already decided. Radella nicked her again, but Ivan’s arrows hit vital organs and she fell to the ground. Which also bruised her up a fair amount.

On her body, we found
[223] potion cure moderate wounds (Sparna)
[224] potion cure moderate wounds (Radella)
[225] chain shirt
[226] composite long bow +1 (STR 12) (Ivan)
[227] holy symbol of Pazuzu (wood)

We took stock at this point and realized we were low on spells and we’d be smart to call it a day. Returning to the cemetery, Spivey healed me back up before we slept for the night.

Wealday, 18 Erastus

I awoke feeling much more refreshed than I expected. I felt quicker on my feet, stronger in my swing, and more invigorated than I have before in my life. I hope this is a good sign.

We returned to the castle knowing we had an unknown number of lower levels to explore yet. In the back of my mind, I keep thinking that if we can rid this castle of the evil in it, it will somehow be ours to take, but of course that’s ridiculous. The best we can hope for is to find whatever is causing Ameiko to sleep unnaturally, and cancel it, kill it, or reason with it. But although she has understandably done little fighting to date, she’s as much a member of our party as anybody, and it’s a basic tenet of my order to protect and defend all in our group, and I have felt helpless as she continues her troubled sleep. Before we went to sleep last night, Kali sent her bird Nehali with a message updating those back at the caravan of our situation. I presume if there was a significant change we’d have been notified by the same mechanism.

Anyway, back to the castle. We checked out Zaiobe’s room and realized that some of her reading material was quite interesting indeed. She had a set of blueprints for the castle in her room, and Qatana took these up immediately. It allowed us to determine that we had indeed explored the upper levels completely, but unfortunately the contained no clue as to what may lie below.

So down we went. We immediately came across a pungent odor and several creatures that were shorter than most of us. Looking around, I realized that a few of my companions found the odor more than merely pungent, but most of us were able to defend against the creatures when they attacked.

My axe seemed to hit a bit better this day and it didn’t take long to for us to dispatch the four of them. Opening a door we found what was apparently their sleeping quarters, with four only roused by the door opening. I again had good swings and killed two of them myself. Another door opened to what appeared to be a pet lizard, but it attacked and was thus dispatched as well.

Exploring the rooms in this area we quickly came across an ornate room which reminded me of a “throne room”. But the creature in here was no royalty; it was an ogrekin hideously consuming flesh of an unknown origin. Seeing us it showed no fear, but instead commented that it found half-elves tasty, Really? I moved closer to kill the abomination and it nearly killed me in a single blow. Note to self. Ogrekin are not ogres but neither are healthy to be around. Before it could do anything more to me, Ivan and Radella laid it low.

It possessed a [213a] +1 flail and 140gp in a small sack.

Next we entered what appeared to be a ballroom. It was Qatana, I think, that noticed the pillars supporting the roof were not symmetrically aligned within the room. We concluded this room was the victim of budget cuts.

We found a couple of small storage rooms, mostly debris filled but one, still, with a case of 20 masterwork cold iron arrows, and a single flaming burst arrow. Five each of the cold iron arrows were given to Sparna, Ana, Radella, and myself, and Ivan took the flaming arrow.

Outside another door we heard a voice inside that seemed to be talking to an elf. As we listened it sounded more and more like the creature was talking to a captive elf, not an elf visitor, so we entered. The room was filled with various stuffed animals, and it was addressing an apparently fresh, apparently stuffed elf. In other words, an abomination. Kali cast glitterdust on it but I went in with the axe swinging and challenged the creature, inflicting some grave wounds.

But the thing was unearthly quick – in fact, somebody in the party called it a quickling – and were it not for the glitterdust we’d have quickly lost track of where it was. As it was, the dust was its undoing as the fighters quickly began to beat on it, but when it ran away Ivan was able to quickly nail it with an arrow, and it dropped to the ground dead.

We found five vials of spider poison [226] (which is probably how it immobilized its victims while still keeping them awake, as it proudly told us) and an unremarkable short sword [227].

While we explored some rooms around the “art exhibit”, Etayne and Qatana each wandered off on their own to a small garden with a murky pool. They took it upon themselves to poke into the pool, disturbing a giant beetle which began to chase them. The first we knew of this was when the ran into the room panting and slamming the door behind them. We could hear scratching on the door but the door opened towards the bug and it couldn’t figure that out. Qatana decided to attack it from the rear and ran from the room towards another door into the garden.

This was foolhardy to the maximum; there was no reason to kill it when it couldn’t open doors and we’ve no need to go looking for trouble. But Qatana insisted. So I chased her and when she had to stop and try opening a door, I tried to take her to the ground. I failed and she opened the door, ran into the garden, and found that some of our group had run upstairs and shot at the bug from the open atrium above, and it was already dead.

I think my order assumes that the people in your group do not intentionally put themselves into meaningless danger. Others in are party are (correctly) mumbling that I run out of battle randomly but it’s because I’m following Qatana to protect her. But the others need protection too. Ideally, we’d all stay together and work cooperatively but that doesn’t seem to be Qatana’s style. It would pain Shalelu if she were to die, but neither should I allow the others to die because I was trying to protect Qatana from herself.

A dilemma. If only I could consult with Shalelu, I might understand this better and come up with a more nuanced solution. When we return to the caravan, I shall talk to her about this.

And in the middle of that short introspection, off Qatana went again, to a small room beneath the armory. As she entered a room there was a moaning sound and something that used to be a man stumbled after her. It wore a dragon shaped helmet, but it looked like undead … or at least what I’ve read undead should look like. It reached out and touched her and the touch was obviously painful. However Anavaru struck it hard, killing it, and Radella ended up striking a strong blow to its companion that killed that one.

Qatana was shivering and said the touch had been cold. She seemed less … resilient, too. If it was a wight, which we were believing might have been the case, then it may have taken some life force from her.

We examined the one that had touched her and found a +1 longsword [228] and the helmet, of course [229]. There were some pieces of armor [230] that Ivan thought he might be able to mend.

Logs found in the room revealed this was probably the captain of the Brinewall guard. It also gave us some idea of how the castle was overrun. This was not a long siege; it was an overwhelming attack. Men dressed in dark robes .. it reads as though there were several different types of attackers, corbies being but one of them.

We paused for a moment to consider all this.

as written by the cavalier, Olmas Lurecia, himself.

17 Erastus, Toilday

Before we left to go to the castle, we asked Koya for a fortunetelling.  She agreed, and after some shuffling and concentration, drew a single card.

“The locksmith,” she said carefully, and paused. “Puzzling.”

We waited for her to say more, but she seemed to be staring at the card like it would talk to her.

“What you seek is complex.  The key is there but whether you can turn it remains to be seen.”  We looked at each other, and then at her. For her part, she gazed at us, then solemnly collected her cards and walked away.

I guess it is the nature of fortunetellers to be a bit mysterious, even to their friends.

We took off for the castle, or actually, the town first, since we’d pass through it on the way.  And actually, that wasn’t even quite accurate either, because before we reached the town we would reach a dilapidated, partially collapsed lighthouse.  Nehali had been circling, and reported back to Kali that there was a dead sea drake in the lagoon ahead.  That sounded a bit ominous – anything that could kill a sea drake might be a considerable threat to us too.

The undergrowth was fairly thick and tangled.  Kasimir was able to make his way through with only mild difficulty.  This continued until we reached the lighthouse. I dismounted and quietly told Kasamir to “watch”.

The growth around the lighthouse was also vigorous, but it wasn’t completely overgrown – just long neglected.  The roof had caved in, and there was plenty of rubble around.  No magic, according to Kali. Entering carefully revealed .. well, lots more rubble. Grubbing randomly through it, though, we found a partially crushed

[202] strongbox

which had done its job, because inside was an uncrushed

[203] rusty key

plus 93gp.  Kali scowled momentarily and then smiled. Ivan stared at the key and looked away.  And we now had a

[203] shiny key

I noticed that from this vantage point we actually had a pretty good view of the castle.  There was no movement. Looking down into the small bay and dock (even though the lighthouse was collapsed we were still on higher ground here) I could see what seemed to be a northern longboat at one of the piers, but judging from its odd angle, it also appeared to be unseaworthy.  Whoever had arrived in it was either no longer alive, or at the very least no longer able to return.  From here we could also make out the buildings of the village, although not with any detail.

We made our way down the trail from the lighthouse to the town.  We noticed what appeared to be a cemetery to the south.  We simply took note of that, for now, and began to inspect the town.  We suspected that although we’d seen no movement at the castle, it was probably not uninhabited, so I dismounted Kasimir and instructed him ‘quiet’, inspecting the town on foot with the rest of our team.

We found a deserted town square.  Buildings appeared to have been less ransacked (although we did find some of those) and more simply attacked.  That is, it looks like the town “dug in” when the attack came, and the attackers needed to break in doors and/or windows to get inside.  As a rule, it did not appear that people here ran off – they hunkered down and fought.

And lost.

We were interrupted by Kali.  Nehali was feeling a sharp uptick in fear.  She returned summarily and said, “human sized birds”.  Apparently we were close enough now for her to discern inhabitants of the castle.

Beware the birds who wish to fly but cannot.

And so one of Ameiko’s mumblings came true.

There was nothing of value here in the town.  The battle had in fact been lost, and either as a result of that or some time after, it had in general been looted.  Mundane things of low value were still to be found here and there.  From the harbor supply store we availed ourselves of some remaining ropes – never know when you might need another line.

We turned our attention to the cemetery outside of town. Although the fence surrounding it appeared rickety, the gates looked downright ornate.  And polished.  And resplendent.   A stark contrast to the rest of the area.  The gate was flanked by statues of Desna, and inside the cemetery almost looked like a lord’s garden rather than a cemetery. Inside, another statue of Desna held a basin of water which proved to be holy water.  We took some, and then refreshed it.  According to our clerics, the new water immediately became holy water as well.  As we beheld this, a small fairy or sprite emerged, hovering, from behind a nearby tree.

Spivey, she was called, and she was in part responsible for this garden/cemetery/holy place.  She had served a cleric living here (but since passed – eaten by a plant?) and had settled here by the statues of Desna after that event.  She told us much about the terrain.

The sea drake?  Swooped too close to the water and crab-like creatures had pulled it in.

The human birds?  They did not fly but they did come out to hunt about once a week (and it had been several days since their last hunt.)

She said she was willing to heal us, if it were needed, and to consider the cemetery to be a safe haven if we needed such.

After a brief discussion, we decided we needed to gain entrance to the castle. A horse in the castle would not be of great use and arguably would be some hindrance, so Kasimir would be left in the cemetery (with Spivey’s polite nod.)  We decided to try to simulate a hunting party returning.  While we had no idea if one was actually out, we were hoping that confused gate guards might open the gate out of habit if we identified ourselves as such.

We split into two groups: Qatana, Radella, Sparna, and Ivan in one, and myself, Kali, Etayne, and Anavaru in the other. We slowly and quietly brought ourselves within a few dozen feet of the front door, hiding in shrubs and undercover near the door.  The door did not appear to be the classic castle portcullis or drawbridge; just a pair of sturdy looking doors.

We first tried making animal sounds to lure them out.  No such luck. Finally, in undercommon, we called out: “Open the gates for the hunting party!”

And that worked. Four bird people – somebody called them corbies – two corbies came out.  And I immediately saw a flaw in our plan.  While we were battling our foes, anybody inside held a tremendous advantage over us.  That is, they could simply close the door.  It might not be brave,  but it would be very prudent, and we’d be left with an alarm having been raised and still no entrance to the castle.

As the others set themselves upon the four corbies, I ran to the door. Inside two more corbies looked surprised and ran towards a lever which, I assumed, would do exactly as I feared.  If they succeeded, I’d be separated from my friends but on the inside, at least.  Perhaps I’d still do some good.  I swung at one and connected solidly with my great axe.  Then Kali surprised me, leaping to my side and dousing them both in irridescent colors.  Color spray!  Both their eyes glazed over, and I killed one easily.  The second, immobile one also quickly bled out.

However, before the color spray, one of them had made a sound which very much sounded like an alarm.  While we’d all gained entrance to the castle, it was doubtful that we had the element of surprise any more.

Qatana looked over the door mechanism, and decided they should remain open.  To that end, she took the levers that operated the outside gates.  Now the mechanism wasn’t broken, but would be difficult to operate quickly.

I quickly did the same with the inside one.

Sparna heard talons running away overhead. He quickly ascended the ladder and poked his head up.  He saw a corby disappearing around the corner. I scurried up as well and Qatana and I gave chase.

We went as far as a turn which would have broken line-of-sight back to the group and I paused.  We didn’t want to separate the group too much.  We gathered everyone again and proceeded on a more sedate pace. We got close enough to see that they seemed to be readying a catapult. Apparently the one we followed did not know we’d followed him, and they were now making ready to send stones or boulders upon us when we entered the courtyard below.

Didn’t work out so well, for him.

Knowing that the rest of the group was behind me, I ran in and engaged the first enemy, taking care to leave space for other combatants to step in too. My great axe connected again.  Imagine my surprise when the second “warrior” to rush in was Qatana! Who leveled a pretty decent blow upon the second corby even as my great axe laid the first one out. Radella came in and finished Qatana’s foe.  Wow – dead in about 10 seconds.  We may have regained the element of surprise, because it’s possible every corby who knew of our entry is now dead.

We were now off the parapets and into the castle proper, and we began a quick but stealthy reconnaissance.  It didn’t take too long before we heard, rather than saw, a maintenance crew coming up to us.  They weren’t armed, but corbies, as luck would have it, are bipedal, beaked, and sport talons at the ends of their “wings” and feet.  So even unarmed they can provide something of a battle.  Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen any armed yet.

Anyway, these four had our entire group to fight against. Again, while we couldn’t avoid the sounds of battle, we wanted to make sure that none of them escaped to explicitly sound an alarm.  And we were successful: award killing blows to Sparna (2), Radella, and Anavaru.  Although I have to imagine the bodies and blood will tell their own story.

Ugh. Somebody should call a maintenance crew 🙂

Continuing our exploration, and led by our chief risk taker, Qatana, we found what seemed to be the ghost of a small child.  Or so I might guess, except it seemed to have the skull of a fox.  Qatana, moved by pity, became its first victim as it literally stole her voice.  I attempted to intervene, but found that after it struck me I was seriously tired.  It struck me again and I became exhausted. Radella was finally able to step in and end its attack.

We had no magic to return Qatana’s voice or my stamina, so we simply waiting, hoping it was magic that would expire.  And thankfully, after an hour, it did.  We had ample opportunity to inspect the artwork on the wall here, which seemed to depict an attack: ninjas with throwing stars, bird people with talons, and ogres with –

Wait, ogres?  Ogres attacked here too?  In collaboration with the others?  Clearly what felled Brinewall was not a chance attack or a lapse in security.  Somebody put a lot of planning into this.

As we inspected more rooms at this level, it became apparent that they were being used as bedrooms by the corbies.  One room appeared to house only one (judging from the number of feathers) while the rest seemed to house multiple corbies, despite not being particularly larger.   Were we going to meet a commandant?

No.  The next room we searched was a temple. Or used to be. Well, used to be, and still was, but it had been desecrated and converted.  And the priest/priestess (how does one detect sex on these creatures?) was still here, caked in blood.  A statue of Desna had been seriously altered, and now bore the visage of the demon Pazuzu, complete with four wings and a scorpion tail.  The artwork here reflected the new decor, and didn’t really brighten the room.

The priest led off with a thunderclap that not only deafened some of us, but actually injured us it was so loud. Anavaru and Qatana led off with hits first, but soon the rest of us were engaged. I formally challenged the creature and I felt an invigorating rush run through me as I struck it solidly.  For my efforts, I received a bolt of lightning from it. The healers began healing and the fighters fought bravely, and it was Radella who again dealt the killing blow.

Inspecting the body, we found

[204] scroll of cure moderate wounds
[205] scroll of cure moderate wounds
[206] scroll of dispel magic
[207] wand of inflict moderate wounds [12]
[208] studded leather armor
[209] masterwork longsword
[210] silver unholy symbol of Pazuzu

Searching the room closely, we were able to find a small hidden alcove that this creature had been unable to find.  There we found

[211] 4 +2 evil outsider bane arrows
[212] small chest
[213] scroll of cure moderate wounds
[214] scroll of remove disease
[215] scroll of restoration
[216] phylactery of “detect standing with deity”

I guess that last is used to tell if your god would approve of what you’re considering. Or maybe it’s not even that powerful – maybe all it can tell you is that that last thing you did wasn’t a particularly good idea.

The clerics tried to restore the statue of Desna but it had been too badly desecrated.   Mere prestidigitation wasn’t going to cut it.

We found one disquieting room in which some spirit or effect caused the walls to be gouged and stained with blood before vague figures appeared.

Having explored nearly all this level, we returned to a room near where we’d entered. There was a desk with overflowing papers. Kali snagged some to inspect them and burst out laughing.  It was a play written from the perspectve of the corbies, describing the experience of one who found himself transforming into “a bitter human”.

We found a door leading to the outside – it was locked but surprise! our shiny key from the lighthouse worked just fine.  Outside there was a solarium which had been converted into a sort of bat habitat with tarps … complete with a huge bat like creature. It tried to attack us so we killed it.  It had a horrible screech.

At this point, we paused to catch our breath and decide on our next strategic move.  It might be time to go down a bit deeper into the castle.

as written by the cavalier, Olmas Lurecia, himself.

24 Sarenith, Sunday

Kali asked for about 15 minutes to study a new spell. The rest of us examined the caves more thoroughly, especially the pools. Some were actually 8-10 feet deep, but still, we found nothing of interest.

After a brief discussion, the group decided to traverse the Witches Walk and find the 3rd X on the clumsily drawn map. We noticed that slightly right of the path, there were strange footprints. Swamp monster?

We found a saggy shack. While the “warden’s” house had looked to be in some disrepair, it at least also looked lived in. This looked like it had been abandoned, with heavy grown of moss and sagging walls, roof, and even floorboards. Large rodent tracks were evident around the shack.

Oh no. Rodents? Where was Qatana?

Oh of course. She was heading in. At least she waited a bit this time. Qatana, Anavaru, Ivan, and Radella were at the door; Qatana listened, heard more skittering, and excitedly went in. Meanwhile, I and Kali stayed outside; ultimately, I decided to inspect the back of the house. We have been seeing too many strange tracks not to be cautious. Etayne observed with a bit of awe in her voice that this really had all the classic looks of a witches house, and moved closer to the door.

Inside, however, there were in fact some dire rats, and they began to attack those inside. Qatana, Etayne, and Ivan pretty much took care of them without much help from the rest of us.

I found nothing out back. Although I heard some scritchings in the wall back there, I began to make my way back to the front when I heard the sounds of fighting at the front door. By the time I got there, the “battle” was over, and I was astonished to find that Qatana had dispatched a rat herself! She never ceases to surprise.

It as clear that the place had been unused for months. There were signs of an explosion and then … then we found the decaying skeleton in tattered clothes. It had been wearing a womans robe, and the head was oddly elongated and one arm hand ended in talons. It looked like a transformational spell or potion had gone very wrong.

Casting detect magic, we found a bit of magic off in one corner of the room. There was a niche in the corner that held … a tiny human, specifically the head of a human and the body of a rat or large mouse.

“A ratling” Etayine infomred us. “Probably a familiar.”

The little creature had spunk, I’ll give it that. When one of us asked another, “What language might it speak? CAN it speak?” it replied with a little attitude: “I CAN speak Common. Now leave!”

He had the attitude that it was his house now … and I suppose there was a case to be made for that. Qatana continued to try to make nice to it and for her efforts she got jumped upon and bitten.

I rolled my eyes a bit. This “battle” had gone far enough. Etayne cast Daze upon it, which made it all the easier for me to simply but gently grab the ratling, remove it from Qatana, and advise it to settle down.

Radella had the great idea of offering to put the witch to rest with a proper burial. THAT the ratling stopped and listened to, and agreed to.

After having done so he was in a much fairer mood, and he even shared a map that his mistress had created of the entire swamp. Qatana eagerly copied that down. The 3rd X is another shipwreck, although the ratling warned us it was in poor shape.

Now on much better terms with the ratling, and with him resigned to a rather lonely life, we left. The wreck was just as he’d described. It had a Tien glyph that Kali dutifully copied down for translation later.

It was Kali, too, who reminded us we had not examined all of the goblin “fortress” (I will continue to use that word in quotes as it was about as sturdy as two syrup sodden pancakes leaning against each other.) We returned to the fo- I mean place, and did indeed find 23 more gp, as well as

[124] skyrockets [3]

We resolved now to return to Sandpoint and collect our bounty.

However, halfway to the main road, we heard a rustling, a squeal, and then bones snapping. This unnerved us all, so I stepped off the path a bit, looking to see more.

We did. We all saw more, and many of us will remember it far longer than we might like. It was a creature like none I’ve seen before. It had gaping jaws, but they were sideways. Its knees bent the wrong way. Its arms and legs ended in sharp and dangerous looking talons. And it either did not know common or chose to talk in grunts and clicks. This must have been the Swamp Monster.

I and my Greataxe drew first blood (?!) from the creature, but Anavaru followed up with an equally strong blow and killed it.

Some said this was a creature that some at Sandpoint had seen in days past, and that it was evil and unnatural. I could certainly believe that last. There wasnt a bounty on it, and yet it seemed menacing. And it was so unusual! We decided to take back the whole corpse – it wasn’t that far, and people wouldn’t believe just a description.

We did turn a few heads when we walked into town, I must say. And the sheriff congratulated us on a job well done. He called the Swamp Monstar a “sinspawn” and confirmed that they’d been seen in the town a few years ago, but not since. He added 500gp to the goblin money, a welcome surprise.

And now it was time to go to the Inn and talk to Ameiko.

I’ve not seen her much and I don’t know her well, certainly as well as Shalelu does. But she seemed to genuinely rotate between shaken, happy, and angry. She clearly needed some time to digest its contents, and invited us all back to dinner that evening when she could tell us more about her family and what this letter meant to her. She said we could keep everything else, which meant an additional bounty for us. in the end, I received the equivalent of 959 gp plus 6 sp. Added to my 18.9 previous, I now had a total of 977 gp and 15 sp.

It was time to upgrade.

I was able to find masterwork chainmail for sale for 300gp, and perhaps more importantly, a masterwork comnpound bow specially created to take advantage of my strength (+2), but that cost twice as much. I bought 60 arrows and sold my ordinary longbow and my scale mail, leaving me with a total of 121 gp and 1 sp.

And then the dinner.

There were others there I was only vaguely familiar with. Ameiko and Shalelu, of course, and everyone from the goblin group. There was also a man named Sandru who owned wagons in a caravan, and an older woman named Koya who has apparently travelled with Sandru in the past.

Ameiko started out by thanking us all again. This old letter apparently means a great deal to her. She has decided it is time to take her boots out of the closet and follow the lead that this letter provides. She wants to go to Brinewall and solve this final mystery about her family. It is no small journey, and it will involve more than just a couple of horses. and tents. Ah, that is why Sandru is here. A caravan.

A caravan? Why, that’s perfect! Kasimir would be ideal for that situation. Others in the group were buzzing too, and soon it became apparent that if Ameiko was going to make this journey, she was going to do it with the assistance of everyone at the table – including Shalelu. We would be a team, for once, instead of opponents-in-training.

Kali was doing some figuring – apparently travelling is practically second nature in her family! – and we determined we would need more wagons and supplies than Ameiko’s 2000gp stake in this would provide. Then I remembered the jewels from the chest … and that contribution from our group added another 1500 gp to the pot. That put us over the edge. This was really going to happen.

Koya did some fortunetelling. I’m not a big believer in that sort of stuff ordinarily. She displayed five cards but it was all very cryptic. There was mention of cyclones, and attacks from all sides, and something about foreboding. And a place of strength. All very confusing.

2 Erastus, Moonday

Today we left Sandpoint, and began our adventure. We are bound first for Galduria and expecting to take about 3 days.

4 Erastus, Wealday

Reached Galduria. Made a profit on the goods we traded! Bonus! No unusual events.

5 Erastus, Oathday

Relatively short trip to Wolf’s Ear. Again profitable.

7 Erastus, Starday

I suppose we should be glad that scouting and guard duty is so boring. But it is so boring. Today we reached Ravenmoor. We should reach Rodericks Cove by 9 Erastus.

9 Erastus, Moonday

Reach it we did, but not, this time, without incident. Our scouts found an ambush waiting for us: 4 ogres lie in wait a few hundred yards ahead. We discussed our strategy. We’d quietly set up a place to shoot fireworks and arrows behind where they were waiting, and surprise them.

Almost worked. We need to practice this a bit more. I rode out to fight them, but I was the only one there. Skyrockets and arrows were flying, but arriving on my horse meant I got there faster than everyone else, and that meant I was a target longer. Chain mail helps, but it doesnt make one invincible! Eventually we did destroy all four, but not before I was very near death. Thank the gods for the healers!

We recovered about 2 cargo units of miscellaneous valuables that I presume had been obtained from careless or hapless travellers. I was told they’d probably bring about 400gp each.

On tp Riddlesport.

11 Erastus, Wealday

Riddlesport. A large town; certainly much larger than Sandpoint. I realized today that our journey has taken us past Crying Leaf. I note with some discomfort that although I had no plans of “stopping by” that it bothers me to be so close and not stop by.

Our journey to Brinewall will be the longest, and it will not end in a city so we must bring more food and supplies. It should be a week there, and then a week back, and I expect we will spend several days there helping Ameiko investigate things.

15 Erastus, Sunday

Ameiko has been pale and very tired for some time now, and although I don’t know her well I’d say she is ill. She waved it off, but “I’ll be fine” is much less effective when one collapses a few seconds after saying it. Koya checked her over, and everyone with any kind of healing checked her over, and she simply appears to be sleeping. But way too soundly and restlessly.

And she has been talking in her sleep. And only in Tien. Fortunately, Kali is knowledgable in this tongue.

“Beware the birds who wish to fly but cannot.”
“1 treasure beyond 2 seals in the 3rd vault.”

17 Erastus, Moonday

“Beware the cuckolded cuckoo. It is in his shattered silent love that you should seek aid.”
“Key. Key. The key you seek lies in the grip of the ten-handed one. His fear is your greatest ally.”

“Grandfather waits in the dark but he knows no who he was.”

We’ve reached a point where the caravan can proceed no farther. We’ll have to go in ourselves: Shalelu, Sandru, and Koya will care for Ameiko. It’s so … oppressive here. We’re probably about a half mile from the castle.