Category Archives: Journal Entries

Journal entries for the Jade Regent campaign

Character: Qatana

Qatana’s journal entry for Erastus 18th and 19th, 4712

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Wealday, Erastus 18, 4712 evening
Brinewall Cemetery

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oathday, Erastus 19, 4712 mid day
Brinewall Castle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She died surprisingly quickly.

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

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

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

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

Searching the rubble we found some useful items.

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

I paused and listened at the double doors.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Character: Kali

Kali’s Journal, Erastus 18-19, 4712

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Erastus 18 (Night, Brinewall Cemetery)

Kikonu is dead. Who is Kikonu? I’ll be honest: I am still not sure and I don’t really know what is going on. I am trying to piece it together from the scraps of information we have uncovered so far, but there is too much that we don’t yet know.

This began with exploring the tower. What was formerly the library (and, arguably, still is as the books are still intact) had become the private room of Zaiobe, a mute, oracle harpy that has been living in the castle for many years. She was the first being we have encountered since stepping foot in here that did not try to attack us on sight.

Who is Zaiobe? She is, or rather was, Kikonu’s lover. So you see the problem: some of these answers are circular.

She could communicate telepathically with whoever she was touching, and she had a lot to say. Most of that boiled down to this: she had “grown tired” of her lover and she wanted to kill him, but she needed help. There was obviously more to this story than she was telling us because you don’t just kill someone because you are tired of them, harpy or not. She must have been wronged in some fashion, severely enough that revenge was her answer. In exchange for our help, she would give us information.

Who is Kikonu? He came from Tian Xia, and specifically from Minkai. He is an outsider of some sort, able to take the form of a man-sized bird with black feathers. When in his human form he looks like a Tian man with red skin and a rather large nose, but with raven-black wings sprouting from his back. In Tian Xia she says he is considered a horrible monster, but what kind of monster she didn’t know. Some might consider him a demon, but that is as often as not just a colloquial name for an outsider of any sort.

Zaiobe believes he came here when the castle was initially attacked or shortly after that, but possibly for his own reasons. That is conjecture on her part, but it would be an amazing coincidence if she was wrong about the first. Regardless, he is the de facto man in charge and if we want answers we will have to confront him.

We had several more questions for Zaiobe, but what made me most inclined to believe her was the seemingly innocent one that I had Qatana relay (reluctant though she was to do so). “Why was he writing a play about corbies?”

I knew at once that I had struck a nerve. Watching her communicate with Qatana was fascinating because it was like watching two people talk without the words: there were still the facial expressions, gestures, and other non-verbal cues we all rely on in conversation to convey meaning and emotion. Up to this point, all of Zaiobe’s responses had been controlled and measured. I could see her expressions change, and follow her emotions to some extent, but she was managing her part of the duologue carefully. At this question, though, that mask slipped away and there was just raw Zaiobe, channeling years of frustration and anger.

Qatana, who was trying to relay to us what she was “hearing”, could barely keep up.

“Because he’s….he’s changed! In the last several years he’s become obsessed with becoming the king of these corby things. His latest amusement is writing this play and having them act it out and making me watch them and it’s horrible!”

Her rage was so plain she was practically steaming with it. “Tired of him”, indeed.

This was the point where I truly believed she wanted him dead (this play was merely insult piled on top of injury), and both wanted and needed our help to do it. And, based on her description of him, Kikonu was not going to be an easy opponent even for the eight of us, so we would need her help, too. And so we struck an agreement, and the wheels were put in motion.

The ambush was set in a large, ruined building on the edge of the abandoned village, at Zaiobe’s suggestion. We agreed to this, figuring that she would know best where to arrange a meeting with him without arousing his suspicion. At the appointed time, she flew in and stood in wait while we got into position. A few minutes later, Kikonu came up the path along with a retinue of four dire corbies. His personal guard?

“My darling, I have the greatest new scene to show you! Wait until you see this!”

I could almost feel the waves of hatred radiating off of Zaiobe in that brief moment. There was no question about what she wanted.

As soon as he stepped in the door, we struck. At first, he was confused and cried out to her for help, but Zaiobe responded with a black arrow that burst into flame when it hit. And then he realized he had walked into a trap of her making. Rage overtook common sense, and in the blink of an eye, he disappeared from the doorway and reappeared at Zaiobe’s side to strike. This fight was bitter and personal.

For the most part, I stayed out of it. I saved what remained of my spells for his guard, who were trying to circle around through another entrance in order to even the odds. Etayne and I held them at bay while the others focused on Kikonu. It was an intense and brutal fight, but with Zaiobe’s help we were victorious.

I ushered us out of the building as quickly as I could, fearing what was coming next, wanting it to happen in daylight rather than shadow where confusion would reign. And she did not disappoint me. Within minutes, Zaiobe’s broken body lay in the street. I am still upset by this.

Spivey had offered the cemetery as a place to rest and heal, and we took her up on her generous offer. Over the next hour, we told her what we learned of the castle and all that had transpired. Nihali agreed to relay messages back to the caravan and we learned that Ameiko’s condition was unchanged, but for the first time I felt like we were finally closing in on some answers.

As night settled in I walked down the hill to the northern edge of the cemetery and laid down in the grass just a short distance from the shrine to Desna. The white, marble statue was gleaming in the light of the waxing moon. It was relaxing, just being there and watching the stars come out.

We had been traveling together for over two weeks, now, pretty much living on top of one another the whole time. Even when spending the night in settlements and cities, we stayed together with the caravan just out of an abundance of caution. I certainly enjoyed the company of my friends—I wouldn’t be traveling with them if I didn’t—but seventeen days is a long time to go without any sort of privacy. I just needed some time alone and the sanctuary of this place was our first opportunity for it since leaving Sandpoint.

I rolled onto my side and ran my fingers through the grass absentmindedly as I watched twilight fade. Nihali landed in front of me and settled in. I could barely see her outline in the moonlight.

Spivey may have sensed something, or perhaps she was just curious why I was out here (mostly) alone in the dark because after some time had passed I caught the faint glow of the tiny azata out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head to follow her progress as she skimmed over the grass and landed next to Nihali. My familiar stretched out her head and neck, allowing Spivey to stroke her gently.

“You’re not sitting with your companions?”

Her tone was very tentative and something about it suggested that she was, very politely, asking if something was troubling me. A couple of years ago I would have just smiled and blown off the questions, both the one stated and the one implied, but I had since learned not to equate vulnerability with weakness. Not always, anyway. With the right people.

“I wanted to clear my head. This seemed like the right place for that.”

Spivey gave Nihali one final scratch just above her nape. Nihali raised her head slightly and opened her beak momentarily before closing it again. That was certainly the right spot for that. Spivey looked at me and smiled.

“It is. Is it something you want to share, or would you rather I left you alone?”

“I can’t stop thinking about Zaiobe.”

Spivey considered this for just moment, then said, “You said she turned on you.”

“Yes. It was stupid, what she did, and completely senseless.”

I don’t know what possessed her to do it. Did she really think she could overpower the eight of us? How did she think that could possibly work? I remember keeping an eye on her after the battle with Kikonu and his personal guard of corbies. She just stood there, watching us as we wrapped up. She had that look on her face of someone who was waiting for us to get distracted enough to be ambushed. It’s why I suggested we go outside and finish our business in the light where we could see, instead of the dark of the ruined building. A thinly veiled ruse? It didn’t matter. The point was to let her to know that I knew, without me having to actually accuse her of something. It was intended as a deterrent, and an excuse to get everyone else outside and paying attention.

In the end, it wasn’t the best of ideas since she could take to the air and shoot at us from above, which is exactly what she did, but at least we knew when and where it was coming. Had we stayed inside, one of use would certainly have paid a heavy price for our inattention.

I continued, “That’s not what’s bothering me, though. To be honest, I never trusted her. I more or less expected this, or something like this, to happen.”

Can you really trust someone who plots with strangers to murder their ex-lover? What a relationship that must have been.

Not that I am good about trusting people. Early lessons taught me to put more faith in what others do instead of what they promise. It’s not that I am suspicious of everyone, it’s just that reading people is hard and I am not very good at it. It is much easier to just assume that they will act out of their own self-interests until proven otherwise.

“So what is it then?”

“We…made an agreement with her. She really did feel like a prisoner there, and her kind being what they are…I believed her when she offered to help us ambush this Kikonu. All she wanted, in turn, was just to be…left alone. She wanted to stay in the library that she had turned into her own living space. We could do as we pleased elsewhere in the castle, as long as we respected her privacy and her home. And we agreed. Because we needed her help.

“But a confrontation with her, I think was inevitable. We were lucky. By turning on us, she solved a looming problem. I mean, that agreement we struck…it wasn’t really tenable, was it? She couldn’t stay there. We’ll be done here, soon, and people will return to reclaim it. She has no rights to it, and it was not our place to grant her sojourn.

“And on top of that, there’s a shrine to Desna there. How long could such an agreement last?”

My thoughts were still a mess—they still are even now—but Spivey understood what I was getting at.

“You feel that you made an agreement in bad faith.”

“Yes.”

She thought for a moment, looking up at the sky and the stars. Legend says that Desna, herself, placed them there. Her temples are often open to the sky.

“Did it ever occur to you that she bargained in bad faith?” I’ll admit that this took me aback. Of all the responses I was expecting from her, this one was not on the list. “You say you didn’t trust her. I’m saying you were right not to. How can you be sure that ‘being left alone’ was what she truly wanted? You found a symbol of Pazuzu on her person when she fell, after all. That, alone, should be enough to question both her words and her motives.”

She paused for a moment and then continued.

“I think, on some level, you all knew how this would end; you felt safe making that agreement because you knew she had no intention of living up to it.”

She looked at me and smiled.

“You say what happened was luck. Perhaps you’re right. Your actions here have benefited Desna, after all.”

“I…I suppose. Though…I’m not a follower of Desna.”

Her smile turned into a big grin.

“You told me about the temple. I am sure Shelyn would have words about that, as well.”

I am not really convinced by this argument, but it is something to think about.

On the far side of the hill, just below Mercatio’s crypt, my friends had set up a couple of tents in the dark and covered them with a blackout curtain so that there could be light inside—courtesy of Ivan’s cantrips and some common rocks—without drawing the attention of whoever may still be dwelling in the castle (I am not the only one who spends late nights writing down my thoughts). Kikonu may have been the overlord of his little fiefdom, but his death did not necessarily make the castle or the ruins any safer. If anything, the resulting power vacuum could make things worse if we don’t address it soon. So, for now, an abundance of caution made sense.

Tomorrow, we return to the castle, starting with the library and then working our way through the main floor. If Zaiobe is to be believed, Kikonu compartmentalized everything, keeping his subjects isolated from one another and more or less in the dark. Only the corbies seemed to enjoy a run of the castle, and even that is supposition. If true, though, it may make our task easier.

Erastus 19 (Morning, Brinewall Castle)

I‘ve been reckless this morning and I need to get a handle on it. My friends need to know that they can trust me and rely on me, and these outbursts are counterproductive. But I will get to that.

Our first stop after returning to the castle was the library which was in remarkably good condition considering what had happened here. We were able to find maps of the castle, including some old construction drawings, and a fascinating, hand-written tome titled A Historical Record of the Colony at Brinewall. It’s not quite as useful as it sounds because it’s not a true history text: it’s really just annals of the colony since its founding in 4442. It’s not indexed, and there’s no summary of events which means you’d more or less have to read it from start to finish. And it’s the worst sort of reading, mostly dull log entries and recordings of everything that the authors deemed significant enough to write down nearly every day, ranging from the weather to gossip to absurd details about the construction of the castle and the town, visitors, raiders, and so on, depending on the annalist’s whims. Still, it has value; it will just take time to glean information from it. We took all of this with us.

Excerpt from the construction plans for Brinewall Castle.

About my behavior. The first incident was when we encountered the troglodytes. One of them called for reinforcements which never came. That in itself is not unusual. What was noteworthy was that their barracks were, quite literally, next door. As in, we opened a door, and there were four more troglodytes in there, deep in slumber. How they could sleep through the sounds of battle and a cry for reinforcements only to be awoken by an opening door is beyond my comprehension. I don’t know why, but I acted out. It was foolish and stupid and tantamount to gloating. It is a sign of overconfidence and overconfidence is what gets people hurt or killed.

The second time…I like to think that I have an excuse for that one, but it still goes against Irori’s teachings. I may not be a member of that faith anymore, but I still owe much of who I am to his tenets.

The quickling was as foul a creature as I have ever encountered, a sadist and bully so far beyond anything and anyone that I ever met or was victimized by that my mental discipline broke down. Once I realized she started her work while her victims were paralyzed and still alive, I was overcome with rage and felt compelled to act (I can feel my temper rising again as I write this). Lacking any other spells that could reach from where I was, and seeing a room filled with that grotesque interpretation of “art”, I filled it with a burst of glittering dust.

What was I thinking? It had a chance of blinding her for one, much better than my simpler spell could manage even if I were close enough to use it. But mostly? I wanted to ruin her “art”. I wanted to defile what she had done.

I am usually in better control of myself. It was a hard lesson I learned growing up. Many of the injuries I suffered were because I couldn’t reign in my temper. I was certainly not responsible for what happened to me, but the very first time I gave in to anger I catalyzed a cycle of torment that lasted for years.

And in the process of losing my temper here, I wasted two of my newest and best spells in the span of a few seconds.

This last room we entered seems to have been the office of the captain of the guard, and the captain himself had become a wight. I remember the words Ameiko spoke to us while in her possessed slumber: Grandfather waits in the dark, but he knows not who he was. Is this what happened to Rokuro as well?

From what we saw of the room, it seems that the captain was interrupted while writing a hurried letter, describing an attack on the castle by men “wearing black robes”. Another possible reference to ninjas from Tian Xia? The story was starting to piece together.

After Qatana and Etayne wandered off on their own and found a giant beetle for their trouble, we paused for a few minutes to discuss what we should do next. I took that time to review the letter again and found an interesting, though throwaway, detail: the attack came in the night, during a powerful storm. To the captain, the storm was just weather, but to me it was a reference point. The Record of the Colony at Brinewall did not go far enough forward in time to cover these events, but I didn’t really need it. The ships that set sail from here, the ones sent by Rokuro, went aground in Sog’s Bay during a storm. The timing had to be the same. At this time of year, it was not uncommon for storms to lash the Varisian coast, some of them lasting several days. Another coincidence that was too much of a coincidence to be just a coincidence.

Had Rokuro anticipated an attack? Had he sent those ships south into, and in spite of, the storms because he feared one was imminent? Did the invaders use those same storms to their advantage, to give them cover as they sacked both the town and then the castle?

I was flipping through pages of the historical record while explaining my theory to the others when I happened across a mention of the reconstruction of the east wall of the castle. It was just dumb luck.

While I could probably figure out the jargon and conventions of the construction plans given time, Radella was far more versed in this than I and I asked for her help in finding any plans for the walls and, in particular, any dates associated with them. Within a couple of minutes, I had learned another valuable and shocking piece of information: the east wall of the castle had collapsed into a network of underground caverns!

“The east wall collapsed. They must not have surveyed the cliff thoroughly, or at all. There are caverns under the castle. A huge complex of them. The weight of the castle caused the ground to cave in, collapsing the wall and part of the castle into the caverns. And listen! Not soon after, ‘Hideous, bird-like men emerged from below. They stood as tall as a man, covered in black feathers but with arms instead of wings…’

“They attacked the colony. This was in the early 4460’s. The corbies…they have been here for over 250 years! The colonists must have thought they drove them off or killed them. But obviously they didn’t, because they are still here. And, the caverns! If there are caverns, there has to be an entrance somewhere, right? A cave? Maybe in the cliffs, or even just in the ground somewhere.

“Right?”

If I didn’t have everyone’s full attention before, I definitely had it now.

Olmas looked thoughtful for a moment and asked a series of questions that was really just one.

“The castle was knowingly or unknowingly built over a series of caverns? The corbies emerged from those collapsed caverns and presumably there was a skirmish/conflict/battle, but there was still time afterwards to rebuild the east wall, and life went on thinking the corbies had been taken care of?

“Is there any record of when they reappeared?”

That was not so easy to answer. I flipped through the book, skimming pages until I found what seemed to be the right place.

“It was finished in 4469. So, they rebuilt the wall and eventually finished the castle. They thought the corbies were gone. Or maybe they sealed off the caverns, or thought they did. The way this is written I’d have to read the whole thing. It’d take hours and hours. But it seems they finished the castle and then…well…it looks like life went on.”

Qatana, on the other hand, was focused on the caverns themselves. She was silent for a moment—she had that look she gets when she’s “talking” to one of her mouse skulls— and then exclaimed, “There is probably an external entrance to the caves, but maybe the corbies tunneled up to the cellars of the castle itself, and then broke through and invaded from within! There are three sets of steps leading down from this level, and I bet at least one of them will connect with the tunnels.”

That sounded logical to me. “Whatever is down there…if we go east, as far east as we can, we’ll probably find out.”

Every answer we find is accompanied by more questions.

Character: Olmas

Annals of the Order of the Dragon

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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.

Character: Qatana

Qatana’s journal entry for Erastus 18, 4712

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Wealday, Erastus 18, 4712 mid-day
Brinewall Castle

We walked — except for Olmas, who would not be separated from his horse — the half a mile or so from our caravan to the castle. We came to a small river and the path followed it down to Brinewall. We were uneasy, in part because of the urgency we felt for resolving Ameiko’s collapse, but also in anticipation of what might be waiting for us.According to legend the population of Brinewall had simply vanished, leaving the village and castle behind unaltered. What power could simply cause the entire inhabitants of a substantial village and keep disappear? And could that power still linger and affect us as well?

Kali had sent Nihali aloft to look for signs of trouble, and before we reached the village proper the bird returned and told of a dead sea drake washed up on the beach. Nihali’s concern was obvious: something that could kill a formidable foe lived nearby.

Brinewall was located on a small C-shaped bay, with a lighthouse set upon one end of the C, the fort perched upon a head of rock at the far end, and the village proper nestled in between. The lighthouse was closer, and so we went there first.

It was a ruin, with a collapsed roof and rubble for walls. Ivan and I climbed through the debris and found a strong box, within which was a rusty key and some gold. But other than dust and spider mites there was nothing here, and so we followed the path to the village.

[202] strong box
[203] key (no longer rusty, thanks to Ivan)
93 gp

The village had served as a a small trading center, and the weathered and splintered remains of its docks still teetered above the murky water. A boat was tied to a rickety pier, and although it had sunk it appeared to be a more recent addition to the scene. Kali said it was from the north, and most likely raiders had arrived in it to take advantage of the empty town and plunder what they could find. Clearly these particular looters had not fared so well.

Upon closer inspection we found that the legends of Brinewall did not hold up. All of the buildings bore signs of physical attack, and there had obviously been a struggle for the town, which the locals lost. Searching through the ruins we only found mundane, every day objects — anything of real value had either been taken in the initial sack of the town, or later plundered.

We took care to keep out of site from the castle, which was a prudent move. Nihali returned from a scouting sortie and announced that large bird shaped humanoids patrolled the battlements.

The cemetery climbed a low slope to the south west and was surrounded by a dilapidated picket fence. The iron gate, however, was in perfect working order, and it was flanked by a statues of Desna — this prompted us to investigate. Within the grounds were manicured, the plots were planted with flowers, and headstones clean and in good repair. A large important looking crypt of Admiral Marcatio Kimeleu presided over the graves and tombs.

Up the hill was a small shrine: a statue of Desna stood looking out over Brinewall, with a copper basin of water held between her outstretched hands. The water was holy and we took several vials full. When we replenished the basin with fresh water, it instantly became holy.

It was humbling to stand before such a marvel of holy work, and to be in such a restful and well cared for garden as this. Our reverent attitude was enough to encourage the keeper of this place to come forth.

A tiny woman with butterfly wings flitted out from a nearby tree and approached Ivan, sheathing a small pair of star knives. I had heard of such creatures before: they are said to serve Desna in her realm, but occasionally served clerics in our world.

Her name was Spivey, and a scent of mint and basil wafted from her as she gracefully flapped her colorful wings. She was quite friendly and from her we learned much to our advantage. She had arrived here some years earlier (well after the fall of Brinewall) after her mistress had died (“Eaten by a plant.”), and she had created a small refuge in the cemetery after coming upon the altar to Desna.

Some days ago a sea drake had swooped too close to the water, and crab-like creatures had pulled it from the sky and now fed upon its corpse. The bird things in the castle did not fly, but they did come out to hunt about once a week. It had been several days since they had last come out.

She offered her service as a healer and the cemetery as a refuge where we could return and rest as needed.

We then turned our attention to the castle, for clearly we needed to get inside. But the problem with castles is that they are designed to prevent outsiders from doing just that. Our best bet seemed to be one of trickery, and I had an idea for luring out these bird creature guard things.

They needed to eat, and if we created an illusion of easy to get game right outside the castle gate they would not be able to resist. It sounded too simple and obvious a ploy to some, but how smart could these creatures be? Afterall, the expression bird brained had a basis in reality.

And wonder of wonders, my planned work mostly as envisioned. We split into two groups, hiding in the forest and underbrush on either side of the castle path, made noises and images of pigs, and waited for the bird men to come out. And out they came!

We set upon the startled hunting party, and Olmas ran up to the castle gates to prevent them from being closed — a detail I had forgotten to plan for, but that’s why you travel with allies who can think for themselves. Olmas had left his horse in the cemetery, where it happily munched on the grass, and he appeared to be no less effective on foot than mounted.

Two other bird men lurked within the gate house and they rushed toward Olmas, but Kali moved up and Color Sprayed them, leaving them senseless and twitching on the ground. By then the rest of us had slain the hunting party, and while Sparna and Radella killed the two comatose guards the rest of us sprang through.

We took a moment to get our bearings. Before attacking Olmas one of the creatures had sounded an alarm, and we did not want to rush into an ambush. Directly ahead was another open gate that lead into the bailey: this was no doubt where they would expect us to come, and so we did something different. We took the levers used to lock both the outer and inner gates so it would be difficult to close and bar them from entry.

Ladders on either side of the doors led up to the top of the outer walls, and up these we climbed. A bird man had been perched there, but it ran off to the north. Olmas and I gave chace, and the others followed.

Across the courtyard upon the far wall was a wide parapet, and there a number of bird men were preparing a catapult to fire upon the bailey below. Our bird fellow ran toward the others, and we followed, engaging the enemy and quickly killing all of them.

We had the element of surprise, and I thought we should keep moving to maintain it. I opened a door into a nearby tower and saw stairs. It was no good popping up and down levels right now, and so I moved to the next door, where I saw a hallway that I entered, and the others followed.

The hallway had an unpleasant odor of moldy linen and dust. From ahead I could hear some sort of squawking that the bird men used as language. I ran forward as a small troop of creatures, armed with mops and buckets, clattered into a filthy dining room.

After another sharp skirmish our foes were dead, and we began to explore.

A washroom (neglected and unused) was directly to the north. Another pair of doors led to an narrow hallway with living quarters off it. One was draped in fungal growth, sprouting out from the remains of a decapitated humanoid.

Another door off the dining room opened onto a ransacked store room, and from within I could here the sound of a child crying. I entered and called out softly. Out from the rubble came a vaporous image of an emaciated child with the head of a fox skull and wearing ragged garments of cobwebs and dust.

Poor, innocent child of some long forgotten torment, how my heart leapt out to you.

It was pathetic, and confused, and angry and much more powerful than any child of man. It struck me and somehow stole my voice!

I reluctantly struck back, and Kali managed to grace me with Protection from Evil. Olmas bravely charged in and hit the small form, and was rewarded with a swat and instant fatigue.

“And now you are all going to die!” it calmly announced, using my voice.

Radella moved in and pressed the attack, as it cried out, “Don’t let them die! No, wait, bad, bad birdies!” She mercifully ended its suffering.

We tried various healing and curative acts, but I remained mute and Olmas tired, and so we decided to wait for an hour before moving on. At the end of this time we were both restored to normal.

Further in the room we found the bones of a small child buried beneath an overturned shelf. Its legs were broken. On the wall had been drawn, in charcoal, images of humans fighting bird creatures.

My guess is that the child fled here to escape the attack on the castle, where he survived long enough to draw on the walls. Eventually the storage room was searched, and the shelving toppled upon him, breaking his legs and pinning him. He must have suffered a horrible lingering death. Once we are done here I will take his bones to the cemetery and bury him.

We followed a southern hallway as it curved around, finding several unkept sleeping quarters that the bird things were using. Where the hallway turned back toward the dining room was a set of double doors.

Through the doors was a desecrated temple of Desna. The statue of the goddess had been crudely altered into the figure of a four winged humanoid with a scorpion’s tail: the demon lord Pazuzu. Garish paintings of the lord hung upon the walls, and in the middle of it all stood a lone bird creature.

It looked up at us and spoke a strange word, and the space around us was filled with a sonic blast. We rushed in, surrounding it and hemming it in as we attacked. It created a mirror image of itself, and zapped Olmas with lightening, but we were too many and quickly overwhelmed and killed it.

It had been carrying a number of useful items that were now ours.

[204] scroll of Cure Moderate Wounds (Etayne)
[205] scroll of Cure Moderate Wounds (Qatana)
[206] scroll of Dispel Magic (Kali)
[207] wand of Inflict Moderate Wounds [12 charges] (Etayne)
[208] studded leather armor
[209] master work long sword (Olmas)
[210] silver unholy symbol of Pazuzu (Qatana)

A pair of double doors to the south led back out onto the walls and over to where we had climbed up. Beyond a small door in the north wall was a small room that had been the chambers of a cleric of Desna. Surprisingly there were still items of value we found in a small chest beneath the cot.

[211] 4 +2 evil outsider bane arrows (Radella, Ivan, Ana, Olmas)
[212] small chest
[213] scroll of Cure Moderate Wounds (Ivan)
[214] scroll of Remove Disease (Etayne)
[215] scroll of Restoration (Qatana)
[216] phylactery: wearer becomes aware of how any action they take affects
their standing with their deity

Moving back toward the dining room and through double doors we found a large round tower. On our level a balcony ran around the edge, with a stairway leading down to a ballroom. Another set of double doors was on the far wall, but we left those for later and moved on to the remaining unexplored doors to the north.

A short hall led into a round chamber with stairs leading down. Off either side were other doors that led to empty armories and a narrow stair heading down.

The walls of the round chamber were gouged and stained with blood, and as we watched the gouges deepened and began to drip blood. Images of ghostly figures appeared, shrieking in terror. Ivan and Olmas retreated to another room, but the rest of us could find nothing of interest, and eventually the spooky effects stopped.

Returning to the first tower where we entered we found a desk, upon which was a pile of papers overlfowing onto the floor. The writing on the pages was Tien, and Kali gazed at a couple of sheets before laughing out, “This is a play from the perspective of the bird creatures!”

[217] pages of a play (Kali)

We made our way back to the round balcony and double doors, where Ivan and Olmas had been waiting. The doors were locked, but they key from the lighthouse opened them. Another parapet stretched off to the north and south, and before us was an out building with locked double doors. Again they key worked, and within were the remains of a solarium, the glass roof broken and shards of glass on the floor.

A tarp had been stretched across the southern roof, making a dark alcove beneath, wherein hung an enormous bat. It screeched and tried to bite Sparna, and so we killed it.

We have taken a short break to discuss our next actions. We have mostly explored the wall-top level of the castle, although there are a few gaps on my map I want to fill in. After that, we need to descend to the ground floor and search — the signs from the barracks up here indicate that there are more bird creatures than we have encountered thus far.

Character: Kali

Kali’s Journal, Erastus 18, 4712

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Erastus 18 (Late Morning, Brinewall)

Within a half an hour it was clear to all of us that the broadly accepted story of the mystery of Brinewall was an exaggeration. I am hesitant to say that it is an outright lie as I understand that people are fallible and imperfect; even faithful accounts can take on a life of their own in their retelling. There is a game that is often played among children, where the first in a line whispers a secret message to the one next to them, and it is passed in turn down the line to the end. Make the message complex enough, or the number of children large enough, and the message delivered to the last child is significantly altered from the original, sometimes to the point where it is no longer recognizable.

I firmly believe that is one of the ways in which legends are born: each storyteller embellishes the tale in some fashion, omits certain details, blurs times and events, or possibly even makes an honest mistake here or there, making small changes that build over time to shape the new tale. Whatever the source, though, the end result is still the same: a distorted representation of real events, and more often than not done on purpose for greater dramatic impact. And such, I think, is how the mystery of Brinewall came to be.

The story we had all been told growing up, the one nearly all of Varisia accepts as truth, is that the residents here simply vanished without a trace. Even Takkad’s journal—Qatana was kind enough to lend me her copy—perpetuates this fanciful narrative. Within it, he wrote:

Near the mouth of the river a small village, Brinewall, protected by its own castle, once served as an outpost to the region, but the entire population of the town and castle all vanished sometime in the mid 4680’s. All the houses, offices, merchants, shops, and other businesses were left as if the occupants had just popped out for a moment and would be right back. But right back never came.

As soon as we saw the buildings, though, it was obvious that the mystery of Brinewall was far less mysterious than this recounting would suggest. The battle ax scars were unmistakeable, and not all of the buildings were left whole. It was very clear that the residents here had not simply “vanished”. The town, and likely the keep as well, had been invaded and its population almost certainly slaughtered. Brinewall was a ghost town, yes, but it was born out of worldly violence, not supernatural forces.

Those who have come here over the years have seen this. And certainly, any who were sent to investigate in those first few months would have as well. So how did this version of the truth come to pass? It was probably not a huge leap to get from “missing with no trace, and signs of a fierce attack” to just “missing with no trace”. What little we know of the truth is already deeply unsettling.

Yet, obviously, the legend has not been enough to keep looters away as there is nothing of real value left here save for some tools and everyday supplies. The longboat docked in the lagoon, of a design common to the northerners in the Linnorm Kingdoms, suggests that such raids continue to this day. Though, in the grand tradition of Brinewall, there is no sign of the boat’s complement (perhaps the dead sea drake on the shore next to it has something to do with that).

Brinewall village and castle

One of the more curious discoveries was the cemetery. Unlike the village to which it is attached, it was well-kept, with manicured grass and clean gravestones. Therein was also a lovely shrine to Desna: a statue of her holding a copper bowl that turned regular water into holy water. As we were discussing this modest miracle, the answer to the mystery presented itself in the form of a tiny, butterfly-winged celestial being named Spivey. A servant of Desna, the azata found her way to Brinewall more or less by accident some years ago after her mistress was killed, leaving her stranded on the material plane. She has tended to the cemetery and the shrine to Desna ever since.

Spivey knew nothing of the people of Brinewall or their fate as she came to this place long after the town had been decimated. She did, however, know something of the occupants of the castle nearby.

“They are bird-like men. I have never seen them fly.”

When asked about any patterns or habits they might have, she thought for a moment before answering, “They hunt at least once a week. It’s been a few days since I last saw them.”

Informed of our plans to clear out the castle, Spivey offered us sanctuary in the cemetery and healing if we needed it. She also suggested that we stay away from the water’s edge. Creatures living in the lagoon were periodically feeding on the corpse of the sea drake, and if we got too close they would certainly come up to defend their territory. Our interest was the castle, not hostile marine life, so we thanked her and followed her advice.

Erastus 18 (Brinewall Castle, Mid-day)

Look. I don’t really know what I am doing. The only reason I suggested that we attempt to lure some of the bird-men out of the castle was because castles are designed to prevent the very thing we were wanting to do. If it sounds ridiculously naive now, it felt even more so when we were hiding at the edge of the forest, staring up at walls that were two stories high. Waiting until a hunting party emerged on their own seemed more logical to me, but many of the others wanted to move quickly, especially Etayne who felt that every delay was more time with Ameiko in peril and us doing nothing to address it. So instead, we adopted this silly and complicated plan involving illusions of pigs and animal calls to communicate with one another, and of course lying in wait. I remember thinking that there was no way something this ridiculous could possibly work, but I was proven wrong in short order. To my astonishment, the gates opened and a group of bird-men emerged, intent on finding their next meal in their own front yard.

Our ambush was not perfect but it was effective. If I had been thinking more quickly, I would have moved up along with Olmas and been there in time to prevent the guards at the gate from raising an alarm, but that did not matter in the end for there was almost no one to hear or respond. As soon as we made it through the open gates and up onto the walls, we spotted the remaining bird-men on guard duty on the opposite parapet, manning an aging catapult. They did not expect us to approach from atop the walls and were quickly dispatched.

Corbies. Specifically, dire corbies. These were our foes: a race of bird-men with arms instead of wings who were known to mostly live underground and not in abandoned castles. In retrospect it all fits, but of course I wasn’t expecting to find them here and so the thought hadn’t occurred to me. How did they come to this place?

In another odd twist, it appears that the castle may be haunted after all. In a small storeroom off of the dining area on the upper level, we found a strange undead creature: an emaciated human child with the skull of a fox for its head. It was a terrifying being and a grueling fight, apparently denying Qatana the use of her voice and leaving Olmas fatigued at its touch. After it was destroyed we were able to get a better look at the room and saw the skeletal remains of a young, human child pinned under a pile of firewood. It appeared that he had been placed in here for safekeeping, only to have the contents of the room collapse on him and crush his legs. He left crude drawings on the walls, childish images of bird-men, ogres, and men that resembled ninjas of Tian Xia. More evidence that the castle and village had been attacked and its occupants slaughtered.

The presence of ninjas is one of those coincidences that it feels we shouldn’t dismiss or ignore. Rokuro’s letter hinted that her family’s enemies would lie in wait forever for their opportunity to strike. It seems Brinewall was where they finally caught up to him.

Erastus 18 (Brinewall Castle, Midafternoon)

The chapel was once a shrine to Desna but the corbies’ priest or priestess—I do not know how to sex a corby, nor am I particularly interested in learning—has completely defiled it. While enough time spent with simple cantrips can be used to undo the defacing of the walls (foul paintings reminiscent of Pazuzu, done in blood) the statue of Desna has been damaged extensively and neither Ivan nor I believe it can be repaired. At this, Sparna remarked, “It might be better to just completely take it down.” I am reluctantly forced to agree.

Their cleric, dressed in tattered and disgusting robes, was every bit as loathsome as the corbies themselves and then some more for good measure. Though it managed to hit us with spells, it was quickly boxed in and killed. Good riddance. Strangely, it had managed to thoroughly befoul the chapel proper, but it left the small priest’s cell alone. Inside the tiny living quarters was a small but impressive arsenal: four enchanted arrows, bane to evil outsiders.

The other rooms in the upper level of the castle appeared to be communal living quarters for the corbies, themselves, but there was one that seemed to house only a single occupant. It, too, had black feathers in it, suggesting that there is a head of their flock that we have yet to meet.

In another room, this one likely the armory, there was a ghostly manifestation: walls that ran with blood, with faces emerging from them, shrieking. It was enough to frighten even Sparna who does not scare easily. I know little about such matters, but an obvious explanation would be that many of the castles defenders had died here.

The last room we explored on this floor appeared to be a study of sorts. Inside were stacks and stacks of paper filled with dense handwriting in Tien. I took the time to translate just a few pages on a whim and was shocked to discover that someone has been writing a play. A play about a family of crows that turn into humans. The stacks of papers were endless drafts and revisions of the would-be playwright’s epic masterpiece. That it was written in Tien was noteworthy, as it is something I would not expect of a corby. Curiouser and curiouser.

Crow play excerpt (PDF version)

And, there is something profoundly amusing at the notion that one of the occupiers, and perhaps the conqueror, of Brinewall castle spends their free time—and based on the enormous stacks of paper there, quite a lot of it—writing a play. I guess everyone has a hobby.

Character: Etayne

Etayne’s Journal

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18 Erastus, Wealday

We have stopped briefly to allow some of our associates to rest, so I decided to add some of my thoughts about our day so far. We came into Brinewall and found a run-down Light House. Inside it was rubble but in the rubble was a strongbox with some stuff in it. I don’t recall what was in it, I was to busy keeping my eyes on the water. Kali’s Bird friend informed us of a dead Drake in the bay. This put several of us on alarm.

We continued down into town only to discover that it had been raided by what seemed to be people from the north, as there was a long boat there. We found a few useful items, such as rope and other tools that Sparna picked up.

We decided to check out the Graveyard and found it oddly kept up. Someone or something must be in there. We entered and check out some of the more noticeable features. There was a Crypt which, I believe to be a vault but the Group chose to pass by it. They may be right. We also found a shrine to Desna (at least that what the others said. I thought it was cool that the Water that was placed in the bowl was magically altered. I took 3 vials of this Holy water. I wanted to experiment more, maybe use Blood or something (though of course I would never tell the others what). I did ask them if they thought it would work with other liquids they said not to.

Soon after that a little butterfly lady came out and started talking to us. Apparently she was please with several of our Group. I chose to keep my mouth shut through most of this, at least until she said that it was WISE for the gods to give advice in the form of riddles. I partially blurted out that I thought it was ridiculous. How is it wise to confuse your followers or allies instead of just giving Straight up clues that will help us finish our task quicker.

So our group comes up with some crazy plan to storm the castle (which is run by some bird men) that reminds me of some tale I heard of the Heroes of Sandpoint luring out goblins. Perhaps some of our group have hero envy. They were trying to figure out animal calls for different things and I figured I would suggest some crazy animal to go with there crazy scheme. I told them to use an Elephant noise. I figured some might not know what that is especially Anavaru since she calls her Camel a Horse. we ended up going with the sound of a sick Rabbit (not sure I have ever heard what that sounds like). It was a good laugh for me though. I like this plan it is amusing.

The Plan was hatched and we advanced on the castle hiding in the bushes. They made the noise of a pig and had an illusion run down the path. This failed to get any notice, so they tried calling out as though they were hunters. Shortly after I heard the bird people chittering something and the gates opened. A group of what looked like hunters advanced down the path. I was tired of waiting, so as the first one passed me I went to strike him but a branch got in the way and I missed. This got everyone in the group going and shortly after we had some dead bird men and open gates.

We found a way to get on the wall and ran around to the other side where we say a set of bird men readying a Catapult. They were quickly dispatched and despite my recommendations for using the Catapult to make a grand entrance, it was disabled. I figured since they disabled it it would be alright for me to light it ablaze, again I was shot down. I do understand their concern though.

The Castle was entered and soon we heard more chittering. Soon we were in another fight. I stayed back this time and try to give a little misfortune to our foes until a Bird man came up the hall near me. Olmas advanced on it and between me and him we were able to bloody it enough for Anavaru to steal our Kill. I say this because she declared that she killed it. You know the final blow is Not everything.

Some in the group started to explore rooms. they discovered a room with different forms of MOLD growing. I was called to investigate. It was impressive the room was covered in mold and in the center was a clump of colorful mold. I investigated further discovering that they were the remains of some bodies with their arms and heads cut off. It was quite fascinating, and I would have investigated the room further but was called to by the group. Apparently there was a cute Child with a foxes skull for a head that was taking the energy from Olmas and stole Qatana’s voice. It was quite intriguing. Here we are now waiting to see if they recover.

Character: Olmas

Annals of the Order of the Dragon

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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.

Character: Etayne

Etayne’s Journal 3

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24 Sarenith, Sunday Continued

After we left the cave, we headed down the Witch’s Path. I was Again Excited about this. I had never meet another witch before and was hoping we would run into her. We did come to a very worn down hut. I was beside myself. Qatana and I excitedly enter the hut. I was so excited I hardly remember all that happened. I do recall finding the witches Skeleton with a deformed skull. She seemed to be doing some rather unusual experiments. Qatana and I were attacked by Dire Rats. It was exhilarating to skewer some of them. We also found her Ratling Familiar rather worked up. I was able to calm it down. With all the excitement I forgot to ask it some questions. He did give us a map though.

We buried the Witches remains and proceeded to the 3rd X witch was a decaying ship with some important name. We also ran into the Swamp Monster and wasted it. When we got back to town I was kind of in a daze, so I don’t remember what I did until dinner.

Apparently Ameiko invited us to dinner because we gave her the news about her Family. She was all excited about checking it out. Sandru was questioning why and giving her a hard time. I could not believe his insensitivity (Human Men). I had to speak up. I asked him a very simple question that was very personal to me. If you found out something about you that you did not know about, and could find out more, would you want to do all in your power find out? At this question he sort of surrendered. Sooner there after It was decided that a Caravan would go check it out and Shalelu said that if Ameika was going so was she. I followed suit and said if Shelalu was going so was I. Kali and Sandru, were quick to figure out a lot of what was needed and the plans were made.

One thing I remember and was quite intrigued with was Koya doing some fortune-telling. She was amazing. She drew card after card with the knowledge of what each thing represented. I need to take time and ask her how she does it.

4 Erastus, Wealday

I have not written in a while. Since the last time I wrote I went back and visited the Witch’s Familiar to try to gain a few spells. I found out that when a witch dies the familiar loses the spells they knew with in a day or two. It was sad to hear. To think that Ling is needs me almost as much as I need him. I can’t image losing my best friend.

We also left Sandpoint and started our journey to Brinewall. It has been an easy journey so far. We are currently at Galduria resupplying. When we started on the trip I was asked to entertain everyone, expressed my reluctance and Qatana excitedly switched jobs with me (I am not comfortable getting up in front of people). I am instead helping to guard the caravan.

12 Erastus, Oathday

We are now in Riddleport. It is Huge. On our way here as we were nearing one of the towns our scouts spotted a small group of 3 Ogres set up to ambush passer-byes. We decided we would surprise them first with a volley of arrows. We did catch them by surprise and in the excitement Olmas valiantly rode into the fray. I knew I had to hurry. Olmas WILL need healing. I was correct. As I came up to the fight he was looking very beat up. Lucky for him I have been able to unlock the secrets of a new Hex that helps those in need. I Healed him with my hex and he was able to fight on. We finished off the Ogres and I heard that Shalelu was a force to be reckined with. This was not at all surprising to me she has always amazed me.

Along the Heal Hex Ling and I uncovered how to cast a few spells (Cause Fear, Summon Monster, and Shocking Grasp). Shocking Grasp felt like it just came to us. Who ever my Patron is they know how to excite me and make me keep wanting more.

17 Erastus, Toilday

I am sitting here with Ameika. She is in a deep sleep that none of us can diagnose. Koya, Qatana, and I have been trying to figure it out. Kali is sitting here with me now as we keep an eye on her. Kali is extremely concerned. It is believed her condition is caused from being near Brinewall. I hate not knowing, so I suggested we turn around and see if she improves, the others feel it is a waste of time. They feel moving forward will bring us closer to what we need. I cannot deny that but I wish to make Ameika better first. I will of course follow and see waht I can find. We will need to move quick. I hate to think what will happen if we fail. Ameika has always been nice to me. We can’t fail. We will enter Brinewall and find the cure.

Character: Ivan

Ivan’s Journal entry Dec 2015

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Sarenith 24, 4712

While Kali worked to memorize a new spell Qatana and I took turns throwing lighted rocks into the water to see if there was anything in the water. We did not find anything. We still had some business to do checking out the last mark on the makeshift map.

Heading towards the X we came across a shack that got Etayne excited. Turns out this was the home of a witch and Etayne really wanted to speak with another witch? Not really sure. Anyway the witch appeared to die from an experiment gone wrong. The familiar was annoying so the others helped it by burying the witch under a bush. Moving on we found the next ship again with the Tien writing plus some gold and rockets. So we decided to head back to town but we were attacked by something we later found out was a Sinspawn. The others killed it before I even got a chance to get a shot off. We took the body back to town and actually got a bounty equal to the goblin leaders head.

Out of distain I stayed back while the others took the letter to Ameiko. Luckily Ameiko seems to understand the plight of adventures and provided Kali, Olmas, Anavaru and Etayne with the ruling that allowed us to keep the loot. Later at dinner we all agreed to travel with Ameiko to Brinewell to investigate. I had originally planned to collect money and head out on adventuring but this looks to be an exciting adventure so I will travel to Brinewell with the group. With so many of the group tending toward order my chaotic ways could be an issue for the others, that is except for Qatana. I am not exactly sure about Radella she has seem secretive on this.

The group was up late planning. I brought up a couple of suggestions but Kali explained in detail how they would not work. At least she took the time to explain why the ideas would not work. Clearly my planning skills have not improved and I will have to start learning caravan skills.

I kept my tongue and did not bring up the subject of how we are going to share the loot from Brinewell. Obviously her family treasure would belong to her but what about everything else. I just know that Kali, Olmas, Anavaru and Etayne would claim that everything in Brinewell falls under the ruler ship of Ameiko so I decided to not challenge there need for rules and lawfulness at this point. Ameiko will likely give us at least a small cut of the loot but I am mainly going because we are leaving Sandpoint.

While Kali and the others continued there planning I thought about my motivations for going on this trip.

First we are going someplace. I originally was trying to earn money to get out and see the world. I now have some money and soon we will be leaving Sandpoint.

Secondly I am going to get some caravan experience. Yes getting paid for the work would be better but this prepares me for traveling with a different caravan. I have begun to learn how to driver a caravan wagon as an additional skill.

Thirdly I am now curious about Brinewell. Although there may or may not be much profit going on Ameiko quest it does sound very interesting.

Again while the others were working on the caravan details I began planning what I was going to do. My first thought was to travel with the group to Riddleport gaining caravan experience and then hiring on with a different caravan heading to some far off place. But I have committed to helping with the Brinewell Ameio legacy and you should always keep your word. Besides I am very curious about Brinewell now. I have no interest in returning to Sandpoint and I have heard that Riddleport is actually one of the three biggest cities around so that is the logical place to part ways with the others.

Sarenith 29, 4712 Sandpoint

With our departure from Sandpoint just a few days away I decided to finally talk to Melissa and ask her out on a date. I have really wanted to talk to her for over a year now but just didn’t have the courage to talk with her. So Yesterday I went to talk with her and ask her out on a date. I was pretty rudely rejected and she told me that she would never date someone of such low standing. I headed back to the rusty dragon and began drinking away my shame. I was pretty drunk when Sparna dragged me away from that woman adventure and back to my room to sleep it off. I am pretty sure Sparna kept me from doing something very stupid. I thanked Sparna this morning and paid for his lunch as a small token of thanks.

All of that time wasted thinking about Melissa only to find out she is not someone I want to spend any time with anyway.

Erastus 4 Galduria

This evening we pulled into Galduria. My job as scout provides me with the freedom to wander about with no one around to remind me of the rules and laws created by those that just want to control us. Anyway the trip to Galduria was not really very eventful. I scouted and also found supplies for the caravan. Kali seems to have it all planned out and written down.

Erastus 10 Rodericks cove

Four hours outside Galduria on the way to Rodericks Cove I found this interesting mouse. I had stopped for lunch when I noticed the mouse just sitting on a log looking at me. I set down a piece of cheese and the mouse gobbled it up and looked at me as if waiting for more. I ignored the little mouse and finished my lunch and then continue doing my job. A little while after leaving the mouse it occurred to me that maybe this was a person trapped in a mouse body. But I decided that if this mouse really wanted to travel with me it would have come over to me. Maybe this is a sign that I am going crazy. I would be more worried if the mouse had talked.

A few hours from Rodericks cove we spotted Ogres hiding just off the road waiting to ambush travelers. We split into ranged fighting and those that wanted to get up and close. We caught the Ogres by surprise and I never had to get within 25 feet of them. I had some good shots hitting a couple of them thus contributing to the defeat of the Ogres. Anavaru must have taken the final shot on a couple of them as she was proclaiming to be the one that kill those Ogres. Even though it is difficult to shoot at someone in melee combat I was trying to help out Olmas instead of seeking the glory. Once again Olmas was on the brink; Etayne jumped in to provide him enough healing to keep him alive. I did a post combat heal to get his health back to full.

The Ogres had some 800 gold of treasure that we decided to use for caravan upgrades. I signed up for this likely non profitable adventure so I will just have to conserve the money that I have until I can get into a group or situation where I can make some money.

Erastus 12 Riddleport

“A wretched hive of scum and villainy” are but some of the phrases that have been said about Riddleport. Looking over the city it actually looks like an interesting city. From Riddleport one could travel by ship or caravan to far off places. Abby would simply love to be here to see the arch. I found an artist with a drawing of Riddleport and the archway for a reasonable price so I spent just a little bit on one to send to Abby. I found a caravan heading back to Sandpoint to deliver the letter and drawing back to Sandpoint and Abby.

Wandering through the caravan area I found a number of caravans looking for extra people. I am currently committed to helping with Brinewell but I have little interest in traveling back to Sandpoint with the rest of the group. Looking over the harbor it is possible that a ship adventure may be in order. I will just have to check on caravans when we get back into Riddleport.

Erastus 17 outside Brinewell

A couple of days ago Ameiko collapsed and has not woken up since. I attempted to help the healers with there investigation into want happen but when they started getting personal with Ameiko that was my sign to be somewhere else. My experience helping the healers reinforced the fact that people prefer there healers to be old people. In the future I believe that it is just better if I stay out of there way when they are doing the healer thingy.

Anyway despite Ameiko condition we moved forward. Kali at her side we learned that Ameiko was speaking in Tein in her sleep. Not surprisingly Kali was able to translate. It appears that she is giving clues as to how to find the family heirloom. We have had several days to look these over but it looks like we will have to go into Brinewell to truly figure out there meaning.

Ameiko is still not awake so it has been decided that the 8 of us will travel into Brinewell to find the warding box talked about in the letter. The others will stay with the caravan to guard it and take care of Ameiko.

Character: Ivan

Letter to Abby Dec 2015

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Dearest Abby,

We have made it to Riddleport today. First encounter with Ogres as good as we can hope for, I never was closer then 25 feet from any of the Ogres. In Riddleport we spent most of our time in the trader area and not so much in the city proper. The archway over the city is as amazing as the stories that we have heard about it growing up. If it wasn’t such a long and dangerous trip I would suggest that you and Billy make the trip.

It was really great to get out and start seeing the world. I am still trying to figure out and fit in with the others. I finally feel like Etayne has stopped watching me just waiting for me to do something she would not approve of. I have not figured out if it is me or just human men. I get the strong sense that Kali, Sparna, Olmas, and Etayne tend towards having things orderly. It is not clear to me if Radella and Anavaru tend toward chaos as I do or toward order like the others. Luckily the beloved Qatana is far more Chaotic then even me so the attention is not on me at this time.

On the trip here through the smaller towns I have been assigned as a scout. I think this has gone a long ways to reducing the tension between me and the ones craving order. I have also been working on new skills to make me more valuable for future caravans. To that end I am learning how to be a caravan driver. Guard and scout pay a lot better but being able to be a backup driver may in the future get me a job on a caravan going some place interesting.

I am excited about getting to our destination (I will keep the name out of this letter just in case) and see the wonders of this great adventure. I talked with some of the other caravan owners to get a feel for how often they hire on help. It looks as if they routinely are looking for help. Once we get done with this big adventure I will have to see what the others intend to do. The plan is to go on this adventure and then return to Sandpoint. I am wondering if I should make the trip all the way back to Sandpoint or just get a job on a different caravan heading someplace interesting. I have decided to wait until we get back to Riddleport and then find out what the others plan to do.

Love Ivan

P.S. Here is a drawing of Riddleport. It is not as good as being here but still interesting.

Pathfinder Game Journals

Journals and character backgrounds for Steve's gaming group.

Category Archives: Journal Entries

January 16th, 2016

January 2nd, 2016

December 19th, 2015

Qatana’s journal entry for Erastus 18th and 19th, 4712

Kali’s Journal, Erastus 18-19, 4712

Erastus 18 (Night, Brinewall Cemetery)

Erastus 19 (Morning, Brinewall Castle)

Annals of the Order of the Dragon

17 Erastus, Toilday

Qatana’s journal entry for Erastus 18, 4712

Kali’s Journal, Erastus 18, 4712

Erastus 18 (Late Morning, Brinewall)

Erastus 18 (Brinewall Castle, Mid-day)

Erastus 18 (Brinewall Castle, Midafternoon)

Etayne’s Journal

Annals of the Order of the Dragon

24 Sarenith, Sunday

2 Erastus, Moonday

4 Erastus, Wealday

5 Erastus, Oathday

7 Erastus, Starday

9 Erastus, Moonday

11 Erastus, Wealday

15 Erastus, Sunday

17 Erastus, Moonday

Etayne’s Journal 3

Ivan’s Journal entry Dec 2015

Letter to Abby Dec 2015