Category Archives: Journal Entries

Journal entries for the Jade Regent campaign

July 28th, 2018


June 9th, 2018


May 12th, 2018

Character: Olmas

Annals of the Order of the Dragon

Leave a reply

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Oathday, 28 Pharast

Upon consulting with our magic users, we felt we were a little lighter on magic than we’d like. Additionally, we counted up our wands and their charges and discovered we were getting a bit low on darkvision – which could be key to most of us in a battle. Because of this, we set up a couple of simple traps behind us, used the flowing water in front of us as a natural barrier, and, after setting up the usual guard duty, rested.

We collected 7 sets of hobgoblin garb that we might later redeem at the Bank of Hobgoblin Haberdashery for some modest number of gold pieces and silently thanked the hobgoblins for their contributions to our fund.

Fireday, 29 Pharast

We decided it prudent to leave Nehali and the bonsai behind. Putting the latter into a haversack or bag of holding might well kill it in its current state of health, and exposure to one fireball or cone of cold could do the same.

It looked to be about 100′ down the ‘drain’. We decided some scouting was in order, so Kali called up an arcane eye and off it went. We discovered that the drain emerged into the ceiling of a small lake with stone pillars and cages that seemed to hold human captives. A couple of oni were poking them. The water here appeared to only be about a foot deep. That pool/pond itself emptied through another hole in the floor, dropping 20′ into another pool which seemed to be four-five feet deep and also had pillars – although no apparent prisoners here. We did see one or two naga which we presumed were Munasukaru’s daughters. That pool also led into a lower one, although, mysteriously, water apparently did not except in drips through the ceiling. This third chamber was moist and possibly muddy but seemed to have little standing water. It also contained some blue creatures which Kali called kite-ons. They are apparently known in the church for their affinity for torture and m
utilation (and chains!) but I’ve never run into them before.

The arcane eye could go no further, since all other egresses were blocked by closed doors. But we knew to prepare for water (Qatana had prepared some spells that could manipulate water). In hindsight this was an outstanding idea; many of us didn’t fully understand how fighting even in small amounts of water can make the battle so much more difficult.

As we prepared to drop into the first pool area, Qatana detected a magic field across the opening. We couldn’t tell for sure if it was simply an alarm, or if it would harm us. But Qatana was able to dispel it, making our arrival a bit more secret than it might otherwise have been.

Our ability to control water made it relatively easy to dispatch the two oni in the first pool. The 1-foot deep water was reduced to virtually nothing. They managed to hit us with a cone of cold but Radella, Ivan, Qatana, myself, and even Zos were more than a match. 15 seconds after entering the room there were two oni corpses. We recovered

[596,598] studded leather armor +2
[597,599] MW composite longbow, strung for +6 ST
[600,602] MW katana
[601,603] +1 rings of protection

With little delay we moved on to the next pool. Again Qatana detected a magic field across the opening, and this time Zos dispelled it. The nagas, giant snakes with women’s heads, quickly noticed the water disappear and also noticed Suishen’s flaming presence. The battle went a bit longer this time – the nagas had some magic at their disposal – but after suffering a couple fireballs, some magic missiles, and one naga’s annoying mirror image spell, “the usual suspects” defeated them in seconds, including an amazing series of arrows that Ivan shot in a single round that left that killed one of them. Qatana brought in a flamestrike on the other.

I would not call our entrance subtle.

Kali was concerned enough about the kite-ons on the next level that she threw a cloudkill down the hole before us. While the scrubbing bubbles cleansed the room, Qatana channeled new energy to we who were injured. A quick survey of what was on the nagas:

]604] pendant, inlaid with platinum and jade
[605] trio of porcelain pots
[606] carved incense burner w/gold edges (inside pot 1)
[607] pair of silver armbands (inside pot 2)
[608] feather token (swan boat) + over 1000gp (inside pot 3)

Figuring surprise was no longer on our side, we went down as soon as we calculated the cloudkill would have moved out of the way. We did not, unfortunately, find a large number of dead bodies, but we did meet a couple and several ashen and nauseous creatures. Before we could assist any of them to their version of afterlife, an oni claiming to be a representative of Munasukaru offered us riches just to stop now before there was any more killing. The offer was never formally withdrawn, but I’m sure that informing the “ambassador” that we represented the Amatatsu family and killing him on the spot may have voided it.

“I am the mouthpiece of Munasukaru. Welcome to these lands. When the storm breaks and the tide turns, you may go where you wish.”

That’s all I remember. It was a short conversation. The messenger actually challenged me! I challenged him back and it was on. I had mixed feelings, though, when Ivan fired five fierce arrows again and took him out in five seconds. Frustrated, I killed several kite-ons and other hobgoblins before it was over. and we freed the victims on the walls. We were able to heal their physical wounds but I fear their experiences down here may be far more difficult to make go away.

We retrieved

[609] MW katana
[610] MW silver wakasashi
[611] MW composite longbow strung for +9 ST
[612] MW tatami-do, large

and turned our attention to the double doors at the end of the room.

Character: Ivan

Ivan’s journal What is the will of the gods? (Pharast 28/29)

Leave a reply

It is time to regroup and for the others to regain spells. We don’t have any evidence that those below even know we are here, if they know we are here then they should hit us during the night. I can hear Dasi and Kali discussing the pictures on the walls all the way other by the traps, they are clearly excited about analyzing the meaning of those pictures.

Dasi asked me what my plan was for combat and I didn’t tell him the entire truth. Sparna’s attempts to bring order to these people is what drove him away. Everyone wants to be the Hero and the hero is always the one the turns the tide of battle. So how to you create a plan so that everyone can be the hero? You can’t. I have come to realize that my only option is to adjust to the situation at hand, luckily the gods have provided me with gifts that are good for managing controlled chaos.

What is a Hero anyway? I guess it depends on who is telling the story. During this journey we could be looked upon as both hero and villain depending on the point of view. Kali would tell me that the authority would be the judge but what about the city we were kicked out of? I really don’t have any use in becoming a hero so I will let the others be labeled as hero’s.

I have learn to view darkness as a trusted ally. Being able to see in the darkness gives me an advantage over those that use lights. The wand the others were using is just about used up with only 11 charges, not quite enough for two uses on all six of them. That’s only 3 hours until we are at a disadvantage. It still seems strange that I can write in complete darkness.

I can’t help but wonder what the gods sent me here to do. Our first goal was to get Ameiko safely to Minki so that she could take over the throne. How can the people just accept the unknown Ameiko as there empress. Why is her family bloodline so important? The seal is crazy powerful yet it seems to be bound to her bloodline. The big question is why are the Oni of the five storms so worried about her? And how does her taking the throne help defeat the Oni? Dasi and/or Kali may have some ideas on the subject but I am not sure I have the stamina needed to listen to the long winded theory. Or do they call them facts, I can’t remember. I think the first thing to do is consult with the worldly Pookie.

So I keep coming back to trying to figure out the path that I am supposed to walk. I have to just stop thinking about it and wait to see what happens after we deliver Ameiko. So apparently according to Dasi I shouldn’t be treating Ameiko as a normal person, those with royal blood should be referred to by title and not by sweetie.

A few minutes ago a mouse came scurry along in my direction and suddenly changed direction over towards the bear trap. This mouse spent several minutes searching around the bear trap, apparently some bits of food must have fallen out of my pack. The bear trap was totally beyond its comprehension, it’s like me trying to understand what the gods are planning.  The mouse seemed totally clueless that its original path would have let it directly to me. The fact that the bear trap was there changed the mouse’s fate and steered it away from danger, even though the mouse was totally clueless about the danger. I have a feeling the gods won’t use something as obvious as a huge bear trap.

I wonder if Miyaro is the bear trap? Clearly the Kami see her as friend so that does not seem likely. Although it is strange that somehow she added color to her hair like Kali. For that matter why didn’t the first Kami we saw not recognize her? The color in her hair couldn’t be enough to make her look different. Can the Kami even be tricked by someone that looks different? Maybe Miyaro is hiding her true form.  She has been hanging around Kali a lot, almost like an infatuation, so Kali must know something about it. Kali is way too smart not to figure out secrets about Myaro. The question is whether she is keeping the information secret out of friendship or leverage. Dasi is way too smart as well, I wonder if he thinks there is anything hidden about Miyaro? He really hasn’t been hanging out with her so maybe not.

The kami grove is big enough to be the bear trap! No that is ridiculous. Well it’s my turn to sleep.

Well I will have to say that the gods continue to surprise me. I can make my skin like iron once per day now. After talking with Kali I realized that this why I have adamantine arrows. I am not sure what to use it for but it still cool.

So far today the trek to the head Oni has been going pretty well. Although I am really confused about the Oni trying to pay us off. She didn’t seem to know that we are with Ameiko and that the family sword was here as well.  The Oni seemed to know things I assumed that had a way to communicate, maybe the Oni in here don’t have a way to communicate with the Oni on the outside.

My arrows shattered the defenses of this Oni causing almost instant death and the thing that attacked me chose to die by the hands of Radella, or should I say Radella claimed the kill. The thing is I could help but wonder what it would take to let it go. I thought about it for a little bit and there is nothing that they can give me. The things I care about in the world are in danger from the Oni. I really hope it is the will of the gods that I am allowed to help stop the Oni.

But I also have to think about the other taking bribes. So Dasi, Kali, and Olmas are definitely safe.  I want to believe Radella and Qatana is the same as well but they are not as emotionally attached as the other three. Zosi is new and the weakness could be giving him great alchemy knowledge or power. I wonder if they are wondering about me. I suppose it would be a bad idea to share that I spend some of my spare time figuring out different ways to take or disable each of them. I was warned that this is common for battle oracles and that I should use the information learned from allies to my opponents.

Character: Kali

Kali’s Journal, Pharast 28-29, 4713

Leave a reply

Pharast 28, 4713 (evening, The Penance)

There is nothing to do here but sit and wait. And, I suppose, prepare for the next day, but that is just one of many hours that we have to pass. So most of us are making ourselves busy. We’ve gotten good at making ourselves busy. We had months of practice.

Ivan set up some traps around the collapsed bridge while I and a couple of others searched the artwork for…anything, really. Clues or hints or some sort of story that might tell us what we are facing. My hope was that this would be a pictorial history of the Five Storms, but there is no story here. The vast majority of it is simply fantasies put to stone and ink: depictions of hobgoblins torturing humans, conquering humans, performing unspeakable acts against humans, all intermingled with images of oni doing much the same, with an obvious obsession for Minkai. They don’t just desire it, they lust after it, and that lust is on display in every square inch of these walls. I’ve seen such an excess of depravity in so little time that I have become numb to it.

One pillar in the hall did stand out, though. Instead of the usual violent and obscene portents, it depicted five oni. The one at the top was the largest and most distinct, very clearly a wind yai looming over the others. Below that were three more oni, more heavily stylized but almost certainly yai of some sort. And at the bottom sat the unmistakable, but heavily stylized, image of Munasukaru.

What does this tell us? For one, it’s pretty obvious where Munasukaru stands, and that’s “at the bottom”. As we’ve long suspected, we will be facing the runt of the litter here shortly. It also suggests that the leadership of the Five Storms might, literally, be five oni. Whether that’s just a coincidence or the name is intentionally descriptive is anyone’s guess, though common sense would suggest it’s the former (If it was the latter and you had to add a sixth oni to the leadership ranks how exactly would that work? Do you have to rename the organization? Print all new business cards? Change the company letterhead?) But then again, common sense has not exactly been a theme so far.

The image at the top also, rather heavily, implies that a wind yai oni sits in the coveted executive position. That…is bad news. The yai take the form of giants, generally those with a connection to one of the elements. Giants based on air tend to be tougher than their brethren, so if that holds with oni, too, then there is that to worry about.

For now, though, the focus is on tomorrow. None of us likes the idea of blindly dropping through the drain at the base of the steps. That means scouting ahead, and the safest way to do that is with the spell I used to explore the pagoda (gods, was that just two days ago?) That means an early start to the day, as Qatana will need to know what we are facing before she begins what passes as prayers to Groetus. And, no, you don’t want to know.

There was this moment when she and I were hovering over the drain, staring down into the darkness. The sound of rushing water echoed around us and it was almost hypnotic. I could feel myself being swallowed by the inky void, the din of the cascading water fading as I descended.

Qatana’s voice snapped me back to the present. “You haven’t had to pee in years.”

And it was such a random, bizarre statement—directed at no one because we were the only ones there, and she wasn’t talking to me—that I reflexively looked over at her. She was still hovering at my side; still staring down into the hole below. She must have noticed my surprise and confusion as she met my gaze and said, simply, “Beorn”.

“Ah.”

She kept mice more or less as pets when she was living in Magnimar. I say “more or less” because that sounds more formal than it was. It’s more like, she was living somewhere and that somewhere had mice and so she had mice. She talked to them when they were alive, and she still talks to them now. Each of them has a distinct personality: Beorn is aggressive and unpredictable, Star is equally aggressive but rude, Badger is sneaky, Huffy is friendly, and so on. Sometimes she asks them for advice, sometimes they just offer it up. It…took some getting used to as she has these conversations out loud. At the start of this it was more than a little unsettling, but now it’s just Qatana.

Are her mice really talking to her, or are these voices just aspects of her personality asserting themselves? In other words, is she being driven mad, or is this her madness? I don’t know, and I am not even sure the two are mutually exclusive. But, my suspicion is that those who seek out Groetus either are mad to begin with, or are driven so by his providence. The price of drawing spiritual power from him is to make that madness essentially incurable. Cutting it away from Qatana would be excising a significant part of her identity and existence. We’ve certainly been witness to our share of the fantastic and paranormal on a scale where Qatana’s affliction is mere noise. So here we are.

What does it say about us that all this passes as normal?

Pharast 29, 4713 (early morning, The Penance)

We have a much clearer picture of where we are headed. With my spell, I was able to explore three chambers below us until the eye could go no further. I sketched a rough map for my friends based on what I saw, pointing out potential hazards and foes. Now we’re just waiting for Qatana to prepare her spells.

We were right to worry about water. That much seemed obvious already but I always welcome validation where it can be found. In the cavern directly below us the water is only a foot deep, but it drains into another where it’s easily four to five. The former is merely an inconvenience, but the latter is trouble. Or would be, if we didn’t know in advance.

Even without the water it’s going to be a challenging descent. I could see two ja noi oni in the first cavern, torturing human or humanoid prisoners held in cages that are suspended from the ceiling. These oni are almost certainly more of Munasukaru’s spawn, much like Ichirou (though possibly not as spineless). In the second cavern I saw two naga that must be her daughters swimming in the water. Or undulating. Or whatever it is that snakes with human heads do in water. They are more dangerous than their oni brothers; before we face them that water will have to go.

The final chamber is actually a room of carved stone. The water from above doesn’t drain there, but it leaks in through the ceiling so the floor and walls are wet. More problematic than wet floors: the near end of the chamber is crisscrossed with metal chains and blue-skinned human-like beings lurk among them.

Kytons.

You can’t spend time in Shelyn’s church without learning about her brother and the thing he has become. While not all kytons are his servants, there are common themes of torture, mutilation, and an affinity for chains. That is enough of an overlap to get my attention. I don’t know what arrangement Munasukaru has with these things but I don’t really care: they have to go, too.

At the far end I saw prisoners hung in metal gibbets along the walls. I couldn’t tell if they are dead or alive. That is…not a good sign, and it’s put me in a somber mood. Some of the others, too.

This will be over soon.

(continued)

Munasukaru tried to buy us off. Or rather, a ja noi oni samurai that claimed to speak for Munasukaru tried to buy us off. That tells me two things. First, Munasukaru is clearly concerned because otherwise why even ask? Every single oni we’ve encountered so far, including to some extent Ichirou, has bordered on egomaniacal and you don’t try to cut a deal when you’re convinced you’re winning (or too stupid to realize that you’re not). Second, she doesn’t understand us at all. Which, I suppose, is not too surprising. From what we’ve seen so far, rational thought was an early casualty here.

Just in case we were morally bankrupt, we were offered riches and rewards once Minkai falls to the Five Storms. What riches and rewards? Her spokesperson didn’t provide details, but I imagine we can take hints from the decor.

It actually took some nerve to stage a formal ceremony in the middle of a gods-be-damned torture chamber in order to make the offer, especially mere seconds after a cloud of poisonous gas had rolled over them (I’ve been having fun). If I was in their position I’d not be in the mood for diplomacy after that, which suggests Munasukaru has a pretty strong grip on her faithful. I can almost hear her saying, “Suck it up.”

Dasi responded that we represent the Amatatsu family. That put an abrupt end to the negotiations. Then Ivan put four arrows in the oni, putting an equally abrupt end to Munasukaru’s State Department. Cleaning up the kytons and the hobgoblins took a little longer, but only because there were more of them.

Four of the prisoners hanging from the gibbets were still alive. Like the others, we can heal their wounds but there’s nothing we can do for their memories.

Character: Qatana

Qatana’s Journal for Pharast 28 and 29, 4713

Leave a reply

Oathday, Pharast 28, 4713 afternoon
Beneath the House of Withered Blossoms

“It’s a hole in the ground. And it’s dark down there.”

Huffy was always one to state the obvious.

Takoda chimed in, “I can hear a river or something. I can’t swim or see in the dark. Maybe we should go back to the surface and wait for Manicotti to come up to us.”

“I like pasta,” Timber volunteered.

Kali and I were flying above the large hole that plunged down from the foot of the steps in the loud lizard chamber. We did not plan to go any further today and were simply scouting out the immediate area while our fly spells lasted.

We have only been in the House of Withered Blossoms (or under it) for a few days, but it felt much longer, and some of my friends were getting anxious or punchy, depending upon the mouse.

Star and Beorn looked at one another and shared disturbingly maniacal grins. Of my eight mice they were the ones most gung-ho about pressing on into the unknown.

“Hold me over the hole, I need to pee.”

This was a typical Beorn thing to say, and I replied, “You haven’t had to pee in years.”

Kali looked over at me quizzically. “Beorn,” I said by way of an explanation. She nodded and we flew back to the others.

We set up a camp back in the hall by the collapsed bridge. It is dark, damp, and not the most comfortable of places, but it is probably the most defensible, and least accessed in this part of the underground fortress.

“But it smells like ass,” snorted Badger. “Wet ass!” he quickly added.

Fireday, Pharast 29, 4713 mid day
Beneath the House of Withered Blossoms

In the morning we prepared to move further down and further in, but first Kali used an Arcane Eye to scout the way.

This is such an incredibly useful spell that I wish I could cast it. I sometimes wonder at the accessibility of spells to different types of spell casters. Why is it that clerics have ready access to some spells, while wizards and sorcerers have access to a different set? Why is there overlap? Why do some casters need to prepare specific spells from a list while others can simply cast any spell they know when they need it?

Back in Magnimar while I was still studying at the Temple of Pharasma there was a lecture on the different styles of magic users. But it was incredibly boring and I was already moving on toward Groetus by then, and so I never caught the gist of the explanation.

Whatever. Magic can be capricious like that.

Anyway, the water from the pool at our level plunged about a hundred feet down before splashing into a wide shallow pool, which drained through another large shaft at the far end of a cavern. On this first level were a handful of oni looking creatures who were torturing people in cages.

Thirty feet down the water plunged into a deeper pool, but there was little else to see here and so Kali sent the eye further down another thirty feet. Here were some creatures we later identified as “kytons” who were also getting their jollies by torturing people.

This brought up two important details.

First, there was an awful lot of water down there to deal with, which was fine because we were already expecting that and I had prepared a number of spells to deal with copious quantities of water.

Second, what the hell is wrong with creatures that feel the need to torture others simply for the pleasure of it? They clearly weren’t expecting to gain any information from their victims, nor were they using them as a source of food. They were inflicting pain and suffering for no reason at all other than they enjoyed doing it.

I felt the fur on the hackles of my friends rise and Star let out a fierce growl of anger. Beorn cackled in anticipation of what was to come. It was time to descend and end this.

And it did indeed end. With a combination of spells and brute force we killed all of the tormentors and freed the tormented.

We met the naga twins. We were expecting them and promptly killed them. “Fuckers!” Star grumbled.

The only surprise was at the bottom level we met samurai who introduced herself as “The Mouthpiece Munasukaru.” She then tried to dissuade or distract us with promises of wealth and riches if we were to simply leave.

She smugly proclaimed that she represented Munasukaru, but Dasi was having none of this nonsense and said that we represented the Amatatsu family. That pretty much ended the diplomacy portion of this meeting, which was fine with me.

And then she and all of her minions died.

“Take her head! Take her head!” Beorn urged. Takoda and Timber joined in, and so why not? I’d like to forcefully present Munasukaru’s mouthpiece to Munasukaru herself.

The samurai had stood before a pair of double doors, and opening them we saw a hallway stretching to the left and right with doors at either end.

“Oh goodie!” Pookie chirped.

Character: Dasi
Character: Ivan

Ivan’s journal Pharast 28

Leave a reply

For a moment the world around me stopped and I could hear voices speaking in some foreign tongue. Suddenly I realized I could understand the words, it was Minkaian the language Dasi has been teaching me. I could not tell if the voices were male or female as they seemed to almost naturally blend together as if it was one voice. Just for a moment I thought that I could make out the figure of a man and then a woman but the area was so bright that it was hard to see. The voices told me that a hero can call upon strength from within to accomplish extraordinary things. These voices told me that one of the spells that I have been practicing could help turn the tide against the sound attacks. Suddenly I could hear Sesi’s voice telling me to call forth communal protection from energy and use it to protect the others.  This voice went on to tell me details about the spell so that I was ready to use the spell immediately.  Everything is kind of fussy but the last thing I remember is being told that I have to return followed by a kiss on the cheek. I thought that I was gone for a minute or so but it was as if it never happened. It’s not for me to question the methods of the gods. Wow this is actually the most information that I have ever gotten about a new spell without asking Qatana for help. I wonder what the 4 other spells from the gods will be, luckily I have Qatana to help me out and she doesn’t judge me. Since we are going into a dangerous situation I should make sure I know what my new spells do, even if it means asking Kali. For some reason Kali seems to expect that I should know every detail about a spell before even learning how to cast it, wizards are very strange.

It still puzzles me how the other spellcasters know all that information about their spells. Kali seems to spend a lot of time either reading or writing in her spellbook.  I still don’t really understand how she can use a book to cast spells…  The way they have to figure out which spell and how many to use each day seems very complicated. I don’t understand how they are able to figure out which spells they will need later in the day.

This day has been interesting, with a lot of sex and violence. Well to be honest we are reason for the violence although violence could be an everyday thing for hobgoblins. I am not going to put the exploits of the naked aroused hobgoblin Oni onto paper, some things are just best not written down.

Where to begin, Oh in the beginning there were two dead giants, Zosi through some mysterious power of alchemy turned them into golems. They did not make it through the entire day and were eaten whole by some type of water monster. Although soon after losing his golems we defeated an Oni riding a gorgon. Zosi instantly had to have the gorgon as his next golem. He was so excited that we stopped and packed up the gorgon, luckily Qatana has a spell that shrinks an area of stuff. She said that it consumes a carpet but it is still a cool spell, although it is on the expensive side for getting goods to market.  I was considering seeing if Gorgon meat was edible but I don’t think Zosi wants his new toy butchered.

The lice infested living area for the Oni and Gorgon makes me wonder what other kinds of bugs are living on these hobgoblins. As with everything in life I am posed with the problem of getting rid of lice and other bugs and the gods provided the solution. On this day the gods worked through Kali to help me solve my bug problem. Standing in the poisonous cloud took care of any bug problem that I might have had.

I called upon my new protection spell to keep the others safe from the sound attack of these odd creatures. Clearly getting this spell early was a boon. These are not creatures that I would want to face by myself, luckily I don’t have to do this alone.

Character: Olmas

Annals of the Order of the Dragon

Leave a reply

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Oathday, 28 Pharast

The strangest thing happened today. I seem to have gaps in my memory. I have to wonder if there isn’t some sort of foul magic involved. I’m not familiar with the intricacies of magic spells so I thought I’d consult with Kali. She told me there are spells that can take away a few minutes of your memory, but not whole hours. I consulted with Suishen, who thoughtfully described me as a “substandard but occasionally acceptable samurai-like warrior likeness.”

I clearly remember flying silently to the far side of the lake to take out the two guards there. I’m PRETTY sure we did; I’m pretty sure I remember the look on their face when we descended (they were looking horizontal, not vertical). And, having taken care of that, we … we …

… did something more. Gods! It happened only a few hours ago, but all I remember is finding myself near a river or body of water with the rest of the party and … and … oh right! Zos’s giants had just become fish food. Right! and yes, we had killed a monstrosity called a gorgon, and then there were more hobgoblins who foolishly challenged our right to be there! Dead in a minute they were.

While searching the rest of the area, we found little except for a door which seemed to be swollen shut physically rather than kept shut magically. Not surprising in this moist environment but Radella and I forced the door open anyway out of sheer stubbornness.

And much to my surprise we found inside a struggling bonsai tree.

We carefully continued on and eventually found ourselves in a wide hallway while approaching us were more hobgoblins and at least one giant. This did not look to be a painless introduction, but Kali had been itching to send cloudkill at somebody and could wait no longer. I still had airwalk going and thought I might be able to travel above it near the ceiling, but it was too high. Ivan, on the other hand, utilized his Delay Poison and simply walked through it – repeatedly emerging from the cloud like a gruff siren, to lure creatures back into the cloud and their deaths.

And then … and then … there’s blankness again. I’m sitting here now, getting ready to rest, but I KNOW more happened.

This is disorienting. I hope this doesn’t happen again. Maybe a ward or something.

Character: Kali

Kali’s Journal, Pharast 28, 4713 (continued)

Leave a reply

Pharast 28, 4713 (early afternoon, The Penance)

The farther in we go, the more I see the echoes of a long-lost grandeur. I hesitate to describe anything the Five Storms have touched as magnificent, but this place has the feel of a once-great hall deep into its decay. How long were they held prisoner here? Hundreds of years? Thousands? That is a lot of time to excavate. The rubble in the hall suggests there was a collapse at some point. How much more was there? Are we just scratching the surface?

What did they do here? Did they entertain visitors? The kami said they were forbidden from leaving, but it was a prison with no guards save for the complicated rules that kept the oni from leaving. There was nothing stopping outsiders from coming and going as they pleased. You could build an empire that way.

It really begs the question, “why so lax?” Was it assumed the oni would just sit in here and rot for all of eternity? Clearly they had other plans. Whoever created their jail (and more crucially, this arrangement) was afflicted with a startling lack of imagination. And Minkai is paying the price.

Whatever this place once was it’s more mausoleum now; a crumbling monument to another time. It’s dark, dank and depressing. Even the oni that remain are depressing. The guardian of this checkpoint, as he called it, was as decrepit as the hall itself, though at least he was reasonably aware of the pathetic nature of his role. There was this moment when I was invisible, hovering just close enough to see him when he called out to us in the darkness. Qatana, for her part, managed a very credible impression of Ichirou’s voice and insisted on passing through. He tried to talk “Ichirou” out of this decision, reminding him what had happened the last time he’d visited his sisters. When “Ichirou” insisted on going anyway, he buried his head in his hands and just shook it sadly.

Can you imagine? Proud samurai Oni of the Five Storms, reduced to babysitting. Such tales of glory and fortune he must have had.

Wretched though he was, he was in our way. And he was mounted on a gorgon because of course he was, which also made him dangerous. We went for a reprise of yesterday’s trick: Qatana cast her spell, I walled them off behind a barrier of ice (because they can’t fly), and we let them beat each other to death while we took pot shots with arrows and bombs.

His living quarters was the height of elegance with its lice-infested bed and living, wall-to-wall carpet of beetles. I swear I am not making that last one up. What was even keeping them there? This place keeps challenging my notion of “the worst thing I have ever seen”. Repeatedly. It is not supposed to be a competition.

Speaking of “worst thing I have ever seen”, the decor in this hall includes an image of a hobgoblin nursing two snakes. Just in case there was any doubt about that.

(midafternoon)

One down, one to go: we found the bonsai tree, discarded and forgotten in a dark storage room that is leading the race to dilapidation. Like everything else here the tree is barely clinging to life, probably from days or weeks without sunlight. If it wasn’t for the water leaking through the walls and ceiling it probably would have withered and died.

Yet again, I am left wondering what the plan was here. Why bring a plant—one which quite obviously needs sunlight to live—to a place completely steeped in darkness? How were they planning on keeping it alive? The only light in here is in the fire pit, and even if that were sufficient it’s two stories up. The would-be gardener was obviously not thinking this one through.

Now that the tree is safely in our possession maybe we can afford to be more indiscriminate in our methods. (OK, fine, we were hardly careful up in the pagoda. But there were no hobgoblins there, and no hobgoblins meant no tree. It was solid logic, and as it happens, we were right.)  Or maybe not. Yuka’s memories suggest Munasukaru gets personally involved when it comes to her prisoners, and that means there may be some down below. I’m guessing we’ll have to do this the hard way.

I probably should have thought of that sooner, before I sent a cloud of poisonous gas down that hallway. Fortunately, it was just a few hobgoblins, a hill giant, and these bizarre lizard things that were far more dangerous than anything else we’ve come across. Which makes me think they weren’t part of the original plan. That, and the pile of hobgoblin bones. They reminded me of that thing that attacked us up in the arctic. These lizards were blind, too, and they tore into us with huge blasts of sound. Except like everything else down here, they couldn’t fly (so maybe they were part of the original plan after all?)

Gods, it’s been a long day. I am spent. Qatana looks exhausted. Dasi’s voice sounds like it’s going out. We even lost Zosi’s puppets: they tried to walk across the bottom of the lake and something—we never saw what, but it was something big—extirpated them. They are utterly gone; there aren’t even any remains! I shudder to think what must be in that murky water that’s capable of (I assume) swallowing them whole. The pool is closed until further notice.

This underscores how unprepared we’ve been for water. We’ve mostly avoided it so far but it’s been a consistent theme and I wonder if our current tactics will hold. At the end of that hallway, where the lizards were, water pours in through cracks in the cavern walls and flows down the steps into a drain at its base. Which means we will have water to contend with down below, too. What if there’s something in the water that we have to confront?

The good new is that we have a few hours to figure this out as we are going to shelter in this hall for the rest of the day while we recover. Is this safe? Not really. Is there someplace safer? Not really. Not unless we want to leave and come back, which seems particularly unwise. If anything tries to come up from below, or descend from above, we need to be here for it.

Character: Qatana

Qatana’s Journal for Pharast 28, 4713

Leave a reply

Oathday, Pharast 28, 4713 afternoon
Beneath the House of Withered Blossoms

Our plan for sneaking up and ambushing the the two guards at the bottom of “the drain” before they could make a noise went almost according to plan. We did sneak up and kill them, but in the process of doing so a blast from a flask of some oily explosive concoction gave us away.

From deeper within the cavern came the sound of heavy movement and a loud gruff voice called out, “Who goes there? None shall pass. Identify yourselves!”

By this time most of my companions had flown off to the far end of the pool, where there was some sort of commotion, and so to delay any attack from another enemy I answered, “It’s Icharou” while infusing my voice with as much oily obsequiousness as possible.

“Not today!” came the response.

“It is too Icharou! Yassu said to come see mother.” I was counting on the voice being familiar with just how craven and stupid Icharou was to aide in my deception.

“Oh, remember what happened to you the last time you saw Yassu? If I were you I’d keep away.”

Joy! You really can’t go wrong assuming everyone else thought Icharou was a worthless fop. “I’m more afraid of mother than Yassu!”

“If I were you I would be afraid of both, but do what you will.”

By now the rest of my companions had gathered near the entrance to the cavern. Most had a grim look about them, and Zos’ giant twins were absent (I later discovered that something had swallowed them whole!), but this was not the time for questions.

We carefully moved in to where we could just make out the owner of the voice. He was a large samurai mounted upon a gorgon. He seemed bored, as did the gorgon, and with little wonder: how many invaders could there have been that had made it this far over the centuries. Not many, I warrant, and so perhaps he was not quite as alert or suspicious as he otherwise would have been.Piles of gorgon dung (some still steaming) gave off a pungent stink of sulfur and rotting flesh.

Kali and I used our usual confuse and confine technique, which had the desired affect of the gorgon and samurai attacking each other. Meanwhile my companions used ranged attacks to wear them down even further. Eventually the samurai fell and the gorgon smashed through Kali’s wall of ice, but it was grievously injured and the combined efforts of Olmas, Zos and Ivan put it out of its misery and cleared the way.

There was a door to the west, which Zos opened and stepped in while I picked through what the samurai had been carrying.

587 large master work katana
588 silver master work wakisashi
589 large composite longbow [+9 STR]
590 large master work tatami-do armor

The room to the west had been the samurai’s bedroom. Zos said that the floor was a carpet of beatles and that the bed was full of over sized lice. I took a peek later, and really, I know I am not the neatest of people, but how could anyone sleep in a room like this?

“That’s just Gross,” Timber squeaked, and the others quickly agreed, except for Beorn who simply cooed, “Mmmm, bugs.”

There were some nice items in the room which are now ours.

591 headband of alluring charisma +2 (Dasi?)
592 offering bowl set with rubies
593 gilded elephant tusks
591 jade and silver rooster funerary figure
595 10 foot panel screen of the House of Withered Blossoms when it was still pristine

We faced a small dilemma. While the panel and treasure could have fit inside a bag of holding the gorgon could not. Yes, we needed the gorgon’s body, or more specifically Zos did. As I had mentioned his giants perished back in the pool and to replace them he wanted a gorgon that he could ride.

I actually had a solution to this problem, and pulled a bolt of fabric from my pack. It unfolded to a ten foot square of silk which we spread onto the floor on top of which we were able to place all of the loot and the body of the gorgon. I then cast Treasure Stitching and the entire pile collapsed into an embroidered image of the same. I rolled up the silk and put it back in my pack.

And moments later we heard voices approaching from the north.

“Oh I can’t believe we’re doing that again. We should let the others…”

A squad of hobgob warriors came into view and started shooting arrows at us. Some of us fired back and the rest closed in and quickly reduced them and their pet giant into piles of gore and bone.

The hallway from which they had come was odd: there was a ramp that led up from a rubble strewn floor — the ramp had clearly at one time been a bridge, but the archway in the far wall to which it would have led was bricked in. The walls were decorated with scenes of oni-centric decadence and depravity, including the scene of a female oni suckling a pair of nagas.

Pools that probably led to the lake outside were to the west, and further north was an eastern door beneath the balcony from which the ramp descended. The door was wooden and swollen shut from moisture, but Radella and Olmas forced it open. The small damp chamber beyond was uninteresting except for the small potted bonsai tree that was withering within.

This must be the tree one of the kami had asked us to rescue. It looked to be in poor shape because of its prolonged exposure to darkness. Just why someone had bothered to steal the tree and bring it down here was a mystery, but we took it in the hope that it would recover once it was back outside.

We picked our way across the remains of a collapsed bridge that led us back east and into the western end of a long pillared hall that stretched east into the darkness.

We had hardly all moved into the hall when we heard the sound of hobgoblins and a giant approaching. A moment later and I was eye to eye with a giant (I was floating some teen feet up) and the brute walloped me.

Kali cast Cloud Kill, which stretched across the full width of the hall engulfing a number of hobgobs before moving eastward. We killed everything on our side of the cloud and then followed it along, swiftly slaying the occasional warrior that stumbled out, gasping and wheezing. Ivan aided us greatly here by entering the cloud (safe with Delay Poison) and luring the attackers on the other side of the cloud in to their deaths.

Nearly ten minutes and six hundred feet later and we finally reached the end of the hall and the cloud began to waft out over a pond to the southeast. We heard a loud “Crap!” from Ivan, who was still before the cloud. He had suddenly come face to face with a large wide mouthed hump backed lizard (his words) sporting a lot of razor sharp teeth, but having no eyes.

Moments later we were blasted with the force of one of these things screeching. Dasi was stunned, but Ivan managed to find his way back through the cloud to join us. Another, lower key shriek pounded us, and we realized that these reptilian frog, lizard like beasts were probably the most dangerous things we’d faced all day.

I placed a zone of Silence in the middle of the cloud to buy us some time to regroup and Kali put up a wall of force. We decided to let the poison cloud do as much damage as possible before pressing our attack.

Presently the cloud drifted out past the lizard things and dissipated. We moved in, but this time Dasi was prepared and matched his singing to counter the sonic attacks.

Even still the creatures were tough and took a lot of punishment before falling. We were all a bit tired by the time the last one dropped, and those of us who use spells were feeling a little depleted.

On the further side of the pond we could see what looked like a pile of hobgoblin bones on the shingles. So the lizard things ate the hobgoblins? Then which way had the group of hobgobs (plus hill giant) come from?

We must have missed a secret door somewhere along the hundreds of feet of hallway we had traversed. Radella seemed upset by this, but even she needs to focus a little more than was possible when we passed through.

We’ve decided to set up camp either at the far end of the pillared hall or maybe the chamber before that. While this seems risky, we do need to rest to regain spells, and it is a far better option than to drop back to some place “more safe” — or I should say “less dangerous.”

Character: Olmas

Annals of the Order of the Dragon

Leave a reply

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Oathday, 28 Pharast

It never ceases to amaze me.

When we first started this journey, I felt like Qatana acted randomly, with total disregard for her own safety (or that of the others) and it made my admittedly self-imposed duty to keep her safe that much harder.  As time has passed, though, either my understanding of her or her understanding of us has changed, and I’d been thinking of her more as medium strength warrior who can also heal.

And then Zos pulls out a tanglefoot bag and Qatana is like an elfling confronting a squirrel for the first time.  She asked Zos if she could have one to take with us as we went after what we suspected were trysting hobgoblins. He shrugged and gave her one even as I prepared to say, it would be a waste if we were about to confront some unarmored and unarmed hobgoblins.  I shook my head and wondered at her thought process.

So imagine my surprise when Kali casts web on the bed on which they were cavorting.  What?  What is this fascination with tying creatures up? er, down? With a web in place, and no ring of free movement, we couldn’t really do much to engage them.  And hobgoblins are strong enough that … yes, there we go.  They’re not really restrained by them very much.  The web is flammable, however, so we did set it on fire.  And there was a flaming sphere.  And flaming Suishen, also setting webs on fire,  It was not the battle I had anticipated.

The male looked different from your standard hobgoblin.  He was certainly treated differently – the women seemed as eager to protect him from harm as … well, as he was in surrendering.

Yes, just as Radella finally got close enough to slay him, he offered to tell us stuff if we’d spare his life.  He made this offer after I’d already challenged him, and since I wasn’t really expecting a surrender but WAS expecting a battle, I got one solid hit in before I reluctantly held back at Radella’s request.  He threw me a look but then got back to the business of surrendering.  The rest of us took care of his female guests (that is, by killing them.)

It turns out he was the son of the oni we were seeking (Munasukaru).  Even though that technically made him an oni too, with a father that was a hobgoblin he was not very powerful.  Perhaps that’s why he so easily surrendered, knowing he couldn’t win an actual fight.  Being an oni, though, we couldn’t let him live either. I was surprised and a little bothered at Radella’s acceptance of his surrender.  I guess we owe no honor to a foe that continually attacks us, but it still bothered me.  I’m not sure why.

He gave us very crude maps of what lay ahead, but I got the impression that cartography was not one of his dominant skills.  In fact, the only dominant skill he seemed to have – or rather the believed he had – was the ability to have sex with every female he encountered.  Well, except Kali, Radella, and Qatana – not that he didn’t suggest he would be willing,

As we were concluding the conversation, another one in our party seemed to feel that he’d been alive long enough. From somewhere behind me, Ivan unleashed his arrows and the Ichirou, the oni gigolo, went to that big bachelor pad in, er, well, probably hell,

Ichirou did tell us there were more guards ahead, but unfortunately either didn’t know or didn’t tell us any specifics.  Since we’d already guessed there’d be more guards, that wasn’t really headline news.  He mentioned that his mother was somewhere down “the drain” which we assume is some sort of description rather than an actual drain.  We checked out the hardware he and his guests had left:

[567] 2 more MW nunchuks for a total of 3
[572] studded leather armor [+2]
[573] MW composite longbow +6ST
[574] MW nodaki (great sword)
[575] ring of protection +1
[576] 3 lacquer screens
[577] silver ring w/Tien
[578] silver brooch
[579] interlocking jade rings
[580] silver hairpin
[581] carved ivory + coral bracelet
[582] 4 silver wedding rings

Ichirou had mentioned that Munasukaru liked fire AND lightning, and can “make you do things”.  She is all-powerful.  He had two sisters that looked more like snakes – apparently Munasukaru also used little discretion in who she mated with.  Yaasu and, what did he say … Daci?  The latter was known to be magical, whatever that meant to him.

Heading towards “the Drain” we put the reconstructed giants in front.  While it would be disappointing if they were destroyed, if something could destroy them it would likely cause us a fair amount of damage too so … better them than us.

It didn’t take long after we encountered what appeared to be a deserted barracks that a giant got thunked by three arrows.  That was the start of our battle against 8 hobgoblins, in which the giants proved very useful. This allowed us to recover 8 MW morningstars and 8 MW longbows, but while we left those behind, we definitely took up

[583] 8 potions of CSW

and distributed them among all of us.  We also picked up

[584] bearskins
[585] bronze daggers
[586] dagger in lapis scabbard

From here it was a short distance until we reached “the Drain”, which really was a hole into which the river fell.  A staircase seemed to encircle the perimeter and head down, but the spray of the water made it treacherous.  We had to go single file, and the giants quickly slipped and fell into the Drain.  A quick feather fall ensured they would probably not splat at the bottom, but they quickly left our range of vision.

With me in the lead now, I was able to spot another female hobgoblin like those from above, getting ready to attack me at a slightly wider area of the stairs.  She was able to get me with an arrow before I closed with her, but I gave her some incisions in trade.  Meanwhile, alerted now, several of our group noticed some trying to climb the wall and come up behind us.  Once spotted, though, they became easy targets for Ivan (arrows) and Qatana (casting hold person, which has predictable effects when you are climbing)

When we did safely reach the bottom, the giants were waiting for us (yay). After some healing (in which some persistent golem wounds finally closed over), we inspected our surroundings. Radella announced there was a trap here somewhere, but couldn’t really identify it or its trigger.  She thought it might have something to do with a major image.

There was a large underground lake here, and of course we were still limited by our magic-provided dark vision.  We estimated we had come 250′ down the Drain, making us pretty far beneath the surface now.  Radella quietly flew around the perimeter of the lake and scouted it, reporting back that there was a shoreline upon which two more of the monk-like sisters seemed to stand watch.  We guessed that was the preferred way to go, although it was pointed out that we rarely enter an area by the obvious entrance.

In this case though, we have decided we will.  We will fly in (or air walk in) and have Qatana, Radella (invisible) and myself drop on them quickly and, hopefully, silently so that they cannot raise an alarm.