Category Archives: Jade Regent

The Jade Regent adventure path.

Character: Kali

From the Life of Kali Nassim: Pink Agates

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Early autumn, 4705

Kali tasted blood and sand.

She wanted to open her eyes but her face was clenched so tightly from the pain that it was squeezing them shut. From her chin to her ear, sharp jolts radiated outward, each demanding her full attention. The pain intensified to the point where she wanted to scream but then it suddenly went numb.

She was aware of the the ground pressing against her right temple, and tears flowing over the bridge of her nose. She had not cried like this in years, but she had never hurt anything like this before, either.

Her mind was spinning, unable to focus on any one thought long enough to piece together what was happening or even where she was. All she had was now. Feeling the sand and blood congealing on her tongue, she instinctively tried to spit it out but the pain returned in a burst so severe that it made her nauseous. Kali froze, letting the qualm pass and the pangs recede back to numbness. Don’t throw up don’t throw up don’t throw up.

Finally, a singular, clear thought formed. He broke my jaw.

She opened her eyes, but could barely see through the tears that were pooling in them.

She wanted her mom.

Someone was standing over her; someone she knew. A man? Yes. He was asking her something but she couldn’t understand the words. She knew it sounded like a question, but that’s as much sense as she could make of it. When she didn’t reply, he bent down to look at her more closely. She couldn’t make out his features at first other than that he was big, but then she recognized him as one of the Scarnetti boys. The older one. What is his name? He turned his head and she heard him call out to someone. To the Theern twin?

The thought asserted itself a second time: He broke my jaw.

My rescuer is a Scarnetti. It was madness, but she didn’t care. Whatever fucked up moral code that family lived by at least included “not beating up young girls”. That was good enough for her.

“Don’t try to stand up,” he said.

Are you kidding me? Why would I want to do that?

Then she noticed she was on her hands and knees, with one foot brought forward readying to push herself up. What am I doing?

She shifted her weight back and settled onto her rump, arms still stretched forward. She just lay there, completely unaware of how much time was passing. He called out again, but she wasn’t listening. She saw that she was sitting up now—I don’t remember doing that—and that the two of them were not alone. Some of her friends and a few other girls that she knew were standing around them at a polite distance. She knew their faces but couldn’t form any names.

She lowered her head to let the blood, saliva, and sand drip from her mouth. She didn’t dare try spitting again. When she looked up afterwards she saw the small crowd had parted and through it she could see the Theern boy face down on the beach. He wasn’t moving. Is he dead? A small, muscular figure was standing over him and she recognized it as Qatana. Gods, she looks like a wild animal. What is happening?

“Don’t try to talk.”

I already figured that one out, thanks.

“She got to him first. Pounded him good.”

Kali tilted her head to the side, which he interpreted as a question.

“He’ll live, don’t worry. You, too. Help’s coming.”

She was not, in fact, worried about Theern but she was worried about herself. She knew this was bad. Really, really bad. There would be no hiding this from her parents, even if she wanted to. Except she still didn’t know what was going on.

The pain was coming back, a heavy throbbing that was impossible to ignore. She held back tears through sheer force of will.

She wanted her mom.

Someone else arrived. Her vision was blurring again and she couldn’t make out who it was. The newcomer was pulling something out of a pack or a bag.

You don’t seriously think I can drink a potion like—?

And the pain was gone, so abruptly that she reflexively swallowed and nearly choked on the sand still in her mouth. Kali coughed, spit, and gagged, and nearly passed out.

Someone gave her water. When the spasms ended she swirled some of it around in her mouth and spit it out, then took a long drink. When she looked up again she saw Qatana was gone, and sitting across from her was—

“Shalelu?”

The elven woman was looking right at her with an intensity that was unnerving. Kali had trouble reading her even at the best of times and at this moment Shalelu was completely inscrutable. It gave Kali chills.

In Elvish, she asked, “What did he do to you?”

She had actually been invited. Not told she could come along, not encouraged to come by one of her friends, but actually invited. And by Sefa! An afternoon on the beach, just being out with a couple of friends and a few others around her age. This had never happened before. So, yes! Hell, yes!

She had been searching for something. Agates? Pink agates. They were extremely rare, but they always seemed to turn up at this spot on the beach after really high tides and last night was a new moon. It would be something she could give to Sefa as a small gesture. She had just found one and was headed back down the beach to where the others were when she tripped on something and fell. She looked up and saw Jefy Theern standing over her (she was finally able to tell the asshole twins apart) and…nothing after that.

Until the pain, sand, and blood.

That wasn’t the answer Shelalu was looking for, though, because what had been done to her was obvious. Kali’s Elvish was good, but she was still in shock. She realized she must have misunderstood the question so she went over it again in her head. It may have been, “What was he going to do to you?”

A horrible chill ran through her as more memories flooded in, and she started shaking violently and uncontrollably. The blood drained from her face and from her head, and the ground disappeared beneath her. She was aware of a frenzy of voices from somewhere far away.

In the distance, so faint she could barely hear it, Shalelu’s silenced them all. “No. I will deal with him.”

 

§

Character: Olmas

Annals of the Order of the Dragon

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as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Toilday, 14 Arodus

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

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

Wealday, 15 Arodus

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

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

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

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

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

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

[288] 8 fugitive granades
[289] 8 potions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we left, Etayne grabbed what research she could.

Leaving this level, we went downstairs.

Character: Ivan

Ivan’s journal Aug

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We held up for the night in the storage room using the ninja eggs to keep us out of sight. I wasn’t sure that using the eggs were necessary but I was proven wrong when the Ninjas opened the door and looked for us during the night. I assume that they did not detect that we were hidden.

While there is enough room for all of us in this rope trick it feels a little cramped. It is really hard to give the women space when you are packed into a rope trick. I am just not sure if some of the problem is because they are so much older then I am. It could be that big sister thing and I have always hated how my big sister treats me. Anyway changing rope tricks every 3 hours has been tough, It has been work to position myself away from the four of them. Qatana is bat crazy but I view her as a friend in spite of it and I know that I am not going to offend her. I really like Qatana as a friend but being her friend can come with challenges. For me I just have to accept that she gets into her own little world and you can’t force her to do what she does not want to do. The best I can do is provide a strong suggestion. I have come to accept that she will do things that look pretty stupid and I cannot save her from herself. I also like Redella as she maybe the most stable of all of them but no reason to tempt fate. I was trying to figure out if she would make a good big sister but the big sister I have is very judgemental and freely lectures everyone about the right way to live. Luckily none of the women that I travel with are as crazy as my big sister. The also have not shown to be aa devious as my mother and twin sister.

I have to just sit her on watch while the others sleep. Normally we can move around but there just isn’t room. For the record Olmas seems to be unlucky in combat and getting poisoned is just another example of it. He has been talking about keeping people safe and I guess he kind of is making that happen by being the focus for the enemy. I suppose if we actually had a healer he might not have so many near death experiences.

Soon after we left the storage room the Ninja’s appeared out of seemingly nowhere, obviously they are very good at hiding too bad they were not equally good at fighting. Had they been using poison this could have gone really bad for us. I have to wonder why the others had poison but these did not. Although considering that they slept across the main hall from the thugs makes me think that these were less important Ninja’s. The fact that the Ninja’s were spread on both sides of the main hall indicates that they did not figure out our exact location. After searching the area and all of the people we moved on deciding to check out the alchemy lab.

After getting the keys from werewolf’s room we moved down to the alchemy lab. Besides the strange body in the glass boxe we also found Lute. The body in the box seemed alive but we learned that this was just an experiment. For some reason it did not occur to the others that Lute might want to get away from his cell or to provide him some food. I provided Lute some food and had him look at the body in the glass box. He seemed to know what they were doing and told us that the person was already dead. That was good enough for me, still curious how we can kill whatever is in the glass box. If I understood correctly the head of the guild is an Orge mage and a purple one at that. Helgarval said that this is likely an Oni, too back the death arrow in not for Oni. Oh yea Kali said they were outsider native, Well at least the fire arrow should work on her. With Lute in tow we headed down the stairs and into the realm of the trolls. Ok in truth they are just working for the purple Orge mage.

Character: Qatana

Qatana’s journal entries for Arodus 13 – 15

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Moonday, Arodus 13, 4712 Evening
Kalsgard

With a destination named Ravenscraig it was a safe bet that we would be climbing over sheer rock faces, and (especially given our recent history) probably in the dark, and so we stocked up on things like rope, and potions of Spider Climb and Darkvision and the like.

Uksahka had given us a reasonably detailed description of Ulf that fit the description of about three quarters of the male inhabitants of Kalsgard — I thought it not useful to point this out, and so I remained silent.

Toilday, Arodus 14, 4712 Morning
Kalsgard

Someone shot an arrow into the side of Ameiko’s wagon last night. I had already been on watch and was sleeping when the shot was fired, but seeing as how the arrow hit the solid wooden frame of the wagon we determined that either the hired thug was a bad shot or his employers were trying to send a message.

Etayne was quite excited about the arrow because it was poisoned and the poison was a very deadly and very expensive toxin.

“What a bunch of assholes,” squeaked Star. Typically my friends and I have a benign “Live and let die” outlook on others, but in this case I had to agree with Star, and thought the leaders of the Rimerunners Guild could use a little nudging toward the “die” end of the spectrum. Back to bed.

Toilday, Arodus 14, 4712 Evening
Ravenscraig

We’re here! Darkness is already spreading beneath the trees where we are hiding and peering out toward the cliff wall atop of which is perched the fortress of Ravenscraig.

The ride here from Kalsgard took most of the day, and was mostly uneventful as we rode along well traveled roads, which became rough cart paths, and finally overgrown single track. It was obvious that regular traffic passed this way, but not much and not often.

The first part of the journey was tedious: plodding a long at a walk on the back of a horse through mostly flat and low lying woods and scrub makes for a dull time. Occasionally a hill would poke up on either side, lending some interest to the scenery, but we kept to the lowlands.

Eventually we came upon a boggy area with algae slimed pools on either side of the trail. It smelled bad and we urged our horses to move a little faster. We were well past the first pool when a large blob-thing rose up from the quagmire and struck Etayne and Ivan.

Jellies! I had heard of these before, but had never seen one in person. The horses were somewhat skittish, and so we dismounted and they trotted back up the path and stood huddled together. I think Olmas’ horse actually kept them from just bolting.

After a short battle, where we learned that using blunt weapons worked best on gelatinous creatures because edged weapons caused them to divide into more creatures, we had killed the jellies and discovered a small trinket of some value.

[269] black pearl necklace (1300gp)

A little further along and we saw where a new path joined the main trail: apparently we had missed the turnoff that would have taken us on detour around the bog.

We finally entered the hills as the day was ending, and a shale cliff rose up on our right as we continued on south. Eventually the woods ended and we saw a large clearing at the base of the cliff, up from which a set of wooden stairs climbed back and forth to a dark castle above.

Kali sent Nihali up to scout out Ravenscraig on the wing, and she reported that there was a large flock of ravens roosting in the highest tower.

We decided to wait until it was fully dark, and then using our climbing spells and gear scale the cliff and approach the fortress from behind. We will leave the horses here, and Olmas’ horse will keep them out of sight and waiting for our return. Pretty nifty, that.

Toilday, Arodus 14, 4712 Night
Ravenscraig

We clambered up and over the cliffs into a narrow valley that rises up behind Ravenscraig. A stream descends into the valley and forms a small pond before the fortress walls, and a path follows the stream and, leaping over a foot bridge, it arrives at a back door.

Listening at the door indicated it led to the kitchen, and as if to confirm it the aroma of cooked meats and baking bread wafted out and around us. But seriously, who bakes bread the evening for the next day? Sure, you want to set it out the night before so it will rise, but bread should be baked in the morning! The staff had clearly adopted some evil habits.

With the kitchen occupied by busy servants we made additional use of Spiderclimb and scuttled up the castle walls (just like spiders!). The upper windows were quiet, but also shuttered, using I knife I managed to lift up the securing bar within, and Ivan assisted with an Unseen Servant spell to ensure the beam would not clatter noisily onto the floor.

A dimly lit great hall stretched out before us. This seemed as good an entry point as any, and so we quickly scampered inside, closing the shutters behind.

We had entered on a dias above three sides of the hall, with the main floor of the hall below. Doors led into side passages and the main doors were in the opposite wall. At either end of the dais were doors, and we decided to check those out first.

The northern door was locked, which Radella quickly picked, and we soon found ourselves in the armory. While of reasonably quality, the weapons and armor were non-magical, except for a single arrow.

[270] arrow of Greater Magical Beast Slaying

The southern door opened into a store of furs, blankets, and cold weather gear. I poked around through the pile of and found a stack of scrolls written in the native tongue. Sparna read through them and discovered they were written by Snorri Stoneye in the days before he “died.” He claimed his magical eye gave him “the sight” and the a great conflict was coming, during which the world would be flung into a deep winter.

He also made mention of a store of special items he had hidden in an upstairs flue.

[271] Snorri Stoneye’s journal

The dais also led into the main tower section of the castle, and so we carefully made our way over and looked up and down the central shaft. Stairs ran both up and down, and while views to the upper levels were blocked by the wood ceiling, down below was a large and well stocked alchemical lab.

Etayne wanted to go down right away, but the rest of us thought it better to finish exploring the current level, and maybe the upper tower levels first. There was an unlocked door nearby and so we opened it.

“And that’s where you put your foot in it,” Badger quipped. It turned out to be the bedroom of one of the tower guards… and not just an ordinary guard, but some sort of were-bear. He screamed out, “Intruders in the hall! as he began to change shape.

So much for secrecy and the element of surprise. Radella and I quickly killed him, but we heard a large ruckus, like the flapping of many wings, coming in from the great hall.

Two swarming flocks of Ravens swooped in and attacked, but we managed to disrupt them through overwhelming physical attacks and spell casting. Even Helgarval joined in.

Kali had summoned an air elemental that arrived after the battle was over, but thinking quickly she sent it up the tower where Nihali had reported the ravens roosted. Moments later loud squawks of alarm confirmed that this had been a good tactic, and we moved up the tower stairs.

Waiting for us was a squad of avian ninjas, who used blowguns to shoot darts at us. Worse, some of the darts were coated with the same deadly poison that was on our “warning arrow.” Some of the darts hit their marks, and it seems that Olmas had a very bad reaction to being poisoned. He began to look rather ill, and even in the middle of combat we began to fear that we would win the battle, but then lose Olmas after the fighting was over.

The fighting did not last long. They might be fast and agile and armed with wicked poison, but quite frankly they were no match for us, and all lay dead within a minute.

This freed Etayne and I to look after Olmas. Neither of us had any means to neutralize or even slow the poison, but using a combination of healing and a scroll of Restoration we managed to bring Olmas back to health such that his own system was able to fight off what remained of the toxins in his blood stream.

“Which brings up the question,” added Beorn in a rather sly sort of way, “why is it Olmas that is always almost dying on us?” “Well, at least he always pulls through in the end,” countered Huffy. “Yeah, but sooner or later the only end he’s gonna pull through is his own.” And at this Beorn began to titter uncontrollably.

We sifted through the ex-ninjas’ belongings, taking what looked useful (or at least valuable).

[272] 6 potions of Blur
[273] 6 potions of Disguise Self
[274] 6 vials of Whinnis poison
[275] 6 empty vials (traces of Deathblade)
[276] 6 leather armor
[277] 6 blow guns
[278] 6 masterwork wakasashi (swords)
[279] 18 daggers
[280] 6 climbers kits
[281] 6 50′ silk ropes
[282] 6 +2 ninja outfits
[283] 6 jade raven statuettes set with precious stones
[284] 6 sets of Tien clothing (200 – 300 gp each)
3 poisoned darts (Deathblade)

In the northwest corner was a large, filthy nest spattered with copious quantities of bird droppings. Extra large bird droppings. Hiding in the twigs, rags and bird crap was a collection of human teeth, some gold coins, and a couple of other valuables.

[285] ivory and onyx necklace
[286] kit for making messages for delivery birds
27 gold pieces

There was a narrow door that opened onto a small room with a fireplace that had not been used in some time. Reaching up into the flue I found a a pair of magical boots.

[287] Boots of the Winterlands

A trap door led up into an aviary, with a coop and a small wooden table set next to platform. This was where the ravens roosted, and so we destroyed the coop and made it a generally unpleasant place for the ravens to settle back in.

We went back to the large nest below and carefully set two of our three poison darts in the nest, pointy side up. We thought this was where the large red feathered raven nested, and wanted to give it a special surprise when it returned. We tossed the ninja bodies down the stairs, and followed down ourselves.

Back in the cloak room we have used the magical eggs to generate an extra dimensional space (via Rope Trick) where we can rest undetected (or so it is hoped).

As usual I have the first watch (with Radella), and Helgarval is recounting some of his past adventures to keep us alert (or maybe he just needed to talk). In any event, I realized that Helgarval was not a helmet at all, but one of the lesser angels, and that he is susceptible to the same sorts of spells and attacks as the rest of us.

I’ll need to be careful when I wear him in the future. Too late to do anything about that now. Beorn seems unduly amused by this realization, and I can hear him chuckling softly to himself.

Wealday, Arodus 15, 4712 morning
Ravenscraig

The rope trick worked! During the night our watch saw the door to the cloak room open and close as ninjas searched the fortress for us. The search seemed to have ended, and so we continued with our exploration of Ravenscraig.

Out into the great hall, before we had gone far, ninjas started popping up out from the woodwork. And dropping like flies almost as quickly. A band of Ulfen guards joined in, but they too found themselves out classed and quickly dead.

We systematically went from door to door, exploring each of the rooms beyond. Other than a small trap door in the floor of one room, we found the usual sort of chambers one would expect in a fortress (barracks, guard rooms, supply rooms, and so on).

I opened the trap door and a booming voice from below called out something in giant. I looked over to Sparna, who quickly translated, “Enough coal! No more. All good.”

We did find some useful items in our exploration (and from the bodies of the dead ninjas and guards), plus a set of keys from the were-bear’s room (which we had failed to search the night before).

[288] 8 fugitive grenades
[289] 8 potions
[290] bracelet
[291] ebony fan
[292] Rimerunners Guild cache voucher for 80 gold pieces
[293] 6 jade ravens (lower quality)
[294] 8 jade ravens (higher quality)
[295] 8 master work short bows
[296] ring of keys (from were-bear’s room)
[297] 400 freshly minted Chelish gold pieces
500 gold pieces (offerings at altar)

Descending the tower stairs we finally arrived in the alchemy lab. In addition to the usual tables, benches, chemicals and equipment was a large glass tank. Within the tank was a human body. As we passed by a voice called out, “Help!” and the body began to feebly beat upon the glass.

It was obvious that this was not some poor human trapped in the tank, and we prudently decided to let it be. Sparna and some of the others who were closer to the body saw that something was wriggling and crawling beneath its skin.

While the others were busy with the lab, I was scouting out a small door in an alcove off to one side. The door was locked and it looked like a prison cell might lie beyond. Radella used our newly acquired keys to unlock the door, and opening it we found two bodies within.

One of the bodies was a corpse, but the other was of a living man. He looked half starved, and in need of food, drink and some healing, all of which we provided.

He said his name was Lute, and he had been brought here and locked up for daring to ask questions at a Rimerunners meeting. He warned of Silverscar, whom he said had been threatening him with the “wasps.” He thought Silverscar ran the place, and might be a purple ogre.

I asked, “What do you mean about the wasps?” To which he replied that Silverscar exposed victims to a swarm of wasps that would burrow into their body and turn them into some sort of zombie. The wasps were kept in the glass tank in the lab.

In the mean time the rest of our group had collected a variety of items from the lab (I swear Etayne’s pack and pockets are bulging).

[298] jar of ointment that can be used as stone to flesh, or as stoneskin
[299] ring of counterspells (empty)

The safest place we could think of for Lute to be was with us, and so he has joined our ranks rather timidly. There is a stairwell leading down from the lab into the dark dank depths below, and that is our next destination.

Character: Kali

Kali’s Journal, Arodus 15, 4712

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Arodus 15, 4712 (Ravenscraeg, early morning)

We spent the night holed up in one of the storage rooms. Or rather, in the extra-dimensional space created by destroying the eggshells. It was awkward setting them off among the shelves of wool, cloaks, and furs, but they only last a couple of hours each and we had to make do without being seen. That meant using an unlikely hiding place. I am told the guards here did at least think to look in the closet in the middle of the night, but it was apparently not an exhaustive search as the watches were otherwise uneventful. Either that, or they figured we’ll come out eventually so why bother? I am betting on the latter.

I was hoping our clandestine raid would stay clandestine a little longer than it did, but it seems our luck ran out rather quickly. At least we made it up the cliffs and inside undetected: that part of the plan went pretty well. What frustrates me is that we spent all that time preparing to get here, and none for what we would encounter once we arrived. I mean, it should have been obvious that we’d go up against poisoned weapons given how many of the damned things have been tossed around by these people—including the one the night before last—and yet here we are without a single defense against it, magical or mundane. Olmas nearly died because of it. This overnight stay will fix that, but the ultimate consequence of it is that we have lost whatever momentum we had. These people probably have a pretty good idea of what we are capable of, and now we have given them the time to prepare. It’s going to be a hard day.

I had a difficult time sleeping so I spent more time going over Snorri Stone-Eye’s diaries. He was known for his tremendously successful raids on settlements and colonies throughout the Steaming Sea, including within rival Linnorm Kingdoms and the occasional visit to northern Varisia, but it was the brutality of the same which would earn him the nickname “The Mad Reaver”. This proved to be somewhat prophetic in a different sense, as over the last several years he grew more and more obsessed with predictions of the end times. He wrote of a final battle between the gods and the freeing of Rovagug which would result in the ravaging of the world. His later entries are not so much diaries as they are the ravings of a madman in the grips of paranoia.

The gradual shift from rationality to mania happened slowly but it is clearly visible when read in one sitting. He really did believe his false eye turned him into some sort of seer with visions of the future. His last journey, the one where he apparently contracted his illness, was to a cluster of unnamed islands in the Steaming Sea. He was searching for something—he doesn’t say what—that would protect his fortress during the coming war, and that is where the diary ends.

I am not sympathetic to what happened to him. He was a thug who lined his pockets, and those of his backers, with coin and treasure taken from those slain by his own hand. Their only crimes were existing and possessing items of value. The man was a vile lunatic, and before that, just vile. He earned his fate.

(Ravenscraeg, mid morning)

They were waiting for us in the balcony when we emerged from the storage room and ambushed us as we made our way towards the tower. It goes without saying that they are good at hiding in the shadows, but amazingly we walked past two of them without even knowing they were there. Not one of us spotted them. It’s unsettling.

Did they know where we were? Or did they just guess that we were hiding somewhere on the upper levels? I suppose it would have been fairly easy to work out a likely where and when. They know where we had been and where we hadn’t, and probably worked out how we got in. We need so much rest, enough time to prepare spells, and so on. What this suggests is that we are easily predicted.

As impressive as the ambush was, the fight did not last long. As usual, it was brute force and magic, particularly healing, that made the difference. Few can stand up to Radella, Ana, Sparna, and Olmas face-to-face, and when Qatana, Etayne, or Ivan can tend to their injuries they are just short of implacable. When our adversaries called for reinforcements, I added to our own numbers by summoning a leopard from the Celestial realms. You would not think one large cat would have an impact but they are fearsome animals when they have the room to move. They charge their foe, leap onto them and attack with their teeth and all of their claws, all at once. It did this twice, and both victims fell in an instant.

I left a paper flower on one of the bodies, with a blessing to Shelyn and a message to those who would find it: it is not too late to abandon this place and this path. Life is a precious gift, and it should not be squandered by visiting hate and misery upon others.

Look, I am not naive. The main level appears to be mostly barracks and guard rooms, and the Tian ninjas had erected a shrine of sorts in theirs; a shrine to Yaezhing, the Minister of Blood, god of harsh justice, murder, and punishment. His followers are not going to suddenly grow a conscience. But I am compelled to reach out.

(Ravenscraeg, late morning)

A couple of days ago we had this discussion about whether or not the Rimerunners Guild was a legitimate business or just a front for the Frozen Shadows. Obviously, the guild has been around for far longer so they didn’t start out that way, but what about now? Could we consider the two organizations to be one in the same today?

It seems we can more or less put that question to rest. Meet Lute Haggersly: Ulfen merchant, elected member of the Rimerunners Guild board of shareholders, and prisoner of the Frozen Shadows. If Lute is to be believed—and again if this is some sort of ruse it is ridiculously elaborate—he committed the offense of refusing to support one of Silverskorr’s motions or proposals before the Board. When he would not be swayed by her arguments, she turned to bullying and threats. When he failed to acquiesce, she followed through by imprisoning him here. I am not an expert on the inner workings of either publicly held companies or criminal organizations, but I will venture a guess that most of the former do not routinely imprison dissenters and most of the latter do not outsource their governance. The rank and file of the guild may not realize it, but it is clear that they are now little more than a veneer of legitimacy over, and a source of funding for, something much uglier.

If that weren’t enough, he offered a rather jaw-dropping piece of news: this organization seems to be run by a purple ogre—purple—and he insists that the ogre is, in fact, Silverskorr. It sounded ridiculous at the time and his evidence was thin, based solely on having heard Silverskorr’s voice right before seeing the ogre enter his cell to taunt and threaten him, but then we stopped to think about it. Ogre mages have a place in Avistani legends, and in those stories they don’t seem to have a set description or appearance. Each story seems to describe them differently. Maybe there’s a reason for that, and purple skin would very much fit in with it.

And what about the oni? Maybe, like Kikonu, an ogre mage is a kind of oni, much like there are many forms of devils and demons. Kikonu could change his appearance and become almost human. Would it be so hard to believe that Silverskorr can change her shape, too? Assume the form of a human woman? And why stop there? If the ogre mage can change it’s shape, then maybe this isn’t even the “real” Silverskorr. Maybe the Silverskorr everyone knows is an imposter.

I know how this is starting to sound, but that is the thing about shapeshifters: they breed paranoia. You can’t trust what you see and hear.

We asked for Helgarval’s opinion and he had little to offer except to say that we have our work cut out for us. Thanks, but we had worked that out on our own. He then followed up with, and I am paraphrasing here, “I’m confident you’ll be victorious. And if you aren’t, then I’ll find another group.” Great. Thanks for that, too.

This room we are in is a prodigiously stocked alchemy lab. Etayne is the real expert here, of course, but I had enough instruction while in school to understand what I am seeing. I have no doubt that I could find just about any item I needed for casting a spell or brewing a potion, provided it wasn’t particularly rare or valuable. On top of that are all the flasks, vials, beakers, and other alchemical equipment one would need for creating infusions, brews, and, yes, toxins. According to Etayne, the plants here are all poisonous in some form, covering just about every plant-based poison known to man.

Etayne is searching through some lab notes, and it appears that all of this is Runecaster’s personal work and research space. This goes a long way towards explaining the glass box near the center of the room. The less said about that wasp-infested corpse the better. We watched it beat (ineffectually, thankfully) on the glass as it called out to us in what sounded like infernal. Etayne says he bought the wasps off of a Chelish wizard. What a surprise, right?

Gods. These people.

Character: Olmas

Annals of the Order of the Dragon

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as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Moonday, 13 Arodus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For some definitions of “fair”.

I believe Ivan retrieved the arrow for later reuse.

Toilday, 14 Arodus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We took inventory. From the ninjas themselves:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Character: Ivan

Ivan’s Journal Arodus 14, 4712

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Arodus 13, 4712

Watching Usahkka I realize that not everyone has signed up to ensure that Ameiko takes her rightful place on the throne. I can tell that this burden has already taken a toll on me as I find myself always looking for someone to jump out of the shadows. For some reason I just believed from the beginning that Usahkka was not working with those that would stop us. Thus far that does seem to be the case and I would hate to harm an attractive woman but if she is working with these bastards then I will have her head on a pike.

Usahkka provided us with a description of Ulf so now we will at least know how to recognize him. Tomorrow we head out for Ravenscraeg.

Arodus 14, 4712

Overnight we had a situation where someone shot a poison arrow with a note attached at Ameiko’s wagon. Sparna put some fat on the arrow to make it safer and then Ana put the arrow into her backpack. I just hope she is careful when pulling things out of her pack.

The rest of the night went just fine and we headed out in the morning after getting some scrolls of darkvision and spider climb. Around noon we encountered ochre jellies and it turns out the blunt weapons are what one should use. By the time I could have gotten out the blunt arrows the creatures were dead. Once again picking the ring over the quiver is causing me problems.

We finally made it to Ravenscraeg near dusk. The plan to wait and climb the cliff at night worked out better than we had expected. We reached the fortress when Sparna suggested that we climb the wall and enter through one of the ballista slits that are the size of a window. I was looking over the window when I spotted Qatana using her dagger to lift the small bar locking the window. I quickly cast mage hand to grab and set the bar on the floor to prevent the bar from hitting the floor. I moved in and made sure the area was secure and then waved the others to enter. For my memoirs in the future this “I” is actually working with the talented Radella. Maybe I should make my journal sound more heroic.

“Once the talented Redella opened the armory door we made a profound discovery finding one lone magic arrow mixed in with all of the other arrows. I was of course honored to be offered the use of this splendid arrow. My prowess with the longbow clearly made me the obvious choice. Later we discovered that this was none other than an arrow greater magical beast slaying. This arrow could be the key to defeating some great beast, pulling victory from the jaws of defeat with a single twang from my longbow.“

I may have to burn this page. Oh god I hope that my new clothes do not make me look like a bard. Regardless of how they make me look I still have to wear them during shopping trips in towns and cities as to not offend Koya. If someone is reading my journal you should note that the combat abilities of these people that I travel with are amazing. Yes I have some talents with a bow that the other do not possess but up close these people are dangerous. While I can use the same weapons but my lower strength as compared to the others really means that I would not do as much damage. The front line can get crowded anyway so for this group it just seems like it is best to use ranged weapons and allow the others to get up close and personal. That being said I still need to find a good melee weapon for those times with I just don’t have a choice.

We started out with stealth but that all ended with the search of just one more door before heading up to try to find the head of the guild or the red-feathered raven. With the beast calling out the alarm went up. Dispatching the swarms of ravens expended the last fireball bead. The beads were handy but I just have too many other items to spend my money on.

Giving the assassins time to prepare is a bad idea. Deathblade poison on blowgun darts turns out to be very effective. Olmas and Radella were both hit with blowgun darts coated in Deathblade poison. Radella seemed to not have any issues with the poison, maybe the poison did not make it into her system. Olmas on the other hand almost died again.

Back to the battle I was able to use my tricky spell to run pass the assassins without being attacked. I just figured it would be best to move out of the way. Luckily for me normal arrows work just find on these bird like creatures.

After the battle Kali wanted to use the big scroll of restoration on Olmas while the poison with still running its course and he was only half dead. I suggested that we wait until he on the verge of dead then use the scroll. Kali and Olmas both looked at me as if I was crazy. When I explained that the restoration spell will restore all of the lost constitution I could see the light go on for Kali.

There was a little confusion as Kali thought that I was going to use the scroll, I am not the healer so it never occurred to even use read magic on the scroll. Luckily Qatana had used read magic on the scroll. I could have just cast read magic and been ok with using the scroll but that would have delayed casting restoration on Olmas. Maybe I should always cast read magic on scrolls that we find just in case.

So the use of poison should not have been a surprise. The arrow shot at the caravan should have been a clue that we should watch out for poison. Our lack of the obvious almost cost Olmas his life and it resulted in us using a valuable scroll to do the job of a simple delay poison spell. Etayne was going on about how she should have learn delay poison but she still has to memorize the spell for the day. If the powers to be are going to keep sending assassins with poison after us this could become a big issue.

I am trying to figure out if there is something wrong with me. Kali had another one of her crazy ideas, this time it was to use one of the poison blowgun darts to poison the red-feather ravens nest. The issue is that this makes since, so my thought is that maybe I am going crazy or being controlled in some way. I suddenly realized that the difference is that she was doing these other tricky things during combat and this time we were not in combat. These extra spells given to me by the gods have come in handy as I was able to use mage hand to position the blowgun dart in place so that it will poke the creature the next time it gets into the nest.

I don’t get to carry either of the two blowgun with Deathblade, Radella and Sparna currently each have one. I am thinking that maybe we should start using poison against the assassins to give them a taste of their own poison. That also means that if I am going to start handling poison more often then I should make sure I am not effected by poison. Note to self, check into arrow enchantments that work like poison. Also check into what it takes to make arrows of slay and arrows of greater slaying.

For the record Olmas is still alive.

Character: Kali

Kali’s Journal, Arodus 14, 4712

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Arodus 14, 4712 (dawn, Kalsgard)

We camped last night at the caravan. This just seemed like a wise idea given what had happened at the inn. Of course I did not expect this to fool anyone, but the point was not to hide: it was to keep together as a group for our collective safety. Ameiko has, wisely, been sleeping in the covered wagon in order to stay out of sight. While not exactly spacious, there is room in there for as many as three to lay down comfortably so she and I have been sharing the space.

Given how much closer we’ve grown over the past couple of weeks—it almost feels like it did when we were growing up—you’d think we’d be awake until some ridiculous hour talking, but nothing could be farther from the truth. In all honesty, I am a lousy roommate and have been for some weeks. I am exhausted most evenings, and what time I do have before falling sleep is spent on research, study, or (like last night) copying spells from scrolls. Fortunately, she’s also been buried in books and maps on Tian-Xia and Minkai, and she knows we’re extending ourselves—overextending, really—for her, but it still feels like I am ignoring her.

In case we needed a reminder of what we have gotten into, one arrived last night around two o’clock in the morning, just as our watch was changing. Both Ameiko and I would have slept through it had Sparna not awoken us. Someone sent an arrow laced with poison into the side of the wagon where we were sleeping. We were lucky that it hit the frame instead of piercing the canvas. Or perhaps they were intending to send a message rather than trying to hit one of us (though that would not make a lot of sense). Whatever the reason, they spent a small fortune on the delivery. Etayne said it was coated with deathblade, a poison which is notorious for both it’s lethality and it’s expense. This admonition cost them nearly two thousand gold.

Admonition? Attached to it was a note, written in Tien.

It was foolish of you to wake a sleeping dragon. Return what was stolen. Abandon your hopeless quest now or you and your friends will be destroyed.

Ameiko looked lost in thought, staring blankly into the darkness after reading the note for herself. This was her life, her family, and her heritage so it seemed appropriate, if not prudent, to ask her opinion.

“I didn’t expect this journey to go unopposed. This is…grim, but not unexpected.”

These Frozen Shadows? We have rattled them. Yes, they started big that night at the Skalsbridge, but now they’ve been reduced to paying blind beggars to deliver spooky messages in alleyways, and sending warnings attached to arrows coated with exotic poison, all to convince us how scary and powerful they are. Because we have gotten close to them; hit them somewhere very personal. They are trying to bully us because they don’t know what else to do.

I dealt with bullies for much of my life, and they are all the same. They talk a lot, they intimidate and posture, they threaten, and occasionally they bloody your nose. But mostly? They posture and threaten. It’s how they make themselves feel better, and how they build their power base, convincing those around them how terrible and frightening they are. But really, they are just insecure and scared.

The people you really have to worry about? They don’t send messages. They don’t warn you in the middle of the night. They don’t play the game of appearances. They simply act, and that’s precisely how we’ll respond to this affront.

I spent some time this morning drafting a short letter to mom and dad. I promised them I would write, and that I would not hide the truth from them when I did. This has been far more difficult than I imagined. Over a decade of experience-turned-instinct screams at me to not say anything about what has happened in the past week, or what we are about to do, because no good ever came of it when I was a child. Things were better when they didn’t know.

Mom and grandma fought a lot back in those days (dad’s relationship with dadi and dada has never been strained to my knowledge, for whatever that is worth). They’d probably fight even more now if they saw each other as often as they did when I was growing up. It was years before I finally understood why, but now I know that, deep down, grandma does not approve of how mom chose to live her life. She wanted mom to be the scholar, the noble, the aristocrat, the what-have-you in the gilded city of her birth. Mom threw away a life that had been carefully crafted for her along with her savings to, of all things, work. And touch the world with her own hands. The horror.

Maybe part of my fear about sending this letter is that mom (and dad) won’t approve of my life. That I, too, am throwing away everything that was carefully laid out for me, only I am upping the ante by making the risk to my life a literal one. I am worried I am destined to quarrel with my mom the way she does with hers. I’ve seen my parents twice since this all began, and the first of those led to an ugly fight over concerns about the exact sort of thing that is happening right now. It does not bode well. But I promised I would tell them, and for better or for worse I will see it through.

(noon, Thanelands, south of Kalsgard)

The road we are following isn’t so much of a road at this point as it is a lightly-traveled dirt path. Wagon tracks and hoof prints are our guides.

It was here, about half way to Ravenscraeg where the path ran through a bog, that we apparently missed a turn. As we passed one of the stagnant ponds, a pair of slimy pseudopods shot out at us from the water’s edge and struck at Etayne and Ivan on their horses.

This skirmish would have been unremarkable except for what it was that we were fighting: giant, amorphous blobs, yellow-brown in color, that oozed and flowed as they advanced, and burned flesh like acid. Attempts to harm them with edged and pointed weapons merely split them in two, each half functioning as an independent, albeit smaller, blob.

According to Etayne they are called ochre jellies, a name that is as literal and descriptive as it is unoriginal.

The bog seems an appropriate home for them. Bogs are stagnant wetlands, with pools filled by rainfall over peat-layered soil. Very little grows in them save for the trees, moss, and fungus. Like a swamp, only without a source of running water. And in contrast to a marsh, which is a swamp only with grass instead of trees.

Bogs, marshes, swamps. We’ve spent far too much time in wetlands.

We have another five or six hours ahead of us.

(evening, Thanelands, Near the Grungir Forest)

The crags from which Ravenscraeg gets its name are a line of cliffs among the rocky hills that form the border between the southern edge of the Thanelands and the Grungir Forest beyond. The hills, and the sheared northern faces of the crags, rise and fall along their length. We can see the small fortress nestled in a fissure where two neighboring cliffs meet, sitting slightly lower than the surrounding rock but still a good hundred-plus feet straight up. A series of wooden stairs form switchbacks with landings, climbing to meet what we assume is the main entrance.

We are not going that way because we are not idiots. Half of our cache of scrolls, purchased yesterday evening in Kalsgard, will allow us to literally walk up the vertical rocks as easily as spiders climbs walls and walk on ceilings. We’ll have thirty minutes to make the ascent to one of the neighboring cliffs and then drop down into the dell which Nihali tells us lays just behind the structure. This is more than enough time, even with delays. We’ll go after dark, when the quarter moon has disappeared behind the ridge to the south west, because we also don’t want to be seen. This is where the second half of our cache of scrolls comes into play: the spells on them will allow us to see in the dark.

Bloodfeather raven

The bloodfeather raven

One more thing. Nihali also said the hills and trees behind them are filled with ravens and crows. Hundreds upon hundreds of them. Dozens of them are roosting on the fortress’s tower.

If there was any question before about this being the right place, there isn’t any longer.

(night, Ravenscraeg)

We made it inside an upper-level window of sorts without being detected. This late at night the great hall we found ourselves in was unoccupied, and we were able to slowly and quietly work our way around. Right now, I am sitting in one of the store rooms, hurriedly taking notes as the others explore.

This store room contains an enormous quantity of raw wool, furs, cloaks, and other cold weather clothing. Tucked away in a chest among them was a stack of scrolls written in Skald. Sparna looked them over briefly and said they appeared to be diaries. He was about to put them away when I stopped him.

“Can I see those?”

“Why? They’re diaries.”

“This place was once owned by Snorri Stone-Eye. They may be important.”

“We don’t have time for this right now.”

I hate these arguments. I understand that there is a time and a place for research, and that the middle of a break-in is generally neither, but they may have information we need about where we are at this moment. Thankfully, Sparna relented on the condition that they continue to explore while I stay here and read.

Fine. Whatever. Just go.

It turns out I was right. Snorri stashed something of value—something that would help protect him “against the coming winter” (had he lived)—in one of the upstairs flues. Now we know to look for it.

This is the abridged version of Snorri Stone-Eye’s final years: He believed his stone eye gave him the sight to see the past and future (it’s a magical stone, all right, but all it really does is protect the possessor from the physical effects of aging, though it doesn’t protect them from aging itself). He became obsessed with prophecies of the end of the world, and he believed that “in the winter of the world, the gods will come down to fight, and the rough beast will be released”. These prophecies of the end times and Rovagug were enough to push him over the edge from sanity, and he was already close to the edge as it was. The diaries end with his last voyage across the sea to find an artifact that would help him survive the end of the world. What he found instead, as we learned from personal experience, was an affliction that would slowly turn him into a draugr.

(midnight, Ravenscraeg)

I don’t have much time because we’ve been discovered. We fought with and killed a lycanthrope in his quarters, but not before he shouted an alarm that has alerted everyone here to our presence.

Two raven swarms descended on us as we headed back to the great hall but we quickly dispersed them. I summoned three, small air elementals and sent them up to the roof to scatter the rest of the birds but I was not specific about how to get there, and they (logically, I suppose) chose the stairs to the tower. That’s when we heard a huge ruckus on the floor above us. It turned out that the air elementals were not terribly discriminating about what constituted a “raven”: they were harassing six tengu guards when we came up the stairs.

The tengu were tough and well-trained. Olmas nearly died from a poison dart; deathblade again. Each of them carried it. One nearly struck me.

We found what we believe to be the nest for the bloodfeather raven. I don’t know if it will come back here, but just in case it does we left a nasty surprise for it: one of the deathblade-coated darts, hidden in the nest with the point sticking out. It’s a long shot, but it would be poetic justice.

Character: Kali

Communique

Arodus 14, 4712

To:
Danea
c/o Nassim Goods
Dockway District
Magnimar, Varisia

From:
Ingvina Gjertsen
Kalsgard, Thanelands

Danea,

We can’t figure this one out. Then I remembered your research on Torandey and thought you could help? Let me know if you get anywhere with it.

Best wishes,
Ingvina

Character: Qatana

An Act of Mercy

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Qatana woke suddenly. The bedroll lay twisted at her feet, and the tunic she wore most nights was wet with sweat. Despite the cooler northern climate it was just too hot in the caravan wagon for sleep.

She looked around and noticed that Shalelu was not there. “Probably watching the caravan from the shadows,” she thought drowsily.

It was then that she heard the voices, soft whisperings just barely audible outside the covered wagon. She vaguely recognized most of them, but a stranger was doing most of the talking.

“Guys, I think we have company,” she said to her friends, and then realized with a shock that her friends were not with her. This abruptly brought her fully awake and alert.

She quickly pulled on trousers and slipped out the back. There, huddled in the darkness by a wheel were nine small shapes. Eight of them were silvery and translucent like smoke, but the other seemed normal.

“Here she is now,” squeaked Badger, “she’ll help.” The others replied in mutual agreement, but the outsider seemed startled by her arrival and scuttled beneath the wagon.

Star let out a snort of exasperation, but Timber reassured their guest, “You must trust her. She will help, but you need to show the way.”

The mouse, encouraged by her friends, crept out from the greater darkness beneath the wagon and scampered forward to the next shadow. The moon had set some time before, but the canopy of stars cast their own milky light upon the city, and hungry eyes would make short work of careless mice.

Qatana was not particularly stealthy, but it was dark, and most of the quarter’s inhabitants were long in bed. Her guide was virtually invisible, and if it were not for the shimmering figures of her friends she would have lost sight of him right away.

They followed the cobblestone road a short distance toward the gate, where the mouse stopped.

“Here,” her friends cried urgently, “here!”

A tiny black form lay slumped by the side of the road. Qatana carefully picked up a limp mouse and saw that while it had been badly injured, probably crushed beneath the wheels of a hand cart, the animal yet lived.

It had clearly suffered in this state for quite some time and was now in shock.

Qatana hesitated, torn as usual between the two choices before her. A little squeak at her feet brought her back to the dying creature in her hands. “You have a mate and probably young ones back in your nest.”

She concentrated for a moment and her friends glowed brightly. The small mouse stirred in her hands, whiskers twitching in the night air. She put the mouse on the ground net to the other, and they scurried off together.

“Stay off the cobbles, little ones!” she called after them.

Qatana stood there for some time, lost in thought and fighting despair and desperation. Was this the right choice? Surely this was just a temporary reprieve, and the next day would see her patient speared in the talons of an owl or made the play thing of some cruel cat. Weren’t her actions this night just a futile gesture, after all?

Timber sniffed loudly and muttered, “This again?”

“Shush,” Pookie admonished, “She is a servant of Groetus, and she must often choose between life and death for others, and the burden is great.”

Star scoffed, “It wouldn’t be tough for me: I’d chose death!” The others groaned their little mousey noises of disapproval, but off by himself Beorn tittered uncontrollably.