I had some doubts about the villagers believing that the shaman was responsible for the dragon attacks but I kept my mouth shut and let the smart people figure it out. By pure luck we were able to free the guard from the creature that was enslaving him. Once the guard started thanking us for saving him from the shaman it seem pretty clear that the best option is to have the guard fetch the chief and hearth mistress.

They spent quite a bit of time talking about the pictures on the walls. I was wondering if Skygni had seen anything like this before. Obviously we can’t bring Skygni into the village as they would freak out. In the end Qatana did her speak with the dead spell and we learned that he was acting on behalf of Sithhud.  It turns out that the Oracle recently went on a vision quest to the nameless spires. Kali kept making comments about Oracles going on vision quests but isn’t our quest with Ameiko kind of turning into a vision quest? When Kali was first showing us about the high ice she specifically said that we wouldn’t be seeing the nameless spires. I kept thinking that someday I wanted to visit the nameless spires.

Stepping onto the high ice was like walking into another world. I don’t think that it is as dramatic as the story Skygni told me about falling through a tree. I stopped to enjoy the moment.  It would have been easier to enjoy the moment if Kali wasn’t still going on about having to actually walk. This landscape is so different and it is easy to see how people can get lost. When the weather kicks up finding your way out would be very difficult.

The others are so impatient that they could not even give me a few minutes to take in the splendor of the high ice.  These people really need to learn how to enjoy the moment. We are 4 days away from the dragon and they can’t wait 5 minutes to let me enjoy the moment.

So we started the trek towards the dragon. Kali was up to her usual planning only this time I think the plan was to reason with the dragon. How do you even reason with a white dragon? I saw Kali talking with Skygni and I have to wonder if she was trying to find out how she could reason with the dragon. Skygni is very practical with his opinion that it is crazy to go after dragons there is plenty of food that is easier to kill. There is a lot of since in what Skygni is saying but the fact is that we need to get the caravan passed the dragon. I think we have a better chance dealing with it on our terms rather than hers.

We witnessed a blue green light streaking in the sky. Skygni said that sometime lizard-birds drop and that they are very nasty.   If I had to guess I would say that this light comes from the nameless spire.  Even I can see that fate is guiding us to the nameless spire. But at least for now we march towards the dragon.

A few days into the trip a storm turned everything white and we were forced to wait for the storm to pass. I was about to head into the storm to test my beacon spell but I did not want to be responsible for something happening to any of the others if they noticed that I was missing and tried to find me. I will have to test it later when they wouldn’t go looking for me.

The dragon luckily was not very old and our resistance, darkvision and fly spells pretty much gave us the upper hand. I was having troubles hitting the dragon so I was wondering if she had something protecting her from arrows. We did find some protection from arrow potions so maybe that is why I couldn’t hit her with any arrows. We decided to take the whole dragon back with us. I promised some dragon meat for Skygni once we get back to the village. Once the villagers saw firsthand that the dragon was dead they through a huge party. Kali was upset and tried to convince them this was not a joyous occasion but I could tell they were not even really listening to her. Kali didn’t seem to understand that they felt that they did not have future as long as the dragon lived. When you have to live off the land life can be hard.

Skygni feasting on the dragon meat almost seemed like something special for him. I am not sure that many winter wolfs get to feed on dragons. He seemed very pleased with himself. To get supplies the caravan decided to head to Unaimo on a supply run, Sparna decided to stay in Iqaliat and work on his weapon. There is something odd but familiar in the way Sparna is working with his weapon, It reminds me of how I enchant weapons.  I have decided to stay in Iqatiat as well so that I could watch over Sparna and spend some time on the high ice. This way I can try out my spell without anyone searching for me.

Arodus 15, 4712

Today I have learned firsthand about troll regeneration. We failed to hit one of the trolls with acid or fire and it came back to life. >From what I understand Kali finished the troll off with an acid spell. Oracles really should get a spell like this. A spell that did fire damage instead of acid would be really cool. While we are trying to take down the trolls several of the others are opening doors looking for more trouble. I am really surprise someone hasn’t been kill running off from the rest of the party. Anyway it looked as if Olmas, Sparna, Ana, Etyane, and Kali had the trolls under control so I moved to the back of the room to watch their backs when I suddenly heard Radella call out telling us that someone was attacking her. I stepped over and began to support her from range. She did some type of strange magic that caused duplicates of herself. It appears that these were just illusions. With the Trolls finished off the little room Radella was fighting in started to fill up and I wondered if I should just let the fighters finish her off. When she disappeared and then reappeared after poisoning Olmas I decided to take the shot. The release of the arrow was as near to perfect as I think I am able to achieve. It was one of those shots that you know if good as soon as you release it. The woman dropped.

There was some cool stuff here. The Deadly kiss dagger was fascinating.  Sparna has been talking about how it seemed like metal was somehow talking to him. Looking at the dagger I started to see how they infused the magic into this dagger, this is still beyond my abilities. The magic they weaved into the earthfire shuriken’s was equally complex.  I still don’t know how I did not see the intertwining of magic and metal before now. With the Ninja outfit’s it appears that the process must be different as I could not really identify how the magic was infused into the cloth. I guess this is more of Kali specialty.

There is a part of me that really wanted the deadly kiss dagger but even I have to admit that this could be a dangerous weapon in Radella’s hands. At times when pulling arrows I have the brief thought of grabbing a melee weapon and jumping into the middle of the fray, then I remember that I only have a short sword.  With a weapon like deadly kiss it would be hard to not jump into the fray.

And now it comes down to what to do with Lute. I just don’t know which side he is on. Lead by Kali we have outfitted/loaned Lute with one of these Ninja outfits, vanish potion, and two Fugitive’s Grenades. Kali seems a little obsessive about keeping Lute safe. It did not make a lot of since until I realized that Lute is a business man in Kalsgard. I only hope that she is really helping him because she truly believes that his is innocent and not being of a possible business contact. I really hope Kali is right about Lute, after all the time and equipment invested to keep him alive it would be a shame if we have to cut his throat open and leave his body for the vultures. For now we walked him all the way back to the coat room, Kali was actually talking about taking Lute down to the horses but what is going on here is bigger than Lute.

We got Lute settled and were heading back down stairs when lightning hit most of the group. I heard someone say red feathered raven and I just said “kali is this it?” and she responded “yes”.    I pulled the arrow of greater magic beast slaying and fired it towards the red-feathered raven. It seemed like minutes before the raven fell from the rafters. I really liked that arrow and maybe someday I might be able to create them but for now they are way too complex for me. The raven has been hounding us for a long time and I am sure we all feel relieved to finally get rid of this fowl beast. Qatana took the body with her and burned the body in the furnace just to make sure it was not brought back from the dead. Clearly I am not the only one that has been frustrated by the red-feathered raven.

Behind the secret door we found very strangest creatures. They were just big animated hands. Well maybe they were a little more than just animated hands. They had an interesting effect of engulfing the attacker in some kind of pus when hit with a non- bludgeoning weapon. It turns out that a lot of the group doesn’t have just plane bludgeoning weapons. I really need to get the magic quiver as I had to stop and search my backpack for some bludgeoning arrows. I was able to hit one of the hands with the blunt arrow but it was clear that they really didn’t need my help. Why would a wizard/mage need to have hands under her bed? I am not sure what she uses the hands for.

After some debate we headed back to the water room. I thought that we could go there on the way out but the others insisted. Again it is a good thing that I am not doing the planning for the group. In the well that was guarded by some type of aberration we found the family sword.

The sword is an amazing intelligent sword.  The sword is call Suishen and it expects a commitment to it. At that moment I knew this had to be one of many tests by the gods. Without question I said that I will commit to Suishen.  Olmas finally agreed to commit but he had to think about it for a few moments, I get the feeling that the sword might have preferred Olmas anyway.  For my part I feel as this is one test that I passed.

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.

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.

Arodus 12, 4712

After our long night out I welcomed sleep as a good friend. We awoke in the evening and planned to just check up on Uksahkka. As we approached the temple of Shelyn we spotted two large earth elementals attacking the temple. Kali freaked out about these things destroying her gods temple and put one of the elementals into some type of water bubble. This is a really cool spell. Again we tried out the enlarge Sparna spell; the results were again mixed but I had to do something as my arrows were just bouncing off these creatures. Once I realized that Radella had spotted the red feathered raven my focus change to searching for the raven. While the elementals were dispatched it was not before they made a mess of the temple.

This was just a distraction to allow them time to abduct Usahkka. This girl just can’t keep herself out of trouble. The poison blow dart and the large black feather found are clear indications that Usahkka was taken. Just more evidence pointing to Usahkka being a victim and not the person that sent the ninjas. I told them that she seemed trust worthy.

We decided that it was time to go to the Rimerunners Guild and suddenly the magic helm started talking to Qatana. The amazing helm turns out to be a follower of Desna named Helgarval. Helgarval told us that he was called to this plane as a familiar for a follower of Desna. It was really cool when Helgarval transformed when held by Koya. Anyway Helgarval has been tracking the oni of the Five Storms for the last five years which are demons. Helgarval also provided us the information that the head of the Rimerunners Guild Silverskorr has a raven with blood-red feathers.

Qatana is truly blessed to have Helgarval providing Desna’s divine guidance on an ongoing basis. I can see Helgarval and Qatana becoming fast friends. Although I am not sure if Qatana would even view Helgarval as a blessing from Desna. She likely just thinks of this as a magic item. Desna truly works in mysterious ways.

The entire trip through the city streets Kali and Qatana were making plans on how they were going to trick the Rimerunners into revealing information on where to find Ulf and the sword. I enjoyed the mid-sentence paused when they discovered that the guild was closed for the day. So we moved to plan B, breaking in.

Redella and I broke into the Rimerunners guild, I have to admit that she did most of the work. This is my first time breaking in, scary but also very exciting. With Radella invisible I had to watch the door and enter once I saw the door open. Once inside Radella locked the door just in case someone checked the door later. All of a sudden we hear a door down the hall unlocking. I duck into the first room just in time and I hear Radella tell me she is also in the room. Hearing the guard moving around I crawled under the bed to hide. Before long the door opens and I hear footsteps enter the room pause for a moment and then leave. He continue down the hall and back through a door at the end of the hall. Radella investigated and then returned to hide on the guard’s next round. She decided that it would be best to check on the locked room next door. We entered the room as soon as she had unlocked the door.

Usahkka was chained inside this room. We agreed to lock ourselves in this room and try to get Usahkka out after the next guard rotation. I quickly moved over to Usahkka to make sure she didn’t call out and to let her know that we are going to help her get out. While Radella was locking the door I just kept whispering in her ear to comfort her. I put my hand on her face and healed up some of her new wounds. Even with the healing I could still feel her shaking. She seemed a little better after Radella removed the chains. Once the guard had gone Radella quickly unlocked the door, moved to the outside door and unlocked that door as well. I started moving Usahkka as soon as I thought Radella was close to having the door unlocked. Usahkka was very shaky so I had to help her make it to the outside door. For a moment I thought that she would not be able to make it to our friends on her own but she steadied herself once she saw the open door, in fact I had to prevent her from running for the door. We got her out and then quickly headed back to the room and locked ourselves back into that room again. We just made it.

We repeated the same procedure as we moved to the next room, I could tell that this was a harder lock but Radella conquered this lock as well. Redella again proved why she is the expert as she found the secret door. My role was to create a light and then hold it while she unlocked the chest. Gold and secret books, a quick check of the books pretty much indicated that this is what we were looking for. We made our way back out, well actually I stood guard while Radella did all of the work to get us out of the guild. I really had a lot of fun working with Radella.

On the way back to the caravan Usahkka was visibly overwhelmed. She says that she can not handle all of this stuff with the criminals and assassins. She is apparently just trying to learn how to be a guide. Once we got back to the caravan we arrange to have Usahkka stay with the caravan while we find Ulf and the sword but first we have some shopping to do.

Arodus 13, 4712

I have decided to put my overwhelming urge to purchase the efficient quiver aside to instead purchase a ring of sustenance along with Kali, Sparna, and Olmos. We got a deal for buying 4 of them and I saved over 100 gold. Food in the crown of the world is impossible to find so we needed to reduce the amount of food that we consume. I do like the idea of not starving even if I get separated from the caravan.

Kali, Koya, spivey, Ameiko all decided to go shopping, Ameiko using the ring again. I decided to go along to help provide protection and to spend some time getting to know Ameiko, Spivey, and Koya better. Put on my new cloths and we wandered the city looking at everything from art supplies to magic equipment.

During the day we stopped by the remains of the temple of Shelyn. Kali, Ameiko, Koya, and Yin-Po  were discussing the plans to rebuild the temple when something inside the temple caught my eye, I could swear that it was a butterfly. I felt like there was a reason for me to check this out. Stealthly moved into the temple to see what it was that caught my eye. Inside on the ground was a small broken songbird statue. With my magic the songbird was restored. I moved one of the unbroken pedestals over to where debris would not fall on the pedestal. I then placed the songbird on the pedestal so it could watch over the Shelyn followers as they work to rebuild there temple. Maybe this will help restore hope.

Moving out of the remains to the temple I noticed Spivey looking at me. I just shrugged my shoulders and moved back with the others. Looking back some people had stopped to look at the songbird so I used my magic to add the sounds of the songbird. It just seems right to help people find the good in the moment even when something bad like this happens.

Arodus 11, 4712

It has been a long day. Helva the witch and wife of the late Asvig seems to have landed on her feet. I can’t truly tell whether she is sad or happy that her husband is dead. Helva is now in charge so maybe she feels this is a good day. I asked Helva to give me some magical boots partly because they were nice and partly to see how broken up she was. It doesn’t seem to me that she was that upset about the death of her husband. Suddenly the group decided that the sword must be on stony one-eye’s funeral boat. So we headed back down the road towards the city, briefly hiding along the side of the road to let some of Asvig’s men pass. I knew the others wanted to avoid the conflict so I just let them go by unharmed. They were already pretty drunk so it seemed fine with me that for at least tonight we let them live.

Back we went to Fynn’s were we met the charming Uksahkka. Asvig’s men roughed her up pretty good and I now regret letting the second group of his men pass unharmed. Asvig’s men could have just threatened and then sent Uksahkka on her way but no they instead decided to beat this nice woman. Uksahkka was pretty beat up so I cupped her right hand between my hands and healed up some of her wounds. A highlight of the night was her look when Sparna pulled Asvig’s head out of the bag. At least we were able to give her some level of retribution.

As it turns out Uksahkka’s partner Ulf is a guide that has experience crossing the crown of the world. The problem is that Ulf is missing and he was last known to be going to Asvig’s compound two weeks ago for a job. Again we see this two weeks pattern. We also learned from Uksahkka that two weeks ago there were plenty of guides available with experience crossing the crown of the world but they all suddenly became booked. Ulf is an independent fella and it looks like they are making sure that he is not available. It is scary to think about what is after us and the influence that they must hold.

Uksahkka actually knew exactly where to find stony one-eye’s funeral boat. The thought of everyone is that both the sword and Ulf are likely on stony one-eye’s funeral boat.  I helped her up out of the chair as she had a little bit too much mead. She agreed to help us and we setup a rendezvous with Uksahkka at Spearshaker’s point.

4am Spearshaker’s point: Uksahkka brought kayaks for us to use to get to stony one-eye’s funeral boat. Luckily for us she also provided lessons on how to use the kayaks. Before leaving us Uksahkka gave me this wonderful clay token with a songbird stamped on one side. She tells us to take that token to the Shelyn temple in the Fire Quarter, hand it to them and they will take us to where she will be hiding. Kali was hyper interested in holding this clay token. She told me that this was the symbol of Shelyn. It was then that I remember seeing that symbol on my shoulder. I tugged on my armor enough so that she could see the song bird. Kali seemed a little shocked by my tattoo, I would have told her about the other tattoos but I wasn’t sure how she would react. I thought it was no big deal but I should have known that some may not be as understanding as Qatana, Sparna, Koya, and Spivey have been.

What is done is done, unless one has a spell to help people forget certain events. I am curious to learn about the gods so I asked Kali if she could tell me about Shelyn. Judging by her eagerness to tell me about Shelyn she must not be too upset about the tattoo, although I have to wonder if that would change if she knew about the others. We shared a kayak so that Kali could tell me about Shelyn on the ride out to stony one-eye’s funeral boat. Shelyn is another fascinating god but the path a Shelyn is just not for me. The love and beauty from within make some sense but I just don’t understand why the bodies displayed at the Gorum temple are not considered art. Kali tried to explain but I just didn’t get why it was not considered art.

We arrived at the funeral boat only to find a dummy double where stony one-eye should have been. We found some type of creature that Qatana says was some type of undead. I couldn’t see anything but the others told me he was nasty. Radella was pretty beat up so I provided her some healing. This was actually the first time that I have had to heal Redella and I suspect that it won’t be the last time. At least it was Redella I had to heal and not Kali, Etayne, or Anavaru.

On deck the others spotted boats approaching with Ninjas. While Sparna, Radella and Qatana found treasure and started filling the back of holding I went on deck to help the others. Once again Kali and Etayne made their big plans with Nihali dropping fire from the sky. I reminded Kali and Nahali to stay up high if they want to stay out of the path of the arrows that we will be shooting.

Kali did her stone call and we all start firing arrows. Even with the invisibility potions enough arrows were fired by us to kill them all before they reached the boat. Olmas said some stuff about allowing the last one to surrender but the last Ninja just said

“We are the shadows of the night. We surrender to none. And we won’t be the last to come for you.”

Olmas and Kali looted the bodies of the Ninjas still in the boats, the other Ninjas sunk down into the water out of sight. The rest of us went down to the treasure pile and kept putting more treasure into the bag of holding. Whether this is right or wrong we clearly should wait on selling anything until we leave Kalsgard. With this much treasure someone with the water breathing spell is going to look for whatever treasure makes it to the bottom.

The Ninjas attacking the boat makes me wonder if Helva is involved. She could have sent a message that we were heading to stony one-eye’s funeral boat. It is the only thing that makes since.

Kalsgard is an exciting new city to explore and the day started with such promise. Kelda has finally made it home and she said her goodbyes. I am glad that we could assist her on the journey home but I will miss Kelda.

Someone decided that we should split up to improve our chances of locating Fynn. The others were deciding who was going where when I overheard Koya and Spivey talking about going fabric shopping. I was really tempted to go with Sparna and Radella to the undercity but I can’t just let Koya and Spivey go out without someone to protect them.

I said “I will go with Koya and Spivey to make sure they are safe”

Spivey rejoiced “Oh good Ivan can help us carry the fabric back to the caravan”

I thought a trip over to the Amber quarter to do some shopping didn’t sound all that bad. We rounded the corner onto a street that was obviously the beginning of a long row of city blocks congested with shops and cart vendors. The first shop right in front of us was a fabric merchant and I thought what great luck. We entered the fabric shop and I watched as Koya and Spivey excitedly looked over every piece of fabric in the shop. It seemed to me that they had narrowed it down to a few choices. The way they were talking it was just a matter of deciding which one to buy.

I enthusiastically said “That’s great you found exactly what you wanted at the first store”

Koya looked into my eyes and calmly said “oh you are such a dear. We can’t just buy this without seeing what the other merchants have to offer”

I counted 22 shops just on this block alone most of which did not sell fabric but that did not stop Koya and Spivey from enthusiastically looking to see what special treasures could be found within every shop and cart on the block.  As we moved to the next block it was painfully obvious that we were going to run out of time in the day long before we run out of shops. But to my surprise the second shop on this block was the shop that Koya and Spivey found material that they fell in love with. Two of the fabrics that they picked out looked the same to me.

When I said “aren’t these two fabrics the same?”

With Koya on one side of me and Spivey on the other I am pretty sure they both said something about the hue and maybe the something threading being different. I just nodded my head and kept quiet. I was prepared to carry there treasures and move onto the next shop when I heard

Koya enthusiastically exclaim

“We must find a new outfit for Ivan and there are so many wonderful clothes here for Ivan to try on.”

Spivey enthusiastically responded with “oh yes there are so many wonderful colors”

The whole situation instantly spiraled out of control. Clothes were everywhere as Koya and Spivey with the help of the shop keeper kept finding new exciting Shirts and pants that I just had to try on. I have never seen two people so excited about clothes and apparently I needed to enjoy the whole experience. The dressing room quickly became crowded as the three of them barged in and started to stage even more stuff from the back room. I couldn’t even get one set of clothes on before Koya was handing me a new set of clothes to try on. I couldn’t tell if I was putting on the same clothes or new ones as they all looked the same to me. I was pulling off one set of clothes and putting the next set of clothes on as fast as I could and I still couldn’t keep up with them. At least I was out of sight from the door and front window, although some privacy would have been nice.

After what felt like days of trying on clothes we finally reached the end. I looked up to see Koya and Spivey looking through the pile of clothes.

I heard Koya say something like “I kind of like the one with those purple things in it”

Spivey responded with “That was pretty but what about the one with the green hue”

Koya responded with “Oh I like that one too. Maybe Ivan just needs more than one set of new clothes”

I watched as Koya laid out clothes on the table in front of her. I could see that they were debating between clothes that I swear were the same. It is then that I noticed they had laid out 7 sets of clothes and that there was a huge pile of clothes on the other table. The shop keeper emerged from the back room once again with even more clothes. I watched as Koya took one of these new sets of clothes from the pile of clothes that the shop keeper was carrying.

I almost jumped out of my skin when Koya exclaimed “This is it. These are the clothes for Ivan”

Spivey responded with “Oh yes those are perfect for Ivan”

I looked over at the large pile of clothes that I had just tried on and wanted to cry but I calmed myself, took a deep breath, and proceeded to put hopefully these last set of clothes on. It felt a little creepy having the three of them impatiently watch me dress.

I heard Koya say “Oh yes this is definitely Ivan”

Spivey responded with “I love the way the colors contrast with his eyes”

Shop keeper added “Oh yes the clothes are wonderful. Ivan I think you are really going to enjoy these new clothes. These two have wonderful taste.”

I heard the Shop keeper also say “Would you like to wear them or should I wrap them up?”

I quickly responded with “I will be doing stuff later that would likely ah stain the clothes so wrap them up”

I thought we were once again done in this shop when I heard Spivey say “Qatana could use some new clothes too”

Unfortunately Koya responded with “That’s a great idea.”

I just wanted to get out of this nightmare. The two of them quickly pick up 3 darkish purple outfits that looked the same and started debating which one to get Qatana. During this lull I asked the shop keeper about Fynn. To my surprise Fynn was a regular customer of his and the shop keeper provided me with directions to his house. By the time I had finished getting the directions to Fynn’s house Koya and Spivey had picked out an outfit for Qatana. That bitch Qatana! It is not fair that Qatana didn’t even have to try on any clothes. They should have taken Qatana shopping so that she can have the full shopping experience.

We paid for our new treasures and as we headed towards the door I overheard Koya and Spivey talking with the shop keeper.

I shuttered when I heard the shop keeper say “Oliva’s two blocks down always has the best jewelry and she will have the perfect jewelry to match your new fabrics”

Shop keepers are without question the evilest people on the planet.

As we exited the shop I noticed someone watching Koya. It seemed very odd that he would be doing such as poor job of hiding this fact. It was then that I noticed Radella and Sparna were nearby and they also noticed this person watching Koya.

I whispered to Koya “Koya we have someone that is following you. I need to get you back to the inn to keep you safe. Sparna and Radella are also very nearby so they will help.”

I led this guy down an alleyway and then started heading towards him. In his attempt to get away he ran right into Radella and Sparna. This guy was hired to follow us. He was actually given descriptions of everyone in the group including Ameiko. We told him to leave one last note and then go back to his life. He provided us with details on how to find the barrel

We decided it would be best if I went with Radella and Sparna headed back to the inn with Koya and Spivey.

I said “Koya, Spivey I want to thank both of you for picking out these new wonderful clothes. It is still not safe but I really need to go with Radella. Can you both please go back to the inn with Sparna.”

Radella and I started to follow this guy but as soon as he was clearly not heading to the barrel we instead headed to the location of the barrel. It was very obvious that someone had recently taken the barrel. If they can watch us without following why would they need to hire people that obviously are not trained to follow anybody? Someone seems to be playing a game with us. It was then that we decided that we needed to get back to the Inn. Radella and I made our way back to the Inn.

Ivan and the temple of Gorum

We arrived in Ullerskald last night and today headed off to see the temple to Gorum.  It was fascinating to see that in the template of Gorum they honor great Ullerskald warriors by hanging the corpses of their combatants as trophies. I had never thought about doing this but it does send a clear message. The others moved on past the display but I stood there enjoying the moment. With the smell I am not sure if I would want to eat lunch here, but it is still interesting.

Kali seems to like the tree and the water. It is cool that there seems to be some type of magic keeping the tree green year round even in the cold of the northern winters but I found myself caught up in the enjoyment of learning more about the beliefs of those that follow Gorum. Walking through the gallery with the portraits of hero’s it was quickly obvious that all of the hero’s had impressive armor (a lot of them with spikes) and metal weapons. I expected an axe here or there but did not find anything with a wooden handle. Some guy in fancy armor and fancy clothes was walking by so I asked him why everyone is using swords and what is up with the armor.

He very politely said “The iron god and those the follow this path view strength and determination over fame; battle is the true calling of those that follow Gorum. The true believers forsake non-metal weapons and armor.”

I said “I have been having these dreams about going into battle in a breastplate and carrying a glowing greatsword that was adorn with a symbol that until today I had not realized was the symbol of Gorum. Actually the sword looked just like the one in the picture.”

The man said “Well the greatsword is the favored weapon of Gorum. Maybe you are destined to be one of us.”

I said “I tried to get a longbow made from metal in Magnimar but all of the bow makers just told me it was not possible. Do you have people that can create a longbow out of metal?”

The man said “I am not aware of anyone ever asking for a longbow to be made out of metal. Following ones true path is not easy and sometime sacrifices must be made.”

I said “So I get the whole metal armor thing now but what is up with the spikes”

The man said “The metal spikes are part our devotion to Gorum. I can arrange to have one of our priests initiate you into the faith. Clearly Gorum has guided you too us. Not everyone has the great skill to be a warrior or a cleric but I am sure there is a place here for you.”

I started speaking without thinking “I could never be a cleric. The whole having to decide each day which spells you can cast. I prefer to just cast the spell when I need it rather than having to decide in the morning which spells I am going to use today”

I stopped talking when I noticed that the man was looking at me with a surprised look on his face.

I said “I have to go and for the record Kali is the one who guided me here”

The man said “Clearly you are not ready yet. We will be here when you are ready”

I headed back to the Caravan and waited there for the others to return.