Belessa's Journal (Savage Tide Campaign)

[Moonbeam]

Here is the log of our savage tide campaign. It’s from my character Belessa’s perspective. All opinions expressed in this journal are those of the fictional character and not those of her much-less-chaotic-neutral player. :) Also, I am not the DM of this campaign, so be aware that some of the information presented here might be erroneous or incomplete.

*** Also, if you’re playing that campaign or think you might do so in the future, read this thread at your own risk, as it will contain some SPOILERS. ***

The campaign takes place in the Forgotten Realms, in the Chult Peninsula, in the year 1375. The DM told us that our characters had met shortly before the adventure at a festival in a small town which had gotten attacked by enraged wild animals. Our characters had saved the day, and learned to fight together there, and earned some respect for each other (well… as much respect as CN characters can have for one another :) ).

Here is a short description the characters that make up the adventuring party simply known as "TROUBLE":

Belessa Darkwave (CN Female Human Cleric of Umberlee)
This stunningly beautiful, but cold-hearted woman was born far to the north, in a city called Westgate. She grew up in poverty, and started her adult years working as a prostitute. She later became the lover of a powerful pirate lord and cleric of Umberlee named Stalman Klim. Over the next few years, she was introduced to the worship of Umberlee and lived the good life as a feared pirate. Eventually, though, Stalman Klim and the other Slave Lords were overthrown by adventurers, and Belessa herself was slain. She was later resurrected by one of her other lovers (she is not a faithful woman…), a powerful warrior named Dolmord, and fled far to the south with him. By that time, though, she had fallen in disgrace in the eyes of Umberlee, due to her defeat. She became pregnant with Dolmord’s child. Dolmord later disappeared during a pirate raid, and is believed to be dead. The priests of Umberlee in Calimshan, where Belessa was staying at the time, assisted her when she delivered her son, but sacrificed him to their evil goddess. Belessa was later reinstated as a (novice) priestess, but was left emotionally scarred that Umberlee had required such a horrible sacrifice from her. She recently arrived in Sasserine, where, thanks to her high charisma, she’s been appointed as her church’s representative in the Dawn Council.

Raguhl (CG Male Lizardfolk Barbarian)
Raguhl was born on the Isle of Dread. As a young teenager, he was saved from certain death by Larissa Vanderboren, Lavinia’s mother. She brought him back to Sasserine, and he’s been acting as a servant and bodyguard to her family from that point, until recently. Despite his fearsome appearance (a 6’10”, 420 lbs scaled monster with long claws and fangs), Raguhl is actually a rather gentle soul, only resorting to violence when those he cares about are threatened. He is very loyal to Lavinia, and takes part in the adventures more to keep an eye on the rest of the not-so-honest group, than out of real appreciation for them. He craves the taste of human flesh, and has been known to devour some humanoid enemies after defeating them. Raguhl is a member of the Church of the Whirling Fury.

Lagaan (CN Male Human Rogue)
Operating mostly in Shadowshore, this small, cunning man is a skilled burglar and archer. Lagaan is a member of the thieves guild, and of another, even more secretive organization.

Sparkilo “Don’t Call Me Sparkie” Rashi (CN Male Elven Wizard)
Spoiled son of a family of elven nobles from Sasserine, Sparkie is an arrogant and selfish person, but also a brilliant one. Always dressed in flashy clothing (embroidered with runes representing his own name in draconic), he also wears expensive-looking, but very cheap jewelry. As a child, he was outcast and bullied by the other children due to his low charisma, and now bears a strong desire for revenge against anything that annoys him. He loves to be the center of attention and making stuff go boom. Sparkie belongs to both the Witchwardens and the Dawn Council.

Tyria Bramblefoot (CN Female Halfling Bard)
This charismatic and clever little woman comes from a family of merchants living in Sasserine. Her parents and numerous siblings can often be relied on by the group to sell, rent, buy or smuggle all kinds of goods. Tyria is a member of the Seekers.

Kanyakumari (Human Ranger)
This character was only present for the first game of the campaign, and later left the group.

Ulfgar (CN Male Dwarf Fighter) [Not present in the first few game sessions]
This dwarf mercenary was initially hired by Sparkie’s parents as a bodyguard. Since the past few weeks, though, he’s become a full-fledged member of “Trouble”. Ulfgar’s favorite hobbies include drinking, fighting, murdering unconscious prisoners and opening dungeon doors when the rest of the group is busy with something. Strangely enough, he seems claustrophobic, and becomes pale and starts to sweat when he goes underground. Ulfgar is a member of Zelkarune’s Horns.

[Moonbeam]

The first game starts during the evening in the Azure District. Belessa and Raguhl both live in small apartments in the same building of this relatively poor neighborhood.

Tarsakh 1st, 1375

I spent the evening downstairs, at Raguhl’s. He’d invited me to celebrate his birthday. I was surprised to see that he’d also invited the rest of the people who’d fought by our side in that little village, when the animals had been driven wild and attacked us a few days ago.

Tyria Bramblefoot, the little Halfling fence, was there, and she seemed to be conducting some business transaction with Sparkilo Rashi, the arrogant and pampered son of a rich elven family – who had shown some skill with magic during the fight. Again, he looked like he’d spent a lot of time grooming in front of his mirror. The light reflecting on the fake gems of his tiara was almost blinding me. That tall ranger was also there – Kanyakumari – though he didn’t say much all evening. And there was that little ferret Lagaan, too.

The food and drinks Raguhl had to offer us in his dingy little apartment were quite plain. I could see that Sparkie clearly felt they were below his standards, and he mumbled a half-assed excuse to leave early. I asked him to stay, only to prolong his discomfort. He then rambled on about his own birthday and how fantastic his parents would make it – like the hundred and one birthdays he’d had prior to that.

I smiled at this, because he also works at the Dawn Council, like me, and I’ve heard that his parents are actually just trying to politely get him out of the house.

During the evening, we also realized that we’d all received the same letter from Kora Whistlegap, a servant of the Vanderboren family. Apparently, they have a tricky task they need us to do – sounds like they heard that the six of us managed to control the situation back in that stinking little village a few days ago. So it looks like we’re all going to dine together again at the Vanderboren manor! A definite improvement from Raguhl’s hole.

The letter didn’t say what they want to talk to us about. But Raguhl told us that the family leaders, Verik and Larissa, had died about a month ago when one of their ships burned down. I learned that Raguhl himself had been a servant of that house until recently – to pay back a debt of honor he had to them for saving him and taking him away from the distant island where he’d been born. He still seemed pretty shaken up about their deaths.

After that, the party got even lamer, so I headed upstairs and went to bed.

Tarsakh 2nd, 1375

I left work early today to get ready for the dinner at the Vanderborens. I took a boat to the Merchant District and walked to their manor. It was a beautiful gothic three-storey building, adorned with gargoyles and statues of capering nymphs along the roof. The wall all around the property kept it private from the hubbub of the hectic Merchant District. This is a nice place to live in. Nicer than my miserable little hole in the Azure District. This is the kind of place I should be living in!

It was already dark by the time I got there. A servant let me in and directed me to the dining hall. I took some time to look around as I made my way there. The place was beautifully decorated. The Vanderborens obviously had good taste, and they had decorations from many different parts of the world. They must have been quite wealthy. As I passed by a gorgeous gold-framed mirror, I caught a glimpse of myself.

I thought I’d made myself look good back in my apartment, but now, in the middle of the noble manor’s elegant splendor, although I’d done a great job with my hair, I found that my dress looked cheap, plain and too revealing. It is so frustrating that I can’t even afford decent clothing with the pathetic amount of money I get paid for serving at the Dawn Council! I hope we’ll be able to get more assignments from the Vanderborens to leech some of their money. I really need to at least get a decent wardrobe again. Oh, I had such gorgeous gowns back in Starmantle!

I shook myself out of admiring my own reflection and made my way to the door. Just as I got there, it opened, and I found myself facing what looked like a group of adventurers. There was a half-elf dressed in leather armor and carrying a sash with many daggers. Next to him were a dark-skinned dwarf in robes, carrying a spear, and a chubby woman in purple robes, with a moon-shaped tattoo on one of her cheeks.

I didn’t recall seeing them in the city before. For a moment, we just stood there, staring at each other. Then the two men stepped back to let me pass, but the fat b$@$+ kept standing there, trying to look scary. Finally, a fourth adventurer showed up behind her. He was tall and handsome. He wore a polished breastplate and carried a bastard sword on his back. He asked the cow to step aside to let me pass. I curtsied and winked to him as I entered the dining room.

They left and closed the door behind them. I saw that Raguhl, Lagaan and the others were already there. We were led into another room by the servant Kora (why did she have to have that stupid name?...) It was also beautifully furnished. A portrait on the wall showed a handsome bearded man, whom Raguhl told me was Vanthus, the son of the late Vanderborens.

We met the current head of the house, Vanthus’ older sister, Lavinia. She was a pretty girl, maybe twenty-two years old, with brown hair and an innocent expression. She looked sad and had a damsel-in-distress anxiety about her. If she’s as inexperienced as she looks, I think we’ll be able to milk her for a lot of money.

She told us that the group of adventurers I’d just met is called the Jade Ravens, and she’d sent them to the city of Cauldron to beg one of her uncles for money. Their leader, the handsome man, was called Talyn Kirtie. Lagaan also told me later that he knows the half-elf rogue. His name is Zan Oldavyn and he’s a bastard.

It turns out that Lavinia’s parents were actually pretty terrible at managing the estate’s finances. They left their kids some pretty hefty debts to take care of. Sadly for poor little Lavinia, both the signet rings they owned, which allow access to the family vaults under the castle, were lost. The only one she might have gotten her hands on was on their last remaining ship, the Blue Nixie, which was moored on the northern docks of the Merchant District. The innocent little girl, though, had naively paid the 100 platinum pieces’ docking fees to Soller Vark, a ruffian working for the harbormaster, without any witnesses to back her up. So obviously, when she later came back to claim the ship, Vark simply said he never received the payment, and the Harbormaster denied Lavinia access to her own ship – which ironically contains the signet which would allow her to access the vaults for the money to pay, again, the docking fees, this time with a witness.

So little Lavinia offered the six of us 200 gold pieces each to get back the 100 platinum payment, and “investigate” the ship and find out what that bastard Vark is doing with her ship. She guessed he had some ulterior motive for keeping it.

Raguhl got all worked up over Lavinia’s tale of woes, slammed his big scaly fist on the table, and swore another stupid kind of blood oath to her, before we could even begin to haggle over the price. Idiot! Lagaan and I looked at each other and he rolled his eyes.

Before we left to get out weapons and armor from our respective homes, we discussed our strategy. Lagaan told us that the harbormaster was called Kaltar Islaran, and was the head of the noble family in charge of the harbor. He probably trusted his man Vark, so it was no use going to see him. It seemed we’d have to sneak aboard the ship and try to look quietly for the bag of money and the signet ring.

We met around an hour later on the northern docks of the Merchant District. I was now wearing my studded leather armor (I had never used it in a fight yet since I got it tailor-made), my shield, my spiked gauntlet and my trident. I’d also brought a javelin, which I’d strapped at my back. Just in case.

It turned out that the Blue Nixie wasn’t at the docks anymore. A grizzled old sailor showed us that it was now moored a hundred meters out in the water, to the north. He said he’d heard some strange noises coming from the ship the previous night.

All right, so we needed a rowboat to get to it, right? So the old guy offered to rent us his for a few hours, for a gold piece. But he was willing to negotiate the price. All I had to give him instead was a kiss; I gave him a good wet one, and we got moving.

Raguhl, Lagaan and Kanya swam ahead of us, to get behind the ship and climb aboard unnoticed when we reached it. I was in the rowboat with Sparkie and Tyria. Sparkie is perhaps the lamest rower I have ever seen. We crept forward at a turtle’s pace. Eventually, I had to give him a hand for us to get to the ship before the sun came up!

We got hailed at about a hundred feet. Tyria and I tried to convince them of some wild lie about us being from the city watch, but they didn’t seem to buy it. They weren’t THAT dumb. Still, we managed to get close enough that Sparkie was able to use a charm spell on one of the sailors. He threw down a ladder and we managed to quickly climb aboard.

But our plan really didn’t go well from that point. I heard a yell from the back of the ship – our three swimmers had been spotted. Also, Soller Vark, an ugly, scarred black-skinned man, showed up, and was furious to see us aboard. We tried again our bogus city guard story, but he just yelled at his sailors and ordered them to attack us.

Then it all happened very fast. I managed to gut the closest sailor with my trident, and sent him tumbling down below deck through a trap door. Vark managed to throw Sparkie overboard. Meanwhile, Tyria started telling the funniest joke ever. It strangely lifted our spirits in the fight. I saw from the corner of my eye that Raguhl had managed to climb up the anchor chain and was rushing two sailors in the back, killing one instantly. He took a nasty hit from another one, and went into a terrible rage, roaring, and tearing the second sailor to shreds with his claws.

Seeing that all of his sailors on deck were dead or charmed, Vark yelled to “abandon ship” and “burn it all”, probably for the benefit of more sailors below deck, and he turned around and dived overboard. Two more sailors came up on deck from the trap door, and followed Vark into the water. Raguhl, still growling in rage, jumped after them.

Sparkie had managed to climb back up. I went below deck with him, his charmed sailor, and Tyria. We saw that a great number of cages were stored in the cargo hold, all of them carrying colorful, exotic animals. We then understood why the Blue Nixie was moored so far away from the docks – they didn’t want the city watch to hear the sounds of the contraband animals they were carrying.

One lone sailor was trying to light the ship on fire, but thankfully, he was pretty clumsy about it. Before we could act, the door to the largest cage was smashed open, and a very strange creature emerged. It looked like a strange thin spider with a big jaw. It was really big, at least as big as a man. It jumped on the sailor and bit his head off. We didn’t wait for the beast to turn to us, so we quickly climbed back upstairs. However, it then occurred to me that the contraband animals were surely very valuable. We couldn’t let the creature kill them all. So Sparkie managed to anger it by throwing a dagger at it (I have to hand it to him, the boy’s got good aim), and the beast rushed up to the deck to fight us. I managed to stab it good with my trident as it was climbing up, but it lunged at me with blinding speed. I tried to dodge, but it managed to catch me in its horrible jaw.

The pain! Oh, the pain! I haven’t felt something like this since… I guess since I gave birth. I thought it was just going to snap me in two. I could feel its many fangs digging into my abdomen. I heard Sparkie and Tyria scream. Sparkie muttered the words of some spell, but I don’t know what it did. I heard the thuds of arrows, and felt the creature reeling in pain. Lagaan, Kanya and Tyria had fired on it, trying to kill it before it killed me. I finally managed to regain enough senses through the haze of pain to let go of my trident, raise my spiked gauntlet fist and smash a powerful blow through one of the creature’s eyes.

I drove my fist deep, penetrating its head. I felt the beast gave a great shudder, and die. But it was still clutching me in its jaws. I was stuck! For a moment, I thought I might faint from the pain, but I managed to stay conscious and cast a healing spell on myself. Little by little, the pain faded, as Lagaan and Kanya carefully extracted me from the massive jaw. Now my beautiful studded leather breastplate is almost ruined because of that stupid beast! And I only wore it once!

Raguhl painfully climbed back on board. He was soaking wet, and carried Vark’s mangled corpse. After I healed his wound, he told us that he had also slain the other two smugglers who had jumped overboard. I laughed when I thought about how horrible their deaths must have been, swimming desperately in the dark waters, with the furious lizardman swimming after them like a shark, and the sudden agonizing pain of his jaws biting into their flesh! The two fools were now down in the depths of Umberlee’s domain.

Lagaan and Kanya had also shot down Sparkie’s “friend” who had tried to flee using our rowboat. It looked like we’d killed every one of the smugglers. All in all, a very good night!

I’m pleased with the others. I had my doubts at first, but they seem capable of handling themselves in a fight. Looks like they’re the right kind of people for me to stick with and do more well-paid missions for little Lavinia. Even pretty boy Sparkie showed he can be useful after all.

After praying to Umberlee to take the souls of the sailors we had just killed, I joined the others in the search of the ship. We gathered the money and arsenal of the smugglers. Sparkie found a secret compartment in the captain’s bedpost, which contained the Vanderboren signet. Tyria found Lavinia’s bag of platinum. We also found a strange letter about a list of magical creatures facing either sunrise or sunset. I wonder what that’s all about.

[Moonbeam]

Tarsakh 2nd, 1375 (continued)

Note: Tarsakh is the month of April in the Forgotten Realms

When we inspected the hold more carefully, we saw that half of the animals had been eaten by the spider-creature’s rampage. There were twenty caged animals left. None of us were sure how much we could sell the critters for, but Tyria suggested we let her family, the Bramblefoots, who are merchants, take care of selling them.

We decided to bring the Blue Nixie to the docks right next to the residence of the Bramblefoots (or is it Bramblefeet?), in the merchant district. It seems that I’m the only one with sailing experience in the whole group, so I explained to the others what to do. I took hold of the rudder and started steering the ship toward the west. It didn’t go very well at first, I guess they hadn’t understood my instructions, and I saw that that wimp Sparkie wasn’t doing anything at all. I had to yell at them a bit to get them to work, but once they got in the rhythm of things, we made good progress.

After we’d docked, Tyria went to speak with her family. It was the middle of the night. Soon enough, her father showed up, a weasel-faced Halfling with gray hair, along with a few slack-jawed midgets who were introduced as Tyria’s brothers. Tyria introduced us to her father, whose name is Bremel Bramblefoot. He offered us a decent price for the animals, and had them carried to their storage room next to the house. We also sold him the smugglers’ weapons and armor.

Then, Raguhl and I went to return the rowboat to the old guy. Then he walked back to the ship to sleep there, and I headed back home. I was so tired…

Tarsakh 3rd, 1375

I got up late today. I was still exhausted from last night’s activities. But the sight of the big purse of gold lying on my nightstand as I woke up put me in a good mood.

I washed up, repaired my torn studded leather armor with a mending spell, and headed toward the Vanderboren estate. I got there around noon. I met all the others there, and we told Lavinia how things had gone. She was thrilled that we’d managed to get her ship, her money, and her signet ring back. Kanyakumari told us he had to return to his village, so he left, but at the same time, Sparkie showed up with a dwarf named Ulfgar, whom his parents had hired as his bodyguard.

Ulfgar seems like a strong fighter, but he stinks of ale.

Then we went to pay off the Harbormaster, this time getting a receipt, while that lazy Sparkie stayed behind at Lavinia’s, no doubt to flirt with her. Then, we all went, including Sparkie and Lavinia, to the castle where I work for the Dawn Council. Ulfgar seemed strangely nervous as we entered. I’m not sure why. We all walked down into the lower levels of the place, deeper than I’ve ever been. We reached the hall of the vaults, with several doors, all identifying one of the city’s noble houses. We opened the Vanderboren’s, which led to a tunnel, at the end of which a locked door blocked the way. Lavinia opened it with her signet, and we entered a very strange circular room.

There was a pillar in the center, with an 8-pointed star on the ceiling, just above the pillar, with one of its branches pointing toward the door we’d just entered, which was the only exit out of the room. There were seven carvings on the wall, each showing a monster with a different number of eyes. After discussing among ourselves, we identified them as a Roper (1 eye), a Red Dragon (2 eyes), an Aboleth (3 eyes), an Ettin (4 eyes), a Spectator (5 eyes), a Gray Render (6 eyes), and a Giant Spider with 7 eyes. There were also snake bas-reliefs on the walls. When I got close to the pillar to examine it, two of the snakes came to life. They seemed to be made of brass rings, and were difficult to damage with our weapons. One of them almost killed Sparkie, I had to rush to heal him just in time. Raguhl, Ulfgar and I did most of the damage to both snakes, but Sparkie finished both of them off with magic missiles when he regained consciousness.

Of course, that little twitt Lavinia had done nothing in the whole fight, and was fawning all over the “heroic” Sparkie. Idiot.

After we’d recovered from the fight, we discussed about the strange creatures with a different number of eyes, and compared those with the creatures listed on the parchment we’d found on the Blue Nixie. We finally understood that we had to use the number of eyes of the creatures of the parchment, to rotate the pillar in positions to match the number of eyes of the creatures in this room. The sunrise/sunset just indicated whether we needed to turn clockwise or counter-clockwise.

We unlocked the mechanism, and several large chests appeared. Much to everyone’s disappointment, though, most of them were empty, although one contained about 3000 gold pieces, some kind of journal written in Druidic, and some letters of debt to the Vanderboren family (totaling in the tens of thousands of gold pieces). I cast a comprehension spell and read part of the journal. It seemed to have been written by Lavinia’s mother, and described a place called the Island of Dread. I remember Raguhl telling me that he was born there. The journal contained maps, itineraries, descriptions of Ulman ruins where savages live, about a place called Farshore, and useless information about fauna and flora crap that only a Druid would find interesting.

Lavinia obviously seemed flabbergasted by the meager amount of money left in her parent’s vaults, especially after she’d paid us. She’d offered us to become her personal retainers for a sum of 100 gold each per month, but it doesn’t look like she’ll be able to pay us much unless we get those who owe her money to reimburse her. I’m kind of looking forward to doing that, though, it sounds like fun. It would remind me of the good old days.

Again, Lavinia thanked us profusely for helping her recover her own money from the vaults. It’s like she worships us for just doing our job for the money. She almost had tears in her big dumb eyes. She’s so sweet that she sickens me.

Looking more closely at the chests, some of the others said that it seemed like someone had been here recently and taken a lot of money out. Seems that the place hadn’t been like that when the Vanderborens died. We headed back up and talk to the guardians of the vault. They informed Lavinia that her brother had visited the vault six times in the last month. Basically, since their parents mysteriously died. Which meant he had a signet too…

Talking more with Lavinia, we learned more about her beloved brother Vanthus. When they were children, they’d always acted like the spoiled rich brats that they were, and played stupid pranks since they had nothing better to do. They got caught after the last big one that they did, involving some potions of love poured in the city’s water reservoir (though I admit that does sound fun). The city guard got really annoyed, and their parents had to put them in a controlled environment for a while. Lavinia was sent to the same boarding school that Sparkie went to, while Vanthus went to stay at one of their uncles’ plantation south of the city.

Apparently, Vanthus didn’t appreciate his stay there, and became much more bitter and sinister. His uncle’s plantation mysteriously burned down, killing the uncle in question and many of his servants. Then, Vanthus’ parents died when their ship burned mysteriously. And in the month that followed, Vanthus visited their vault six times, leaving it almost empty.

I asked Lavinia if she saw a pattern anywhere, but of course, the little moron had complete faith in her brother’s innocence. Then we decided that if we all searched the city, we’d have a chance to locate Vanthus and question him, to get to the bottom of this. I remembered having heard a rumor that Vanthus had taken a lover in the Azure District, so I figured I’d start there.

I headed back to the Empty Grave tavern and talked with Marinus, the owner. He confirmed that he’d often seen Vanthus in the tavern, in the company of a woman called Brissa Santos, who was apparently a known thief in the city. Neither had been seen in the past 2 weeks. I relayed this information to the others, and we decided to take a few days to search the city for Vanthus.

Tarsakh 12th, 1375

OK, so I haven’t been searching too hard lately. I had some duties to take care of at the Dawn Council, and then I had to help with some ceremonies at the Temple. Those stupid b!$!!es there can’t do anything right. I showed them how to really worship Umberlee, like Stalman and I used to do it in Starmantle. Idiots. They think they can get into our mistress’ good graces by performing some half-arsed ceremonies. They clearly have no idea how to really please her.

That skinny whore Edvanda’s been on my case all week, as nosy as usual, asking me where I’d been. Stinking hag. If she keeps pushing me, she’ll be the next thing I sacrifice to our mistress. That’ll shut her up all right.

Yesterday, I bought a new armor. I really like my black studded leather armor, it really makes me look amazing. I love how jealous Edvanda looks when she sees me in it. That armor’s all right to wear to walk around town, but I think now with all of Lavinia’s business, we’re going to get into dangerous situations more often. I’m going to need some heavier protection.

I heard that the others have been searching the city while I was working. We’re meeting every evening in that little scroll-making shop Sparkie opened up. He’s all excited about making tons of money making scrolls for other people. Dumbass. He should focus on finding Vanthus, instead. Once we get our hands on him, we’ll know what he’s done with the rest of the Vanderboren’s fortune. What else could be more important??

So far, all the information we learned is through Tyria, she heard that Vanthus had operated in the Shadowshore district with a smuggler called Penkus, and they bought a boat and some lamps and ropes from a local shop called “It still floats”. They apparently seemed very excited about something.

Tarsakh 13th, 1375

Today, I thought I’d hit the jackpot while asking questions in the Sunrise District with Raguhl. A dirty, nervous-looking half elf named Shefflon Rosk approached us. He said he’d been hired by Vanthus to take part in his smuggler’s operation on Parrot Island, but after working there for only a day, he’d gotten scared of the ruffians Vanthus associated with, and had left. For 10 gold pieces, he accepted to lead us there.

We met at Sparkie’s shop as usual that evening. Everyone was there, including Shefflon. We took two rowboats out to Parrot Island, which is close to Shadowshore, and has thirty foot cliffs on all sides, except the east. The vegetation there is very lush, and there are of course a lot of parrots cawing noisily. We found one of their boats hidden in the vegetation. Shefflon brought us to a clearing in the center of the island, with a stone trap door leading down into a dark pit. Then he left us and headed back to the boats. He was sweating like crazy, and seemed scared of his own shadow. Real brave guy, we thought.

We opened the trap door and looked inside. There was a 5 foot square shaft leading down into the darkness, with a rope attached on one side. We all climbed down, somewhat slowly. Damn, my new armor is sooo heavy! It was a real pain to climb down, I thought I’d fall and break my neck.

Once we reached the bottom, Sparkie cast a light spell on Raguhl’s axe, after those morons argued for like five minutes about what to cast the light on. We looked around, and it seemed we were in a place similar to both a mine and a basement, with brick walls and timbers criss-crossing on the ceiling. Finally, just as we were about to start exploring the tunnels, we heard something from above. We saw the rope being untied and fall down at our feet, and we heard a mocking voice call down “Hey down there, he’s a present for you!” And they dumped the corpse of Shefflon down at us. His throat had been slit.

We could dimly see that the man above was Vanthus. Sparkie managed to charm him, and asked him to throw us another rope. Unfortunately, there were other people above, and they managed to prevent Vanthus from helping us. We heard them arguing from where we were, and eventually, they closed the trap door and rolled a big boulder over it. We were trapped!

But every cloud has a silver lining: at least I got my 10 gold pieces back from Shefflon’s corpse.

[Moonbeam]

We walked forward in the dark, cramped tunnel. The air was damp. There was mold growing on the crumbling brick walls. I was at the back of the group. The tunnel ended in a door, which led to another short corridor where we found three more doors. Some of the others whispered that they could hear some strange moans ahead. Ulfgar and Raguhl opened one of the doors, and were attacked by some strange undead pirates with vicious snapping jaws.

I heard a sound behind me and saw that another door was opening, and another such zombie was coming out. Lagaan and I attacked it. Those things were nasty. My trident barely affected them, puncturing their flesh uselessly. Finally, we managed to kill all five of those things, though, mainly thanks to Ulfgar and Raguhl’s axes. Ulfgar lent me his dagger after the fight, so I could stand a better chance should we run into more of these things.

We continued to explore the tunnels under Parrot Island. In one of the old rooms, we found broken remains of crates and barrels. This place had probably been a pirate hideout, a long time ago. Then we found a large cave with a small underground lake, which must have been connected to the sea. We saw the remains of an old wooden dock, and it seemed that the back of the cave had collapsed. Maybe it had once been open to the sea.

Five very large and vicious crabs came out of the water and attacked us. We managed to slay them without too much hassle. We also found the corpse of a pirate, floating in the sea water. It bore a strange tattoo of a dragon’s head coming out of a pack of lotus flowers.

Lagaan found a tunnel that seemed to lead to a potential escape route from the dungeon. While he explored it, the rest of us continued to explore the old halls. We found more of those strange snapping zombies, who were led by a Huecuva which wielded a golden symbol of Mask, and used it to cast spells: probably the remains of the long-dead local priest. I informed the others that such a creature can only be harmed by silver or magical weapons. It clawed Ulfgar, infecting him with a black disease. Raguhl managed to grapple it, and Sparkie and I were able to destroy it using our magic.

Lagaan came back soon after and told us he thought he’d found a way out – a door at the end of the long tunnel. However, we decided to finish exploring the old tunnels before leaving. After Tyria and I had healed everyone’s wounds, we continued our exploration. Ulfgar (who seemed strangely nervous in this confined space), spotted a secret door which led to a well-isolated, very dry and dusty room which contained three treasure chests. Lagaan was able to pick each lock, and we found some ancient pirate treasure! 7500 copper pieces, 1500 silver pieces, 1000 gold pieces, two bags full of small gems, 8 potions, a unicorn-horn wand and a small jade coffer containing cushions on which rested a brown gem, with a small scroll identifying it as a gem of earth elemental summoning.

We took the chests out of the room and slept in an old abandoned barracks, because Sparkie, Tyria and I were feeling very depleted of our magic.

Tarsakh 14th, 1375

The next morning, Lagaan led Sparkie, Tyria and Raguhl down the escape tunnel. Ulfgar and I stayed back to guard the chests, since our heavy armors prevented us from swimming in the tunnel which was partly submerged in some places. Apparently, Raguhl was able to swim all the way out, because some time later, he showed up from behind Ulfgar and I, yelling at us for not hearing him call down from the top of the shaft we initially climbed down. He’d managed to swim and walk all the way back to the top of the island to the shaft, and throw down a rope. Apparently, Vanthus and his associates were gone.

Once we were all together again, the others told us that they’d found a disgusting putrefied corpse, seemingly eaten by a disease that had turned his skin entirely black. Ulfgar swallowed nervously. The man, who vaguely resembled the description we’d heard of Penkus, also had a tattoo of a dragon’s head on lotus flowers, and carried a parchment in his bloated hand:

“These bones once be Penkus, so if ye read this, I be dead, laid low by the sick put on me by that foul dead thing! Yet even as me flesh wracks, know t’was not the dead what brought my doom, but one I ’til recently called friend!
Vanthus Vanderboren! Your name fills me with bile! Spineless, treacherous cur! You left us here to die. You left ME here to die, after all what I done t’get ye into th’Lotus! Yer designs on the Lady of the Lotus be clear now, and with meself out th’way… Ye doubtless move even now into power, slithering amid my vacancy like a hermit crab in a shell, or a cadaver worm to still-warm-flesh. CURSE UPON YE!”
To th’one what reads this. If ye have any honor or vengeance in yer soul, know that Vanthus must die. He dwells in the lap o’th’Lotus, below th’Taxidermist’s Hall. Seek him there, but ‘fore he dies he must ken it were Penkus what undid him and guides yer killing blow.
And if, by some cruel spite of fate, it be ye what read this, Vanthus, know with certainty I wait for ye in Hell, where I intend t’rival the pit itself in yer torment!”

Charming.

But thanks to Raguhl’s escapade, we managed to climb back up the shaft into the sweet daylight, and bring the three treasure chests with us. We took the remaining rowboat back to shore.

We spent the rest of the day selling our treasure to Tyria’s father, getting Ulfgar cured at the temple of Umberlee, and informing Lavinia of the latest developments. She felt so sorry for Ulfgar that she even paid for his cure.

Though Lavinia still refused to believe her brother’s guilt, at least now we knew where to look for him: below the Taxidermist’s guildhall. Sparkie knew where that was, somewhere in the Sunrise district.

Tarsakh 16th, 1375

We rested in the past two days. Sparkie’s been identifying the potions we found, and we split them up among ourselves.

[Moonbeam]

Tarsakh 17th, 1375

What a day today…

We spent the whole day enquiring around town about the Lotus Dragons. Ulfgar, Raguhl and Sparkie came with me, but we didn’t learn much. The whole city seemed to be abuzz with just the latest piece of news: harbormaster Kaltar Islaran has been slain two days ago! Apparently, his mutilated body was found, having been gruesomely eviscerated. I think we’ve got a pretty good idea of who’s behind this… I’ll get back to it.

We ended up in a tavern in the Champion District, having followed a lead that turned out to be bogus. Lagaan and Tyria met us there. They’d had more luck.

Lagaan had been approached by a mysterious man named Sensha, who seemed to have heard of our fight against Soller Vark, his men, and the spider-like creature which he called a Rhagodessa. The man said that his employers were interested in buying live dangerous creatures, and that they would pay a good price if we were to return another Rhagodessa. He mentioned that the Lotus Dragons were notorious smugglers, and kept several strange beasts as guardians in their lair. He also mentioned that Soller Vark worked for the Lotus Dragons.

Tyria had heard that the Lotus Dragons were the newest thieves’ guild in Sasserine. Apparently, they’re very organized and have existed for several years, but only recently made a push in the open. Rumor has it that they’re linked to a noble family and their leader is good and has a lot of money. Could this be Vanthus? Or are they linked to another family besides the Vanderboren? I suspect they are behind the murder of the harbormaster. That way, they can put someone they like in charge of the dock traffic, which will greatly facilitate their operations. It makes perfect sense.

Lagaan also mentioned that some of his guild mates have disappeared recently. Looks like the thieves of the city are fighting each other…

We stopped by Lavinia’s manor and told her the latest news. She still doesn’t believe that her brother’s turned bad. Stupid girl.

Night had fallen. We decided that tonight was a good time to go scout out the surroundings of the taxidermists’ guild. At first, we wanted Lagaan to go alone, but then, we decided to all go, in case he ran into trouble.

We walked down the streets in the darkness. Lagaan had gone ahead, to be more discreet than us. After a few minutes, we heard some noises behind us, and we saw two men struggling. We ran to them and saw that one of them was Lagaan, and that he’d managed to badly wound the other one. Apparently, Lagaan had noticed that the man had been following us. I healed him, and Sparkie managed to charm him.

The man spoke with Sparkie and revealed much useful information. His name was Brillo and he worked for the Lotus Dragons. He considered Sparkie as a friend and told him that “The Dragon Lady” would want to talk to him. He also said that there were many ways to enter the lair of the Lotus Dragons: one of them was a well in the plaza behind the taxidermists’ guild, but it brought down to a pit where a huge crocodile lurked. All around the plaza, several warehouses contained secret trapdoors leading down into the guild complex. There was also an entrance from the water, but it was apparently guarded by “nasty fish things”. He also spoke of a man named Kersh Reftun, the Lotus Dragons’ third-in-command, who loves to torture people, and hates elves and dwarves.

Sparkie managed to “convince” Brillo to lead us all to Dead Dog Alley, behind the taxidermists’ guild. We entered a warehouse, where Brillo opened a secret trapdoor. We went down a ladder into a small room with two doors. The walls were of damp bricks, and wooden beams supported the ceiling. The doors were ajar, as if the inhabitants didn’t dare close them completely, because the humidity made them swell. I’ve also seen that done in some of the cheaply constructed temples of Umberlee. Brillo also opened a secret door, which he said led to Master Kersh and the jails.

While we were contemplating what to do, Lagaan noticed one of the Lotus Dragons’ men watching us from one of the doors. Raguhl rushed to fight him, and I followed him. The big lizard-man killed the Lotus Dragon easily, but further down the tunnel stood another one. We rushed him, but as we fought him, he called for help, and two more showed up. Raguhl and I quickly dispatched them all. We saw that the room behind them seemed to be a haze-filled guard room. As I healed Raguhl’s wounds, we heard sounds of battle from behind us: our companions were apparently in trouble.

We both rushed back into the first room, and through the secret door down a short tunnel, which led us into a torture room. Another thief lay bleeding on the ground, Tyria standing over him with a bloody rapier in her hand, and the other one was wobbling on his feet, holding a branding iron against Ulfgar, but he seemed to barely have the strength to wield it. Apparently, he was a formidable fighter, who was rendered useless by a powerful ray of enfeeblement thrown by Sparkie. Raguhl helped Ulfgar grapple the man, and I easily tied manacles around his wrists. I also noticed that Sparkie’s new friend Brillo had been slain during the fight (by which side, I do not know).

After healing Ulfgar, we questioned the man who’d been wielding the branding iron. He was a sinister-looking man, who was wearing a fancy shirt, which Ulfgar said had protected him like a chain shirt in battle. The man was, as we had guessed, Kersh, and he spat insults at Ulfgar and Sparkie. I managed to get some information from him: the so-called Dragon Lady is none other than Rowynn Kellani, the daughter of Heldrath Kellani, the current matriarch of that noble house. Rowynn is apparently the heir to that house, and has some kind of magic at her disposal, though the brute Kersh could not, or would not, be more specific as to what kind of magic it is. Her mother, rumor has it, was herself once an adventurer, although in this region, the line between adventurer and pirate is a fine one indeed. She apparently bought her noble title with her ill-gotten gains.

In the distance, we could hear a large dog or wolf barking. Kersh would not tell us what it was. We knocked him out, and stripped him of his magical shirt. As soon as it came off of his body, it turned back into a chain shirt. We’d heard about those magical glamered armors, which can change appearance. Sparkie tried it on, but it was too encumbering for him. I decided to try it on, and have fun with it. I went to change in Kersh’s bedroom, first removing my banded mail. I put on his chain shirt, which felt heavy and hard as a normal chain shirt, though it was very well made and did not hamper my movements much. I concentrated and was able to change its appearance in several different ways. Amusing. I decided to settle on something sexy, that compliments my beautiful figure. “A chainmail bikini”, I think Tyria called it? I also created the illusion of a Lotus Dragon tattoo on my belly, just to tease our hosts a bit more.

We searched Kersh’s room and found a chest containing gold and flensing knives. On his bed was a strange leathery skin, which after further investigation we guessed had once been that of a dwarf. Charming…

On each of the Lotus Dragon goons, we found a potion which we think is of cure light wounds, as well as two small vials of urchin poison, as well as about ten gold pieces.

We continued our exploration of the Lotus Dragon guild house. We found a tunnel with five empty cells just past the torture room. We locked Kersh in one of them (we’d found the keys in the torture room). We left him gagged and still bound by my manacles.

In the room at the end of the jail hall, five more goons and a large worg were waiting for us. We ran back to the torture room and fought the worg there, which we managed to defeat without too much difficulty. The goons tried to shoot arrows at us, but they were pathetic shots. We then returned to their room, where they had retreated, and Sparkie blasted them with a color spray. We easily finished them off after that.

We’d managed to just knock out the worg, and we squeezed it inside a large cage that we’d found in Kersh’s room. Ulfgar thought he could please his guild masters of Zelkarune’s Horns if he brought the beast back to them.

I shivered as I thought of Zelkarune’s Horns and the brutish Malbrecht, which I haven’t seen in many weeks now. I am not looking forward to his return. Stinking thug.

We then continued our exploration of the subterranean complex. We found barracks with twenty-two beds, a storage room with barrels of rum, a large cave leading to an underground lake, a trapdoor leading up, a practice room, a wooden throne on which Sparkie carved his initial, and a room guarded by a chained Rhagodessa.

Seeing the beast made my heart beat faster in fear, as I remembered the assault I’d been submitted to a few nights before. But I struggled to maintain my calm. I don’t think any of the others noticed my moment of weakness. I’d retreated to the back of the previous room, and as they were discussing how to engage the beast, I heard noises from outside the room: more Lotus Dragon goons were attacking us!

We turned and fought then, and again, Sparkie managed to stun most of them with a powerful color spray from his wand. We easily finished off the others.

Then, Raguhl, Ulfgar and I fought the Rhagodessa in a narrow, cramped curved tunnel. Thankfully, the beast attacked Ulfgar instead of me, and as it had in my case, easily managed to grapple him and bite him with its vicious fangs. While Raguhl was hacking at the thing, and Ulfgar was desperately trying to unsheathe his dagger, I healed the dwarf. Raguhl finally managed to slash the beast enough that it lost consciousness from the pain. I stabilized it with a spell, and Tyria healed Ulfgar’s wounds with the healing wand that we bought a few days ago. We tied up the Rhagodessa, in case we want to try to bring it back to Sensha.

The room that the beast had been guarding was a council room with a table and several chairs. There was a map of Sasserine with small colored flags pinned on it, and a board with text written on it with chalk. Most of it was in common, but a part was written in a language none of us spoke. I could have deciphered it with a spell, but I felt almost completely drained of energy, so I did not. Sparkie and Tyria copied on parchment the text written on the board.

We also examined the map of Sasserine. There were many blue flags, many of which were in the Kellani estate, and some in the city watch garrisons. There were a few red flags, notably in the Islaran estate. There were also a few gold flags, some in the Vanderboren estate, some in the Kellani estate, and some in the city watch garrisons.

The chalk messages that we could read mentioned ship routes in the harbor, including the names of ships that had been “holed”.

Once Sparkie and Tyria had finished transcribing everything from the board and map on paper, Sparkie removed flags from the map, took the map from the wall, rolled it up, and put it in his pack. He also erased the contents of the board, and wrote a big “S” on it. Cute.

Meanwhile, Ulfgar had gotten bored and had gone forward and run into an undead bugbear, which he managed to kill. For some reason, when we got there, Raguhl was singing loudly to him.

[Moonbeam]

Tarsakh 17th, 1375 (continued)

Another thing I didn’t mention yet is that on the board, all our names were written in capital letters. Below the list was a simple message: “Vanthus, fix this now!”

We continued to explore past the corpse of the undead bugbear that Ulfgar had slain. A blade trap hit Ulfgar – Lagaan had failed to see it. Past that, a tunnel led to Rowynn’s chambers.

We met her there, along with her pet, a small green-scaled dragon with no wings. She was a tall, young red-haired woman, about my size, dressed in leather armor and carrying a rapier and a hand crossbow. I noticed two fabulous golden earrings glimmering on the sides of her face – she obviously had the money to make herself look good. OK, I admit it… I thought she looked great. But of course, she was fully aware of how she looked. Arrogance dripped from her condescending gaze and voice.

The b+%@* put on a good show of being in control, even though she admitted she knew we’d slain many of her men. She said she had a business proposal for us, and led us back to the meeting room. I sat down in front of her, but the others remained standing in a tense and awkward silence. Sparkie seemed particularly petulant, and had retreated to the doorway, as if he didn’t even want to be in the same room as the rival noble.

Rowynn told us she was aware that we’d done a lot of damage in her lair, and that we were working for Lavinia, and said she was prepared to offer us even more money if we’d do a job for her instead. Her tone wasn’t quite friendly, though, she sounded like she wanted us to feel that she was in charge. Tyria and I tried to find out what job she had in mind for us, though we also made it clear that she was in no position to boss us around.

It was very hard to talk to her, mostly because some of the other less charismatic members of our group were talking at the same time, like impatient little children. Ulfgar and Sparkie asked her stupid questions, went on tangents, so those scatterbrained idiots prevented me and Tyria from hearing what the lady had to propose. Finally, Sparkie started ranting on about the Kellani family not being real nobles, only commoners having bought their title.

That did it. Rowynn blushed a furious shade of red, stood up and drew her rapier, as she ordered her little dragon – Gut-tucker, I think she called it – to attack us.

The fight was quick and brutal. Rowynn seemed like a capable fighter, I’ll grant her that, but she was outnumbered and outmatched. She tried to jump over the table to get to Sparkie, but Ulfgar and I tipped it over, and she fell back on her arse. Once she was down, Ulfgar, Lagaan, Raguhl and Tyria proceeded to beat the crap out of her. She barely managed to stand back up and drink a potion which turned her into a cloud of gas, but at the same moment, Ulfgar’s axe connected with her abdomen, and she returned to her solid form and collapsed in a bloody heap.

Meanwhile, Raguhl had gotten very angry for some reason, he was roaring in whatever language his race speaks, and brutally hacking at the little dragon with his axe. Soon enough, the creature joined its mistress on the blood-covered floor.

Lagaan managed to drag Rowynn’s body to me. She wasn’t pretty anymore. She was a bloody mess. She wasn’t dead yet, but almost. I managed to stop the worst of her bleeding with a little spell. I didn’t heal her too much, though. I wanted her to remain unconscious. And I wanted her to ache real bad when she woke up… in prison. We tied her up and gagged her.

And that, my dear diary, was the end of the pompous Dragon Lady.

We spent the next few hours searching her chambers. We found some gorgeous jewelry, beautiful statuettes, as well as many bottles of great-smelling perfume. Some of it was really amazing stuff; it was some magical perfume that smelled absolutely divine. Tyria and I divided up the regular perfume between us, as well as the magical one. It smelled so good, I thought it might even cover Malbrecht’s disgusting stench.

Tyria and I went through her wardrobe, too. She had many beautiful gowns. Oh, to be a noblewoman! One in particular caught my eye; it was a scandalous dress of shimmering lavender silk. It looked like it’d fit me. I held it up in front of me as I looked at myself in the mirror. Tyria told me that I looked faaaaabulous. I was lucky that Rowynn and I were about the same size, because I got to keep all of her pretty dresses for myself. Poor little Tyria. Maybe our next mission will be to raid the lair of an evil Halfling pirate-queen!

The furniture in her chambers was also gorgeous. Sparkie really liked it, and said he’d like to bring it back to his shop.

We also found some books in her chambers, on various subjects, mostly erotica. We chuckled as we rifled through them. And I giggled to myself as I saw she’d been reading the book called “The Pirate who loved me”, because I was currently reading that same book myself!

What can I say, I’ve been lonely these past few weeks…

We also found many love letters under Rowynn’s bed. They were from Vanthus… I must say that they were very interesting to read, and Tyria and I went over them avidly. Among the romantic and often lusty declarations, we also found that Vanthus admitted murdering his parents, and then being furious that Lavinia, whom he saw as a weakling (for once, Vanthus and I agreed on something), had been the one who inherited their wealth. He also wrote that he’d used Shefflon to lure us to Parrot Island (I can’t believe that nitwit managed to fool me!!), and then killed him. We chuckled as we read how he believed that Sparkie had saved his life in the past. Then we saw that he mentioned sabotaging more ships docked in Kraken’s cove. He seems to greatly enjoy burning down ships and then looting the remains.

Oh, and he also admitted to bribing the dock guards and workers to help him load tons of alchemist’s fire into his parent’s ship before killing them.

We kept searching. The b#$!+ had even had her own splendid bathroom down in these tunnels. We found a secret door in her bedroom, which led to a secret treasure room with three chests. Lagaan found most of the traps, even though he got hurt by a spike trap on the floor that he didn’t find until it got triggered.

One chest just contained an elaborate trap, so it was completely useless to everyone, except Lagaan who got all excited at seeing it, and decided to bring it back with him. The second chest contained a wealth of precious stolen goods. This must have been what the Lotus Dragons burglars had stolen from all over Sasserine in the previous months. A quick count by Lagaan’s expert eye indicated that, overall, the stuff was worth over five thousand gold pieces.

The last chest contained many little silk pouches which each contained small gems. There was another small fortune in there (about eight thousand gold pieces). There was only one catch: each little silk bag was marked with the Vanderboren’s crest. So technically, they belonged to Lavinia.

We all looked at each other, and grinned. The same question was on everyone’s mind: “Would Lavinia really miss this treasure if she didn’t know we found it?” We discussed how to handle that part of the treasure, and finally reached a compromise: we’d take half of it for ourselves and give her back half. That seemed a reasonable deal. That way, we didn’t feel like total scumbags.

I chuckled to myself as I thought of what Stalman’s reaction would have been at giving Lavinia half of the treasure. I think he would have puked. Mind you, I also would’ve argued to keep the whole treasure to ourselves in the old days… I guess I’m growing soft as I get older… And I guess maybe, deep down, I do feel kind of sorry for poor little Lavinia.

The only one that didn’t seem totally happy with our decision was Raguhl. I guess the simple-minded beast would have just as well given everything back to Lavinia. Maybe the math of dividing up the gems seemed too daunting for his little brain?

We spent the last few hours of the night getting the treasure, furniture, and captured beasts out of the underground complex. Tyria had managed to contact her father, who’d come back with two carts to carry all our stuff. I have to say that I’m very happy with that arrangement. The Bramblefeet have really been very useful in the past few weeks.

On the way back, Tyria ran into a frightened kobold female who begged for mercy. She said her name was Churtle, and that she’d been the cook and poison maker for the Lotus Dragons. Tyria mercifully spared her life.

To our surprise, when we went back to fetch Kersh in his cell, we found that some sicko had slit his throat with a knife. How strange! He hadn’t freed him, nor the worg in the cage in the next cell. And the cell had still been locked. So the assassin had managed to pick the lock, kill Kersh, and then lock the cell behind him when he was done. Very strange indeed.

(ooc: Ulfgar was actually the “sicko” who’d murdered Kersh in cold blood while the group was busy doing something else).

Then we noticed that Ulfgar was sweating even more than usual. He was probably getting very uncomfortable from his long stay below ground, so this time, we left for good, carrying with us the limp, bloody form of Rowynn.

We brought her to Lavinia’s manor, and we described most of what we’d seen down in the guildhalls to the young noblewoman. She became livid when she heard and read about her brother’s treachery. She thanked us profusely for returning to her (half of) the stolen treasure of her family, and she generously offered us 600 gold pieces back, each. We looked at each other, uncomfortable. Most of the others refused, but I accepted, assuring her, though, that I’ll use that money as a donation to my church, to ensure that her ships are protected from Umberlee’s wrath.

After that, we warned the authorities about what we’d seen below the Taxidermist’s guild. They sent a squadron there to investigate, but we didn’t have the strength to go back with them. We went home and crashed into our respective beds, and slept.

Tarsakh 26th, 1375

The last few days have been most interesting, and busy. I am only now taking the time to write about them.

We learned that the squadron of guards sent to clean up what resistance remained into the Lotus Dragons guild hall ran into three more raghodessas (which killed five guards – ouch), as well as other nasty guardian beasts. We also learned that the taxidermist had fled the city.

We had handed Rowynn’s battered, bound half-naked body (as we’d looted her goodies) to the authorities. I heard that the Kellani family was now in a very unfavorable position in the city. Our actions gave their political enemies a lot of ammunition to try and shoot them down. I must say that I greatly enjoyed those sessions of the Dawn Council. Rowynn’s mother defended herself, but I could tell that she was furious and desperate.

Sparkie and I are now much more respected in the Council. Me, because of my eloquence, and Sparkie, because his lineage and membership in the Witchwardens. I believe that all of my companions also gained reputation from this latest mission, Raguhl in the Church of the Whirling Fury, Tyria with the Seekers, Ulfgar with Zelkarune’s Horns, and Lagaan I assume with the thieves’ guild (although he, obviously, never talks about it).

This gain of prestige also came with an increase in power. I believe that Umberlee has taken note of our victory over the Lotus Dragons and smiles kindly upon us. I’ve felt in the past two days that her power flows stronger within me, and that I’ve gained back yet a bit more of my former powers. The high priestess mentioned my actions in yesterday morning’s rites, and has given me the title of Initiate. Edvanda was obviously furious, as it now means that we’re of the same status.

Likewise, I think my companions are all more competent fighters now that they’ve had more real-life experience. And Sparkie has been researching spells feverously for the past few days, learning more complex ones thanks to his connection with the Witchwardens.

Tomorrow, the Dawn Council is organizing a banquet in our honor. I can’t wait!

(ooc: The characters are now level 3)

[Moonbeam]

Tarsakh 28th, 1375

The banquet last night went very well.

Our group has been decorated with the Spire of Sasserine as a reward for uncovering and eliminating the threat of the Lotus Dragons. We were also offered one hundred and fifty gold pieces in reward. We all went to the banquet, with the exception of Lagaan. It was a lavish affair, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Many of the city’s most prominent noblemen and merchants were present, so our names are now much better known. I’d like to think that I also made a good impression on behalf of our group of uncouth brutes, and I made sure to tell our story in the best possible light (though from time to time, I could hear from the other side of the room my elven companion shouting out his own name of “SPARKILO!” No doubt making it seem like he single-handedly defeated every single monster we’d actually met down there – as well as a multitude of imaginary, and much more frightening, ones.)

I was also wearing Rowynn’s most beautiful dress for the occasion. I also got noticed because of that… Two lords in particular spent some time with me last night.

Lord Neldrak Lorchester is a wealthy divorced man. His family has prospered for a long time in Sasserine, dealing mainly in lumber and ship building industry. Neldrak is an older gentleman with a reputation of being canny and scheming. He reminds me a bit of Stalman, in a way.

Avner Meravanchi also couldn’t keep his eyes off me the whole evening, even though he went to the banquet in the company of that skinny b%+%!, Onissa Vilulis. The Meravanchis are minor nobles, but they are quite famous in Sasserine for their love of decadent and extreme entertainment. I’m quite surprised that Onissa was lured into Avner’s arms – her and her holier-than-thou attitude… Always treating me like she’s so much better than me. Stupid whore.

I played both of these men and kept my options open. They both could give me what I need.

Just as I was about to retire for the night, though, I faced an unpleasant surprise: Malbrecht was back in town, and had taken a boat to the banquet island. He had heard about my group’s exploits and was waiting to take me back to his place on a boat. I think not! Now that I’ve started to recover some of my powers, and that I’m in a successful band of adventurers and making money again, I fully realize how low I’d sunken to go along with this disgusting beast. I’d been laid so low after my resurrection in Starmantle, the death of the two men I loved, and the sacrifice of my son, that I didn’t feel worthy of living anymore…

Umberlee has given me a second chance, now. I will not waste it with the likes of Malbrecht Rivencowl, that stinking pig. May worms feast on his entrails…

He became loud and angry when I turned down his invitation. For a moment, I thought he was about to hit me, but then Lord Meravanchi showed up, with Onissa at his side. He immediately took my defense, and Malbrecht was forced to leave the premises, seething with anger. He punched a stone wall, making his knuckles bleed, and then he punched one of the gondola drivers, took his boat, and took off in the night.

Lord Meravanchi was most courteous in ensuring that I had endured no physical or emotional distress from the brute. My triumph was complete when he left Onissa on the docks, and took a boat with me to bring me home personally. I wish a painter could have made a picture of the look on her stupid face when Avner left her behind. I would like to look at it every day.

Myrtul 7th, 1375

We’ve been resting for about twenty days since our victory over the Lotus Dragons, but now Lavinia’s getting restless and urging us to continue our search for her traitorous brother. According to the letters he’d sent Rowynn, Vanthus was headed for a place called Kraken’s Cove with someone named Brissa Santos.

Some of us have been enquiring around town regarding this mysterious place. It’s not easy to get people to talk about something other than the Festival. Apparently, one year ago, not long before I came to Sasserine, a group of powerful adventurers from Cauldron saved the city from the assault of a horde of powerful undead creatures. Those monsters had come from the Spire of Long Shadows, to the southeast of Sasserine, which was somehow related to a demi-god who’d risen in power in the Moonsea, far to the north, even farther to the north than the Dragon Coast, where I am from.

Sister Demnari, from the church of Umberlee, is a wise old woman, older even than the High Priestess. I sought her counsel, and she told me what she knew about Kraken’s Cove: it is on the shores of the Blood Bay, to the east. That body of water has received its name from the blood-red water that sometimes flows into it, from a river that comes from the Spire of Long Shadows. An evil taint corrupts these waters. The area that separates the Blood Bay from Sasserine is composed of deadly swamps where evil tribes of Bullywugs, primitive frog-men, dwell. The coast in that whole area consists of steep cliffs, so it is quite tricky to land a boat. Moreover, treacherous coral reefs protect Kraken’s Cove from any approach by ship, unless the captain knows of the difficult way to navigate through them.

Apparently, the Crimson Pirates – may they be forever cursed – know the way to reach Kraken’s Cove, and have been using it as a hideout for their contraband for many years. A network of caves there makes it the perfect place for such an operation.

Sister Demnari told me that the high cartographer of Sasserine, Sloren Highwall, might have maps of the coral reefs at his disposal.

Meanwhile, Ulfgar had learned some useful gossip from fellow members of Zelkarune’s Horns. Vanthus had hired the Black Shield mercenary company (about 12 men strong) and they had left town around Tarsakh 14th. And Malbrecht had apparently hired what remained of the Lotus Dragons (perhaps half of their initial force – we killed the other half in our raid) and left town with them around Tarsakh 28th, possibly heading for Kraken’s Cove.

Could they be linked to the Crimson Pirates? I don’t know for sure. The Crimson Pirates are also well-known, and feared, in Sasserine. Just as the Slave Lords once were, on the Dragon Coast, before those meddling zealots and that accursed dragon ruined everything.

Raguhl spoke up passionately of his hatred for Malbrecht, who had imprisoned some of his kinsfolk to sell them in slavery. His eloquent, heartfelt tirade generated a series of yawns and bored looks from the rest of our exceedingly empathetic group. I, of course, said nothing of my own involvement with Malbrecht. It is far too embarrassing to reveal to these idiots who never miss a single occasion to make snide remarks at my expanse. Especially that small, stinking, snot-nosed sewer rat Lagaan. Sometimes, I just feel like skewering him with my trident.

We had lunch at Lavinia’s today, and had the joy of meeting the Jade Ravens again. They were seething with jealousy at the fact that we’d been the ones who had gloriously defeated the Lotus Dragons, while they’d been playing the roles of mere messengers to Cauldron. It is quite clear whom Lavinia trusts as being the most capable group. She confirmed it again today by giving us the mission to go after Vanthus at Kraken’s Cove, while the Jade Ravens were to remain in Sasserine and guard her (which is to say, sit on their asses all day and play cards).

I spoke a little bit with Tolin, their leader, who seems infatuated with Lavinia. It is quite the spectacle to watch. And Liamae, that fat-bottomed, dumpy girl with the badly-drawn tattoo covering half of her hairy face, was fawning over Lagaan. I guess she likes poor, smelly, short, ugly men. I think they make just a wonderful couple.

In the afternoon, I went to visit the high cartographer, a puny gnome who of course had no useful map of Kraken’s Cove. I teased him about his knowledge of geography, and he ran off at some point, with the intention of checking up on a totally wild story I’d made up about a new town to the north. Idiot.

When I came back at Lavinia’s, Tyria announced that her father had negotiated with the captain of a dwarven ship, the Soul of Winter, to bring us to Kraken’s Cove. The trip should take about 12 hours. We decided to leave that very night.

After gathering our things and packing some supplies for the trip, we got on board. It was a sturdy dwarven ship, not built for speed, but well-made, obviously by dwarven hands. The crew consisted of eight shield dwarves, from far to the north, and their captain was named Wulfgar (you have to appreciate the great diversity of dwarven names) Windrune. We agreed to pay them 20 gold per day, paying 100 gold in advance to ensure that they’d wait for us for 5 days before leaving. The plan was for them to drop us a few miles north of Kraken’s Cove, to avoid the coral reefs, and we’d cover the rest of the way on foot, which would also allow us to approach the lair in a stealthier manner.

Myrtul 8th, 1375

We awoke early the next morning, to the invigorating smell of the brisk ocean wind. Ulfgar was proudly standing on deck, obviously much more at ease on a rocking ship than underground. Quite the strange dwarf…

It was a beautiful sunny day, and we saw we were now quite close to the coast. There were cliffs as far as our eyes could see, and above them grew a deep, luxuriant jungle. After some time, captain Windrune found a small beach between the cliffs. A rowboat took us to shore, and we started our trek through the jungle, with Raguhl in the lead. Apparently, he grew up in a jungle like this one, so he knows it better than the rest of us.

The heat was quite extreme, and I was happy to be wearing my chainmail bikini rather than something heavier, like Ulfgar’s banded mail. We walked through the deep undergrowth, and now and again one of us would slap themselves under the itch of a mosquito bite.

After an hour or two, as we were getting closer to Kraken’s Cove, it became obvious that something was wrong. The sounds of wildlife were all but gone, and we started to see corpses of small animals, birds and monkeys, on the floor. Most were horribly mutated, oozing green puss, and mutilated, as if they had been attacked by other animals. After a while, we also noticed a thick pillar of black smoke coming from the south: had Vanthus set fire to some boats at Kraken’s Cove already?

As we kept making our way south, we were suddenly attacked by a group of strange little monkeys. They were ferocious and moved with blinding speed, and seemed to suffer from mutations, with small tentacles growing from their sides, and too many fangs in their mouths. We managed to kill them all. Although they weren’t dangerous fighters, they seem to be very resistant to mundane weapons, and exploded in a splash of acid when killed. They also seemed possessed of a savage, unholy soul: just before dying, they tried to bite us with one last, powerful, frightening attack.

Once the fight was over, we caught our breath. It had been quick, but disturbing. And Ulfgar, who had been bitten during the fight, seemed paler than before. Could the monkeys’ bites have been infected?

We finally reached Kraken’s Cove, and a scene of destruction was revealed to us. We stood on a low cliff overlooking a small beach, near which several ships were docked, three of which were caravels. Part of the sea was covered in a layer of oil, and was on fire. All of the ships, except one, were also on fire. Although thick black smoke rose up to us, made us choke, and blocked our view, we could vaguely distinguish many bodies lying on the beach below us, unmoving.

We found a set of old wooden stairs climbing down to the beach, set against the side of the cliff. They creaked noisily and seemed badly rotten. We started the long climb down. It was very difficult. I am really not a lover of those kinds of acrobatics. Give me a good fight any day, but trying to balance myself on these slippery, rotten logs, with the boots I was wearing… It was an accident waiting to happen. I slipped and fell in the water below, and as parts of the stairway crumbled under us, Raguhl and Ulfgar also fell down with loud splashes.

We tried to swim toward the shore. Raguhl and I managed it without too much difficulty, but Ulfgar, in his heavier armor, could barely move. Suddenly, we heard a loud whooshing noise to our right, and saw that one of the fiery ships had broken free of its moorings, and was swept toward us by the current, threatening to smash us against the cliff side!

Luckily, I managed to swim fast enough to avoid it, and above me, I could see Tyria and Sparkie also racing faster down the stairs, to avoid the collision. In his hurry, Sparkie pushed past Lagaan, making him lose his balance and throwing him down into the water.

But thanks to Umberlee’s mercy, we finally all made it safe and sound to the shore, though some of us were quite wet.

Now that we were down on the beach, we got a better look at the bloody spectacle. There had obviously been an intense battle here recently. We could see about twenty corpses of humans, some dressed as pirates, some in black leather. We guessed that those had been members of the Black Shield company. The corpses were horribly mangled, as if they had been eaten alive by ferocious creatures, and some of them had their bones split open as if their marrow had been sucked dry. A few bamboo cages were also strewn on the expanse of the beach, all of them opened. Whichever animals had been kept in them had obviously escaped. The largest of them could easily have kept a horse, and Raguhl said that he could see the tracks of a raptor, a small dinosaur, coming out of it. There were also all kinds of booty discarded on the beach, broken crates, blood-soaked bolts of silk, cracked barrels whose contents had been spilt on the sand.

We then turned to the only ship that had survived the inferno. It was a beautiful warship with a wyvern design on the front, and a stylized wyvern tail on the back, shaped as if ready to strike. It bore the Crimson Pirate flag, and on its sails was drawn the sign of a wyvern, and there was a huge claw mark proudly kept intact on one of its sides. We read that it was called “The Sea Wyvern”.

We climbed aboard it and explored it. Nobody was around. It was a truly beautiful ship, well-built, and with plenty of space for crew and cargo. The wheel was even lovingly carved to represent twelve wyvern heads. I smiled as I caressed its smooth surface. This was truly a fine vessel, which must have served the pirates for at least twenty years. And it was unguarded… I felt a powerful desire to make it mine. But of course, a ship of this size takes at least eight competent sailors to maneuver.

We then returned to the beach and examined it further. The crates had been opened by sword strikes. On the floor, Raguhl saw tracks that looks liked giant frog feet. Bullywugs? And we all saw spots of yellow goo, which looked like where some more of these demonic monkeys had died.

As we were exploring the beach, we got attacked by three strange mutants, who seemed to be deformed pirates. Their skin was gray and their wide mouths gaped open, revealing long rows of shark-like teeth. Their limbs were too long, and had too many articulations. They wielded scimitars and attacked us with a savage fury. Again, the fight was quick but brutal. Just like the demon monkeys, they were resistant to normal weapons, and exploded into acid when dying, but apart from that, they were somewhat weak. We killed them all, and healed our wounds.

By searching the beach, we found a bag of saffron, and some porcelain that was worth a good price, as well as 3 magical potions. I also gathered the bodies of five of the Black Shield mercenaries together, and raised them as zombies with my magical wand. The mutilated corpses arose and turned to me, waiting for my command. A shiver of power ran down my spine. It felt so good to have so much power back!

Some of the others seemed a bit squeamish at seeing the bloody corpses walk around under my orders. Weaklings. They are tools to be used. We would be foolish not to.

There were two openings in the cliff wall, leading to the pirates’ lair. Sparkie also guessed that there was an underwater opening, based on the shape of the currents. We took the leftmost opening, with the zombies in the front. The cave walls were smooth, with cheap hooded lanterns hanging at 10 foot intervals along them. The floor was smooth sand, and the ceiling was about 10 feet high, with a few small stalagmites hanging down from it. It looked like a typical pirate’s cove, just like those Stalman and I used to control.

We came to an intersection. Raguhl saw tracks of the raptor heading to the right, and to the left, we could hear some insane laughter. We could also hear sounds somewhat like the rattling of metal cages, off in the distance. We turned left, and entered a large mess hall, where another gory display awaited us. At least six horribly mutilated bodies lay on the floor (it was hard to tell exactly how many, because they were THAT mutilated). A destroyed table, as well as some crushed barrels and crates, lay about the room. On a stone table lay another corpse, and around it, four more mutants were chopping off parts of his body with a large meat cleaver, and eating them.

They turned to face us, and another battle took place. One of my zombies quickly got destroyed, but Raguhl and Ulfgar each killed one of the mutants. One of them attacked Tyria, and it got blasted by some kind of fire cone that came out of Sparkie’s hands. The mutant wounded Sparkie, but finally, Raguhl finished it off, just after Ulfgar had killed the third one.

Again, some of us had sustained grave wounds from the acid splashes (not me, though – I stayed far behind this time.). Tyria cured everyone with her wand of healing.

[Moonbeam]

Myrtul 8th, 1375 (continued)

I am so tired as I write this… in my cabin on board of the Sea Wyvern… But I must write down the horrible events that have transpired today… In case something happens to me.

Earlier today, we continued our exploration of the caves of Kraken’s Cove. Next, we entered a huge cave where countless silk sheets were hanging from ropes to dry. Visibility was poor due to the obstructing sheets, but Sparkie managed to see some strange bat-thing crawling on the ceiling, and shoot it with magic missiles, but it survived and crawled off quickly and hid in the shadows. Then, we started exploring the room, with my zombies taking down the silk sheets. Soon enough, a mutated raptor, with tentacles protruding from its shoulders, attacked from the shadows. It rushed Ulfgar and wounded him. Around the same time, the bat-thing glided down from the ceiling to attack us.

The fight was short, but brutal. Ulfgar and Sparkie both got badly wounded, but we managed to destroy the beasts. The bat-thing, which turned out to be a kind of monkey with wings which Tyria called a Phanaton, almost managed to escape, but was spotted and killed by Raguhl, who had entered one of his dangerous states of rage. It amazes me that he has never yet turned on Lagaan and Ulfgar, despite their frequent jibes about his parentage.

After we’d recovered from the fight, we searched the whole room. A lot of the silk sheets were covered with some yellowish, stinky substance, as if a giant had used them to blow his nose. Disgusting. But at least a few of them could be resold in Sasserine. We also found a few books which were left open, as if to dry up. It really seems like the silk and the books were salvaged from a sunken ship. Those books were on a variety of subjects, from Lizardfolk cuisine to herbalism. One of them was a spellbook, yet only a few pages were still readable. Still, Sparkie was happy with the finding.

Further along, we found a cart in a tunnel. It contained the smashed remains of rum barrels, as well as the badly mangled corpse of a member of the Black Shield company. One of his fellows, still alive, but turned into one of those strange mutated Savage Pirates, attacked us, but we quickly dispatched him.

Then we entered a cave with the gory remains of three wolf-like creatures on the floor, with three more of these blocking our way. We engaged them in melee, and soon discovered that they were Krenshars: wolf-like predators that can retract the skin from their faces, the hideous sight causing their enemies to panic. Ulfgar, that pudgy sissy, ran away screaming like a little elven girl, until I calmed his spirit with a prayer. We then managed to kill all of the Krenshars, though Lagaan sustained grievous wounds in the fight, and was knocked unconscious by the acid splash when one died.

Tyria healed him, and he regained consciousness. So far, everyone except Tyria and I had gotten bitten by some of those creatures. Raguhl seemed unaffected, but the others were starting to sweat and seemed to really be getting sick. To make matters worse, they seemed to be under the influence of the primal chaos which had affected our enemies. They were starting to show disgusting signs of mutation on their bodies. Ulfgar had spikes of bone protruding around his neck. Sparkie had a frail little hand growing from his shoulder, and Lagaan was starting to grow a tail. Their wits also seemed dulled by the effect of the disease. Clearly, time was of the essence. They were all well on their way to degenerating into disgusting creatures. Well… More disgusting than they usually are.

We continued forward; we knew we had to get to the bottom of what had happened here today, and then return to Sasserine with all due haste to cure our companions of their disease. As we moved ahead, with a zombie in front of us as a decoy, the roars and noises of metal bars being shaken grew louder and louder.

We entered a trophy hall, dominated by a giant skeletal head which Tyria identified as a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Raguhl said he’d seen one before on that distant island he comes from. There was also a Sahuagin head, dragon turtle teeth, part of what seemed to be a Kraken’s tentacle, as well as name plates and figureheads from various ships, which had no doubt fallen prey to the Crimson Pirates over the recent years.

But I froze when my eyes stopped on one plate in particular: the Sun Sails. The ship that Dolmord had been on the last time I saw him in Calimshan. My mind reeled and I felt my eyes fill up with tears. Thankfully, the others were intently searching the room for treasure and none of them noticed me in my moment of weakness. I wiped the tears from my eyes and got a grip on my emotions. Now was not the time to get soft. But I can’t deny that in the back of my mind, I was going over every single body we’d run into so far, no matter how badly mutated it had been, and just trying to make sure that none of them had been him. But no, no, that’s not possible. It would be too horrible to contemplate. And that was over a year ago now. It’s just not possible. If he died, it was an honorable death, and his soul is now in Umberlee’s domain and under her protection.

(out of character: the ink is a bit blurry on some parts of this page, as if some tears have fallen on it as the text was being written)

Tyria also found an old leather-bound book containing some nautical charts of the area, including those of Kraken Cove! Finally! With this information, if I could get a decent crew over here, I could take the Sea Wyvern out of here.

A few minutes later, after having found a smaller cave where weapons were stored, and where Sparkie found some magical arrows, we came into the large cave from which the roars and metal noises were emanating from. Many iron cages were placed around the room. They contained a total of maybe twelve badly mutated people, as well as more mangled bodies. The mutants were all in a frenzied state, apparently very hungry, and they groped insanely in our direction when they saw us. Only one of them seemed to be in a state that was above that of a ravenous beast. He had obviously once been an elf, but was horribly mutated. I noticed that Sparkillo grew paler as he glimpsed the fate that lay ahead of him.

We managed to talk to that raving lunatic, who had once been an elven wizard called Jan. His ship had been captured by the Crimson Pirates about a week ago, and he’d been brought here. But a few hours ago, a wave of green energy had come from the south and driven a lot of the prisoners insane, and had also transformed their bodies. Those who had mutated had killed and eaten the others. Finally, we left him and the other prisoners to their sinister fate, not having the heart to ease their misery. We didn’t have the time, and didn’t dare run the risk of getting bitten again.

To the south of this place was the cave with the silk sheets, but in the tunnel connecting the two, we found a cave which had remained closed with a wooden barricade. We made our way inside, where we found some kind of lab that might have been used to brew poison. Many different kinds of fungi grew about the place. There was a small desk with books, scrolls and alchemical samples. The body of a gnome lay behind it. When I sent one of my zombies to examine it, it got attacked by a violet fungus we hadn’t noticed; however, my zombie destroyed it.

We examined the corpse of the gnome and he seemed to have been poisoned by the fungus. He might also have been affected by the green cloud, because when he died, he’d been reaching for two potions labeled “Lesser Restoration”, the same prayer I’d used to restore Ulfgar’s failing wits earlier on.

While we were examining the lab, I noticed that Tyria was putting a glass jar into her pack. The jar seemed to contain something intriguing. I asked her loudly what it was, and all eyes turned toward her. She turned a little bit red, and took the jar out of her bag and showed us that it contained a Mind Flayer in larva state, a rare find indeed. Sparkie showed much interest for it, and verbally chastised Tyria for keeping it from us. She replied in a heated tone, and the two started to argue like an old married couple. I chuckled when I noticed that the mutant hand growing from Sparkie’s shoulder was giving Tyria the finger.

We then resumed our exploration of the complex. We went through a small maze of rocks, in which another savage pirate ambushed us, but we dispatched him quickly. By now we were used to the routine, Ulfgar and Raguhl moved in and efficiently dispatched our foes, and then Tyria and I would heal their wounds after the fight. Sparkie was growing tired, and had run out of magical energy by then. We considered stopping for some rest, but in the end we decided to press forward despite his weary state, for we knew that we had to get our three companions cured as soon as possible. We had to get back to Sasserine, and soon!

I really need to buy a magical weapon, even though they are so expensive. It seems that a lot of creatures we’re running into are very resilient to mundane weapons. All but my strongest blows glance off their mutated hides. That, coupled with their acid splash, makes me all but useless in fighting them. Thankfully, Ulfgar, Tyria and Lagaan have magical weapons, and Raguhl’s colossal strength is such that even with a regular weapon, he can reliably inflict serious wounds upon them.

The next cave must have been the bedroom of the pirate leader. It had been beautifully furnished, although now, blood, gore and acid goo covered a lot of it. The mangled remains of a man in beautifully crafted leather armor were sprawled near the bed, surrounded by the gooey remains of five savage pirates. Apparently, the pirate leader had given them a good fight before dying. Using a detect magic spell, I found the pirate’s magical rapier under the bed, as well as a golden ring he’d been wearing: a beautiful golden band adorned with aquamarine gemstones. We also noticed that in one of the puddles of goo, there was a medallion with the Lotus Dragon emblem. Tyria also found some silver bars and some expensive red ink in the room.

We continued down the tunnel, and soon heard some sounds of fighting, and a female voice cursing. We entered a large cave with an underground lake. There were about a dozen puddles of acid goo, and six more of those mutated pirates were locked in mortal combat with a single, un-mutated person. She was an attractive woman with long dark hair, dressed like a pirate, and wielding a saber and a dagger. She was fighting with blinding speed, defensively, to keep them at bay. Though her skill was great, we saw that she was wounded, and growing weary. Evidently, she needed help. We rushed to her aid, and together, we managed to destroy the mutants.

After she’d had a chance to catch her breath, she introduced herself as Harliss Javell, who had once been the captain of the pirate ship called the Slippery Eel. I also introduced myself, as well as the rest of the group. We simply said that we were here looking for Vanthus. She cursed his name, saying that he’d apparently come here a few weeks, or days, ago, and had been waiting for an item she herself was carrying aboard her ship: a huge black pearl with mysterious magical properties. She also cursed the Crimson Pirates, who had apparently backstabbed her, forcing her to carry it on her ship.

Vanthus launched an attack, and his men, who had been waiting at the top of the cliffs with ropes tied to grappling hooks, climbed down and engaged the Crimson Pirates. In the middle of the fight, Harliss caught Vanthus in the act of stealing the black pearl. But as she intercepted him, he dropped the gem, which broke on the deck of the ship, releasing a thick cloud of disgusting green smoke and a sickening wave of green magical energy. Around them, many people and creatures were transformed into those horrible mutants, almost instantly. The rest of the fight became a hectic battle for survival. Harliss managed to avoid the cloud’s mutating effect, as did Vanthus. The remnants of the black pearl were kicked overboard during the fight. Vanthus and what remained of his men later fled the scene.

Harliss also told us that Malbrecht had also been present, there as Vanthus’ lieutenant for the attack, but she had heard him cursed at Vanthus, convinced he had been double-crossed by Vanthus. He wanted vengeance upon the Vanderboren family, and had left toward the swamps to gather a force of bullywugs, to storm the Vanderboren estate in Sasserine and kill “Vanthus” in his sleep… Of course, not knowing that Vanthus doesn’t stay there anymore. Malbrecht, as usual being the perfect idiot.

So now, we had an even greater reason to hurry back to Sasserine! Malbrecht is highly skilled at survival in nature. He can probably travel quite quickly through swamps, and so can Bullywugs. Clearly, they could get to Sasserine quite fast… We need to go there in time go save Lavinia…

She also told us that the master of this cove had been Captain Kigante, the corpse we’d seen in the previous room. He’d been working for the Crimson Pirates for a long time. He was Brissa Santos’ uncle; she had also been here with Vanthus. It’s probably through Brissa that Vanthus heard about the pearl in the first place.

Harliss then decided to leave. She declined our invitation to join the group. She suggested that Vanthus might be headed for Scuttle Cove, or at least that there might be some information on his whereabouts over there, but she refused to reveal its location to me, even in exchange for healing. B+!%~.

We searched one last cave before leaving. There was another underground pool there, near which a single humanoid form was crouched, eating a fish. We approached her carefully and saw that she was a mutated woman… whose features we somewhat recognized from a description we’d received in Sasserine: she was Brissa Santos!

She was babbling incoherently, wondering if Vanthus was with us, and if he’d come back for her. She said they’d come here together, looking for the pearl. Vanthus had promised to marry her, and that they’d have kids together and live in wealth thanks to the heist they planned to pull. But then, she realized that none of us were her beloved, and she savagely attacked us. She fought furiously, but we managed to gang up on her and grapple her. We tied her up, gagged her, and rolled her into a big bolt of silk. We then brought her, as well as some treasure, aboard the Sea Wyvern. We locked her inside a room, safely tied, with my three remaining zombies standing watch. Then, we climbed back up the cliff and started heading north. The plan was to bring the Dwarves’ ship here, and they could tow us out of the cove.

As we made our way through the jungle, we followed Vanthus’ tracks. According to Raguhl, he had about twelve men with him. They were heading due north. Along the way, we saw that they’d fought a few of the mutated animals. Eventually, the tracks led us to… the beach where the dwarves were supposed to wait for us. We were in for a nasty surprise. We found the bodies of a few dwarves, including that of captain Wulfgar’s. Of course, the dwarven ship was nowhere to be seen. So that scum-sucker Vanthus got away again, by stealing our ship!!!!!

I sincerely hope that when we do face him, he will not have the luck of dying a quick death, but rather, that I will have the chance to make him die slowly, and so horribly painfully.

Oh yes… I can think of a few choice treatments I could work over him. The kind of stuff that Stalman did to those who REALLY pissed him off, back in the day.

By the time I’ll be done with him, even Lavinia won’t recognize his body.

So we walked again through the jungle, all the way back to Kraken’s Cove. We were exhausted by that point, but we knew that the clock was still ticking, and that we had a long and arduous task ahead of us, for we now had no other option: we had to somehow navigate the Sea Wyvern out of Kraken’s Cove.

A decent-sized crew is needed to man a ship of that size, and I could not have imagined a worse one than the one I had at my disposal. Eight of them were mindless zombies. The others were even more inept, for they were the thick-skulled dimwits I am forced to call my companions. The disease was taking a heavy toll on the minds of Sparkie, Lagaan and Ulfgar. I didn’t have enough energy anymore to cure them, but I could tell they were having even more trouble than usual in concentrating.

Before we started the operation, I took some time to clearly explain to every one of them what task I would require of them. I tried to limit it to a few simple gestures for each of them. Then, we knelt on the deck of the ship and joined our hands in prayer to the glory of Umberlee, praying for her mercy. I held Sparkie’s sweaty hand in my right hand, and I was pleased to feel it shaking, and heard some real fervor in his voice. He was in the right state of fear to show proper respect to my great goddess.

Once the ceremony was finished, we looked upon the western sky, where tattered clouds were burning in the blazing crimson light of the dying sun. It was time to go.

I took the helm, with one zombie holding up the nautical chart in front of me. I shouted orders, and the others scrambled to obey. We proceeded slowly ahead, carefully. It was oh, so difficult. I had to use every instinct I have. Once, I felt that the hull scraped against a reef, but it didn’t get pierced because of my last-minute maneuver. Another time, we almost hit a reef when the southern wind picked up unexpectedly. With my heart pounding hard, I whispered a desperate prayer to Umberlee, who interceded in our behalf, and the wind changed at the last moment, saving our lives.

We made it, finally, we made it! We were on the open sea. We cheered and danced and hugged each other. We set sail toward Sasserine…

The way is slow, because of the crew’s inexperience. Twice now, we’ve been pushed back toward the open sea, delayed by hours because of a mistake one of the landlubbers did. We are all growing weary…

It’s now the middle of the night. It’s pitch black. We’re all falling asleep, and making more mistakes in the dark. We finally, reluctantly, decided to throw down the anchor and stop for a few hours. I’m just writing this down quickly before I go to sleep.

About an hour ago, we saw some distant lights on starboard. It’s the dwarven ship, I’m sure of it. And although my heart yearns to exact vengeance upon the traitorous dog Vanthus, I know we’ve no chance of catching up to him, not with this crew. And he’s headed for the outer sea. We need to remain on course to Sasserine.

Your day will come, little pyromaniac murderer… Your day will come…

[Moonbeam]

(ooc: the characters are now level 4).

Myrtul 9th, 1375

In the morning, we awoke on the open sea on our beautiful ship, the Sea Wyvern. Lagaan and Sparkie had suffered from the disease during the night. We’d locked them and Ulfgar up in separate cabins, in case they went crazy, but thankfully, they didn’t get affected so badly by the disease. Ulfgar actually looked ok, but Lagaan was barely coherent, and had two disgusting tentacles protruding from his pants. Sparkie’s mind was still all right, but he now had a puss-spewing tentacle growing from his other shoulder…

I used some Lesser Restoration spells on Lagaan to bring him back to a normal intelligence. Then, we resumed our naval journey. We made good progress today, everyone having gained sailing experience from yesterday’s maneuvers. At this rate, we should reach Sasserine tomorrow morning. Sparkie took the time to identify some of the magical items we’ve found in Kraken’s Cove. Of special interests were Slippers of Spider Climbing which Lagaan took, and a Ring of Swimming that was given to Ulfgar.

Myrtul 10th, 1375

The next morning, we found that Sparkie had suffered a lot from the disease during the night, but thankfully, Lagaan and Ulfgar’s condition hadn’t gotten worse. Sparkie drank the two potions of lesser restoration we’d found, and I cast two spells on him to make him regain at least enough of his intelligence that he’d be able to cast his spells.

We arrived in sight of Sasserine during the morning. There were fireworks and loud noises, and we then remembered that today was the Wormfall festival. We navigated to the docks near the temple of Umberlee, and left the ship there. I’d hidden my zombies in one of the small rooms, with instructions to keep an eye on Brissa, who was still tied up. Another one of the temple’s ships was moored there, also crewed by zombies. Entering the temple, I found it strangely silent. All doors were kept closed. Only the holy Dire Sharks in the central pool were breaking the silence, as they sometimes swam up to the surface to snap at some food that a lonely acolyte was throwing to them. He informed me that the High Priestess had gone to represent the Church in the celebrations, along with Edvanda. The only high-ranking priestess currently at the temple was Mother Zanda. I wondered if the reclusive ancient priestess would be willing to help my companions, but in their advanced stage of the disease, I knew we didn’t have time to hesitate.

We went down the slippery stairs to her lair, leaving Raguhl and Tyria behind us in the main hall. We reached the domed room where she often meditates. As usual, I felt like I was entering the belly of a great beast. The cave was illuminated by green globes of light. We moved closer to where Zanda was sitting in meditation. She did not seem pleased by the interruption. An extremely old blind half-elf woman, she wore the usual blue-gray robe with long sleeves and a deep hood, covering the upper half of her face. When she addressed us, we could see that she had rotten teeth, and shriveled fingers with long claw-like nails.

She tested my companions’ strength, as Umberlee dictates that healing should only be dispensed to the worthy – not wasted on the weak, which nature is trying to cull out of existence. She made the water rise up into the room, until it reached the ceiling. Lagaan, Ulfgar and Sparkie had to hold their breaths to survive. I called upon the power of Umberlee to be able to breathe in the water. For what seemed like an eternity, the three men held their breaths, but eventually Lagaan and Sparkie began to choke. Just in time, the water started to lower, allowing Ulfgar, in a stunning display of strength, to swim up and keep both of the others afloat – thanks to his brand new ring of swimming.

Mother Zanda was disappointed by Lagaan and Sparkie’s “weakness”, and Ulfgar’s mercy. But still, she cured them of the disease. They all looked miserable, and furious, and I’m sure they won’t ever again seek healing in the temple of Umberlee. I can’t blame them. Maybe I’m growing soft, but I found that Zanda’s test was really too much. Sure, Umberlee must bring forth fear into mortal’s hearts, but at the same time, we must be on the lookout for powerful allies, and deal with them with diplomacy. But at least, they were now free from the horrible mutating disease.

Zanda also talked about worthy sacrifices, and mentioned that a baby or small child was Umberlee’s preferred sacrifice. That comment cut into me like a knife, because it reminded me of the raving lunatics who had sacrificed my son in Calimshan.

Finally, we left the temple and hurried through the streets of the Azure District toward Lavinia’s manor. Well, we tried to hurry. The crowd was so thick that our movement was slow. Sparkie summoned a mystical mount, and rode on its back. We followed him and Raguhl, the two most visible people in the crowd. On the way, an inebriated little gnome tried to pick a fight with Ulfgar, and promptly fell to the ground unconscious. While Lagaan was picking his pockets, a friend of the gnome’s, a half-orc, moved to intervene. Sparkie, however, managed to charm the half-orc by magic, and made him attack other people in the crowd, starting a big brawl, and allowing us to move on.

Further ahead, a parade of the Zelkarune’s Horns went horribly wrong when one of their carts had an accident, and the cage it had been carrying opened up. This, of course, released a fearsome beast into the crowd of terrified townsfolk: a blue-dragon-headed chimera. The monster belched a lightning bolt in my direction. It fried the peasant in front of me, but I thankfully sustained only minor wounds. Raguhl, Ulfgar and I then charged it, and Sparkie caused it grievous wounds with a scorching ray. The beast managed to fly up to a rooftop despite its clipped wings, but before it could cause further damage, Raguhl was able to neutralize it with a well-thrown javelin.

People cheered for us, and we made sure to shout out our group’s brand new name: “TROUBLE” (we came up with it on the way back from Kraken’s Cove – we were bored). Sure enough, the word that “Trouble had saved the day” immediately started to spread throughout the city.

We finally reached the Vanderboren estate. Some acrobats were performing in front of it, including a dancing woman dressed in a skeleton-motif leotard, and six stilt walkers, juggling with knives. While Lagaan was trying to get the door open, Tyria and I noticed that the acrobats and the dancer were getting in position to attack us. It was an ambush!

All in all, their attack wasn’t very successful. The dancer attacked Lagaan, using martial arts, but she was easily battered into near-unconsciousness by Lagaan, Raguhl and Ulfgar, and surrendered. The stilt walkers were throwing alchemist’s fire and knives at us, but we’ve been in far more danger than that before. Tyria charmed one of them, who later decided to flee. I managed to drop two of them to the ground, and skewered both of them with my trident before they could get up. Raguhl also chopped off the stilts under one of them, and he fell to his death on the pavement. The last two fled as fast as their stilts would allow them.

We quickly questioned the skeleton-dancer, and she revealed that she’d been hired by Heldrath Kellani in revenge for our involvement in her daughter Rowynn’s arrest. We searched her and took her money and the magical ring she’d been wearing. Then, we gave her to a patrol of guards who’d just showed up. We tried to warn them that something was off in Lavinia’s estate, but the fools would hear nothing of it.

We then returned our attention to entering the Vanderboren estate. Lagaan climbed the wall easily with his Spider Climb slippers, and scouted ahead. Raguhl also climbed up the wall to get an idea of what was ahead. Apparently, some bullywugs had already invaded the manor. Tyria managed to pick the main gate’s lock, and then we heard some commotion from inside: Lagaan had obviously been noticed. We all rushed in and ran through the garden toward the manor itself. We could see Lagaan walking on a wall, fighting with two Bullywugs attacking him from a window.

We burst into the atrium, and Sparkie fired off a color spray from his wand, knocking one of the Bullywugs inside unconscious. The rest of us then finished off the other ones in a quick, brutal fight.

Then, everything became eerily quiet. Catching our breath, we reasoned that most likely, these beasts had entered the manor from the waterway leading into it from the basement. We moved toward the stairs leading to the basement. When we reached the trophy room leading to them, we noticed that the floor was covered with muddy footprints – seems we’d been right. However, some Bullywugs had been hiding behind the stuffed animals, waiting to ambush us, and they came out, throwing axes at Ulfgar and me. I was grazed by one, but all the others missed. Tyria then cast a Glitterdust spell and blinded almost all of them. We quickly killed the one who wasn’t blinded, but it took us some time to kill the other three, because they were flailing around in a blind frenzy.

Then, we headed to the living room, as we’d noticed that one of the monsters had tried to flee that way. We saw there, sitting comfortably in an upholstered chair by the fireplace, smoking a cigar, a huge, hideous female Bullywug with two axes at her side. She looked at us calmly, and didn’t attack us, but rather, directed her four Bullywug goons to take care of us. Sparkie quickly discharged another color spray from his wand, stunning most of the Bullywugs, as well as Lagaan. Raguhl charged the stunned cigar-smoking monstrosity and hit her with his axe. Tyria and I each finished off one unconscious Bullywug. The other two got wounded, and tried to flee, but Tyria ran after them. Then, Ulfgar, Raguhl and I attacked the female Bullywug. We wounded her several times, but she was a very resilient foe, and did not perish yet. When she recovered from the color spray, she flew into a terrible rage, and ferociously attacked Raguhl, severely hitting him several times. I stepped back and healed him to allow him to survive the onslaught. Finally, Ulfgar managed to finish off our enemy. I healed the rest of Raguhl’s wounds, and a few moments later, Tyria returned, announcing she had finished off the two running Bullywugs.

We then quickly made our way into the basement, where a very strange scene was displayed before us. A huge Bullywug and four regular-sized ones were laughing wickedly at a naked human woman, with pieces of silverware attached to her body, trying to dodge the attacks of a rust monster. I recognized the woman’s ugly moon-shaped cheek tattoo, and her lumpy ugliness: it was that dumb b$%&!, Liamae. Looks like the Jade Ravens had failed to defend the manor as they’d been paid to do.

I couldn’t help it. Seeing that stupid cow so humiliated was just the funniest thing I’d seen in weeks. I joined the Bullywugs in a roar of laughter…

[Moonbeam]

Myrtul 10th, 1375 (continued)

While Sparkie quickly explained to the group the dangers of fighting a Rust Monster, the Bullywug leader barked an order at his pet, who charged toward us. I scared it off with a Cause Fear spell, and Sparkie soon after cast a Web spell to block the way between us and them. Lagaan climbed back up the stairs to fetch some wooden clubs from the Bullywugs we’d slain previously. Tyria started singing, and she, Raguhl and Sparkie started to burn a tunnel through the web with torches.

Eventually, we cleared the way to where the Rust Monster was struggling toward us. Raguhl grappled it, and turned it toward the rest of us so we could hit it. He managed to keep the beast pinned, unable to destroy any of our metal items, except Raguhl’s studded leather armor, which got partially rusted off. In his fury, Raguhl even tore off one of the creature’s antennae. While Ulfgar and Lagaan were hitting the Rust Monster, the Bullywugs managed to reach Raguhl, having burned their way through their end of the web. They wounded Raguhl from behind, but eventually, we finished off the Rust Monster, and Raguhl was able to move into a better position – though he had to fight with his jaw and claws, having thrown his axe into the back of the room so it wouldn’t get eaten by the Rust Monster.

I moved to stand behind Ulfgar and Raguhl, who were fighting some of the Bullywugs, including their large leader, who was wielding a beautiful darkwood trident. I cast a Shield of Faith on Ulfgar, and healed some of his wounds. Meanwhile, Tyria, Sparkie and Lagaan were shooting arrows. Ulfgar hesitated for a moment to attack the chief, because he was wearing armor made from the skin of a Rust Monster; but Sparkie yelled that it was safe to hit it, and he was right.

Finally, Raguhl managed to bite off the chief’s throat, with blood pouring all over him. Ulfgar and the others finished off the rest of the Bullywugs.

Then, while Raguhl was feasting on the corpse of his slain enemy, Lagaan and I stepped into the other room and found Liamae’s badly battered body. Unfortunately, she was still alive. I reluctantly spent some of my precious mana to heal her, and she regained consciousness. Lagaan handed her dress and equipment back to her, and she got dressed, thanking us profusely.

She quickly told us that the manor had been attacked by surprise by the Bullywugs about two hours before. Lavinia and the Jade Ravens had fought them off in the garden, but there had been too many enemies, and they’d had to fall back after the druid’s animal companion, a giant badger, had been slain. Liamae got separated from the rest, and was eventually captured and “played with”. The big chief with the trident was called Lopth, and his cigar-smoking huntress companion was Lorb Lorb Tub. Leading the attack had been Malbrecht, who’d been raging against Vanthus the whole time, as well as a Bullywug shaman named Bwa Glurb.

Liamae didn’t have much magical energy left, but she still came with us. I guess she was desperate to make herself somewhat useful after failing so miserably to protect Lavinia. We examined the corpses and found that the darkwood trident was magical. I took it, and raised the five Bullywugs as zombies with my wand.

Meanwhile, Ulfgar and Tyria had managed to stabilize the Rust Monster, which had been badly wounded but not killed. Ulfgar was adamant about bringing it back to Zelkarune’s Horns. We tied it up with a silk rope and tossed it in the water room of the basement. Then, we headed back up to the main floor.

We found a secret armory where the body of Kaskus Kiel, the Jade Ravens’ dwarven Druid, was lying next to an open chest. We revived him, and he told us basically the same story as Liamae. He’d come here to look for healing potions, but had gotten blown unconscious by the chest’s trap. He also came with us, though he was also almost empty of magical energy. He did manage to cast Bark’s Skin on Ulfgar, though. We found some useful items in Lavinia’s armory, but in the end, had to give them all back.

We then climbed the stairs leading to the first floor. The kitchen was empty. The sparring room contained the corpses of four Bullywugs, whose bodies had apparently been wounded by Zan’s (the Jade Raven Rogue) throwing daggers and Lavinia’s rapier. Apparently, the little girl can fight – I guess she’s not as wimpy as she’s appeared to be so far. Sparkie stayed behind to examine the weapons in the room, with Tyria, the two Jade Ravens, and the zombies. The rest of us went past the laundry room, to a balcony where we got ambushed by four Bullywugs. They managed to badly wound Lagaan, but we eventually killed them all.

We continued our exploration and found an old alchemy lab, a dusty shrine of Shaundakul (the weak god of travel), as well as two empty guest rooms. We also found some bloody footsteps leading to the second floor, so we followed them up the stairs.

There, we found Lavinia’s lavish bedroom, in quite a state of disarray. The pillows of her gorgeous four-poster bed were scattered all over the floor, a webbed hand print was smeared in blood on one of the walls, and a dead Bullywug lay on the floor in the middle of the room. Though Sparkie and Lagaan were itching to explore Lavinia’s underwear drawer, we left the room and continued our exploration.

While we were examining the next room, which likely was Vanthus’s, Tyria heard some sounds from the last room – the master bedroom, which had belonged to Lavinia’s parents. In a stunning display of strategic cunning, she knocked at the door and alerted those inside. It turns out that Malbrecht had captured Lavinia, Kora, Zan and Tolin; they were all badly battered and unconscious, except for Lavinia, who was still barely awake. Malbrecht had tied them up and sat them in a circle in the middle of the huge bedroom. There were two Bullywug soldiers with him, as well as the tribe’s Shaman.

Malbrecht was called out: “I know you’re here, Vanthus! Show yourself, or I’ll kill your precious sister!”
The two Bullywugs then opened the door, and Tyria was revealed.
Malbrecht was disappointed: “You’re not Vanthus?!” He had always had a keen sense of observation.
“No, but he’s coming right this minute,” replied Tyria.
Sparkie, further back in the hall, tried to imitate Vanthus’s voice. “I am coming. I, indeed, am Vanthus Vanborderen.”
“Vanderboren” I whispered.
“I am Vanthus Vanderboren… Whatever, my name is not important right now…”
And with this, we attacked.

Lagaan had drank a potion of invisibility and snuck inside the room. Raguhl, seeing his beloved Lavinia at the mercy of the foul Malbrecht, roared and entered a state of rage. He ran inside the room and downed one of the Bullywugs with one mighty swing of his greataxe, but got wounded by the other Bullywug. Malbrecht, furious, stabbed Lavinia in the throat, but not fatally, because she’d managed to move at the last moment. He then also went into a rage at the sight of the furious lizardman in front of him. Ulfgar then also entered the room and cut the second Bullywug soldier in two with his dwarven axe.

Raguhl then charged Malbrecht and hit him, and Lagaan also appeared behind my former lover, stabbing him in the back with his rapier. Malbrecht roared and unleashed several furious blows upon Raguhl, grievously wounding him; had it not been for some of Lavinia’s blood on the floor that made him slip a little, he might have killed our scaly companion. I have to admit that, even though I can find many faults to that scum Malbrecht, he possessed tremendous strength, as I clearly remembered from our many intimate encounters.

Sparkie ran close to the melee and managed to stun Malbrecht with a well-placed Color Spray from his wand. Meanwhile, the Shaman had gone invisible and had summoned two Hell Hounds to attack Tyria, Ulfgar, the zombies and the Jade Ravens. Ulfgar killed the first one, and ran to help Raguhl. I ran to Lavinia and healed her back into consciousness, and then I healed Raguhl. Malbrecht recovered from the stun, but before he could attack again, Tyria managed to make him fall under one of her Hideous Laughter spells. Soon after, Ulfgar managed to score a well-placed axe blow, and chopped his laughing head off. Malbrecht died laughing; I guess that’s better than most people.

Kaskus then cast a Faerie Fire spell inside the room and managed to make the Shaman reappear. The foul being was quickly surrounded by Lagaan, Raguhl, Ulfgar and even Sparkie, who managed to wound him seriously with his longsword. They eventually killed him, and I managed to kill the last Hell Hound with the help of my zombies (though one of them got destroyed in the process).

Sparkie later told me that he’d heard the Shaman call upon the powers of Dagon in his prayers. Dagon is apparently an extremely ancient demon of the Abyss. The current rulers of the Abyss are a race of demons known as the Tanar’ri, who managed, a long time ago, to defeat an even older race of demons, the previous rulers of the Abyss, and force them into the very lowest levels of those vile planes. Dagon and his kin, called the Obyrith, are demons of utter madness. Dagon is the lord of the deep sea. I wonder how Umberlee views him. Maybe the High Priestess or Mother Zanda would know…

So finally, we’d made it: we had saved Lavinia’s life. We checked on the others and saw that Zan and Tolin were badly battered, but still alive. The Halfling servant Kora, though, had had her throat slit. I can’t say that I’m really sorry about that; she was a painful reminder of the little pest who’d played an important part in my death in Starmantle.

We saw a side of Lavinia we’d never seen before: she was furious, and raged against her brother. She had no doubt in her mind about his treachery, now that its repercussions had almost gotten her killed. She told us how the attack had happened while she was napping, but that she’d managed to kill the Bullywug who’d come to capture her in her bedroom. She’d fought the invaders in the garden, beside the Jade Ravens. They’d eventually gotten overrun, and had lost sight of Liamae and Kaskus. Tolin and Zan had stuck with her, but had gotten cornered by Malbrecht and his goons, and Lavinia had been paralyzed by a spell cast by the Shaman.

Then, we decided to patrol the manor together and exterminate any Bullywug remaining, though many of us were badly wounded, and all of us spellcasters were drained of mana. Before we left the room, though, I took one last long look at Malbrecht’s broken body, and put his still-grinning head inside a pillow case which I took with me. Another person might have made fun of their defeated enemy, but frankly, I’ve had my own head cut off in the past and I now find very little humor in it.

A few hours later, it turned out that there were no Bullywugs left hiding in the manor. We’d killed them all. We ate together in the manor’s dining hall. Everyone was a bloody mess, aching all over, but we were all happy to be alive. Liamae and Lagaan were chatting with each other, as were Tyria and Sparkie. I heard a detailed version of the Bullywug assault from Kaskus and Tolin. Meanwhile, Raguhl and Ulfgar were talking with Lavinia about the Island of Dread. Their conversation got more and more animated, and eventually, we all turned to take part in it.

Lavinia presented us her idea of mounting an expedition to the faraway Island of Dread, and to restore the merchant route with the outpost of Farshore that her parents had built. Importing the natural resources of that island into Sasserine would bring her great wealth; and as her employees, we all stood to gain from that. And Lavinia’s eyes shone with the desire to honor her dead parent’s legacy. Most of my companions, especially Raguhl, seemed very interested by that idea.

Myself, I am not sure. Such an expedition would take a lot of time, and would take me away from my duties at the temple and at the Dawn Council. I’m also not too keen on spending weeks, or months, on a mosquito-infested tropical island, where voracious dinosaurs roam.

Yet, I have to admit I was intrigued by what I’d read before from Larissa Vanderboren’s journal about the place. I’ll have to read it more thoroughly when I get the chance. I also remembered that Captain Hayliss told us that it was from the Island of Dread that she got the cursed black pearl. It would be most intriguing to learn more about the origin of that deadly artifact.

We then talked about the feasibility of such an expedition, and what would be required financially and logistically for it. Lavinia was thrilled when she heard that we’d commandeered our own ship, as that would greatly simplify things.

Lavinia invited us all to stay at her place for the night. Since we were all so tired, wounded, bloody and paranoid by then, we accepted gladly – even deciding to sleep in nearby rooms, with people standing watch.

Not long before we wanted to go to bed, a surprise visitor came to the manor’s main entrance. It was Moretta Sailridge, one of my sisters of the temple. Her eyes were wide open with fear at the sight of the Bullywug corpses in the main hallway. I reassured her that we had everything under control, but still, she must’ve noticed that I looked terribly tired and had blood on my hands and clothes.

Moretta was bearing a message from the High Priestess. She wanted to apologize to our group for the way Mother Zanda had behaved earlier that day, and asked me to bring our group to the temple soon so she could try to make amends. She also offered to raise one of us from the dead if need be. For a moment, I considered asking her to raise Kora or Malbrecht, but quickly decided against it – those two wretches were unworthy of the most holy, and extremely expensive, ceremony. I decided I’d save that honor for another time, should – Umberlee forbid – one of the members of Trouble perish. Which, now that I think about it, is quite likely to happen since we’re not the most careful group of people on Faerun.

After reminding her that there was a dangerous diseased woman on board our ship, and that she should not be tampered with, I bid Moretta goodnight, closed the doors, made sure they were safely locked, and headed upstairs to join the others and get some well-deserved rest.

[Guy Humual]

Nice story so far. Here's hopping that you can continue!

[Moonbeam]

Thanks. :) We're playing every other week, more or less, so I'll post as soon as I've got new material.

Myrtul 11th, 1375

After we’d all woken up today, some of the others proceeded to start cleaning up Lavinia’s manor. I went with Lavinia and a few others to report the attack to the authorities. We showed the city guard what had taken place in the estate.

In the afternoon, after having stopped at my apartment to clean myself up and change my clothes, I went to the temple of Umberlee. There, I asked the High Priestess to cure Brissa, who thankfully, was still alive. She was so far gone that it took the High Priestess’ most powerful restorative magic to free her from the debilitating disease. I’ve never witnessed such power before. I was never able to cast such a spell, not even at the height of my power. I don’t think even Stalman would’ve been able to pull off such a feat. The High Priestess is indeed a most mighty mistress. I am so fortunate to be one of her followers.

So after playing a bit with Brissa, shocking her softly with tiny waves of lightning, she cured her. Brissa fell to the floor, sobbing wretchedly. After watching her for a while and savoring her misery, the High Priestess turned to me and spoke very seriously of the heresy of the Crimson Pirates, who were defying Umberlee’s rule over the sea by openly worshipping a different, mysterious power. I vowed to her that I would do my best to make them pay for this treachery, reminding her that I had my own reason to hate them: they were the ones who had killed my beloved Dolmord.

I then lifted Brissa up from the floor and guided her out of the room. We walked together along the dark corridor, and I was wondering what to do with her. She was still shackled, and sobbing softly. Following my instinct, I decided to try the soft approach. I motioned to two young acolytes to follow me, and brought her to one of the ceremonial chambers. There, we undressed her from her stinking rags, and cleaned her with soap and wet towels. After we were done, and had dressed her up in a flowing black robe, I questioned her about Vanthus.

She told me again her pathetic story about how Vanthus had promised to marry her and that they’d start a family together with the money they’d make from the Kraken Cove heist. Using her uncle as a contact, she’d allowed Vanthus to infiltrate Kraken’s Cove. As soon as Harliss’s ship had docked, Vanthus had launched his attack, and had managed to grab the mysterious pearl. But during the fight, Harliss had given them both a serious beating. As he was fighting the powerful swordswoman, just trying to stay alive, Vanthus dropped the pearl on the deck, and when the blood from one of his wounds fell on it, the pearl hissed loudly, and, according to Brissa, this is what caused the wave of magical energy to pour forth.

Brissa was crying the whole time. I took advantage of her vulnerability and twisted the knife in her wound. I insisted on how Vanthus had double-crossed her, left her behind like a piece of garbage, how he had lied to her, used her, made her look like a fool. He’d never loved her. She cried harder than ever, and I held her in my arms and soothed her, a tone of fake concern in my voice, because inside, I was grinning. It felt so sweet to see one of my enemies so utterly beaten and miserable. But I was feeling generous that day. Could it be that I actually felt some sympathy for this poor, stupid girl?

I told her of our plan to mount an expedition to the Isle of Dread. I told her that by now, she was known in Sasserine as a traitor, and she might not want to stick around for too long. I also told her that we hated Vanthus too, and were going to try and go after him at some point. Not right away, but at some point, we wanted to. She listened to me, and dried her tears. She accepted to join us.

Myrtul 16th, 1375

I’ve spent the last few days working hard at the temple. Through my long prayers, Umberlee has granted me more power than ever since my resurrection. I am now once again able to speak with the dead.

(ooc: The characters are now level 5.)

One evening, I took out Malbrecht’s still grinning head and placed it on one of the temple’s altars. Lighting up some holy candles, I chanted the sacred words, and eventually, his eyes opened. It felt strange to converse with my old lover one last time. I asked him about Vanthus, but he had no useful information to give me other than Vanthus had told him that the cursed pearl was worth thousand of gold pieces. Malbrecht hadn’t known that he’d be going against the Crimson Pirates for it, and thought Vanthus was crazy for attempting something as suicidal. He then cursed Vanthus, calling him a backstabber who slithered his way out of any situation through lies and deceit.

I then asked Malbrecht how he’d seen our future together. Even though I had forsaken him in the end, I guess the most primitive, lusty part of me still did miss his virile touch. But he just spat insults back at me, confirming that I’d done the right thing in ending things. Bastard! With a sneer, I told him to keep me a warm place in the Abyss, and then I pierced his head with my trident and broke the spell. I held his mutilated head before me, taking one last long look at it, and then I threw it into the sacred pool, to feed the holy sharks.

I also decided to donate my various zombies to the temple. We’ll have no room for them on the ship with a complete crew and full cargo, and I would of course expect most passengers to be squeamish about sharing their quarters with groaning, half-eaten corpses.

The following day, we all met at Lavinia’s place. The others had identified the loot we’d found in our last adventure, and sold what nobody needed. We split it all up amongst ourselves.

Myrtul 27th, 1375

Hmm, the last ten days have been complete bliss. I’ve used some of the money I’ve made lately and treated myself to a little vacation. I needed a break from the dreary company of the freaks I am forced to associate with. How relaxing it was, ten full days away from Sparkie’s boundless arrogance, Lagaan’s crass jokes, Raguhl’s towering stupidity, Tyria’s inane chatter and Ulfgar’s cavernous drunken belching.

There are so many great things to do in Sasserine. I feel great now that I finally have the money to enjoy them, and I know I’ll miss them terribly when I’ll be traveling, so I wanted to make sure I had a taste of the high life before I left. I’ve lived like a princess for ten days, eating the most delicious meals, attending plays and operas, getting massages and beauty treatments, and spending the most delightful nights in the company of gorgeous elven slaves. Now all my senses have been sated, and I am ready to take on the challenge of helping Lavinia to prepare the voyage.

Myrtul 28th, 1375

Lavinia wasn’t kidding about the expedition. She’s been working hard at planning it during the past few weeks. She’s already started recruiting colonists for Farshore. We went through the list of what kind of candidates we were looking for. We also discussed at length what kind of supplies we’d be bringing along, and what we can store in the two ships. The Blue Nixie is somewhat larger and can contain more, but the Sea Wyvern is faster, and more maneuverable.

I now have to figure out how to best utilize the Sea Wyvern’s 120-ton capacity, to bring goods to Farshore. Lavinia wants to make sure we have what we need to supply the remote outpost, which has had to fend for itself for several years now. Her goal is to make it into a thriving community, and for that, she needs to supply it with the right goods and the right skilled people. I fully intend on establishing a firm foothold for the church of Umberlee in that growing settlement. Could this be the purpose that the great mother has in store for me?

Lavinia also explained that, since the earliest days when her parents established Farshore, it had been a joined venture with the Meravanchi family, who had funded parts of the expedition. This time again, they wanted part in the operation, and they were sending their son Avner to join us. I was very surprised to hear that, since Avner didn’t strike me as the type of person who’d leave the high life of Sasserine to go visit an island full of savages and dinosaurs.

We then discussed the itinerary. The first leg will be along the Chult Peninsula, going around it toward the south, all the way to Fort Blackwall, which is around 785 miles away, meaning it will take around 24 days. Next, we’ll sail on the open sea toward the island where we can find Fort Greenrock. Apparently, a community of druids lives there. This should be a difficult journey, as the area is scoured by hostile ships of Rundeen slavers. We’ll have a 715 mile journey there, so it should take around 20 days. Then, we’ll pass north of the strong and deadly Pearl Current, and navigate along the western coast of Maztica toward the south. That should take us around 40 days, making the whole trip a roughly 3-month-long endeavor.

I had dinner with Lavinia and Raguhl tonight. The Lizardman told us the tale of his latest journey. Along with some fellow members of the Church of the Whirling Fury, he’d returned to Kraken’s Cove. The people of his faith bear a strong grudge against demons, and seek to ensure that their powers of corruption do not spread to our world. They thoroughly examined the smugglers’ caves, as well as the outlying region, over a period of several days. They’d found that all of the corrupted animals, as well as the mutated prisoners, had died, most of hunger. So it seemed that, thankfully, the horrible mutation strain had not spread outside of a certain radius.

Myrtul 29th, 1375

To help Lavinia, I’ve begun searching for, and interviewing potential colonists to carry on board of the Sea Wyvern. I also took the time to shop for some magical items; we all have a feeling that we’re going to need better equipment to face the challenges of the Island of Dread. Though there were many items to choose from, most of the really good ones were beyond my means. I settled on some bracers that would enhance my armor, as well as a Ring of Sustenance, which allows me to survive without needing food, and needing only two hours of sleep per night. I figure that will allow me to pilot the ship for longer periods of time if need be, and will also allow me to remain awake and alert most of the time, to avoid getting surprised by the dangerous denizens of the island, and to keep an eye on my untrustworthy companions, especially that stinking rat, Lagaan.

Kythorn 1st, 1375

(ooc: Kythorn is the equivalent of the month of June)

Yesterday, I’ve learned that Rowynn Kellani had been sprung out of jail during the Wormfall Festival. Her mother is, of course, among the prime suspects, and today when she showed up at the halls of the Dawn Council, she was escorted out by the guards: she has been banished from the Dawn Council! I couldn’t help but laugh when I heard this. When she passed by me on her way out, our eyes met, and we glared at each other with pure hatred for a few moments, before the guards shoved her toward the exit.

Just to make sure, I’ve decided to sleep at Lavinia’s place from now on, until we leave for the Island of Dread. My tiny cramped apartment in the Azure District just doesn’t seem like a safe place to stay after all that has happened lately. Raguhl also moved in here. Of course, the move brought the inconvenience of having to see that disgusting sow Liamae on a daily basis, but so far we’ve managed to avoid each other pretty well. Brissa is also staying at the estate now, and we’re all keeping an eye on her… just in case. But she’s been spending most of her time alone, brooding and painting. Unlike her previous works, which were beautiful sceneries, her new paintings have a much darker theme to them…

Today, at the Dawn Council, everyone was talking about the Kellani's. Several of their ships have already been seized by the authorities, and their family’s business is on the verge of collapse. Ah, sweet justice! This made me feel positively giddy all day.

I’ve announced my planned departure to the High Priestess. I was pleased that she tried to convince me to stay, but I remained adamant and told her of the opportunity I had before me, to open a new temple of Umberlee in this new settlement: if I played my cards right, she might become the prime deity of the new settlement! With luck, I might even convert many savages, to make new worshippers for our glorious mistress.

She assigned a beautiful red-haired acolyte named Kallia Nylos to replace me at the Dawn Council. She is a young lass, barely twenty years old, but I can tell that she is shrewd and will be able to represent our faith much better than some of our older, but blindly overzealous sisters who are often perceived as raving lunatics by the general public. Again, the High Priestess showed much wisdom in her choice. I’ve brought Kallia with me to the Dawn Council today, to show her the ropes, and I’ll continue to transfer my knowledge to her until our departure, which is scheduled to take place in about fifteen days.

Kythorn 5th, 1375

Yesterday, the High Priestess introduced me to a worshipper of Umberlee who she thought would make a great first mate for the Sea Wyvern. Amella Venkalie is a petite woman, almost a full head shorter than me, rather pretty, with blonde hair and a thin scar on her right cheek. She talked about her previous experiences, and I agreed with my mistress that she seemed to be a competent candidate. She is a foul-mouthed little thing, full of anger. I instantly liked her. The High Priestess told me that she was a widow, having lost her husband due to the treachery of a nasty group of gnomes led by a certain Shortstone Badgewell, who killed him and ruined the smuggling operation they’d set up over the years.

I’m still spending a lot of time recruiting colonists for the expedition, with the help of Amella. It’s actually going better than I expected. “Trouble” has made quite a name for itself lately, when we rescued Lavinia from the Bullywugs; the population has also started to hear about our exploits in Kraken’s Cove, and many people are thankful that we had a hand in stopping the horrible mutating disease from spreading further. Therefore, our fame is encouraging a lot of people to thrown in their lot with us and go on a grand journey, despite their fear of the dangers we’ll face on the open sea.

Of course, the Jade Ravens are positively fuming at our fame. They are barely known in town at all. What a bunch of losers.

Kythorn 12th, 1375

Great news today, I managed to convince Moretta Sailridge, the young acolyte who worships me, to join our expedition as my personal assistant. If I am to start a new temple of Umberlee, I will need some help in running operations, or at least maintaining them during my absences. Moretta, who admires me so much for the beauty, intelligence and confidence she wishes she had, is very loyal to me. Of course, her decision might have been influenced by the fact that I mentioned that Avner Meravanchi was going. She is quite infatuated with the nobleman. Of course, the poor girl is under the delusion that he might take notice of her when he has me to serenade instead… But I am not a cruel woman, and I would rather not destroy her childish dream.

It feels so good to be in the company of someone I can trust, and who respects me. Moretta is the only person I can truly call a friend in this place… So far away from my homeland.

Kythorn 13th, 1375

Tonight, Tyria invited us to meet a man she’d contacted through the Seeker’s guild, in a dockside tavern of the Azure District. We had dinner in a festive atmosphere, where several people recognized our group and congratulated us for our heroic actions of the past weeks. I have to say that, with the new equipment we’ve bought, we look a lot more heroic than when we started out as a group, armed and armored with rusty, cheap pieces of crap.

The man we met was an old rogue named Keur. He was badly scarred and missing one arm. His days of adventuring were obviously behind him. But he told us a tale of how, a few years before, he’d been on the run with several companions, Cair the mage-thief, Myrrha, a banished cleric of Tymora, and Rhialle, a barbarian outcast from his tribe. Together, they’d helped Cair escape some Rundeen slavers, and were on the run, for their very lives were at stake. With the Rundeen on their tail, they sailed to the island of Greenrock, and found an ancient Olman city, where several pyramids rose, gleaming under the moonlight night sky. They had discovered the lost shrine of Tomoachan, in these ruins of a forgotten empire. Inside one of the pyramids, they found a complex filled with deadly traps. Deep inside it, they found a huge golden idol, a priceless treasure. By this time, Cair and Myrrha had perished to the devilish traps guarding the place. And in the idol room, Keur and Rhialle were attacked by the remaining Rundeens, who had themselves lost several men to the traps along the way.

A vicious fight took place, and Rhialle finally met his end, cast down into a dark, bottomless pit, bringing down two of the Rundeen with him. It was finally down to Keur and one last Rundeen warrior, and Keur managed to slay his enemy. But his victory had been costly: he’d lost an arm, and was in danger of contracting gangrene, having no access to any healing magic. He had to flee the place and return to society in order to survive. He had never been able to return to the pyramid and claim the treasure for himself, and now, he knew he never would. Instead, he sold us the map for five hundred gold pieces, thereby assuring himself a safe retirement, and he wished us luck in claiming the fantastic treasure for ourselves.

However, I sensed that something didn’t fit in his story. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I guess it was my woman’s intuition… I’m not sure we should really go tamper with this idol… But at the same time, I can’t resist the lure of the treasure, nor convince my companions to avoid the place, without a real reason. Tyria took note of the traps he talked about in her journal; so hopefully, we’ll have an easier time there than they did.

I’ve also been working on the ship over the past few days. We’ve started to store some of the merchandise there, and I’ve cast a number of Continual Flame spells in the hold, so we won’t have to use lanterns, which can be dangerous. I’ve also cast some such spells on pieces of wood, which people will be able to use as torches when required. Over the next few days, I’ll do the same thing on the Blue Nixie.

Kythorn 14th, 1375

All right! We’ve finally finished recruiting the passengers for the Sea Wyvern. Here is the whole crew that will be sailing on this wonderful journey to the Island of Dread:

1. Yours truly, Captain Belessa Darkwave, Priestess of Umberlee by day, Femme Fatale by night…
2. First mate Amella Venkalie. She and I will take turns steering the ship.
3. Urol Forol, the ship’s navigator. This wizened old gnome explorer is a blabbermouth like most of its kind. I have been told that he has some training as a Druid. He seems knowledgeable enough, and has already been to the Island of Dread, but talks so much that I’ve assigned Raguhl as his assistant: the lizard man will filter all the nonsense the little creature is spewing forth and give me a summarized version of what he says.
4. Sparkillo Rashi, naval combat specialist (he told me he just learned the spell “Fireball”. I’m sure that will come in very handy if we get attacked at sea).
5. Ulfgar, sailor and warrior.
6. Raguhl, sailor and warrior.
7. Tyria Bramblefoot, sailor and resident Bard, morale officer.
8. Lagaan, sailor and snot-nosed rodent. I made it very clear to him that he will be suspect number one for any item lost by any crew member during the trip.
9. Avner Meravanchi, the noble I’ve danced with during the banquet to celebrate our victory over the Lotus Dragons. Although he’s supposed to be making sure his family’s interests are served in our expedition, he hasn’t attended a single preparation meeting. I’d wager he was spending his last few days on bedding a few more wenches instead.
10. Banaky Chisk, Avner’s first servant.
11. Quenge Asper, Avner’s second servant.
12. Father Feres, a balding, sad-eyed little old man. He is a priest of Lathander, but apparently only a low-ranking acolyte. He seems shaken in his faith. Lathander is supposed to be the god of hope, after all, and this man seems depressed and fearful.
13. Skald, a brooding half-elf ranger who has some skill with the bow. A man of few words.
14. Lirith Veldirose, a young woman who claims to be an adventurer, and who has skills as a sailor.
15. Tavey Nesk, a 12-year-old street urchin who will be our cabin boy.
16. Churtle, the little kobold that Tyria spared from our massacre of the Lotus Dragons. She will be our cook.
17. Altan Tepe, a fisherman with not much to bring to the expedition in terms of skill, but I couldn’t resist hiring him when he flashed his dazzling smile at me. He’s got gorgeous blue eyes, and a body to die for. I’m sure I’ll put him to good use… in my cabin.
18. Glantri Daroken, a female dwarf trained as a midwife.
19. Rory Alientha, a female elf trained as a doctor. Friend of Glantri.
20. Elkand Briftwind, a halfling carpenter. Very useful to have on a ship for repairs.
21. Kanol Kanat, former owner of a tavern in Sasserine, which ironically burned down because of the fight Sparkie started with his reckless usage of a Charm Person spell on an angry half-orc. Still, we had a good laugh over it.
22. Katyri Kanat, wife of Kanol.
23. Faris Minobald, a half-orc sailor, skilled with the rapier. Not much of a talker.
24. Johan Bramblefoot, Tyria’s brother or cousin or something. I don’t know, they all look the same to me. He’s coming to help start the family business at Farshore. Worse comes to worst, he’ll serve as emergency rations if Raguhl gets too hungry.
25. Moretta Sailridge, my acolyte and personal assistant.
26. Stragdar Revdar, a dwarf that will be our ballista operator. He’s a member of Zelkarune’s Horns who was hired by Ulfgar.
27. Brissa Santos, sailor, rogue and resident painter.

Kythorn 15th, 1375

Today I’ve officially handed my Dawn Council seat over to Kallia Nylos. It makes my skin crawl to have to relinquish that position of authority… But in a way that I cannot truly explain, I feel more and more that my destiny lies toward the mysterious island. Surely it is Umberlee herself who wishes me to take on that great journey, for a purpose she will reveal to me once I have proven my worth.

Kythorn 17th, 1375

We have finally started our voyage! What an exhilarating experience it is!!!

We set sail this morning from Sasserine, under a good wind. Our departure was delayed for over two hours by that fool Meravanchi, who arrived late, still stinking drunk from his last night of debauchery, and demanded to be given the captain’s cabin, and that some of Lavinia’s goods be unloaded to make room for the warhorse he’d brought for the trip. What a hopeless dimwit!

I managed to convince him to take the side barracks as his chambers, rather than the captain’s cabin, arguing that I had a right to it as captain, that I’d be staying there with Moretta, and informing him that he’d be the only passenger with a cabin to himself. We had to relocate the boys of Trouble to the front deck and build impromptu sleeping quarters for them, though.

There was no convincing the stupid noble that his horse was a complete waste of space, and we had to clear out yet another cargo room to make room for the beast – a magnificent stallion, but still. What a waste. I convinced the lordling that I was able to summon some food for the horse, so we only packed a small portion of the wheat he wanted to store for the animal – which would have greatly cut into our profit for the expedition.

All in all, we’re now carrying this amount of cargo in our hold:
- 95 tons of supplies belonging to Lavinia.
- 10 tons of repair supplies.
- 5 tons of food and water for the crew. This is about half of what we’d normally need for the journey. It’s only to be used in emergencies. In normal circumstances, I will create food for everyone through magic.
- 120 ballista bolts.
- Lots of oil.

The passengers waved their good-byes to the docks of Sasserine, and kept looking back as the magnificent city grew smaller and smaller in the distance, until it disappeared into the horizon. Once we were out of sight of it, I handed the wheel to Amella, turned to the crowd and gave them a motivational speech, to prepare their spirits for the great journey ahead, and to explain to them again the roles of the various crew members, and the rules everyone has to follow on board.

Later in the day, I noticed that Lagaan climbed up the main mast and tied up a black scarf under our flag, which was proudly showing the emblems of Sasserine and of the Vanderboren family. When I asked what it was, he explained to me in a whisper that it was meant as a sign to the Rundeen to give our ship safe passage. I nodded, and later notified Lavinia of this information by light signals, to ensure that she took the same precaution on the Blue Nixie.

Kythorn 18th, 1375

We made good progress on this second day of our grand adventure. There are still regular signs of civilization along the shore of the Chult Peninsula, which we are circling around. Here and there, the looming shapes of stone forts peer out through the jungle as we sail forward. We’re making sure to avoid them, of course, as most of them are controlled by the Rundeen for their lumber and slave trade.

Amella is an excellent first mate. She is a competent sailor, and very tough on the crew, making sure to keep them in line. Avner Meravanchi is proving to be a complete pain in the arse, constantly making ridiculous demands and throwing temper tantrums, reminding me at every turn that his family is funding the expedition. He will be a lucky man indeed if he ever reaches the Island of Dread alive, because I already feel a strong desire to strangle him, as do most of my short-fused companions.

As usual, I am taking a diplomatic role, and befriending most of the crew. I wish them to see me as a benevolent captain, directing their frustration towards the harsh commands of Amella, and the lofty arrogance of lord Meravanchi rather than towards me.

Kythorn 19th, 1375

The same scenery as yesterday is gracing our eyes, forts appearing at irregular intervals over the jungle canopy.

As planned, Moretta and I are conducting daily masses to Umberlee, which we have made mandatory to the whole crew, with the exception of Father Feres, to maintain the illusion that I give a damn about his stupid weakling’s religion. It is of utmost importance that the crew learn to properly revere our Holy Mother during this journey, for our very lives will be within her grasp, and it will be entirely her decision whether we reach our destination or not.

Though I’ve noticed that several members of the crew are showing very tepid displays of faith (Lagaan and Raguhl especially… damned fools!), at least Brissa Santos is proving quite devout in her worship, and I have little doubt in my mind as to what she is so strongly praying for: vengeance against the man who has betrayed her!

Stragdar, the dwarven ballista operator, is a veteran of sea travels, and also shows a healthy amount of respect for the Queen of the Deeps. That is good, because his other personality traits are much less commendable. He is a lazy drunkard, who answers even the most trivial requests with the inevitable: “It’s not my job…” Compared to him, Ulfgar seems like a paragon of discipline.

Churtle, the little kobold, is proving more useful than I’d expected. I am providing most of the crew’s food through magic, but the sustenance thus created is rather bland in taste. The little creature has been able, through the judicious use of spices, to make those meals quite delicious. Of course, I had to pretend that one of the human women is doing the cooking, or else that fool Avner would never have taken a single bite.

Kythorn 20th, 1375

Today, while I was resting during one of Amella’s shifts, I had the “luck” of being courted by Avner. Clearly, he’s starting to feel the need for warm company in his bed, but the foppishness he’s displayed over the last few days has dispelled any sense of attraction I had felt for him in the past. Again this morning, the tavern keepers confirmed the many rumors I’d heard about Avner being a depraved, selfish cur, who cares nothing for the countless women he beds, seeing them only as notches under his belt. He, of course, has a strong preference for virgins.

I managed to convince him that, as the two highest ranking people on the ship, we had to maintain a dignified front, and ensure that no nasty rumors about us circulated among the commoners. I managed to convince him, and he retreated. Hopefully, he’ll divert his attention toward Brissa or Lirith.

A few hours later, though, I felt myself thinking more and more about Altan’s muscular body, and his magnetic smile. I found him up on the deck and we started chatting, but before we could attempt to retire to a more secluded place, that idiotic gnome Urol came over with Raguhl to discuss our trajectory over the next few days. The moment was broken, and I haven’t had a chance to approach Altan again since then…

Kythorn 21st, 1375

A close call today! In the morning, a group of six wyverns flew up toward our two ships from the top of a rocky cliff. They hovered over us menacingly, and then dived close to the sea’s surface, moving in a direction parallel to our own. They seemed strangely fascinated by the wyvern’s head adorning our boat, and were calling to it in their deep roars.

We were all nervously watching them, knowing that if they attacked us, we might not survive. We contemplated shooting a ballista bolt at them for a moment, but wisely decided against it, hoping that they were just performing some kind of mating ritual.

Indeed, soon enough they flew away, and left us unharmed. Umberlee be praised!

The signs of civilizations are becoming less and less frequent now as we travel further away from Sasserine.

Kythorn 22nd, 1375

Damnation! We have a traitor on board!

Tonight, Lavinia invited us to a banquet on board the Blue Nixie. At sunset, we brought the Sea Wyvern abreast of it, and tied the two vessels together. Then, along with my adventuring companions, Avner, Moretta and Urol, I climbed on the net walkway to the Blue Nixie.

I’d spent a few hours making myself look amazing, with Moretta’s help. It had been worth it. Lavinia herself was wearing a fabulous gown, and the crew members around her, including the Jade Ravens, were also wearing their finest clothes, which in Liamae’s case consisted of a cheap, garish bright red dress that did little to compliment her wide-hipped silhouette. Still, I tried to be pleasant to her, mentioning that she looked better now that she’d recovered from the horrible beating and humiliation she’d received from the Bullywugs. She turned a shade of red almost as ugly as her dress, and apparently, a few of her ship mates had not heard about the unfortunate incident, so, just to get the conversation started, I told them the tale of her torment. Sparing no detail.

The banquet that Lavinia’s servants had prepared was most delicious, and worthy of any we could’ve had in Sasserine. The main course consisted of goose and pheasant meat, which was served with a most delicious elven wine imported from distant Evermeet.

Lavinia, who looked absolutely stunning tonight, made a speech in honor of the start of our great journey, and insisted on how happy she was of our presence, and that she’d wanted to share this special occasion with us, who were manning the second ship.

The evening was fantastic, we ate and drank and laughed. We even danced on the deck of the Blue Nixie, to the music of Tyria and another bard from Lavinia’s crew. It was hard to believe that, a mere few weeks before, I’d almost been snapped in two by the jaw of a horrible monster on this very deck! I danced with Tolin, who was as dashing as ever, with Avner, who is a highly skilled dancer, but whose hands kept straying longingly upon my buttocks, and with Sparkie, who smelled of delightful roses. It was quite pleasurable to dance with my handsome companion. For a few minutes, we just stared in each other’s eyes. His are a clear shade of azure, and for those blissful moments, I forgot about what an immature prick he usually is, and I lost myself in his embrace.

Or maybe I just had too much wine that evening…

But I clearly hadn’t had as much as Lagaan and Liamae, who made quite a spectacle of themselves, groping at each other, singing boisterously and laughing stupidly. I kept hoping that they’d retire to the secrecy of the Blue Nixie’s hold to spend the rest of the night together, leaving the rest of us civilized people the chance to finish the evening on a good note, but I had no such luck.

We were about to call it a night and return aboard the Sea Wyvern. Moretta, Avner and I were just having a final pleasant word with Lavinia and Tolin, when we heard a roar behind us, followed by a loud splash. The net bridge between the two ships had broken under Raguhl’s weight, casting the massive lizardman into the sea. But it soon became obvious that some foul play was afoot, for a small water mephit emerged from a container on the Sea Wyvern at the same time, and flew over to the banquet tables on the Blue Nixie to attack us!

It managed to breathe a spray of acidic water in our direction. Lavinia and I managed to dodge it, but poor Moretta was hit squarely, as was Avner. I heard a girlish scream from behind me, but I wasn’t sure which one of those two had made it. Immediately, I called upon the power of Umberlee, and stunned our attacker with a clap of thunder. Ulfgar and Tolin attacked it, as well as Liamae, casting some magic missiles. Nobody was carrying any serious weapons, but Ulfgar managed to wound it with a dagger, and of course Liamae’s missiles impacted solidly.

I cast a second thunder clap, which kept the little creature stunned long enough for my companions to finish it off. It fell in the water, and Raguhl dived after it. After a few moments, he climbed aboard the Blue Nixie, dripping wet, and cast the little body down on the deck. Its neck was broken, and Raguhl told us he’d needed to finish it off, as its wounds had been regenerating in the water.

We return to the Sea Wyvern (leaving only Lagaan behind with his drunken whore), and investigated. The mephit seemed to have emerged from a large sealed jar that had been left on the deck. Amella, who’d been at the wheel of the ship the entire evening, recalled seeing several people on the deck, but didn’t know who’d left the item there. We also noticed that the ropes had been sabotaged…

According to Amella, the people who came on deck that night were Feres (who had looked nervous – but then again, he always looks nervous) and Avner’s servants, Skald for about 10 minutes, standing near the railing, Faris the half-orc (but only for a few brief moments), and Altan and the two doctors, who had been arguing.

We woke up the whole crew and interrogated everyone. Of course, nobody said they’d seen anything out of the ordinary.

Father Feres seemed as nervous as usual. I asked him to prove his clerical powers by healing me, and he did manage to cure the slight wound I’d received from the mephit, but Moretta later told me she thought there had been something weird about the prayer he’d done.

The two servants were groveling at Avner, who’d cowered behind Moretta the whole fight, using her as a human shield.

Skald was as tight-lipped as ever, and denied being guilty; so did the half-orc.

Altan revealed to me, after some careful probing, that he’d been flirting with Rory, the skinny elven woman, but she’d rebuffed him. When he’d jokingly asked her if she was gay, she and her dwarven “friend” had apparently gotten very offended, and suspiciously defensive. When I later questioned Tyria and Amella about it, they did mention that they’d noticed the behavior of the other two women as being somewhat “fishy” in that way…

An elf woman and a dwarf woman… Who would’ve thought!?

And why is Altan wasting his time with that plain elven girl… When he’s got me on board!?

I discussed it with the others, and so far, we have no clear hint about anyone’s guilt. The most suspect are Father Feres, Skald, Faris and, of course, Amella herself since she was on deck the whole time. But it could also have been someone else, using an invisibility spell.

Also, I find the method used risibly weak. If they’d really wanted to get rid of us, it seems like there would have been some much more damaging things they could’ve done…

We’ll have to wait and see what their next move is. I asked everyone to be doubly vigilant from now on and to report any suspicious activity…

[Chimpman]

I'll pipe in to say that I'm enjoying this read as well. It's a great contrast to Guy's own journal (the Lidu Diaries) and shows just how much party composition and outlook can change the game. I like how the DM worked some of Belessa's past into the storyline (with Malbrecht and such), though I was sad to see the thug go as he did. I wish we had more information about their relationship. I also get the impression that Belessa thought more of Lagaan earlier on, but it is quite apparent that she thinks very little of him now. What happened to change her opinion of the man?

I'll also say that I loved the easter egg that your DM dropped in the passenger names. I dismissed it as coincedence when I read the name Altan Tepe, but had a real chuckle once I read the name Glantri Daroken (and she's a dwarf too!). It's good to know that there are still fellow Mystarans out there ;).

[Guy Humual]

Chimpman wrote:

I'll pipe in to say that I'm enjoying this read as well. It's a great contrast to Guy's own journal (the Lidu Diaries) and shows just how much party composition and outlook can change the game. I like how the DM worked some of Belessa's past into the storyline (with Malbrecht and such), though I was sad to see the thug go as he did. I wish we had more information about their relationship. I also get the impression that Belessa thought more of Lagaan earlier on, but it is quite apparent that she thinks very little of him now. What happened to change her opinion of the man?

I'll also say that I loved the easter egg that your DM dropped in the passenger names. I dismissed it as coincedence when I read the name Altan Tepe, but had a real chuckle once I read the name Glantri Daroken (and she's a dwarf too!). It's good to know that there are still fellow Mystarans out there ;).

I'll agree, Belessa Darkwave isn't the quite the anti-Tristan, but they are opposite in many ways. Belessa is wonderfully self confident in many ways that Tristan isn't, she's also quite ruthless, but both characters are wonderfully complex and I think the average reader can't help but like them (I can't really speak for my character though).

I hope you find the time to continue your journal it's a good read.

[Moonbeam]

Thanks a lot for the encouraging words. :)

I haven't read much from Tristan's log yet (I am trying to avoid reading any spoilers :) ), but indeed, she and Belessa are quite different. I usually play "Good" characters, so playing a borderline-evil one this time is quite a challenge for me at times.

I was also a bit disappointed with the way Malbrecht died, because I'd hoped for a climatic show-down between either him and Belessa, or him and Raguhl (whom I play as a secondary character - and was also linked to Malbrecht in his background). Unfortunately, the luck of the dice robbed me of such joy: in the final round, Raguhl rolled a natural 1 on his attack roll, and it was Ulfgar who managed the super-duper-OMGWTFPWNT critical roll that killed our foe.

Malbrecht was basically a big thug with a dangerous reputation in Sasserine. When Belessa arrived in Sasserine about a year ago, she was in a very unpleasant place in her life. She was poor, she was weak, she didn't know anyone. Belessa is naturally drawn to powerful men, so obviously, she was seduced by the big man and hoped that he'd protect her. After a few weeks, though, she realized that he was just a disgusting brute who only treated her, at best, as a servant (at worst, as an object), so she when she saw that, through her group of adventurers, she had a chance at regaining her power, she decided to cut all ties to Malbrecht.

I also thought that the names "Altan Tepe" and "Glantri" sounded strangely familiar, but didn't think twice about it during the game as I assumed they were named taken from the adventure itself. It's only a few days later that the DM admitted he'd recycled some old names for NPC's he'd created. :)

I don't know if anyone noticed Stalman Klim and the Slave Lords. I took that directly from the old 1st edition "Scourge of the Slave Lords" adventure, which I had converted to 3rd edition and DM'ed a few years ago (one of the players was our current STAP DM. :) ). Belessa was a Level 8 CE Cleric NPC whom the characters met. She managed to capture the group's Druid through trickery (the Druid was a kender-like character, always getting in trouble). Later, she orchestrated a big fight in which the group's Barbarian/Rogue died, and the whole group was taken prisoner by the Slave Lords. The PC's _really_ hated Belessa. :) So at the end of the adventure, they came back to kill her...

I enjoyed Belessa so much as an NPC that I decided to "resurrect" her (litterally) when we decided to start the STAP. In game terms, after being slain and outcast from the Church of Umberlee, she went from being a level 8 Cleric to being a nobody, with no spells, no powers, nothing. After the sacrifice of her son, she was promoted to level 1 Cleric. And now she has to work her way back up to her former power (and hopefully, beyond :) ).

Belessa's life has been tragic in that she started in utter poverty, rose to a status of extreme power and wealth, and lost it all again. The fall was quite hard on the poor woman, and in some ways, she's mellowed down due to that and isn't quite as mean as she used to be - hence, she's now Chaotic Neutral instead of Chaotic Evil.

The way I see Belessa, she started out in life with no money, no special skills, no kind, wise mentor to guide her along a good path in life. All she had were her looks and her ambition (still, that's a lot more than most people, you might say :) ). So she grabbed hold of the first man who could take her out of the slums she lived in. It turned out he was an Evil Priest, who set her on a path of darkness and vile deeds. Had she met a kind man instead, she might have turned out a completely different person.

The relationship between Lagaan and Belessa... The thing in our group is that, at first, Lagaan seemed like the only "respectable" member of the group in Belessa's eyes. She sees Raguhl as a mindless brute (and she is quite wrong about this), Tyria as a weak midget (mostly wrong), Sparkie as a pampered fool (mostly right... hehe... but he can cast powerful spells) and Ulfgar as a dumb drunk. Lagaan seemed smart, always looking for an opportunity to make money. Belessa would have liked to work with him to try and get as rich as possible (and so far, they have managed this to a certain degree).

However, during our play sessions, Lagaan's player is always making disparaging comments about Belessa, he's really singling her out in this way. The reason is that Lagaan only knows Belessa as a haughty woman who works for the Dawn Council: he associates her to the city's nobility, which he hates (having grown up as a penniless street urchin in Shadowshore). Ironically, Belessa had a much similar childhood, so Lagaan's contempt is totally unfounded. But of course, Belessa has kept the details of her life prior to her arrival in Sasserine secret from everyone: she is much too ashamed of her dubious past (growing up in poverty, working as a whore, dying, having her son sacrificed before her very eyes).

Also, if I remember correctly, Lagaan is only 18 years old, and in the first game, when we introduced each other and I said Belessa was 28, his immediate reaction was "waaahhh, she's old" with a tone of disgust. I think that it's obvious to Belessa that her charms don't work on the little thief, and, since she's so vain, that makes her very angry. Also, to add insult to injury, Lagaan is attracted to Liamae of the Jade Ravens, whom Belessa sees as a dangerous rival.

A funny dialogue occured between Lagaan and Belessa when we saved Liamae from the Bullywugs, and gives a good idea of their relationship:

Belessa: "It's funny to see her so humiliated. She's usually so haughty."
Lagaan: "Well, you're haughty too..."
Belessa: "I'm not haughty, you little worm!!"

------------------------------

In case you're interested, here's the detailed background I'd written for Belessa at the start of the campaign.

Belessa Darkwave
Female Human Cleric, Chaotic Neutral, worshipper of Umberlee (Goddess of Oceans, Currents, Waves, Sea winds).
5’11”, 150 lbs. Birth date: 5 Eleasias (august) 1346.

Description

Belessa is a tall, beautiful woman in her late 20s, with long black hair and dark eyes. She has a powerful personal magnetism and considers most people with an air of haughty disdain. Though she holds no position of power, she possesses the grace of a queen and can be very intimidating. Her accent is foreign; she is clearly not from the region of Chult.

In town, Belessa usually wears a black gown. She always wears a black velvet choker around her neck. In adventures, she wears a beautifully made black studded leather armor that shows off her voluptuous silhouette. She also wears a wicked-looking spiked metal gauntlet on her right hand, and fights with a trident and a wooden shield, painted black.

History

(1346) Belessa was born on 5 Eleasias 1346 in the city of Westgate. She was raised by her mother, who was a prostitute, along with two half-sisters. She never knew her father.

Belessa’s childhood was somewhat miserable. Her mother was poor, and could barely provide the basic necessities for her three daughters. The city of Westgate is a dangerous place, especially in the slums where Belessa grew up. She had to learn to fend for herself at a young age. Those harsh living conditions formed a keen mind for the young woman and a soul as hard and as cold as steel. Belessa dreamed of marrying a rich nobleman, or a becoming a powerful woman, when she grew up. She had no intention of spending her whole life in the squalor of Westgate. She despised her relatives for not sharing her ambition.

(1361) Unfortunately, Belessa’s dreams took a while to materialize. As soon as she became old enough, she was forced to work as a whore, along with her sisters, in the same establishment where her mother had worked. However, Belessa had been gifted with a great beauty, and so she was offered to serve a much wealthier clientele than her jealous sisters.

Belessa spend a few years working like this, as the brothel’s main attraction. She had a few frequent wealthy and powerful customers. One of those was a sinister man named Stalman Klim, who was rumored to be a pirate and a priest of the evil goddess Umberlee. Belessa was immediately drawn to the man’s powerful aura and reputation, and she managed to seduce him so that he took her under his wing, and initiated her to the clergy of Umberlee.

(1365) Belessa left Westgate at last and sailed with Stalman Klim for several years. Stalman was one of the dreaded Slave Lords, a group of extremely evil and powerful pirates who ruled the Sea of Fallen stars for many years. Those were years of high adventure for Belessa, as she traveled all over the Sea of Fallen Stars and its neighboring countries (Cormyr, Sembia, The Vast, The Dragon Coast, Turmish…) She took part in many naval battles, bloody mass-murders, shady dealings, wild orgies, plundering of countless villages and dark rituals to Umberlee in the middle of storm-tossed seas.

(1371) After several years had passed, Belessa was now a powerful priestess of Umberlee, and she had settled down in the city of Starmantle, where she served as the high priestess of the local temple, and Stalman’s second-in-command. Her name was known and feared all over the Dragon Coast, for it was associated to the dreaded Slave Lords. Belessa was a very influential figure in Starmantle, and the local rulers were afraid to oppose her, even when she went so far as to lead her temple’s forces into a bloody assault of the rival temple of Sune, whose beautiful priestesses were all slain or taken captive to be sold in slavery. Perhaps the height of Belessa’s dark reign of terror was when she took a bath in the blood of some of the priestesses of Sune, in their very worship hall, laughing at Sune’s weakness.

But all bad things must come to an end, and in the year 1372, a rival corsair fleet, the Red Pirates, led by a creature known as the Iron Dragon, rose and defied the rule of the Slave Lords over the Sea of Fallen Stars. A vicious war was waged between the two pirate clans. And during that summer, a group of adventurers infiltrated the ranks of the Slave Lords and helped dismantle their whole organization. A magical cataclysm destroyed the secret island of the Slave Lords, and most of them were slain or captured. Stalman Klim himself was slain by the Iron Dragon.

(Marpenoth (October) 1372) Those grave news reached Belessa, who had been in Starmantle at the time of these events. But before she could leave town, the adventurers who had taken down the Slave Lords came back to the temple of Umberlee, seeking vengeance, for Belessa had helped Stalman capture two of them (Cora Thorngage the Halfling Druid, and Ganorlah Lanoorah the priestess of Tymora), and kill a third (Olzar Kadane the Barbarian/Rogue). Cora and Ganorlah were back, with their companions Aravilar the Elven Sorcerer, and Denek Drellrane, priest of Torm. Belessa herself was a powerful cleric of Umberlee, but was no match for all four adventurers together, and she fell before their combined might. A mighty stroke from Denek’s greatsword cut off her head and sent it rolling on the black floor of Umberlee’s temple.

….

It could be considered a good thing that, some time later, she awoke.

She found herself in a huge fortified building: the temple of Tempus, also in Starmantle. She remembered with horror her last living moments, and screamed in terror. But she was comforted by a strong man who had been waiting by her bedside. His name was Dolmord, a warrior of Tempus, whom Belessa had taken as a lover to keep her company in the long weeks when Stalman was away at sea. He had heard of what had happened at the temple of Umberlee, and rushed there, to find his beloved’s butchered corpse. He had brought her back to the temple of Tempus and paid everything he owned to have her resurrected.

Knowing it would not be safe for Belessa to remain in the region (the Slave Lords had many enemies, who would love to get revenge on the arrogant priestess now that she did not have them to back her up), Dolmord urged her to travel far away at once, and he offered to serve as her guardian.

The journey south was arduous. Dolmord was a strong and skilled warrior, but Belessa was weak from the resurrection for several weeks, making the trip an ordeal for her. Also, she felt that her clerical powers had severely diminished – and she realized that her defeat had disgraced her in the eyes of Umberlee. She sensed (both within herself, and in visions the Goddess sent her) that she would need to make a great sacrifice to regain her powers.

(Kythorn (June) 1373) After many months of traveling, the couple stopped in Calimshan. Dolmord had proven to be a great guardian for Belessa, but was also a kind, supportive lover, despite his gruff demeanor. After a few days, Dolmord urged Belessa to travel even further south, to the edge of civilization. But Belessa refused, for a good reason: she had just discovered that she was pregnant with their child!

Dolmord rejoiced at the news, but was worried at the same time, because they were by then quite poor, and barely had enough to sustain the two of them. Belessa’s powers were so diminished that she could not call upon Umberlee for even the simplest prayers of healing. Dolmord resolved to use his skill at arms to gain money for them, and he soon joined a group of pirates, the Sea Falcons.

He served under them for several months, landing back in Calimport every few weeks to check on Belessa, who survived as well as she could on her own. Life for her was difficult, because she was very isolated. Even the local priests of Umberlee shunned her, for she was in total disgrace. They had been instructed by divinations to refuse Belessa any service until she redeemed herself.

(Alturiak (February) 1374) Then, as Belessa’s due date was getting closer and closer, Dolmord did not return. Belessa waited, sick with worry. But her lover did not come home. Then, one day, she learned that the Sea Falcons’ fleet had been destroyed by the Crimson Pirates, far to the south, near Sasserine. There had been very few survivors. Belessa felt the grip of sorrow twist her entrails. She was now totally alone.

One stormy night, she walked along a rocky beach, alone. She was crying bitterly at her cruel fate. She remembered when she had lived in splendor, as Stalman Klim’s lover. She had been unstoppable then, rich, feared, powerful. And now, she was alone, with no money, no man to take care of her, and even Umberlee had turned away from her.

Suddenly, as she was standing on the rocks, a violent pain gripped her. She was going to give birth!

She fell on her back, paralyzed by the pain. She had to get back home… But she could not move. All around her, the rain poured hard, and the wind-tossed sea heaved under the thundering clouds. Slowly, from the darkness all around her, black-robed figures emerged.

She did not have to ask them who they were, for she already knew. The clerics of Umberlee had seen this night in visions already. They had come to take her back into their ranks.

They surrounded her as she lay in the throes of pain. The high priestess, an old wrinkled woman, helped her through the effort. Men’s hands gripped her and held her tight as she gave birth.

Finally, from the pain emerged a new life. Dazed from the ordeal, but overcome by joy, Belessa smiled as she saw the little baby being held by the high priestess. “A little boy,” she thought. “Dolmord’s son!... My son!”

When she held out her arms to take her baby, the high priestess turned away and walked closer to the sea. It is only then that Belessa realized what Umberlee had meant as her sacrifice.

She screamed in fear and fury, but the men still held her tight, and she was so very weak.

She witnessed something that no mother should ever see.

That night, Umberlee received a powerful sacrifice.

And sister Belessa was welcome back into her the ranks of her clergy….

….

Belessa spent a few horrible months in the temple of Umberlee in Calimport. She was utterly miserable, and hated the other clerics for the terrible thing they had done to her. Moreover, although she had been granted some of her powers back, they were but a minuscule fraction of what she had once wielded. She knew she would have to work long and hard to regain her former power.

During the summer, the High Priestess had a vision from Umberlee, asking that Belessa be sent to do her bidding in Sasserine. Belessa, eager to leave this accursed place, obeyed immediately.

Since then, she has been living in Sasserine, waiting for a sign of what Umberlee has in store for her now. She has become involved with the Dawn Council on behalf of the church of Umberlee, a position of authority, though she is merely the High Priestess's puppet in that organisation.

She currently resides in the Azure District, in an apartment building at the corner of Wall Street and Doxy Lane. She knows Raguhl, because he’s her downstairs neighbor. Belessa hates the scum-filled Azure District, and can’t wait to gain enough money to move to a richer neighborhood.

Quirks
- Frequently has horrible nightmares and wakes up sweaty and screaming in the middle of the night. Those nightmares usually include getting her head chopped off, drowning, or seeing her baby drowning and calling out her name.
- Feels a debt to Tempus, for bringing her back to life.
- Hates clerics of Selune, Valkur, Chauntea and Sune. She will collaborate with clerics of Talos if needed, though she will try to destroy them if she thinks she can get away with it.
- Has an ugly scar around her neck from getting her head chopped off by a greatsword. She wears a velvet choker most of the time to hide it.

[Moonbeam]

Here's a description of Sparkie that his player wrote at the start of the campaign. :)

---------------------

Sparkillo “Don’t Call me Sparky” Rashi
Male Sun Elf, Neutral, worshipper of himself.
5’10”, 140 lbs. Age: 101.

Description
Sparky is a tall (for an elf), skinny elf with the classic blonde hair and blue eyes. He dresses as though he spent a lot of time figuring out exactly how a wizard should look… Flowing blue robes scribed in strange runes (which happen to be his name, spelled in draconic), a silver circlet on his head sporting many glittering stones (one or two of which are even real), a variety of pouches and wands hanging from his belt, and a sword at his belt which appears to be the only thing on him that’s not ornamental

History
Sparky’s parents are especially progressive elves. They decided at young age that they enjoyed the ever-changing landscape of human cities, and established themselves quickly as shrewd yet fair traders in exotic goods in Sasserine. Over the years, they begat four children, whom they taught both the old elven ways as well as the customs of the various people of their multicultural city. The youngest of these children was Sparkillo. Growing up, Sparkillo was enrolled in human schools and played with human children. Being markedly different from the rest of the children, as well as aging in a very different manner, Sparky was teased relentlessly. Sparky retreated into books of magic and Elven lore, and decided that he was being teased was that the rest of the children were jealous of him. Those poor, dumb fools – Sparkillo would show them exactly who the freak was. And as the children who teased him grew up into adults, led their lives, and died, Sparky buried himself in Arcane studies and pushed his grudges deep inside.
After finishing his studies, he took a break and spent over a year hanging out in strange ale-houses, sipping bitter concotions dressed up like a warlock with a bunch of his likewise misanthropic peers, reciting angsty poetry to one another. At which point his parents kicked him out of home, seeing as he would not help with the family business.

Quirks
1 Cries/screams when he gets fangry
2 Is a real dick to pretty much everyone

Sample Friends:
Smelly, By his side, throughout all of this, has stood Selwynn Krolik. Also known as Smellwynn, or “Smelly”, this dwarf is the son of Sparky’s parents’ servants. Loyal yet dumb, Smelly puts up with Sparky’s constant insults and put-downs, because deep-down, he knows Sparky cares.
Smelly is Sparky’s only friend

Sample Enemies:
Sparky doesn’t really have any enemies, being a young student. In his mind, pretty much everyone who is competitive with him is his enemy. A lot of people hate him though.

Answers to the questionnaire:
- The PC's demeanor and personality.
Sparky is petty, selfish, and arrogant.

- His/her family (any siblings? parents alive? where? what were they?)
Mother, father, 2 elder brothers and an elder sister, all living in Sasserine running the family trading company.

- Closest relations (Who cares about you?, who do you care about?)
My parents and their friends worry about me, but nobody really cares :P

- Greatest fear
Looking like a fool in front of others & being laughed at.

- Greatest hope
To be the greatest and most respected mage in the known planes.

- What does he/she desire more than anything else?
Sparky craves acceptance, and yet despises others. So he would like to be famous, and thus widely accepted, without having to try to win people over.

- Driving motivation: gold? fame? honor? adventure?
Fame. His family has plenty of money, even if he’s cut off until he gets a real job.

- 2 virtue of the PC
He is (hopefully) competent and eager to show off/please.
BOOM!

- 2 flaws/vices
Quick to anger.
Generally a tactless dick.

- Is the PC a religious person? What deity?
Nope. He speaks to his god every day, in his mirror.

- Is the PC right or left-handed?
Right-handed

- If your PC could change any one thing about the universe, what would it be?
He would be Elminster’s respected peer.

- If your PC could have any one question answered, what would it be?
How can I get better?

- What would you give up your life for?
Eternal life.

- Your PC meets an old rival. Not a hated enemy, merely an important rival in a field close to his/her heart. Your PC has improved since your last meeting and is sure of his/her superiority. How would you handle the meeting? In what field were they rivals?
”So Cory! Looks like you’re still casting magic missles, huh? Let me show you this new spell I learned, called ‘Hey look, Cory, I bet you can’t do this’… Ha! In your face!”

- Describe your PC's favorite place. Why is it his/her favorite?
His little training area in the woods. He gets to blow s@%& up. *BOOM* “Ya, take that log-mom. Kick me out of the house will you? Who’s sorry now? Pew pew!”

- What do he/she want on his/her tombstone?
Here Lies Sparkillo, taken down by 12 evil gods, who totally had to all gang up on him. His likes will never be seen on this world again, but his deeds will be forever engraved in the annals of history.
- What does he/she hates?
People who don’t take him seriously

- What does he/she loves?
Himself.

- How would your PC take revenge on someone who has publicly insulted him/her?
Set them on fire.

- Name three skills that your character excels in (don't look at your skill points, just the way you see him/her).
Casting spells, aggravating people, getting the help to spit in his food.

- Name three common skills that your character "sucks" in (don't look at your skill points, just the way you see him/her).
Doing things that are “beneath” him as a sun elf. Physical things. “Getting along with others”

[Moonbeam]

Kythorn 23rd, 1375 – Day 7 of the sea voyage

Following the incident with the cut rope bridge and the water mephit, we decided to scan the main suspects with Sparkie’s Detect Thoughts spell. Sparkie, Ulfgar and I went through the first batch today - Lagaan was still on the Blue Nixie, recovering from the previous evening’s drinking in the arms of his chubby whore. Tyria was checking the whole ship for any strange magical aura, and Raguhl was making sure we weren’t interrupted.

Skald was the first person we interrogated. As usual, he seemed reluctant to speak, but I made it clear to him (as I did to everyone we later questioned) that, unless he was the culprit, he had every interest in helping us find the traitor on board to ensure a safe passage for himself. Sparkie’s spell seemed to fail in a bad way, because he not only gave me the “thumbs down” sign meaning that he had failed to penetrate Skald’s mind, he seemed in the next few minutes to be affected by a powerful headache.

The reclusive half-elf mentioned that the three midgets, Johan, Churtle and Elkand, had partied the previous night, and had been singing boisterous songs. I prayed for their continued survival that the fools hadn’t taken any rum from Ulfgar’s private barrel. Little Churtle had even taught the two Halflings how to sing in Draconic. I got the feeling that Skald was telling us the truth, but Ulfgar and Sparkie remained wary of him.

Next, we interrogated Father Feres, whose mind Sparkie also failed to invade. He again told us of the little ones’ party, and that he’d tried to convert the Chauntea-worshipping servants of Avner to the faith of Lathander. I made it clear to the small man that if any converting was to happen on this ship, it would be to the faith of Umberlee. He backed off, looking more scared than ever.

Then we questioned Faris, the half-orc. This time, Sparkie’s spell worked. He denied being guilty, and said he didn’t have any leads, as he didn’t pay much attention to the other passengers. In his mind, Sparkie saw that he’d previously been a human – a noble from a minor house of Sasserine – who’d been slain in a duel, and reincarnated as a half-orc. His new appearance was a disgrace to his family, and for this reason, he’d chosen to exile himself to the remote Island of Dread.

Next came Brissa Santos, whose mind Sparkie also invaded. She seemed trustworthy, as she was sincerely eager to find and drown the traitor on board, almost as much as she wanted to drown Vanthus. She didn’t trust Skald, and said that the innkeepers and Father Feres were probably innocent, being too weak for doing anything so bold. She also mentioned that Father Feres had failed to answer some of Avner’s servants’ questions about Lathander, hinting that maybe he didn’t know as much about the Morning Lord as a cleric should know…

I’m very satisfied with Brissa; she’s wholly devoted to our cause and to the worship of Umberlee, as Sparkie’s spell confirmed.

We then questioned Banaki Chisk, one of Avner’s idiotic servants. He’s in charge of tending Avner’s horse and moustache. He’s totally devoted to his arrogant master, and, to nobody’s surprise, had no useful information to give us. Strangely, though, he managed to resist Sparkie’s spell.

Finally, we questioned Amella, who repeated the same thing she’d told us the previous night. She told us that the crew were nervous, and that from what she’d seen, Skald had been the only one who would’ve been able to cut the ropes – barring the invisibility scenario. Sparkie managed to read her mind, she told the truth, and is genuinely happy to be my first mate.

Later in the day, Sparkie managed an impressive trick – he charmed Skald with a silent, still spell! His new “best friend” revealed being a Fey-Touched, rather than a half-elf as we thought he was. He was apparently on the run from agents of the Black Network: the Zentharim. Strangely enough, he also seems to hate the Harpers, who oppose the Zentharim. Skald had traveled to Sasserine all the way from Waterdeep, a journey almost as long as the one I myself made two years ago.

Skald swore he wasn’t responsible for the treachery, and wondered who could be behind it. He suspected the person had wanted to throw one of us down into the water. But how could they have known who’d cross the bridge first? It seemed like a really stupid plan. He said that when he passed by the rope bridge, it was still intact.

So at this point, it seemed like Skald and Faris weren’t suspects, but Father Feres still was. I wish Sparkie’s spell had worked on him! Raguhl and Sparkie told me they’d learned that the little man had previously worked as a scribe in another city, and had been captured by worshippers of Cyric, who’d tried to sacrifice him to their god. But he’d been saved by a paladin of Lathander, and had since then converted to the faith, and become a priest a year ago.

Tyria told us that in her investigation, she’d found a few magical items on the crew members, including a magical bow on Skald, a magical rapier on Faris, a magical wand on Urol, and a few potions here and there. Strangely, Avner seemed to own no magical item. Lagaan had by then come back to our ship by swimming and climbing with his slippers. Sparkie then scanned the whole ship with a spell to detect invisibility, but didn’t find anything. He and I examined the jar and found that it had a fading, residual trace of abjuration and conjuration magic.

Kythorn 24th, 1375 – Day 8 of the sea voyage

The following day, we interrogated more passengers in my cabin. Sparkie, Ulfgar and Tyria were with me. First came Quenge Asper, Avner’s second servant. I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but he was actually stupider than the first. We learned nothing, neither from what he said, nor from what little Sparkie saw in his dull mind.

We then questioned Lirith, that ugly mercenary girl who apparently fancies herself becoming a captain of the guard once we’ll reach Farshore. Apparently, Sparkie saw something funny in her mind, because he burst out laughing. But he said she didn’t seem to be the culprit.

Next came the handsome Altan, who had nothing to add to our investigation, but after his interview, Sparkie winked at me and said he liked me. Excellent!

We then questioned Glantri, the chubby dwarf woman, who admitted to being Rory’s lesbian lover. She told us about the strict rules of the dwarven society, which was even less understanding of such a relationship as the human one. This seemed like ample reason to travel to the remote island and live in peace. Sparkie told us he’d seen some very interesting images in her mind; I wish he could’ve shared them! But concerning the matters at hand, Glantri doesn’t seem to be guilty of treason.

Then came the turn of Katyri Kanat, the innkeeper’s wife, whose mind Sparkie failed to read. We didn’t learn much from her… But I doubt she’s behind our trouble.

Finally, we questioned Avner, who at first was outraged that we considered him a suspect, but I managed to fool him into thinking we were seeking his help in the investigation. Sparkie read his mind and understood that his father had wanted to get rid of him by sending him to the Island of Dread – though the foolish Avner had misunderstood the request, and thought his father had done him a great honor. The nobleman was certain that the murderer was trying to kill him, and only him, and demanded that we assign him a bodyguard at all times. I smiled and assured him that I’d put my best man – Lagaan – to watch over him.

Aaahhh, my poor little Lagaan, stuck with Meravanchi every day. I cannot help but smile every time I see them together. It will indeed be a miracle if the nobleman reaches the island alive.

So by that point, we still had no idea who was behind the attack. But later that day, Sparkillo struck gold. He pulled another silent and still charm person, this time on Father Feres. Interestingly, the little man admitted to Sparkie that he wasn’t a priest of Lathander at all! He was a con man from Cauldron named Conrad Horst. He’d had to flee that city because he’s screwed the wrong people too many times, and had settled down in Sasserine for a while. But there, he’d run into trouble again, after having sold a useless potion to a nobleman of the Lidu family, who desperately wanted a son after the birth of his third daughter. His fourth child, conceived under the effect of Conrad’s potion, died in a miscarriage, and would have been another girl anyway.

Of course, Conrad had felt the need to leave the city quickly, and had enrolled in our expedition. He’d been approached by some mysterious men, who’d entrusted him with a package contained in a lead box, which he was to deliver to Fort Blackwall. Those people had even gone to the trouble of imbuing Conrad with the spell ability to cast two Cure Light Wounds spells – to allow him to play the role of a priest of Lathander. Conrad also had a divine wand of healing that he could use through his skill.

Conrad had no idea who’s sabotaged the rope bridge and released the mephit, but still, he was a con man, unreliable, and had a mysterious and potentially dangerous package on board. We managed to capture him, and secure the package. We tied up the small man and stored him inside a crate in the boys’ room. We then debated what to do with him. Tyria agreed with me that we should just get rid of him, but Sparkie and Raguhl argued against it. We found some healing potions in his trunk, as well as the lead box he’d talked about. We decided to examine the lead box the following day. I took his wand of healing, to complement the two that Tyria already had. Sparkie identified it and gave me the command word.

Kythorn 25th, 1375 – Day 9 of the sea voyage

The following day, we searched the whole ship for anything dangerous or suspicious, including everyone’s belongings. Some of the passengers complained, but we didn’t really give them a choice to comply. However, we found nothing of interest.

Sparkie dispelled the enchantment protecting the lead box. Lagaan and Tyria checked the box for traps, and unlocked it. Then, Sparkie cast a Rope Trick spell to open an extra-dimensional space in which we put the box, and Tyria called an Unseen Servant whom she sent inside the hole to open the box, after having closed the door. We wanted to make sure that nothing like an explosion happened inside the ship.

Sparkie later climbed in, and came out after some time, carrying a large scroll. He told us briefly that it dealt with Primal Chaos and gates leading into Limbo. Clearly, this would be very valuable, and very dangerous, if this fell into the wrong hands.

Sparkie then managed to charm Conrad again, and to read his mind by magic. He saw that the man had been approached by some mysterious, evil-looking cultists wearing purples robes. Those priests, whom I guessed belonged to the church of Shar, had operated in the sewers under the Sunrise district (though Conrad gave Sparkie a location different than the Lotus Dragon guild hall). They had given him the mission to deliver the box to the church of Lathander in Fort Blackwall. Clearly, some agents of their faith operate there. He was supposed to get paid 100 gold pieces for that job – definitely not enough for us to give them the scroll.

No, we’ll keep it for ourselves. We might be able to sell it for much more later on. Or who knows, it might even come in handy to us at some point. If we were able to command Slaads, we would be very powerful indeed…

We discussed Conrad’s fate again. I grow tired of being second-guessed at every turn. I am the captain of this ship! Sparkie and Raguhl are idealistic fools who were suggesting to release the traitor in Fort Blackwall. Sure, so he could alert the worshippers of Shar, so they’d infiltrate our ship to steal the scroll! Idiots, they never think things through. But poor little Sparkie was having a moral crisis that day, and felt it was wrong to kill the liar. Finally, we reached a compromise, and agreed to keep him locked until we reach Fort Greenrock, a remote island of druids and monks. By that time, maybe Conrad will have died of natural causes (I’d let him starve to death in his box if it were up to me), and if not, he’ll have a miserable time in the company of those penniless hermits.

Then the others took their pity of the traitor one step further and had us move tons – literally – of merchandise into the main hold, in order to transform one of the storage rooms into a brig for our little friend. What an incredible waste of space!

Those idiots do not yet understand that Umberlee requires more than just devotion to be kept satisfied. She demands sacrifices. Yes… That stupid little rat will be the first one that we offer to the Great Goddess so that she may grant us safe passage to the Island of Dread!

All I have to do is wait until we hit our first storm, and they won’t question me when the fear is gripping their hearts…

Kythorn 27th, 1375 – Day 11 of the sea voyage

I’m done reading the fascinating scroll that we found in Conrad’s chest. The whole text is written in Abyssal, which thankfully, I understand. It contains a complex map of the various nodes in which portals to Limbo can be opened, throughout all of Faerun. The closest one is relatively near us, deep inside the jungle of the Chult Peninsula, two days’ walk from Fort Blackwall. The scroll describes the rituals necessary to activate those nodes into gates. It also describes ways to manipulate the raw Chaos of the universe to allow one to summon powerful Slaads unto the Prime Material Plane.

Kythorn 29th, 1375 – Day 13 of the sea voyage

We entered a deep fog bank as the evening started. We decided to bring both ships close to one another, and throw down the anchor near the coast. I stood watch the whole night, with the others taking turn keeping me company. In the middle of the night, when I was with Tyria, a strong shock rocked the ship, almost throwing us off balance.

We raised the alarm, and once the other combatants were up on deck, we threw pieces of wood with light spells on them into the water. We saw a disgusting mass of debris and decomposed bodies of large fish and humans clinging to the side of the Sea Wyvern. Tyria recognized it from tales she’d heard in Sasserine: it was an ooze-like creature that attracted flotsam and sea creatures, due to its powerful adhesive composition. It fed by dissolving the bodies it came in contact with.

We shot some arrows at it, and Sparkie blasted it with powerful Scorching Rays. We saw the thing start to crawl up the side of the ship. Lagaan climbed down further on the side, thanks to his slippers of spider climbing, and shot flaming arrows at it. Tyria and I blasted it with Sound Bursts. But eventually, the creature reared a hideous slimy appendage, and managed to grab hold of Sparkie, dragging him down close to its amorphous body. The elf shrieked in pain, and I feared we were going to lose him. I asked Raguhl to take a hold of my ankle, and I jumped down after Sparkie, managing to heal him as the beast was dragging him in.

But thankfully, Sparkie managed to cast one last fiery blast at the creature, which dissolved in death, and relinquished its hold on the side of our ship, and on Sparkie, whom I managed to grab with one hand. Raguhl lifted us back to the deck, and then jumped into the water, to see if any of the human bodies that had been inside the creature still carried any loot. Some time later, the lizardman climbed back on board, with a few items and purses of silver. Two of the items proved very valuable indeed: a Ring of Mind Shielding, and a pair of Gauntlets of Archery, which both were given to Tyria.

On top of the feeling of victory we all felt at having vanquished the creature, I had the added bonus of seeing Lagaan with a red hand mark on his face later than night. I guess he’d gotten into a fight with his whore when he returned to her after the fight against the giant flotsam. The poor little wretch looked downright miserable.

All in all, a very successful night!

[Guy Humual]

Moonbeam wrote:

But there, he’d run into trouble again, after having sold a useless potion to a nobleman of the Lidu family, who desperately wanted a son after the birth of his third daughter. His fourth child, conceived under the effect of Conrad’s potion, died in a miscarriage, and would have been another girl anyway.

I love it. Even if it was unintentional. Sounds so much like Tristan's sniveling father. :D

[Moonbeam]

haha, yeah, I don't know if the DM added this based on your log. So I guess Tristan is one of those 3 daughters?

[Guy Humual]

Moonbeam wrote:

haha, yeah, I don't know if the DM added this based on your log. So I guess Tristan is one of those 3 daughters?

Yep, eldest of three, and her father is somewhat misogynistic. He was told by a soothsayer that his eldest child would achieve great things and somehow he interpreted this as 'your eldest son'. Thus Tristan was named before she was born.

[Thomas Austin]

Moonbeam wrote:

[i]Here's a description of Sparkie that his player wrote at the start of the campaign. :)

After finishing his studies, he took a break and spent over a year hanging out in strange ale-houses, sipping bitter concotions dressed up like a warlock with a bunch of his likewise misanthropic peers, reciting angsty poetry to one another. At which point his parents kicked him out of home, seeing as he would not help with the family business.

Priceless!

[Chimpman]

Thanks for the two character backgrounds and histories! Reading them sheds a lot of light on both Belessa and Sparkie. I just love how you came up with your character. I knew I recognized the name Stalman, but just couldn't place it ;). Priceless. Also Rory Barbarossa was the original discoverer of the Isle of Dread (module X1), so there is yet another name drawn from D&D's past.

[Moonbeam]

Flamerule 2nd, 1375 – Day 16 of the sea voyage

Another day spent with the endless drone of Avner’s complaints filling my ears. Now, he’s getting upset about Lagaan not protecting him as per our agreement. The usually alert thief has been spending the last few days in a drunken stupor up in the crow’s nest. He’s really not handling rejection from his chubby girlfriend very well. Fittingly, he’s getting what he deserves for messing with that whore.

The days when I felt anything about Avner are long gone. Initially, I’d been enticed by the rumors of his family’s wild parties. I thought that surely he would be able to show me a good time. But the more I get to know him, the duller he seems. Talking to Tyria, I learned that apparently his father, Zebula, recently captured a Nymph and used her to satisfy his every perverted need. Now that’s someone whose company must be enjoyable!

Yesterday, we passed another ship in the distance, probably a merchant vessel. And today, we steered clear of one of the forts on the coast; it is rumored to be operated by the Rundeen.

Flamerule 3rd, 1375 – Day 17 of the sea voyage

Today certainly broke the dreary monotony of the trip. During the morning, we were almost attacked by a Rundeen war galley, which turned away from us at the last moment, most likely because of the banners of allegiance that Lagaan put up there. It was clearly a powerful ship, operated by many slaves rowing below deck.

Well after dark, everyone on board was asleep, except Moretta and I who were standing watch on the deck. We heard a splashing noise and soon saw what looked like Liamae climb on board. She was dripping wet, the thin fabric of her clothes hugging her saggy flesh. She claimed she was coming to see Lagaan. I tried to dissuade her, but she ignored me and headed for the guys’ bunk cabin. I felt a strong desire to grab her and forcibly throw her overboard. I wonder what would’ve happened if I’d tried. Ironically, though I let her pass out of kindness toward Lagaan, he’d have been much better off if I’d kicked the woman overboard. I guess I should learn from this lesson that no good deed goes unpunished.

As it turns out, she headed downstairs, and after a few minutes, I heard a yell from below deck: it sounded like Ulfgar, of all people. I left Moretta behind, and ran down the stairs, into the lowest level of the hold. There, I saw an extremely strange scene: Ulfgar, unarmed and wearing only a loincloth, was wrestling with Liamae, who was naked, but wielding a dagger. Lagaan was lying on the floor, motionless, his throat slit! I rushed and healed him with my strongest prayer, but he remained unmoving. I then hefted my trident and pierced the struggling woman’s soft flesh – something I’d been meaning to do since the day I’d met her!

I cannot describe into words the feeling of utter bliss that came upon me as I felt my weapon penetrate deep inside my hated rival’s exposed flesh.

However, she managed to retain enough concentration to cast a spell, and turned invisible, but Ulfgar managed to hit her and she reappeared. But by then, I was starting to have some doubts. Her scream had not sounded like Liamae’s at all, and the way she cast her spell sounded a lot more like the work of a bard than that of a sorceress. Raguhl then burst into the hold, fangs glistening and the spikes on his back raised as though he was approaching a state of fury. Even unarmed, the massive lizardman can be a deadly foe.

The woman tumbled past Ulfgar and me and took out a scroll from her discarded clothes, which were lying on the floor, but before she could read it, Ulfgar yanked it out of her hands. Raguhl then managed to grapple her, and bit her savagely. I struck her three more times with my trident, mercilessly. She was bleeding heavily, and eventually, she fell unconscious, and regained her true appearance: she was not Liamae at all, but rather, Rowynn Kellani!

From one b+#** to another…

While the two warriors were tying her up, I quickly healed her so she wouldn’t bleed to death, and rushed to Lagaan’s side. Alas, Rowynn had done a thorough job: the thief was dead…

I had mixed feelings at the scoundrel’s passing. Perhaps it was the way he’d died; the irony of it all. My first reaction was one of joy, for I have come to greatly resent his insolent attitude and his snide remarks at my expense. But I was also truly sad, for I’ve come to respect him for his talent as a thief, his cunning and his daring. More than with anyone in the group, I feel that I could connect with Lagaan if he’d only show me the respect that I deserve.

I cast a Gentle Repose spell on him, and we lay him upon his hammock. Gathered in the boys’ room, the rest of my companions and I decided to try and get him resurrected at Blackwall Keep. Hopefully, the priests of Lathander (or whoever they were truly worshipping) would be strong enough, and willing, to perform such a spell. Perhaps we might use our knowledge of the traitors to bargain with them (one way or another).

On the bright side, we got several new magical items from Rowynn: a rapier, a leather armor, a buckler, elven boots and a scroll of Summon Nature’s Ally. She was also carrying some white powder which Churtle later identified as arsenic.

Then, we brought Rowynn to my room, revived her and questioned her. Though she proved very defiant, it only meant that Ulfgar, Raguhl and I had the satisfaction of beating her even harder to make her cooperate. We never had any reason to like her, but this time, she’d killed one of ours (although, arguably the most annoying of ours). By the time we were done with her, she was a total mess: badly bruised, bleeding and with several broken fingers. We broke her. Sobbing and coughing blood, she started to tell us what we wanted to know.

She admitted that she’d escaped prison thanks to some of her family’s contacts. She hated us so much, because we’d made her lose everything. If we hadn’t come along, the Kellanis would’ve had total control of the harbor, and the Lotus Dragon would’ve been the most powerful thieves’ guild in Sasserine. She’d been the one who’d planted the mephit, although she’d expected it to be much more annoying that it had been, since Raguhl had been able to finish it off before it could regenerate in the water. Without that, it would’ve been able to keep attacking us with hit-and-run tactics for weeks.

After the night of that attack, Rowynn had hidden on the Blue Nixie, and had only crept back on the Sea Wyvern during the night we’d fought the giant ooze. In the mean time, she’d noticed that Lagaan and Liamae were close, so she’d spied on the sorceress slut to be able to assume her disguise and imitate her voice.

With some anger still seething in her glazed eyes, she told us in a quivering voice how much she hated us, and wished she could’ve killed us all, especially me, as I’d been so active in accusing her family in front of the Dawn Council, and Raguhl, whose claws she could still feel tearing into her flesh. I could tell that she was ready to die, and the worst thing we could’ve done would have been not to kill her, and instead, to keep her as a prisoner.

But I am a merciful woman. I felt a lot of respect for the passion and determination with which she’d tried to carry out her revenge. I took hold of her battered face in my hand, and though it was bloody and bruised, it had a noble beauty to it. Had things turned out differently, I might have served her. We might have been friends. Indeed, I probably had much more in common with this woman that I did with young, foolish Lavinia. I gazed into Rowynn’s beautiful green eyes and told her that, although she was our enemy, she was an honorable enemy, and that as a noblewoman, she was entitled to a worthy death. I announced that she would be offered in sacrifice to Umberlee the following morning, and that she should make peace with whatever power she prayed to overnight.

Avner then stormed into the room, ready to make a speech about the treatment of a fellow noble on board, but after taking one look at Rowynn’s battered body, he paled, gulped, and left the room hastily.

Moretta and I then cleaned Rowynn up, and gave her some clothes, so that she might spend the last night of her life with a measure of the dignity she was entitled to. But I didn’t heal her, and we kept her well tied up and gagged. Because we’re not idiots.

Flamerule 4th, 1375 – Day 18 of the sea voyage

This morning, during the ceremony to the worship of Umberlee, I described the circumstances of Lagaan’s death to the crew. Raguhl had gone to inform Lavinia of this turn of events, and to make sure the real Liamae was on the Blue Nixie. Indeed she was, and the lizardman returned with all of the Jade Ravens, as well as Lavinia. They wanted to attend the event.

At the climax of the ceremony, Ulfgar brought Rowynn forward, and I took her close to the edge of the ship, holding the holy sacrificial knife in my hand. I called upon the blessing of Umberlee, so that she may take the noblewoman into her eternal embrace. Rowynn stood proud and faced death with courage. We stood side by side, our eyes locked into one another’s; I could feel the warmth of her flesh against mine. For a moment, I hesitated. She did not have to die. But then, something powerful took over me; I grabbed a fistful of her red hair and pulled her head back; I plunged the knife into the side of her neck. Her warm blood poured down unto the deck of the Sea Wyvern, blessing it in the name of Umberlee. Holding the dripping knife high, I spoke a final prayer in a resounding voice, and threw the limp corpse of Lady Rowynn Kellani overboard.

Not a sound came from the assembly. Nobody moved. Everyone was mesmerized; for most of them, it was the first time that they’d witnessed a ceremonial sacrifice to the Queen of the Deep. Now, they realized what price was required for her to grant us safe passage into her domain…

Flamerule 5th, 1375 – Day 19 of the sea voyage

Dear Rowynn,

I dedicate today’s entry in my journal… to you!

Everything looks sharper, brighter, livelier since I’ve sacrificed you. The food tastes better, the sea air smells fresher, the feel of silk against my skin feels softer. I now feel some closure with a whole part of my life that I’d been trying to keep secret, to hide even from my own self, for almost three years.

Tonight, while everyone was asleep, I slipped into your most elegant silk gown, you know the one I’m talking about. The one you wore when you wanted to make sure everyone, everyone, noticed you. It fits me perfectly. I’ve been looking at my magnificent reflection in the mirror for hours, and it’s like I see a black-haired, prettier version of you. I feel like dancing and singing with joy, but I know my sweet Moretta needs her beauty sleep. Besides, I don’t want to share this moment with anyone other than you, my sweet Rowynn. Because your death was my own private victory!

Rowynn Kellani, the mighty Lady Dragon, is dead. Killed by my own hand. You started in life with everything: wealth, education, safety, respect. You had everything, and I had nothing. I had to work day and night in the horrible, stinking slums of Westgate, to fight tooth and nail, to murder, lie and cheat; I had let my body be abused by countless drunken thugs to get to where I am today. I worked so hard, so much harder than you ever did, Rowynn. You were born my superior. As a young girl, I would have given up everything to be your servant.

And yet I am now alive, and you’re dead. I rose from my miserable slums far to the north, only so that destiny could bring me down to Sasserine to one day kill you and take your place. Where the Lotus Dragons failed, Trouble will succeed. We will one day be a force much more feared than your petty group of cutpurses ever was.

I know exactly how you felt after we’d defeated you, after we’d beaten you up to within an inch of death, after we’d killed your pet and stormed your lair. After we’d stolen all of your prized possessions. After we’d dragged your bloody, naked body, in chains through the crowded streets of Sasserine (sorry for taking the scenic route, by the way, but the men in my group were all too proud to stop and ask for directions). After we’d arranged for you to be locked in jail, and for your family to be disgraced and stripped of all its holdings.

I knew exactly how you felt once you’d lost everything, because it had all happened to me before. Those cursed adventurers took everything from me, everything, my lover, my wealth, my position of authority, and my life. Denek Drellrane’s sword put an end to it all, just as my own knife did to you yesterday.

And yet I’m still alive, and you’re not.

Why?

Because I’m a survivor. I will do anything, anything it takes to survive. I know when to roll over and play dead. I know what to say to make people do what I want. I know when to strike, and more importantly yet, when not to strike.

You didn’t. You were a fool. A noble, passionate, daring, admirable fool, but a fool nonetheless. You thought you could get away with revenge against us, but you couldn’t. You let her arrogance-fueled anger blind your senses.

I would never have made such a terrible mistake.

And now, my dear, sweet Rowynn, I’m standing in my cabin, wearing your gorgeous, scandalous lavender silk dress, wearing your jewels and your perfume, and I raise a glass of rum to your memory, because I’ve wholly defeated you!

Oh, and one last thing: thanks for killing Lagaan for me. It was the kindest parting gift you could’ve ever given me.

Flamerule 8th, 1375 – Day 22 of the sea voyage

We docked at Fort Blackwall around mid-afternoon today. The only other large ship present at the time was a caravel flying the colors of another merchant family from Sasserine: the golden dragon on a black field of the Dracktus family, the ruthless rulers of Shadow Shore.

Raguhl and Amella remained to guard the Sea Wyvern, but most of the rest of the crew left to enjoy a night on solid ground. Fort Blackwall is a large settlement of over a thousand inhabitants, rough people used to dealing with the threats coming from both the jungle and the sea. A nearby Olman ruined loomed over the jungle trees, in the distance.

I headed to the temple of Lathander with Sparkie, Tyria and Ulfgar. It was a large stone building, much less gaudy than the usual temples of that deity, strong enough to serve as a fortress should the need arise. Inside, we were greeted by a handsome but cold priest, wearing a long purple robe and a large symbol of Lathander. He introduced himself as brother Korvosan and seemed to know already that we’d come from the Sea Wyvern, and enquired about Father Feres’s whereabouts. We answered that there had been complications, and asked to speak to the high priest. He brought us downstairs into the depths of the temple, and introduced us to Father Thergar, an austere-looking hooded priest who sat behind a heavy wooden desk. The man’s appearance, attitude and the fact that he operated in a deep, dark dungeon seemed to indicate that he was indeed not a priest of Lathander at all…

He also seemed to be expecting Father Feres and his package, and quite eager to hear about him. He was not very good at disguising the fact that he did not worship Lathander. I informed him that we’d discovered that Father Feres was to deliver a package to some local priests who pretended to worship Lathander, but who were instead worshipping someone else. I made him understand that we hadn’t mentioned this to anyone yet, and that we would remain quiet if he’d agree to resurrect our fallen companion.

He understood my blackmail well, and agreed to resurrect Lagaan, but only if we’d bring him the box and its contents. I tried to bargain, but that only angered him, and I had to calm him down. I had no desire to trifle with someone powerful enough to raise the dead. We agreed to make the exchange at midnight: Lagaan’s life for the Chaos Scroll. He also informed us that we could dispose of Father Feres as we saw fit.

I have regrets at having accepted to part with the extremely valuable scrolls in exchange for the mere life of a thief. Such ancient texts were surely worth a fortune, whereas we could’ve easily hired another thief upon our return to Sasserine.

During the evening, Ulfgar left us to go visit the local brothel. I had dinner with the handsome brother Korvosan at the local inn, which was crowded with rowdy sailors, mercenaries, dock workers, and whores. We both subtly tried to guess which deity the other worshipped, but each kept our secrets. He was gallant, but cold. I’ve seen zombies who showed more interest in beautiful women than he did. But I felt bored, lonely and lustful from my long trip at sea, and the knowledge that many more weeks of the same drudgery lay ahead of me urged me to flirt feverously with him. With only the insufferable Avner, the self-obsessed Sparkie and the uncouth Altan as potential candidates to satisfy my needs, I knew that it would be a long trip indeed.

He did not resist my charms for long, and soon enough, we retired to one of the dark bedrooms of the inn. I was very pleased with what I saw and felt beneath his pretty purple robe, and I wish I could’ve spent more time in his company, but we made good use of what little time we did have to spend together. I admit that his mysterious aura, and the suspicion that he might be an evil cultist who would try to kill me at any moment, only made the experience even more exhilarating.

Just before midnight, we finally got dressed in silence and parted company. Feeling very relaxed, I walked back to the ship, where I met Raguhl, Tyria and Sparkie. We took Lagaan’s limp, yet perfectly preserved form, as well as the box containing the Chaos Scroll. We managed to reach the temple without attracting too much attention, and were led downstairs. There, we entered a black-walled chapel with a symbol of writhing tentacles painted on the ceiling. Any doubt we might’ve had that this was a legitimate temple of Lathander would’ve been shattered by now if we’d still had any.

We gave the box to Father Thergar, and he also kept his end of the bargain. Clamoring in Abyssal, he called upon the power of a dark deity (whom he called “The Great Lady”), and he wrenched Lagaan’s soul back from the Fugue Plane into his body.

Lagaan opened his eyes weakly. We gathered around him and explained to him briefly where he was and what had happened. We then thanked the high priest, and left, carrying our feeble companion with us back to our ship. On the way back, Tyria told us that she thought she knew which power the false priests of Lathander were worshipping: The Queen of Chaos, who is an Obyrith (like Dagon). She is as old, or even older, as Selune and Shar (theological debates on this issue are apparently ongoing to this very day); she existed in the Abyssal Chaos predating the creation of the Material Prime Plane (Toril). She currently lives on the 14th layer of the Abyss. Legend says that long ago, she created the first demons, and fought the first Forces of Law.

We led Lagaan back to his room, where we were soon joined by Liamae, who was crying and whimpering like a bleeding sow. She hugged and kissed Lagaan and apologized for her stupidity. Lagaan told us in a feeble voice about his stay on the Plane of Fugue, and how he’d been dragged back by an immense force of darkness, which had grabbed him and lifted him like an ant, and shoved him back into his body. Then the b&&@! started kissing him more passionately and I left the room, because I thought I was going to be sick.

Flamerule 9th, 1375 – Day 23 of the sea voyage

I made an interesting discovery today. Apparently, most of my companions have recently joined a holy order of paladins.

Today, the boys all banded against me and came to the unyielding defense of that sniveling rat, “Father Feres”. Which they keep calling him, knowing full well it’s not even his real name. That loathsome beast Raguhl even growled at me at some point! Oh, he’ll pay for that later.

I can’t believe they didn’t object to the sacrifice of Rowynn, a beautiful, strong-willed noblewoman, and yet they get up in arms to defend this pathetic, useless lying low-life scum. Unbelievable!

The only one with some sense left in her is little Tyria, bless her heart. She agreed with me that Father Feres should be disposed of in a clean way. If we did that, we could store the merchandise in a much more organized fashion. Now, the crates are piled up haphazardly, because we had to free room to make him a prison in one of the lower rooms. It’s unsightly!

Anyway, I’ll pretend to go with those idiots’ plan to leave Father Feres, unharmed and well, at Fort Greenrock in a few weeks. But it would be such a terrible shame if something were to happen to the weak little man after we’d released him.

Flamerule 11th, 1375 – Day 25 of the sea voyage

Today was Moretta’s birthday. She turned twenty-four. We celebrated it with the rest of the crew, and Churtle cooked us some absolutely delicious spiced fish that some of the Halflings had caught.

The only annoyance this evening was provided, unsurprisingly, by that squealing sow Liamae, who got completely smashed and made quite a spectacle of herself, while her half-dead boyfriend was feebly clapping at her from where he was sprawled on a chair. They are quite the pathetic sight.

Is she ever going to go back to the Blue Nixie?

Now that I know what it feels like to skewer her with my trident, I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to refrain from giving it a second try.

Flamerule 15th, 1375 – Day 29 of the sea voyage

The past two days, the weather’s been very windy and cloudy, as if hovering on the edge of a storm, although no storm actually broke out. So far, Umberlee’s been sheltering us very nicely. Surely, the sacrifice of so worthy an offering as Rowynn must have satisfied her greatly.

During the night, I saw some lights in the distance. Upon investigation, we reached the site of a recent naval battle. The burning remains of a Calimshan merchant ship were still afloat. We managed to bring a few corpses on board, but found no survivors. The attackers had apparently been some pirates. I managed to speak with one of those bodies by magic, and learned that they worked for Lars No-Neck, as privateers of the Rundeen, and that they were based in Scuttle Cove, which turned out to be on the nearby island of Sekorvia. Finally, I know how to reach that infamous, dreadful pirate city. One day, I hope to visit it. It sounds like a place where a girl can really have some fun.

Later today, we met the ones who’d destroyed the merchant ship: a huge frigate and a caravel about the size of the Sea Wyvern. They sailed straight for us like sharks, figuring we looked like easy preys.

Thankfully, Lagaan had started feeling better today, and seemed to be back in shape for a fight.

We sent the non-combatant crew members below deck, and prepared for battle. Stragdar took control of one ballista, with Lirith helping him reload, while Ulfgar took control of the other one, with Faris on reloading duty. Lagaan and Liamae climbed up to the crow’s nest to get a better vantage point to shoot. Amella steered us on an intercept course; our plan was to slow down the frigate, and then to flank them on the caravel’s side, to try to fight them one by one. The Blue Nixie was following us closely, but they just didn’t have enough firepower to help us much.

Sparkie, our secret weapon, cast a Fly spell on himself and flew ahead to try to slow down the frigate. In the distance, I saw him launch two fireballs at the ship’s sails – an effective maneuver to slow it down, but would’ve even preferred if he’d blasted the decks – by that time, the ship was already on an intercept course, so its sails didn’t matter as much.

Sparkie was then himself hit by a fireball cast from the frigate. So they had another mage on board. This was going to be interesting. For a fleeting moment, I remembered a memory of Ajakstu, one of my old masters the Slave Lords, laughing victoriously as he incinerated a Sembian warship with his powerful spells of fire. Sparkie managed to cast another fireball, blasting the crew around one of the frigate’s catapults, and then retreated back toward the Sea Wyvern, as their mage had summoned some fiendish ravens to assault him.

Their ships started firing a bit before we did: their catapults had the advantage of range over our ballistae. One of them damaged the starboard side of the Sea Wyvern, but not too badly. Stragdar set fire to one of the caravel’s sails with a flaming ballista bolt. Another fireball cast from the frigate exploded around me, near the helm. The searing pain was almost unbearable, but I managed to remain conscious. Ulfgar seemed mostly unharmed, Amella was badly burned but still standing, but Faris was lying on the deck, his clothes completely blackened. As I healed myself and Amella, Ulfgar brought Faris downstairs to be healed by Urol, and then returned by our side.

I then called upon the power of Umberlee, and dark clouds appeared over their caravel; lightning struck down their helmsman. Soon enough, their ship swerved to the side, and Amella was able to ram their side at high speed, shattering a section of their hull!

The impact knocked many people off their feet, including our two dwarven ballista operators, who both fell overboard. I managed to grab hold of Ulfgar, and – damn, he’s heavy! – drag him back to the deck. Meanwhile, our archers, Tyria, Lagaan, Sparkie (who’d used up most of his magic already), Skald, Liamae with her magic missiles, and even Brissa with her daggers, claimed many casualties within the ranks of the smaller pirate ship, which was now passing just in front of ours, in the opposite direction. I called down another bolt of lighting for good measure. Then, one of their last archers shot an arrow at Amella, who collapsed with a grunt. I rushed to heal her, while our own archers returned fire. A few moments later, I helped Amella stand up, and she stoically returned to steering the ship, her teeth bared in a determined grin. Bless that foul-tongued, mean, resilient little woman! By the time the enemy ship had passed clear of us, there was no man standing on it. We’d completely wiped out its crew with our magic and our archers!

But our victory was short-lived, because we were hit by a fireball and by a catapult stone back-to-back. The fireball blasted Raguhl, Tyria and Moretta, who’d been standing on the central portion of the deck. Brissa managed to avoid it completely with a spectacular pirouette, and Sparkie was still flying out of range, above our ship. The catapult stone destroyed our front mast, and hit Lirith squarely. She fell to the floor and did not rise again. Raguhl managed to get back close to the railing, and he threw a rope down to Stragdar and helped him climb back on board. Behind us, I saw that the Blue Nixie was still following us, but thick smoke was coming out of it: it had been hit by two more fireballs.

When the smoke cleared somewhat, we saw the huge frigate looming on our starboard side. It had no sails and could not alter its course, but it didn’t really need to: it was heading straight to ram us! Now it was all up to Amella’s skill and Umberlee’s mercy to save us from the deadly impact!

[Moonbeam]

By the way, after a discussion with my DM, we've agreed to officially move Belessa's alignment to Neutral Evil. I knew from the start that I wanted to play her as a b!+++, but I was hesitant to make her actually _evil_. But after having played her for 6 months, I've come to agree that yes, she is in fact evil. :)

[Guy Humual]

Moonbeam wrote:

By the way, after a discussion with my DM, we've agreed to officially move Belessa's alignment to Neutral Evil. I knew from the start that I wanted to play her as a b%~*!, but I was hesitant to make her actually _evil_. But after having played her for 6 months, I've come to agree that yes, she is in fact evil. :)

Great work as usual. I'd have said she was a perfect CN character right up to the human sacrifice . . . at that point she's crossed a line. Seems your character is going back to her old tricks . . . oh Belessa, will you ever learn?

[Chimpman]

Pretty brutal... but in a very fun way ;). I'm a little surprised by the actions of the rest of the crew however, especially with regard to Rowan's demise. At first I had assumed that Belessa had made some good progress with their conversion toward Umberlee, but the merciful treatment of the so called Father Feres would seem to contradict this.

What's going on there?

[Moonbeam]

Yep, the more Belessa grows in power, the more evil she becomes, because she can get away with it. :)

Sparkie is Father Feres's most ardent defender. I'm not sure exactly why, but he considers him a friend just because he cast Charm Person on him. What can I say, Sparkie's a weird, lonely guy (the character, not the player ;) ).

Lagaan is also strongly opposed to killing Father Feres, as is Raguhl, since he's Good (which was weird for me because I was playing both someone who wanted to kill FF and someone who absolutely did NOT).

In this game, we haven't yet decided for sure what we're going to do with that guy. The game was a bit chaotic, due to the presence of 5 kids age 1-7 running around the house, so I didn't want to add any disruption or tension by bringing out that controversial issue.

================

Flamerule 15th, 1375 – Day 29 of the sea voyage (part 2)

As the fight was going on around me, I didn’t have time to notice everything, but I later got the chance to hear about every single detail from the rest of my companions.

The frigate got closer to us, and we could start to see the individual pirates aboard it: some bugbears, lizardmen and hobgoblins were mixed there with the humans. As Moretta and I were trying to heal the crew around us, a hail of arrows fell upon us. Our own archers returned fire, and a few of the enemies were slain. I also managed to call down a few more lightning bolts into their midst.

Their mage seemed to be standing at the prow of their ship, as I saw some exchange of magic missiles between him and Liamae. I cast a silence spell around him, to force him to move to the middle of the ship, where he’d be more vulnerable to our melee combatants. Over the din of the battle, I heard the voice of a man calling upon the power of Cyric to bolster his troops. Not long after that, Moretta called upon Umberlee to bless us.

Then they boarded us. A vicious melee erupted between the jumping pirates, and Raguhl, Ulfgar, Tyria, Skald and Brissa. Then, the enemy priest placed a zone of silence over them. From my vantage point at the stern of the ship, I saw their captain, an old man with a wooden leg and a parrot on his shoulder, move out of my zone of silence and bark orders at his troops. I understood that he was the sorcerer who’d blasted us with all those fireballs. He called out a name, and an enormous blue-skinned ogre burst out of the hold, and ran across the deck toward the Sea Wyvern. Stragdar aimed his ballista toward the enemy captain, and missed him, but managed to impale his lizardman bodyguard instead.

Meanwhile, Lagaan had climbed to the ropes of the frigate, and jumped down behind the enemy lines. He ambushed one of their bugbears, killing it with one shot.

The captain threw another fireball at the middle of our deck, and the explosion knocked Tyria, Sparkie and Moretta unconscious, as well as one of the enemy pirates. Skald got wounded by a pirate, and tried to retreat. Raguhl killed one of the enemies, while Ulfgar jumped on the enemy ship, and slew two foes with one mighty cleave of his axe.

Seeing that several of our warriors had been overcome by the fireball, several more pirates jumped aboard the Sea Wyvern with glee. Two of them started climbing up the stairs to attack me. Though it pained me to damage my own beautiful ship, I had the exhilarating feeling of watching them from up close as they got blasted to smithereens by another one of my lightning bolts. I took a deep breath of the delicious smell of their burning flesh.

My reverie was rudely interrupted, though, as a large dog had also jumped unto our ship, and sped up to me, snarling savagely. Its jaw snapped around my thigh, and I felt its fangs biting deep into my flesh. With an angry growl, I stabbed it with my trident, and Amella finished it off with her cutlass.

I looked around and saw that Lagaan had engaged their captain in melee. Our little rogue fought like a demon, and struck the old captain several times with perfectly aimed blows from his rapier. To his surprise, though, the captain seemed to partially resist the wounds – Lagaan would later understand that all this time, the ship’s cleric had shielded the captain with a Shield Other spell, thereby sharing his master’s pain.

Ulfgar was also fighting very well, and had slain a few more enemies. Though several members of our group were down, the rest fought on with grim determination. Brissa got wounded by a pirate, and had to retreat, but close by, Raguhl was swinging his axe violently against the massive Ogre, clearly in a state of rage despite the peaceful silence around them. I saw him slash the larger monster’s exposed throat with a powerful blow from his greataxe, felling him in a shower of blood.

The pirate captain tried to kill Lagaan with burning hands and magic missiles, but it was not enough. Together, Lagaan and Ulfgar slew him, as well as his remaining bodyguard. The last two pirates tried to surrender, but they were slain by the merciless Ulfgar and the raging Raguhl. I climbed down to the main deck, where Moretta, Sparkie and Tyria’s burnt bodies were lying sprawled. I cursed in my mind at the spell of silence which prevented me from healing them there. I grabbed hold of Moretta and dragged her back up to the stern of the ship, where I healed her. I then climbed back down as fast as I could. I saw that Sparkie seemed to have stabilized on his own, so I took the light form of Tyria over my shoulder, and quickly brought her back up to the stern, where I healed her. Then I went back for Sparkie.

Meanwhile, Lagaan and Stragdar had noticed that a lifeboat was being lowered from the side of their ship. Guessing that someone invisible was trying to escape, Stragdar destroyed the little boat with a well-aimed shot of his ballista. Then, as Lagaan was looting the bodies of the fallen pirates, he heard the sound of someone in armor trying to sneak past him. He struck out with his rapier, which connected with the invisible priest of Cyric, who suddenly appeared, with a shocked expression on his face, as Lagaan’s rapier deeply impaled in his side. Then the man fell to the floor, dead.

By then, the fight was over. Raguhl was ferociously devouring the bodies of some of the pirates. A powerful explosion rocked the side of the frigate: apparently, the sneaky priest of Cyric had set fire to explosives before he’d tried to abandon ship. The frigate started to sink slowly. Quickly, Raguhl and I joined Ulfgar and Lagaan on board, so that we could try to get some of the pirates’ treasure back unto the Sea Wyvern. Our hasty search turned out a large chest, which we brought on board, along with the bodies of the captain and the priest.

We later examined our booty and found around 1500 gold pieces in coins and valuables, as well as several magical items, the most interesting of which was a ring of fire resistance which we gave to Sparkie. Then we watched as the mighty frigate, which had been called the Night Shark, sank into the depths of the ocean. Perched on the top of its tallest mast, going down with the ship, was the captain’s parrot, which Liamae killed out of spite with a volley of magic missiles. Meanwhile, the Blue Nixie’s crew had boarded the other ship, the Purity’s Prow, and was looting it. It turns out that several members of its crew, including its captain, Lars No-Neck, had only feigned death, to try and survive our deadly missile fire. They were captured by Lavinia’s crew. Though our young employer seemed to be reluctant to give him up, I managed to convince her to have Lars No-Neck brought on board the Sea Wyvern for questioning. She also gave us a spellbook they’d found on board, which of course was handed out to Sparkie. Apparently, I’d managed to slay its owner with one of my lightning bolts before he could do us much harm.

Everyone on board felt energized, happy to be alive. We could really be proud of ourselves, because we’d emerged victorious from a very difficult battle. The frigate and its powerful sorcerer captain had been terrible foes indeed. Our victory is a sign of our skill and determination, and of the blessing that Umberlee has placed upon our expedition.

We did have one casualty among our ranks: Lirith was slain by the catapult stone and the hail of arrows. But the results could have been much, much worse, had it not been of my healing magic, the skill of our archers, the combat prowess of our warriors, or the might of Sparkie’s magic.

Avner of course insisted on receiving part of the loot on behalf of his family, which was funding half of the expedition and blah blah blah. I shut him up, reminding him that he’d spent the entire fight cowering downstairs, soiling his expensive silk pants. Once we were rid of him, I prepared Lirith’s corpse for the evening’s funeral ceremony, making sure that she was ready for her journey into the afterlife, which of course meant relieving her of the burden of her jewels and magical items. The little b+#@% had actually been pretty rich! I wonder how she came across all those precious items. Ah well, they’re ours now.

We then proceeded to interrogate Lars No-Neck, captain of the now sunken Purity’s Prow. He was a flabby, sweaty, stinky, farty lump of useless fat. His ugly skin was covered in tattoos, he wore an eye patch, and half of his hair had been burnt out. He groveled before me, and answered all of my questions in a voice which was tightly gripped by fear. He told us much about Scuttle Cove, which had apparently been founded by a trio of ur-priests, who had later been destroyed by one of the many gods they’d angered. The so-called “city of chaos” was indeed the pirate haven I’d already heard whispered rumors about. And now I knew where to find it. It was a large city of around 16 000 inhabitants, of the worst kind of sea-sailing scum to be found; a large part of those were Yuan-Ti. A base of the Crimson Pirates also stood on the island of Sekorvia, but Lars didn’t know much about it.

As the setting sun illuminated our two damaged ships with its dying rays, Moretta and I paid homage to the holy Queen of the Deep who’d granted us victory on this glorious day. We sent Lirith’s body down to our mother’s abyssal domain, with all the honors that she had earned. We also threw overboard the bodies of the various pirates we’d slain, for the dark goddess to do as she wished with their souls.

Finally, the two dwarves brought forth the struggling, bound, sweating bulk of Lars No-Neck, who was desperately begging me not to kill him. He called upon the mercy of Umberlee by chanting one of her prayers, which might have had the desired effect had he not forgotten half of the verses… I paced slowly around him, enjoying his state of panic, observing him with a critical eye, as all the while I was playing with the sacrificial knife in my hands. He really had earned his name well: his almost absent neck was covered by a deep layer of protective fat.

“I’m going to need a bigger knife,” I told Moretta, who hurried downstairs to find me something more suitable to end the ceremony.

A few minutes later, she came back with a sharp meat cleaver she’d found among Churtle’s implements in the kitchen. It wasn’t a sophisticated implement, but it would do. I blessed it, and then turned to Lars, who was now crying openly. I grinned at him, and moved my lips next to his ear. “Do not enter the domain of Umberlee wearing the face of a coward,” I whispered to him.

And then I grabbed the back of his shirt, and drove the sharp blade deep into the fat of his neck. Thick blood poured down over his chest as he gurgled abominably. It was not a pretty wound. I slashed him again and again as I chanted to the glory of Umberlee. Finally, when I was satisfied with the results, I hefted the blood-drenched weapon high and called the last verse of my prayer, and I pushed the fat man’s lifeless body overboard.

Flamerule 23rd, 1375 – Day 37 of the sea voyage

Our voyage has been quite peaceful since the epic battle a few days ago. Some members of the crew have been working hard at repairing the damage the Sea Wyvern sustained during the fight. I helped them with some Make Whole spells when I thought it would quicken the repairs.

Since then, Sparkillo has been studying some of the new spells he found in the dead wizard’s spellbook. Several of them will be very useful indeed for our trip. He’s described them to me at great length over the past few meals. Buoyancy Net allows him to weave a floating aura around a sinking person; Quick Swim likewise seems quite useful in the ocean; Stormrunner’s Ward is supposed to help a captain keep his ship under control during a storm; Detect Ship has a range of at least five miles, and can allow him to divine some information about any ship within eyesight; Favorable Wind lasts for almost an hour, and helps to navigate when the natural winds aren’t cooperating.

Flamerule 28th, 1375 – Day 42 of the sea voyage

Yesterday, we came within sight of the large tropical island on which Fort Greenrock is built. We’ll navigate around its coast for the next few days.

Today, we found Fort Greenrock, but to our surprise, not much of it was left standing. It had evidently been attacked recently, and most of the fort itself was but a charred ruin. We threw down the anchor a few miles further along the coast, and the mighty members of Trouble went to investigate.

Many corpses littered the area, among broken weapons and pools of dried blood. Most of the corpses were humans, but a few were elves, and one was a dwarf. Raguhl, who is our best tracker, examined the tracks on the ground and said he thought that a group of Lizardfolk had attacked the fort, though we saw no corpses of such creatures. We also noticed that some of the victims had been burnt, and others had been killed by the jaws of something large, perhaps a crocodile?

Raguhl found some recent human tracks, and followed them to a small camp near a cave. Some food was simmering over a fire. We decided to hide in waiting for whoever was camping there. We waited for over an hour, without seeing anyone. As it turned out, the man had also been hiding and had been observing us. Eventually, we made contact with him: he was an aged half-elf druid named Scorin. From what he told us, he was the only survivor of the Lizardfolk attack. Although the fort had been well defended against sea attacks (they’d survived many pirate raids over the years), they hadn’t been so well protected from land attacks. The local lizardfolk had seen them as enemies encroaching on their territory for years, and their new bloodthirsty king had finally decided to wipe the human menace from their land once and for all. The attack had been deadly. Only Scorin had managed to flee, and he’d remained hidden here until now.

He told us he’d been on the island for 5 years, and that before, he’d lived in the Chult Peninsula. He said he’d come here because he found the flora interesting, but I had the feeling he was keeping something for us. I couldn’t really pry the truth out of him, though. Raguhl seemed to have taken a liking to the man. He invited him to come on board the Sea Wyvern and join our expedition. Lagaan also seemed quite eager to rescue the old man. I had no problems with it: he could take over Lirith’s spot. An additional druid might come in handy, though I warned my companions, as well as Amella, to be wary of him.

We hiked all the way back to the ships, informed Lavinia of what we’d found, and continued our journey.

Flamerule 29th, 1375 – Day 43 of the sea voyage

Today, we continued sailing around the huge island’s coast. We passed by several miles of disgusting, gigantic spider webs strewn over the jungle’s vegetation. We could see huge dark bodies lying among them. Scorin told us that thousands of giant spiders lived in that area. I was glad to be safely at sea, well away from the creepy things.

Midsummer’s day, 1375 – Day 45 of the sea voyage

We celebrated the Midsummer holiday tonight on the ship. It was a joyful event, and Churtle again prepared some of her delicious spiced fish for the occasion. The rum flowed freely, and everyone seemed to be in a good mood. Tomorrow, we’ll likely come within sight of the ancient ruins of Tomoachan, which we want to explore, to look for that fabled golden idol that Tyria heard about. If we can find it, it will surely make us all very rich when we go back to Sasserine!

I pray that Umberlee will grant us her protection even as we wander into those land-bound ruins, and I pray that we will be able to wake Ulfgar from his drunken stupor before noon tomorrow.

Eleasias 1st, 1375 – Day 46 of the sea voyage
(Eleasias is the equivalent of the month of august)

We finally came at the point closest to where we thought lay the fabled city of Tomoachan, according to our maps. I went to shore with the rest of Trouble, joined by Urol who was eager to visit the old ruin, while the rest of the crew waited for us aboard the two ships.

We entered the jungle warily. It was extremely hot and humid in there, and the atmosphere was heavy with the promise of rain. I cast an Endure Elements spell on Ulfgar to ease his trip, clad in full plate armor as he was, and I cast another on myself, for comfort. As we treaded through the tangled vegetation, Urol led the way cheerfully, getting excited at the sight of particularly strange plants, pointing out those that we should avoid due to their venom. Every now and then, Raguhl spotted the tracks of some predator on the muddy ground. It soon started to rain heavily and we were all drenched in no time.

Eventually, we reached the valley within which sprawled the lost city of Tomoachan: four ancient pyramids surrounded another, even larger central pyramid. The rest of the city lay in vine-covered ruins around those old, colossal buildings. The only sound that we heard was that of the pouring rain, and we saw no sign of activity down there, nor any lights. We started our arduous climb down the muddy path leading to the city.

Some time later, we found ourselves walking down the ruined royal highway, between gigantic statues eroded by the ages. Most of us walked carefully, our weapons drawn, but Urol and Tyria were chattering quickly among themselves, excited at the many exotic sights that surrounded us. All I remember from their babble is that this place had once been the westernmost city of the Olman Empire, which had sprawled over the continent of Maztica, the next destination in our great trip.

Urol was particularly hyperactive, running excitedly from statue to statue, taking notes in his journal, which was getting drenched by the heavy rain. Several times, Raguhl told him to be wary of danger in the ruins, but the little gnome apparently did not hear him. We finally left him behind in an abandoned temple in which he took shelter to write down more notes.

We continued in the direction of the central pyramid, but suddenly, the ground gave way under our feet, and we fell into a deep and dark place. Thankfully, none of us were badly injured, although we soon discovered that the landslide could not be climbed back up: the opening had caved in above us. The only lights emanated from my trident and Raguhl’s axe, upon which I’d cast Continual Flame spells.

We dusted ourselves off and looked around. We seemed to be in an ancient chamber, in which were carved several alcoves and a shallow well decorated with murals of primitive hunters. A stone door was the only exit to the room.

The air smelled foul, and Raguhl said that he thought it was poisonous, since the chambers had remained sealed for so long. He feared that we only had about an hour to go before we started feeling the effect of the toxic fumes.

Before we left, we noticed that each niche contained a small statuette seemingly made of clay. Upon further examination, we noticed that they were in fact made of gold caked with dirt. When we approached them from the well, they started to glow. Raguhl placed one of them inside the shallow well, but that proved to be a big mistake: the idol grew and grew, and became an animated statue which attacked us. It was slow, but strong, and it seemed to have an aura of magical resistance. After some time, though, we managed to destroy it.

We decided to definitely NOT put the rest of the statues inside the well, and left the room. It led to a corridor carved with bamboo motifs, which sloped down and ended in a bronze door. Lagaan detected a trap in the floor, but managed to disarm it.

The bronze door opened into an enormous chamber with four massive pillars, and three distant double-doors. As we were wondering which way to go, the immense illusion of a monster with writhing tentacles appeared inside the room. It spoke in a booming voice, in the language of the ancient Olman, which Tyria understands. She said it claimed to be the guardian of this place, and that it would destroy us. We moved toward the door to our left, and noticed that the four pillars started glowing with a bright white light. We hurried forward, and Lagaan opened the door. We jumped in the corridor behind it just in time: blasts of lightning had started to shoot from the pillars!

Another bronze door stood at the end of the hall. Beyond it, we found a large room with several pillars and vile green slime covering part of the walls. Its floor was filled, several feet deep, with black water. We started to make our way through it, following the left wall, but the water was so opaque that Lagaan and Ulfgar, who walked in front, didn’t notice that the floor was deeper in some parts of it. Ulfgar fell below the surface, and apparently awoke the guardian of this place. We saw an enormous dark shape rise out of the water and spew a jet of green slime toward Lagaan, who’d started to walk on one of the walls. It hit the rogue, who screamed: it was acid!

The huge creature rose higher above the water, and we saw that it was a gigantic black slug. Confusion reigned among us for a few moments, as we were wondering whether to run back to the lightning room, or to face this deadly foe. The beast managed to splash Sparkie, Raguhl and Ulfgar with more of its vile acidic slime. Then, we charged it. Ulfgar and Lagaan dealt it deadly blows, and Sparkie burnt it mercilessly with some of his Scorching Rays. Finally, we managed to slay the horrible creature!

We healed our wounds, and Tyria, who was riding on Raguhl’s shoulders, threw away one of her wands of cure light wounds, which was now useless. We were down to her other one, which was almost empty, and mine, which was down to less than thirty charges. Maybe we should’ve bought more while we were still in Sasserine… Stupid stupid stupid…

We then swam to the other side of the room, and found a tunnel ending in another door, from which seeped some water. We guessed that the room beyond it was likely flooded with water, which would burst out against us if we were to open it. Most of us returned to the previous room, but Raguhl remained to open the door. As we had guessed, he was blasted by the rushing water, but suffered no damage, as he is of a race of amphibians.

to be continued... :)

[Moonbeam]

Eleasias 1st, 1375 (continued)

The room before us was empty, but another set of double doors opened in the far wall. Tyria thought it was trapped, so we all hid inside a Rope Trick conjured by Sparkie and tried to have an Unseen Servant open the door, but it was too heavy. Finally, Raguhl did it, and it turned out we had worried for nothing: the door wasn’t even trapped after all! Tyria needs to have her eyes checked, methinks.

Next, we found ourselves in a half-submerged cave where, in the middle of the water ahead of us, a beautiful naked woman was singing softly. We were of course all wary of her: even the men weren’t stupid enough to think she was a real woman. The shy-looking thing then jumped into the water, where she disappeared. Sparkie taunted her with a call of “Come back baby, I wanna show you how they make half-elves!” He’s such a smooth talker.

A simple spell showed me that the entire room radiated magic, mostly conjuration with a zest of necromancy. Some ancient Olman writing was carved on the walls, and Tyria told us that this room was dedicated to Kamazoth, ancient god of undeath.

The creature then resurfaced and spoke in Olman. Tyria translated and told us that the thing wanted a kiss from Sparkie. She even parted the water for our elven friend to go to her. She said that death awaited us beyond if we refused to give her that simple kiss. Wondering if perhaps she was some kind of Undead, I tried to control her with my holy symbol, but it had no effect.

Sparkie declined her invitation, and we started moving toward the door to our left. She then started singing again, and Raguhl looked like he was mesmerized by her song. I cast a Silence spell around her, which seemed to make her angry. Without a word, she was able to control the water of the room into huge waves, some of which pushed me back against Lagaan and Ulfgar, outside of the zone of silence. The sound of the waves pounding against the walls was deafening, and I noticed that Lagaan and Ulfgar seemed momentarily stunned by it.

I tried to locate the thing to pierce her with my trident, and I saw Raguhl try to do the same, but it was in vain: she was utterly invisible when she was submerged. But then we saw her resurface right next to Ulfgar. She managed to grab hold of him and kiss him. Talk about lack of taste! The dwarf started choking, while Lagaan and Raguhl moved up and attacked the woman. As she got wounded, her human appearance faded more and more, and she started looking like a watery creature. Eventually, we destroyed her, but Ulfgar still showed no sign of recovery. Fearing he would drown, I cast a Water Breathing spell on him, which saved him, although for the next few hours, he was like an ugly little fountain, spouting water from his mouth, unable to speak. Thank Umberlee that the effect wasn’t permanent, or the wretched creature would have never again been able to drink his precious rum, and would have ceased to have a reason to exist.

Beyond the next door we found not death awaiting our arrival, as the watery woman had promised, but rather a half-submerged tunnel which was slanted at a strange angle. It led us to a wide hallway which was adorned with frescoes on both walls. On the north wall were depicted scenes of the tribe’s history, of war, of a great pyramid with a sun above it, and of savages crossing the sea in primitive ships; to the south were scenes of red-skinned natives battling black-skinned invaders. Further along the corridor, an archway shaped like coiling snakes led into what seemed to be magical darkness.

Lagaan and Tyria found no trap in the archway, but still, when they went through it, horizontal bars closed behind them, locking them in a cage! Indeed, it turned out that the darkness was only one foot deep, and led to a dead end.

“Right,” said Raguhl. “I’ve heard tales from other adventurers and I know how this usually goes. The strongest warrior tries to bend the bars, fails, and the whole group laughs at him. Then the second strongest warrior tries, also fails, and so on, until the smallest, weakest-looking party members tries and succeeds where all others have failed. So let’s cut to the chase, and just have Tyria try to bend the bars from the start!”

Alas, that wise strategy failed utterly, because neither Tyria, nor Ulfgar, nor anyone else was able to bend the bars. Sparkie did manage to make one of the bars recede into the wall with a Knock spell, but he didn’t have enough energy left to spend to make more of them disappear. Lagaan managed to squeeze through the small available space, but Tyria got stuck. After we were done laughing at her and her big halfling butt, Sparkie shrunk her to the size of a cat, and she finally was able to go through.

We then searched for secret doors, and tiny Tyria, who was being carried around by an Unseen Servant she’d summoned a while back, found one by pressing the sun over the pyramid painting. We entered another dark corridor, and by the light of my trident and Raguhl’s axe, we saw several more tunnels branching out to the left and right. Before us, three animal heads were carved into the wall: a buffalo, a wolf and an eagle. Within the open beak of the eagle glittered a golden item.

We examined it and realized it was a magical ring emanating an aura of transmutation. Lagaan and Tyria failed to detect the trap protecting the item. Sparkie and Tyria bickered for a while, and Sparkie grabbed hold of the still-tiny Tyria with a telekinetic spell to tease her, but at that moment, she regained her usual still-not-so-big size, but it was too much for the puny spell, and she dropped her roughly to the ground. Sparkie then tried to use the same spell to take the ring, but it failed, as the thing was attached to something inside the beak. Throwing caution to the wind, the mage tried to fetch the ring with his hand, and the stone eagle’s beak snapped, almost severing his fingers! But the lucky fool slipped at the last moment into a puddle of what he thought was blood from Tyria’s nosebleed (from when she’d fallen down), but which I rather thought was some water that had poured out of Ulfgar’s mouth.

Sparkie analyzed the item he’d just received almost at the cost of several of his fingers, and discovered that it was actually a bracelet of flying. In fact, he was wrong – the item was cursed and useless; he got the chance to find out the hard way just a bit later the same day.

We then took the first tunnel to our right, which seemed to end in a dead end, but we found a secret passage there. It was a heavy stone that could swivel to create a narrow opening: we would have to squeeze through. It seemed awfully narrow, and I immediately understood that it would be a very embarrassing experience for me to try and fit through it. I tried to convince the others to explore a different passage, but they ignored me and started going through it. Lagaan, Sparkie and Tyria all went through easily. It was obvious that Ulfgar and Raguhl were both much too bulky to squeeze through, and Sparkie shrunk them with a spell. They passed easily and started joking around on the other side. It felt quite odd to see the usually huge Raguhl now looking at Tyria eye to eye.

“Come on Belessa, your turn, you should be able to squeeze through no problem,” said Sparkie, who didn’t want to spend extra mana if he didn’t have to. I took a deep breath and tried to squeeze through the tiny opening… And got stuck, just as I’d feared, because of my breasts. Of course, my moronic adventuring companions all burst out laughing and I had to endure what felt like several long minutes of humiliation before Sparkie finally recovered enough wits to cast a Reduce Person which allowed me to squeeze through. I was glad that the light our weapons cast wasn’t too bright, because I was sure that by then I was blushing a furious shade of red – the fact that I was now only three feet tall didn’t help one bit.

Behind us stretched a long, dark tunnel. Lagaan and Tyria noticed some sand along the walls, and thought it looked out of place, perhaps suggesting a trap. I summoned a fiendish scorpion and made it walk ahead of us. Sure enough, it triggered a nasty trap, with two bronze doors falling on either side of their victim, then the space between them filling with sand, which later was dumped into a trap door on the floor. Not a good day to be a scorpion!

Once we all regained out usual size, Raguhl managed to open the bronze door ahead of us. The trap seemed to have reset, and most of the sand had been dumped into the trap door. I summoned another scorpion and sent it forth ahead of us, but it didn’t trigger the trap again. We thought it was probably disabled for a while, and ran through the trapped area safely. We reached another dead end, and thought that for sure there must be another secret door. We all started to search the walls, except Sparkie, who as usual claimed that just walking by a secret door enabled him to locate it. “I don’t look for secret doors, they look for me!” he assured us.

However, it was our cute little fountain, Ulfgar, who found the way out. The far wall of the tunnel was in fact a mobile block of stone that seemed to lead outside. We managed to crack it open, and indeed, the sweet fresh air poured through. We’d all started to feel faint lately, and had guessed that we’d almost reached the limit our bodies could take of the stale air. After having caught our breath, we tried to move the huge stone block, but even our two strong men weren’t able to make it move back enough for us to squeeze through – even under Sparkie’s reduction spells.

Ulfgar then started the arduous task of chipping away at the stone with his dwarven axe. It took quite a long time, but eventually he carved a large enough hole that we could all squeeze through with no magical help (as Sparkie was by then very low on energy).

We entered a round room, which was in fact the bottom of a pit where the air, despite being somewhat unpleasant, wasn’t as foul as the one in the ancient tomb. Rusted iron rungs led up into the darkness. At our feet were the bones of many creatures – mostly animals, but also what seemed to be the remains of a human and of a Lizardfolk. Among them, we found some gold pieces, six turquoises, an ivory fan, a platinum bracer and a magical dagger. We examined the bones and discovered that they’d been stripped of flesh by some kind of acid.

We discussed going up for some time, but now that suffocating wasn’t an issue, we were eager to explore the rest of the tomb and perhaps find more treasure. Ulfgar hacked away at the other side of the stone block, and after a long time, he carved us a way to another tunnel. By the end, he was gasping for air, and spewing water at the same time – but thankfully, his mighty axe was still intact despite all the punishment it had taken.

We entered a tunnel whose walls were lined with ancient mummies. Suspecting a trap, Lagaan shot a fire arrow at one of them, and all fifteen of the undead animated and started shambling toward us, groaning softly. Calling upon the power of Umberlee, I managed to grab control of eight of them (they must have been mere zombies). I ordered four of them to engage the remaining undead, while I made the others walk out of harm’s way, as I wanted to keep some intact for the rest of the catacombs’ exploration.

The four zombies I’d send into the battle took down one of the hostile ones, but all got destroyed quickly. Ulfgar, Raguhl and I charged into the melee. Raguhl and I killed one zombie each. One of the others managed to slam my right arm with its bony fist, but it was a glancing blow. Behind us, Lagaan and Tyria fired on the creatures. Sparkie tried to do the same, but I think his shot hit the ceiling. Ulfgar finished off his just as I pinned mine to the wall with my trident – but the damned thing was still clawing forward, trying to reach me. Raguhl moved forward and cut it in two with his greataxe. Finally, Tyria shot the last one and it didn’t rise again.

“Phew, what a horrible stench…” grumbled Ulfgar. Then his expression brightened. “Wait a minute… Hey! I’m not breathing water anymore!!”

We then found ourselves back in the tunnel with the three animal heads: we’d made one big loop. We explored the third remaining tunnel and found it quite short: it led to a seemingly unprotected silver chest resting on a stone pedestal. Seemingly unprotected… No such thing. I sent one of my zombies to explore ahead, and sure enough, it became caught in the room when what looked like a stone drawbridge closed behind it. Lagaan located the mechanism to open the room again, but it looked dangerous to activate because it was at the base of the drawbridge – whoever did that would risk of being crushed to death by the heavy stone slab.

Though it seemed like an ideal way of getting rid of Lagaan, I sacrificed one of my faithful zombies instead. Indeed, it got squished under tons of stone. Beyond, we saw the first zombie, unharmed, obediently walking back toward us, carrying the silver chest in his arms. We examined it and found it untrapped and unlocked.

Inside, we found a copper statuette that looked like some kind of scaly aquatic creature. Elvish runes were written on its side. Sparkie spoke them out loud: “Il Nedraw” or something like that. I’ve no idea what it means, but the statue started floating in the air, and moving around. We followed it, and it brought us back toward the singing woman’s cave, then back the massive hall where lightning had almost blasted us (none appeared this time), then into the slug room… After a while, we understood that it was just floating aimlessly. We followed it for a while longer, and it led us to a different tunnel past the lightning hall where tons of stone fell down and crushed the poor unfortunate being that had been at the front of the group: one of my zombies.

I made the last two zombies dig in the rubble to look for the strange statuette, which had disappeared in the cave-in. Meanwhile, we opened the door on the other side of the tunnel. It led us into a large crypt where a stone sarcophagus was surrounded by twelve clay urns. On the walls were more frescoes of the ancient Olman, and the sarcophagus was carved with more writing which Tyria translated: “Defilers, you shall join my rest.” The date of the ruler’s death was also written, although in which calendar, we did not know: 54-3-9. He was known as the servant of Zolt. Nearby were also several strange glyphs, numbered 0 to 10. Finally, a battle axe was stuck into the far wall, but it cast a strange shadow that looked like a clawed hand.

We examined the axe and noticed that runes were on its side. Tyria read them out loud: “Tlacaelel”. Probably the name of the weapon. It was magical. I called back my last zombie (which had managed to dig out the copper statuette, although the other zombie had gotten crushed by a second cave-in), and it took out the axe. Nothing horrible happened, so Sparkie took it to identify it. He understood that it was a moderately powerful item (more magical than any of our current weapons), but that it was extremely weak against creatures of a nature both evil and chaotic. It was an evil weapon, but it allowed its user to cast the Passwall spell three times per day. Sparkie looked quite eerie with it in his hand: his shadow looked like he was holding a clawed hand.

Sparkie tried to give the weapon to Ulfgar, but after a few moments, it returned to his belt: he couldn’t give it away; it seemed bound to his soul! He said that only when his soul was laid to rest would the axe be able to find a new owner. I don’t think it was wise of him to mention that last bit, because for a moment, a dark shadow passed over Ulfgar’s eyes as he glared at the elven mage; I have little doubt of what went in the sinister dwarf’s mind at that moment.

Next, we examined the various urns, which turned out to all be containing old oil. We then examined the sarcophagus, which was sealed shut. I then guessed correctly that to open it, we needed to press the numbered runes with the date of the person’s death: 54-3-9. Indeed, the stone tomb opened. Inside were the skeletal remains of a tall, long-dead man. He was dressed in fineries which had long crumbled to dust; he wore a jade mask with obsidian pupils which had seemed to crush his skull, a diadem of precious stones, jade ear plugs, a pendant of green stone shaped like a bat, two rings, and he had a white bead in his mouth.

We found out that the mask, the pendant and one of the rings radiated Abjuration magic, while the other ring radiated Transmutation magic. Sparkie identified the mask and understood that it protected against undeath (to prevent someone from rising as an undead).

After surrounding the sarcophagus in oil from the various urns, we foolishly, yet predictably, removed the mask from the corpse’s face, and it immediately started transforming: flesh and organs started to reshape over his skeletal frame, and it stood up in his sarcophagus. Soon, his skin was re-formed, and his head once again bore long black hair, tied back in a long braid. His eyes glowed bright red, and his hands ended in claws. He seemed draped in swirling shadows. It glared at us, and shrieked a menacing word in Olman, which Tyria helpfully translated for us: “Defilers!”

Sparkie set fire to the oil, but the revenant crossed it unharmed. “S!$%,” exclaimed our elven friend.

I thought I recognized this creature as an ancient undead terror: a vampire! When I said this to my companions, we wondered for a moment whether to flee or stand our ground. But finally, perhaps the bravest among us, Ulfgar roared, “the hell with it!” and charged the creature.

Ulfgar battled the vampire, which failed to strike him. Raguhl soon joined him and dealt a powerful blow to the undead. I held my holy symbol in front of me, but, as I’d feared, the ancient fiend was too strong for me to control. Ulfgar hit the vampire with a strong axe blow, but the wound started to regenerate quickly. Then, the vampire clawed Ulfgar and seemed to drain some of his life away. I moved forward and cast a protective prayer on the dwarf, as Raguhl dealt a second powerful blow to the vampire. Behind us, I heard Sparkie cast a spell: he was trying to identify the medallion to see if it could help us defeat this terrible foe; it turned out it didn’t.

I tried to put the mask back on the face of the vampire, but he wrenched it from my grasp and threw it away. Then, I saw Ulfgar turn to the side and bury his axe in Raguhl’s hip: his mind was being controlled by the vampire, which then retreated and walked along the walls and ceiling, like we usually see Lagaan do. Sparkie blasted the vampire with volleys of Magic Missiles. The creature made Ulfgar attack Sparkie, and the elf took a nasty hit from the dwarf’s axe. From the ceiling, the vampire tried to control the minds of Raguhl and Tyria as well, but they both managed to resist the attack. Raguhl then jumped high in the air and struck a powerful blow to the vampire, which suddenly turned to mist!

Thankfully, Ulfgar then regained his senses. Sparkie followed the cloud of vapor back to the sarcophagus, which was still surrounded by flames. Protected by his magical ring, he walked through the fire, and saw the vampire lying once again in his sarcophagus. Sparkie tore out the metal end of one of his arrows, and plunged the wooden shaft in the vampire’s heart: he killed it!

We then cheered, for we were all proud of having defeated this ancient evil! I healed Sparkie, Raguhl and Ulfgar. Confident that we’d looted everything of value from the ancient tomb, we returned to the pit leading up, and started to climb.

My zombie was first and it seemed to run into some kind of dangerous creature above. Strange babbling sounds were coming from up there. I was too far down to hear them clearly, but the first person after the zombie, Tyria, seemed to go mad from the insane sounds, and attacked Sparkie. The mage feebly tried to deflect her attacks, but then Tyria’s madness got even worse, and she jumped off the ladder! We decided to all climb back down and go up in a more battle-ready order. Sparkie jumped off after activating his newly found bracelet of flying, and… fell like a stone!

Down at the bottom, Tyria massaged her wounded rear end and Sparkie, his wounded pride. I cast a Silence spell on the top of the shaft, and we started climbing again, this time with the warriors in front. Lagaan, walking on the wall of the shaft, reached the top first and saw the horrible creature that had eaten my last zombie and almost unraveled Tyria’s mind: it was a disgusting blob made of dozens of eyes and mouths, a creature of utter madness: a Gibbering Mouther!

Thankfully, my Silence protected us from its insanity-inducing babbling. Nevertheless, it blinded Lagaan with a spit of foul-smelling goo. Raguhl and Ulfgar climbed up and attacked; Raguhl’s sharp back spines stood erect as he entered a state of terrible, but completely silent rage. I joined them some time later, but my trident did little damage to the viscous monstrosity. It spit at me, and though I grimaced in disgust at the contact with the foul substance, I was not blinded like Lagaan had been. The thief had now recovered and was shooting arrows at the creature. The Gibbering Mouther hit Raguhl and tried to grab a hold of him, but it was no match for the raging lizardman. Raguhl dealt it some grievous wounds with his enormous axe, yet it was Ulfgar who struck the final blow, and the monster lost its solidity and splattered to the floor in a huge puddle of vile liquid flesh.

Having recovered from the nauseating encounter, we emerged into the fresh air at last: we were on top of one of the four pyramids which surrounded the central, larger pyramid that was our ultimate goal. However, our journey through the old tomb had drained Sparkie, Tyria and I of magical energy: we needed to rest. We climbed down and walked, still under the pouring rain, to the shrine of the serpent-god where we’d left Urol.

When we entered, the small gnome lifted his head, looking surprised and a bit annoyed to see us. “You’re back already?” he asked. We all shook our heads and chuckled. The little creature was positively delighted when we announced that we’d be spending the entire night resting in the temple. “Wonderful!” he cackled, “now I’ll have enough time to write down some decent notes!”

[Moonbeam]

Eleasias 2nd, 1375

The whole night, rain was pouring outside the old serpent-god’s shrine. While Lagaan and I were standing watch, we saw some lights in the distance. Though we tried to camouflage our own lights, eventually, we were discovered by none other than the Jade Ravens. They’d apparently been sent to check up on us by Lavinia, who’d grown worried at our absence. Foolish, impatient girl…

Eventually, everyone got woken up by their unexpected arrival. Kaskus, their druid, went off into the wilderness to search for a new animal companion to replace his deceased badger. As things were rather cramped in the small shrine, Sparkie created a Rope Trick inside which Lagaan and Liamae retired to perform unspeakable acts on each other. Thankfully, that spared us from the sights and sounds that we would otherwise have been forced to endure.

There was a small commotion later on when Sparkie found one of his spellbooks missing. Though we initially suspected one of the Jade Ravens of having stolen his grimoire, the thief turned out to be Tyria. How childish. I think our little halfling friend must be developing a crush on Sparkie. She’s so desperately trying to get his attention. I can see why he would seem so seductive from her point of view: he has very attractive knees.

By morning, the rain had subsided, and had been replaced by a thick, eerie fog that permeated the whole ruined city. The Jade Ravens had somehow become aware of our mission – I am sure it was that idiot Lagaan who must’ve spoken about it to Liamae. At that point, I thought that, surely, that greedy b%*&% wanted to be in on the quest to find the fabulous golden idol. But no such luck: although they pitifully begged us to come along on the quest, we turned them down and asked them to keep Urol safe while we ventured into the great pyramid to look for the lost idol. Losers!

We approached the immense ruined pyramid carefully. As the mists parted before us, the enormous silhouette of the ancient building loomed ahead. We walked to the foot of the pyramid, into which three tunnels opened. Before we could explore them, we were attacked by a large six-legged lizard. Lagaan and Tyria, who’d been walking in front, seemed to reel under the effect of some magical attack. Raguhl charged the beast and hit it with his axe; he also seemed to fight off some kind of magical effect, and he yelled back “It’s dangerous, don’t look at it!”

Lagaan and Tyria shot the beast with their bows. Sparkie cast a Scorching Ray at it and then informed us that we were fighting a Basilisk: a creature that can turn its enemies to stone with a look. Averting my eyes, I walked up to it. By that time, it had been wounded severely by all my companions, and retreated into the mist. We followed it around a large boulder. Lagaan and Raguhl finished it off.

Sparkie approached the corpse and cut out the thing’s eyes with his battleaxe. He told us that he could make special potions from them. I cast a Gentle Repose spell to keep them fresh.

Then, a small voice made itself heard behind us, surprising us completely: Urol had managed to sneak up on us unnoticed. He was thoroughly excited to see the dead basilisk. We learned that the Jade Ravens had disappeared: they had broken their promise of watching over the tiny scholar. I felt a surge of anger grip my heart: were those bastards trying to beat us to the idol?

We reluctantly allowed the annoying gnome to come with us. A quick search of the basilisk’s lair only revealed a small statuette of a reclining humanoid, as well as a tiny silver pyramid. Not much of a treasure, unfortunately. Two of the tunnels had collapsed, but the middle one led into the darkness of the pyramid’s interior.

We entered and soon found ourselves atop a wide landing leading into a large room inside which was built a miniature replica of Tomoachan, which sprawled over the entire floor. It had been damaged by the ages, but seemed a very accurate rendition. Along the walls of the room were frescoes showing ancient Olman kings and their court. Immediately in front of us, though, stood a disturbing archway decorated with what looked like dozens of real skeletons entwined in stone snakes. Black smoke was pouring out of their gaping mouths.

Tyria felt some necromantic magic coming from the smoke. Under more careful examination, Sparkie surmised that it must have been a powerful barrier in ages long past. It was now a malfunctioning ward, its effect greatly diminished by the passage of time. Sparkie and Lagaan went through it. Lagaan was affected by the portal’s unholy aura, and seemed shaken by the effect.

The two men entered the room, and walked toward the center of the miniature city, which was a replica of the pyramid we were now standing in. After they’d walked a few yards, another trap was activated: a wall of fire appeared between us and them, and moved in their direction. Sparkie quickly created a Rope Trick and the two hid inside it until the wall had passed.

Jumping out of the dimensional pocket, Lagaan started looking for a way to disable this trap. But only a few seconds later, another sheet of flame formed and the little thief quickly went back into the hole.

Finally, he and Sparky decided to run for it: going for a tunnel that opened in the wall to the right. They narrowly avoided another wall of flame.

The rest of us then walked through the archway to reach them. It was a truly frightening experience, as our minds were filled with horrible visions of butchery. But we made it through, and we hid in Sparkie’s Rope Trick while we waited for the wall of fire to pass us. We then came out, and ran as fast as we could toward the exit. When we reached it, though, we soon realized that our worries were not over: Sparkie and Lagaan were under attack!

It took us a moment to understand exactly what was happening, because at first we could not locate their attacker. But it soon became obvious that our foe was a tiny floating ball of electricity: a creature known as a Will-O-Wisp. It proved quite troublesome, as its size and quickness made it very hard for our warriors to it. Lagaan cursed as even a very well-aimed shot failed to hit the creature. Sparkie managed to blast it several times with Magic Missiles, though, and Tyria prevented it from becoming invisible with a Glitterdust spell, although that ended up blinding Raguhl and Ulfgar, too. Still, the spell had been worth it, because just as the creature was flying away, invisible, Sparkie was able to keep his eyes on it due to the dust that was coating it, and he finished it off with one last volley of Magic Missiles. The little ball fell to the floor, dead.

I healed my companions, and we examined the tiny corpse. It was almost invisible, but by touching it, the others could feel the various wounds it had sustained from our attacks. Strangely, though, it seemed to have been wounded by some claws recently – it had already been wounded when it had attacked us. But who could’ve come to this remote place before us?

We then continued forward through a long tunnel that seemed natural and relatively recent: it had probably been created by an earthquake. Some time later, we reached a room whose walls bore glyphs of bat-like creatures feasting on other animals. Beyond, another room was blocked by a massive iron wall. We examined it carefully and realized that it seemed quite recent and magical in nature: Sparkie believed it was the result of a powerful wizard spell called Wall of Iron. Urol thought that it had been triggered as a trap, and probably quite recently. My first though was, of course, that the Jade Ravens had triggered it.

Another thing was also bothering me. I thought back on the tale that Keur, the old one-armed adventurer, had told us about Tomoachan, back in Sasserine almost two months ago. His story had mentioned nothing of a room with a small replica of the city, nor a moving wall of fire, and certainly not a Will-O-Wisp. I remembered that something had struck me as odd the night we’d talked to him. Now more than ever, I felt that he’d lied to us. Had he tried to send us to our deaths? Had he told us a completely fallacious story just so that we’d pay him five hundred gold pieces? Did that fabled golden idol even exist? I felt very angry at the thought that we might have been duped by that old sea dog; I wished I’d been more thorough in my questioning. I wished I could get my hands on him right now and strangle him, and pry our hard-earned money from his cold dead hands. But it was too late now. It was too late to turn back.

Sparkie called upon the power of his new-found axe to enable us to bypass the wall of iron. He summoned the weapon’s dark powers, which outlined the edge of a portal in the stone wall to our left, next to the wall of iron. This portal then opened into a tunnel, which led into the room beyond. We entered another large hall inside which was the miniature rendition of another ancient Olman city, which clearly wasn’t Tomoachan. Which forgotten city it was, we had no idea. It was much better preserved than the replica we’d seen in the room with the wall of fire. Water flowed slowly along four shallow channels which led to a lake in the middle of the city, in the center of which was a pyramid. This pyramid seemed to be a sarcophagus. Frescoes of life-like leering bats, lizards and snakes decorated the walls of the room. A tunnel exited the room to our right. From what we could determine, we were now most probably underneath another one of Tomoachan’s pyramids: the one that had crumbled the most under the effect of the ages.

We examined the tunnel and saw that it led to another room inside which old bones were heaped against a wall. Before we could explore it further, though, a screech echoed through the halls, and a horrible flying creature came out of the room: it looked like a demonic bat-like humanoid. It clawed Raguhl as it passed over our heads. In Abyssal, it roared: “Food at last!” That didn’t bode well… What had that old bastard Keur gotten us into?

The creature started flying around the large room inside which was built the miniature replica of the unknown city. Sparkie managed to hold it in place for a moment with a Web spell, but the creature quickly burnt off the strands with a fiery breath. As I cast a blessing on my companions, Lagaan fired an arrow at the creature, as did Tyria, who also began to sing. Urol let out a panic shrieked and fled the room, dropping his precious notebook behind him. Raguhl jumped on the creature and managed to grapple it to prevent it from flying away. Sparkie tried to cast a Magic Missile spell at the creature, but it seemed to resist the spell. The elf, who speaks Abyssal like I do, taunted the demon in that tongue: “You douchebag! Subjugate your will to us and we’ll let you live!”

Although Raguhl tried to keep the creature’s head pointed toward the ceiling, it managed to wiggle free for a moment and breathe fire upon Lagaan, Sparkie and me. I was scorched by the attack and took a moment to heal myself before returning to the scene of battle. By then, I noticed that the creature was very resistant to most of our attacks: it ignored another wave of Sparkie’s Magic Missiles, and shrugged off Raguhl’s bites, Tyria’s arrows and most of the damage from Ulfgar’s axe. Thankfully, Lagaan was able to hit it a few times with vicious shots since the monster was being wrestled by Raguhl. The creature clawed Raguhl a few times, and then managed to escape his grasp, and started flying around the room again.

Knowing we were doomed if our warriors couldn’t hit it in melee, I called out to the others to run inside the room it had come from, as I’d noticed that its ceiling was much lower. As we did so, the demon yelled in rage behind us. My fine hearing could bare make out the words. “Damn you, Malcanthet,” it roared, “I should never have accepted this offer, you b!&*!!”

We prepared for its return, but the thing was swift: as soon as it appeared inside the room, it breathed a cone of fire on us. Once again, I was burned very painfully, but I survived. Sparkie had completely escaped the damage thanks to his ring of fire resistance, and Raguhl and Ulfgar had only been mildly damaged. Lagaan, who’d been waiting in ambush on the ceiling, dropped down on the creature’s back and stabbed it with his rapier.

Tired of being burnt, I cast a fire resistance spell on myself. Tyria cast a Hideous Laughter on the creature, and luckily, it worked, and the creature started rolling on the floor, cackling hideously. Raguhl roared in rage and jumped on it, hacking at it with his axe. Ulfgar also wounded it. Sparkie cast another useless Magic Missile spell, and cursed in elvish. I healed myself, as Lagaan drove his rapier deep into the creature’s neck, killing it. As a final insult, the thing exploded in a wave of fire, to which I was thankfully immune this time. We were victorious!

After we’d recovered and healed ourselves, Tyria and Ulfgar opened the sarcophagus at the center of the miniature city. A cloud of spores was released, but although they coughed a bit, neither of them seemed to be affected by any ill effect. Inside, we found a mummy bearing a golden necklace with bat and lizard head designs. It was not magical, and not worth much either. This didn’t feel right at all!

We searched the sarcophagus and found that it had a false bottom. Below it was another, almost identical mummy, wearing a similar medallion, which this time was magical! Sparkie identified it as a Necklace of Prayer Beads, which allows a priest to cast a blessing, as well as either to cure a serious wound, to remove a disease, or to cure blindness or deafness each day. Since I am the only one in the group who could use it, I received that potent item.

Next, we explored the room from which the creature had emerged. It contained only old bones and a large stone table. It led to an archway on either side of which stood a stone statue representing a warrior in ancient armor with an elaborate headdress adorned with designs of coiled snakes and bat wings. Tyria noticed that between the statues had once been a trap: most likely the one that had triggered the wall of iron in the previous room.

We then entered a dark, humid, circular room. In its center was a deep pit, the bottom of which we couldn’t see. Inside it were countless niches which each contained a mummified corpse. But most importantly, in an alcove on the other side of the pit, glittering beautifully in the light of our weapons, the large golden statue of a bat stood before us. We’d finally found it!!!

We detected some abjuration and transmutation magic emanating from the item, and did not notice any trap guarding it. Fearing some magical ward, I cast a dispel magic on the idol, but it proved too powerful to be so easily disrupted. Lagaan, walking on the walls, then managed to take the idol and bring it back to us: surprisingly, that did not trigger any trap. Sparkie identified the thing and found that it was immune to fire, and set to trigger something magical, much like a key. How mysterious.

The idol was large enough, but not too heavy: Lagaan suspected that it was hollow, and estimated its worth at two thousand, five hundred gold pieces. This seemed somewhat underwhelming given all the trouble we’d gone through to claim it, unless of course that dirty weasel was lying to us about its worth, wanting to keep it a secret for himself.

I then remembered what the demon had said during our fight, and I translated its outburst to Tyria, wondering if perhaps she’d heard the name Malcanthet before. She thought about it for a while, and then said that she thought it was the name of the queen of Succubi in the Abyss; the lover of Demogorgon, the King of Demons. I felt my mind reel under a certain elated vertigo: if this item was sought by a being so powerful, surely it must be worth much, much more than its weight in gold!

Unless, of course, our little bard is completely wrong. I’ll have to do some research when we come back to Sasserine. Although, we must make sure to keep our discovery secret. Who knows who else would be interested in this mysterious item?

I wonder if perhaps that scumbag Keur had known all along the true nature of that idol, and had used us to fetch it for him. Would he be waiting in Sasserine, to steal it from us? Could he be an agent of the powers of the Abyss? My heart is beating faster from both fear and excitement at the implications…

Of course, my companions, being the simple creatures that they are, did not seem to share my appreciation of the magnitude of our discovery: they were just happy to have found a big shiny statue. Dimwits, all of them!

We then spent some time searching the complex. Lagaan climbed down to the bottom of the dark shaft, and searched the twenty-foot deep pit of disgusting, stagnant water at the bottom, but it was all in vain because he found nothing of value. I could not help but smile as I looked at his thoroughly miserable, drenched shape when he came back on top. He’d only found one mummified corpse at the bottom of the pit: this again seemed to contradict Keur’s tale, who had claimed that his barbarian friend, as well as several agents of the Rundeen had fallen to their deaths there. Also, none of the bones in the pile in the stone table room seemed recent enough to have been any of these people: they were all clearly centuries old.

The only secret door that we found was before the iron wall, and led to a collapsed stairway leading up. Raguhl also found traces of a fight between the bat-demon and the Will-O-Wisp; they seemed to have happened somewhat recently. It seemed like quite an unlikely coincidence that this agent of the Abyss had come to claim the statue just a few days before we did…

Before leaving, Raguhl, using Sparkie’s ring of fire resistance, put the golden idol on the altar of the fire wall room, but it had no effect. We manage to leave that room unharmed by timing our escape in relation to the movement of the wall of fire.

Outside, it was now noon. The fog had lifted, and the four bored-looking Jade Ravens were waiting for us (the real heroes) to come out of the pyramid. We saw that Kaskus had indeed found a new companion: it looked like a strange lizard that stood erect on its two hind legs. It had a large maw. Raguhl called it a raptor, and with a weary sigh, told the giggling Ulfgar and Lagaan, “Yes, yes, I know, he’s my cousin… Whatever.”

(ooc: This is an inside joke. Every single time we run into a reptilian creature in this campaign, those 2 tease Raguhl about it being one of his relatives).

We made our way through the jungle, back to our ships. We were very happy: we’d lived another exciting adventure, had survived terrible dangers, had found several valuable items, especially the golden idol we’d been looking for, and most miraculous of all, that stupid little gnome Urol hadn’t gotten himself killed!

We showed Lavinia the magnificent idol we’d recovered from the pyramid. We briefly told her about our adventure, and then we left her in the company of the relentless chatterbox that is Urol, who will surely overwhelm the poor helpless woman with every single boring detail of his archaeological findings over the next few days.

I am just now finishing writing our exploits of the past two days in my beloved journal. We have ventured into the ruins of the lost city of Tomoachan and have come out victorious!

While the others are all asleep tonight, I sit in my cabin by the candle light. I cannot take my eyes off of the beautiful golden statue. I cannot stop caressing its smooth, glittering surface. I cannot help but wonder whether such an immensely powerful being as the Queen of the Succubi would be looking after such an item, and if so, why? Why, my beautiful golden idol, why? What is it that’s so special about you? What is your purpose?

One day, all of your secrets will be mine…

(ooc: The characters are now level 6!)

[Moonbeam]

Here's some updated information on my two characters:

Belessa Darkwave (NE Female Human Cleric, Level 6) – Worships Umberlee
Str: 14 Dex: 8 Con: 12 Int: 14 Wis: 19 Cha: 14; AC: 17, HP: 47

Height: 5’11”. Weight: 150 lbs, Age: 28, Date of birth: Eleasias 5, 1346
Long black hair, brown eyes, stunningly beautiful, wears a glamered armor that most often looks like either a chainmail bikini or an elegant black gown, wields a trident and a large shield.

Feats: Combat Casting, Negotiator, Iron Will, Silent Spell.

Skills: Bluff 7, Concentration 7, Diplomacy 17, Heal 5, Knowledge: Religion 5, Profession: Sailor 11, Sense Motive 12, Spellcraft 4, Spot 7, Swim 1.

Main gear: Darkwood Trident +1, Glamered Chain Shirt +1, Periapt of Wisdom +2, Bracers of Armor +1, Ring of Sustenance, Necklace of Prayer Beads (Bless, Healing).

= = = =

Raguhl (CG Male Lizardfolk Barbarian, Level 5) – Worships Gwynharwyf
Str: 19 Dex: 14 Con: 16 Int: 10 Wis: 14 Cha: 8; AC: 23, HP: 66

Height: 6’10”. Weight: 420 lbs, Age: 25, Date of birth: Ches 29, 1350
Has gray and green scales, amber eyes and sharp spikes protruding from his back, wears a chain shirt and wields a greataxe.

Feats: Track, Improved Grapple.

Skills: Climb 8, Hide 2, Intimidate 8, Jump 5, Perform: Drums 2, Profession: Sailor 4, Spot 8, Survival 6, Swim 11, Tumble 3.

Main gear: Greataxe +1, Bracers of Armor +2, Chain Shirt +2.

[Moonbeam]

Eleasias 5th, 1375 – Day 50 of the sea voyage

Today was my 29th birthday. I organized a big celebration for it on board the Sea Wyvern, and we feasted on some of Churtle’s finest recipes, along with some fresh fruit the crew had picked up during our stay on Tomoachan’s island.

Lavinia and the Jade Ravens were invited to celebrate with the rest of us. I felt very magnanimous today, and I even agreed to finally let Conrad – otherwise known as Father Feres – out of his holding cell. The wretch was deathly pale and emaciated from his long imprisonment. I made it clear that we would be keeping a close eye on his behavior and that any deviance would be dealt with quite harshly. He shook like a leaf and could barely meet my gaze. He knelt before me, and when I presented my boot to him, he obediently kissed it as a gesture of abject servitude.

Twenty-nine. The coming year will be the last I spend in my twenties. How unfair it is that we humans live such short lives compared to elves, dwarves or even those ridiculous little halflings! I’ve barely lived over a decade as a grown woman, and already, I can see small signs of aging when I look at myself in the mirror. Thankfully, my active lifestyle keeps my body in a healthy shape.

When I was younger, I’d never have thought I’d reach this age without a man at my side. A powerful man, one who could take care of me and provide me with what I desire. I’d also imagined that I would have children. Now, that seems quite unlikely, at least for a few more years.

Since Umberlee took my newborn son, I’ve felt empty in some way. Only one thing can ever fill that void within my soul: power. I now crave power more than ever, and I feel that the circumstances are finally right for me to rise to power. And perhaps, in this way, I shall one day be able to transcend this frail human form, and become an immortal. I have heard of such things happening. If I prove myself to Umberlee, and rise higher still above other humans, will I one day unlock such secrets as well?

Eleasias 8th, 1375 – Day 53 of the sea voyage

Today, we have prevailed in the face of adversity! We have survived the journey through the Pearl Current!

We prepared ourselves for the ordeal. Sparkillo learned many new useful spells to help Amella and I maneuver the ship more easily. I also explained to the crew the various dangers that we would go through during the day.

All non-essential personnel went below deck for the whole day, and we left a few competent sailors on reserve to take the place of those who became too exhausted to work.

We’d also tied a sturdy rope between the two ships. The Sea Wyvern went first, since Amella and I are both much better navigators than Jack, the captain that Lavinia hired for the Blue Nixie. The crew was nervous because a storm hit us just before we entered the Pearl Current’s zone, but I saw it as a good omen: Umberlee was watching!

When we hit the Pearl Current, a powerful shock shook the ship, just as if we’d hit a rock or an enormous sea turtle. It threw me and a few other crew members off our feet. Ulfgar fell overboard, but Sparkie was able to save him with a timely Buoyancy Net. The dwarf climbed back up and saluted me, dripping wet. “Hail, captain,” he said, “all looks good on the waterline.”

Another shock shook us as the Blue Nixie entered the Pearl Current, and again, we had to struggle to remain standing. Ulfgar fell off the ship again, and he climbed back up at the same spot, and saluted me again. “Hail, captain, all still looks good on the waterline!”

Amella was on the crow’s nest and was shouting directions for us to take, and I in turn shouted orders to the crew on deck. Raguhl, Sparkie, Lagaan, Moretta, Ulfgar and Altan were in this first shift.

It started very badly. Amella, the stupid wench, must’ve shouted the wrong directions, because she made us sail straight into some crashing waves. The ship was almost overturned, and when I maneuvered to avoid the waves, the rope between the two ships snapped from the strain. Thankfully, Tolin, back on the Blue Nixie, managed to throw a lasso all the way to the Sea Wyvern; Sparkie and Raguhl tied it up to our mast.

I called to Umberlee to guide us to safety, and at that time I regretted not sacrificing Father Feres after all, as his death would likely have encouraged the goddess to aid us. But nevertheless, thanks to my superior navigating skills and the crew’s tireless efforts, we managed to escape the raging storm. We were now sailing smoothly along the Pearl Current, with the Blue Nixie still in tow. Things were quieter for a while, so I took the time to climb up the Crow’s Nest for a few minutes, examine our surroundings and the pattern of the currents and winds, and discuss some last-minute modifications to our plans with Amella.

After around seven hours of navigation, Altan collapsed in exhaustion, and was brought downstairs. Tyria replaced him. She sang for a while, giving us courage and motivation to keep up our tiring work. Clearly, the encouragement we were getting from the little bard was appreciated much more than the dull beating of drums that we heard coming from the Blue Nixie.

After thirteen hours of this ordeal, most of the crew had been pushed well past the limits of endurance of normal sailors. Tyria wasn’t singing anymore, as her voice was too hoarse, her lungs too tired. Lagaan gave up and went to rest below deck; he was replaced by Brissa, who set to work with energy and zeal. My magical Ring of Sustenance was keeping me strong and alert, and I was able to keep a close eye on the crew, and to direct them when I saw them slipping. The tireless Ulfgar did a particularly good job throughout the whole operation, and I have the impression that near the end, Tyria completely messed up and undid some of his work, but I couldn’t tell for sure.

Sparkie’s spells also made it much easier for us to navigate through the treacherous waters – we are very fortunate to have such a skilled wizard on board.

Finally, after fourteen hours, by the sweat of our brow and the grace of the Goddess of the Deep, we succeeded: we’d escaped the Pearl Current and entered the Southern Sea!

Eleasias 12th, 1375 – Day 57 of the sea voyage

Today started quietly enough. Moretta and I were in our cabin, brushing each other’s hair, laughing at Avner’s recent misery. Since the death of Lirith a few weeks ago, he’d been unable to find a girl desperate enough to go to bed with him on the Sea Wyvern, so he’d traveled on the Blue Nixie for a few days. Last night, though, he came back here, positively fuming. It sounds like he hasn’t had much more luck over there!

Our giggles came to an end when we heard someone call out: “Land!” from outside. I was puzzled, as judging from Urol’s maps and directions, we weren’t supposed to reach the shores of Maztica for another week.

We went up on deck and Amella told us that someone from the Blue Nixie had spotted land further ahead. I called out to the sentinel in the Crow’s Nest. Lagaan was on duty, but that useless bag of guano had been sleeping on the job, and had obviously just woken up. Urol went up to the crow’s nest to take a look of his own. When he came back down, he informed me that the island seemed to be around fifteen to twenty miles long, and that it seemed surrounded by thousand-foot-high cliffs. He believed that we’d found the fabled island of Ruja. We could see some cave openings on the sides of some cliffs, with some ancient stone stairs leading up to them.

The Blue Nixie approached us. The Jade Ravens had apparently complained to Lavinia that we’d been given unfair advantage at the ruins of Tomoachan, by having been allowed to explore exclusively the ruined city and plunder its treasures. What a bunch of crybabies. To placate them, Lavinia had promised those losers that they would have dibs on the next ruin that we came across.

We watched as Tolin, Zan, Liamae, Kaskus and his new pet rowed toward the base of the cliffs. We’d noticed that the stairs were broken in some places, so we were curious to see how they’d manage to get up to the top.

Sparkie then suggested that we go take a look for ourselves. Being of a respectful and law-abiding nature, I reminded him of our promise to Lavinia, but he argued that we wouldn’t explore anything ruin-like, just have a picnic on top of the cliffs. Some of the others also wanted to go, so in the end, I gave up and agreed that we – Trouble - would all go.

Sparkie levitated the six of us to the top of the cliffs. We effortlessly passed the Jade Ravens as they painfully were scaling the perilous, sheer façade. We waved at them with a smile, and they scowled at us.

We spent an hour or so at the top of the cliffs, enjoying some food that I’d summoned. It was cloudy, but there was no rain. The plateau was somewhat windy, but we had a beautiful view of the surroundings. No dangerous foe disturbed our meal. Tyria sang, and Raguhl played his drums. As the others were looking over the top of the cliff at the Jade Raven losers still trying to climb up to the caves, I noticed a small shape further in the ocean. I stood up and moved to take a closer look. Though it was far away, the ship was unusual enough that I could easily recognize it: squat and sturdy, I knew it because I’d already sailed in it. It was the Winter’s Heart, the dwarven ship that had brought us to Kraken’s Cove. The ship that Vanthus had stolen from us, after killing its entire crew!

I alerted my companions, who agreed with me: it was the dwarven ship. We decided to return to the Sea Wyvern and apprehend the vessel. Sparkie cast some Feather Fall spells on the six of us, and we jumped over the side of the cliffs, holding hands and forming a large circle. It was an exhilarating experience, to fall toward the sea, with the wind blowing wildly in our hair. We laughed and whistled mockingly as we passed the struggling Jade Ravens.

We landed safely on the deck of the Sea Wyvern and alerted our crew of what we’d seen. We also called out to the Blue Nixie. Lavinia, excited at the prospect of finally catching her treacherous brother, came on board our ship, while Avner had the opposite reaction: he fled like a yellow-bellied dog to the Blue Nixie, which we were leaving behind. The Sea Wyvern then set its majestic sails and set off in pursue of the much slower Winter’s Heart.

We sent all non-essential personnel below deck to avoid more unnecessary casualties from catapult stones or fireballs. Only the six members of Trouble, plus Lavinia, Amella, Stragdar, Brissa and Moretta remained on deck, or below deck but ready for action. As we caught up to the dwarven ship, we discussed our strategy. We weren’t sure whether Vanthus was on board; perhaps he’d sold the vessel to completely innocent people. But still, it would’ve been quite a coincidence if it’d shown up here, of all places.

As we got closer to it, we noticed that it moved toward us without firing its catapult: a potential sign of peace. On board, however, we’d seen through our spyglass that a strange, dark skeletal creature was among the crew. According to Sparkie and Tyria, it was a Babau, an assassin demon. With him was a small crew of dirty men and women who looked like pirates. There was no sign of Vanthus.

We sent Sparkie, invisible and flying, ahead to take a look at the ship. When he got close to it, though, the demon cast a spell at him and we saw a splash of water: most likely it had dispelled its flying spell, but not his invisibility!

Another naval battle then started. It was all very confusing, but by talking to my companions later, I was able to reconstruct everything that happened more or less in order.

One of their crossbow men shot in the water, trying to hit Sparkie. Lagaan, who was up in the crow’s nest, shot that man, but the crew was made of hardy mercenaries, and the man shrugged off the wound and kept fighting. I blessed my whole crew, to improve the accuracy of their attacks. Lavinia grunted in pain: she’d just been shot.

Lagaan then shot again, hitting the woman who stood in the Winter’s Heart’s crow’s nest with two arrows. Sparkie was still in the water: all of his spells had by then been dispelled by the Babau. He got shot by a crossbow bolt and by a spear, but managed to swim to the side of the Winter’s Heart and to open a large hole in the side of the ship with a Passwall spell from his magical axe. Water gushed inside the ship, rocking it wildly, sending a pirate and the demon overboard, as well as the lady from the crow’s nest. I cast a Shield of Faith spell on myself. Tyria shot some arrows, but missed, and so did Ulfgar and Stragdar with the ballistae.

Lagaan shot one of their archers, but got shot by a skilled Halfling archer that had then climbed up to the crow’s nest. I called out to Umberlee, raising my arms in the air, and a bolt of lightning fell from the skies and hit one of the enemy crossbowmen. The Babau dispelled the hole in the port side of the Winter’s Heart, but meanwhile, our resourceful friend Sparkie had succeeded in swimming under the enemy ship, and he cast another Passwall on the starboard side, sending the ship rocking even more!

Another enemy fell into the sea. Some of them were having trouble staying afloat, and we later guessed that several of them must have drowned during the fight. Tyria shot one of them, and Ulfgar grabbed hold of my crossbow and shot another.

The halfling continued to shoot nasty arrows at Lagaan, who was now bleeding from several wounds. The demon then climbed back on the deck of their ship, but at the same time, Sparkie entered the hold by the hole he’d just generated. The demon dispelled the hole, closing it behind Sparkie. Raguhl and Tyria wounded some enemies with arrows, and Stragdar damaged the dwarven ship with a ballista bolt. I called down another lightning bolt, which hit a dwarven fighter on the other side.

Lagaan managed to kill the annoying halfling with an arrow through the forehead. More arrows were exchanged between our ships, and I blasted another enemy with lightning, though they were hardy foes and didn’t die easily. One of them that had gone down must’ve drunk a potion, because he stood up again and continued to shoot at us. Lavinia was mostly useless, having no ranged weapons.

Sparkie was stuck in the enemy hold, and one of their warriors, a big man in plate armor, came down to get him. The hold was almost full of water. Any other ship would’ve sunk already, but the sturdy dwarven ship was so solid that, although it was now very low, it was still floating. Sparkie had to hold his head near the ceiling to keep breathing. He tried to charm his foe, but the man resisted and shot the elf with his crossbow. Things were not looking good for Sparkie at that point, but he cast a nasty fireball that damaged the armored man, and the demon upstairs that had been standing close to the stairs leading down into the hold.

The two ships were now side by side, though theirs was by now much lower than ours due to the water it had taken in. Raguhl and Ulfgar both roared in rage, and jumped on the enemy ship with terrible ferocity. I’d seen the big lizardman go into that berserk state of rage before, but it was the first time I saw the dwarf do it! I called down some more lightning to hit the demon, but he resisted it.

One of the pirates that had fallen off into the water climbed the side of the enemy ship. Tyria and Lagaan shot him. Ulfgar hit the demon, whose skin was covered in what had looked like blood, but was actually some dark red acid. Thankfully, some of the vile substance had been washed off by its recent bath. Still, the Babau was a powerful foe and he tore horrible gashes into Ulfgar’s flesh with its wicked claws and fanged jaw. Blood flowed down Ulfgar’s armor and into the demon’s mouth, as the dwarven warrior yelled both in anger and in pain. I jumped on board the Winter’s Heart, but lost my balance and was unable to come to Ulfgar’s help immediately. Raguhl tried to hit the demon, but its resilient skin deflected his blow.

The pirate that had just climbed back on board was by now very wounded by our archers’ arrows. He tried to drink a potion, but Ulfgar chopped off his head, and cleaved into the demon. A terrible explosion then came from below deck: Sparkie had cast another fireball, which had killed his opponent. Unfortunately, the blast extended to part of the deck, and while the demon resisted it, the unfortunate Ulfgar was badly burned by the blast, and was now gravely wounded.

Brissa had jumped on board as well, and assassinated a wounded enemy. Meanwhile, Moretta healed Tyria. Ulfgar landed two more solid blows on the Babau, but his axe was starting to hiss alarmingly from the creature’s acid: even the magical blade risked being destroyed by being in contact with the terrible substance. The Babau clawed Ulfgar again, almost killing the dwarven fighter. It seemed that only his rage was keeping him on his feet. Raguhl, with a roar, struck the demon in the back, while I healed Ulfgar with my most potent prayer. We saw some Magic Missiles come up from the hold, but they disappeared before they hit the demon.

Ulfgar and our archers missed the demon, which disappeared. I looked around and saw that it had teleported itself to the top of the crow’s nest of the Winter’s Heart. I called out to my friends, and Raguhl started climbing after the creature. A loud bang echoed from above: Tyria had hit the demon with a Sound Burst. Brissa shot an arrow at the demon, but it seemed to just bounce off. The thing was very difficult to hurt, but thankfully, Lagaan, from our own crow’s nest, was in a perfect position to shoot, and he landed two arrows in the creature’s back. They must’ve hit a vital spot, because the creature gave a horrible gurgling croak, and disappeared in a puff of vile-smelling smoke.

We were victorious!

Moretta and I healed our wounded, and we all searched the ship. Several of our foes had sunk and drowned, but we looted some magical items from the others. Sparkie scanned the whole ship with a Detect Invisibility spell, but found nobody. Amella then warned us that one survivor was trying to hide on the Sea Wyvern, and we captured him.

He was a dirty, stinking dwarf named Kregar. He wore a tattered uniform of the Black Shield company over a rusty chain shirt. He was ugly and, despite his recent bath, his skin was covered in a thick layer of dirt. I could almost see fleas crawling in his reeking beard.

Still, we proved quite merciful toward him, and offered him some rum in exchange for his story. Lavinia and Brissa were with us, of course, as both were eager to hear about Vanthus. The dwarf said that he and the rest of the Black Shield company had been hired by Vanthus, back in Sasserine, to take part in a raid in Kraken’s Cove. He then described to us their attack on the pirate lair, but we learned nothing we hadn’t already heard from Brissa or Harliss. They then fled through the jungle, located the Winter’s Heart, killed its crew, and fled the region. Vanthus explained to them that they wouldn’t be welcome in Sasserine anymore, and with his silver tongue, convinced them to accept him as their captain.

They became pirates and had a certain measure of success. Eventually, they found themselves in Scuttlecove, where Vanthus met some Crimson Pirates. Being the smooth talker that he is, he managed to join them. Scuttlecove was a terrible place, and several of the Black Shields were killed during their stay. Vanthus finally returned on board, and they sailed away.

About a week ago, they were approached by a huge ship of the Crimson Pirates. Its crew took Vanthus with them, and the ship disappeared into a mysterious red fog. Kregar and the other Black Shields were told that Vanthus had been taken to the Abyss to be initiated into the ranks of the Crimson Pirates. Indeed, the leaders of that organization are rumored to be made into something more than mere humans: they become half-demons after whatever dark ritual is performed upon them in the Abyss. And a great power from the Abyss itself sponsors the Crimson Pirates. In replacement of their absent captain, the crew of the Winter’s Heart had been led by Quain, the Babau that had come from the Crimson Pirate ship.

When they heard that Vanthus had formed a pact with the demonic pirates, and had forsaken his very humanity to become a half-demon, Lavinia paled in shock, and Brissa became furious and stormed out of the cabin. I feigned concern as well, but in truth, I was merely intrigued. I’d like to know more about this process… Depending on the cost, I might be interested in having some otherworldly essence improve this mortal body of mine. It would prove to be a great way to obtain what I’ve been considering for the past few days… We, the meek creatures of the material plane, are so frail compared to the beings of the greater worlds. Why should we refuse the chance to transcend our miserable nature, should the occasion arise?

I now desire even more than ever to find Vanthus. But I am not sure I would treat him as my enemy, were I to meet him… He surely knows much that would be useful to me.

I must admit that I find the tales I hear of this man quite intriguing. He seems so powerful, so talented at making others do what he wants. His path seems to lead exactly where I, myself, would like to go… For more than anything else, I would like to become a pirate-queen, all-powerful, immortal…

For so long, I’ve hated the Crimson Pirates… But could they be the ones that can give me what I want?

Is it my destiny… to become one of them?

I questioned the dirty dwarf further, to try to learn more about his daring captain, but he knew very little. Apparently, Vanthus was a deadly fighter who wielded a longsword and a sickle, and he was also a skilled rogue. He wasn’t a spellcaster. But truly, who could tell what he would be capable of once he came back from the Abyss?

As I was pondering this, Sparkie walked closer to me and whispered in my ear: “So are we going to kill this smelly creep, or what?”

A good question. I studied the squat creature with a quizzical look. Was he more valuable to us alive, or dead?

While I was pondering the repugnant creature’s fate, a commotion diverted my attention: the Jade Ravens had returned to the Blue Nixie. Everyone had forgotten all about them, due to the excitement of the epic naval battle. It turns out that the so-called dangerous caves of Ruja Island had been empty. They’d wasted their entire day in a sheer sea-cliff climbing expedition that had been as futile as it had been arduous.

Liamae was still nurturing her sore, bleeding hands. She looked furious that her group of wannabes had yet again been outshined by Trouble. Our eyes met, and I gave her my most radiant smile.

[Guy Humual]

Wow, Belessa seeks immortality! Tristan is currently ageless and is on the verge of becoming an outsider herself. Mind you, Tristan didn't start on that path with immortality on her mind. It was more of a forbidden knowledge thing.

Still reading your journal, I love all the extra content your DM is adding, and Belessa's twisted and evil outlook on life. Keep up the great work.

PS: if you wanted to read the Lidu diaries you're safe up to page 5

[Moonbeam]

Guy Humual wrote:

Tristan is currently ageless and is on the verge of becoming an outsider herself.

You go, girl!! ;)

Guy Humual wrote:

PS: if you wanted to read the Lidu diaries you're safe up to page 5

OK, cool. I've been careful about not reading too much (the DM would kill me :) ). So far I've read from your journal until roughly the end of Bullywug's Gambit.

I really like how detailed are the descriptions of Tristan's thoughts and dreams. You must really put a lot of time into writing the log. Already, mine takes me a long time to write (about as long as actually playing the game itself), and I cut short on the level of detail.

Another thing I'm looking forward to as our campaign progresses (ever so slowly... we're only playing every 2/3 weeks) is to be able to read more of your journal.

Yes, our DM added a lot of stuff in this adventure, apparently. I think the two naval battles he created were very well designed, they were epic and had just the right difficulty level. When he told us what we were supposed to meet according to the module, I was shocked. It sounds like too easy a fight. :) Especially since, at least in our group, when we started the campaign, what was in our mind first and foremost was the idea of a group of swashbucklers taking part in huge naval battles à la Pirates of the Carribean. I'm glad we got to do two of them. :)

[Guy Humual]

Moonbeam wrote:

OK, cool. I've been careful about not reading too much (the DM would kill me :) ). So far I've read from your journal until roughly the end of Bullywug's Gambit.

I really like how detailed are the descriptions of Tristan's thoughts and dreams. You must really put a lot of time into writing the log. Already, mine takes me a long time to write (about as long as actually playing the game itself), and I cut short on the level of detail.

Another thing I'm looking forward to as our campaign progresses (ever so slowly... we're only playing every 2/3 weeks) is to be able to read more of your journal.

Yes, our DM added a lot of stuff in this adventure, apparently. I think the two naval battles he created were very well designed, they were epic and had just the right difficulty level. When he told us what we were supposed to meet according to the module, I was shocked. It sounds like too easy a fight. :) Especially since, at least in our group, when we started the campaign, what was in our mind first and foremost was the idea of a group of swashbucklers taking part in huge naval battles à la Pirates of the Carribean. I'm glad we got to do two of them. :)

Ok, first off: DON'T READ ALL OF PAGE 5, I was wrong, only about 1/3 of it is safe. Sorry about that, I guess I didn't look carefully enough yesterday.

Don't get me started on the length . . . I generally spend an hour most week nights writing (often more). I don't really play video games or watch TV so I don't have that cutting into my free time, and sometimes I find the process very entertaining, but lately (as I'm approaching the one year anniversary) I finding it more of a chore. I still enjoy writing my diaries but the size of some of the entires is getting out of hand.

I loved this particular adventure (SWW) probably my favorite adventure of the set. I think there's actually a very nice balance of difficult and easy encounters. Our battle with the pirates was almost laughably easy, we lost two of our heavy hitters (due to Incompetence), and we still whooped them quite soundly. Some of the monsters we face in Tamoachan for example could have easily been TPKs. There are nasyier creatures coming up so don't worry :D

I must say that I do love your character Belessa, and when we started this adventure I was thinking of making a priest as well, so reading your adventure is almost like getting the chance to play through the game a second time. She's a tragic character in many ways, incapable of escaping her past, and seemingly unable to change her future. She always seems to revert to her evil ways. Sadly it doesn't seem that Belessa has a proper foil, this is the main reason Tristan hasn't overpowered our campaign: Tristan has many foils. Kale, Hop-Toy, Kiki, and even the odd NPC is there to deflate Tristan's ego if she gets out of hand :).

[Moonbeam]

Lagaan is Belessa's foil. He's constantly picking on her. :/

Up to where I am in your journal, Tristan seems pretty humble. I guess later on as her power grows, she becomes more sure of herself, and that bothers some of her team mates?

[Guy Humual]

Moonbeam wrote:

Lagaan is Belessa's foil. He's constantly picking on her. :/

Up to where I am in your journal, Tristan seems pretty humble. I guess later on as her power grows, she becomes more sure of herself, and that bothers some of her team mates?

Sort of, Kale remains suspicious of her, but most of her companions are fine with her . . . if not with everything that she summons. The big thing is her mental state. Tristan is a alienist and that prestige class leads to insanity. I've been RPing this to some effect . . . which may not necessary reflected in the entries themselves (save other then the other character/npc reactions).

[Moonbeam]

Eleasias 15th, 1375 – Day 60 of the sea voyage

The weather’s been beautiful in the last few days.

Lavinia managed to convince me to keep that disgusting dwarf, Kregar, alive for now. The creature must have sentimental value to her, as he knows information regarding her brother. I can tell that she’s greatly worried about the latest news she learned about Vanthus. He is much farther lost in darkness than we’d thought. Burning one’s parents alive to inherit their fortune is one thing, but trading one’s very mortality for the essence of a demon – now that is a truly soul-shattering concept. Or at least, it is from Lavinia’s point of view.

I wish I had more occasions to spend time with her, as she must be so very vulnerable these days. I can think of no better chance to befriend her, to influence her. After all, I will need her cooperation when we reach Farshore. If I am to establish a temple of Umberlee there, I will need favors from her.

I also admit that I would love to learn more about Vanthus. What was he like as a child? What did he love, what did he fear? I know so little about him… He is like an enigma to me. I find that I am starting to think more and more about him as the days go by.

Sometimes at night, I read again the letters that he’d written to Rowynn, and I feel my heart beating faster. My mind plays tricks on me… I feel as if those letters were written to me…

My companions have been quite cheerful since our victory over the demon’s ship a few days ago. We’ve found ourselves talking about the various organizations that we used to work for back in Sasserine. It feels like such a long time ago!

Raguhl is a member of the Church of the Whirling Fury, which seeks to destroy all demons that tread into our Material Plane. He is sure that he will get rewarded if he returns to them with the tale of his victory over the Babau and the bat-demon from Tomoachan.

Tyria is part of the elusive Seekers’ Guild, and she claims that she could get a nice reward for turning in some notes about the ruins of Tomoachan. Or, since she took only very sketchy notes about that place, if she got her hands on a copy of Urol’s extensive notes about the abandoned city.

As far as I’m concerned, I’m sure that the Dawn Council would be interested in learning about the fall of Fort Greenrock. If only I had some way of communicating with them at this distance…

Sparkie’s been experimenting in the hold on how to fabricate magical weapons. Tyria and Ulfgar have already approached him with gleaming eyes about having their own weapons enhanced. But alas, the elf needs a forge to perform such work. So they will have to wait until we reach Farshore.

Lagaan and Tyria have been practicing archery intensely in the last few days. They can now shoot at a quite impressive speed.

We’ve also talked about birthdays, and I learned that Lagaan’s is on Alturiak 25th, Tyria’s is on Marpenoth 17th, and Sparkie’s was on Flamerule 8th, barely a month ago, yet he never even mentioned it. How very un-Sparkie-like of him!

Eleasias 16th, 1375 – Day 61 of the sea voyage

We reached a milestone in our trip today: we came within sight of the coast of Maztica, that remote, savage continent. It was first spotted by our cabin boy, Tavey, who’s been spending some time in the crow’s nest lately. As if we need him there while there are chamber pots to clean! That little rat’s been up to something lately… I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I’ll find out what it is sooner or later…

Eleasias 17th, 1375 – Day 62 of the sea voyage

Today, as our two ships were navigating near the coast of Maztica, we came upon a heavenly sight: a gorgeous waterfall was nestled between two high cliffs, flowing into a clear-water bay surrounded by beautiful sandy beaches. It looked like a truly peaceful place, so we thought we’d stop there and rest a bit, to allow people some time off the ships.

We all got ready to leave for the beach, as Amella moved us closer to the shore. Ulfgar was already bare-chested and had a towel over his shoulder. Sparkie was squinting at the landscape through a square he formed with his fingers, who knows what that was about… Avner, that useless fop, was trying to convince me to order the crew to bring his horse on land. Raguhl then played a prank on him, showing him a rat he’d caught down in the hold, and pretending that Sparkie had turned his horse into the disgusting little animal. Avner immediately flew into a rage (I guess Raguhl really hit a nerve when he joked about the horse!), but was interrupted by Lagaan, who yelled that we were under attack!

Indeed, we soon saw eight black-scaled serpentine heads rise from the water, all around the ship: it was a hydra!

Panic erupted on board, as all of the non-combatants tried to rush below deck. Ulfgar pushed past them, wanting to be the first downstairs to get his axe and shield. As the many heads of the monster hissed in unison, Tyria started to sing a heroic tale of battle to bolster our spirits, and I bestowed Umberlee’s blessing upon our warriors.

“It’s a Hydra!” shouted Sparkie. “We can only kill it by cutting off its heads and burning the stumps! If we don’t burn the stumps, TWO heads will sprout for every one we cut off!”

With a nod, Raguhl ran to the side of the ship to attack the monster. One of the heads snapped down and bit into the barbarian’s shoulder, but he chopped it off with a mighty swing of his greataxe. The head flew off and landed on the grate that Avner had been trying to open, desperately looking for an escape from the fight. He gave a frightened squeal, then tried to sound brave by assuring us that he was going to get his weapon, and rushed toward the stairs.

Sparkie moved behind Raguhl and seared the stump whose head had just been cut off with a Burning Hands spell. I heard a scream behind me and turned just in time to see Kanol Kanat, the innkeeper, being swallowed by one of the hydra’s heads. His wife shrieked in terror, but Moretta dragged her downstairs, out of harm’s way.

Kregar the dwarf couldn’t do much, since he was armed with a bludgeoning weapon. He tried to keep one of the heads busy, and got a nasty bite to show for it. Lagaan and Tyria fired arrows at the heads, and two of them were pierced mortally and fell below the water’s surface.

I moved behind Raguhl and healed him. At the same time, Sparkie teased him: “Hey Raguhl, is that one of your cousins? She looks like she gives good head!”

As we both chuckled at our massive scaly companion, he lowered his head and sighed in exasperation, then took a deep breath and roared in fury. The spikes on the back of his spine rose up sharply. Thankfully, he did not direct his anger toward Sparkie, chopping off another one of the hydra’s heads instead. Sparkie burned that head, as well as another, Amella killed a head with her rapier, and Tyria killed another head with her small but deadly arrows.

Ulfgar then climbed back up on deck, holding his axe and shield triumphantly, but he soured up when he looked around. All of the heads had been slain. “You didn’t leave any for me??” he asked, obviously disappointed.

Sparkie and I wondered what to do: keep cutting heads off, or dive into the water and try to take out the body? Before we could make up our mind, the heads surged all around us once again. There were two less than before, but we still had six heads to deal with. Ulfgar, Raguhl and Amella all yelled in pain as the hydra’s jaws bit them painfully, but the loudest cry came from Sparkie, who was almost torn to pieces when two heads attacked him at once. It is only by Umberlee’s greatest mercy that the wizard’s life was spared at that instant.

With a roar, Amella killed the head that had wounded her with a well-executed thrust. Raguhl chopped off another head, and Sparkie tried to burn it with another spell, which he managed to do, although he also caught Raguhl in the flames. I quickly moved to Sparkie’s side and cured his serious wounds.

We looked around. The heads were already dead: Ulfgar, Lagaan and Tyria had killed the other ones. I quickly healed Raguhl and Amella, as we knew that the rest would be short-lived.

Indeed, soon enough, five heads burst out of the water again, and this time, the creature’s massive claws grabbed hold of the Sea Wyvern’s starboard side, and started tilting the vessel to the side. In the distance, I saw the Blue Nixie moving to come and help us, but I felt they would be too late to make a difference.

Amella shrieked as a head grabbed hold of her and lifted her off the ship, tossing to the left and right, trying to snap her in two. Two arrows flew down from the crow’s nest where Lagaan was perched, and lodged themselves in that neck. The head opened its jaws in a roar of agony, and Amella’s limp form fell in the water with a loud splash. Not knowing whether she was still alive or not, I threw caution to the wind: I didn’t want to lose my first mate if I could help it! I dove into the water and called upon Umberlee’s blessing: I was able to breathe the water as if it were air.

Thankfully, the water was quite clear. Trying to ignore the panic-inducing sight of the hydra’s massive, scaly body so close to mine, I quickly located Amella’s slowly sinking body, grabbed hold of her, and healed her back to consciousness. Thankfully, Umberlee had spared her life this day! I hoisted us back up to the surface, where she coughed up some water, and gasped for air. We each took hold of a rope on the side of the ship and tried to climb back up.

Despite my ladylike grace and lithe silhouette, I am also tall, strong and athletic, so I easily climbed back unto the deck. Unfortunately, Amella is a tiny wisp of a woman, and she wasn’t able to match my performance. Because her climb was too slow, one of the heads caught hold of her leg and dragged her, screaming, back toward the surface of the water.

I had just reached the railing when I noticed that Amella had gotten caught again. I hesitated for a fraction of a second, and then saw Raguhl running toward me with a roar, his axe held high above his head. For a moment, I feared that the loathsome brute was about to cleave me in two in his mad rage, but instead, he rushed past me and sliced off another one of the hydra’s head, which had been about to bite me from behind.

I saw Ulfgar chop off another head after getting bitten by it. Sparkie burned that head off, as well as the one Raguhl had slain. Another head bit Raguhl, but was slain by Tyria’s arrows.

Raguhl then lunged over the railing and sliced off another head, and Sparkie burned off the stump with a well-aimed Scorching Ray. Meanwhile, Lagaan shot the head that had been trying to drag Amella back below the water, and it fell back, lifeless. We managed to help Amella to climb back on deck. Her right leg was badly mangled, but I healed her.

We then waited for the next attack. We’d destroyed almost all of the heads. The Blue Nixie was now within shouting distance.

“Do you actually summon these creatures to make yourself look important?” asked Tolin with a jealous sneer.
“No, but we do pray for Umberlee to spare the weak… like you!” I shouted back.

I then quickly healed some of my companions’ wounds. Avner showed up on deck with his rapier. “All right, I’m ready to kill it now!” he announced uselessly. None of us even paid him any attention.

But the hydra had been gone for a while now. We suspected it had swam away to lick its wounds. By our calculation, we’d killed all but two of its heads. We decided to go after it! I cast Water Breathing on Raguhl, Ulfgar, Sparkie and myself, and we dove into the sea.

Since the water was so clear, we were able to spot the Hydra swimming away in the distance. Sparkie cast a Haste spell on us, and we swam after it. We actually managed to catch it as it reached a deeper area of the sea bottom, which was littered with the dark shapes of several shipwrecks. The monster was badly wounded, and indeed, all but two of its necks hung limply, headless. It finally stopped and turned to face its doom. After casting a few protective spells, including another Haste spell from Sparkie, we attacked it. Ulfgar and Raguhl hit it several times with their axes, but they had trouble wielding the heavy, clumsy weapons in this aquatic environment. While the beast was busy trying to bite them, I moved in closer and stabbed its chest deeply with a powerful blow from my trident. The Hydra was shaken by a sudden, terrible spasm as my weapon pierced its heart, and it suddenly went limp. I had slain it!

We cheered in victory, and I swam back to the Sea Wyvern to inform the crew of both ships that the monster was dead. I cast another Water Breathing spell on Tyria to allow her to join us. Lagaan had gone on the Blue Nixie, which was now sailing toward the beach. I saw the shapes of several of the Jade Ravens looking sullenly back at us. I waved at them with a smile.

The halfling and I then joined our three companions in looting the shipwrecks at the bottom of the sea. They were likely the victims of the terrible sea monster over many years. We saw five ships in all. One was obviously of elven design; another was quite strange, unlike any I’ve ever seen before. A third one looked quite recent, and displayed the symbol of Helm, the zealous god of watchers and guardians, on its sail.

Much of the cargo was long gone, rotten, or buried deep within the sand, but we did manage to find a magical suit of chainmail, a magical cloak, as well as a half-buried chest containing some gold. Finally, we came upon that fool Avner lurking around the sunken ships. Kaskus, that stupid dwarf, had bestowed Water Breathing upon him too, and Avner, the sniveling coward, had tried to steal some of our hard-earned treasure while we weren’t looking. As I write this, I can’t really find a solid, logical reason why I didn’t skewer him right there and then. Who would’ve known? But alas, I was as usual too merciful for my own good, and allowed the pathetic cretin to live.

Before leaving the scene, we gathered seven of the hydra’s heads. We stripped them of their flesh until only the skulls remained, and we fixed six of them at the prow of our ship, as war trophies and additional ornaments to match the Wyvern’s head. Ulfgar kept the seventh to show to his comrades of Zelkarune’s Horns back in Sasserine.

Sparkie identified the two magical items that we’d just found, and although the chainmail was a mediocre item, the cape turned out to be an item called a Cloak of the Manta Ray. It allows its wearer to take the form of such an animal, and breathe underwater. I tried to convince the others of letting me own that item, which is sacred to my faith, but I was outvoted, as I’ve already received more than my fair share of the loot. It was decided that Sparkie would take the item, but that in exchange, he’d give his Ring of Fire Resistance to Raguhl, who’s received very little so far in our adventures.

We spent the rest of the day resting from the epic battle on the gorgeous beach. Of course, the recent widow Katyri Kanat did not join the festivities, as she was mourning the death of her husband at the monster’s jaws. We left other people to take care of consoling her – we’d done enough already saving all their sorry hides, we deserved some rest!

It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and evening, and we felt wholly rejuvenated when we returned upon our ships.

Eleasias 22nd, 1375 – Day 67 of the sea voyage

We’ve passed a few interesting sights during recent days of sailing along the coast of Maztica. Urol pointed to us some Kapok trees in the jungle. The essence of those trees is quite valuable, as is the wood itself, and it’s one of the resources we’ll be harvesting on the Isle of Dread to bring it back to Sasserine.

Tyria’s starting to become quite interested in the island itself, and has begun studying some of Urol’s maps in detail. He’s even given her the book he’s written about the island, though I doubt the little halfling will have the patience to go far into the document’s mind-bogglingly boring and detailed descriptions of the various spores, molds and fungi that can be found on the island.

A bit more worrisome was the fact that Ulfgar claimed that he saw some strange fetishes hanging among the trees. And today, we passed a large section of the jungle that was completely burnt, for some unknown reason.

Eleasias 25th, 1375 – Day 70 of the sea voyage

A close call today: Tavey called out an alarm from the crow’s nest. What was that snot-nosed brat doing up there, anyway? We all saw a huge dark shape swimming far off the port side. It was much, much larger than the hydra. Thankfully, it moved away. We later discussed it and guessed that it must probably have been a Dragon Turtle. Those beasts can be quite dangerous, as they can capsize vessels when angered. Perhaps this one sensed that the Goddess of the Deep was granting us passage through her realm, and did not dare defy her.

Urol later mentioned that this beast might be one of the infamous Seven Monsters that roam on or around the Isle of Dread. He spoke of Baaragrauth, a huge dragon eel that terrifies the Olman natives; of Burbalarg, a gargantuan shambling mound; of Cerattakatha, a colossal scorpion living on a small island near the Isle of Dread; of Eimraag the dragon turtle, and of three others which included a dragon, a tyrannosaurus and a crocodile as big as a ship.

I wonder if we’ll meet any of those terrifying creatures when we reach the island. I don’t think that even we, with all our might, could prevail against such monsters. Although, with some luck, they might devour Lagaan and free us of his insufferable presence…

Eleasias 26th, 1375 – Day 71 of the sea voyage

According to our calculations, we’re now about one or two weeks away from our final destination. We’ve remained right on schedule, despite the many obstacles that have stood in our way!

Today, we came upon yet another island, while Urol was running around the deck like a headless chicken, screaming shrilly that someone had stolen his book. We had to calm down the senile old fool and remind him that he’d lent it to Tyria.

We approached a village of island-dwellers, which we identified as Renkrue, a community of several peaceful Olman tribes. They welcomed us with open arms and gifted us with beautiful, fragrant collars of exotic flowers. They smiled and spoke in that strange tongue of theirs, which only Tyria understands. They didn’t even seem scared of Raguhl: they’re apparently quite used to seeing strangers of various races. Some of them cheered when they saw Sparkie make his grand entrance: that show-off flew down from the ship, wearing his prettiest dress, his long blond hair flying in the wind, an air of serene disdain on his handsome face.

We were soon greeted by Mother Liona, a pale-skinned, white-robed woman who openly wore the symbol of a metal gauntlet with an open eye in its palm: the sign of Helm, the Watcher. She welcomed us warmly to the village, and introduced us to the chieftain of these savages, a muscular, scowling dark-skinned woman whose name I cannot remember. The uptight priestess was soon bragging to us about having already converted a third of these primitive people to her rigid, uninspired religion. Her eyes opened wide and she blushed visibly when Sparkie asked her bluntly where the closest brothel was. I tried to politely hide my grin as she stuttered that no such establishment existed in this simple community.

The priestess then told us that we were the first ships to dock here in a long time. She had no news to give us about Farshore, but she informed us that the chieftain would hold a feast in our honor that night. We thanked them both and then spent the rest of the day trading various goods with the natives and re-supplying our ships of a few items and resources. Tyria learned from the natives that the priestess was treating them well, despite the fact that she tried to make them stray from their ancestral animistic beliefs.

Amella was one of the only ones staying on board to guard the ship. As the afternoon drew to an end, some time before the feast, I was approached by Sparkillo and his “best friend”, Father Feres. The short, sweaty bald man told me in a voice that was quivering with fear that he would like my permission to remain on the island. Sparkie begged me to accept. Feeling magnanimous, I generously accepted to let the vile traitor go free. I also, however, warned Mother Liona about his shady past.

The feast was a pleasant event, where we were treated to delicious food from the jungle, cooked to perfection by the savages. They danced and sang in their bizarre ways, while some of them played crude drums and wind instruments. Soon it was entirely dark, and dark shapes were dancing around a huge bonfire. Some of my companions joined in the action, but I remained dignified, sitting next to Mother Liona, Lavinia and Moretta. We talked at length about the local community, our trip, Farshore, and Sasserine. The priestess of Helm was eager to hear news about the main land.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I couldn’t help but notice that my companions were engaging in various kinds of debauchery. Lagaan and his fat-bottomed harlot were drinking huge amounts of alcohol and generally making fools of themselves, as usual. Sparkie and Avner both disappeared in the bushes with some young, dark-skinned girls, as did Tyria with Elkan, our ship’s halfling carpenter. Apparently, the two runts have been spending a lot of time together over the past few weeks. Ulfgar did a drinking contest against Faris, the half-orc, which he won after a long time. His victory was short-lived, though, because soon after Faris collapsed in a drunken stupor, Ulfgar belched cavernously, and also fell to the floor.

Strangely, Raguhl was not taking part in the festivities. Instead, he was sitting in the shadows, talking with Kaskus, the dwarven druid of the Jade Ravens. I wonder what our reptilian comrade might’ve been talking about with the druid… I hope the dim-witted creature did not reveal too much about the rest of us to one of our rivals…

Suddenly, I was approached by Altan, that lowly fisherman, who was swaying drunkenly before me. He stank of alcohol. Very boorishly, he asked me if I wanted to have sex with him. Just like that! What a pathetic oaf! For two months and a half we’d been on the same ship, and he hadn’t ONCE approached me, and he thought that NOW I was going to scratch his itch! Not likely!!!

Very conscious of Lavinia, Moretta and Mother Liona’s gazes on me, I sneered at the drunken fool, and rebuffed him. I pointed at Liamae, who was dancing clumsily near the bonfire, already half-naked, singing drunkenly and swinging a bottle of rum wildly over her head. She was quite the spectacle. “Why don’t you ask her instead,” I suggested, “she’s quite approachable and a much more realistic prospect for you.”

He looked at me with a confused gaze for a moment, and then turned and went to talk to Liamae. Lagaan was nowhere to be seen at the moment. “Excellent,” I thought…

Later in the night, I nodded to Moretta, and we returned to our cabin, away from our uncouth shipmates and those stinking savages.

Eleasias 27th, 1375 – Day 72 of the sea voyage

It’s days like today that make one’s entire existence worthwhile.

First, Moretta and I were roused in the morning by a commotion on deck. It turns out that some of the savages were trying to prevent us from leaving, because they wanted to punish Avner, who’d approached the chieftain with an offer to buy her daughter as a slave. The barbaric woman had flown into a rage and had ordered Avner to be flogged for uttering such an insult.

While we were discussing with the tribesmen, with Tyria and Mother Liona’s help, I also noticed that Lagaan looked in a particularly bad mood that morning. I asked a few questions to the other members of the crew and learned that, according to the rumors, he’d apparently found Altan and Liamae making love in the shrine of Helm during the night, and that he’d knocked both of them out with a heavy candlestick. Mother Liona had gotten quite a shock when she’d found the two unconscious, naked bodies defiling her sacred sanctuary.

Priceless!!!

Once I’d recovered from my fit of maniacal laughter and wiped the tears from my eyes, I managed to approach Lagaan with an almost straight face, and asked him how he was doing. He sullenly answered that he’d hurt Altan the previous night, and I feigned concern for him. Of course, I made sure that he understood I’d been the one who had pointed Altan in the right direction. Lagaan glared at me, and for once, he had no witty retort.

I then turned my attention back to Avner’s case, and, with the help of Sparkie, we made sure that he was not allowed to leave the island. Avner went all red in the face, and shouted at us, and at everyone, that we had no right to tell him what to do, as he was a member of the great Meravanchi family. Despite this claim, a huge native took hold of the nobleman, tied him up to a post, and flogged him mercilessly before the gathered crowd.

Avner fell unconscious after the fifteenth stroke. He lasted longer than we’d expected! I saw Brissa give a few coins to Moretta, the two having obviously made a bet on the nobleman’s endurance. I once again showed kindness and healed him a little bit so that he could finish receiving his sentence with all the dignity expected of such a pure-blooded noble.

Once the punishment was over, I smiled as I looked at the humiliated noble painfully crawling on the floor, his back a bloody mess. His two servants rushed to his help. The big chieftain came to stand near me and my companions and spoke some of her gibberish. I turned to mother Liona and noticed that she’d hidden her face behind her hands, apparently unable to witness Avner’s suffering. What a weakling… In a shaky voice, she told us that we were now once again at peace with the tribe of Renkrue.

We then prepared to leave. Some time later, Tyria approached me, with a young, dark-skinned woman at her side. She introduced her as Chochanika.

“Who’s she,” I asked, “and what’s she doing with you?”
“She… is Sparkillo’s wife.”
“What?!?” I asked, incredulously.
“They made love last night, and this morning, Chochanika’s father gave her away to Sparkie. Of course, you can imagine his reaction. He turned ghostly white, nodded, and said he had something to do behind a tree. And then he used his magic to disappear! But Chochanika is adamant about leaving with her husband. What do you think we should do?”

I looked at the savage. She looked back at me with her big, stupid dark eyes. She couldn’t have been older than eighteen. She carried a big basket of fruits under one arm: surely a gift for her husband.

I smiled at Tyria. This day was simply getting better and better…

I held out my hand to the young girl: “Welcome among the Sea Wyvern’s crew, Chochanika!”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Some time later, our two ships left Renkrue. Tyria and I escorted Sparkie below deck, and he seemed to be wondering why we were both smiling so widely. We opened the door to the men’s cabin, and he froze when his eyes fell on his young wife, who beamed at him stupidly.
“F*ck…” muttered the elf, looking crestfallen.
“Chochanika,” answered the young woman, bowing her head.
Tyria and I burst out laughing.
For the rest of the day, the young woman was convinced that her husband’s name was “f*ck”, until Tyria finally corrected her.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

We weren’t the only ones to laugh. The whole crew congratulated Sparkie on this joyful event, and as we navigated close to the Blue Nixie to inform them of the great news, the Jade Ravens also erupted in laughter at Sparkie’s misery.

“Cheer up!” I told the sulking elf with a tap on the shoulder.
He chuckled humorlessly as he glanced at his bride. “I should’ve picked a better-looking one…” he replied bitterly.
“Would you like us to turn around and get you a different one, then?” asked Tyria helpfully.
“No, no,” replied Sparkie hastily. “Don’t do anything that’s going to get me flogged!”
“Hey!!! How come HE gets to leave with a girl??” asked Avner indignantly. He’d just shown up on deck, his servants having applied bandages to his sore back. I’d healed him a little bit after the ordeal, but not so much that the punishment wouldn’t leave scars. I wanted Avner to remember this little lesson in humility for a long time.
“Nobody said life was fair,” I replied.

Ulfgar, who’s just woken up from his booze-induced coma, walked up to Sparkie and regarded him with bleary eyes.
“Sparkie,” he said in a rough voice choked up by emotion, “I was charged by your parents to watch over you and protect you from harm…” His gaze strayed to Chochanika. “I failed you!!!”

Once again, Tyria and I burst out laughing, and Sparkie glared at us.

Eleint 1st, 1375 – Day 76 of the sea voyage

(ooc: Eleint is the equivalent of the month of September)

Over the past few days, Tyria and I noticed that Chochanika was acting exceedingly obediently, serving Sparkie’s every need. She worked tirelessly in the kitchen, doing her best to follow Churtle’s hand gestures.

Sparkie ended up charming Elkan, Tyria’s little boy-toy, to have him make a bed for him and his wife. There was some friction between the runt and the elven wizard when the charm spell wore off: Sparkie doesn’t quite seem to grasp the concept of making friends without using magic. I wonder how badly he’s been bullied at that wizard school of his! He seems to be totally devoid of even the most basic social skills.

For obvious reasons, Sparkie had to move out of the cabin he shared with Raguhl, Ulfgar and Lagaan, now that he had a wife. I allowed them to move into the “brig”, where we used to keep Father Feres locked up. It turns out that the place is actually bigger than Sparkie’s old cabin – Father Feres lived like a king while he traveled with us, and he surely did not deserve it, the sniveling ferret!

Tyria and I discussed Chochanika’s strange behavior at great length. The tribe she came from gave us the impression of having very egalitarian roles among men and women. Their chieftain, and their spiritual leader, had both been women. Why was Chochanika behaving in such a servile manner, then? Surely it was not out of love for the emotionally challenged Sparkillo!

Our cunning little halfling friend investigated the situation with some of her bardic magic, and read in Chochanika’s mind that she had been birthed on a “dragon altar”, which seemingly meant that she had magical powers, which were shunned in her society.

Tyria gathered the two newlyweds, and also asked me to attend. Sparkie and his new bride stood nervously next to each other. We could tell that Chochanika was fearful that we’d discover her “terrible” secret. Instead, Tyria informed her that we knew about it, and told Sparkie about his bride’s special talent. The mage was astounded, and finally found a reason to truly love the young woman.
“She can do magic! That’s so cool!” he exclaimed. “Tell her I can do magic too! Tell her all the cool stuff I can do! Tell her about the hydra and how I burned all its heads off! Pew pew pew pew pew!!!!”
Tyria spoke to Chochanika, who asked a question in her own language, her eyes wide with surprise.
“She’s asking us if we accept those who use magic,” said Tyria.
I looked at Sparkie, who was still gesturing loudly and uttering “pew pew pew!”
“We tolerate them…” I told the young woman, even though she couldn’t understand me.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Meanwhile, poor little Lagaan was having a completely different experience. He must’ve felt quite lonely, because he didn’t go to the Blue Nixie at all since we left Renkrue. Altan had refused to come back on board the Sea Wyvern, instead going to the Blue Nixie with Liamae. His replacement, a mason by the name of Lorik, came on board the Sea Wyvern to replace him.

Yesterday, when I was on deck, an arrow lodged itself at my feet. I looked up and saw Lagaan looking at me darkly. I feigned surprise, and he flipped me off, which made me giggle. Silly child! He thought he could play with me without getting hurt. I am so much smarter, so much more experienced at this game than he is. He still has so much to learn!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Earlier today, when I was in my cabin, going over one of Vanthus’s love letters again, a cry of alarm came from above: “Captain on deck!”

I hurried upstairs, where I joined Amella. The wind had picked up, and dark clouds hovered above us: a storm was gathering.

I cursed inwardly. I KNEW we should’ve sacrificed Father Feres after all!!

[carborundum]

Great stuff! Loving it - and all stuff that's unique to your campiagn is giving me great ideas for mine! Say thanks to your DM - he's doing a great job!

[Chimpman]

Lol! I don't think I've laughed so much in quite some time. The exchanges between her and Lagaan and Sparkie were just priceless. I'm a big fan of this journal, and of Guy's as well and I have to tell you that there is a big difference between the group dynamics here and there. This is truely how an evil campaign should run. If I were the DM in this situation, I would be very proud of myself... ;)

Poor, poor Belessa, though. I'm sure the coming storm will teach her a valuable lesson about mercy... don't have it!

[Tearlach]

Another journal by Moonbeam. Thanks so much for making this day at work go quicker :) Its given me something to do whilst hundreds of annoying littl e students have played havoc outside my door.

[Moonbeam]

Hi guys, I hope you enjoy this week's update! This part of the adventure reminded me a lot of The Skinsaw Murders in Rise of the Runelords. :) It had the same Richard Pett-esque creepy vibe (and lots of fungus).

Eleint 1st, 1375 – Day 76 of the sea voyage (continued)

The powerful winds of the storm hit the Sea Wyvern, and I struggled to keep the ship afloat. Amella and I shouted orders to the crew, who busied themselves all over the deck. Sparkillo cast a Stormrunner’s Ward spell on the ship, which made it a lot easier for the vessel to survive the terrible storm. We were tossed left and right, and roaring waves crashed on the deck of the ship, threatening to carry us overboard.

A strange feeling of elation came over me, as it often does during storms. I looked around me, as the wind howled and the waves rose above us, and I felt so… alive! I found myself laughing softly. Umberlee was merely toying with us; she was testing our faith. In the end, my mistress was pleased with what she saw, and she allowed us to continue on our way, unscathed.

Alas, the Blue Nixie was perhaps not so blessed in Umberlee’s eyes, and they became separated from us during the storm. Now, as we have left the tumultuous tempest behind us, I pray to the Goddess of the Deep to show mercy for them, and not to claim their souls… yet.

I found myself discussing the next step with my companions. We were by then only ten days from Farshore: we could meet them there directly, if they had survived the storm.

“But shouldn’t we go back and look for them?” asked Raguhl in a worried voice. Surely, he was hoping that his precious Lavinia was still alive.
“They fell behind… I say we stick to the pirates’ code,” I replied.
“The what code??” asked the lizard-man, blinking at me.
“The… errr… sailors’ code, I meant. Whoever falls behind is left behind.”

Eleint 5th, 1375 – Day 80 of the sea voyage

The few days that had followed the storm had been rather uneventful, despite the dismal rain that was pouring down continuously.

On the morning of Eleint 5th, though, when the sun came up, it immediately became apparent that something was terribly, terribly wrong. The Sea Wyvern had become entangled in a vast area of green sea kelp. The substance was so thick that the ship was completely mired, unable to move in any direction. We were stuck! No wind stirred the sails, which hung limp with moisture. Further examination showed us that the surface of the water was in fact almost solid, like a spongy skin. Behind us, the sea kelp covered an area of around a thousand feet. In all other directions, it covered the surface of the ocean as far as the eye could see. Here and there, the surface of the weeds was broken by the remains of an immobile ship. There were dozens of them, which had likely become prisoners of the field of algae. No signs of life stirred on them. What had become of their crew? Had they all starved to death on their ships, unable to escape the vast, sticky expanse in the middle of the ocean?

Tyria walked up to me and asked in a slightly shaking voice: “Have we lost the favor of Umberlee?”
I gazed out at the vast expanse of rotting algae, with my arms folded across my chest. “Perhaps,” I replied after some time.

Some of the other vessels stood at odd angles, as if they’d gotten deeply stuck in the slowly moving substance. The smell of baked sea weed surrounded us, and for the first time in our voyage, the sound of water lapping against the hull of the Sea Wyvern was eerily absent. The sea all around us was as silent as a graveyard.

I was afraid I knew what terrible obstacle we’d encountered this time. The sailors in Sasserine used to talk in hushed tones about Journey’s End, an immense Sargasso field of rotting sea weed trapping ships and never letting them go. They said that it was in fact a living island with a black soul, one of the sea’s most terrible blights. The children of the island were awful creatures that arose at night. They were made of weed and hungered for human flesh.

Thankfully, it was early in the morning when we found ourselves in this situation. I informed the rest of the crew of what I knew about the situation, and I tried to calm down the more emotional crew members. “We’ll find a way to get out of here,” I assured them, obviously sounding a lot more confident than I felt. But they needed the reassurance of a strong figure. Their captain couldn’t show any sign of fear.

Along with the other members of Trouble, I examined the surface of the algae field. We found it solid enough that we could walk on it. It was wet and spongy; upon closer examination, we saw and smelled that the sea weed was rotten and disgusting. Sparkillo managed to burn a sizable chunk with a Burning Hands spell. We saw from this that the substance was several feet deep: this explained why the ship was so badly stuck that it couldn’t move at all. Tyria tried a Sound Burst spell, but it had much less spectacular results.

So the thing was vulnerable to fire. That was good to know, but unfortunately, Sparkie had nowhere near enough magical energy to create a path wide and long enough for the Sea Wyvern to escape its deadly entrapment.

We then decided to examine the closest shipwreck to see if we could learn anything more about our predicament. And, perhaps, also find some loot while we were at it. We started walking toward it; the surface was treacherous, and Ulfgar, Tyria and I made our way cautiously. Lagaan, Sparkie and Raguhl, though, rushed ahead heedlessly, racing each other to the ship. Idiots!

In the distance, I saw that they reached it all roughly at the same time. Lagaan started to climb the ship’s side, and then Sparkillo created a Passwall under him, dropping the sneaky little man to the ground.

However, it seemed that something had gone wrong. The portal looked different than usual, even at a distance. We heard some anxious curses shouted by our companions, and something shadowy emerged from the portal and attacked Lagaan. Ulfgar, Tyria and I hurried up to help them – though I felt no special urge to protect Lagaan.

Just as we arrived, the three men destroyed the shadowy creature. Lagaan had, much to his relief, managed to avoid all of the monster’s attacks. From what little I’d seen of it, I thought it must’ve been a Shadow or a Greater Shadow. Before we could discuss the matter, though, our attention turned toward the portal, which was still open.

The landscape beyond it was one of frozen death. Barren wastes where dead trees stood here and there sprawled as far as we could see. But on the other side of the portal now stood a twelve-foot-tall silhouette of utter darkness. I felt my heart constrict in fear, for I recognized it: it was a Nightwalker! Though originally from the plane of shadows, it seems that the creature had now ventured into something that looked more like the Abyss. If I had to guess, I would say that we were looking at Thanatos, the 113th Layer of the Abyss, realm of Orcus, Demon Lord and Prince of the Undead.

Sparkie and I frantically tried to dispel the portal, but we both failed. Our mortal magic was too weak, and we all knew that we were standing before a power much greater than our own. The shadowy being stirred; it looked at the portal, and at us, with what seemed like interest. It then gestured, and the portal started closing between us. But before it was entirely gone, we all heard it speak inside our heads. It said we would meet again…

“Hmm,” said Sparkie, looking at the side of the ship where only a moment before, the dark portal had stood. “Aside from the super-dangerous aspect of it, that axe’s feature is really powerful and interesting.”
I couldn’t resist: I smacked him on the back of the head. “Stop using it as a toy!” I hissed at him. The fool had almost gotten us all killed. Again.

I then turned my attention to the ship wreck. Weeds had taken hold of the caravel like a gigantic claw. The vessel must’ve once been a swift, magnificent ship, which was actually hauntingly similar to the Sea Wyvern. But now, the vegetation had torn the hull apart in places, and had started to grow between the planks. The ship was already half-sunk into the field of sea weed. Its name plate read “The Rage”. A few of my companions snickered at the name.

We all climbed aboard. The deck was littered with rotting timbers, and some of the ship’s beams had been broken by vines. A layer of slippery green mucus covered the deck, but in places, we noticed signs of combat. Swaths of dried blood were visible on the floor, and a broken rapier was lodged in the mast. From our estimate, the ship had probably been there for one or two months already. The fact that it was so badly entangled by the mucus hinted at the urgency of finding a way out of this mess.

We climbed down a set of rickety stairs into the dark hold, with our weapons drawn. We noticed that the entrance had once been barricaded, but that something had forced its way through.
“The children of Journey’s End…” I muttered.

The first room we entered contained an upturned cauldron which still contained some oil. Some of the room’s wooden surface had been burnt. Clearly, a battle had been fought here between the crew and the eerie children of the island. Beyond another barricaded door, which had been forced open already, we found a broken ballista. We then saw another room ahead of us, with a gaping pit which had let some water inside the hold.

Ulfgar seemed to have noticed something, and he started running forward into the room. That proved to be a poor strategic move, because he was immediately attacked by what seemed at first to be the very walls of the room. Instead, four separate creatures, made of those rotting sea weeds which clung to almost every surface of the ship, had come out of the walls to feast on the dwarf’s flesh.

Ulfgar grunted as one of the creatures grappled him with its vine-like tentacles. Raguhl roared and hit one of the creatures. I cast a Bless spell on my companions. Two of the monsters attempted to attack Raguhl, who was coming to Ulfgar’s defense, but they both missed. Ulfgar tried to escape the grapple, but in vain. Sparkie then chanted the words of a spell and a powerful Fireball exploded inside the room, blasting the four enemies, as well as poor Ulfgar. Two of the plant-like things were slain instantly, and a third one went down under a barrage of arrows shot by Lagaan. Finally, Raguhl chopped the last one in two with his axe.

Ulfgar stood up and brushed off the rotting vines still clinging to his armor, and shot a murderous glare at Sparkillo. I moved into the room and healed him: he’d gotten badly burnt and battered, but he was going to be able to continue with us. He then told us that he’d rushed ahead because he’d spotted an old journal, which he’d managed to protect from Sparkie’s Fireball. Unfortunately, the document had fallen into the water, and had gotten badly soaked. We were only able to salvage the last page, which we read together. It seemed we were indeed in a lot of trouble…

- - - - - - - - - - - -

This foul green land is stained with blight. We tried to cut away the weed, but to no avail, and soon had to abandon the tools we had used, their edges dulled to misery. At noon I ordered Carus and Twaid out onto the weed to explore. How large can such a place be? The crew grow restless.

It is dusk. Efforts to destroy the weed have failed. I have explored what I could, but this is all mists and weed. When will Carus and Twaid return? Despite the calm, the night is not still, and I feel eyes watching me.

The night brought noises but no attack, but I fear for my brothers, I heard cries in the night—was it them? I feel something is alive here, but what can it be? Captain Grough claimed the land had a black heart—maybe Carus and Twaid will have some useful information when they return.

Afternoon. I have decided to find my brothers, and have taken Ranis and Pale with me. They are good brothers, and will aid me as best they can. We shall find the land's black heart. We headed east, making good headway as only brothers can. By night we had covered many miles but saw nothing but more of the green.

It is night, and I can hear life. Something moves at the edge of sight. Why do they not show themselves? I can hear them whisper one word, over and over, "Outsiders…"

It is afternoon. We have come to a terrible place, a forest of weed grown in mockery of real life, a mire of skeletal ships. How many souls have been lost here? Our supplies grow wan, we must return by the morn to the Rage.

It is dawn, and we have returned to the Rage too late. The crew are gone and the green holds her ever fast. Where have they gone?

I can hear them in the day now. They are outside. They are watching. They want me to join them, but I shall not.

Ranis and Pale are dead. They came through the mist, yet they were not the same. I knew them by the tatters of clothes draped over the green that took their flesh. What wore their bodies has been vanquished, but I know now that these were but the children of what dwells at this land's heart. I must seek the mother at this heart, for to destroy the mother is to destroy the brood. If only I had…

- - - - - - - - - - - -

If only he had… what?? Argh!

We felt even more anxious all of a sudden, as we imagined the terrible fate of the Rage’s crew. We might face the same fate before the next sunrise. Would the crew of another ship find the wreckage of the Sea Wyvern in a month, a year, a century, and read the words I had penned down into this very journal?

No. We would prevail. We had to!

We then returned to the Sea Wyvern, and noticed that it seemed stuck even deeper into the mass of sea weeds than when we had left. Clearly, the only hope of escaping this deadly trap was to seek out the island’s heart, as the writer of the journal had said!

We informed the crew of what we’d found on the Rage. We said we’d go and try to locate the island’s heart, and destroy it. In the mean time, they had to barricade themselves inside the ship, and be ready to kill the incoming children with open flame. I could read fear in the eyes of some of them, but others, like Amella, Moretta, Brissa, Skald and Faris, were ready to do whatever it would take to survive.

The walk over the spongy expanse was dismal, as we passed ship after ship whose crew had likely been slain by the Sargasso creatures before us. We could only hope that we would succeed where they had failed. Some of the shipwrecks looked to be fifty or sixty years old.

Lagaan asked if there was any treasure in them, and I jokingly told him that surely, a lot of valuables could be found inside. I managed to convince him, because he went to explore one by himself (and with no source of light!). After a few minutes, he returned, out of breath and covered in sweat. He sported an algae-covered wound on one shoulder: the foolish boy had clearly narrowly escaped death!

“Everything all right, my dear?” I asked him with a grin.
He scowled at me. “Oh yes,” he replied, “it was worth it: I found a huge diamond inside!”
I sneered at his simple lie. Sparkillo also smiled, but Raguhl, Ulfgar and Tyria believed him. Such gullible fools!

We kept on walking for many long hours. We followed Raguhl’s lead, as the beast is, of all of us, the one with the most experience in the wilderness. But despite this, he managed to get us hopelessly lost. He did lead us into a tangled forest of weeds which we at first thought was the one the journal had talked about. Darkness surrounded us, and just as the writer had experienced, we heard all around us eerie voices whispering: “outsiders… outsiders…” over and over again.

Eventually, we felt that our enemies were closing in on us through the fog. We could barely see anything. Tyria cast a Glitterdust… at the darkness. Sparkie cast a Haste spell on us, and I protected myself with a Shield of Faith.

Suddenly, we found ourselves attacked by five humanoid creatures made of weed. They were smaller than those we’d fought inside the ship, but they were still quite threatening. Ulfgar hit the first once solidly with his axe, and Sparkie fired a crossbow bolt at it. Lagaan finished it off with two arrows.

Soon after, vines shot up from the mossy floor, and entangled us. Tyria, Sparkie and I especially got caught in their grip. Raguhl chopped at a foe that had rushed him through the fog, and I pierced the closest one with my trident, while the creature tried to claw Lagaan.

Ulfgar was fighting one a bit further, as Sparkillo cast a volley of Magic Missiles which hit the one Lagaan and I here fighting. Lagaan panicked and tried to shoot the creature at point blank range with his bow, but the thing just batted his bow to the side, and Lagaan badly fumbled his attack. Tyria and Raguhl got badly wounded from the monsters’ onslaught.

I wondered if perhaps those beings were undead. I tried to control them with my holy symbol, but in vain. Ah well, it was worth a try.

Ulfgar killed a second foe, and Sparkie shot another set of Magic Missiles at the one attacking Lagaan and me. Lagaan, this time, managed to slay it with his arrows. Raguhl then killed his, but I heard Tyria scream in pain behind me. I tried to use the power of my Prayer Beads to heal her, but I lost control of the spell, as I tried to cast it on the defensive. The little halfling was by then badly wounded. She had drawn her little rapier and was trying to defend herself against the monster, but she missed it. Thankfully, the creature also missed her. The fog was thick and was making it hard to distinguish opponents clearly; but thankfully, our foes seemed just as affected by it as we were.

Ulfgar tried to come to Tyria’s help, but he found himself entangled in the vines as well. Something was controlling the plants and making them grasp at our limbs! With a loud grunt, the dwarf tried to free himself, but in vain. I concentrated on a healing spell, and this time, I was able to cure some of Tyria’s wounds. Raguhl came to our side and attacked the plant-monster, but missed. Tyria hit it, but her puny weapon did little damage.

Sparkie then shot an arrow at the monster, and Ulfgar finally broke free of the vines. He swung his axe at the creature, but missed. I heard Lagaan curse behind me: he’d gotten entangled as well. The monster bashed Tyria yet again, and finally, Raguhl chopped its head off. At that moment, the vines released us. Probably, that last enemy had been the one controlling them.

I then healed my wounded companions. Meanwhile, Lagaan explored the misty forest, and realized that we didn’t seem to be in the one the journal had spoken of. There was no sign of the cursed heart. Raguhl!! That incompetent buffoon had led us to the wrong patch of forest, making us waste precious time!

For the rest of the afternoon, we wandered aimlessly, uselessly following that dim-witted lizard. It soon became obvious that the creature was hopelessly lost. The sun was dropping alarmingly lower and lower in the sky. It finally set, and we were nowhere close to finding our destination. We were out of time! Night had fallen, and the children of the island were about to come out… hungering for our flesh…

Soon enough, we heard them. This time, dozens of beings surrounded us. “Outsiders… Outsiders…” they whispered unnervingly. We looked around in the darkness, and we could feel their presence. We were surrounded. We had no hope left, nowhere to run. We felt the ground writhe beneath our feet, and our legs were gripped by vines. With my heart pounding, I felt that it was the end of us!

Now, I might’ve said one or two unkind things about Sparkie in the past, but at that moment, he saved all of our lives, and for this, I thank him from the bottom of my heart. I suddenly became aware of a rope dangling in the thin air above us, leading into the extra-dimensional space of a Rope Trick. The wizard, as well as Raguhl, managed to climb up, but the rest of us were held fast by the vines!

I heard Sparkie cast a spell above our heads, and suddenly, I felt myself coated in a repugnant and slippery substance. It was as if I were covered in disgusting grease! It enabled me to escape the grasp of the vines, but on the other hand, I was unable to climb the rope, as my hands were coated with a thick layer of the slick substance. Thankfully, I felt a powerful hand grab me under the shoulder, and I was hoisted up into the dimensional hole by Raguhl’s muscular arm. With a few other castings of the spell, and Raguhl’s help, the rest of Trouble were likewise saved and brought into Sparkie’s shelter.

The mage closed the entrance, and we found ourselves stuck together. We had enough room to move and breathe, but barely. I cannot say that this was one of the high points of my existence: stuck in a tiny dimensional pocket, my body coated in glistening grease, forced to inhale the smell of my companion’s sweaty, unwashed bodies. Beark!

But at least, we are still alive…

Ulfgar, Tyria and Lagaan had gotten badly wounded in our escape from the vines. A horde of plant-creatures had descended on us and would’ve shred us to pieces if it hadn’t been for the salvation of Sparkie’s spell. I healed my companions, and then we ate in silence. We had little appetite after our recent brush with death, but we needed to keep our bodies fed. We didn’t talk much, as our morale was quite low. Even Lagaan seemed to lack the energy to tease anyone, for once.

With no other option, we decided to take advantage of the spell’s safety and rest, to recover our magic. At some point during the night, Sparkie woke us up and cast another spell, and we jumped from the current one, which was about to expire, to the other one. Apparently, Sparkie’s spell only lasts for six hours. We continued our sleep in the second hole, patiently waiting for daybreak to appear, and hoping that the horde of monsters would be gone by then.

Eleint 6th, 1375 – Day 81 of the sea voyage

The following morning, the horde of plant-creatures was, thankfully, gone. We carefully climbed down from the dimensional hole. Raguhl and Lagaan led the way, trying to locate the forest inside which lived the heart of this accursed place. It took them a long time, but eventually, we found ourselves facing a particularly large forest of kelp at the Sargasso’s heart.

As we approached, we all heard a terrifying whisper inside our minds. Though we could decipher no words, we intuitively understood what it meant: the mother was calling her children to come to her defense. In the distance, we saw some humanoid shapes starting to move toward the forest, from all directions. We had to hurry!

Inside the forest, we found a large caravel called “The Thunderer”. It was completely covered in vines, more than any other ship we’d seen so far. Clearly, it was the first ship that had been contaminated by this disgusting creeping fungus. We prepared for a difficult battle. I blessed the group, and cast Shield of Faith spells over our two warriors, and Sparkie strengthened them with spells of his own, and cast a Fly spell on himself.

We warily climbed on board, and approached the stairs leading down. Though I’d protected the two warriors with spells, that foolish boy Lagaan darted ahead of them and went down first. Sure enough, he found himself in a room with seven of these monstrous weed-creatures. He got hit by a ropy tentacle. Sparkie moved behind him and cast a Fireball spell into the room. Most of our enemies were blasted by it, but so was Lagaan, who’s always so quick to brag about his supposedly high agility. Well, he didn’t dodge that one! He had to run back past Ulfgar and Raguhl to get healed. The silly child was all burnt and blackened from the fire, and I can only hope that he learned not to behave so foolishly and let the real men take the damage in the future; that’s what they’re there for!

Vines erupted from the surface of the ship, and tried to entangle our limbs again. Movement was very difficult, and we were stuck in the stairs, with only the two warriors really able to fight our foes. Ulfgar climbed down the stairs resolutely, hacking left and right with his mighty dwarven waraxe. He managed to dodge or absorb most of the monsters’ blows with his armor and magical protection. Raguhl followed close behind; so did Sparkie, but one of the creatures managed to wound the elf.

Sparkie cast a Haste spell on the group; Ulfgar and Raguhl made good use of it, killing three more creatures in a manner of moments. Lagaan, who’d just drank a healing potion in addition to the healing spells Tyria and I had cast on him, also returned to the fight and shot arrows from the top of the stairs. Next to him, Sparkie was firing Magic Missiles down into the hold.

I didn’t see exactly what happened, but I heard the creatures dying from our warriors’ concerted efforts. Finally, I dimly heard Ulfgar cheer, but the sound was drowned by a mental howl that, once again, screeched through all of our minds. The mother cried in rage, and urged her children forward!

We all went down and saw that the creatures had been hacked to death, and Raguhl and Sparkie had only been lightly wounded: Ulfgar hadn’t even been scratched! I healed the two wounded, and we pressed on with haste, for we knew an army of these vile monsters was on its way. We passed a room with chests full of gold, open and inviting. It was a hard thing to do, but we ignored the lure of this treasure and continued downstairs, looking for the center of this terrible infestation.

The lowest level of the hold was a scene straight out of a nightmare. A wide, shadowy hole gaped in the middle of the ship’s bottom. All around us, on the walls, vines writhed with horrible half-formed life. The shapes of trapped humanoids, only partly alive, shivered horribly under our lights: it seemed they were being devoured, or rather, assimilated, by the ship’s vegetation. They seemed to grow from the fungal substance like disgusting fruits.

We approached the dark pit, which led to unseen depths. A powerful stench emanated from it, and little Tyria threw up on the floor, nauseated by it. We guessed that the vile heart likely lived at the bottom of the chasm, but we felt that climbing down would be sheer madness. On the walls of the shaft, we saw more twisting, writhing forms of half-devoured people, madly clawing at the air, trying to reach us. They wailed hungrily in a mind-rending cacophony. The pit seemed like a hatchery of those pitiful weed-creatures, which had once been sailors.

I fought back every instinct that was urging me to flee this accursed place: I knew that an even worse fate awaited me outside the ship. I summoned both my courage and a fiendish hawk, and cast a Light spell on the latter. I sent the creature down the shaft, and after it had flown about eighty feet down, we only had an instant to look at the gigantic monstrosity of twisting vines and flailing limbs, before the bird was slain.

Quickly, I grabbed a piece of wood and cast another Light spell on it, and dropped it down the shaft. Lagaan and Tyria shot down at the thing, and then it seemed to melt into the pit’s walls.

We only wondered where it had gone for a fraction of a second: the stench assaulted us at the same time as the chaotic babbling of a thousand voices inside our minds. Sensing its presence, we turned and saw that the huge monstrosity had somehow teleported behind us, appearing there through the ship’s walls. It completely blocked our way out, and threatened to push us back into the pit.

The Mother was enormous; the biggest creature we’d ever fought. It was a terrible, disgusting thing of vines and rotting kelp inside which the bodies of countless humans were trapped; slowly being digested and corrupted. Their faces were twisted into masks of agony, but their eyes shone with hunger and rage, as their half-rotten limbs flailed madly in our direction, trying to grasp us and drag us along with them, inside of the nightmarish creature.

Their wails resonated into my mind, threatening to drive me insane. I could not keep them out, and I felt an animal, uncontrollable terror: it was worse than the fear of death, which I’d felt so many times already. It was the fear of being imprisoned for eternity inside that rotting creature, unable to die, unable to live, unable to leave this world and rest in Umberlee’s watery domain.

With a strange sense of detachment, I saw Raguhl being clawed badly by the rotting sailors: the monster had appeared just behind him, and surprised him. All of my other companions were also wounded by the rotting children, but I was thankfully spared: I’d been too far away, just next to the pit. Raguhl and Ulfgar both roared in rage, and hacked at the monster with their axes. Their blows struck with awesome power, and hacked off body parts of rotting sailors, sending them flying left and right.

I tried to concentrate on a Shield of Faith spell to protect myself, but the wailing made me stutter and rendered my prayer ineffective. I was almost unable to concentrate due to the babble of the myriad of rotting sailors.

Sparkillo managed to cast a Haste spell despite the interference. Tyria shot arrows at the huge monster, but they had little effect. The monster howled in our minds, and attacked with powerful claws, which hit Ulfgar and Raguhl. Meanwhile, the rotting sailors were also attacking us, and this time, I was struck by a foul limb. I saw that our warriors were still battling bravely, and that Tyria cast a Sound Burst behind the monster. Focusing on the words of my prayer, I finally succeeded in casting a spell, and healed Raguhl’s heavy wounds.

Lagaan fired three arrows at the monster, which was now bleeding a sickly green substance from many wounds. Several of the sailors inside its body had been decapitated or otherwise dismembered by our raging warriors, but the rest kept on attacking us, and I was wounded again, as were Tyria and Raguhl. The shambling horror shivered and roared in pain from the many wounds it had received, and then merged into the ship’s wall again. It was gone!

I healed myself, while the others wondered where it had gone. Sparkie took a chance and used the last of his magical energy to cast a Flaming Sphere down at the bottom of the pit. His instinct had been right, and we heard a powerful wail of pain emerge from below. Tyria and Lagaan looked down into the pit, and shot arrows at the creature as it thrashed from the burning pain of Sparkie’s spell. Eventually, it collapsed on itself into a mass of rotting vegetation. It seemed we had killed it!

Lagaan started climbing down to take a better look, but the descent was arduous, as the walls’ fleshy limbs clutched at him desperately. The air was as putrid and warm as that of a zombie factory. We then noticed that the walls were starting to fall apart.

“It’s dead!” I shouted over the noise. “We killed it, and now the ship is crumbling, we have to grab the treasure and run out of here! Hurry!!!”

We did so, and hastily grabbed hold of the chests of gold. Ulfgar also took a splendid and massive tower shield on his way out. Lagaan had finally emerged back from the stinking pit, and bolted past us. We rushed outside, with Ulfgar trailing behind us. The ponderous shield was weighing him down, despite his dwarven hardiness. He got hit by a few pieces of the crumbling ship, and would normally have been buried alive, but eventually, thanks to Umberlee’s blessing, he made it out alive and joined the rest of us as we watched the structure collapse into itself. The Thunderer was no more…

All around us, hundreds of weed children had gathered and would’ve descended upon us in a manner of minutes had we failed or delayed to destroy their mother. They now writhed in torment, their vegetal countenance withering into nothingness. Now that the mother was dead, the essence that kept all of the kelp children alive had vanished. Likewise, the energy that had fueled the ever-expanding patch of rotting algae known as Journey’s End had been destroyed. Under our feet, we felt the thick carpet of weed slowly give way. I cast a Water Walking spell on each member of the group, and we soon found ourselves treading dirty water: we were on the actual ocean again!

We knew we had a long walk ahead of us, and my spell only lasted one hour. We tried to find our way back toward the Sea Wyvern, but if we’d been lost while traveling the sea kelp, we were ten times more lost traveling the featureless ocean. I cast my spell again after an hour, but I knew that I wouldn’t have enough energy to keep it up indefinitely. Likewise, Sparkie was still too drained of magic to be able to cast another Rope Trick.

Thankfully, Umberlee was still looking kindly upon us, and soon enough, we saw the familiar shape of the mighty Sea Wyvern sailing in the distance. The crew had found us! Amella steered the ship in our direction, and we all climbed on board. We noticed that the ship was damaged in several places, as if it had sustained a vicious onslaught of the weed-creatures. We then saw that the fight had taken a lot from our crew, who had fought valiantly, and survived against impossible odds. Many of them were still wounded and burnt. My brave little Moretta had saved some of them from death with her healing magic. I was so proud of her, my little acolyte, and I hugged her warmly, happy that she was still alive. She then told us what had happened during our absence…

Faris Minobald, the Sasserine noble who had been reincarnated into a half-orc, died heroically defending the rest of the crew.

Rory Alientha died screaming when she was attacked from behind by several of the kelp children: it turned out that they were able to penetrate through tiny holes in the ship, and had been able to bypass some of the crew’s barricades thusly.

Finally, the unfortunate Banaki Chisk had also perished, when his master, the dastardly Avner, had pushed him into the crowd of monsters to save his own worthless hide.

We sailed away from the accursed stretch of algae that had been known as Journey’s End. Let it be sung throughout the taverns of every port in Faerun that it was the mighty members of Trouble that vanquished its terrible evil!

In the twilight of the evening, I performed a ceremony to lay the souls of our fallen companions to rest. Faris, Rory, and Banaki, may the Goddess of the Deep welcome you into her watery embrace, and may your souls forever sail in the ocean of the dead.

Later that night, we went through all of the booty we’d collected as we’d fled the crumbling Thunderer. The tower shield was magical and quite potent, and was adorned with the symbol of a shark eating a man. Quite a pretty decoration. Sparkie was delighted to find a scroll filled with powerful arcane spells as part of the treasure.

We started to divide the rest of the gold and platinum among ourselves, but then, that fool Sparkie stood up and said that we should give some of it to the rest of the crew. I could scarcely believe my ears. They should be paying us for saving their lives! A heated discussion ensured, and finally it came to a vote. Only Ulfgar and I had the good sense of opposing Sparkie’s ridiculous idea. Raguhl and Tyria clearly have visions of grandeur, and our recent adventures must have led them to believe that they are heroes whose duty it is to save beggars and cripples for free. Lagaan went along with Sparkie’s proposal just to contradict me, I’m sure. I can’t believe that greedy rat would give out any money of his own volition for any other reason.

So it was decided that each member of the crew would receive thirty gold pieces from our hard-earned treasure, which we’d found while we’d been busy risking our own lives to save theirs.

It doesn’t make any sense. And it makes me so angry!!!

[Chimpman]

I really like this adventure. I have to say that as a DM, Journey's End holds so much possibility. I'm a little loath to admit it, but most of the time (after hearing the words "sailing ship" or "sea voyage" or something to that effect) I think to myself, "How boring!" The PCs are just going to be sitting around on a ship for three months waiting for the voyage to end and to finally reach their destination. This adventure showed me exactly how wrong I was!

I know that you're a PC on this one and that you've been actively avoiding any spoilers that might be present on these boards, so I won't say anything about what is to come. I am however very interested to how both you and your DM handle the next couple of adventures. May the blessings of Umberlee be upon you...

[Moonbeam]

Chimpman wrote:

I know that you're a PC on this one and that you've been actively avoiding any spoilers that might be present on these boards, so I won't say anything about what is to come. I am however very interested to how both you and your DM handle the next couple of adventures. May the blessings of Umberlee be upon you...

Yeah, as much as I'd love to participate in the discussions in the Savage Tide forum, I've stayed away from it because I don't even want to see any spoilers in the thread titles (I know there are some nasty spoilers in the RotRL one, so I assume it's the same for every adventure path).

Thanks so much for following both my campaigns, Chimpman, I'm always looking forward to your comments after I post. :)

What are you currently playing with your group?

I'm having a lot of fun with Savage Tide, I just wish we could play more often than every 2 or 3 weeks. But it's hard to get people together with everyone's busy schedules. I'm glad at least we get our weekly dose of RotRL :)

May the Goddess of the Deep watch over you as well, my friend, and may she spare you from a horrible, bloody death at the jaws of gigantic sea sharks.

[Chimpman]

Thanks for the kind words Moonbeam. The sad thing is that I haven't had a real live group around since 2005. RL steps in sometimes and just makes things difficult, if you know what I mean. After my group broke up I just didn't have the willpower/energy/desire to get another started and so I've been a little idle on the RPG front. But gosh darn it, I really do enjoy these games and am starting to miss them (and reading your journal, along with some of the others on this board, has really brought that fact to light).

The story does have a happy ending though, for lo and behold, when tucking my daughter into bed last night she asked me, "Pa-pa, when am I going to get to play Dungeons and Dragons?" Well, ask and you shall recieve. :D I'm going to be planning a little adventure for her shortly. I have a feeling she'll take to it quickly. We've been playing pirates, or knights, or Jedi and whatnot for her entire life (she's turning 9 next month) just without any specific rule-set applied to it.

So I think that the old Keep on the Borderlands, or Isle of Dread modules might once again see the light of day. If and when they do, I'll be sure to post here. ;)

[Moonbeam]

Haha, that's awesome! Several of my friends have kids as well. My Savage Tide DM/RotRL player has kids age 3 and 2. We're already hoping we'll be able to play with them when they get old enough. Hopefully at least one of them will turn out to be a D&D geek like his/her father. :)

It's too bad you don't have a regular group. You don't happen to live close to Montreal (Canada) by any chance? :)

[Moonbeam]

Here’s an updated version of the characters at level 7. Sparkie and Tyria weren’t present at this week’s game, so their characters are still level 6 for now. Note that Raguhl is also level 6 because the Lizardfolk race adds 1 character level.

Belessa Darkwave (NE Female Human Cleric, Level 7) – Worships Umberlee
Str: 14 Dex: 8 Con: 12 Int: 14 Wis: 19 Cha: 14; AC: 17, HP: 54

Height: 5’11”. Weight: 150 lbs, Age: 29, Date of birth: Eleasias 5, 1346
Long black hair, brown eyes, stunningly beautiful, wears a glamered armor that most often looks like either a chainmail bikini or an elegant black gown, wields a trident and a large shield.

Feats: Combat Casting, Negotiator, Iron Will, Silent Spell.

Skills: Bluff 7, Concentration 8, Diplomacy 18, Heal 5, Knowledge: Religion 6, Profession: Sailor 12, Sense Motive 13, Spellcraft 4, Spot 7, Swim 1.

Main gear: Darkwood Trident +1, Glamered Chain Shirt +1, Periapt of Wisdom +2, Ring of Sustenance, Necklace of Prayer Beads (Bless, Healing).

= = = =

Raguhl (CG Male Lizardfolk Barbarian, Level 6) – Worships Gwynharwyf
Str: 19 Dex: 14 Con: 16 Int: 10 Wis: 14 Cha: 8; AC: 21, HP: 80

Height: 6’10”. Weight: 420, Age: 25, Date of birth: Ches 29, 1350
Has gray and green scales, amber eyes and sharp spikes protruding from his back, wears a chain shirt and wields a greataxe.

Feats: Track, Improved Grapple, Power Attack.

Skills: Climb 8, Hide 2, Intimidate 8, Jump 5, Perform: Drums 2, Profession: Sailor 4, Spot 9, Survival 8, Swim 11, Tumble 4.

Main gear: Greataxe +1, Chain Shirt +2, Ring of Fire Resistance (10).

= = = =

Lagaan (CN Male Human Rogue Level 6/ Swashbuckler Level 1) – Worships Tymora
Str: 12 Dex: 18 Con: 12 Int: 14 Wis: 12 Cha: 9; AC: 18, HP: 46

Height: 5’9”, Weight: 175 lbs, Age: 18, Date of birth: Alturiak 25, 1357
Black hair, brown eyes.

Feats: Weapon Finesse, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus: Shortbow.

Skills: Appraise 6, Balance 9, Bluff 5, Climb 5, Decipher Script 3, Disable Device 11, Escape Artist 9, Forgery 4, Gather Information 4, Heal 2, Hide 10, Jump 4, Knowledge: Local 4, Knowledge: Dungeoneering 3, Knowledge: Religion 3, Knowledge: Nature 3, Open Lock 13, Profession: Sailor 2, Search 10, Sense Motive 8, Sleight of Hand 11, Spellcraft 3, Spot 8, Survival 4, Swim 9, Tumble 11, Use Magic Device 4, Use Rope 11.

Main gear: Rapier +1, Shortbow +1 (str +1), Studded Leather Armor +1, Ring of Swimming +5, Slippers of Spider Climbing.

= = = =

Ulfgar Dorunn (CN Male Gold Dwarf Fighter Level 6/ Barbarian Level 1) – Atheist
Str: 18 Dex: 10 Con: 18 Int: 14 Wis: 12 Cha: 8; AC: 23, HP: 75

Height: 4’2”, Weight: 140 lbs, Age: 56, Date of birth: unknown
Black hair, black beard, brown eyes.

Feats: Bullheaded, Power Attack, Weapon Focus: Dwarven Waraxe, Weapon Specialization: Dwarven Waraxe, Cleave, Great Cleave, Combat Expertise.

Skills: Appraise 3, Balance -2, Climb 3, Heal 3, Hide -1, Intimidate 6, Knowledge: Dungeoneering 5, Knowledge: Local 4, Knowledge: Nature 3, Profession: Sailor 3, Search 6, Sense Motive 4, Spot 6, Survival 2, Swim 4.

Main gear: Full Plate Armor +1, Darkwood Shield +1, Dwarven Waraxe +1, Ring of Swimming +5, Belt of Ogre Strength +2, Amulet of Natural Armor +1, Composite Longbow +1 (+2 str).

[Belessa Darkwave]

Eleint 8th, 1375 – Day 83 of the sea voyage

For the past two days, we’ve all tried to forget the horrors of Journey’s End, but it has not been easy. We’ve all witnessed so much, and even though most of us have physically survived the ordeal, I fear some of us will remain forever scarred. The crew members are not heroic folk like myself, or Ulfgar, or Raguhl, or any of the others in Trouble. They are but regular men and women, and I fear that their minds are starting to slowly unravel from all that they’ve been forced to endure in the past three months.

Last night, again, my poor little Moretta woke up screaming in the middle of the night. I’d been reading Urol’s book on the Island of Dread, and I immediately rushed to her side. My sleep has been so filled with nightmares in the past few years that I knew immediately how she felt. The poor thing was trembling, sobbing, and covered in sweat. I hugged her tight and whispered soothing words as I caressed her hair.

I’ve grown so close to my little acolyte during this trip. I’ve told her things that I’ve never told anyone else. I feel closer to her than I ever did with either of my sisters, back in Westgate. And she’s been so supportive, when the pressure of being the ship’s captain, of having to deal with jerks like Avner or Lagaan, was becoming unbearable. I don’t know what I would have become without her.

Eleint 9th, 1375 – Day 84 of the sea voyage

Power.

I feel it. I can feel it coursing through my veins… I can feel it swell within my very soul.

Power as great as I was wielding at the height of my career, back when I was Stalman Klim’s concubine, ruling my own temple of Umberlee in the city of Starmantle. Before those hated fanatics killed me and my masters…

Finally, at long last, Umberlee has granted me the last of the powers I’d lost when I’d fallen out of grace. I have redeemed myself of my failure. Surely, now that we are within reach of the Island of Dread, my great mistress is showing me that she is pleased with me, and that the last of her tests, Journey’s End, is behind us.

But somehow… I feel a terrible sensation within my heart. As if something deadly is looming on the horizon. I cannot shake off this feeling of impending doom…

Using one of my newly restored abilities, I sent a magical message to Lavinia. Though she is surely countless miles away from us, she received it, and learned of our perilous adventure in Journey’s End. She replied that the Blue Nixie was unharmed and had survived the storm. They are on their way toward the island as I write this, going around its western coast. Soon, we shall all meet in Farshore. Soon, we will reach our destination!

I also sent a magical message to Kallia Nylos, my replacement at the Dawn Council. I told her about the attack on Fort Greenrock, so she could inform the council on my behalf.

Eleint 11th, 1375 – Arrival on the Island of Dread

It is night. I am writing these words in my precious journal as I sit by a campfire, surrounded by darkness and the fluttering sound of bat wings in the warm night air.

We are now on the Island of Dread.

What should’ve been a joyful event has instead turned into a complete disaster. I will try to explain as best as I can, but I must keep an eye on Ulfgar as I write this. He is standing watch with me, and I can see that his hand is moving toward his dagger every now and then, and that he is casting dark looks toward that fool, Avner, who sleeps peacefully only a few feet away. I am honestly not sure I feel like stopping Ulfgar, should he decide to end the miserable nobleman’s life tonight, once and for all.

It all began on the evening of Eleint 10th, when I spotted, with my keen sailor’s eyes, the outline of the island to the starboard of our mighty vessel. I shouted out and pointed, and my crew rejoiced at seeing, at last, our destination! We’d made it, we’d finally made it!

Or so we thought…

Feeling the winds pick up, I silenced their cheers after a while. Something wasn’t right. At an unbelievable speed, dark clouds moved to block the setting sun. Although we were getting closer to the island, we soon found ourselves surrounded by heaving waves, which were only getting bigger and bigger as the winds grew stronger and stronger. A great storm was upon us!

Sparkillo cast a Stormrunner’s Ward on the Sea Wyvern as the first drops of rain fell on the deck. The wind started to howl furiously. I could scarcely believe it. It seemed that Umberlee herself was blowing a terrifying gale upon our sails, as if she wanted to claim our ship before it reached the shore.

I have never seen such a terrifying storm. Never. I am convinced that such a hurricane has never touched the Sea of Fallen Stars, where I used to sail with the Slave Lords. I shouted, above the howling wind, for everyone to go down to safety. I only kept the three strongest sailors on deck to help me navigate the ship: Ulfgar, Raguhl and Lagaan. I ordered even Amella to go below deck; if something happened to me, I wanted her to be ready to take my place.

The Sea Wyvern met the storm head-on, and I had to navigate better than I’ve ever done to survive. We were surrounded by enormous waves, which were higher than our tallest mast. The three men hurried to retract the sails. The ship was rocking from side to side, and the huge waves would crash on board and threaten to drag us overboard.

Until the middle of the night, we held fast, and defied this storm, this great storm that surely no mortal captain could navigate through. But I prevailed, for one, two, three hours I prevailed, with the wind howling in my ears, with the pouring rain drenching my clothes, with my hair flying wildly behind me. I laughed as I avoided wave after wave after wave after wave…

But there was no pleasing Umberlee that night.

She was relentless.

There was no end. There was just no end to this storm.

I am a powerful woman, but eventually, my muscles started to ache, my fingers grew stiff from the tension and the cold.

Eventually, a gigantic wave, the biggest I’ve ever seen, crashed down on our ship. Perhaps my eyes were playing tricks on me by then, but I could’ve sworn I saw a grinning female face take form in that wave, as it swept over the deck of the Sea Wyvern, swiping it cleaner than our little cabin boy Tavey could’ve ever done in a hundred years. And when the wave subsided, Raguhl was gone, and Ulfgar and Lagaan were hanging to the railing for dear life. Another wave crashed unto the deck, and then they were gone too.

I heroically turned the ship around to go and fetch them, hoping they’d be able to climb back on deck. The chances were slim, but I had to try it. I knew the rest of us would have a hard time surviving the perils of the island without our two warriors, and as for Lagaan… Well, we probably could’ve managed without Lagaan.

I couldn’t see them in the dark waters; I was surrounded by the windswept night. But eventually, miraculously, I saw the brave Ulfgar climb back on deck, his beard dripping with water. He gave me a salute, tied himself up to the railing, and dove back to go fetch the others. Eventually, he climbed back with Raguhl. The Lizardman caught his breath for a few moments, and then he spotted Lagaan, and dove after him, after tying himself up to the ship as well. Eventually, he returned with the coughing, half-drowned thief.

At that moment, a fierce bolt of lightning blasted the crow’s nest, where Lagaan usually stood watch. I took it as a sign of Umberlee’s anger: she had not wanted me to save the little heretic who has openly defied her rule here, on this ship, by praying to the goddess Tymora for luck on this trip.

Is that what you tried to tell me, my Mistress? Did you want me to sacrifice Lagaan to you, as I have sacrificed Rowynn and Lars before? Have I sinned, have I been too weak?

I was weak. My heart had grown soft, complacent over the recent weeks. I’d let myself be caught in a trap of emotions: I wanted to please my crew, to go along with their desires. But what the crew wanted was irrelevant. Only Umberlee’s will mattered. I had not sacrificed anyone to her in weeks. And that night, we all paid the price for my sins.

Suddenly, the ship lurched to a brutal halt, and a terrifyingly loud cracking sound erupted in the storm-tossed night. We had run aground on a reef! Damnation!!!

We heard a woman’s cry from below, Katyri’s, I think. We heard other shouts and cries for help. Sparkie came out on deck after a few moments, with blood on his hands.

“We lost one of the guys,” he said, his face ashen.
“Which one?” I asked urgently.
“I don’t know. I can’t keep track of all their names!” he replied, as though we hadn’t been on the same ship as them FOR THE PAST THREE MONTHS!

Since we were stuck, I hurried downstairs to see what had happened. I pushed past that fool Avner, who was standing dumbly staring at his torn shirt, mumbling “It’s Calimshan silk… It’s Calimshan silk…” over and over.

The victim was Lorik, the mason who’d replaced Altan Tepe from the Blue Nixie. He had a splintered wooden shaft, several feet long, protruding from his chest. He was coughing blood, and the front of his shirt was completely drenched with more blood. I directed Moretta and Amella to remove the piece of wood that impaled him, just as I cast my most powerful healing spell on him. Miraculously, it worked, and I saved his life at the very last moment. His eyes came into focus, and he grasped and stared at his now intact chest with awe.

“Thank you so much, captain,” he stammered as he turned to face me. “But good grace, why did I ever leave the safety of the Blue Nixie?”

I then looked around to assess the damage. The ship had crashed brutally against the reef and now stood at an angle. The ship’s stern, including my cabin, was completely submerged. Thankfully, I’d been smart enough to keep a few items, including this journal, in a waterproof coffer, or else everything I’d written in the last few months would’ve been irremediably lost.

A large hole had been torn into the ship’s prow. I shouted at the crew to bring me some wood from the hold, and after a few minutes, I managed to patch up the breach with a Make Whole spell. But I knew it wouldn’t suffice: Elkan, the Halfling carpenter, would have to go patch up the outside of the breach with tar as I tried to steer the ship free of the rocks.

As we were getting ready to do that, a horrible scream erupted from above deck. I ran up with Sparkillo, and when we got on deck, we saw a gigantic gray eel, its gaping maw lined with countless spear-like fangs, screeching at us. The warriors and Lagaan had rushed to their cabin to fetch their weapons. Raguhl and Lagaan shot at the beast with little effect, and Ulfgar tried to charge it, but because of the ship’s severe inclination, he slipped and slid all the way to the railing close to the monster. While he lay prone, the beast bit him mercilessly, and the dwarf howled in pain. Sparkie diverted the monster’s attention by casting two Scorching Rays at it, and I ran after Ulfgar to try and heal him. Alas, I also lost my footing, and slid all the way to the water-filled stern.

While I was trying to regain my balance, the beast was hit by some arrows from Lagaan, and two more powerful bolts of fire from Sparkie. It roared, and sank its fangs into Ulfgar. I was right behind him, and I saw blood gush out of the warrior’s terrible wounds, and I saw the gooey green poison that was coating the beast’s spines mix with the blood. With a defiant roar, Ulfgar stood up, and, wielding his dwarven waraxe with both hands, plunged it deep into the creature’s head, almost splitting it in two!

The monster reared its massive neck, howling in fury, for even such a mighty blow had not sufficed to kill it. But it was very badly wounded. Then, a volley of little balls of magical light darted over Ulfgar’s head and lodged themselves into the creature’s flesh. The great beast gave a sudden, violent shiver, and it collapsed into the water, dead.

“SPARKILLO!!!!” shouted the elven wizard behind us.

(ooc: Sparkie is our group’s most notorious kill-stealer, having downed many tough monsters that had been brought low by the group’s warriors with puny magic missile spells. This time, he really followed the path of least effort, as each of his magic missiles got a “1” on the d4. ;) )

I rushed to Ulfgar’s help, first casting a spell to neutralize the poison threatening to enter his body, then healing his critical wounds.

“Was this the dreaded monster Baaragrauth?” I asked as I finished patching up Ulfgar.
“I don’t think so,” answered Raguhl in his deep voice. “That must’ve been a Masher. Baaragrauth is about ten times that size, by what I’ve heard in Urol’s tales. But I’m afraid these reefs are the lair of the Mashers. If we don’t get out of here fast, more will attack us!”

I shared some dark looks with my companions. One of these monsters had almost slain Ulfgar. If two or more showed up… We were all doomed.

We hurried to lower Elkan down to the rocks where the ship was stuck. He hastily applied some tar to the hole, while Raguhl held the rope that kept him safe and would allow us to pull him back on deck once we got unstuck. The poor little runt worked his little heart out, heedless of the terrible danger he was in. Halflings make such good minions in that sense: they seem to be utterly careless and lack the most basic survival instincts that some would call fear. A human being would never have agreed to work in such dangerous circumstances.

Meanwhile, I busied myself with trying to get the ship unstuck, which was no small feat. I tried to take advantage of every wave that was crashing against the hull of the ship, and I was shouting for the crew to put their weight where it would give us the best chance to get unstuck. Eventually, I succeeded, and the Sea Wyvern floated free. But just at that time, a loud hiss cut into the howling wind, and we saw the head of another Masher rise above the water to the port side.

Raguhl pulled back Elkan’s rope, but to his horror, he only pulled back the top half of the little man’s body: the rest of it had been eaten by the giant eel. Thankfully, Tyria was still below deck, so she didn’t see the twisted mask of terror and pain that marred her little lover’s face in death. With a pain expression (it might’ve been rain drops, but I almost thought I saw tears in the lizard’s eyes), he brought the carcass to me, and asked me to heal the little halfling.

“He’s dead, Raguhl!” I was forced to shout. Couldn’t this imbecile see I was busy steering the ship?? “There’s nothing even I can do for him at this point! Just toss him back into the sea!”

I hoped that perhaps this little appetizer would calm down Umberlee’s fury.

I was wrong.

We were still stuck in that terrible storm, and although it took us away from that reef and the monstrous Mashers, we were still in dire peril. We had taken in a lot of water, and the whole crew was working feverously at trying to toss the water out of the hold with buckets. But for every bucket of water they threw out, two washed down from the countless waves that crashed unto our deck.

The Sea Wyvern was an eternal ship, with an eternal captain at its helm, and it sailed in an eternal storm. The hours seemed to turn to days. I felt myself go numb from the blows of the merciless waves, the rocking of the ship, the constant fury of the wind.

The storm would never end.

We were doomed…

…

…

…

I woke up with sand in my mouth.

My entire body ached.

Slowly, painfully, I opened my eyes. Sand, all around me. I had wet sand in my hair, wet sand on my skin, wet sand under my clothes. My hair was a mess, and hung in thick strands over my face. I sat up groggily. I was on a beach. Ahead of me was a jungle.

I looked around. The massive shape of Raguhl lay not far from me. Further along the beach, I could see my other companions, all sprawled on the sand, unmoving. Had they survived as well?

Dazedly, I stood up. I didn’t seem wounded, though my muscles ached terribly from the previous night’s ordeal. And then I saw it: my beautiful ship, the Sea Wyvern, had crashed into another reef, about three hundred feet from the beach. A few pieces of flotsam rode the waves, nearby.

I felt a profound sense of failure, of humiliation. That broken vessel, crashed against the rocks, symbolized my broken hope, my shattered pride. Everything I had worked for in the past few months had come to a crashing end. I had poured my heart and soul into this journey.

Had every prayer I’d breathed during this trip been in vain?

“Why, my Goddess? Why? Why have you punished me so? Have I really failed you this badly?”

I felt a profound surge of anger stir up within me. It bordered on heresy: how dared Umberlee treat me so unfairly?!

But before I could continue along this treacherous path, I became aware that some of my companions were stirring: they, too, were waking up! One by one, they came to their feet, and we all regrouped there on the beach. All members of Trouble were alive! Miraculously, and perhaps, as Umberlee’s final concession to mercy, we were all mostly unharmed, and still had our weapons, armor, and magical items on us. At least, we were armed to survive the perils of the Island of Dread.

And that was a good thing, because before we could finish our discussion on what had happened, a gigantic dinosaur emerged from the jungle with a roar!

We all stared in awe. It was… enormous. It was terrifying. It was… running towards Lagaan with its jaw wide open!

The young thief screamed and shot some arrows at the incoming monster. Only by some divine luck did he avoid being swallowed by that gigantic jaw. Ulfgar and Raguhl rushed the monster and slashed one of its legs with their axes. Sparkillo fired some Scorching Rays at it. Tyria sang in an anxious voice, and shot some arrows at the terrible beast. Even I rushed it, and I plunged my trident deep inside its flesh. The creature roared deafeningly, and kept trying to swallow Lagaan. Finally, just as its jaws were about to close around the rogue, a deadly arrow pierced one of the monster’s eyes, slaying it. The earth shook as the dinosaur fell to the ground, and Ulfgar and I barely dodged out of the way, or we would’ve been crushed under its enormous bulk.

We all stared at it in awed silence. We couldn’t believe we’d killed it. It had all happened so fast.

“Heh, he really wanted to eat you, Lagaan,” chuckled Ulfgar. “You must smell really tasty to these things.”
Lagaan wiped his forehead. “Yeah… He almost got me, too. That was intense!”
Raguhl looked at the two men. “Aren’t you guys forgetting something?” he asked. The other two just stared at him blankly. The lizardman’s jaw curled up into what was probably a grin. “You didn’t ask me if he was my cousin!”

As we wondered what to do next, we heard a small voice behind us: “Oh my, that fight was most impressive. A Tyrannosaurus Rex! I haven’t seen one this close before. It’s fascinating!”
Urol had also survived the shipwreck. The little gnome was disheveled and quite wet, but he seemed mostly unharmed. He approached the gigantic carcass and started examining it with great interest.

We looked around and tried to determine where we were. We weren’t sure. Tyria asked Urol, who also wasn’t sure. Eventually, I just smirked and looked at the dinosaur’s corpse. “I think we’re at the spot on the map where it says ‘Here there be monsters’!”.

I then explained to my companions that I could contact Lavinia by magic and ask her to come get us with the Blue Nixie, some repair equipment, and a crew of workers. I strongly doubted we would be able to repair the Sea Wyvern with what we had.

First, we did a cursory search of the beach to try and locate more survivors. We found Tavey, the little cabin boy. He had survived. He cheered when he saw us, and he ran to Lagaan, whom he hugged warmly. I must say that I find the strange link between Lagaan and the little boy a little troubling. Has the despicable thief grown so frustrated since Liamae left him that he’s started using the child for his perverted needs?

Later, we found the bloated corpses of Quenge Asper and Katyri Kanat. Umberlee had claimed their lives. I muttered some half-hearted prayers over their bodies. I felt dizzy from the previous night’s ordeal, and weak in my magical powers. Perhaps my resolve, my faith, were diminished from the humiliating experience.

We then heard a whiny from further up the beach, and soon enough, we saw Avner ride up to us on Thunderstrike’s back. Even though he was covered with wet sand, he tried to look imperious as he towered above all of us on his horse. He frowned when he saw that his last servant had died, but then turned to Lagaan and called him.

“You! Lagonn! You shall be my new bodyguard and servant. Now search the beach for the rest of my belongings!”

The thief cast him a dark look. We decided to try and salvage the most important items from the Sea Wyvern’s wreck before looking for a sheltered place to make camp. I cast an Air Walk spell on Raguhl and Ulfgar, and along with a flying Sparkie, they went to search the ship. They returned some time later with a few of the most important items for our survival, as well as some rum for Ulfgar, my precious journal, the golden idol of Tomoachan, most of our treasure, Sparkillo’s spellbook, as well as Skald’s corpse. Alas, the fey-touched man had drowned in one of the cabins, having been unable to open the blocked door.

On a happier note, Chochanika, Sparkie’s dark-skinned young wife, had survived the wreck. The men had rescued her and brought her back to the beach.

“The side of the ship is completely broken,” reported Ulfgar. “I don’t think you’ll be able to repair it, even with your spells, Belessa.”

Just as I’d feared. We’d need help from Farshore. We thought we were on the bay north of the large mountainous peninsula on the east side of the island. That meant that, according to the map that Ulfgar had retrieved from the Sea Wyvern, it would take us ten days by land to reach Farshore. Or, three days for the Blue Nixie to get to us. Yes, it definitely seemed that we were better off waiting for them here.

I then performed the ritual of a Sending spell, and I managed to contact Lavinia’s mind. I informed her of our situation and what kind of repair supplies we required. She answered in a concerned tone, and assured me that she would send the Jade Ravens to help us within the next few days.

Great…

I wish I’d had enough energy left to try and communicate with one of the other crew members, especially Moretta, but I did not. Perhaps I should’ve called Moretta right away and waited until the following day to contact Lavinia… I now regret my choice.

I muttered a few prayers over Skald’s corpse, and we distributed his loot among us. Ulfgar took his magical bow with a greedy smile, and I took two theater tickets that he’d been carrying in his pocket. They were for a play called “The Feasting Corpulence of Devils”, from a theater in Westgate, my home town, so far away from Sasserine. How strange!

Lagaan and Ulfgar then opened up the Tyrannosaurus Rex’s belly and found a half-digested corpse inside. Thankfully, it wasn’t that of one of our ship’s crew, but rather, a giant ostrich-like creature which Raguhl called a Terror Bird. They are apparently vicious predators. Urol watched the dinosaur’s entrails with fascination. After a few minutes, I asked him if he was done.
“Yes, lady Belessa, why do you ask?” he asked.
I smiled at him. “Because I’ve just thought of a use for this corpse,” I answered, and with that, I took out my black wand and tapped it on the creature’s head. Its flesh slowly started to crumble to dust, leaving only a massive skeleton behind. Then, the enormous bones came to life, and the creature clumsily got to its feet, and its head turned to face me. Urol and Tavey screamed in terror, and my companions gripped their weapons as the gigantic creature towered over us.
“Do not worry,” I assured them, ”it’s under my control!”

We then agreed that we needed to find a safe place to make camp. We did not want to risk fighting more of these terrible dinosaurs. Raguhl went off into the jungle to try and locate a suitable spot. Meanwhile, Ulfgar, who was still under the effect of my Air Walk spell, walked up to get a good look at our surroundings. When he came down, he told us that he’d seen some ancient ruins further in the jungle, about a day’s walk to the south.

Meanwhile, Avner suddenly cheered. He’d been combing the beach for wreckage, and he’d just found a wooden crate with some of the fine wine he’d brought along from Sasserine.
“That one’s got the Dark One’s own luck,” growled Lagaan as the triumphant nobleman showed us his precious find.
“I do hope you’re going to share some of that with us, Avner,” I said with a smile, “we could sure use something to raise our spirits.”
The foppish man’s smile turned into a greedy sneer. “I think not, my dear Belessa. I’ve found this wine, and it’s mine. I have no intention of sharing it with you, not after your poor navigation skills have destroyed so many of my belongings.”
My smile froze.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.” I asked in a deceptively sweet voice. “Could you repeat it?”
A palpable tension hung over all of us. Everyone, except that imbecile Avner, was quite aware of it. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Sparkie, Tyria and Urol exchange worried glances.
But Avner went on, oblivious to the danger he was in: “A poor captain you’ve been, crashing our ship twice in the same night, and constantly running us into deadly perils and dire tribulations, throughout the whole voyage. I should never have accepted to stay on your accursed ship, I should’ve sailed in the comfort of the Blue Nixie, along with the lovely Lady Lavinia.”

I lost it. At that instant, I just lost it. After all the terrible things that had happened to me in the past few hours, despite my heroic navigation skills, and after I’d endured the terrible feeling that my Goddess had forsaken me, again, the last thread of my patience for Avner’s stupidity snapped, and my hand moved to grasp my trident and skewer the arrogant fool once and for all!

Strangely enough, though, I wasn’t the only one who lost it. Ulfgar snatched his mace and clubbed Avner on the side of the head. Urol and Tavey screamed and stepped back. Avner cried in pain and surprise, and stepped away from Ulfgar, his hand clutching at his wounded head. Thunderstrike whinnied.

“Lowly ruffian!” he spat. “How dare you! I am a Meravanchi!!” He moved toward Lagaan and motioned to him. “You! Lagonn! Defend me against this brute.”
Lagaan smiled darkly. “At once, my Lord!” he answered enthusiastically.
But as he passed behind Avner, he violently struck his head with a sap. The noble fell to the ground, unconscious. Ulfgar moved toward him and raised his axe, but Sparkie shouted “Hey! Enough! We don’t want him dead!”

I moved close to Avner’s body. He was bleeding badly from his head wounds. Clearly, the nobleman would bleed to death very soon if I did not intervene. Meanwhile, Thunderstrike, which was tied up to a tree nearby, was whinnying madly.

“Don’t try anything funny, Belessa,” said Sparkie in a dangerous voice.
For a moment, our gazes met and clashed, my dark eyes into his azure ones.
“Step aside and let me do my job, Sparkie,” I snarled back threateningly.
He did, and saved me the trouble of having to punch him in the face.
I knelt next to Avner’s body, and called upon a simple healing prayer. It was enough to revive him, but he was still quite groggy.
Before he could fully recover, I drew a dagger and placed the blade against his throat.
“I’ve had just about enough of your insolence, you whiny, pitiful worm,” I growled. “You have no idea how hard my companions and I have had to work to save your worthless skin, time and again throughout this whole trip. And it’s a miracle that I managed to keep the ship afloat through the hurricane that hit us last night, so you should be thanking me for saving you and your stupid horse yet again. Now, apologize for insulting me, or I swear to Umberlee I will cut your throat right here and now!”
He glared at me in outrage, and did not speak up. I pressed the knife’s blade deeper into the flesh of his neck, drawing blood.
“APOLOGIZE!!!” I roared.
His eyes glazing with tears from the pain, he struggled to groan: “I apologize… captain… Belessa… for insulting… you. I humbly ask… for your forgiveness… Please… don’t… kill…me…”
I drew back my knife, and muttered another minor prayer of healing, sealing the wound.
I smiled humorlessly at him as I towered over his prone body, one knee on his chest. “Now, was that so hard?” I asked mockingly.
I stood up and looked around. Sparkie was glaring at me, clearly upset; Urol and Chochanika looked terrified; but Ulfgar, Lagaan, Tyria and Tavey were chuckling at Avner’s humiliation.
“For your punishment, we’re confiscating your wine,” teased Ulfgar.
“And consider this my resignation as your servant,” added Lagaan, and he spat in the noble’s face.
I watched Avner struggle to his feet, his face red with shame and rage.
“Now, I don’t want to hear a single complaint from you from now on. I hope I’m making myself clear. If I’m not, I’m warning you that I will feed that stupid horse of yours to my new pet,” I said, pointing to the gigantic dinosaur skeleton that stood just behind us.
Avner looked up sullenly at the monster, then back at me. His fists were shaking with impotent rage. He just nodded, and remained silent.

“What the hell happened here?” asked a rough voice behind us.
Raguhl had returned from his exploration.
“We were just clearing the air,” answered Lagaan with a smirk.
“Hmm,” grunted the lizardman. “Well, I found a good spot. It has rocks for shelter, and a small spring where we can drink and wash ourselves. We should go now. I saw Terror Bird tracks on the ground in this region, it’s not safe to stay here in the open. ”
As we gathered our things, I noticed that the barbarian’s eyes were scanning each of us, trying to understand what had happened between us and Avner. He looked wary. He approached Urol, and they spoke in hushed tones.

We reached the site that Raguhl had chosen for our camp. It was suitable. We prepared ourselves for the coming night, working mostly in silence. A heavy, awkward atmosphere hung over our group, after the incident that had occurred on the beach, which had only soured our mood that was already rotten due to our current predicament.

To fit this somber mood, we built a funeral pyre and burned the corpses of Skald, Katyri, and Quenge. May they forever sail on the Sea of the Dead.

During the evening, some of my companions, Ulfgar, Lagaan, Sparkie, Tyria and Tavey, cheered up and talked animatedly around the campfire as they drank some of Avner’s wine. Chochanika and I sat with them, but we were silent as stones. Raguhl and Urol stood a bit further away, still sulking, and Avner was of course sitting by himself, looking absolutely miserable.

After having assigned the watch orders, I excused myself and retreated to the cover of the jungle. Though it was dangerous to be away from the camp, I desperately needed some time alone. I’d grown more and more moody as the evening wore on. I heard Lagaan and Tyria joke around about how the Blue Nixie had been so much luckier than us, avoiding most of the terrible ordeals that we’d faced throughout the trip. Thankfully, neither of them turned to ask me why that was, since I was supposed to have shielded the Sea Wyvern from Umberlee’s wrath. But in truth, the effect had been exactly the opposite!

I am glad they did not ask any justification from me, for I could have provided none. I was wracking my own brain trying to make some sense of it all. I felt completely rejected by my goddess, once again, as if my very existence were some kind of joke to her.

I walked carefully among the tangled vegetation, and finally found a spot that was suitably far from the camp. I sat down against a tree trunk, and then it hit me like a ton of bricks. The stress of the previous night, and of its horrible conclusion, Avner’s accusations, the feeling of rejection, it all welled up from the bottom of my heart, and I started crying like I hadn’t cried in a very long time. I am not one of those weak, stupid girls who cry at every whim, but this time, the enormity of the situation was just too much even for me.

I wept and wept for a long time, on my knees, my fingers digging in the soft earth. “Why???” I kept asking within my mind, “why, mistress, have you forsaken me so??”

Almost has strong as the weight of the humiliation, of feeling I had led my own crew to perdition, that I had destroyed my beautiful ship, that I had failed my goddess yet again, was my worry for Moretta. Even if she had somehow survived the shipwreck, the poor young girl was ill-suited to survive in this harsh environment. I’d pictured her arriving safely in Farshore, and remaining there. I had never thought she’d get stuck so far away from it, in the midst of the terrible dinosaurs that dwell on this part of the island. I didn’t think I could bear the pain of finding her bloated, drowned corpse on the shore, or discovering that she’d been devoured by a terrible monster. All because of me, of my failure to keep our ship safe.

I thought of Lavinia, and how her ship had managed to stay free of most of the dangers during our trip. How blessed she was! It was not enough that she’d been born in wealth and luxury, with wonderful parents who loved her, no, on top of it, she was blessed by the gods, even my own Goddess favored her more than me. It was so unfair! Lavinia, with her soft hair, and her beautiful face, and her youth, and her pretty dresses, and her innocent expression. I hated her. I cursed her name in between sobs.

Suddenly, I heard some movement behind me, and I turned, grabbing my trident. A large reptilian monster loomed above me in the shadows. I almost stabbed it, but only at the last moment, I realized it was Raguhl!

“It’s just me!” he said. “What’s wrong, my friend, why are you crying like this?”
I glared at him, painfully aware of how wretched I must seem to him.
“Go back to the camp!” I hissed at him. “Leave me alone, you scaly dimwit, I don’t need you!”
He looked at me in silence for a few moments. In his eyes, I read… was it pity? Did this creature pity me??
“Don’t worry, Belessa. I’m sure Lavinia will come back and rescue us. We’ll be safe in a few days.”
That stupid beast thought I was scared?? Unbelievable!
“I said: LEAVE! ME! ALONE!”
He frowned, and looked like he was about to say something else, and then he turned and disappeared in the darkness.

It makes me so angry that this primitive beast has seen me in my moment of weakness. I hope he did not mention it to anyone else.

I dried my tears, and cleaned the dirt from my hands, knees and face with a handkerchief; then, I returned to the camp, where I found most of my companions thankfully asleep. Only Sparkie and Tyria were standing watch. Avoiding their gaze, I lay down in a corner and went to sleep…

- - - - -

And now, a few hours later, it is my turn to stand watch, with Ulfgar. I feel much more rested, and have regained all of my magical power. When the sun comes up, I will try to communicate with Moretta, to try to find out if she’s still alive.

Eleint 12th, 1375 – Looking for the captives

In the morning, I contacted Moretta through a Sending spell, giving her a rough location of our camp. She answered in an anxious voice, saying that she was tied up, and had been captured. Unfortunately, she couldn’t finish her sentence. She might’ve been hit by one of her captors. The fiends! But at least, my little acolyte was still alive. There was still hope.

Next, I tried to contact Amella, but she did not answer. I hoped she’d been captured as well, and was simply unconscious. Because of Tyria’s relentless pleas, I then contacted her brother Johan. He was also alive, but his answer came as a muffled sound. He was likely gagged, and he, too, had his answer brutally interrupted. He was probably in the same plight as Moretta.

Then, while the others were getting ready, I performed another powerful prayer. I called upon the wisdom of Umberlee in a Divination ritual. It is borderline sacrilegious to perform such a spell away from the shore line, in a jungle. Perhaps I am a fool to risk the wrath of my goddess in this way, but at that point, I was furious at her for the way she’d treated me the previous day. I figured that I’d at least show her that I wasn’t spineless.

The object of my ritual was simple: I asked my goddess why she’d sent this horrible storm to destroy my ship, while Lavinia’s had been spared of most major trouble during the entire trip.

Her answer came soon enough, and even here in the jungle, it sounded like the rush of the waves. I got a sense that I had just finished an arduous trial, that Umberlee had been testing me to see if I was powerful enough to resist one of her greatest storms. I sensed that she had some great things in store for one of her priestesses in the region, but that she needed to be sure that she was right in thinking that priestess was me.

She was pleased. Though my ship had crashed in the end, she never thought a mortal could last this long against that storm. By surviving the ordeal, I had proved myself to her.

A great sense of calm washed over me as the ritual ended. My Goddess was not angry with me; on the contrary, I was one of her Chosen. She had some great things in store for me.

My world made sense once again!

Shortly afterward, we started our journey through the jungle. We’d decided to try to reach the ruins that Ulfgar had seen the previous day, guessing that our captive crew was possibly being kept there. We didn’t have much hope, but it was our best chance.

The air in the jungle was heavy, oppressive, suffocating. Most of us all, Ulfgar, dressed in full plate armor, was suffering from the heat, so I cast an Endure Elements spell to relieve him, and I cast one on myself as well, for comfort. Tavey, Urol and Chochanika came with us, as well as Avner, who walked behind us all, holding Thunderstrike’s reins. Every now and then, he glanced uneasily at the massive skeletal dinosaur that walked beside us, its great bony feet flattening the undergrowth.

After several hours, we reached an enormous crater which was covered with vegetation. At its bottom, far below, several long-necked dinosaurs were eating grass. The crater must’ve been around 6 miles in diameter. I wonder what created it. We decided to go around it. Just a few minutes after that, we heard some sharp screeches coming from just a few dozen feet behind us.

“What was that??” asked Lagaan with a gasp.
Raguhl’s eyes narrowed, and he gripped his axe, moving into a defensive position. “Terror Birds. They’ve smelled our trail. Get ready for a tough fight!”

[Belessa Darkwave]

Eleint 12th, 1375 (continued) – Exploring an ancient ruin

The Terror Birds soon appeared out of the thick vegetation. They were large gray-feathered birds with huge beaks and tiny wings, and ran very fast on their powerful hind legs. Before we could do anything, they were upon us. There were three of them, and they attacked Tyria, Ulfgar and Raguhl, but thankfully, all three of my companions managed to dodge the monsters’ attacks.

I stood behind Ulfgar and Raguhl. I moved up to attack the one that had tried to bite Ulfgar. A moss-covered log was lying on the ground between us. I stabbed over it, and connected with the gray bird’s large body, penetrating it with my trident, and drawing blood. Meanwhile, my skeletal Tyrannosaurus, which I’d decided to call Penkus (in memory of one of Vanthus’s many victims), bit the bird that had attacked Tyria. Sparkillo moved into position and unleashed a powerful lightning bolt which shocked the bird I was fighting, as well as the one Raguhl had just hit with his axe. Ulfgar chopped off the head of the one that had just been wounded by Raguhl. Tyria, meanwhile, tried to charm the bird that had attacked her, but it resisted.

I was still facing a bird that was attacking me fiercely, trying to claw me and bite me. I blocked most of its attacks with my shield, but it managed to bite my shoulder. It was extremely painful, but thankfully, my chain shirt absorbed some of the damage. Behind me, I heard Tyria scream – she had just been bitten as well, and the large bird had grabbed her in its beak.

Lagaan shot two arrows at the bird that now held Tyria. One of them connected with the beast, but the other hit Tyria, who was already badly wounded. Clearly, Lagaan shows no regard for Tyria’s well-being.

I tried to kill the bird that was attacking me, but all I could do was to avoid more painful bites, and I did not get the opportunity to give it another wound. I heard some screams to my left, and noticed from the corner of my eye that another bird had circled us and attacked from behind. It had grabbed young Tavey in its beak, and was starting to run away with him! Then, a sickening bone-crunching sound erupted from somewhere behind me: Penkus had just snapped its opponent’s body in its jaws!

Chochanika was looking at the combat with wide, fearful eyes. We later noticed that in the heat of the action, her hands had transformed into some strange, monstrous claws! She summoned a ball of lightning, and threw it at the bird that was fleeing with Tavey, but she missed it, as it was moving too fast. Next to her, Sparkie cast another incantation, and Tavey’s captor was hit by two scorching rays, but it survived and kept on fleeing. A loud blast then erupted just in front of me: Tyria had just stunned my opponent with a Sound Burst. Ulfgar jumped on the log that separated me and the bird, and chopped off its head with a roar. The beast fell near a pool of mud, and Ulfgar kicked it in.

Only Tavey’s bird remained, and it was fleeing very fast through the woods, too fast for even Raguhl to catch up. Lagaan’s arrows missed it. I cast a Sleet Storm spell around it to slow it down and give our warriors a chance to catch up to it. But that proved unnecessary: Sparkie slew it with a volley of Magic Missiles.

We rushed to the edge of the storm, and once it abated, we found Tavey huddled up in a little ball, next to the enormous bird’s corpse. His skin and hair were covered with frost, and he was shivering. I moved up to him, and brought him to his feet.

“T-t-t-thank you, c-c-captain B-belessa!” he stammered.
“You are quite welcome, little Tavey.” I turned him toward Lagaan and addressed the rogue: “I believe this is yours…” I did not want to keep Lagaan away from his little boyfriend any longer than was necessary.

We then discussed Chochanika’s strange claws. Sparkie thought they looked similar to the claws of some undead creature, but Tyria believed that they looked more like dragon’s claws. I feel the little bard is right: Chochanika did mention that she was related to Dragons. However, she is very mysterious about her past, and refuses to share much with us. She is clearly ashamed of her nature.

Tyria then healed herself and Tavey, and I drank one of my healing potions, not wanting to use any of my remaining magic, as I was quite weary already.

As should be expected, Avner had fled the scene of battle on Thunderstrike’s back. He returned after a few minutes, once he realized that the threat of the Terror Birds had been eliminated. We sneered at him, but Raguhl showed more patience than most of us, and told him that he needed to be more careful.

“The Island of Dread is a dangerous place, Avner. You can’t just ride off into the jungle like that. You can trust us to keep you safe.” He looked at me. “Well, most of us.” He then looked at Ulfgar. “Well, some of us.“ He then looked at Lagaan and Tyria. “Well, actually, just stay close to me, I’ll watch over you.”

Since it was around lunch time, we decide to sample the Terror Bird’s flesh around a small camp fire. As expected… it tasted like chicken.

Once we were done, we continued our journey. At some point, we passed by a diplodocus that Sparkie tried to charm, but the beast resisted. The skinny elf kept whining like a spoiled child about having to walk in the thick undergrowth, in the tropical heat. Eventually, I allowed him to ride on Penkus’s back, just to shut him up. It’s strange, he’s over a hundred years old, he’s way older than any of us, but he’s truly the most childish. Even Lagaan, that snot-nosed brat, seems more mature most of the time.

Eventually, we reached the old ruins that Ulfgar had seen. They were obviously of Olman origin, and reminded me of Tomoachan. The place must’ve once been a big city. We approach the vine-covered buildings, and soon discovered that many of them were also draped with spider webs. All around us, we could see disgusting, fist-sized spiders skittering on the ground and on the walls. A shiver ran down my back. Though the things did not look hostile, I had no desire to be close to them. And who knew, they might be poisonous.

From the outskirts of the ruined city, we saw that, just like in Tomoachan, a large pyramid stood in its center. On top of the construction, we thought we could see a throne with a silhouette sitting on it. Intrigued, we felt like investigating it, but we feared that the ruins could be very dangerous. Urol and I told the rest of the group about the Aranea, those vile spider-like creatures that are gifted with human-like intelligence, and mysterious magical powers. I still remember the passage from Larissa Vanderboren’s journal, where she described how her little guide perished in the monsters’ clutches. I had no desire to suffer such a fate, nor did I wish to lose any of my companions to those dangers.

Sparkie then had a good idea: he cast a Fly spell on Penkus, and he and I climbed on its back, and led it toward the top of the pyramid.

I have to say that it was quite an experience to ride a flying skeletal tyrannosaurus over the web-covered city. The ruins sprawled below us, and we wondered what secrets they were hiding…

Our mount brought us to the top of the pyramid, and we saw that it was a living person that was sitting on the ancient stone throne. She was a bent old crone, whose wrinkled skin looked like an old leather glove. Wild, dirty gray hair surrounded her ugly face, and she regarded us with dark eyes. We tried to speak with her, but she only replied in a foreign language that I recognized as Olman. She seemed to understand none of the languages that Sparkillo and I speak: Common, Elvish, Abyssal, Orcish, Draconic and Celestial. Eventually, I cast a Tongues spell on myself to overcome that problem.

I understood what she was saying at the time: “An old lady like myself doesn’t understand all those languages from places I’ve never been to.”
“It’s fine now, we can talk,” I assured her.
“Oh, well, why didn’t you do so in the first place, travelers?” she asked.
“We wanted to see if you spoke any of the languages we normally speak, without using magic.”
“You actually speak in this guttural tongue all the time??” she asked, her eyes wide with surprise. “Hmm, people of the outside world are so impressive. It’s the first time I’ve met anyone like you, though I’ve heard about your kind, coming over the great sea.”
“What are you doing in this ruined city, old one?” I asked.
“This is my place… My name is Lithira.”
After introducing myself and Sparkie, I asked: “Are there others that live here?”
“No… I live alone… All by myself.”
“But why?”
“Hmm… It’s a long story,” she replied. “And I’m interested in your story rather than mine.”
“We are looking for some people that have been captured. And I fear that perhaps they have been taken by the dreaded Aranea.”
“Hmmm…” said the crone. I saw a glint of interest in her dark eyes, when I mentioned the creatures. “Oh, I can assure you that the Aranea are not in this part of the island. They live on the western side.”
“Then what created all these spider webs out there, just regular spiders?”
“Yes, they are spiders. And I am their queen. I am the queen of these ruins.”
“You are the queen of the spiders?” I asked, trying to hide my amusement at her bold title. I wondered if perhaps the old woman was a slight bit insane. If she wasn’t, and she really could control so many spiders, we needed to be very careful not to anger her. “Do you know anything about some foreigners who were on our ship, who have been captured?”
“No, I know nothing of this, although I felt your arrival. It… It… It brought visions. Yes, yes… Visions. You”, she pointed at me, “and your friends over there,” she pointed back to where the rest of Trouble was waiting, “you are Trouble for the island.” I chuckled at her choice of words, and Sparkie looked at me with a puzzled look. The poor wizard was completely unaware of what we were discussing.
“You bring change,” she continued, “This is good. I see ripples caused by your arrival. It brings uncertainty on the island, it changes things. Potentials… Future… Aye, it changes many things. But be careful, for you’ve caught the attention of others that can also feel such things.”
Sparkillo began tapping my shoulder. I turned to face him, and he asked me: “Ask her if she has any cool weapons! Magic ones!”
Ignoring him, I turned back to the old woman. “So, do you see our arrival on a positive note?” I asked.
“Ahhh… Me, I’ve seen ages pass me by. I’ve seen many things, let’s just say that this island has always been dangerous, but now it’s becoming even more and more dangerous. Some dark power awakens from the past, and lurks in dark places. And your arrival seems somewhat linked to this power. But I have trouble seeing… If you came closer, maybe I could feel more.”
Our mount was still hovering at a good distance from the mysterious crone, since we were still wary of her. I was intrigued by what she was telling us, but at the moment, I had more pressing matters on my mind.
“Lithira,” I asked, “can you help us find the prisoners?”
“Ah, yes, the prisoners. They are nothing. They didn’t create any ripples. You… Some of you, I think. Maybe yourself. I feel something about you. Visions… Yes… Something about a higher power that is proud of you, and another, that is envious of you… Hmmm… It seeks to get a hold of you.”
“Really?” I asked. She certainly held my interest. What might that other power be?
“Yes. There are two powers that I feel want you for their own. Ah, I don’t know what it means.”

Sparkillo, that imbecile, chose that very moment to interrupt the wise woman with a loud statement of: “Boooooring!!!”
I turned toward him, and he asked me again about those stupid magical weapons. I rolled my eyes, and turned back to the old woman.
“You seem very wise,” I told her.
“Beware of the Queen, and the Queen,” she said enigmatically. “Bah, I don’t know what it all means! Tell me about the land you come from, that interests me!”
I shrugged. “We come from the Chult Peninsula, and…”
“Belessa, we’ve only got a few minutes left on the fly spell” said Sparkillo.
“I know, Sparkie!!” I snapped at him. “Stop interrupting me!”
“No, but, why don’t we invite her over to our place, so that everyone can say hi to her?”
“Oh, wise Lithira, would you accept to come on this flying beast to come and meet the rest of our group?”
“I am but an old woman,” she replied. “You should come to the Queen, the Queen shouldn’t have to come to you.”
She had a point.
“Go, fetch your friends, and bring them back. I’m sure they have many tales to tell me. I’ve waited ages to meet people like you.”
“Will they be in danger here?” I asked her.
“No, this place is safe,” she assured me. I thought she was telling the truth.
Just as we were getting ready to leave, she pointed to Sparkie and said: “Your friend there, has crossed a great ocean, and shall cross again, into a mysterious land.”
Sparkie looked very proud of being pointed at, and did a little prestidigitation trick to appear clever.
“Yes, yes, he likes magic,” she added.
“Yes,” I agreed, “he likes magic almost as much as he likes himself. We shall return soon, wise one.”

We returned to where the rest of the group had been waiting, and we told them about Lithira and what she’d said. As we walked together toward the central pyramid, Chochanika told me that ruins similar in nature to these existed on Renkrue. The mysterious circle of stones was considered a holy place by her people. Tyria asked her for more information, but the dark-skinned woman hesitated and remained quiet: she clearly seemed wary of revealing more about herself. I might’ve pressed the issue, but honestly, I had more important things on my mind than the origin of the primitive woman.

We left Penkus and Thunderstrike at the base of the pyramid, and climbed up. Spiders were still moving here and there on the surface of the ancient building. Eventually, we all approached Lithira’s throne, and bowed to her. With her permission, I cast a Tongues spell on her to allow her to converse with the whole group, and I introduced all of my companions.

“So much destiny in one place,” she said, looking at all of us. “So much potential. I haven’t met people like you in ages. I am honored.“
“We are also honored to meet you, oh queen,” I assured her.
Meanwhile, Sparkillo was looking around, with a Detect Magic spell activated. He found an altar behind her throne, and a stone trap door, and he later told us that he’d felt an aura of Transmutation around Lithira…
“Queen, you have a great aura of magic about you,” said Sparkie.
“Yes, I know some sorcery myself,” she replied. “Though I don’t know the spell that makes me speak many languages like the one Belessa just cast on me.”
“Yes, but what is this great magical aura that surrounds you?” the elf asked again.
The crone smiled. “My, you are a curious one. You ask a lot of questions.”
Sparkie smiled back.
“Few answers do I have,” continued the old woman, but many more questions do I have for you. Tell me more about the place you come from, it seems so far away, you’ve traveled for a long time to get here.”
My companions nodded, and Lagaan said: “Yes, for three months.”
And I added: “And throughout this entire trip, we’ve had to endure this… vermin of a man.” I pointed at Avner. “This cowardly, stupid, arrogant…”
“I resent that!” protested Avner, who had by then recovered some of his usual pride.
We all burst out laughing, and soon after, I told Lithira the tale of our journey.

Once I was done, Sparkie questioned the old woman about the trap door behind her throne.
“Ah yes, the curious one asks again. This leads into darkness. Darkness that hasn’t been visited in centuries.”
“Would there be cool things in the darkness?” enquired Sparkie.
“Actually, I feel there is something for you down there. You like to travel, and have traveled across the great ocean. You will find something of great use down there.”
“This old woman speaks words of wisdom,” said the wizard, “let us explore this dungeon!”

The crone smiled, and turned to Tyria. “I sense something in you also, little one. I’ve never met someone as small as you who wasn’t a child.”
“I’m obviously not,” replied the halfling with a giggle.
“You too will travel,” continued the old woman, holding the small woman in her dark gaze. “You will travel to a mysterious land. To the strange empire of the middle, in a few months’ time.”

Then, she turned to Lagaan. “You. I feel… death… is hanging over you.”
Lagaan grinned defiantly at the grim statement, and I chuckled contentedly. He turned toward me, and I winked at him.
“Someone wants you dead,” continued Lithira, “and sent you on an errand that should’ve brought you death, but didn’t.”
“Yeah, I know,” replied Lagaan in a matter-of-fact tone. “He’ll pay for that.”

“You,” she then pointed at Raguhl, “you too have a destiny. Your people… I see something… they want you… whatever that means. Oh, and you,” she turned toward Ulfgar, “I see dark places you don’t want to see, places under the earth which hide the secret. Yes… The secret is being cultivated below, where you don’t want to go.”

Then, she looked at Avner. “Oh, and you… You, I see… It’s hard to tell. I see death…” Everyone laughed again. “I see… pain, pain… wracking pain… and pain again.”
Avner was sweating. “No, of course not. You’re reading my horse… Which I left down there with the T-Rex… I’m going to go watch it!” and he hastily climbed down the side of the pyramid.

To Urol, she said: “You will lead these great souls. They need your guidance to reach some of the places on this island that you’ve been to. But be careful, for your own demise may await you.”

“You, little one,” she said to Tavey, “you have two roads ahead of you, the road of the farmer, and that of the thief.”
“Rogue…” corrected Lagaan.
“Whatever path you choose, I see that you will live to grow old,” continued Lithira.

“Great queen,” asked Tyria, “what are you the queen of?”
“Me? I am the queen of something that is long dead. An old city…” and she mumbled other things I didn’t catch.
Sparkie was studying Lithira intently. He seemed to want to understand what she truly was.
“Was it a city of humans?” asked the halfling.
“Yes,” replied Lithira.
“How have you survived here, all alone?” I asked her.
“My sorcery kept me alive,” she answered.
“But all of your people are now dead, and yet here you still are.”
“No, I didn’t say that. I never had a people. I came here when this place was already dead, I just claimed it for my own.”
“Where did you come from?”
“From the west…” she answered.

Eventually, we managed to get some answers from her regarding the whereabouts of our captured crew. They’d apparently been captured by the gargoyles of the mountains.

Then, Sparkie asked Lithira again about that stupid dungeon under the pyramid. I tried to explain to him yet again that there was no time for that right now: we needed to rescue the prisoners. Damnation, that stupid elf is so stubborn sometimes! He’s always so self-righteous about caring for others, giving them our money, not sacrificing them, and NOW that someone worthwhile was in danger, he didn’t seem at all concerned!

Clearly, he cared more about his stupid, short, bald Father Feres than about Moretta. Why, why, why, that simply doesn’t make any sense!

Finally, Sparkie agreed that we needed to focus on the prisoners first. I took a deep breath, and I realized that perhaps I’d let my feelings take control of me too much. I think I shouted at him. Lagaan looked at me with amused eyes, and I heard him whisper something to Tyria, and they both chuckled. Idiots!

I promised Sparkillo that we’d come back to this place later on, both to get more information from Lithira, and to explore the pyramid’s interior.

We asked permission to spend the night in Lithira’s city, and she agreed, as long as we were willing to talk to her for another hour about where we came from.

Once Tyria and I were done with our tale, Lithira then gave us directions to a building that wasn’t as infested by spiders, where we would be able to rest for the night. Though the fear of an ambush was present at the back of my mind, I felt that she had no desire to attack us. We rested in the ruin for the night, taking shifts to stand watch, just in case. The old ruin was dusty and unpleasant to stay in, but thankfully, there were very few spiders there. Sparkie brought Chochanika inside a Rope Trick hole, and stayed there with her for the night. Lagaan, that dirty little pervert, managed to find the opening and spy on them for a few moments. I wonder how he did it? I thought Sparkie controlled the entrance to his little dimension… Strange…

Eleint 13th, 1375 – Against the gargoyles

After we’d eaten our breakfast in the morning, Lithira came to visit us. She walked slowly, stooped with age as she was, and used a staff to keep her balance. Now that I know her true nature, I suspect that this was all an act…

“Thank you for the tales you’ve told me yesterday. The world beyond the sea seems truly wonderful. I would very much like to visit it one day. As for your journey, there is little I can do to aid you. But you should know that unnatural things lurk in dark places of the island. Be wary. I know that Four-Eyes have gazed upon you, and their servants seek you out. You would do well to avoid them.”

Before we could ask her what these “Four-Eyes” were, she bid us a good journey, turned around, and changed into a large, hideous white spider, and she scurried away!

We all looked at each other, and a shiver went down my spine…

She’d said she came from the west… And she’d also said that the Aranea lived in the west. Was she then an outcast, banished from the realm of those hideous creatures?

We left soon after that, and spent another day walking in the jungle. Throughout the day, we heard the sounds of some local predators around us, though none of them dared to attack us, perhaps afraid of the enormous skeleton walking among us. At some point, we stumbled into a clearing in which was a nest of Terror Birds. The mother was enormous, and screeched at us threateningly. We slowly backed away from the place, and she did not follow us; we continued on our way.

Finally, we reached the foot of the mountains. We were quite tired from our trek, and started looking for a place to camp. Once we had settled in the spot that Raguhl had chosen, I contacted Moretta by magic, and told her that we were on our way. She answered that indeed, they had been captured by gargoyles, and that Lorik, the mason, had already been eaten. Apparently, Johan, Tyria’s brother was next.

Of course, when I told that to Tyria, the little girl went into a panic.
“We have to go immediately!!” she said in her shrill voice.
Though we were all very tired from the trip through the jungle, several of my companions, especially Sparkie and Lagaan, agreed with her, that we should make haste and climb up the mountain side during the night.
I looked at them and thought about it. My legs were killing me. I winced as I contemplated the many long hours that we would need to climb the mountain. But then I thought of the poor helpless Moretta, and I was forced to agree with the rest of the group: we could not afford to wait.

I did take the time, though, to cast two more Sending spells as my companions continued their brief rest. First, I contacted Lavinia and told her that we were traveling in the mountains to rescue the prisoners. She answered that the Jade Ravens had left Farshore the previous day. I then contacted Tolin, to inform him that we might not be at the agreed location when they got there, since we had to venture into the mountains. He gave me what felt like a rudely brief acknowledgement. Clearly, he did not seem happy about his most recent assignment, to come to our rescue. I find this strange, since he’s always complaining that we’re stealing the show. Now was his chance to rescue us. That buffoon just doesn’t make any sense to me.

Avner looked more exhausted than any of us, and fearful of going up the mountain. He said he’d wait here, at the bottom. I had to leave Penkus with him, because the great beast would not have been able to navigate the narrow trail that we’d found, leading up toward the summit.

The rest of us, meaning, the six members of Trouble, plus Urol, Tavey and Chochanika, started climbing up the path just as darkness fell on the side of the mountain. Raguhl and I brandished our weapons, which have a Continual Flame spell cast on them, and Tyria cast some more Light spells on other people’s weapons to allow them to see where they were going.

We moved slowly, as we were weary. I felt uneasy, fearing that we made ridiculously easy targets for the gargoyles, climbing the side of their mountain lair with bright lights in the night. Surely, they’d seen us coming from very far away. So it should not have come as a surprise when we fell into an ambush, but still, all of us except Lagaan were taken unaware by their attack. Six of the monsters were waiting for us, perched on some ledges above the narrow path. They swooped down on us from out of the darkness.

Ulfgar and Lagaan had been walking in front of the group, and I was behind them with Tavey. Urol and Tyria were walking behind me, and then came Sparkie and his wife, and finally, Raguhl had been guarding the rear. Two large silhouettes dove down toward Ulfgar and Lagaan, and I heard some more attacking the people behind me. Lagaan cried out in pain, having been clawed by one of the monsters. Once I got a closer look at them, under the lights of our weapons, I saw that they were unlike any gargoyle I’ve ever seen. They looked more like living, winged Olman statues, than like the demonic creatures of stone I’m familiar with. Their bodies were covered with Olman runes and their eyes were purely black.

Behind me, I saw a gargoyle land right next to Urol, and try to push him over the edge of the path, but thankfully, it missed the little gnome. Further, two more gargoyles tried to push Chochanika and Raguhl off the edge, but they also failed.

Tyria started to sing and grazed Urol’s attacker with her small rapier. I saw flashes of fire coming from Sparkie’s direction, but they both missed their target. A mighty roar came from the back of the group, as Raguhl entered one of his terrible rages; I heard the sound of metal breaking stone, and knew that his axe must’ve buried itself deep within a gargoyle’s body.

Around me, the combat was raging fiercely. Urol’s opponent tried to attack him, but the gnome was parrying wildly, yet efficiently, with his staff. A gargoyle landed next to me and tried to push Ulfgar off the edge, but again, it failed. A praise to Umberlee that none of us were pushed down, because we would not have survived the fall. I stabbed that gargoyle with my trident, but suddenly, another one flew down and tried to push me off the edge. However, its attempt was poorly executed, and it impaled itself against my trident. We struggled for a moment as it tried to push me, but I proved too strong for it, and pushed it back! I suddenly saw the tip of Lagaan’s rapier pierce its throat, and the creature died with a sickening gurgle of agony.

The sound of Sparkie’s cries of pain pierced the air, and I knew that he’d been wounded by one of the monsters. To my left, Ulfgar battered one of his foes with his axe. To my right, Urol was still parrying his opponent’s attacks, and behind the gargoyle, Tyria cast a spell at it, but it had no visible effect. Another blast of fire coming from Sparkillo illuminated the scene of battle, and this time, I noticed that his foe got critically pierced by the inferno of his mighty spell. The gargoyle turned into a statue, frozen in death, with a melted hole in the center of its chest.

Next to him, Raguhl was just as efficient, chopping off both arms and the head of the gargoyle that was facing him. To my left, Ulfgar and Lagaan got wounded by their enemies, who were still alive. I moved to help Urol, but my trident bounced off the gargoyle’s hard skin. The creature turned away from Urol and attacked Tyria, wounding her shoulder with a claw. To my left, Lagaan and Tavey also attacked that same monster together, using a similar technique. Lagaan’s rapier connected with the creature’s back, wounding it, but Tavey’s knife bounced off harmlessly. Strange, although he lacked skill and finesse, the boy looked like Lagaan’s little brother… or apprentice? I wonder if perhaps Lagaan has taught him some tricks of his trade while we were all aboard the Sea Wyvern…

Behind them, Ulfgar smashed his axe into the chest of a gargoyle, slaying it, and cleaved through the body, hitting the other gargoyle next to it. Tyria tried a spell on her opponent, but it failed again, and then Raguhl appeared by her side, his massive jaw wide open in a roar, and he crushed the gargoyle’s ribcage with a powerful blow, killing it.

Only one monster remained, and it fled away into the night before we could stop it. Indeed, we had proved much too powerful for the mountain creatures, even though they’d had the advantage of the surprise!

After healing the wounded, we examined the bodies of our enemies. Tyria and Urol read the runes on the corpses with great interest. According to the druid, they marked the gargoyles as belonging to one of the powerful noble houses of the Olman Empire. But the empire fell centuries ago, and gargoyles are not fabricated monsters like golems. Despite their stony appearance, they reproduce just like regular beings. Because of this, the presence of the runes was very enigmatic. Why were the monsters marked with them? Perhaps they belonged to one of the families of the Olman aristocracy, but did that mean that the descendants of such a family still live here, on the Island of Dread? Have they survived the fall of their ancient civilization? I have heard that one of the centers of the Olman empire was once located here. Could part of the empire have remained in existence?

After a short break, we continued our climb in the darkness. My legs felt heavy as lead, yet extremely sensitive. My feet were killing me. I put one ahead of the other mechanically, stubbornly, refusing to give in to the fatigue that threatened to overcome me. Around me, I saw that the rest of my group was feeling just as tired, if not more.

Eventually, we reached the end of the path, where a crude elevator was built. We suspected a trap, and Sparkie used his spell of Levitation to raise the wooden platform up to the higher level of the path. That proved to be a good thing, because as soon as the huge Raguhl stepped on the platform, the ropes holding it snapped and the platform would have plummeted hundreds of feet below if not for the support of Sparkie’s spell.

Another grueling hour of walking up the path followed. It was clear that this trail along the side of the mountain was not a natural formation. Here and there, some steps were even carved into the mountain to facilitate the ascension. Could they have been built by the masters of the gargoyles? Surely the winged creatures themselves would have no need of such a path.

A loud noise woke us all up from our reverie, as Ulfgar, who had been walking at the front of the group, triggered a landslide at a weakened section of the path, and tumbled down the side of the cliff. Thankfully, Sparkie was quick enough to cast a Web spell to hold him to the wall. We then sent Lagaan to painfully extract him out of the web, and we lifted the armored dwarf back to the path with a rope.

Fantastic. Now my legs weren’t the only parts of my body that were tired; my arms, shoulders and back were also killing me… At least, I was thankful to be wearing only a light chain shirt, rather than the full plate armor I’d considered buying before the start of the trip. What a nightmare it would’ve been, to walk around on the island wearing such armor. I don’t know how Ulfgar does it!

Eleint 14th, 1375 – Freeing the prisoners

As the sun was starting to rise ahead of us, we reached a fog-covered valley high up in the mountain. Before us, an ancient but sturdy-looking stone bridge crossed a deep chasm and led to an old ruined tower, squat and short, perhaps only twenty feet high. Clearly, its inhabitants had been expecting our arrival: we saw the shapes of several gargoyles perched on the battlements. When we approached the bridge, the largest of them addressed us in a deep, grating voice. Tyria translated for the rest of us: it said we would all die here.

To make good on its promise, it flew off toward us, followed by the rest of the creatures. There were about six in all. The leader was roaring furiously, somewhat like Raguhl when he gets very angry. Lagaan shot an arrow at it and taunted it foolishly, causing the massive gargoyle to head straight for him. Some of them threw spears at us, but we avoided them. Preparing ourselves for the battle, I cast a Shield of Faith spell on Ulfgar, and Tyria cast a Cat’s Grace spell on Lagaan. Sparkie muttered an incantation, and started to fly above us.

As the largest gargoyle was approaching him, Lagaan shot it with two more arrows. I noticed that the arrows didn’t seem to penetrate very deeply in the monster’s resilient skin. The creature dove toward the obnoxious rogue and bit him in the shoulder. I hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to cast a Shield of Faith on Lagaan, although the heretic is surely unworthy of my goddess’s blessing.

Meanwhile, our companions were giving the gargoyles hell. Sparkie cast a Fireball spell which hit several of them, and Raguhl and Ulfgar killed one in unison. Tyria, who was again singing a bolstering song, shot arrows at another creature.

Lagaan was in deep trouble, shooting his little bow at the huge gargoyle at point blank range. One of his arrows penetrated the creature’s stony hide, and Lagaan ducked the creature’s claw as it struck in retaliation. But then, a dark aura surrounded the great monster, and it savagely tore Lagaan’s flesh. The youngster screamed in pain and almost dropped his bow. His blood splattered against the monster’s massive chest.

Ah, good times!

As the little thief was struggling to free himself from the monster’s vice-like grip, Sparkie shot two scorching rays, one of which hit another gargoyle, and one which was aimed at the leader, but which missed its mark. Raguhl, however, entered a state of rage, and slammed his axe in the gargoyle chief’s back.

Pandemonium was all around us. I heard Ulfgar cheer as he struck a gargoyle on the bridge. Raguhl roared in anger as a gargoyle clawed him from behind. I saw two of Tyria’s arrows fly true and lodge themselves into a gargoyle standing on the bridge, shooting spears.

I grasped my necklace of prayer beads, murmured a prayer to Umberlee, and lay a healing hand on Lagaan, closing some of his wounds. The thief tumbled away from the gargoyle chief, and grabbed a potion that was hanging from his belt. He quickly drank it, and more of his wounds closed by magic.

Meanwhile, Sparkie cast two more bolts of fire at the gargoyle, and both hit it squarely. Roaring madly, the monster continued its attacks on Lagaan, but thanks to Umberlee’s protection, and the added agility granted by Tyria’s spell, the thief dodged everything and stayed alive. I stepped back away from the creature’s fury, and saw that Raguhl had followed it, and was striking its back with powerful blows. Eventually, a great cracking sound erupted, and the massive gargoyle toppled forward, felled by the lizardman.

Just a moment after that, Ulfgar, who was still at the edge of the bridge, fighting two gargoyles, smashed his axe through the chest of one of them, and cleaved into its comrade, slaying both of them with one mighty blow. Raguhl and Ulfgar both raised their axes to the sky and roared victoriously.

The last remaining gargoyle fled into the valley below, screeching in terror.

After healing the wounded, we crossed the bridge and reached the locked door that led inside the tower. Sparkie opened it by magic, and we found ourselves in a dark dungeon. We took some stairs leading down, and at the second underground level, we finally found them: the prisoners!

Moretta, Johan, Scorin, Stragdar and Churtle were tied up against the left wall. They looked bruised, but not seriously injured. They all watched us with hopeful eyes.

But our attention was drawn to the wounded gargoyle that stood in the center of the room. Clearly, it was the one that had fled from the ambush on the mountain path: we recognized the wounds we’d caused it. It held the weakly struggling form of Amella, who was tied up like the others. The small woman was badly battered, covered in bruises and dried blood. She seemed to have been beaten much worse than the others. Surely her sharp tongue had brought this trouble upon her, I thought.

The gargoyle seemed to be in a state of panic, and was holding a crude knife to my first mate’s throat. It croaked a frantic warning in Olman. Tyria replied something, and tried to negotiate with it. After a few moments, a blast of energy killed the creature, and Sparkie appeared behind it. He had turned invisible and killed it by surprise! Well played!

We hurried to liberate the prisoners.

“Oh, Belessa, I knew you’d come for me!” cried Moretta after I cut her bonds. I hugged her tight against me, and she cried on my shoulder. I smoothed her hair and comforted her.
“You’re safe, now, my little darling, you’ll be fine from now on, I promise.”

Meanwhile, the others cut the ropes around the rest of the prisoners. They thanked us profusely for saving their lives (again). We learned that they’d all been captured by the gargoyles, but that, thankfully, only Lorik had gotten devoured. A quick headcount then revealed that three people were still left unaccounted for: Brissa, Kregar (the dwarf mercenary who worked for Vanthus) and Glantri (the dwarven midwife). I couldn’t care less about the two midgets, but it would be a real shame if Brissa had already joined my goddess in the Sea of the Dead, or if some overgrown lizard on the island had devoured her. I would miss her dark intensity, her passion, and her beautiful paintings.

After we were done healing the prisoners, Tyria caught my attention and drew me to the side. Sparkie and Lagaan were also there with us.
“What is it, Tyria?” I asked.
“Well,” she said, “it’s just that the gargoyle said something strange before it died. While I was negotiating with it, it said that in exchange for its life, it would let us have all the prisoners, ‘even that one’, it said, and it pointed at Scorin.”
Hmm… I did remember that the creature had pointed at Scorin during the conversation. Scorin… Something had always seemed strange about the mysterious recluse. And according to Moretta, he hadn’t used any of the druidic powers he professed having during the battle against the children of Journey’s End. We wondered what sinister secret could be linked to this individual, and we agreed to confront him together.
“Yes,” added Sparkie, “and on top of that, I can detect a noticeable aura of Transmutation about him right now…”
Odd, I had scanned him with a Detect Magic spell before, back on the Sea Wyvern, and he hadn’t registered as magical. Perhaps his captivity had caused one of his protective spells to expire, a spell designed to shield him from magical sight?

We informed the two warriors of our suspicions, and they got ready for trouble. Tyria tried to dispel Scorin’s spell, but failed. Sparkie then tried, and succeeded.

Much to our surprise, Scorin transformed in front of our eyes. He grew, and grew, until he became a massive pale-skinned ogre with vicious eyes and a shaggy beard. He looked down at his now massive arms that ended in powerful claws. Then, he turned toward us, and spoke in a rumbling voice: “You meddling scum, why did you have to do that?? Now I have to kill you!”

And he lunged forward to attack!

[Guy Humual]

Great work as usual. Good to see some humanity from Belessa. I like my villains and anti heroes to have some redeeming qualities, the crisis of faith (which I think every good cleric character should have at some point in the carriers) was great, but it's the ability to care for someone other then herself and her goddess that makes a flawed and damaged character like Belessa compelling.

You should also tell your DM that I really like the direction that he/she is taking this particular adventure. I'm curious to see how certain elements are going to unfold. I'm not sure if he/she has read my journal but some of the problems I had with this adventure (and talked about in my journal) have been addressed in this storyline and I really have to give some high marks so far.

[Moonbeam]

Guy Humual wrote:

Great work as usual. Good to see some humanity from Belessa. I like my villains and anti heroes to have some redeeming qualities, the crisis of faith (which I think every good cleric character should have at some point in the carriers) was great, but it's the ability to care for someone other then herself and her goddess that makes a flawed and damaged character like Belessa compelling.

You should also tell your DM that I really like the direction that he/she is taking this particular adventure. I'm curious to see how certain elements are going to unfold. I'm not sure if he/she has read my journal but some of the problems I had with this adventure (and talked about in my journal) have been addressed in this storyline and I really have to give some high marks so far.

Thanks a lot. :)

During and right after the game where our ship crashed on the reefs, I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to write Belessa's reaction in her journal. How would she react to what seemed like a betrayal from Umberlee?

Then, by talking to Lithira, it seems that another power might want Belessa as a priestess. Will Belessa remain faithful to Umberlee until the end? Maybe not... hehe. :)

Yeah, I think our DM had to rework the adventure a lot, because as soon as we recovered from the shipwreck, I communicated with Lavinia by magic, and we're just going to wait to get rescued. I believe in the regular adventure, we're supposed to return to Farshore on foot.

Without giving spoilers, are you able to tell me how it went in your campaign? Did you guys not have access to magic that allowed you to bypass the long and painful journey, or did your DM kind of convince/prevent you from using them to be able to play out the journey through the jungle?

(Btw, as you see I stole your idea of posting in-character text as Belessa and my out of character comments under Moonbeam. :) )