Rilani Astin's page

21st of Gozran, 4712
Over a year. It has been over a year since I've felt the thrill of combat and the exultation of victory. But, had I not secured my line of succesion, this fledgling nation might not have survived the turmoil wrought by the power struggle to fill my position had I met an untimely death in combat. With the birth of my son William last month, and Elizabeth still healthy after celebrating her first birthday earlier this year, I feel it is now time to return to the field. The reports Ganon has been sending me, though informative, are a poor substitute for actually participating in the conflicts and negotiations. I look forward to riding into the fray.

8th of Sarenith, 4710
The exploration of these new lands continues with expediency. Northeast of the castle we discovered a poor, disembodied soul that seemed to rise right out of the water. Surprisingly, he asked for the body of the Staglord. We headed back to Kamelot to retrieve his remains, which at this point was just his skull. After returning to the river with the poor soul, we threw the Staglord's head in. This apparently put the soul to rest and he left behind a weapon.

12th of Sarenith, 4710
We returned to the castle and explored the lands south of it. There seemed to come a point today, when the weather shifted suddenly for the worse. Dark clouds hung in the sky threatening with rain. It can not be natural.

13th of Sarenith, 4710
We heard some crying coming from a hole in the ground. Turns out there was a leprechaun in the bottom of it. He told us about how he was tricked by a gnomish lady who masqueraded as a leprechaun and stole his pot of gold. Fischer gave him some whiskey, which cheered him up temporarily, and he hopped onto Fischer's back. The leprechaun claimed the lady gnome headed off to a pool, but when we followed his directions to the pool, we found no remains of gnome or gold. So we decided to keep exploring the area, and maybe we'd come across it.

17th of Sarenith, 4710
We continue to explore in a westward direction. When we came to the beach of Lake Candelmere, and crossed the river, the leprechaun instantly perked up. It appears he picked up the scent of his gold. We followed his directions south for a bit, and found a Hill Giant cooking what appeared to be some people in a cauldron. Strewn about the area were several gold coins. We managed to kill the giant without much difficulty, and afterwards the leprechaun snapped his fingers and the cauldron was gone, along with all the gold pieces on the ground. He slipped something to Fischer and then disappeared before my eyes. The weather instantly cleared up and the sun came out. I am not fond of the ability of a single creature's grief to affect so large an area's weather. If this had happened during a harvest, crops could have been ruined.

30th of Sarenith, 4710
We returned to the castle, and found that the whole area has been blighted and a significant number of fish are now contaminated and cannot be eaten. Luckily we caught it in time and managed to cure it before it got out of hand. We also claimed an area of land that contained the Silver Mine. The kobolds remain good workers and it's nice to have a steady supply of their metal.

3rd of Erastus, 4710
We traveled south east and explored some land, and on the 3rd night, while we setting up camp, we were ambushed by a Leucrotta. It tried to trick us by luring us in with some mimicked voices. But, we were not fooled for long and spent the rest of the night undisturbed.

4th of Erastus, 4710
We headed southwest and found a cave opening. It had some giant tracks in the front, but it was too dark to tell how deep it was. Trixie threw in a lit stone which showed a couple passages, but no end to the cave. While arguing over how best to deal with the cave, Trixie marches on in. I follow her and the rest of the party were behind me. Upon entering the cave we were attacked by several giant fungi. A couple of them started screaming, which alerted the creature deep in the cave. With Fischer's web as a hindrance to the beast, we managed to dispatch the fungus before it arrived. It was a giant owlbear. At least twice as tall as the one I saw in the Staglord's keep. We managed to successfully kill it, but in the process we lost Trixie. We decided to finish exploring the cave before we returned to Kamelot and get her reincarnated. In the rest of the cave were some spiders, a couple ettercaps, and a tendriculos. None of them were too terribly troublesome except one of the ettercaps tried to hang me. We also found a baby owlbear, Artemis and I took a liking to it. I would just like a pet, I think Artemis wants breeding stock.

7th of Erastus, 4710
We returned to Kamelot and returned Trixie to life. I must remember never to need to be reincarnated. It seems that all it does is bring people back as halflings. And I'd very much prefer not to be a Halfling.

8th of Erastus, 4710
While at the Kamelot, we heard a few rumors. These included the fact that were are trolls in the south, a strange cult rising in the forest to the west, some lizardfolk deep in the south-western swamps, and that Candelmere Tower is a boundary between worlds. These are all originated in areas that are on my list of what to explore, so it seems that we'll be looking into all of them eventually.

15th of Erastus, 4710
On our way to the northern plains, we dropped the owlbear off at Artemis's Temple of Abadar. We continued on our way, and while exploring the plains, we found fresh tracks belonging to giant bird creatures. We followed the tracks and discovered a flock of Axebeaks. Such a glorious creature. I would love to have one as my mount. In addition, I think a cavalry unit consisting of Axebeak riders would be an effective tool to use to create fear in our enemies. We managed to capture all the chicks and one of the adolescents. Once it's large enough, I'd like to train the adolescent to be my mount.

16th of Erastus, 4710
We dropped the axebeaks off at the Temple and left them in the charge of Artemis's acolytes.

22nd of Erastus, 4710
We did a little bit of exploring of the northern plains before returning to Kamelot.

30th of Erastus, 4710
This month we managed to get a Caster's Tower built in Kamelot. Fischer designed it, so it has a very maritime look to it. In addition, I believe my condition is starting to be visible. I may need to be a little less reckless until the heir is born. Speaking of which, I could really go for an owlbear and moon radish sandwich.

1st of Desnus, 4710
With the castle nearing completion, we decided to explore the area around it that we still have yet to explore. We travelled southeast along the river and discovered a hidden trail that led down to a pool. After watching Artemis use Trixie's ring to walk across part of the pool, a giant snapping turtle decided she looked like a delicious snack, and took a big bite out of her. She ran back to the party and we quickly made some turtle soup.

2nd of Desnus, 4710
Today we travelled west along the lake. Had a surprise visit from an eight-headed hydra that came at us from the lake. We made short work of it and continued our exploration. We came upon a foul stench. The noxious fumes emanating from a patch of giant mushrooms was disgusting. The tendriculos that was making the patch his home didn't seem to mind them, that's why we needed to end its miserable existence. Needless to say, we camped upwind and a safe distance away from that patch.

3rd of Desnus, 4710
We tried to explore Candlemere Lake today but found it difficult without a boat. So, we decided to head back to the Castle to buy a boat.

4th of Desnus, 4710
On our way to the Castle we came across a hut with an odd scarecrow outside. The scarecrow was pretty protective of its land since as soon as we stepped past the gate, it attacked us. The owner of the scarecrow was just as hospitable and supposedly just as easy to kill. I'm sure on that last part since shortly after seeing the owner I started running away from her. But, when I got back, I was assured that she was not much of a threat. She made good soup though.

5th of Desnus, 4710
Arrived at the Castle today. Bought a boat, and took care of some administrative duties. On a personal note, I also took this time to get to know the royal consort a bit better.

6th of Desnus, 4710
I'm starting to think nature has some sort of vendetta against Artemis. While riding our boat towards Candlemere Lake, we decided to camp at the hut previously occupied by an odd scarecrow. As we approach the hut a family of bears leaped from its portal and engaged us. The battle wasn't difficult for us, except after the two large ones were killed, one of the baby bears, in a last ditch effort, eviscerated Artemis. So, once more we headed back to the castle.

7th of Desnus, 4710
We arrived at the castle and found someone to reincarnate the bits of Artemis we brought back. However, instead of an elf, she came back as a halfling. Which is unfortunate since her gun now dwarfs her.

8th of Desnus, 4710
Once more we set out on the boat towards Candlemere Lake. This time there were no bears in the hut though.

9th of Desnus, 4710
We explored the lake and the island in the middle of it. We found a crumbled tower that felt extremely spooky. We camped by the beach, and during the night found out why the place had a spooky feeling. Dozens of will-o-wisps flocked to it during night.

10th of Desnus, 4710
We returned to shore but got caught in a storm on the way. Ganon fell from the boat, but we were close enough to shore that he managed to swim the rest of the way. Upon landfall we were attacked by a bunch of sea hags. But they stood as a mere delay to us arriving at the hut.

15th of Desnus, 4710
After returning to the castle we spent a few days exploring the caverns underneath it. Though expansive, they don't provide any clues as to the origin of the zombie curse.

17th of Desnus, 4710
After traveling east from the castle for a couple days, we came across a burial mound. It appeared to be man-made and had a bit of a crack in the middle. We dismounted and explored the caverns. Inside we found a swarm of skeletons led by cairn wight. I was disappointed to find out that all their gear was terribly decayed and broken.

20th of Desnus, 4710
From the mound we headed south west and then stopped by the castle for a night, we then continued west and ran into a gnomish wagon stuck in the middle of a river. They provided us with a nice dinner after we pulled the wagon from the rapids. Since we already have a pretty sweet deal with the kobolds for mining rights in the kingdom, I was not inclined to encourage the gnomes to settle the lands since there would inevitably be conflict.

21st of Desnus, 4710
While exploring a bit of the forest to the southwest we came across a crazy hermit. He seemed amiable at first, though a bit intoxicated. We left him alone after a quick conversation, but later that evening while we were sleeping, he attempted to ambush us. We managed to kill him and one of the two panthers he brought with him. The other skulked away in defeat. We decided this was enough exploring for a while and head back to the Castle.

30th of Desnus, 4710
The castle is now in tip-top shape, and we're starting to get more and more settlers. Earlier this month a couple homesteaders by the name of Rezbin headed off to the west to start settling that area, after swearing fealty of course. We also managed to set up some farmers nearby to start supplying the city with food.

1st of Gozran, 4710:
Awoke to find that the crazier gnome had wandered off during the night. While I'm relieved to not have to deal with him anymore, I can't help but be worried at the fact that he is still out there, alive. His skills in battle might have been missed save for the fact that we were immediately joined by the fisher who helped us previously. We gained entry to the castle with good tidings and spirits, but once I saw the Stag Lord appear, wild-eyed and completely inebriated, I knew that conflict was inevitable. He, along with some of his subordinates, was put down during the conflict along with his pet owlbear. During the fight, the man named Akiros betrayed the Stag Lord and assisted us in taking him down. He was even helpful after the conflict, separating the useful survivors from the trash. Among the survivors was a Falgrim Sneeg. Sgt Kesten was looking for Sneeg dead or alive. After discussing the situation with Ganon and Artemis, we decided it was much easier to just bring his head so we commissioned Trixie's first act as headsman. We renamed the castle Tuskwater Keep and rested for the evening.

2nd of Gozran, 4710:
We left Tuskwater Keep and continued our exploration of the lands to the north west. We found a thicket of Fangberries covered in spidersilk. Artemis crept in to gather some for Bokken, but disturbing the webs summoned several swarms of spiders. Since stabbing swarms apparently didn't work, I had to rely on Fischer and Altrum to dispose of them. This left Artemis free to gather some berries undisturbed.

4th of Gozran, 4710:
We came to a beaver dam in the river today. It was mostly ordinary except there were a few tatzlwyrms in it. Oleg had wanted some, so we gathered up their remains and packed them away.

7th of Gozran, 4710:
We continued our exploration of the Green Belt. We came across a couple buildings that looked like ruins, but out of one came a giant talking frog. It asked for a toll to continue down the road; luckily it accepted fish. I would not have enjoyed cleaning frog guts from my gear.

8th of Gozran, 4710:
Travelled east and explored the area. We came across a giant boar that matched the description of TuskGutter. It fell easily enough and we spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how to make good use of as much of the corpse as possible. Looks like we have enough bacon for months.

12th of Gozran, 4710:
The exploration and taming of the Green Belt has been a fairly easy task. I have yet to come across anything that worried me... until today. We were traveling along the road and came to a creek with a small bridge across it. Upon approaching the bridge, we were ambushed by a pack of trolls. There were four of them and they looked hungry. Luckily, it appeared they were most interested in horse meat. Their initial assaults took out most of the horses, and soon afterwards I found myself unconscious. Some time later I awoke to find one of them standing on me, while trying to escape from some webbing. I will admit, just this once, that had it not been for my companions, I would most likely have found myself in the bottom of a troll's stomach that day. A most harrowing experience.

14th of Gozran, 4710:
We arrived back at Oleg's today. Message of our victory over the Stag Lord had arrived before us, for we returned to find enough supplies from Brevoy to start our own nation.

30th of Gozran, 4710:
We have claimed the area containing Tuskwater Keep. The new city's name is Kamelot. Soon after we staked claim on the land, we were required to defend that claim against a horde of orcs. Their leaders were quite squishy and were felled by my lance and Trixie's greatsword with much ease. The remaining forces was quickly routed.

9th of Pharast, 4710:
Using the last bit of information Chief Sootscale gave us, we travelled northwest and explored the land. Along the way the gnome wandered off, like he had done so many time before, I thought nothing of it except Artemis reacted like she saw something too. Running after him, I could barely make out that he was talking to something. He claimed an invisible friend told him to follow him northwest. Against my better judgment, we followed his directions.

10th of Pharast, 4710:
Well, even though we haven't found the gnomes friend yet, we did find something better. A cave that contains gold deposits. It will be very useful if we decide to mint our own coins.

11th of Pharast, 4710:
We awoke to discover that we are apparently on the right path towards Murdock's friend. He had this atrocious hair style. So, we decided to continue traveling northwest. While exploring the forest we came upon a clearing. It was full of radishes. And right in the middle of the patch, were half a dozen engorged kobolds. Luckily they were part of the friendly Sootscale tribe. We informed them of that we had lifted the curse of their tribe. They seemed quite pleased. They then turned ecstatic when we asked them to head over to the gold vein and initiate mining operations. After the kobolds had left, Artemis started gathering some radishes, she also tore up a whole chunk of the land, enough that it should be an easy task to start cultivating them somewhere else. After the horticultural business was completed, we continued exploring the forest and found what appeared to be a crudely crafted set of figurines resembling the party. Near it was a carved finger pointing west. So we decided to travel west in the morning.

12th of Pharast, 4710:
Last night's watch was terrible. I don't think I've ever felt more useless in a fight. I was awakened to find that in the distance there were flashes of green light. The party managed to lure it closer, but I still had to spend so long running over to it, that by the time I was approaching it, it ran off behind me and then disappeared. Luckily, Murdock and Ganon were able to dispatch the critter before it hurt us too much. When we got our bearings in the morning, we realized we weren't too far from Oleg's Post. So, we decided to drop by and pick up the trail of Murdock's friend later. As we were approaching Oleg's Post I noticed there was significantly more activity than the last time I was here. In a possibly unrelated note, it was at this point that Altrum broke off from the group and wandered off into the lands around Oleg's. We met a Sergeant Garess who brought along a few troops. They appear to be tracking a deserter by the name of Sneeg. We returned the ring to Oleg and provided radishes to Svetlana, both were quite appreciative. Finally, we noticed a couple Wanted Posters for a Tatzylwyrm and Tuskgutter.

14th of Pharast, 4710:
On our way back to the radish patch we were ambushed by another group of bandits. Silly folk bandits, you run a few through and they keep coming back for more. Ganon gave the survivors a stern talking to and sent them off to Oleg's. While exploring the area, we found a large clearing. It appeared to have been created when a giant tree fell and killed everything it fell on, then the tree itself rotted away leaving large swath of forest flattened. At the end of that clearing were some game. Delicious elk. Once we slew the beasts, we heard Murdock's friend again. It told us that there were some “metal teeth” in a glade to the north and would like us to clear them. We decided we'd start tomorrow and then camped for the evening.

16th of Pharast, 4710:
Luckily, we found the “metal teeth”, also known as bear traps, unluckily, we found them by having my mount step in one. After that we proceeded slowly but steadily to explore the area and set off and clear all the traps. It took us the better part of two days. Near the end of the second day, we spotted a giant wolf stuck in one of the traps, with several smaller wolves around it. Artemis slowly, but steadily approached the wolves as calmly as possible. Trixie seemed to be extremely anxious, especially when a couple of the wolves went over and started circling her. Artemis made her way to the giant wolf and after a few minutes freed it from the trap. And then, to my surprise, instead of attacking us for thanks, they all just ran off.

17th of Pharast, 4710:
We returned to where Murdock's friend told us to clear the bear traps, and lo and behold, they appeared to us. Apparently there were two of then. A tiny dragon about the size of a cat along with a large, speaking insect that seemed very intent on Artemis when she played some music. They told us that they'd stop pulling pranks on us and then gave us some information about a some Hot Spring and an abandoned temple in the South. We decided to head back to Oleg's and do some exploration on the way. At Oleg's we met up with a Cleric of Erastil who received dreams of an overgrown temple guarded by a bear. I put in an order for a new set of armor. Cost me almost all I had including the credit I received for returning Svetlana's ring. But it'll totally be worth it. It's a shame it'll be a week until it comes in.

20th of Pharast, 4710:
Spent several days exploring the area around Oleg's Post. We found an alchemist named Bokken who is in need of some fangberries for potions. Then, earlier today we came to a giant wolf. As it turns out, it was the one we saved from the bear traps a few days ago. It told us about a corpse, that appeared to be stuffed inside a hole that was nearby, and then ran off. I'm fairly proud of myself that I made it through that odd encounter without saying, “Hey, a talking dog”. We found the corpse the wolf told us about and it had some neat stuff on it. Nothing useful for me though.

21st of Pharast, 4710:
We found what we believed to be the culprit that stuffed the corpse into a hole. A pair of giant spiders. Fascinating creatures, but I wouldn't want to get bit by one. Murdock was bitten and fainted almost immediately. After the spiders were dispatched Artemis ran over and got him up and walking again. I had to stifle a chuckle at the sight of the gnome almost being crushed by his own plank. We returned to Oleg's for a bit of rest.

23rd of Pharast, 4710:
Having explored the area around Oleg's, we received instructions from Brevoy to deal with the Stag Lord. We gathered the Cleric of Erastil and headed towards the temple the faerie dragon told us about.

24th of Pharast, 4710:
Having arrived at the temple, we discovered a giant grizzly bear that had taken up residence in the temple. The barbarian and I dispatched it quickly. Once it was defeated, it turned into a human and the temple felt a bit more holy. The cleric must have felt it too since he decided to remain in the temple while we left and explored the area.

28th of Pharast, 4710:
We followed the Thorn River and explored the surrounding areas. Today we met Vekkel who had put up the Wanted Poster for Tuskgutter. However, not having killed Tuskgutter yet, we weren't able to help him.

30th of Pharast, 4710:
We finally arrived at the location of Stag Lord fort. The castle lay on the western bank of the river. After traveling south we found a man fishing in the river. He told us of a ford across the river slightly north of our location. We planned our strategy and prepared for our assault.