Ghoulies and Ghosties and Long leggeddy Beasties (A Childs Nightmare)


Campaign Journals

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Once more into the grinder, need a minute to get all these ducks in a row. Am going to have to hire a bard and a herald keep track of what's happening(and fix the shoddy editing!).

During the brief ceasefire following the board meeting, thoughts turn to liberating the captives in the pit. From bits of conversation, they are being used to fuel the portal, and it's the devils job to keep them alive until Itchycrotch is ready for them. Much conniving follows as we attempt to circumnavigate their contract, "working" for demons is a major selling point. During negotiations, a ruckus draws all to the pit. A woman has backed the others away, seems something has infested her(blob demons?) and is working hard to get out. Since she's damaging other captives, the devils send two down to sort her out, but they just collapse to the floor. Apparently annual performance reviews are coming up as the devils get agitated and 'port three more in to put down the threat. She responds by absorbing one of them and growing.

The thing is now a large, dark blob that resembles a creature we encountered on the Sandpoint road some time back. It appears solid, but quivers like jelly when it moves. By this time, everyone is throwing anything they can find(including themselves) at the thing as it consumes another devil; even a few captives are flailing away at it. I'd kicked down a rope ladder, and we were a steady stream of the smarter ones exit the pit. Turned crowd control over to Nina and was preparing to join the mosh pit when the thing took a cue from the devils, and ported across the pit, swallowing(?) a handful of captives and growing even larger. This put in reach of us still up top, so all laid into it and brought it down. As thoughts turned towards dealing with the depleted devils, they were recalled(or took a powder), and we moved to the next concern.

The captives were gathered up and looked over. They aren't in the best shape, but there is no time to get them out and back where they belong. Several are soldiers from the fort, so have them collect equipment from the cultists and move to one of the raised areas where they can lay low. I remove supplies from storage(food, water, etc), and they settle in as we ready to move on the portal. We trudge for a few hours until it becomes obvious that it's time to rest(hard to tell this far underground, something about cicadas). Move onto a ledge and set watches, ignoring a few wandering lower planars during the night.

The next morning, we set off, rested and replenished. Several hours and sore feet bring us to another huge cavern; seems to be a rest camp for displaced planars. Demons and devils co-mingle while small devils(that look just like Sam's "familiar", more questions for later) use flames to melt large sheets of ice. The center of attention is a large purple field of energy and the chain-devil-thing(looks familiar, but I just can't place it) standing before it, holding a sacrifice. They are quite intent on their business, and don't seem to notice our group moving into tactical positions.

HUGE starts this dance with a new trick, leaping across the chamber(what does that boy eat?) into some demons. I move up in support(did I mention it's a Really big place? Macer may be on to something horse idea) while Nina puts blasts around the gate. I try to thin out the flame devils, but miss horribly and am totally ignored; conduct like this just kills the self-esteem. I abandon the midgets, and move into the general melee. Play-by-play is impossible as weapons, spells, and bodies fly everywhere. We make progress, chewing through the mob toward the gate. Nina spots a couple sneaky demons joining the party, but they seem more interested in negotiating their position(fine by me, already got an acre of unfriendly here). Disembowelments and burning all around; Itchycrotch grabs a last captive and jumps through the portal as another voice joins the party. The damn succ from Fort Dollar has appeared, this thing is beginning to annoy me(and doesn't seem likely to get a Miss Popularity sash from anyone else). We dive in to shred it, but it blinks away as before. HUGER's bellows are truly deafening and reflect the general anger.

We're left in another corpse-littered battlefield, with little to show for our efforts, and much to put right. Now, just how are we supposed to shut that purple thing off?


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We paused only long enough to do as much healing as was possible. The new wand I had purchased had grown warm to the touch because of the amount of use. The bone devils were still conversing with Sam while Kelyn and Nina were trying to figure out how to remove a group of people from another pit that were being kept as sacrifices for the portal. I moved around to the ice creature/elemental to ask it some questions. Again all the responses were in my mind instead of verbally, so the group could only hear a one sided conversation. The giant we had fought was called an oni and there were cambion demons as well as hell swords within the complex. The creature, for whatever it is, was free with the information. Although its appetites led me to believe we would have to confront the creature it agreed to wall off the pit with the corpses with an ice wall so we could move past without becoming sick.

The bone devils were not going to give up their charge of keeping the people in the pit no matter what Sam said to them. Most of the people in the pit looked to be guards from the Fort and what would probably be local rangers. I mentioned to Vex that we were going to have to kill the bone devils to get these people out in my native tongue, to which he nodded. It was then that I noticed that one person was standing alone in the pit with a few dead bodies around her. Two of the bone devils appeared next to the woman and nothing seemed to happen. Then after a few seconds they both fell over dead. Seeing this as a chance to remove ourselves the trouble of having to kill the bone devils ourselves I mentioned to the one talking with Sam that he might need to send in more. Three more of the bone devils went into the pit this time leaving only two near the group. Again the devils seemed frozen in time when one of them disappeared and the woman changed into a much bigger shape that resembled the newly transformed Treyvor. I then began to realize that we might be in trouble. Reading a spell to allow my to acrobatically leap into the pit while in my enlarged form I leapt from the lip of the pit and landed next to the creature. A few of the guards were attempting to subdue the bone devils, not realizing the danger they were in from this ... demon. As it absorbed another of the bone devils and grew even larger they got the idea and ran. By this time Kelyn had lowered a ladder into the pit and the people were climbing up and out. I proceeded to attack the creature and felt the sword bite deep. Vex had joined me in the pit and had maneuvered behind the creature flanking it. Suddenly it teleported behind me and absorbed a group of the escaping humans. I could hear Felu and Sam yelling for us to hit it but I wasn’t as fast as the demon. I did another massive hit with the greatsword and with a spell from above the creature dissipated into a liquid like goop and dissolved into smoke. I began to look at the remaining bone devil in the pit and could see that Vex was also maneuvering to do the same when they just teleported away. I doubt it was to warn anyone, and they themselves realized the danger they were in so I think escape was their only plan. We moved the people up onto one of the dependable landings, gave them food and water and told them to wait there for our return. When we completed our task of shutting down the portal we would return to escort them back to the Fort.

We knew that we had a few hours before more creatures were to arrive for more sacrifices so we began our climb further into the complex. We must have hiked for another few hours because we still hadn’t reached any more rooms and we were all beginning to tire. Finding a suitable ledge to hide on we rested for the night. On the first watch while Atz and I were keeping guard, two creatures walked by. I learned from Sam later on that one of the creatures was a demon, and the other a devil. Both were considered minions of greater powers but the idea that both were working together was highly disturbing. I don’t pretend to understand the rivalry, but Sam simply said that you could make arrangements with devils although it was a last resort. Demons could only be killed as there was no negotiation. Regardless they never returned back up the hall with sacrifices. I would imagine that this ice creature killed them.

After getting a good rest we continued for another hour or so before arriving in a huge room with multiple groups of demons standing about with smaller winged imps using their fire magics to melt away large areas of ice. I get the idea that the creature in the first room wasn’t keen on following his summoner and filled the area with ice and wandered off. Sort of a ‘screw you’ answer to this Ichyrot demon we were told is running the place. The Ichyrot was standing near a large portal behind a large group of more demons or devils and was safe from our approach. He also appeared to be covered in chains, similar to the creature we had fought ... a month or a week ago, depending on how you look at it. I wasn’t keen on loosing my eye site early on in the battle and decided to use a spell that would increase my speed to big cat speeds and leapt across the room landing next to two demons and leaving a nasty gash in one of them from my greatsword. Within moments, the room was chaos and I fought tooth and nail with the two demons. They were getting the upper hand as their speed was to great for me to keep up with. At one point I felt the enchantment on my armor trigger again to keep me alive. By then Vex had made his way over and we managed to drop the two demons in short order.

I then hopped through space to flank the demon/devil that was on Lugh. It quickly fell to Lugh’s spear and shield fighting style. As I was getting ready to move to engage Ichyrot the demon succubus from the temple in Magnimar arrived on the opposite side of the room from Ichyrot. She said something in an unknown and foul sounding language to Ichyrot who immediately looked like he was in trouble and began begging. As much as I wanted to drop this guy, I had made a promise to the succubus and instead charged her. Right before I made my first step towards her, Sam enlarged me and once again my sword bit deep into the hide of the succubus who screamed out in pain. She locked rage filled eyes with me and I returned her glare with a smile. But before I could swing again she teleported away. Spinning around, I caught sight of Ichyrot as he dove through the portal and the two minions he had summoned stood there unsure of what to do. So I charged one of them. He moved away from my strike like water flowing over a rock. In the next instant he was gone having teleported away. Will no one stay and fight?

Now to figure out this portal.


What fresh pit have you all pulled me into? Such a mucked up mess, I hardly remember how I got here. Now we must close some portal. What's a portal?

Demon blood just does not match my outfit. I accessorized for a pub brawls, not blob battles on the edge of a hellmouth. Who's going to pay for this cleaning? I need a beer and a bath. If you all weren't my only friends, I'd have pounded you all senseless long ago.

Personally, I thought we were on a vampire hunt. Teach me to not pay attention. Still, a fight is a fight.


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I did some quick healing on my wounds and moved to cover the portal. If anything stepped through it was going to get hit. Kelyn decided to move up as well while Nina and Sam started trying to figure out what needed to be done. This Ichyrot had fled through the portal and I was concerned that he might try and push reinforcements through so I stood there with my sword raised ready to swing. It didn’t take long.

I had stood there for less than a minute and the portal began to shimmer and I began my swing. By the time the large bird like demon stepped through my sword struck home, as did Kelyn’s. The creature floundered for a second and dove back through my sword again connecting in its haste to retreat. Before it had left though the creature released some sort of spore from its tattered feathers and within a few seconds vines began pushing through my flesh to painful effect. I was not alone with the affliction as Kelyn and Oona also were effected. The others had stayed back far enough that they avoided the spores. Sam said that we had no way to counter the spores and were going to have to suffer until they ran their course. Nature loving aside, the vines were rather painful and not enjoyed.

Just as Sam and Nina said they figured it out another shimmer began and again I swung. This time a large horned creature covered in spines and wielding a barbed chain stepped through. Again the sword bit deep as the group took it by surprise. Then a wave of fear washed over me, the same soul wrenching fear as before. But before I could run the creature hit me with its chain and the room began to spin. By the time the spinning stopped and I could once again see what was happening the portal had closed and the creature was gone.

We spent the next few hours using our size, strength and tools to physically dismantle the stone arches that made up the portal. I even spent time with a hammer and piton doing what I could to destroy, or at least deface the summoning circle in the room. From there we returned to our little nook we had discovered the day earlier and rested for the evening using all the healing magics we could muster.

The next morning we returned to find that the ice walls were still in place and retrieved the people we had left on the ledge. Treyvor appeared in an altered state looking like a person but completely black in color. He thanked us for what we had done and hoped to see us again in Magnimar but that he couldn’t send us back. I smiled at this news since that meant a lengthly trek through the wilderness home. We escorted the people back to Fort Donnar over the next few days and once we accomplished this task we tried to decide what to do next. We had the key that we had discovered in the coffin that led to a noble house in the town of Ardis as our only reason for staying in Ustalev when we learned that a local temple of Desna was having troubles.

The description from the local clergy sounded eerily similar to what had happened to the temple of Sarenrae in Magnimar so I began looking for a hidden entrance that would lead under the temple. It didn’t take long before I found one. Once again we moved down under a temple expecting to find more cultists to this Thassilonian leader named Sorshen.

Along the way I led with my sword out and a daylight spell lighting the way. Vex was not to pleased at the sudden increase in brightness from my light spell but the others couldn’t see in the dark like he did. In fact, I could see in the dark now for some reason. The ability that allowed me to see things as they truly were allowed me to see in darkness as well. But the constant concentration to do so made the ability unwieldy. Along the way we eventually set off a fire trap of some kind. I was unable to avoid the worst of it but once the fire subsided I could hear voices further on having been alerted to our presence. Moving on we came to a pair of double doors that appeared to be locked, barricaded or both and as the group fanned out before them they set of two more fire traps. I attempted to dimensionally hop past the door but was prevented from doing so, so I increased the distance and suddenly found myself in a room with three bestial looking men wielding ranseurs and another of the winged woman demons flying in front of a large statue of the Sorshen ruler made of gold.

They attacked immediately, with the winged creature trying to pierce my will by suggesting I remove my clothing and armor so she could get a better look at me. I was rather rude with my response which prompted a malign pout from the winged demon. I heard the group battering down the door so I shifted into the form of an eagle and again dimensionally moved near the demon and attacked with claw and beak. This shift surprised her but the fire traps and attacks from her bestial minions had done a significant amount of damage. It wasn’t long before I was knocked unconscious. I awoke to the healing spells of Lugh and found that the demon had fled and the three bestial minions were dead.

Another success tinged with failure.


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Minor clean-up and repair as HUGER stomps over to the portal. Whats-his-butt had fled through, and he figured it would send anything dumb enough back at us. I joined him and covered Nina as she worked with Sata....Sam to find the OFF switch. Wasn't long before the light shimmered and a bird demon stepped out into HUGER's sword. The badger was happy to participate and it soon decided to attempt a tactical retrograde. HUGER assisted with another swing; I don't think it arrived safely at it's destination.

Stood around feeling pretty good about ourselves while the arcane types continued to whiteboard the portal thing. More shimmering, and HUGER led off with a mighty swing; into a Horned Devil(a devil, with horns, very original. Does someone get paid to think these up?). Bad idea; thought I might repeat my earlier panic, but it saved me by removing my kidneys and sending me into a stupor. Much groveling and bald-faced lying later, my limited senses returned to find it gone and others working at a fevered pace to shut down the gate. The solution involved large people, many tools, and wanton destruction; smiles all around, but no one felt reconnected. It also took lots of time, so we moved back to our previous hide to rest.

Moved back to the captive chamber to find most of them intact. Scratchybutt(really, does a five year old name these guys?) had ported in and grabbed a couple during the night, but we guided the rest through the tunnels and fog to the real world. Those so attuned got re-acquainted with higher, while I just got the heebie-jeebies again. Took a few days to reach the fort, no squadrons of demons along the way. Glossed over most of the last month(?) and started working on our next move; the spirit couldn't cross back with us, so it looks like a hike.

Locals brought a story of troubles at the temple of Desna rebuild(sigh). A search turned up an entrance and stairs, so we headed into the depths. Led to a set of double doors, but HUGE thought he saw a way around. What he found was a fireball trap, and just to be sure, Atz checked the other side and set off another. I staggered to check the doors as HUGE got angry and ported again. A muffled voice from the other side yelled something about "skeleton key"; oh yeah, that thing is really handy. As the lock clicked open, Macer smashed the door wide with his face and entered combat. Followed in to find an eagle(HUGE?) tearing at an Alu, so Nina and I gave ranged support. Confused combat, and the opposition is eliminated.

Do all temples have a secret lair for evil masterminds underneath them? Seems like bad planning, and am not looking forward to checking them all. May need to franchise this operation, or at least hire some more help.


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Between the drinking and smashing of faces, someone recommended that I take the time to write my tales before I forget. Problem being, I already can't remember who made the suggestion. Maybe it was one of those idiot, farm boys making a move, only to find himself face down in the sawdust, or maybe it was some passing merchant who thought they might have enough money to buy my favor. More than likely, it was one of my brothers. Not that they are really my brothers, but having grown up with them, that is how I think of them. Not much changing of that. It was probably Lou fearing for my soul, not that there is much left of that. Still, he cares and he tries to look out for me. Lou, the patron saint of lost causes, and that is exactly what I am.

Nothing worse than a beautiful woman, except one who knows what they are and uses it to their favor. Strike that, there is one thing worse, someone who is all those things and doesn't care at all. That's me. Look all you want, I don't care. Touch, and I get to touch back, usually with a knee to the groin followed by a boot to the head. I love foreplay, at least that is what I call it. Nothing like an opponent beaten and broken to take the edge off an evening. I know how wrong that sounds wrong. I don't care. Try being sired by some dark vampire lord, raised in the shadowy halls filled with silent, cowed, minions and see if something isn't quite right in your noggin. If it weren't for the hooligans I ran with when I was just a girl, I wouldn't be as sane as I am, much less alive.

So, back to the telling of my tale. The other day, we were down in some magical pit, portal, Hellmouth, I don't know what really. Wasn't paying that close attention. Mostly, I was just following Lou around like I usually do, practicing. Lou is good for that. He tends to find good fights in his endless, droll mission to rid the world of evil. He means well, he just lacks focus. Sure, the world might be a better place with a little less evil in it. But from my point of view, killing vampires is all that matters. Everything else is, as I said, practice. Sure, as life goals go, this is not the healthiest thing. But it works for me. Plus, I know sooner or later, I'll kick it and I am sure Lou will put me down when the time comes. No vamp-time for me! He is the best of my brothers. Can't be sure the others will bother. Maybe Vex. He is honest in his own way. Can't trust him with anything shiny, but when it comes to killin' and blood, he's your lizard.

So, we're down in this pit filled with all these wannabe blobs trying to become devils and demons, but mostly just feeding off each other and leaving us alone. Then we finally get up to the lip of this magical gateway/Hellmouth and things really start hopping, which is good because I'm getting bored, and it smells down here. A big, winged whatchamacallit springs out, and we all lay into it. Next thing I know there is some fine powder filling the air and covering my clothes and hair and everything,.. Thank the heavens it didn't get in my mouth. But, I start sprouting roots or vines or something across my hide and THAT really pisses me off! Hugh tells me later that they are spores. Still, it is going to mess up my complexion for a week or more. And I just gotta smack something, but the other creature is dead and gone before I get another chance to hit it again.

The next thing to poke its head out of the gateway is some horned devil-thing. So, I give it a kick to the head, or two, as it makes its entrance. Guess that was a mistake. Half of my brothers are pissing themselves before I know it, and Sam is trying to negotiate, or plead, or beg his crap out of what is happening. Doesn't really matter anyway because it's too late and I can't really tell what's going on cause I am too busy getting my ass handed to me. The devil rips me a new one, and I start to bleed, and bleed, and bleed. Figure I don't have long to this world, and no one seems to be hitting this thing worth a damn, so I slam a couple of potions before I die. Only thing, it doesn't seem to work at all and I know I am screwed.

Lucky for me, the devil doesn't really care about us and moves on. The upside is Lou patches me up before I slip into the deep, dark afterlife. The downside is we spend the next hour or so doing manual labor tippling rocks over to seal the Hellmouth. Sucks.

By then I just needed a beer, bath, and a bounce. Who am I kidding, I just want knock heads around. Those farm boys make such cute noises when their noses break.


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So we show back up in I-want-to-kill-you land and the first thing we see is this monstrous, demonic creature. In stead of attacking it addresses us as Treyvar did, wishes us luck, then disappears. I got the feeling something significant just happened but I couldn't place it quite yet. We gave each other confused, sideways looks. Except for Sam and Felu, they looked worried, maybe even a little scared. We headed through Fort Donner on our way back to the Witch's hut. The town had completely turned around. The people were out and about, there were guards along the walls and at the gates. It looked like a proper town, which put me even more on edge.

When we made it to the gut something was definitely wrong. I examined the bodies we had left behind a month ago, only they weren't a month old, at most five days of decomposition had taken place. That brought a rather scary thought into my mind. I think we were gone too long in Magnimar. That the devils and demons coming out of the gate had caused a lot of damage, probably even destroyed the Fort. Then Treyvar used everything he had and a lot more to get us back here at a time that we might still fix things. I laughed at the irony, and tried not to think about the fact that we're still in Magnimar even though we are right here, and we're using items that didn't/don't exist right now. Again laughter.

After everyone stopped looking at me funny, we moved on in search of the portal. The first few days went uneventfully, although there was a presence at night. My knife really got my attention at one point , yelling something about a demon, but it settled down a moment later. The morning before we found the cave we were set upon by winged beasts with riders upon their backs. the riders were fairly weak, but the beasts themselves were rather stout. We had dispatched all but one of the beasts, that was attempting to take flight and get away. I so wanted to ride it into the ground, and apparently so did Oona as she mounted it just a second before I leapt upon it. I was about to plunge my dagger into its neck when I found myself launched from its back and tumbling through the air. The air-brakes(wings) kicked on and a short roll later found my feet planted solidly on the ground again. Some upity bearded-devil finished that last one off before I could have my fun. (That said, after sizing him up for a second, I didn't like my odds of taking him on.) So I didn't make a fuss as the rest of the group found out that he was just competing a contract and had no intention of bothering us.

A short jaunt found us at the mouth of a cafe that had "Chaos Portal" written all over it. Within we found a lot of little demon blobs as well as a creature I was told was an Owlbear... So I guess that's a thing. While the main fighters strode boldly forward forcing the owlbear to abandon its deer snack and move into a corner, I decided to attempt to sneak around it using the many large stalagmites in the cave. It worked pretty well... against the owlbear... the face-hugging demon blobs and fireball spewing floating skulls on the other hand were not impressed by my "sneaky lizard" routine, and proceeded to, well, hug my face and shoot fireballs at me. I was able to dodge behind the lip of the stalagmite to escape the fireball and proceeded to scrape the demon blobs from my snout. I didn't have a means to deal with the floating skulls' BS so I decided to assist the fighters with the confused bird-mammal (how does that even work!? That'd be like a seal trying to mate with a penguin, the anatomy just doesn't work that way.)

As the owlbear fell a lot of the demon blobs rushed in to feed off of its corpse. The few that survived the initial feast were killed off, and I asked the knife to decompose the rest of the body leaving a nice pile of feathers and bones that shouldn't provide any more food for the little blobs. I met with Kelyn near the far end of the cave, next to a wall of fog. Kelyn stepped through and a second later came right back out explaining that there were two ogre-hulks on the other side of the fog, only in not so many words.

Alright, the fun's not over yet! The rest of the group charges through the fog before I get a chance to step in. By the time I got to the far edge of the fog the small hallway was packed with friend and foe alike. There was a small gap between the two hulks and I figured I could dart through and start carving on their backsides. Oona must have seen the same gap but she tried it a hair too soon and caught a back-swing forcing her back, but not really doing any damage. I smiled and yelled "Nice try mammal!" Then shot the gap, cleanly passing between the behemoths. I was able to strike the killing blow to one and the knife was having far too much fun because it discharged again turning the falling body into a pile of bones.

We pressed on for quite some time before coming to another chamber. Of course this one was filled with a bunch of cultist archers, some bone-devils, and what was later described to be an Oni(some kind of demon). I sneaked around and got into a position to ambush and occupy three of the archers. All three died the same, two quick cuts apiece. A knife to a lower vital spot; major pelvic artery; Achilles heel; kidney; whatever it took to get them to drop their head or chest within reach of the second, fatal thrust.

When I turned around I found Sam bargaining with the bone-devils in an attempt to get out of this encounter with our skins still attached to our bodies. That went fairly well till something in a pit full of people started eating the bone devils. I ran over to help out and saw what looked like a very large bone-devil, only this one was completely black and moved more like a fluid. Ripples coursed over its body as it moved or was struck, like a large wineskin, only without the skin. Well I jumped down into the pit to help take the thing down, and though it took quite a few blows it finally fell. We helped the people get to a safe place while we continued on for a short while before taking a short rest.


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We had a long trek in front of us if we were to return home and our best option was to go south to Vigil and catch a caravan there back to Magnimar. The trek to Vigil on the other hand was going to be lengthy and I was rather happy knowing how long we would be in the wilds. Along the way we were going to stop off in Ardis and see if we can figure anything out about the key we had discovered in the coffin of the vampire we had slain in Fort Donnar.

For two weeks we journeyed south to Ardis. We sailed down the Moutray and Lesser Moutray rivers arriving in the small town of Courtaud. From there we trekked over land to the small town of Tamrivena and caught another river barge to sail down the Lamand and Vistear rivers arriving in Chastel. There we booked passage on another barge down the Vhatsuntide river to Ardis.

I remembered a few things about Ardis on the voyage down from small notes that had been left with the maps I had looked over all those years ago and remembered the name of docks that were listed as “safe” as well as a tavern called the Tasty Hagfish. As the town of Ardis came in sight I told our river captain that I wanted to dock at these docks and he seemed to look at me in a new light, as if he knew this as well. He nodded and suggested that I stay at the Tasty Hagfish and to tell the proprietor, Len Vargus, that Captain Ebon vouched for us. I had learned from my family that finding a ship captain that you could trust was difficult and it would seem this river captain was one of these individuals.

The group seemed pleased to be in “civilized” lands again as the journey wasn’t something they had enjoyed as much as I did. Ardis was the original capital of Ustalav and as such, was rather large. The estates though and the city itself had the appearance of a drowned rat. The buildings and even the people looked unhappy and sour. Even though the dress of the common people, even the poor, looked impressive, the aura of depression was strong. The Tasty Hagfish when we entered looked like a poor gentlemen’s club, lots of red velvet, cigar smoke, curtained booths and “entertainment.”

One of the waitresses confirmed my suspicions as to who Vargus was and as I approached he gave the appearance of a man who was all business with little interest of what was happening around him. His demeanor did not change when I mentioned captain Ebon and after leaving five platinum for our groups lodgings for the next three days I left Vargus to return to the others. They had already found a large table to seat us all and were beginning the first round of drinks which Sam had ordered up. The bitter stout matched my mood as I was already longing to return to the wilds and our journey home. Using my special sight I looked about the room to see if there was anything surprising and discovered more than a couple of creatures that were familiars to someone hidden with invisibility. A large majority of the well off individuals attending the Hagfish were running glamors of one kind or another.

Vex, Atz and Sam left to go about the city in an attempt to sell off our loot and returned in the early evening with a large purse for everyone full of precious gems. After a quick dinner I left the others to get some sleep. Admittedly the bed was more comfortable than the pine needles outside so sleep came quickly. I spent the next day spending my time moving about the city and looking for private animal collections or vendors attempting to sell exotic beasts to the rich. I did find one estate that had a tall iron fence surrounding what appeared to be a small garden or forest. After a few minutes I saw why the fence was so tall as a panther came out of the foliage and moved along the fence line, rubbing its side along the bars. It was jet black in color with bright green eyes and I could easily imagine the creature leaping from some branch onto its prey. The paws were massive and I would bet the cat weighed in around a hundred and fifty pounds. I spent a while studying the creature before moving on as my loitering had caught the attention of the displeased home owner.

The rest of the group had spent the day lounging about and hadn’t really done anything to discover who the crest belonged to. So I decided on the morrow I would go to the local cemetery and look for the crest there. In the morning Atz tagged along as he was keen to figure this out as well. We walked for hours around the graveyard, both Atz and I finding several crests that were similar but not an exact match to the key. Eventually though my sight allowed me to see Atz’s grandfather sitting on a head stone and pointing down with a smirk on his face. I made an unflattering comment to Atz about his grandfather and he laughed. Apparently he was a prankster in real life as well. The name on the headstone was Malick and that was it. No dates, no other names, nothing. I was just a marker for an end that wouldn’t come for a vampire. Though in this case it did probably happen, but the body would never be laid to rest here. We returned to the others with our news and spent the remainder of the day relaxing in the Hagfish drinking. I even produced the owlbear claw I had taken and began working on a scrimshaw during that evening.

The next day Sam and some of the others used our newly discovered name and went about the city looking to find their estate. They returned mid afternoon having discovered the estate on Shadowbend road, southwest of the cemetery across a small bay in the northeastern part of the city. I advised the others that kicking down the door of their estate and murdering everyone inside would likely cause our arrest at worse or run out of the city by a mob at best. I suggested we attempt to meet with them as a noble house attempting to open trade negotiations. Oona’s family name might carry some weight here and Vex admitted he could draw up some faux papers to get us in the door. So Sam and Atz cleaned themselves up a bit and took the letter of introduction that Vex drew up over to the Malick estate.

They returned a few hours later with news that we had a luncheon appointment with Lena Mandiss the day after tomorrow. Now we just needed to kill some time until the meeting. I spent it in bird form on the iron fence watching the black cat within its pen. Most of its time was spent sleeping on the branch of a great tree in the pen. I found that it could climb the tree rather quickly and its claws were long and sharp. That evening the owners released a goat into the pen and I got to watch as the panther stalked the goat, leaping from a branch of the tree and quickly killing the goat. The cat was strong enough to carry the carcass into the tree where it fed. Truly a magnificent creature.


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It was a magnificent journey. Ranks of gleaming warriors held the center as tall barbarians from the northern wastes fell upon their flanks and lines of southern spearmen charged in. All the while, brilliant magics and thunderous volleys ripped through our foes, human and otherworldly. We moved from victory to victory, nothing could stop our crusade.

We took ship and carried our fight to the south. We sank brazen corsairs, battled monsters from the deep, and scattered fleets that dared oppose us. These were heady times, standing at the prow of a mighty ship with Nina beside me.... Nina?...

Things are a little fuzzy; that's Nina, but everything else seems wrong. Did I get hit in the head again? It does happen pretty often. She has a look; damn, what did I do now? No, that's concern, not anger; what DID I do? Asked what I had missed, but all that came out was someone stepping on a frog. Took a bit of water as she explained I had come down with a persistent fever as we traveled from Fort Dolar. We were now in Ardis, and people are checking into the key found on the vampire. Eventually sat up to discover I'm a sweat-soaked wreck in a shabby little room; you know, this looks just like the crappy bordello we rescued Epher from in Magnimar, when he was trying to show us how much of a man he was. Don't think I've ever seen women that mad before or since, but it was their own fault for not making sure he had the coin first.

Staggered out of bed, got too good a look at my condition, and excused myself to the stable yard. Stripped off my filthy rags and burned them on the spot. Then spent the next half hour scrubbing in a trough, then made sure to dump it out and refill with fresh water. No reason for the animals to suffer, I'd done enough for all of us. Returned to the room with all possible dignity; might have worked better if I had remembered to bring a change of clothes, but these people look like they need something to gossip about.

With the extra coin from our recent fracas, I need to spoil the heck out of a certain young lady and attempt to make up for my most recent failures. Also need to get some color back and get ready for our social call.


Most of the group spent time doing their own thing, but for the most part it was spent relaxing and drinking. When we gathered up for the luncheon meeting I played the role of dutiful bodyguard and just did my best to look intimidating, concerned and generally aware of my surroundings. Which meant standing in the corner of the room while Oona would fake whisper something into Sam’s ear who would then prattle on with Lena, while Atz played the role of dutiful advisor.

The rest of the group, sans Vex was escorted to a library and waiting room while the negotiations took place. Vex had scaled the walls of the estate and was skulking about looking for any information on Malick. I assume the rest of the group, or at least the sneaky ones, would be leaving the library to do the same.

I spent most of my time with my vision shifted to see things as they truly were and about ten minutes into the meeting I saw Salacious, Sam’s imp trying to get my attention from across the room. Sam had sent him on a scouting mission while he was invisible and he had apparently found something. The meeting was still in the cursory pleasantry stage so I stepped forward and whispered to Sam that I needed to take care of something. Nodded to Oona and left the room.

Once in the hallway the imp told me he had discovered a hidden room that he couldn’t get into. So he led me there and I found that I also could not enter the room as my dimensional hopping as I call it wouldn’t work. Something prevented my travel and I assume it was magical. I looked around for a hidden keyhole and after discovering one was disappointed to learn the key we had wouldn’t work in it. So I gave the key to the imp and told him to find Kelyn as he is our resident locksmith. By now my absence might be noticed so I returned to the negotiations.

They were just starting the actual negotiations when I returned. For the next thirty odd minutes the talked while I stood at attention and continued my role as implacable bodyguard. As a group we left the estate grounds and in the quick conversations I overheard from the others what they had found. Inside the hidden room was not only a dessicated corpse, approximately one month dead and drained, where vast amounts of paperwork, ledgers and whatnot. Kelyn had used his portable cloth hole to store all the paperwork to look over in detail later on. I decided to keep an eye on Lena to learn who she may talk to or what she was going to do for capital. I accomplished this by turning into an eagle and finding a perch on one of the buildings overlooking the estate.

She made her rounds of the city by leaving a short while later and going to what appeared to be a bank but left shortly after entering. The building was rather well constructed with minimal small windows but no markings. In all respects it appeared to be a grand building that should be dedicated to Abadar but was unmarked. She returned home and eventually left again to proceed to what looked to be another, smaller bank of some sort. A small symbol of Abadar hanging above the door.

She left this establishment and then proceeded to move into the city when I caught the group standing outside the larger building I had seen Lena enter into earlier. I then spied Sam and Felu moving down one of the side streets presumably back to the Tasty Hagfish. Casting a prepared spell that would allow me to speak while in beast form I flew down to Sam and Felu to find out what was going on.

It would seem an altercation between a vampire at the Hagfish had occurred. The vampire had stolen the Malick key and when eventually laid low by the others had turned into the green smoke and gone into the large building where everyone else was at. Lugh was using some potions of gaseous form to enter into the building to find him and kill him before he regenerated. Sam and Felu were going back to the Hagfish to keep up the ruse should Lena arrive.

I figured they might need some help and so I decided to try and find a few potions as well and was surprised to find they were rather expensive. Fifteen hundred gold later I returned to the group and waited to see if Lugh was going to make it out before going in after him.


Toured the town in style, went through a pile of lucre, and tried to get back up to speed. This burg is really on it's last breath, but I've done what I can. As it happens, my brilliant, long-range plan to keep Nina happy will probably require me to purchase a portable hole of my own to prevent finery being covered in muddy camping gear.

Spent time talking with locals and looking for helpful information. A priest of a smaller church knew a bit of Lena and her role as the figurehead of the household. He wasn't one for gossip, but mentioned she had trouble of some form. Met with the group later, and made final plans for the meet.

Got all spiffed up for the luncheon, arrived in style, and was shunted to the library as extras. Spent some time in small talk and browsing this pretense of literacy; I found five copies of the same boring book on tree fungus. These guys buy this stuff by the wagon and hope no one pays attention. I also didn't find any wall safe, secret passage, or treasure room; so much for the great vampire lord.

About then, Sam's pet showed up with Malik's key, and said there's a door HUGE can't blink through and I had to open it cause I'm the lock guy. Shouldn't this be on a leash? I know who ISN'T cleaning up after it. Excused myself, and accompanied Lugh to join Vex upstairs. Malik's key was of no use, so took a bit of time with my finest tools, and got nowhere. Stared daggers from many eyes(most not even IN the room) assailed me until it came to me to try THAT key instead; everybody's an expert. The door opened to a small study with the usual desk, cabinet, and corpse. Malik hadn't made arrangements for a plaything, another reason to dislike the undead. There was a pile of papers to sort through, so opened the hole and shelved it about the time Fido came back to say the meet was breaking up. Rejoined the ladies in time for the grand exit, and returned to the inn relating what had happened.

Sam came up with another plan for the evening. Seems Macer had spent the previous evening bending the ear of another vanpire that spends his time siphoning locals at our inn(did I mention this is a splendid little town to raise a family in?). Sam wants to work it to help with the Malik plan, and asked for Nina's help in negotiations. She agreed, and they began in the usual, curtained alcove. She returned for Malik's key, to prove his demise, which led to fire, lightning, and screams as it snatched said key; my kind of deal. A general commotion ensued as Oona latched on to it and proceeded to do things that should have at least got a smile out of it, but I guess it's not the same if you're undead. In hindsight, should have just grabbed the pouch, it was in no position to resist, but I just let the badger run free. It wasn't pretty, and I'm not real proud, because it led to a repeat of the road fight with Malik. Followed the mist to a large building with little access, guess there are LOTS of vampires here(thinking of putting up a little summer place). Had limited time till it reformed, so I was getting ready to fix my mistake, when Lugh said he would finish it; wasn't going to argue with that look. Atz warded him from undead notice, and he turned to mist.

Waited quite some time, to the point of real concern, but there were no alarms or explosions. Lugh finally reformed and stated the creature was dust. The special key opens the vampires loot vault, and the building is full of them. Can't wait to hear the next part of this plan!


I'm off to Scotland in the morning along with Vex's user. :^)
We'll be away for a couple of weeks. That's why we played today so we wouldn't miss three game sessions.

I had planned on a few deaths this game session but was surprised at how calmly the five that made it did. The five were split up into 3 - 4 groups. That's why I figured there would be casualties. Each group handled their personal encounter really well. There were a few surprises as the groups could not use information they weren't privy to and they didn't. They made a total mess of things but in the end they left town (jail break and all) unnoticed. The lies and stories that they left behind may never be fully unravelled. They had so many half truths going that the authorities are beside themselves trying to deduce truth from lie. Mainly because there was so much truth in their lies. Great fun from my TPK out look to - really you let them handcuff you and take you in for questioning. That never happens without a fight. There is a lot going on right now and they are back in Magnimar for some well deserved down time.

Now I have two weeks of castles and highland hikes, lochs to ponder and time to think about the next phase of this sorted tale. The title of this post "Goulies and ghosties and long leggeddy beasties and things that go bump in the night, may the good loard deliver us, amen" is an old Scottish prayer that I grew up with so I wish you well until Taylor and I return. Lex


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Another fine day in Drudgeville. Readied spells and equipment for the big haul, and found that others would be taking care of things. Lugh, sort of knowing the way, would lead in gaseous form and HUGE would do the heavy lifting as an earth elemental. He's taking the storage unit so he can collect loot without shifting form, a time and resource saver. We retired to a small cafe down the road to wait to assist, while Felu and Sam returned to the inn to recover their things ahead of our usual short-notice departure.

Sampled the mediocre fare as we waited on the intrepid explorers(wouldn't be a bad place if it had a decent cook, sunshine, and a population that knew how to smile on occasion). Fido showed up to tell us that Felu and Sam had been detained by the local law, and had allowed themselves to be shackled and taken in without death and explosions; must be a different Felu and Sam. The explorers finally returned with a story of hunting vampires and near misses. They had one set of loot, but a sneaky one had set an ambush at Malik's hold.

We then moved down the road to the local lockup. Frontal assault seemed messy, so Nina made the two of us gaseous, and we went in search of our criminals. Found Sam in a dingy cell wearing dimensional shackles; love these things, twist the wrists a few times while holding your tongue just so, and the things just fall off. Guess that isn't common knowledge, just as well. Floated down the hall to find Felu, who had not been accorded the best treatment to be expected by a cooperative guest; probably need to return some day and look into serious urban renewal. It's really difficult to remain a good person when surrounded by small, petty oafs. Released Felu, Sam stowed the shackles for later, and blinked the two of them out. We floated at a more sedate pace to rejoin the others and figured it was time to blow this mead stand.

Traveled several miles into the forest and set a hidden camp. HUGE and Lugh returned the following day to clear out Malik's goodies, and it was time to head home. Sailed rivers and the big lake in my mighty vessel, arriving at the true capital; not a big improvement. We were having a look around before taking passage south, when a couple thugs showed us the local hospitality. They attempted to shove us in an alley and play a round of "Kill 'em and Take Their Stuff". We politely declined, but they were most insistent as the general population turned a blind eye. I traded organs with the two as Nina dropped unpleasentries on them. They finally broke off their murder attempt, but we decided not to pursue as we had both been seriously mauled. As we patched each other up, I checked Nina closely, and she assured me I also wasn't wearing a sign that said "Kill Me, Please". Staggered back to the docks with bared weapons, thinking maybe the whole country should be plowed under and reseeded; probably the best idea in the long run.

Long travels by ship and wagon, with only a few episodes of murderous intent. A wonderful day when we return to Magnimar, settling into familiar surroundings. Hobart got word of our arrival, and threw another lavish party. An amazing evening of family and friends, a huge weight has been lifted from me. Nina is smiling, and has stopped giving me all those concerned looks. Tonight is for celebration, tomorrow I'll figure how to use this pile of coin to foil these attempts to shuffle off my mortal coil.


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Wait just a minute. There have been several "coincidences" lately, and I'm beginning to smell a familiar species of vermin. Hate to credit the other side with any level of intellect, but am thinking they put out contracts on us. We're not real hard to pick out of a crowd(we make up a good part of one), but this is lining up too easy. Need to talk to that woman following HUGE around(definitely a K name, it'll come to me), she may know something as it's her line of work. Hold on, what if she's on the job HERSELF? HUGE doesn't seem all that enamored of her, but she keeps hanging around.

Many questions, need to talk to Lugh about interrogations. I do NOT plan on being some soul-less schmuck's bounty!


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I hadn’t remarked to the others that over the last few months I had been having dreams of the primal forces of earth. Nothing was ever specific, such as dreams rarely ever are, but I was always left with images, lingering traces of the smell of fresh tilled earth, and the weight of the world. I assumed this was a sign of Gorum and his affinity with iron having come from the earth. So I began summoning the lesser earth elementals and began to slowly learn their language. The language itself has a different structure to one I was used to and slow, very slow. Which makes learning the language extremely difficult as the magics required to summon an elemental lasts for a shortened time. I know a lot of languages, one I attribute to my mother, who bent my ear literally multiple times while teaching me them. Others I have picked up over the years, Dwarven when I was in the Linnorm lands in the north, and the secretive Druidic taught to me by Arypp. During this time I began to notice subtle differences in the appearances of the elementals and in time whenever I summoned one it appeared to be the same one. Which helped to speed me along at learning the language because it was aware of where we would leave off.

In time I learned how to shift into their form, and in todays case it was important. While waiting for Lugh to return to our group I prepared by meditating on the glories of Gorum and the battles I have fought to date. I had just finished my meditations when Lugh arrived back. The spells he had used were over and all that he managed to say was that he found the tomb where the vampire had fled to. He also clarified that he would no longer rise. He said that the key that he recovered was similar to a key that the vampire carried and it went to a storage vault inside the larger vault. He opened it and produced a bar of platinum as proof. That’s when many of us began to smile. Lugh then cautioned that the building was vast and the number of vaults was uncountable but it extended deep below the earth. The spells we had available were limited and getting in and out, much less loot the vault of this vampire, was going to be difficult.

In the end Lugh took both of my potions and I transformed into the small elemental that I had been visiting with over the weeks and took Kelyn’s cloth hole. Before we left Lugh gave detailed, yet approximate, distances to me for entering. I would be able to see his gaseous form but it would be difficult. On the other hand both of us would be visible to the rest of the inhabitants should we be seen so Atz shielded us with an invisibility to the undead.

With this done I moved through the earth like air moved about. The sensation was frightening and addicting in equal measure. It took a lot of self-control to not loose sight of the goal here, especially when I wasn’t the only one in danger. It took only a few seconds but I did find Lugh and we quickly found the tomb vault. With the key retrieved from the hole I opened the vault and moved the substantial amount of wealth into the hole. Kelyn had taken the time to install shelving and had vastly organized everything contained within. Time being of a factor I did not take an equal amount of time placing items within the hole as Kelyn did. Looking at the large pile at the end of the transfer made me believe that Kelyn would not mind organizing it all. After closing the hole I looked about for Lugh. He was already on the second potion and time was limited so we only searched for the Malick vault for a few minutes before he left. I continued on as I could maintain the form for most of the afternoon and early evening.

As I continued my search there was a sudden rise of activity. Multiple voices could be heard, all shouting and several mists floated by. I did what I could to stay hidden but Atz told me the spell would only last a little longer than an hour and I was coming close to an hour within the complex. Just as I was about to abandon my search I found the Malick crest and the number which matched the key we had. So I slowly poked my head into the room. What I found was a vampire hiding and waiting for someone to enter. The creature was expecting this to happen and I was confused as to why he would be here unless it was just a coincidence. Erring to the side of caution I decided to leave and return at a later date. I was able to make a straight exit from the building and was confident that I would be able to enter again and find the vault.

When I returned to the others I found out why the sudden commotion inside the vault caused me to leave early. Sam and Felu had been taken prisoner at the Tasty Hagfish for their part in the death of the vampire. Nina and Kelyn were sure they could break them out with a few spells and so we made our way to the jails. Within a few minutes they succeeded and we decided to leave town. I still had a great number of things at the Tasty Hagfish and told them I would go and retrieve not only my gear but theirs. Most were hesitant since Sam and Felu had been arrested but I wasn’t there for the fight so I should be safe. We agreed to meet a few miles west of town off the road.

When I arrived at the Hagfish there were still a lot of guards on station and they drew immediate attention to me since I was a foreigner. They asked why I was here and I just gave them a blank look, told them I was staying there and it was full of “entertainers.” They scrutinized me for several seconds before letting me pass. I was unsure if they were using magics or not to determine if I was truthful, but in the end everything I said was true. Knowing that leaving shortly after entering may cause suspicion I decided to knock boots with one of the girls before gathering our gear and leaving town.

I know the others think I am unaware of the attentions of Kiara and the looks given to me by Shalelu, but I am not. Knocking boots is one thing but a relationship, even a short one, is not something I was interested in. My life is devoted to Gorum, my family and my friends in that order. A relationship would only complicate my life and besides, what could I offer either of the two women? I wish to spend my life in the wilds of Golarion, be it Varisia or the Linnorm lands. I may call Magnimar my home, but only because that is where my direct family lives. The others have a lifestyle that keeps them together because we are always together. In time who knows what Sam and Felu will do, or Nina and Kelyn for that matter. Settle down? Who really knows. I know I don’t plan on settling down.

Regardless, I found the others a hour or so after I left the Hagfish and I took my time to ensure I wasn’t being followed. We spent the evening with Kelyn organizing and cataloging what we had found, and I was correct in his not being offended at having to do so. Vex helped, but mostly just stood there and grinned. When he was done and told Vex he needed to leave, Vex just smiled and said it was okay. When Kelyn countered with, “you’ll suffocate” Vex just smiled and said, “I can hold my breath for a really long time,” and that gave me an idea. Especially after Vex told us just how long he could hold his breath.

The next day we moved farther down the road about a half-days march and set up a new camp off in the woods. Vex crawled inside the hole and I shifted into an eagle and flew back to Ardis. I then shifted into my elemental form and sneaked back in. The only flaw was there was no way to ensure my not being seen by the undead. So I took it slow and cautious. I returned to the Malick tomb vault and found no ambush so I quickly opened the hole and let Vex out. Within a matter of minutes we had cleared out the Malick vault and made our way back out unnoticed. Then it was just a long hike back to the others.

We spent the next few weeks sailing down several rivers in Kelyn’s magical folding boat until we reached Caliphas, the new capital of Ustalev. From here we booked passage on a larger vessel for the long trip back to Magnimar. Along the way both Kelyn and Nina had run into some foul ruffians but escaped and Vex also managed to find trouble in one the towns we stopped off at but came out slightly better off than Kelyn and Nina had. This journey was the most relaxing for me and one I took knowing that I was as close to the wild as I could get while still traveling at a quickened pace for home. On the plus side, the trip was definitely worth it and there was a lot of treasure gained.


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So I'd finally been talked down from the assassination conspiracy rant and put my soapbox back in the portable hole, when there's a knock at the door. It's Kiara, and she's assuring me there isn't any conspiracy, and starts going into some other information. The whole time I'm thinking how did she know about this and how can I believe someone who could be at the center of it? Have found that it is impossible to look every direction at the same time, and may have done permanent damage to my neck trying.

This has been a good time. We're back in real civilization catching up and getting ready for the next bit of work. I may have commissioned the most expensive piece of silk in town, can't wait to see how this works out. Other irons in the fire, we start focusing on the Kaijitsu manor. HUGE spends much time in other forms watching the estate and many many flavors of dog that inhabit the grounds while others hit the books to research everything forgotten since the last go round. All seems quiet and boring till the bright idea comes up to watch at NIGHT; suddenly the place looks like the marshaling camp of a major invasion. Coaches and wagons at all hours, deliveries and shipments, and some bizarre characters. There is a woman camped in the graveyard, believed to be a vampire. Looks to be in charge of the dog things/guard force; small potatoes. The problem is this odd guy who visits for a few days at a time; bad hair, weird clothes, likes to stitch together and animate "things". Nina's look tells me I should be laid out on the ground, drooling or worse. She describes an ancient, powerful undead creature who will undoubtedly take a dim view of our kicking over this anthill.

Plans begin to form; HUGE grabbed one of the constructs, who was full of useful information once it figured we wouldn't eat it or send it back. The lich(?) is predictable, so we plan to hit the toothy one about noon the day after he leaves. Nother vampire under our belts and we can move on to serious work.

Using spells and stealth, we enter the estate and move along the northern end. We stay below the patrols line of sight until coming even with the big tomb. Move up to the trees and I circle around to open the door. Group sneaks in and the door is closed without tripping any alarms. A search shows a standard layout, with all the activity in the rear. HUGE, with a couple of us giving moral support, slides open the massive lid to reveal stairs twisting down into the hill. Guess it was too much to hope she would be napping quietly for us to slaughter, but the possibility of rooms stuffed with loot does shine a bit of light on things. Got to keep a positive attitude in this line of work, the other side is SO depressing.


I used the money I had gained from our recent run in Ustalav to purchase a magical tome that the proprietor explains will not only teach me how to eat better and get more exercise but also make me stronger. I’m a bit dubious to that claim as this vendor is in a non permanent location down in the bazaar of sails. He is also charging an exorbitant amount of money for this book and the idea of loosing all that wealth to a vendor who won’t be here in a week, as that is how long it takes to read and have the magic affect me, is not pleasant. Eating right and exercising is all I really do. I eat lots and lots of meat. I am constantly swinging this massive sword and working in this armor is plenty of exercise. So what could this book really do? So I warned the vendor. “If this magical tome doesn’t work as you have promised it will, I will find you and you can guess the rest.” The man was of Osirini descent as he had that same olive colored skin and dark hair that reminded me of Lugh’s mother. He actually grew pale and swallowed hard at that statement. His hands were even shaking when I handed him the vast wealth of a small noble house. Turns out the book worked. Good for him, boring for me.

I spent the next few weeks talking with my companions, hanging out at the Deverin manor and watching the Kaijitsu estate in owl, eagle and raven forms. The days were fairly quiet on the grounds. I was able to spy several smaller outbuildings had been erected on the estate grounds using materials I could only guess came from the coach house next to the manor. The werewolves patrolled the grounds in a circuit, moving from one outbuilding to the next. They never approached the manor proper and rarely went into the gardens and only approached the family mausoleum. The only area they appeared to rig with simple snare traps was the main road from the gate to the manor. There was also the addition of a grave yard near the mausoleum that looked somewhat fresh. I also found an undead of some type moving around in the gardens maze. All of this was disconcerting considering that the image of Ameiko’s great grandfather was still seen in the study of the main manor. I would occasionally watch him move about the study reading books, except the pages never turned and his hands would pass directly through the books. He never paid any attention to my arrival or caws and I am beginning to wonder if this is just some sort of magical illusion. There was one creature that I would watch that tended the gardens with an almost reckless zeal. It was a smaller creature, maybe half the size of Vex and besides trying to eat every bug it encountered in the garden it avoided the werewolves. They noticed the creature but the idea of contempt was all I could discern from them. Seemed harmless enough and I wondered if I should attempt to make contact with the creature to learn about the grounds. I decided to speak with Ameiko and flew to Sandpoint.

The trip only took me the better part of a day and I stayed at the inn for the evening before returning home. I spoke with Ameiko for a while and she admitted that no one should be on their grounds and they were in fact squatters and I had her permission to remove them, forcefully. To ensure no political or legal issues with the Magnimar government and to make sure that Macer’s family wouldn’t get in trouble for his actions Ameiko drew up a letter giving us this permission and the local sheriff, Hemlock, witnessed the document. This done I enjoyed the rest of my time there listening to the odd little gnomish woman sing in the evening to the crowds approval. I even met up with Shalelu for many drinks. Not unattractive in the slightest, she reminded me of some of the Ulfen women I had met up with when in the Linnorm lands. Very unapologetic in her actions and would try to keep up when it came to drinking. I learned that she too was more comfortable in the wilds rather than the city, but most of that was due to her elven heritage and desire to help keep the hinterlands around Sandpoint safe. She had just recently reconciled with her step father of sorts, a story for another time. We spent the evening drinking, talking, laughing and listening to Moxie before I went to bed early in the morning alone.

After returning to Magnimar I decided to shift my time watching the estate to the evening. Turns out the estate grounds are a lot more active. An individual would arrive by coach and stay on the estate for a few days before leaving. The individual looked to be an older man with wild looking hair but when I viewed him with my true sight he was actually some sort of undead. It looked to be a skeleton of some sorts and after talking with Lugh the idea was given that it was a Lich. Some sort of powerful, magical wielding undead. He would always be met by a woman that was also a vampire. Having dealt with so many lately I have become rather accustomed to spotting them. They would briefly talk and then she would return to the mausoleum where he entered a building on the far side of the gardens and wouldn’t return until he would leave again in a few days time. I followed him out of the city once and he traveled out into the Mushfens to a tower. I watched for a while but ended up returning back to Magnimar after watching for an hour or so. The werewolves during all this would defer to the vampire and leave the lich alone, other than carry his belongings. He would always bring in bags and boxes of various sizes and leave with different sized bags and boxes.

The others were not wanting to tangle with lich and everything else and since he followed a very strict schedule we decided to make a move on the vampire first during the day after the lich left Magnimar. So we made minor preparations, Kelyn informing me that he also received the enchantment I had on my armor on his. When I looked at him quizzically for “the armor” he pointed to this little metal disc sewn onto a silk belt. My look of confusion was apparently all he needed for a smirk and we hopped the fence from Hobart’s estate into the Kaijitsu grounds. Using the natural slope on the back side of the estate grounds, which overlooked the Dockway far below, we made our approach to the back side of the mausoleum. From here we stealthily approached and entered into the mausoleum without setting off any alarms. Inside we found a sarcophagus lid that required me and a few others to move off. Instead of finding her, we found stairs leading down into the earth. Things are looking up.


I have been overly contemplative for some long while. I have neglected my entries and correspondence as I have been trying to study more on the dark powers trying to discern how to motivate them to divulge information during an interrogation and I believe I had stumbled across some promising techniques. We Have left Ustalav a better place than we found it laying demons and vampires low, but I have no doubt the void will be filled over time.

We sailed home. I love the sea. It reminds me of time spent with my Papa and ruffian brothers and my father telling his adventure stories on our father-son fishing trips and his tutelage in the spear and shield. Walking home to the house from the cross pier into our house to meet with the rest of the family and eat Mama’s cooking. The city lights of Magnimar when you come in to port after dark, its all one great memory connected to the sea.

I have spent much time at the temple in Magnimar seeing to its progress and setting plans for the ceremony naming its priest. I saw to my personal needs and those of family. All seems to have gone well in our absence. We are now engaged officially as agents of the Kaijitsu family to clear the Maginmar estate of “squatters” who are laying plans to subjugate or assist in an effort. Either way we find ourselves at odds with a familiar undead, a more sinister undead, and a host of lycans, all of which are logistically and martially prepared for whatever deed they have set their minds to……and surprise, surprise….a stair way into the depths of the highcliff hidden in a mausoleum!


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Time to jump down the rabbit hole, those hungry vampires won't wait on us all day!

HUGE led the way down the stair when all felt ready to engage. As he reached the bottom, there were several meaty thumps and a call of "vampire". Nina and I were discussing options as the entire group surged past to join in, turning the corridor into a mosh pit. I was left to watch the other direction as Nina healed HUGE(again with the low dice rolls). While the others were curb-stomping the first leech, another ran up to disembowel me. Enjoyed a bit of sport slapping it's knuckles with the badger, it seemed put out until they both did the smoky withdrawl thing. Minor patch work and the group went around the left to discover double doors. As we were lining up to enter, four more parasites leaped out of the walls and started their usual savagery. Currently unoccupied, I moved to support Sam(not a fan of close encounters), while Nina moved toward Felu and Vex. He would be one of the last to request assistance, but he does appreciate a good flanking partner. Nina showed the stirge a new trick by funneling a fireball through her sword; by all reports, it was not pleased with this surprise.

Much butchery later, the pests were smoked and we lined up on the doors again. HUGE couldn't help himself, and "blinked" through the door as I worked to unlock it; if you guys don't want me to waste time with this stuff, just tell me. Burst into the chamber to find stacked caskets and no opposition. The six from earlier were inside trying to recover, and were quickly stacked and beheaded. This left the boss thing and six more, presumably above to cut us off. Piled the boxes and contents in the chamber, and Nina dropped another fireball to leave any escapees out in the cold.

Huge was first back up the stair to find it closed. Used all those muscles and tendons to shove the stone aside and let the fight begin. The female faces HUGE, and from the yelling, the underlings have decided to play spiders in the rafters. Our current clogged condition will make this an interesting tactical problem, but I'm sure the group will throw a little light on the situation.


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It didn’t ‘look up’ for long.

I reached the bottom of the stairwell and was given two options, right or left and chose left. After moving five feet I was given another option and chose right only to be stabbed multiple times in the back from something hiding just to my left. This was also the first time I experienced a palpable aura of evil emanating from what was a vampire. It chilled me to my bones and froze me in a state of fear. By the time I had regained control of myself, the vampire that had attacked me and another one were reduced to their gaseous state. After a few quick heals from the others while I had been frozen in terror we moved on.

We didn’t have to move far before another four of the creatures jumped us from varying areas. There were sever small hidden alcoves they sprang from hidden in the walls. I managed an impressive charging attack on one that had engaged Lugh and reduced it to gaseous form. Hearing shouts of alarm and requests for aid from my erstwhile tattooing brother Sam, I moved in his direction. By the time I rounded that corner the two there were reduced to gaseous form. The last one was remaining in her alcove but I could easily see enough room behind her and with a very well timed overrun shoved her against the wall and moved past her setting up flanking attacks with Oona and Lugh. The fight did not last long.

The only area left was a central room where the gaseous form had moved to and found ourselves outside a locked door. While waiting for Kelyn to pick the lock I dimensionally stepped beyond the door and opened it from my side. The others came in to find a wall containing twelve coffins in alcoves and a grand coffin towards the rear of the room. The others made short work of the six vampires as they attempted to regenerate and we found the grand coffin empty. This left us the master and six more vampires to be killed and I spent a large amount of time in the outer room looking for more secret alcoves while the others destroyed everything in the room. This only left returning to the mausoleum proper and I wasn’t surprised when I found the lid back on the coffin that hid the stairs.

Shoving it aside I was immediately attacked by the head vampire and was savagely torn asunder. I am not sure if it was the sudden blood loss or the fact I was mentally prepared for more fear but I managed to brush aside her aura. I only wish my armor had done the same to her claws. I felt her attempt to drain my life but the magics on my armor held strong and prevented this from happening which only infuriated her more. I knew I was not going to withstand another attack from her so I shifted into the form of the small earth elementals and sand into the earth. I had hoped to heal myself there but found that the others had followed up and were pinned in the stairwell. Even though Vex had managed to tumble past the others were stuck and so I stepped up behind her to assist Lugh in gutting her like a pig.


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Have you ever made one of those decisions you immediately regret? Well I just made one of those and it landed me in the middle of six vampires… so we’ll see how this plays out.

While we were waiting for various items to get enchanted or found in the marketplace, a number of us decided to do some reconnaissance on the mansion. There was at least one vampire, a number of werewolves and dire wolves and one lich. Luckily the lich would only be there for a few days at a time then be gone for a few days, he has a pretty set schedule.

We decided to launch a sneaky assault the day after the lich left for one of his outings. We sneaked into the mausoleum around noon hoping to catch the vampire in its coffin asleep. We were all able to get by the wolves and enter the mausoleum without raising any alarms. The upper level had around five stone sarcophaguses but they didn’t house what we were after. The one furthest from the front door on the other hand slid to the side revealing a stairway to a sub-level. Underneath was pretty simple but during exploration we were accosted, first by two, and then by four more vampires. We came out of those fights pretty well off; they got a lucky hit in on me, but the knife healed that up nicely.

Looking around the sub-level we found a total of thirteen coffins. We found the now occupied ones and finished off the recuperating vampires then started looking around for the others. I heard Huge yell that they had closed the entrance so I went to watch his back as he opened it back up. Well the main she-vamp was waiting right outside the opening and took some pretty big chunks out of Huge. The others were coming up the stairs and there wasn’t going to be a lot of room to maneuver around her so I jumped straight up onto the sarcophagus and took a quick look around. I saw one vampire on the rafter above me so I decided to leap up there and keep him busy while the group got to focus on the she-vamp. Well what I hadn’t noticed was that there was not just the one, but six vampires up in the rafters. The others had been at such angles that my quick look missed their presence. Well you can guess what happens next. Do some rush down to help their boss? No, of course not, they all rush and attack me. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to dodge their attacks, and I really can’t say I’ve been in a worse situation, but I’m sure the next few seconds will be thoroughly interesting.


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Mission. Accomplished.

You know how they say that judo consists of a push and a pull and long wait? This job consisted of a whisper here, a couple of words about an obscure way to defeat demonic possession there, and the wayward child goes running home to Uncle Boris. Damn, I'm good.


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For the life of me, I'm still not sure what just happened.

Things start with HUGE, Lugh, and me around the boss and Vex leaped into the rafters with six of her underlings. That is one brave individual; might of been a bit of miscalculation, but it sure did look good. The floor fight began with some quick moves, but we soon found that we had drifted into deeper water. This one was fast and tough as iron; new tactics are called for. I recalled some of my more obscure training and distracted her, giving the others more openings. Not as heroic as hacking away, but damage was being done. Sadly, It was giving terrible wounds all around. Nina tried to remove the roof with fire, but all was solid stone, and she turned to support Vex from the stairwell. It tried to stop me with it's gaze, and nearly succeeded, but the warmth from Lugh's talisman kept me in the fight.

Was holding my own, due in large part to the battering given by our warriors, when I noticed a distinct lack of said warriors. Dead or dying, no way to tell as It turns on me. Parried a few, but other attacks get through and the cold washes over. Felu is being pressed hard, and it seems Sam has joined with them; that gaze is a harsh thing. Nina calls that her spells run thin, but they are enough to free up Vex, who jumps down to help my hapless flailing. It finally succumbs, and three of us(four, if you count Sam standing idly by the door) on our feet. A quick check shows Lugh and HUGE clinging to life, Oona has passed beyond, but Felu is just gone! I look about while using up our potions, but she is nowhere to be found.

In a dull monotone, Sam said Felu had been claimed by the devil who owns her soul, and to give the blue stuff we found on other vampires to Oona. Will get back to the first part, but the fluid quickly brought her back; no idea what it is, but may be the safeguard I've been hunting. Will have to be very careful with this. Tried a few things to get Sam back, but had only limited success. It was enough for him to grasp the part he had in Felu's death, something snapped inside. It finally took some of the blue stuff to bring him back fully. He(and Oona) act almost like pesh addicts, gazing longingly at the vials; what have we stumbled into?

Careful search and looting of the vampire crypt and their remains are dealt with. Another portable hole is found(did I mention careful?) and HUGE uses them to move us back to the manor. While trying to staunch all the wounds, we talk and try to make sense of what happened. Sam has decided to return to his uncle, says he can "save her" and will not be swayed. Their loss tears a big hole in the group.

Guess I was sitting slack-jawed for some time before Nina brought me back. My mind still can't focus on what might have happened if I'd given in to that gaze; not sure I could match Sam's calm demeanor. And for all we went through, I don't feel any more competent, and that undead thing still waits in the marsh. The luster of this lifestyle definitely been ground off with a sharp stone, but who's going to do it if not us? Might be the drain talking, but am NOT feeling very invincible(no matter how I hold my thumb and forefinger).


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Here’s my thing. I grew up in Magnimar, in the good part of town. I was even more of a mousy misfit when I was a kid than I am now, partly because I was blind as the proverbial bat before I got spectacles, partly because I didn’t have a dad, and partly because as a child I didn’t realize that most people are idiots and can be safely ignored. So long story short, I didn’t have too many friends. One of the other misfits (although less so than yours truly) was a dark-elf girl named Felu. Felu had her own gang that she hung out with most of the time, and I wasn’t included in that group (I wasn’t pretty enough for the stuck up one, Oona), but Felu was always nice to me.

About the time I was figuring out that I had a knack for magic, Felu and her gang all left town for various destinations. I was tired of being a short, mousy, bespectacled girl studying magic in Magnimar, and decided to go be a short, mousy, bespectacled girl studying magic elsewhere (also, mom decided to move and I was dragged along). So, I found myself in Absalom. Magic turned out not to be weird enough for me, and to my Magister’s chagrin, I started combining my magical studies with guns and gunpowder. There is something inherently attractive to me about the equalizing power of magic and firearms; shove a pistol in some cretin’s face and they are MUCH more likely to listen to what you have to say, especially if you’re a stocky 5’ 2” girl with glasses.

So with me, it’s guns and magic. Magister took to calling me “spellslinger” as a joke, but it backfired (heh) because I wholeheartedly adopted the perjorative. Had a few adventures and made quite a bit of cash, and somewhere along the way this crusty old soldier started following me around and shoving his shield in front of me to interfere with incoming swords and arrows. We get along, mainly because we are both pretty impossible to get along with, partly because I make sure he has all the best gear and cover his room and board, and partly because I think he has some kind of crush on me.

Here’s my thing. I don’t go for older guys, or really any guys or girls. I’m not saying it’s wrong, I just don’t have time. There are too many books to read, too much powder to mix, too much magic to do to waste time on any of that touchy-feely stuff. Plus, it’s icky. I’m not a virgin or anything, but seriously, have you guys looked at yourselves naked? All that stuff just kinda… hanging there off the front of you looks just silly and incredibly inconvenient. I don’t know how you put up with those things. Girls look better, but the nuts and bolts (heh) really aren’t any more appealing. Plus the fact that sex is fleshy and sweaty and gross if it’s done correctly. I just don’t have the time or inclination for that stuff.

So, after our last little mercenary group split up (I don’t much understand the allure of money, either), Sergeant Saunders and I were kind of at loose ends. Finding ourselves in Korvosa and not liking it much, I suggested we visit my old home town and look up my old girlfriend Felu. I thought it would be nice to let her know that I had become somewhat successful on my own terms.

I inquired at her old homestead, and they told me that Felu had taken to adventuring with her old gang, but that they hadn’t heard from her for a while, and gave me directions to her old boyfriend’s parent’s house, down in the dockway near the Bazaar of Sails. THEY gave me directions back up the hill to the Deverin estate, and said that Felu and her boyfriend Sam could generally be found there when they were in town. So Sgt. Saunders and I slogged all the way back up the hill, took a little while to freshen up for the visit to the gentry, and went to call on the Deverin estate. Nice place, and I got to meet up with Felu’s old gang.

The Sergeant and I introduced ourselves to the servant at the door and asked for Felu, at which name the stony-faced butler actually blanched a little, and showed us to a library. Lots of books I would like to check out if I get a chance, lots of trophies, and six very sad/angry/frustrated men and women of about my age, deep in discussion. I apologized for interrupting them and said that I was looking for Felu Waeglo, at whose name the cat-woman (Nina?) burst into tears and a thunderous look came into the faces of the men present. I took a step back and Sgt. Saunders’ right hand groped for a non-existent sword hilt; we both thought we were in some danger as I said, “did I come at a bad time?”

Oona (prettier and biatchier than ever) gave a snide little laugh and said, “well, it couldn’t be a whole lot worse.” A truly enormous norseman took over then, telling me that Felu had died and been taken bodily to Hell that very morning, and that her boyfriend had taken it very badly and left was well. They were in the middle of a contract and weren’t sure how to proceed. I introduced myself as an old friend of Felu’s, introduced my cohort Sergeant Saunders, and got the rest of the story from them. Contracted to clean up the Kaijitsu estate next door, werewolves, vampires, constructs and a visiting liche; waited for the liche to leave, snuck past the werewolves (good trick, that), entered the mausoleum to destroy the vampire (good opening move). Vampire has minions, boss vampire was very tough. Sam dominated, many fighters dropped (including Felu), eventual victory. However, Felu had sold her soul previously to end a demonic possession, and Sam had a large hand in her demise; it’s not terribly surprising that he’d gone off the deep end, especially considering his family’s “attachment” to Hell and its inhabitants.

I glanced at Sgt. Saunders, and he arched an eyebrow. So I got down to business, saying “well then, we’ve come at an opportune time. I think that the sergeant and I have some skills that you might find useful in finishing this contract, and as we are between jobs at the moment, I should like to place us at your service. This would seem a fitting way to honor the passing of my oldest friend.”


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Well I must admit that went MUCH better than I was expecting on initial observation. I had to deal with the six vampires for a little while getting in a quick slash here and there, and eventually taking one down to get myself into a slightly more defensive position. I can't hear what's going on down below, far too focused on my fight, these things move fast...just not as fast as me. I start to get fire support from below the world keeps erupting in flame from a little speck that keeps getting thrown up here, Nina must be launching fireballs at us. They must be doing alright if they can spare. Another vampire dispatched allows me to get into a corner, further cutting off the number that can attack me at once. I can still hear sounds of combat from below, but it seams to be slowing, surely that's a good thing.

Eventually between Nina's fire and my knife we get the count in the rafters down to two vampires and me... till the big nasty decides to come say hi. What is she doing still alive!?! There was six of us to deal with her, while I dealt with the six vampires upstairs... oh please don't tell me it was going the same way on both levels. No time to think about it, have to focus on new threat. It took a number of stabs but she eventually went misty like the others I had dispatched. When I was finally able to get down from the rafters I found that Kelyn, Nina and Sam still stood. We swiftly ended the last threat and took measure of the situation.

Huge and Lugh were still pumping air into their mangled, unconscious forms; Oona was still as the grave and Felu was simply gone. Kelyn filled me in on what happened while we applied potions to the fallen. Sam was non-responsive, starring into nothing, but standing by the door as if just waiting for us to go. Nina explained that the lead vampire had him under the same domination spell that had been used on me some time ago. A few protection potions got him out of it for a minute and he broke down something fierce. Guess he was the one as finished off Felu and she had been taken off to hell for selling her soul. Well I was rather... not happy... with this information, Felu was always very nice to me for whatever reason, and her passing is rather annoying. So I may not have made the situation any better with a snide comment about how it must feel awful to kill one's own woman.

Right before he went back into his dominated state he said something about using the blue stuff on Oona. Confused at first we remembered the many blue vials we had found in the vampires' self-deposit-boxes. Well why not, we don't know what it is and she's already dead, so we cracked one open and force fed it to her. Color quickly returned to her and she popped right up, immediately rejuvenated to top condition. That must be some strong stuff, we tried one on Sam and it got him out of the domination. It definitely made me wonder what vampires are doing with such a strong healing agent... but maybe there's something more to it... better not to dwell on it.

Well with everyone ambulatory again, Huge got us back to the Deverin estate to figure out what to do next.


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There is evil that walks by night, in the long shadows and deeper places of the world. Sadly I have found that it walked at my side since my return home. Had I known of the dark pacts or deals dealt there may have been measures taken to prevent the tragic loss of friends near and dear to our hearts. Childhood friends, sweet hearts, lovers, they were long our faithful, loyal friends. To be truthful we knew the nature of their associations. We held those associations suspect but our comrades in high regard making their loss more difficult. As with Oona, I shouldered the obligation to provide for their spiritual protection, and failed them miserably. My heart is broken to find Felu had bargained her soul with a dark power and was lost to us completely to the depravity of the abyss. Sam in his grief has, with great haste and against counsel, taken his leave and departed for his Uncle. The shadow that has lurked about us since the day we entered the bridge as children has come to claim his first debt. It grows bolder and ever more menacing as we scratch into the worlds deviance hidden in plain sight. Thinking of the path Effer (SPIT!) chose, I cannot but help to think we may be on a path to a tragic end. Brother and sister at one anothers throats as the darkness takes us away one by one until they find the strength of will to confront those who remain faithful in the light once and for all. (mournful sigh!)

I can only speak to the initial meeting in the Kaijitsu mausoleum. It was no small feat to gain entry to the burial structure with guards and animals roaming the grounds of the estate, but I managed…just! I cautioned reconsidering our strategy as I had received a rather specific and poignant warning through a daydream vision in my Dawnwalk. Dismissed as usual, I suggested the group focus its abilities to hasten the demise of the enemy in any conflicts to minimize our contact as the nature of our encounters have been foretold and they are a grim fearsome foe. The mausoleum was filled with vampires nearly a dozen of the lesser. They were dispatched with moderate effort. The coffins in which they slumber were located and ALL were shattered scattering their dirt and setting the pile of kindling aflame. Oona has taken to trophy collecting removing the fangs and stringing them on her necklace. I would have only one for my holy symbol, but I must be patient for that and will undoubtedly be required to split the pair. I doubt Oona’s father will give them over easily! After the destruction of their coffins we returned to the main hall to find the remainder of the fanged dozen and their mistress. She was not of the same blood. She was an ancient blood though timeless in appearance her presence was that of a greater strain than we have previously encountered. All I recall of her was an attempt and maneuver on my part that was less effective than I am accustomed and then a wicked succession of blows accompanied with excruciating pain and a struggle to regain my breath….then all went black. One moment of contact, one brief exchange nearly sent me to the Dawnflower in great shame and humiliation. Not a good showing.

Afterwards we found Sam had been mentally controlled and instrumental in slaying his friend and confidant Felu whose entire person, body and soul had been whisked away at her demise due to a secret dark pact laid and signed some time ago. Again, not a good showing. These issues will be dealt with and in the future will be known to all so no one is left in the darkness…..forever! We collected Sam with some effort and escaped unmolested thanks to an ingenious plan devised by Huge and made our way to safe harbor within the Hobart estate. We have been informed that our band of “vampire slayers” are wanted fugitives in Ustalav, and we are currently hunted within its borders…good to know!

I took the afternoon to check on the progress of the DawnFlower temple, and to converse with my parents about being ever vigilant because of my recent endeavors; to warn them of those who may be seeking retribution for our accomplishments of late. On my return to the Hobart estate I made a few purchases to weight the odds a bit more in our favor. In the evening we had gathered to lay plans for our next move reclaiming the Kaijitsu estate when Master Hobarts Man Servant announced a waif and her man, Miss Emma Granger and Sergeant Saunders. She is somewhat familiar but I can’t place her….from our youth but who is she?


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“Yeah, friend of Felu, right. Come back tomorrow.” Here's my thing: I know that I don’t make the best first impression, but I expected … I don’t know, a different reaction. Sgt. Saunders and I made ourselves scarce. We went back down the hill to our (perfectly adequate, if you ask me) inn, and pondered what I had just done over a couple of ales (Saunders bought). I have potentially hitched our wagon to a bunch of strangers who may or may not be competent. I mean sure, some of them LOOK impressive (I’m talking about the gigantic norseman and the “cleric” or at least the guy with the holy symbol), but that doesn’t necessarily signify. Don’t judge a book by its cover and all that. They did manage to get my friend killed, after all. In the end, we decided that we need more data, and if we make it through this particular contract we can decide if it looks favorable for a more long-term association.

The next evening, we once again presented ourselves to Felu’s gang. The big norseman is Birgun, “the Huge”. At least seven feet tall, armor, two-handed sword, druid. Holy crap, if that guy is a druid, who are the fighters? Macer, shorter than Birgun, armor, big sword, cavalier. No horse in evidence. Kelyn and Nina, wispy swishy-poke and cat-girl magus. Princess Oona (not sure what she does other than complain and be eye-candy) and the “cleric” Lugh. At least he seems to have his head screwed on straight. A very quick, nervous little kobold named Vex, with a calculating eye; this creepy little beast will bear watching. There was a bit of conversation that was in the nature of a job interview, which we must have passed because we were included in the planning session for an assault on the Kaijitsu grounds tomorrow morning.

We would sneak over the wall, make the rounds of the outlying huts that the werewolves seemed to be using, and mop them up piecemeal. Twenty-some dire wolves and at least six werewolves. I don’t sneak very well, and neither does Saunders, but that didn’t seem to be much of a factor with the rest of the group. They said that they would fight as a group rather than split up, and after I brought it up, they established a common escape route (toward the main road) and rally point (back at the Deverin Manor).

We crossed the wall, and promptly split up. “Huge” shape-shifted into a dire wolf (his armor changed into barding, which was kind of cool. At least we could tell him from the rest), and set off at an angle to the route the plan had us taking. Vex stepped behind a bush and vanished, presumably backing up Huge. The rest of us looked around at each other, and gave a collective shrug as we followed. There was a brief pause near the first hut we came to, where the word “undead” had been scratched into the dirt; it was true, even I could smell the reek. We gave the hut a fairly wide berth and continued to follow Huge, who seemed to be approaching a werewolf. The bad guy had a bow, and I guess he heard or saw me, because suddenly I was a target. That’s right, pick on the new kid. I paused a moment to send a spell back downrange, and everyone else started jogging toward the target. There were other wolves about, but they didn’t seem terribly interested… until everyone got spread out; then they were on us.

I had to dimension door Saunders and I closer to the middle of the group from my vantage point on my back. I think I was the only one that got bit (remember to have that checked later, lycanthropy isn’t something I’m keen to experience), but we were all engaged pretty quickly. I was too closely engaged to even try to get up (I knew I’d just wind up on my back again), so I was throwing spells while Sgt. Saunders tried to get us clear. Oona stepped up then, and punched the wolf on me so hard that she knocked it out cold, and then imperiously ordered me to stand up and fight. The punch was impressive (I guess that’s why they keep her around), but the order was infuriating coming from the woman who had spent the last 20 minutes complaining about how much she had to spend on a new bow and arrows that didn’t even go with her outfit.

I got up, and the fight continued. I was mostly using little stuff, trying to conserve spells, but I had to let go with a Shout, and a little later a lightning bolt. Somewhere in there, a hole opened up under Lugh, and he started yelling for someone to toss him his spear. At about that time we got a short breather; a quick count showed one dead werewolf (two more closing rapidly), and 14 dead dire wolves (the howls indicate more of those coming, too). The tunnel that Lugh is in is looking more and more appealing…


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Cleaned up, we gathered in the library to talk about how to proceed. The butler announced guests, and led in a twelve year old girl and a fossil in armor. The girl blurted she was there to see her friend Felu, and things went south. From their looks, we had put on our murder faces and it went quiet. We explained that Felu had fallen and been taken, and that her partner had left to rectify this. We were in the middle of a large job, and had to make new plans. She said it was a good thing they showed up, because they have skills that will help us out(blink, blinkblink). HUGE informed them to return the following evening, and we could talk more then. They seemed put out, but said they would return.

A long night of little sleep, got an early start on the day. Went through the market to replace things used up the day before, and headed home to talk with Mother. We needed more information, and I wanted her counsel. She noted our anxiety, but when I produced one of the blue vials, she went pale. My siblings were rushed out on various errands(which I'm going to pay for later) and we moved to the study. She told a tale from years past of coming upon a man, gravely wounded and fading. He produced two of these vials and pleaded for her to use them on him. As he spoke, he passed and rapidly began changing, withering away. She used the first, and the man fleshed out and regained a bit of color, but was still quite dead. When nothing further happened, she used the second, and witnessed a small miracle. The years fell away from him till he looked a healthy man in his twenties. He then took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

After thanking Mother, explained that he had been taken by an undead many years before, but had been unable to undo the curse. He learned that powerful undead hunted for these vials constantly, but he never learned details, just that it came from "elsewhere". He said he must travel far away, as those he borrowed from would not be kind to any who helped him, and she never saw him again. She had attempted to find more about the vials, but the few with any knowledge of them were unwilling to share; seems that putting down vampires runs in the family. The main point she wished to make was that the vials, while powerful and valuable, should be kept hidden. Those who know what it is will destroy to acquire them. Also talked at length about the vampires we put down, the wolf creatures infesting the manor, and the lich who likes to experiment with the living. Mostly want others to know of the problems, more help will be required to clear them up.

Returned to Deverin's to share with the others and talk to the girl. She's a caster that uses a firearm(?)to channel spells, and he is a sellsword that keeps angry things at a distance. Just hope he can keep up, there's a lot of winters behind that one. It was decided to bring them along tomorrow, see what they can do. Don't have an extensive plan, but the goal seems obvious.

Next morning, hopped the wall and started toward the high ground around the manor; wolves first, then the misc undead. HUGE shaped into a dire wolf(luckily heavily armored so we could tell him from the rest)and took off to the right; so much for the meager plan. Followed a short distance back, but the group didn't do so well with noise discipline. Passed a shed HUGE had marked "undead" and saw him approach a were toward the big house. As we moved on it, noticed the new folk had fallen behind and tried to get them to close up. Just then, many dire wolves sprang from all sides. A lively scrum with much tripping and bleeding, we eventually put them down and regroup. I still have questions about the new recruits, but the day is still young and they will have many chances to shine. There seem to be two more of the weres approaching(no telling how many dogs)and Lugh has "found" a ghoul tunnel to explore. So much to do, so many unnatural things to put down.


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While catching our breath at the Deverin estate, some more guests were announced. Firstly, there was a small human female, looked young, but she claimed to be a friend of Felu's from back-in-the-day so she can't be too young. (and Oh what timing! You just missed her by a couple of hours!) The second was a mass of old mammalian flesh squeezed into a suit of armor that probably fit better ten or fifteen years ago. Supposedly he keeps things from getting near her when they get into scuffles. Anyway we tell them about the recent passing of Felu, and "she" offers "their" help. Come to think of it the old guy never really said anything, she did all the talking, surprise surprise. She seemed rather put off when Huge dismissed them with something along the lines of "Yeah that's great, come back tomorrow". The hell were they expecting, "Oh, it's so very wonderful to meet you, friend-of-now-deceased-Felu-whom-I-really-don't-remember! Why don't you help yourself to some food and stay at this estate that doesn't belong to us?"

So the next day was spent in preparation for the clearing out of the wolves and werewolves from the Kaijitsu estate. Emma and her tin can showed back up in the evening and it was decided that we allow them to come along, prove their worth, that kind of thing. Well we laid out a simple plan and went from there. Of course the original plan didn't make it a full five seconds. Huge turned into a massive wolf, but we were able to tell him apart by his armor, then immediately took off in a different direction...he must have been napping during the planning phase. Well not wanting to split the group up I motioned to follow him and promptly disappeared into the brush keeping Huge in front of me, and the rest of the party slightly behind. It didn't take long to bypass a shed that smelled of rot and decay then start the party off right, just down the way a little, with a werewolf. It wasn't long before a large number of wolves joined the battle and kept things interesting. At one point in the combat I saw the new kid laying on her back after being tripped up by a wolf and Oona keeping the creature back. Oh yeah, Looking really good there new blood. Now when I say Oona was keeping the wolf back what I mean is she one-hit planted its nose into the ground so hard it stayed there for quite a while.

We cleaned up the immediate area, Lugh fell in a hole and started yelling for his spear, then a couple more werewolves showed up at our flanks. Now things are getting fun.


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AHHHH YES! Miss Emma, the mousy little waif that was always around the edges of our group at functions. A plain pretty sort, at least this is how she comports herself and a complete opposite of my charge in Oona. She was in and out, never lingering long and always in the shadow of Felu. I mentally wince at the thought of her in mortal combat for her disparity in size, but that has proven time and again to make me a fool. So this being my only real reservation, that and the fact she is accompanied by a swarthy seasoned field sergeant, I acquiesced to their participation in our endeavor. Saunders is his name and quite versed in tactical pursuits. I spoke at length with him in such matters and it appears we could benefit from his knowledge and skill.

Our new compatriots sat in on our discussion about the surveillance of the Kaijitsu manner. Plans were laid and we rested until the time came to attempt entry to the estate. We no sooner planted feet on the turf than our scouts set out on a route that was contrary to the plan. When in doubt follow the scout! On our way to what appeared to be the main house, we encountered a shapeless shadow spirit lingering, hiding in wait, at which I produced my mithril heavy mace and struck a wicked blow. That blow was my first against an undead foe since its purchase. The result was quite satisfying. The word “UNDEAD” was scratched into the ground near the shed. My initial thought was “Yaa just took care of it…thanks!” but it was quickly apparent the message referenced the nearby shed which was either filled with undead or a pile of corpses simply from the stench. We bypassed that for a were-creature standing watch on the hill. I will take this opportunity to express my appreciation for our resident druid Master Huge. He, leading the way, had transformed into a large wolf beast and trotted right up to the were-creature standing watch on the hill. That is an amazing skill to behold. That is when Miss Emma drew attention to herself which led to the attack of numerous wolf hounds. We attempted to exchange arrow volleys with the lycan when the group was engaged in a fierce close quarters struggle with half a dozen wolves, BIG ONES! I was pounced upon by an undead spirit, was struck feeling strength and virility drain from my body. I struck it with my sanctified mace and in its dual existence consumed the spook with a blow that ripped the extra-dimensional fabric of the entity to nothingness. Just as we finished the first group of gigantic wolf beasts a second wave came crashing upon us. During my tribulations with the wolves I noticed a time or two that the ground did not react as one normally feels through ones feet. That is when, as the second pack charged into us one of them passed by danger close, his weight and energy loosening the ground at my feet sending me to a subterranean tunnel complex crawling with ghouls. We had suspected such a system was likely. I called for my spear which I had dropped after the last undead pounced on me; I didn’t want to leave it behind. However in hindsight the mace will likely be the weapon of choice for the foreseeable future down here.


Things did not end well for me and others. I knew that all I had was the armors enchantment to keep me on my feet and it didn’t take long before I felt the sudden onrush of its curative magics. One of the other vampires had peeled off his assault of Vex, who was dancing along the rafters keeping multiple vampires at bay, after I landed a telling blow to the female vampire. Soon after it went black and I wondered why I didn’t see my life flash before my eyes. Perhaps it was because Gorum knew I was not destined to die. More than likely its because it never happens and what people see are their regrets and I have none. Regardless, when I finally came to the place was awash with blood and bodies.

Looking about I saw that Oona was down and more than likely dead. Felu was missing and Sam was standing in the corner of the room by the exit. His will too weak to ignore the domination effect of the vampire. Vex used the magics in his dagger to help Sam shake off the effects of the dominate for a few minutes. Its when we learned that Felu had been taken by the devils she had made pacts with and worse yet it was by Sams own hand that had caused her to die. We also learned that the vials of blue goo that we had collected could be used to revive the dead and one was given to Oona and a few seconds later she opened her eyes.

The rest was a blur. We looted what we could and escaped back to the Deverin estate for rest. We waited a few days to recover and learned that Sam had intended to return to his uncle in Cheliax in order to save Felu somehow. We were also introduced to mousy little girl who I remember having seen with Felu at times in the past. She was accompanied by an older warrior and body guard. After learning of what had happened she offered to help us clear out the remainder of the Kaijitsu grounds as a sort of honoring to Felu. Whatever. Her death and that of her manservant are their choice.

After a few days we hopped the fence again and proceeded to hunt werewolves. This time I decided to match the roaming dire wolves in shape except with armor.


Upon returning to Magnimar with our load of treasure, I was immediately called away to guard service and spent nearly a month with my father and my old unit, helping to resolve an issue down at the docks between some of the locals and a new foreign merchant who handled his business in a manner that did not sit well with the local houses. After being called in to break up several fights and searching for the root cause of the hostilities we were finally able to arrange a peaceful resolution. (If it holds!)

At the end of this time, I returned to find the group still involved with the Kaijitsu manor investigation. Lugh had spent much of his time guarding the Dawnflower temple in case our enemies attempted to destroy it again.

On a night that turned out to be of immense importance to our group of friends, Lugh had asked me to relieve him at the temple so he could go with the others. While I sat up all night and tried not to doze during the uneventful vigil, Lugh and my other friends were confronted by a group of vampires and caught up in a fight which led to Felu's death. Upon hearing the news the next morning, I was overcome with sadness and frustration that I was not there with them. If only I could have aided them, Felu might still be alive. Sam also took the loss hard as it turned out that Felu had been ensnared by some diabolical contract which held her soul in the balance. Upon her death, her body had disappeared. Sam took it upon himself to try and get her back and left for Cheliax to consult his uncle who knew more of the dark arts for advice.

In the meantime, an old friend, Emma Granger, from our youth had asked to join with us. She was a vague memory to me, but now traveled with a seasoned, older warrior who seemed to be both her friend and protector. With the loss of Felu and Sam, we agreed to let her help us with the investigation and cleansing of the Kaijitsu manor.

We set off a day or two later to wipe out the werewolves and other monsters lurking on the grounds of the estate.


About that time another werewolf charged us and tripped Saunders, just in time for two more dire wolves to join in. Roles reversed, I blazed away while Saunders fought from his back; he actually shield-bashed a wolf which tumbled back about 20 feet, but didn’t give enough of a breather for him to gain his feet before it rushed back in. Macer, Oona, Kelyn and Nina rallied ‘round for the fight, and we managed to kill our assailants at about the same time that Huge and Vex finished theirs. From the sounds of snarling and cursing coming from the pit, Lugh was fighting more ghouls, so we ran to his aid (except for Huge and Vex, who took off to gods know where).

Here’s my thing: I hate being wrong. Down in the pit was NOT a fun place to be. Whatever those things were, they were only peripherally related to ghouls. To start with, they spoke abyssal; they were also very tough and hit like a runaway team of horses. Lugh was having a tough time with two of them, and we could all hear the sounds of more of them coming along the tunnel from both directions—many, many more. The first two to come along hit Saunders, and he cried out in pain (something I’ve never heard before). He said, “a couple more like that and I’m dead. Everyone needs to get out of this pit, NOW!” Lugh stepped up to help him, as I scrambled back out and lent covering fire, with Saunders on my heels. Macer and Oona followed, and Nina and Kelyn came out in short order, as a swarm of new “ghouls” appeared from both directions, scrabbling and clawing past their fellows, and nearly engulfed Lugh as he sprang back up to the surface. We called the retreat, and Macer promptly took off in the wrong direction (though our shouts and pointing brought him back around).

We made it to and over the wall with only minor tripping and stumbling in our headlong flight, and gathered back at the Deverin mansion to take stock. Six of us, fighting with everything we had, had managed to kill just two of the ghoul-things before being overrun and routed. Eventually Huge and Vex returned to tell us that all the rest of the wolves and werewolves were dead; the “ghouls” had tunneled into their huts and killed them. Holy crap, had we misjudged the relative strengths of our opponents or what? Lugh, Huge and Saunders put their heads together and came up with a plan for dealing with the ghouls piecemeal, and we dressed our wounds and did some resupply before heading back the next morning. We only have three more days before the BIG bad guy shows back up…


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While HUGE and Vex handled the were to the south, the other slammed into the shooter and her shield; it's like they can smell the new on them. Most of us moved north as the other's time was clearly limited, but I have concerns about the six on one thing. Weapons and spells lay into the canine menace, and they eventually go down. HUGE continues toward the big house; Vex may be following him, but who can tell? We move to the sounds of combat from the pit where Macer has joined Lugh. These things aren't your grandma's ghouls, they are thick! I jump down to cover the rear while Nina wisely chooses to remain topside to cover and support.

Don't know if it's my fault, but suddenly there is adventurer rainfall, and the whole group is down here. Just to keep it fair, more uber-ghouls slam in from the other direction; right into the sellsword. I admit to taking the time to check if the new guys have steaks tied around their necks, but it's just luck of the draw. We hack, slam, and shoot repeatedly, but don't seem to be getting very far. I seem to be faring better than some of the others, not that I'm complaining about being overlooked. Nina says that the bad guys prefer less reactive prey; makes sense, but want to be part of the effort.

Another wave of undead moves in, their crawling along the walls like maniacal spiders. Lugh yells to fall back, staying will mean certain death. Suddenly, I'm standing next to Nina(have I mentioned recently how much this woman means to me......pardon, back to the fight) and turn to assist the withdrawal. the others calmly hoist themselves out and dust off before starting for the wall. Who knew that rampaging undead could be so civil in a tight situation? We picked up some cuts and scrapes in our tactical rout, but make it back to the road. Vex and HUGE rejoin us and say the ghouls are slaughtering the canines and taking over. Time for more planning.

Cleaned up, we gather to compare notes. No idea what the lich has done to the ghouls, but the deep end has gotten way deeper. HUGE, Lugh, and the fossil are in the corner, making master plans for the following days. I talk with Nina about fighting things that resist flame and blade, will ask around for more ideas. Nothing like being a legless man in a butt-kicking contest.


Silly me, as if any weapon would fare better than another against these meaty rotting beasts! I lasted some time on my own with a single opponent before the rest of the group lept into the "hole of certain death." It was quite apparent that these were NOT your garden variety ghouls in short order. Many nasty blows were inflicted and at some point I could here the approach of a hoard of them from further down the passage, both ways. They arrived shortly after the group had jumped into the "pit of despair." One of the beasts toward the back seemed to be the leader of these Ghouls, OH AND THEY SPEAK ABYSSAL, the ghouls....SPEAK! Did I mention not normal...anyway, the good Sergeant took some grievous blows and I repositioned to evaluate the situation. He was right. We called a general retreat. When everyone was accounted for topside I called for Nina to drop a fire-burst amongst us, us being me and the ghouls. I was thrashed on my way out and managed to walk away solely because of the enchantment placed on my armor that was recommended by Huge. WORTH EVERY COPPER! We ran, the run of fleeing children....like we did when we were kids from the evil in the bridge, every man for himself. Whew! Safe we giggled off the event as we healed up and found our way back to a secure location. We would need to refit and pack for a new foe it seems! Upon our return I overheard talk from the tian gardener of scrying....AND WHAT THE DEUCES? Who lets a demonic familiar have run the grounds? Where did that come from, and why is it in our safe house?!?!?? Wait...nevermind....I can practice on it!!!


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Huge and I dispatched the werewolf and dire wolf on one flank while those still above ground did so on the other flank. Then one-by-one they began to join Lugh in the tunnel... Plan? What Plan? Apparently no one wants to stick to anything that resembles the original plan. Huge decides that he is going to stay topside and hunt the remaining doggies, he also tells me to go aid the others, then trots off by his self. Has turning canine shrunken your cognitive reasoning?! NO ONE WONDERS OFF ALONE, and I can run just as fast as you can wolf-boy!

It appears that the ghouls have taken over what is left of the estate. The remaining wolves and werewolves that we came across while searching were torn and chewed apart by Human-sized jaws. It was a barbaric rending of flesh, almost like there was hate in the attacks. If these ghouls are strong enough to be dealing with this crowd our people have probably learned that by now too. Huge and I decided to head back to the rally point, and talk things over with the rest of the group.

Sure enough there they were, laughing nervously about what had just happened. Apparently they very nearly got overrun by ghouls and almost lost the old, new meat... new, old meat... the old guy whose new to the group... the new guy whose an old guy... whatever, you get it.

We decided to raid the Lich's workshop the next day, so I decided to scout the place out that night and try to find out what we may be dealing with, and possible egress points.


Well the werewolf and monster hunt turned out to be more than we had bargained for...

The giant wolves and werewolves that swarmed us after entering the estate were tough, but manageable foes. We killed many of the wolves and a handful of the werewolves without too many problems. However, a section of ground that collapsed under Lugh during the fight revealed what would turn out to be the real enemy. Ghouls ... more specifically, demonic ghouls.

I jumped down into the tunnel to aid Lugh and was soon surrounded by both ghouls and allies alike as everyone seemed to join the fight. The demonic ghouls were tough. Much tougher than their ordinary (?) undead counterparts. They struggled to penetrate my newly enhanced armor so I took little damage from their attacks. That was a good thing as each of the ghouls seemed to take a tremendous amount of damage before death, and for each one we killed there were several more to take their place.

The fight wasn't going well for many of the party and a general call to retreat from the pit was obeyed by all, with Lugh being the last one out after being partially caught in the blast from a fiery explosion that allowed him a chance to climb to safety while the ghouls regrouped.

In the chaos of the retreat, I started briefly in the wrong direction, but was shown the correct way by the new girl, Emma, who yelled and pointed the way so all of us would not be separated in the confusion. We made a mad run through the grounds of the estate, nearly tumbling head first down the hill as we crashed through the brush.

Eventually, everyone made it out. We were joined soon after by Vex and Birgun who had returned from scouting after hearing the battle and witnessing part of our retreat.

Time for a new plan!


Anticlimax is anticlimactic. We implemented Lugh, Huge and Saunders plan, and spent the next three days luring the “ghouls” out of the tunnels a few at a time and killing them for real. Late in the third day, after waiting two hours for more to take the bait, we called it good on the demonic-modified ghouls, and entered the outbuilding that the liche was using as a part-time lab. There were three more ghouls in there in cages, which made them easy to deal with. Lab in the basement…

Here’s my thing: crazy people creep me out. There was an awful lot of meat in that lab; half-finished and discarded projects heaped around; tools, walls and floor crusted with dried blood; charnel house smell (even though nothing seemed to be rotting, it has apparently solved that problem), someone’s skin hanging from a peg. I understand that Oona had a really messed up family and childhood, but her crazy still creeps me out. The denizen of this place takes crazy to a whole new playing field. Yikes.

Huge located a scrap of parchment down there with a sketch of a comet or meteor on it, copied from a funny birthmark on the skin hanging from the peg. As the only written note in the whole place, it has to have some sort of significance but we don’t know what (or whom) it might have to do with.

We decided to vacate the premises (the liche was due back in a few hours) and decide on a course of action. Vex suggested forging a letter from the city and putting it on the gate, telling the liche that his base had been cleared out and suggesting that he find another playground. Most of us thought that was a pretty good idea, but Huge REALLY wanted to hand-deliver it on the point of his sword. Now, his sword is pretty big and he is really strong, but the rest of us weren’t so confident in our ability to put paid to this crazy undead thing’s account. Instead we voted for the note and stake-out (heh) idea; one nay, the ayes have it.

Long story short, guy shows up in his carriage (initially disguised as a black cloud), reads the note and drops it, talks to two… things… that fly out from the Kaijitsu estate, and then they all leave again. I don’t know about the rest but I was sweating bullets in my hiding place, expecting some sort of histrionics. At any rate, we know where it hangs its lab coat, so we can go and fulfill Huge’s desire when we feel up to it. Once it was gone we waited a bit and then took a powder ourselves to figure out how to gain entrance to the haunted mansion and finish the contract.

The next day most of us were discussing how to go about the final phase when Huge showed up with an old Tien guy in tow. He introduced him as Lord Kaijitsu, recently returned from haunting the mansion next door, and suggested we throw a party celebrating his return. Lord Deverin was more than willing to oblige, and instead of a careful crawl through a haunted house where everything was trying to kill us, we got a lovely party instead. I suppose I need to talk to somebody about future employment now…


Wonder of wonders! A plan was made, we followed it, and it worked. The creatures were lured out one or two at a time, and the group took them down. By the third day, either they were all gone or were catching on; time to go. Vex led us to the rear of the stone building where he had noticed a loose stone. HUGE and the geezer worked it with a crowbar and got help from inside. The help was a gigantic ghoul hand that grabbed HUGE, intent on retrieving a snack. He blinked free, and many blades removed it near the elbow, setting the thing to bellowing. Group decided to try the front, where HUGE simply walked through the wall and opened the door from inside(don't mind me, I'll just get the bags).

Inside were three large, crafted ghouls, one missing an arm. They were held in stout cages, but made every effort to reach us. Several hacks kept them back as we descended to the basement, and found the lich's playroom. It took a few minutes for the brain to process the wanton disregard for life. Body parts of things, some of which couldn't be identified, were scattered over many workspaces. The only paper recovered was a drawing of what looked like a comet, that was matched to a birthmark on a skin that was removed and preserved from a person(?); will have to research this later. Lugh found a wing he believes came from a celestial, and removed it to properly pay respect later. The scale of the carnage was overwhelming, and it was past time to leave. I collected many foul tools to dispose of and Nina attempted to cleanse the place with flame and lightning. Leaving the building, there was noise of things we had not finished gathering, and we made a dash for the front wall.

We were running(and falling) down the slope, yelling and urging each other on. I was taken back to our childhood adventures, like the escape from the piling, and the feeling stayed with me as we cleared the wall and sprawled breathless along the road. Surrounded by people closer than family, no place I would rather be, no matter the situation.

Collected ourselves and returned to the Devlin manor. While most of the estate was cleared, the thing was returning tonight, and how would we deal with it. Direct confrontation was out, it was suggested to leave a note detailing the futility of it staying around seeing the minions and materials had been removed. HUGE then stated he would deliver it to the thing personally. At what point did HUGE become suicidal? The last week has been full of darkness, but I missed the breaking point. Much talking(and shouting) followed, the note was decided as the best option. HUGE left us to our cowardice, not wanting to waste his time on such conduct. Vex made up an impressive document, and it was posted on the gate. About midnight, we took up concealed spots nearby, and witnessed a large black cloud approach. It dispersed to show a black coach stopped at the gate. The thing dismounted, read and discarded the note, and waited till some figures floated out of the estate to speak with it, and all departed; hopefully for good.

The next morning, I sought some advice on how to approach the spirit next door. It was suggested to be more formal, and started planning a trip to Sandpoint to meet with Amiko again. Later, Hobart announced a large party that evening to celebrate(and remember), so that would have to wait. When all had gathered, HUGE entered with an aged Tian he introduced as Lord Kaijitsu. He had decided not to waste time talking to spirits, and had used the blue stuff to return him to life. I glanced upward, expecting thunder and divine lightning, but nothing happened. Lines have been crossed, and powerful feet are being stepped on; the casual use of that stuff can open all kinds of problems. I made excuses to leave early, am going to need some time to get my head around this. Might have to let the world turn by itself for a bit.


I fear the compact demon will lose its mind and create havoc on the Hobart home as he has not experienced in decades, a worry less bothersome at this point than the matter at hand right now.

Some effort was made at a plan and after a rest we ventured forth to eradicate the ghoul infestation better equipped. Twas a workout to be sure, but a righteous endeavor in the execution of the plan and the cleansing of estate. One by one the ghouls were lured to their fate, driven by the evil within them to consume and destroy life despite their obvious intellect….as ghouls go? Venturing into the suspected lair of the Lich, still within the time of his usual absence, we made entry to a jail of sorts occupied by ghouls locked in cells. Upon inspection these and the ones previously dispatched seemed to be a patchwork of creatures…almost golem like. Hmmm? The deceased owner protects his grounds with golems….the Golem Works is a lucrative industry in Magnimar…Hmmm? But they have an abyssal taint? A case of stairs led to a sublevel and all who entered before me were left speechless in the visual cacophony of slaughter as each descended in turn. I followed and also found myself assailed by the butchery this room hosted. I looked about the room for any sign of hope for the ones who had suffered so terribly in this room. There was none. I searched for a way to identify a single victim. That is when I noticed the subtle smell of dried blood and innards. Less rotten than dry, more of a meaty smell, but ever-present. I held the contents of my stomach. Years of cleaning fish had hardened my senses to this kind of scent; however the thought of people being cut apart and reassembled herein is what tried my physical will.

An anger primal in nature began to simmer. We searched the remains and while others were interested in a comet like tattoo on a skin obviously kept as a memento and a hand drawn image of the same on parchment, I happened upon a pair of celestial wings. WINGS!....HOW!?....the simmer turned to a boil as I wrapped them and placed them in a bag and others searched for clues or hidden passages. I wanted nothing else to do with this structure. This would be a fine place to inter all the previously slain ghouls and set the whole thing alight! Before I could verbalize my intent the sublevel was aflame upon our exit. After safely making our way off the estate I excused myself taking the wings to the small chapel in the burial chambers of the Dawnflowers shrine. There they were locked away to be tended, cleaned and set for return to their celestial home.

A message arrived announcing a celebration at the Hobart estate for our collected families. Ugh! Does he not remember how big my family is!?!? I passed the word and as one might expect my parents’ home became a whirlwind of excitement. All were dressed and inspected by the parents. Carriages arrived and whisked us to the Devlin manor where Master Hobart had laid a grand feast. I kept Oona on my arm hoping her family had not been invited or got wind of the soiree. As the evening progressed more than I noticed marks upon the neck of Macer’s sister….bite marks! She was coy and red faced in the beginning. A potion was introduced and she parted with the information exposing the plot of none other than Epher (SPIT!) to keep her as one of his own. THAT SIMPLY WILL NOT DO!


As it turned out, the tactic worked. The werewolves had no idea that I wasn’t one of the regular dire wolves, regardless of being covered in spiked armor. I used their ignorance to great effect attacking into both dire wolves and werewolves without being attacked back as the others were.

The new girl, Emma, and her older body guard, Saunders had devised some plan to sneak back around the estate to the far side and being encountering them at the house that seemed to contain the largest concentration of werewolves. I ignored that plan and intended to scout around in my shifted form with the intention of heading to the closest shack to the Hobart estate. Vex kept up with me and hid under the multitude of shadows on the grounds, even mine. The irony to this was that I spotted a Shadow hiding partially within a tree trunk. I made note of it to Vex and continued on while Vex snuck over and killed the undead.

I could see that the group was confused at my detour and decided to follow Vex and I. When I approached the first hut it was overly apparent to me at the stench of death and decay. It was all the more overpowering to me in the shifted form. I could make out the distinct smell of raw flesh mixed with the odor of undead. The ghouls it would seem have tunneled their way to the hut so I left a clawed message for the rest to see and hoped they would use the tunnels to clear out both the ghouls and approach the other huts unseen. Instead they bypassed the hut and continued following Vex and I. It wasn’t long before the others were seen and an alarm was raised.

When it was all said and done the group had to run. The ghouls as it turned out were rather difficult to put down permanently. During the fight with the wolves a small section of ground opened up below Lugh and he tumbled down into one of the tunnels. A couple of ghouls attacked Lugh and the rest moved in to assist when the last of the wolves and werewolves fell. Their fight showed that the ghouls were much stronger and tougher than they expected and the sounds of more coming meant we hastily retreated. Several of the group were grievously injured with most of their cuts coming from the ghouls. So we devised a plan to slowly work the ghouls out into the open and kill them as a group before retreating and repeating the tactic. The tactic worked and in three days we no longer ran into any ghouls. We also noticed that several werewolves and wolves had been attacked by ghouls. Since the removal of the female vampire the ghouls started acting like true undead and killed anything that moved. This brought a smile to my face.

With the undead and werewolf presence removed on the grounds we decided to make a push on the workshop of the lich. This meant that we would be clearing out his workshop on the day of his arrival. Vex had already pre-scouted out the area and we determined that an area of poor stonework on the back of the workshop could be pried open and we would be able to enter. With Saunders assistance and my crowbar we began removing the stone block. As soon as the block was removed a large ghoulish arm, much larger than the ones we had been fighting previously, grabbed me and tried to pull me through the hole. I hopped from its grasp and instead chopped at its arm with my greatsword as did a few others. The arm came free at the elbow and howls of pain echoed from the missing block. I decided to work my way to the front and dimensionally hop into the room, hopefully unlocking the door before the creature grabbed me with its other arm. What I found were three cells containing an enlarged ghoul each, one missing most of an arm. The other two ghouls attempted the same futile attack as their reach was great but the greatsword deterred further attempts after getting cut. The only other feature was stairs leading down and after opening the door for the others I began my descent.

The room was awash with failed experiments, half started or finished experiments and all manor of horrible leftovers. The creature had been working here for some time and the sight and stench of the area was palpable. You could feel the malevolence weighing on your soul by just being in the room. Regardless of all that, there was nothing here. Someone found a parchment scribble that mirrored the tattoo on someones flesh. The flesh having been removed as one giant piece with a very sharp knife. I found my thoughts returning to the image for several days after we left the workshop. It looked like a stylized comet, or an image of starfall. Destruction? Golarion ending destruction? The tales told of how starfall left the world cold for a long time before anyone began moving about. I still don’t know why the image is so strong, perhaps Gorum is trying to forewarn me about something but I am not understanding the warning.

We then left the estate grounds after Nina did some magical pyrotechnics on the workshop and the others put down the enlarged ghouls. I seem to remember hearing Lugh mention that the ghouls were suffused with demonic energies. The group decided to leave a note on the gate informing that the estate grounds were cleared of vermin as a warning to the lich to leave. I wanted to personally hand deliver the note on the end of my sword as we had all initially agreed to do but apparently over the week the others had lost their desire for putting the creature down. They thought that we should stay and watch to gauge its reaction but the idea of sitting in the dark like assassins only to not strike was uninspiring and not worthy of Gorums name. I wished them luck and instead spent time with my family without having to bleed all over the rugs like I had been doing for the past week. I still have two large rugs to clean. I would just go buy new but mother would know and she’d still try and twist my ear off for trying.

The next day we met at the Hobart estate again, as we had all week long, and decided to try and make plans to enter the Kaijitsu manor. Hobart gave a few explanations in Tian courtesy and customs. He explained that a formal introduction would need to be made and given to the ghost in the library in some fashion. Vex began asking questions on how to fill out such an introduction and the other earnestly began yammering on about nothing and everything in equal measure. Instead I flew back over to the window as I had in the past except I shifted back into my human form and knocked on the window. The ghost finally looked away from his books and stared at me, something it never did when I was shifted into the form of an owl or hawk.

I asked as politely as I could if I could enter the manor with his permission. He nodded slowly and so I hopped into the room surprising the ghost somewhat. We then talked for several minutes, with me explaining the reason for interest in the estate and our desire to repair the manor and grounds. I explained about the ghouls, werewolves, vampires and the lich. He admitted that he felt their absence and explained that all he cared about was his library and to be left alone. Thats when it hit me, I had two of these vials that could return the dead to life, and why work on an manor that was going to be left empty when I could just use the vial on Fumiko’s corpse which I assumed was still in the family crypt. So I excused myself and left the grounds, through the front door, and went into the crypt. Finding Fumiko’s remains was easy enough and so I poured the contents on the skeleton as Lugh had done to Oona. After a few seconds I was now talking with a very alive and surprised Fumiko. We talked for a few more minutes and we parted with me telling him to come by the Hobart estate as I imagine that I could get him to through a party for a surprise guest of honor. To his credit, Hobart pulled out all the stops and was rather surprised to meet Fumiko in real life. I also gifted Hobart one of the vials should he encounter another “strange affliction.”

When Fumiko arrived he explained that he knew what the blue vials were and that they were powerful items from Leng. A alternate dimension or some such. Frankly, I didn’t pay to much attention as my mind continued to drift back to the tattoo and the drawing from yesterday. I did on the other hand catch that Macer’s younger sister had two small marks on her neck and informed Macer that he should make his sister drink one of the vials contents immediately. He caught on and before any real fuss was started convinced her to drink one of the vials an learned that Epher our old friend was a vampire.

Things are taking a turn for the weird.


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Post celebration from Master Hobart’s estate I spent most of the trip home in silence looking out over the city as we returned to the lower districts. With the moon reflecting from the sea I turned to Oona and spoke “You are not safe with Epher here.” In her usual, casual, dismissive tone she returned without meeting my gaze “No more or less than before, he will not hurt me while my father walks the night.” She was right….I hoped. Either way his presence caused some concern. With Macer’s sister still infatuated with him and under his spell I feared our intervention would escape her lips at their next meeting and reveal our location not only to Oona’s father but the Ustalav collective trying to ascertain said knowledge.

The following day we gathered to discuss what would be done considering Epher. Macer was quite displeased expressing his intent to eradicate the threat to his sister, a concept I felt personally myself. Having a number of siblings not to mention the responsibility of Oona I was relatively disinclined to invoke a merciful tack. Oona offered herself as bait in an attempt to ensnare our prey. This caused me extreme consternation but with no other suggestions we decided to frequent one of his haunts and lay in wait. We had spoken with an old acquaintance from our childhood. We called him Bags and had met him on the Lost Coast Road as a merchant caravan mercenary guard back during the fire at the halfway station. He offered his knowledge of Epher scant though it was….which was a good thing! When Oona gave us her sign she approached me requesting my grandfather’s blade. She gave herself enough of a cut to attract the attention of someone who takes interest in such things and headed out into the night to catch a vampire. I wiped my blade and gave her some room to work her magic. Have I mentioned she is a stunning beauty….it is true, but she has a ferocious sting! We were not disappointed. Though it took some time Epher was pounced upon by our fearless “dragon” Vex. His assault sent him vaulting through the crowd without normal motion straight to me. “This is your last hunt!” I said as I wailed at him with scimitar and mace. I believe he recognized the enchantment of the scimitar and deftly avoided it gladly taking the stout strike which was about to land. However he was quite perplexed when it landed without deleterious affect because the blow proved to be a very sound in its coming. I let it impact but pulled the strength of the blow so it simply made contact causing a brilliant steaming brand to emanate from his forehead. Hence he was savagely damaged by our group and flew into the sky. Nina blasted him as he ascended, Oona skewered him with a dart, and a loud crack came from Emma’s musket. As he flew away Nina sent Vex flying in pursuit, then me and others to follow. I called for Vex as I rose into the night sky, he responded and the chase was on. Huge had transformed into a bird and made entry to an old building in pursuit of Epher. I hoped sincerely we would not be required to do battle with Huge if Epher managed to dominate him. To my great joy Huge called out that Epher had been bested and was on his way to his repose.

NOT GOOD! The whispy remnants of Epher led us to Oona’s family home. We forced our way in and were unopposed by the staff other than by protestation. Oona dismissed them out of hand and we found Epher resting in his coffin. Straight away we made off with it and escaped without incident (like school kids who just played a prank) to the newly consecrated chapel in the burial chamber of the Dawnflowers shrine. Arcane manacles were placed on his hands and a second pair on his ankles. It was now that we laid plans for his destruction. I offered a boat, Huge offered a better boat, it was mentioned he should see his last sun rise, and other obnoxious suggestions were offered when the word friend was mentioned in jest. That is when Huge mentioned in all sincerity reminding us he was a friend to us at one time, albeit not such a good one. That weighed heavy on my heart. Redemption is the goal. The casket was placed in one of the cells. Macer and Oona were with me. I produced one of the vials of THE ELIXIR and poured it into Epher. His countenance changed from that of a vampire to a normal person, albeit a dead one. So I used a second vial as gasps echoed through the chamber. He lived though he didn’t know it…yet. He was dumbfounded as he attempted to dominate Oona to no avail. “Do you feel that movement in your chest yet?” I said. Oona added “You might wanna breath.”At this point the depth of his reality tried to set in his mind but his denial was strong….that is until Macer addresed him!


What do you do when you catch a vampire? You destroy it, right? Stake through the heart, cut off the head, throw it in running water (and in Oona’s case, yank its fangs to add to your necklace). But what if that vampire used to be a friend of yours, what then? Do you get sentimental and ask him to please not be an evil undead bloodsucker anymore? Here’s the kicker: what if you happen to have a means of restoring them to living humanity? Do you use it, trusting that it won’t be like forcibly cleaning up a pesh addict, or do you destroy it out of hand anyway? DOES IT DESERVE A SECOND CHANCE?

I guess that would depend on whether it became a vampire willingly or not, right?

Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself.

So, at the big soire when Lord Kaijitsu was reintroduced to Magnimar, everyone brought their families along to the Deverin mansion. Everybody but Saunders and me, since we don’t have anyone. Anyway, Macer’s whole family was there along with everyone else, and it turns out that Macer has a younger sister. Sweet sixteen, lovely dress, cute as a button except for these two blemishes on her neck that look almost like… oh crap, they don’t just look like, they ARE. So I glance around and wind up exchanging a pale-faced, wide-eyed look with Nina. She starts whispering frantically to Kelyn, and I go find Lugh.

There’s a bit of a commotion when Macer finds out and backs his little sister into a corner. Someone produced a vial of some glowy blue goop, everyone else makes a little human wall while Macer gets the girl to drink it… and the marks go away, and the girl’s personality makes a rapid 180. I got the skinny from Nina about that stuff a bit later, but the gist is that the group took a bunch of vials of this blue goo from the hoard of a defunct vampire or two. If you drink the stuff, it seems to cure just about anything that might be wrong with you, up to and including death. Next time you take it, it will reset your “clock” to when you first took it—instant immortality if you were lucky (or unlucky) enough to get a dose early in life. I guess Kelyn’s mom had seen two vials of the stuff make a dying vampire hunting vampire into a live young man again. A truly devious mind (like mine) can see all sorts of nefarious uses this stuff could be put to, in addition to the obvious. This is Definitely NOT something that needs to be advertised!

Here’s my thing: I really don’t like keeping secrets, but some things you just HAVE to keep under wraps. Things Man Was Not Meant To Know, that sort of thing. With a whole country of vampires hunting my new companions, if the knowledge of this blue goo gets around life could get a little tough.

So anyway, long story short (too late), the gang’s old friend Epher is the bloodsucker who put the maximum hickey on Macer’s sister. Bad. Move. It now being personal, a plan is hatched to use Oona as a lure to bring Epher to where he can be dealt with. Oona will get a little bloody (don’t ask me how, I didn’t want to know that part) and slut it up down in the Dockway (no stretch there), with everyone else staking it out. Cannot possibly work, Epher knows these guys, why would he fall for it, right?

He fell for it. Vex spotted him shadowing Oona, and put the hurt on him. I think I heard Vex ask Epher if he still felt pain, but I could be mistaken. Epher flew away from Vex and wound up right next to Lugh, who did some sort of spell that caused Epher to emit a high-pitched scream (almost like a dying rabbit) as a spurt of smoke erupted from his forehead. This time, Epher took off straight up; I sent an acid arrow after him and missed but Nina lit up the sky with a fireball. I thought about sending a Cone of Cold his way, but knew that Huge was playing birdy up there somewhere and held off. Oona wound up like a major-league pitcher and hurled something at the flying guy, who spiraled up higher. Then Nina touched Vex and shouted, “Go!” and Vex flapped his ridiculous little wings and shot off after him.

In the end, Epher was turned to mist by Huge, we all followed the mist to Oona’s family mansion and we barged right in the front door. The servants protested but didn’t do anything to hinder us as we located Epher’s coffin and took it (him safely inside) down to Lugh’s temple project. Much discussion ensued. What do you do with a captured vampire that used to be a friend?


Actually managed to get in a few quiet days before we were tracked down with another emergency. Macer's little sister had been bitten by a vampire, a fact discovered at Hobart's party(this group sometimes has sharing issues). While the condition had been corrected(with the blue fluid), Macer had spent his nights chasing after the culprit. Said culprit being Epher, the knothead from our past, who has apparently managed to become a vampire(anything for attention, always was a drama queen). Doesn't come as too much of a surprise; he would drone on about how smart he was, how he should be the "leader", make all the decisions. Never figured out that sort of thing is earned, not demanded; he wasn't the brightest candle in the chandelier.

With a new quest, we launched into our usual confusion. Someone suggested to see if Bags might be in town, the two had been close in the past. A small character flaw on Bags' part, but he never was the most socially gifted guy. Searched the Dock district and found him hoisting a few with some of the Scarni he worked with. He hadn't seen Epher in years, but thanked us for the information that he had joined the other side. Bags mentioned a few places he frequented in the past, and wished us luck in finding him. While not an intellectual giant, Bags could probably hold his own standing shoulder to shoulder with the other meat walls. Should keep in touch with him, especially considering how deep things have been getting as of late.

A long, detailed planning session ended with using Oona as bait while the rest of us hovered nearby to pounce. While not likely to earn a place in the history books, the fool actually fell for it. Vex found him first, and almost skinned "alive"(?). Epher then bolted, straight onto Lugh's scimitar. He then flew up to evade the many blades, and managed to catch a fireball and a few musket balls. The leech then flew off, pursued by HUGE in beastform. Seeing that others were about to stroke out because they couldn't follow, Nina began casting Fly spells and launching them like little birds from the nest; a heart-warming sight. Note to self; if this is to continue, remember to bring one of the umbrellas; some enjoyed this WAY too much!

Trotting through the area in a more traditional manner, we found the flock pacing a small cloud. Seems he had been run down and finished in a nearby building, and we just had to follow him to his bolt hole in......Oona's house! Wonderful! Now we know who turned him, and will probably have to confront the old man(just not tonight, are you listening out there?). Oona, ever the flower of decorum, barged in and plowed through the crowd of servants in pursuit. Found him in his box downstairs and the fiendish ideas started flowing. I think Lugh had the best, take him out on a boat and show him his last sunrise(the boy does have a poet's soul). This was all happening while carrying a coffin from the basement toward the street. Decided it would be best to place it in the port hole(after a thorough check for other "spaces")before continuing. HUGE was the voice of reason(really, when did suffer this concussion?), and argued that he might not have been a willing victim. He's right, of course, and I'm a doofus(as usual) for not seeing this possibility.

We divert to Lugh's temple, and place the box in the lower cells. As in Mother's tale, the first vial returned him to mortal form, but still stone dead. The second snapped him back to life, and straight to loony. He's convinced we couldn't change him back and this is all some kind of a trick. Guess he can't accept no longer being "special", he;s going to need close watching for some time. On the other hand, HUGE came up with a big raspberry to the spread of Evil; who'd have thunk it?

Now we just have to deal with Oona's dad(who might be peeved at losing a lackey), demons, a country of vampires, and a liche that may still be in the area. Looks like a good start on another week of being us!


Epher is a vampire now. That would explain his disappearance from Magnimar at the time most of us had left in our youth. Perhaps Oona’s father took him as some form of retribution from our, more Sarenrae, protection of Oona. This just didn’t make much sense, unless he was dominated. Regardless, Macer is really bent out of shape on this and is seeing red. Understandable considering it was his little sister that was targeted.

A few days after the party, a representative of the Lord Mayor arrived at each of our individual homes or places of residence and offered us a very large bounty of gold for our work on the Kaijitsu estate and for the general betterment of Magnimar. The money was from various nobles, institutions and organizations. The sum was sizable enough that I purchased a brand new longship for Kriger. I had met an Ulfen shipwright in Magnimar a year or so ago and was impressed with his work. I knew Kriger liked it from the devilish grin. With Hobart’s help we even assembled a crew of tough miscreants for Kriger to mold into raiders. The goal would be to head south and give the Korvosan traders a taste of Ulfen hospitality.

After a few weeks while people had items enchanted, me getting my sword done, we decided to see if we could lure Epher out of hiding with Oona as bait. Much like we had done all those months ago with the gargoyle except using Oona instead of Lugh. After a few nights Epher took the bait. What he didn’t know was that as he moved towards Oona, he passed right next to Vex who immediately produced his dagger and began stabbing him furiously. The others, who had been following at various distances began closing the net and moved in. Lugh called some sort of dawn-flower judgment onto Epher as he closed and the others looked to have the matter at hand. I decided to remain in the sky while in the form of a hawk. I wanted to capture Epher rather than kill him, but the blood-lust was strong in Macer and some of the others seemed to feed off it. I knew that they would kill him and he would turn into the mist. From there we could track him to his place of rest and I hoped I could convince them otherwise.

Epher instead ran before being killed which somewhat surprised me. He managed his escape by flying away. He kept low to the roof tops and tried to use the terrain to escape the others. What he didn’t know was that I could see him and tracked him to an older abandoned building several blocks away. As I made my way towards the house I could see Vex actually flying, presumably from sort of spell. I waited until Vex saw me and then flew towards the house.

Landing on the sill I could see Epher standing at the far end of the room breathing heavily, which was odd considering his undead status. Old habits I suppose. Either way, he was scared and trying to collect his wits. So I tried to give him a chance. I shifted back into my normal form and drew my greatsword. The sound made him spin, and I could tell he was rather surprised to see me standing there.

“Don’t make me kill you Epher. We can help you.”

Instead he just looked intently at me and I could feel his mind trying to force its way into my head. I silently cursed for not having drank the potion I carried first to help prevent this assault I knew might come. I would like to say that I was able to resist the assault by Epher but I could tell that I was losing. I then noticed a golden dove on the window nearest me and suddenly the assault ended.

Shaking the confusion from my mind I swore and drove the sword deep into Epher’s belly. Instead of a disemboweling strike he turned to gas and began to float away through the rickety floor boards. I dimensionally hopped to the lower floor and then again to get to the street following his movements back to his coffin. The trail took us to Oona’s estate and by that time everyone had made it.

I didn’t wait to knock or for Oona to open the door, instead hopping into the home and startling several servants. As the others came in their protests grew but they did not impede our progress any. Following the gas into the basement we found Epher resting in the coffin, slowly regenerating from out attacks. Picking the coffin up and with Lugh’s help we carried it out into the courtyard.

Oona was ready to stake him and remove his head right there, others suggested letting Epher see his last sunrise. Even others suggested sailing him out into the bay and disposing of the corpse there. I couldn’t take it any longer and spoke up.

“Epher was our friend once. Sure he was a jerk, but he was still our friend. We have the ability to fix him, cure him and bring him back. What if he had been dominated by Oona’s father? We all know that he tried that years ago on us and failed. Perhaps the attack on Macers sister was ordered by her father, we don’t know. Everyone of you is willing to just kill a friend and I won’t be part of that. Do what you will, I’ve spoke my peace. Whatever you do, I don’t want to know, ever. It’s the only way I will remain friends with you all.”

With that said, I turned and left for home.


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The party was going well until Birgun moved up beside me and whispered that my sister had marks that looked very much like the bite of a vampire on her neck.

"What!"

With that I took a direct path that led toward the back corner of the room where my sister was standing. As I approached, I noticed that Vex was already there with her. They saw me approaching and stepped back against the wall as they could tell I was in no mood for pleasantries.

I questioned her and she admitted to seeing Epher who had pursued her romantically. (ugh!) While in the process of explaining all of this to her, Lugh and Birgun also made their way up to us. Lugh confirmed that Epher himself was the vampire.

"What!" (again)

We gave my sister a vial of the blue liquid and had her drink it in front of us. The change in her attitude was immediate and obvious. She went from being confrontational to confused and unhappy. Epher had definitely been using his dark powers to influence her and cloud her mind.

That no good, scheming little jerk from our childhood was suddenly my top priority!

I left the party in a foul mood, thinking of what I would do to him when I caught him.

That attitude lasted for nearly two weeks while I searched nightly for any sign of Epher. I finally caught a glimpse of him one night but he quickly disappeared into the shadows. It was at this point that we decided to contact Baga and see if he had heard or seen anything about Epher.

We found Baga with some of his Scarni friends. He hadn't heard anything or seen Epher, so we warned him about Epher being a vampire and asked him to contact us if he saw him.

Following this, we began searching for Epher as a group at night, using Oona as bait in the dark streets. It took a couple of days, but we finally succeeded in luring Epher out. He appeared close to Vex who was quick to take out his own anger about the situation the best way he knows how ... with sharp knives! (Good dragon!) I heard Vex ask him if he could feel pain, and Epher just smirked, indicating that he did not feel it.

Ether then attempted to flee but was blocked by Lugh who magically branded him on the forehead with a religious mark that seemed to lower his defenses somewhat. Following that, the party swarmed him and struck several blows until Epher attempted to flee by flying straight up into the air above us. He was pelted and blasted by spells and various projectiles in his retreat, but we were unable to stop him.

However, Birgun was flying above us all in bird form and quickly followed him. Nina began casting flying spells on several of us and we began an aerial chase. Vex was in the lead and followed Epher and Birgun to a building several blocks away. By the time the rest of us got close, Epher had been reduced to the misty fog that vampires use to escape their enemies when grievously wounded. However, we were able to follow his gaseous form back to Oona's old house.

We marched right in like we owned the place, and the hired help didn't dare to oppose us with more than words. We found Epher unconscious in a coffin in the basement and quickly carried him back out of the house, lest Oona's father return and catch us in the act.

I looked down at his helpless figure and thought only of my sister and what he had done to her. At that point the party began to discuss what to do with him. I suggested that we show him his final sunrise the next morning! Lugh added that we should do it out on a boat so Oona's father could not intervene.

After some debate caused by Birgun's suggestion that we not kill him, but attempt to help him since he was once our friend (but still a jerk even then!), we decided to take him to the cell in the basement of the Dawnflower temple. There, we placed him in magical manacles that would keep him from using spells to escape. We eventually agreed to use two of the blue vials to bring him back to the living.

I stood there, waiting for him to awaken as I hoped to be the first thing he saw. It turns out that he awoke and immediately tried to use his mind control on one of us. He found out quickly that it didn't work as I walked up to him and said, "Hello Epher. You remember when you said you couldn't feel pain earlier today?"

I then backhanded him across the mouth with my metal gauntlet and split his lip open. SMACK! (It felt good and was SO deserved!)

I looked him right in the eye and gave him a nasty smile and said, "Welcome back to the living!"


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A quick survey of the workshop and maze told me that thee was not much I could gather from the outside. The main door was fairly well concealed behind a patch of thin brush. Beyond that there was a loose brick at the back of the heavy stone building that I was unable to budge, though Huge would probably be able to. I heard voices from within so I didn't bother trying to enter by myself, I definitely want backup at a place like this.

We decided to clear the ghouls from the estate before tackling the workshop. That took almost the entire three days we had before the lich came back. The night he was supposed to return is when we hit the workshop. Upon removal of the loose stone at the back, a ghoulish arm exploded forth from the hole and grabbed Huge. Escaping the hand, Huge and the old sardine removed the hand from the rest of the ghoul. Huge turned into a earth elemental and slid through the wall. A second later reappearing and describing the layout of the room; four cages, three containing ghouls, and a set of stairs leading down near the front door. Right, front door it is. In the basement there were summoning circles, dissecting tables, pieces and parts of demons, humans and possibly the remains of an angel. There were also half finished projects thrown to the side as if the original spark of creativity was replaced by perhaps a better one. Tools were disposed of or torched and then we returned to the Deverin estate to figure out what to do about the lich.

There was some arguing, but the general consensus was that we didn't think we were ready to take him out, we had enough problems with his minions. I suggested we write him a letter from the city explaining that his presence is known by the city, his creations and workshop have been destroyed, and he is no longer welcome to practice his work here. That became the agreed upon plan and I drew up an "official" letter. Some of us staked the area out to see his reaction and act if absolutely necessary. When he arrived it was not in his usual white lab coat, but in dark leathers, he looked ready to kill something. He read the letter crumpled it up and tossed it on the ground, a few scouts (looked like vampires) of his combed the grounds and reported back to him. I was too far away to hear what was said but he got back in his carriage and left the city. I believe that qualifies as mission accomplished... well mostly. We still have to deal with Fumiko and the house.

Kelyn and I were discussing going to Sandpoint to speak with Amiko and get a letter of introduction from her so we didn't just show up at her great grandfather's house and start poking around. We were in the middle of getting things ready for the trip the next day when Huge said there was going to be a party tonight at the Deverin estate with a special guest. Okay I guess we're doing that then. Looks like Huge has been rather busy, a very alive Fumiko was at the party having a grand time. Most of our families were there as well. I spotted my sister (OK Macer's sister, but I grew up in the same house too) from across the room and went to speak with her. As I drew near I noticed two little red marks on her neck. My tail twitched rapidly and I closed the distance between us much faster than I had intended and had her bend over so I could get a better look, they definitely looked like bite marks. Furious I asked her where she got those, she looked in a mirror, confused and said she didn't see any marks. I took out my knife and had it extend its protection to her, and the fog cleared from her mind.

By this time others had noticed and began to make a bit of a crowd around her. Macer was a bit more forceful about getting information. That said, apparently our old "friend", Epher, is now a vampire working for Oona's father and has been courting our sister. In fear that she may be in the early stages of being changed we fed her a vile of the blue fluid and she was to stay with Lugh's family till we could deal with Epher.

It took us two weeks to get a plan in motion to try and find him, Oona decided that she would play bait while we stalked nearby. Can't say he's the most intelligent immortal I've ever met. Not only did he fall for the bait, but when I spotted him he was literally walking right next to me. I quietly drew my knives, moved next to him and proceeded to cut him four kinds of bad; Long, Deep, Wide, and Often while anouncing to the group that he was here. I was so involved in my revenge I nearly forgot my curiosities about vampires and the undead, specifically whether they feel pain or not. He jumped back from me and the spark of recognition entered his eyes, "Macer's lizard!"... now that just hurts, he doesn't remember my name. He darted off through the crowd and somehow managed to stop right next to Lugh, well that was just downright stupid. Lugh politely greeted him with his scimitar, and did something with his mace to leave a brand on Epher's forehead. I was able to sneak in for one more stab and twist, remembering to ask if he felt pain this time. Epher gave me a confused look responded in the negative and darted straight up into the sky.

Having nothing to engage him with I was preparing to chase him from the ground as best I could, knowing Huge was up there somewhere in the form of a bird. Just before I ran off after him Nina came over, cast a spell on me and told me to fly after him... BEST DAY EVER!!! Not only do I get a question answered but now I get to fly, actually fly! I know it was magical flight but my body subconsciously spread and flapped my wings anyway, whatever it still felt awesome! Right, pursuit. I chased after Epher, dodging through the alleyways till we came to a dead end. He turned to mist and floated into a building. I knew I had backup coming so I flew above the building and watched the exits. Huge got my attention as a bird and flew in after Epher. I could see some of the others flying this way and got there attention just as Huge flew out of the building chasing a slow wisp of smoke.

We followed Epher's wisp to Oona's father's estate and more or less rushed our way in. The servants protested our entry but didn't do anything to prevent us from doing what we were there to do. We found Epher's coffin in the basement and drug it outside, discussing how to deal with him. There was one really funny idea about showing him his last sunrise. Huge boomed in about how even though he was an ass, he used to be a friend, and he may have been dominated. That struck me, I've been there, I remember that succubus commanding me to empty my pack while my friends fought her demons. I didn't like it but I understood Huge's position. We were at a crunch for time so we put the coffin in one of the portable holes, raced to Lugh's chapel and brought him back using the blue fluid. Epher couldn't grasp the fact that he was truly alive again. I just about died laughing when Macer pulled his little "Remember when you said you didn't feel pain?" stunt. Now we just need to figure out if he's a threat by himself, or if he was just Oona's father's little b****.


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These doomsday cults were becoming more rampant on the streets as well as strange disappearances and murders of people in Magnimar. It was becoming enough of a problem that we felt it would be a good idea to look into them and see if there was a connection.

Lugh and I moved about the city listening to the street corner doom sayers and determined that a couple of them were nothing more than religions or followers that used the comet as a way to extract coins from those that were weak of mind. Although Lugh was concerned about these predators, I felt they were nothing more than a nuisance and not worth my time. “Leave them for the town guard to deal with, there are bigger fish to fry as my cousin would say.”

It would appear that the other two religions definitely led me to believe they were responsible for the murders and/or disappearances of Magnimars unwanted people. The street preachers were real predators. Their eyes gave that away as they looked over the people that listened to their speeches. It was a look I am very familiar with as every meat eating predator in the wilds looks at prey in the same manner. “These are the ones to watch closer and to track back to their dens. Make sure they are together and end their threat with true violence.”

Lugh and I shared our findings with the others and learned that the others learned the same. On our way to one of the street preachers we decided to stop off at the old clock tower in Underbridge. Rumors when we were kids spoke of the Scarecrow killing people in Underbridge and it wouldn’t hurt to look about. The clock tower having been where we had found a giant arm as kids.

Much was the same on the exterior of the tower, and the inside looked much the same as well except for one of the large bells having fallen at some point in the past. The skeleton of some small canine the clock towers victim. Moving in first I switched my sight over to see better in the darkness and found something large hiding in a pile of debris in the corner. “I can see you, there isn’t much reason to continue hiding.” It stood at my challenge and the creature was some sort of magical golem, the arm back in its proper place. I immediately thought of the lich we had just driven off as a possible reason this was even here. Regardless of its creator, there were several heads hanging from its belt, having been tied there by their hair. I rushed the creature and took a mighty chunk from its hide. It returned the blow twice over causing me to stagger. As the others rushed in the creature fell under the added arms of my companions.

I planted the sword in the ground and began to heal myself when a dark shadow seeped from the golems carcass and coalesced into a creature half and again the golems height. Well now, this looks to have been a very promising encounter indeed.


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My, how time flies when you're squandering it.

We've been pounding the streets checking on all the "priests" wailing about the comet's approach. They generally fall into two groups, nutters and opportunists. The first seem to really believe their own drivel, no cause for concern. The second bunch are the usual bottom-feeders looking to separate the rubes from their coin, just another day in Magnimar. The problem is, when notes are compared, a couple stand out as agents of something darker that needs to be aired out and shown the light of day(like the religious reference?).

Discussing possible plans, it was proposed we check the clock tower, where we found the big golem arm. blink, blink blink. My first thought was there was no way it could connect to the lich, but I often forget that there are things even older than Father. Then I began assembling a herd of runaway fears and rampant impossibilities before collecting up tools for the side trip.

Arriving at the tower, am again amazed to find it basically upright. Try not to do the math, everything I've ever read proves the thing should have fallen and taken a big section of Underbridge long ago. Have seen way too much that couldn't happen, don't sweat the small stuff. Wasn't looking forward to the climb; have packed on a few pounds since the last time, and don't figure the years have been kind to the structural integrity of the stairs.

We fanned out in the main chamber, skirting the bell and wagon. HUGE started calling at something over in a corner, and a large form stood up. The golem appeared whole(repaired?) and ready for a fight. After a brief scrum, it went down, only causing major damage and blood loss. As we were counting heads(and limbs), the pile started moving. Something rose from the mess, shedding the golem's skin like an off-the-rack tunic. What we now face is a bony horror, about half again the size of the golem, but waaaay more angry.

Like I mentioned before, just another day in Magnimar!


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I've spent much of my free time during the past few days checking on Epher and making sure he is still being held safely in the cell we arranged for him. I'm not sure what to do with him at the moment, but figured that we have all the time in the world to decide, and that he can wait patiently for his fate to be determined.

We've also been out patrolling the streets of Magnimar to keep an eye on the doom cults and street preachers that are fleecing the locals and preying on their fears caused by the comet.

For the most part, the ones stirring up trouble seem to be the average shysters taking advantage of the situation to make money or gain power for themselves. However, a few have caused some concern that they represent more sinister forces at work. We'll have to keep an eye on those in particular.

Rumors of murders near the old clock tower from our youth led us to return there to investigate. It was odd returning to the place where it all started for us more than a decade earlier. My thoughts were filled with memories of the long climb and the battle with the goblins that we found there. That truly was a pivotal moment for our little group of friends. It felt strange being there without Sam and Felu. They had been a part of us for so long that their absence left me feeling remorseful about not being able to save them and keep the group together.

It didn't take long for Birgun to find the golem that immediately moved to attack him. They exchanged mighty blows until the combined efforts of our group brought it down.

It didn't stay down long!

A dark, skeletal creature (demon?) appeared to crawl out from inside the mismatched parts of the golem, much like a moth emerging from a cocoon. The shape was hunched at first as it appeared, but stood upright and towered over us as the last of the golem's flesh dropped away.

Back to battle!

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