Campaign Start

Starting City - New Dawn


Warning: Spoilers for Terror in the Skies and possibly other stuff.


E'lan's Journal - Entry 1

New Dawn is now the home of the homesteaders from Kaer Fisten.  We have 
traveled far from our Kaer near the badlands, incuring heavy loses to horror 
contructs and invae.  Many of my friends and mentors have died, and now my 
heart is further saddened by the recent loss of my beloved Ana to a horror's wasting disease.

All I have now is a picture to remember her by. 

<----- Anna

I remember the day Anna and I walked out of the Kaer onto the scorched wasteland of what was once the most fertile region in Barsaive. We knew the world would be different, but hearing the stories of how beautiful the land surrounding Fisten was everyone was shocked. We wondered if all of Barsaive was now like this, and how would we live if it was true. The magical illusions around the Kaer were powerful, and everyone knew that if we left we wouldn't be able to find the entrance to return to. I was going to vote to return to the Kaer, but Ana found a flower growing in a crack and it gave her hope that the world was not all like this. She found beauty in the sky we had never before seen and giggled as she took a deep breath of the air. It was her enthusiasm that convinced me that perhaps we could carve out a new life outside the Kaer. It was the hardest thing to watch that joy and energy slowly by sapped by her illness. The questor of Garlen in Travar could do nothing to help her, only suggesting that distance from the Horror that had marked her in the ruins of Fisten might help. We decided to travel on to the New Dawn land-grant with the group of homesteaders. She died a month ago as the town was starting to flourish. Most of my magician friends have stayed behind in Travar and her family blames me because I wasn't able to protect her in the ruins of Fisten, foolish as they are. All they see is that I returned unmarked and she did not. With her death there is no reason for me to remain in this village. I have done my duty and seen everyone here safely and they have succeeded in carving out a nice little living near the jungle.

I was planing to shortly return to Travar to begin my search for my father when
 Balee arrived wounded from battle.

Balee the dwaven caravan master needs daughter Va'oosh rescued from slavers.

Both of House Alkomi   (pronounced Al - com - e)

Balee has offered a reward and some adventures traveling through have decided to
attempt a resuce with me.  They are Dai, Pyske, Myrinn, Adoina and Shaol.

Dai is a human warrior, Pyske a windling warrior, Myrinn an elven scout, 

Aldoina is a aspiring troubador (later we learn she's really a thief),and 
Shaol is a Vorst human warrior. 
  Lots of warriors in these parts apparently.
We hire Garyn, who turns out to be a traitorious guide who tries to trap us as slaves.  
A day out into the Servos jungle the ambush is launched after he tries to share some 
drugged water with us. We defeat the ambushers, buy Garyn gets away.
 We later found  him dead on the way back. 
We follow the information from the surviving slavers and discover the T'skrang village 
they sold her to.

E'lan's Journal - Journal Entry 2

The caravan prisoners are held in a jungle T'skrang village.  The slavers sold
them to the village for some purpose we don't know yet.  We are going to rescue
 her and her friends.

E'lan's Journal - Journal Entry 3
 
 My hand shakes as I write this. We have Va'oosh but at what price.

   The Horror plagues my nightmares.  My father is surely dead, for

     what can defeat such powerful things, and now I may become it's

       minion for I am sure that it has marked me.

 (Months later I could put down the events that transpired.  They are
      here.)





E'lan's Journal - Journal Entry 4

We have arrived back at New Dawn with our ward.  
Here we find Balee is dead, killed by what we don't know.  We will take Va'oosh to Throal.
The journey back to New Dawn was hard, and I'm ill from what I don't know.
Either the bad weather on the way back or maybe the horror is doing something to me.
   Perhaps soon I shall join Anna.
   On the way back we had to fight Bog-gobs and cross a river guarded by a 
water elemental.  I was no help to the group in my condition.   
I will try to attone by leading the group to a city 
on the river so we can go by boat to the floating city and then Throal.

  Notes:
Floating City - Home to elementalist college with 5 pillars.  On Coil River.
  -   Start of the Pilgramage trail
     1 day to Big Footprint
     2 days to Grove of Memory (can get lore knowledge about items sometimes)
     2 days to Kraliper Village w/ Sacred Flame (said to help with problems and
Horrors)
     1 wk to 4 Founders
     1 wk to Pool of Florianous
     4 days to Canyon of 1000 voices
     1 wk to Lalaay gorge
     1 day to Pinnacle gate of Cliff City


E'lan's Journal - Journal Entry 5

We have booked passage on a vessel to take us up the river to the floating city. 
Well after our boat was sunk by pirates we make our way overland to
the Floating city.  We met a nice obsidiman on the way who helped
us.   We have had to drug Va'oosh since she screams so much.
She is still comatose most of the time.   Adoina is taking good
care of her.  I wonder if it might be better if she doesn't make it.
Will she ever recover from her trauma?

We get to the Floating City and while the Questors of Garlen tend to her
and help me shake my sickness as well the group trains a little and learns
how to swim (decidely wise after we all almost drowned when our vessel sank).  
After Va'oosh is feeling better we meet to talk.

We decided to take the Pilgrim trail since it goes towards Throal.
At the start of the trail there are several dwarven caravans.
I buy an old moldy bolt of orange cloth to make into a robe, but
mainly to get information on the dwarven Houses.  In exchange for
the purchase, the dwarven merchant also tells me the colors and symbols
for House Alkomi.  I look to see if they have any house representatives
in all the caravans leaving the Floating City, but don't find any.
The rest of my group makes fun of me for purchasing the moldy, smelly cloth.
I am happy with my deal.  If I had just tried to buy the information,
I would have had to pay the same price, and not gotten anything.

Anyway, maybe the Sacred Flame can help me and Va'oosh.
It is said to have healing powers and help against horrors.

We head off down the Pilgramage trail.  The first day we are invited to
spend the night with some people we met, nice pilgrim dwarves.  The second
night we are invited to dinner and to camp with Ole' and Kelwyn as we start
to look for camp sights at the end of the day.  They poison us.
Then the traitorous dogs Ole' and Kelwyn kidnapp Va'oosh.
Both members of group called Bloodsworn with a sun tatoo as symbol.
Dai is instrumental in defeating their plan, 
as he proved more resistant to the drugs. 

 It was a very difficult battle because Ole' has a stop spell
 that paralyzes us. We have 
to try to get Va'oosh back.   It's a race to Throal now where they
will try to sell her to the highest bidder.   Apparently they 
overheard us talking in the floating city about bringing a dwarven noble home.
Kelwyn has told us where to find his brother Ole' in return
for us letting him live.  Adoina has taken a blood oath on his
safety and will escort him back to the Floating city for the authorities
to deal with.
The bar to find brother his brother in - My Dead Father on Hatchet lane in Bartertown

E'lan's Journal - Journal Entry 5.1

 We have booked passage on another T'skrang vessel to help us get
to Bartertown as soon as possible.  Pyske and Dai are cleaning out
the bilges while I sew up new sails for the mast.   I hope this 
ship doesn't run into pirates and sink like our last one.  We all
learned to swim during the time in the Floating City while the Questors
tended to Va'oosh.   They helped her, but I know in the end they might
not be able to.   In any case perhaps distance from the horror will help.

E'lan's Journal - Journal Entry 5.2

  We are sport fishing for things on one of our stops.  
We are dirt broke and are working off our passage. 
 The challenge is we use ourselves as bait and then bash the large
 serpent type creatures when they try to eat us. We win money 
because we don't get eaten.  Now I know why it is the Serpent River.

We get to the closest town to Bartertown on the river and set off overland.


E'lan's Journal - Journal Entry 6

We have reached Bartertown but lost Myrinn and Shaol along the way.  Not lost 
as in dead but lost as in lost.  They went out one night in a town and never 
came back.   Anyway we  need help defeating Ole'.  His
Stop spell is too powerful for us.  We look for a wizard to help us.

     Lady Night



We meet a helpful wizard babe informant
 - Trina dubbed Lady Night who operates in the shadows.
She will help us in return for Ole' and give him him back to
us so we can get Va'oosh's location from him.  She casts a countermagic
spell on us to protect us from Ole's Stop spell. We
Capture nethermancer Ole', and kill a Troll from Stormrider Moot with him.
Info:
Va'oosh sold to group called The Warren
Juvias ork with jet black hair covered in tatoos
Secret slave pens in Warehouse on Silverlane near Taragas Lane

We bury what's left of Ole'.   
Lady Night gave him to us in a box.  We thought it
was much too small until we opened it and found
just his torso.   Seems Lady Night is not someone
you want to be on the wrong side of, which is what our Ole' did.

Funny but the warriors didn't have the stomach to 
question what was left of him.   We bury him outside of
town.   I have a laugh to myself because if someone digs him up they
will be in for a surprise.  He won't be a very good cadaver man without
arms or legs.


E'lan's Journal - Journal Entry 7

 We have resuced Va'oosh.   We fought Juvias but were captured and all our
stuff was taken from us, including my spell book that my father gave me.

I have started a new journal and reconstructed the above entries as best
I can, although they are now much shorter since I can't remember all the little
details.  We managed to escape with Va'oosh thanks to Aldoina's help but didn't kill Juvias OR get our 
stuff back.  We were unable to save most of the slaves either. I am very
 dissapointed in Dai.  We and the other slaves we freed were making our
way up a secret back staircase to
 freedom with Juvias and his guards approaching.  I volunteered to hold them
 back so that everyone could escape, but Dai said I had to protect Va'oosh and
 he would do so.  Well he didn't, he just jammed the door a bit and then ran 
past all the slaves in the stairway. 
 He could because we are in much better shape then they are.  Most of them 
died at the guards hands in the stairwell.  We have informed the Throal
 guards but when they returned the operation was deserted.   The good news 
is Va'oosh is no longer quite as 
catatonic as she has been.  We are returning her to her family.

Matriach of House - Terlina Alkomi
She introduces us to...
City Spymaster of Bartertown - Moocah Dravack
his Assistant Javier gives mission to rescue Throalic
spy Cirrock last seen in Slave Yards of Vivane.
Short swords engraved with thanks left with him.
Inn where we can contact him on return - Blessed Morning

We have to leave Throal.   The Stormrider Moot is looking for us.
Apparently the troll we killed getting to Ole' was a big-shot.

E'lan's Journal - Journal Entry 8

We are on the 
Eagle's Pride - Airship to Jerris, Capt. Grenair (Air T'skrang)

Pick up new party members:

in Jerris Daerlin the Archer looking for dad who's name is Methryn - Caravan trader.
   We try to get working guarding a caravan going south but the
caravan master doesn't want to hire us.  He insults our skills.  
I decide to we will follow the caravan and maybe help if they need it.   
We follow him and resucue his 
hide from wyverns.

This is how it goes...
We are ahead of the caravan when we hear a scuffle behind us, so we go
to look.  Two wyverns are attacking the caravan and have killed most of the
guards.   I turn to ask Pyske his opinion on whether we should help them.

I mean two wvyerns are pretty mean, we could get killed and this guy was a real jerk. 
 Most of the guards are already fleeing.  I turn to
get Dai's vote and to my surprise he's already charging the wvyerns halfway
down the hill.   So now we have to fight to rescue Dai.   Anyway we almost
get killed.  Stupid human warrior.


E'lan's Journal - Journal Entry 9

We spot the entrance to a Kaer on the way south.   We and the caravan
master go investigate since there could be money to be found.
We fall down a trap-door and are attacked by an evil nethermancer.
I render his small army of skeletons useless with my icy surface spell, but
he sends some kind of shadow thing at me which knocks me out.  They later
tell me they defeated him and rescued a Windling from some sacrifice ritual.
Before I went down I did look cool blowing the big door into splinters that he
locked behind them.  I've never cast such a powerful Earthdart spell in my life.  
That one could have felled those Wyverns with one blast.

Asp the Windling troubador rescued from evil nethermancer in Kaer.
Find Souleater the obsidian dagger, Bramble Robe, Chuckie the Puppet, Note in Old Tongue

Chuckie has an evil look in his eyes.  Not taking any chances I tie him up.  Everyone 
makes fun of me.  Tying up a puppet.  They wouldn't be laughing if it tried to kill
 us in the night.  Who knows what an evil nethermancer's puppet could do?

E'lan's Journal - Journal Entry 10

The caravan has arrived at our destination.
Crystal Rose Tavern in town - Guyla the Troubador helps with items.
Aamador Bouldershoulder the dwarven weaponsmith helps too.
He wants us to find his brother Durga the Elementalist and give supplies to
him.
He was last seen with the Rockhorns in eastern part of the mountaings.
We continue on South while the caravan goes back north.
 We find Relina almost dead.  The group she has been traveling with
had been attacked by a group of three we met the day before. 
They wanted to camp with us, but we had learned our lesson with
Ole' and Kelwyn.   One of them spyed on us at night.   Lucky for
her I couldn't weave worth a damn that night.  She ran off before
I could get her with my spell.
Relina wants to get to Vivane.

E'lan's Journal - Journal Entry 11
We have been Captured by trolls.
We had just been attacked by changelings, who hurt us pretty
bad.   Then we meet a nice obsidiman who I chatted with.  He's been
standing there looking at the view for decades!  I make a mental note
never to get into a staring match with an Obsidiman.
We go a little further and boom!  It started raining Trolls.
Kern - Head of Moot
Topa - Ship leader
York the Ork - Kaer helper
Tyranisus - Blind Wizard (who later turns out to be an Evil Horror)
By bothering the  Ancient One, the Old Obsidiman I had talked to, we
have committed a taboo.  We must atone by performing a deed.
Tyranisus wants us to investigate a Windling Kaer to get a book
to help against the horrors.   We go with York.  We are
attacked by Invae bees.   They kick our butt, but we are
able to retreat down the tunnel.  Then we kill
a horror construct on the bottom, but he curses Pyske with
some kind of weakness spell.   We fight some more constructs
and finally find the book.   I am able to open the magic door,
finding out for sure that I am marked.
"Only one true of heart, but tainted by the darkest evil 
 can open this door."
 Turns out Dai is marked too by that first horror.
   The Horror has been talking to Dai!
                Now I'm scared.

We bring the book back to the Trolls, and Tyranisus takes it.
Turns out he is a horror and he flys off.  So now we fight him.
We defeat his ship but he gets away.   I have to make a deal with
an elemental to track him.   Now I owe an air elemental an orichalcum
coin.   I think I got taken on that deal.
We fight the Tyranisus and defeat him at a high cost.  Dai has made
a deal with our horror, and Asp and Psyke are dead.
Pick up Lightning Armor and Tome of Banishment, Windling Amulet.
Asp and Pyske die in battle with the Horror.
I wear the Windling Amulet (Later found to be the Amulet of Asritoth.  This
amulet was unknowingly a great boon to me, protecting me from the horror's
influence over the course of our adventures.)
We are having a banquet to honor our victory.
New group members at banquet Meryk the swordmaster and Labael the wizard.
They are also looking for Methryn, Daerlin's father.  They have a debt
to repay to them, he helped save their village of something to that effect.
Relina is impressed by my combat prowess, grace, and style.  She also hits
on Dai, but I attribute that to the strong troll drink.  Who would be 
attracted to Dai?  He says he was raised by an elven family in Vivane, but
he is more impetuous than a windling.  No patience or diplomacy whatsoever,
unless you consider a scream and leap attack diplomacy.  I have tried to
teach him that some battles can be won with words and not swords, but it
is like talking to a brick wall.   I swear human warriors can be SO irritating.
I am going to miss Pyske.  Without her calming influce on Dai I don't know what
we are going to do. Scratch that I do know, we are going to get into a lot of
fights that could be avoided.
Find Durga (Earth Specialist Elementalist) who trains me.
Durga is a friend of the trollmoot, but shunned by even them because of his
ummm... sanitary habits...  He is a very dirty man.  He never bathes and is
so full of mud if he wasn't a dwarf we'd think he was an obsidiman.  He makes
me dig alot of holes and fills them up.  Making my next circle is very hard, but
under his weird guidance I do it.  Unfortunatly he doesn't know anything about my
 father.


E'lan's Journal - Journal Entry 12
- Hidden Dragon Valley-
Need windling's name - Calling him Speaker.
We play a riddle game with a dragon through Speaker.

Speaker is the mouthpiece of the dragon, who may or may not
be corporeal.  Or who may just be the dragon in another form,
heck we don't know but Pyske says Speaker glows with power so
we don't want to mess with him.
I have a headache, next to a dragon I'm not
clever enough to get answers to my questions.
The dragon wants to play a riddle game.
We each have to guess the other's heart's desire.  It 
is all of us versus the dragon.  He gets mine pretty 
easily.  Talking to Durka recently has made me think of training with
my father.  I miss him, so my heart's desire that night was to find him.

Almost any other time it would have been to free myself from the horrormark I have.
We finally figure out his before he gets all of
ours so we get a reward for winning and entertaining him.
The Dragon wants to touch to moon.

I want to find my father, who was part of the first party to
see if it was safe to emerge from the Kaer.  They never returned,
and when we left the kaer we found a message saying the outer wards had
been breached by a Horror and that they were going to fight it
to save the Kaer.  They never returned, but there were signs that
some of them left the Kaer alive.

It seems this valley may be a prison of sorts for the dragon,
 and a magic storm is brewing outside.  
The Dragon has created little squirel like creatures
to keep him company, which helps allay my fears that he
might be a horror.  The creatures are twisted, but not
in a horror way, and the trees he made are quite nice, albeit
void of the usual nature spirits.
I am very VERY wary of this creature, dragon, spirit or whatever.
I was raised on tales of Elfbane, the great dragon who slew our elf queen.

We are protected from the great storm raging outside the valley but don't
want to brave the storm again so we opt to try to get
to Vivane through the dream realm.   Speaker or the Dragon
opens a portal for us and gives us a ever-full pot of meat in
return for entertaining him and winning the riddle contest.

In the dream realm we have to pass through a empty town full of monsters. 
At the town center there is a large arch gate that we must pass through.  
This brings us to a Nexus of sorts.  
To pass through the Nexus we have to appease the Passions.
Each one has a test for us.

Get tons of items in Passion rooms and enduring art tatoos from Jaspree in the
tests as we pass through the Dream Realms.   I get a elephant on my back, to
aid in willpower test.  Later we discover Dai gets a monkey on his back.
I have a good laugh at this.  A monkey on his back, how appropriate that is with
the horror pulling his strings at times.  At various times we have discussed becoming
a group with a name, but since Dai and myself have horror marks I resist that idea.
I don't want to tie my pattern to anyone else's.  That might give the horror access to
them through me, something I can't have on my conscience.

E'lan's Journal - Journal Entry 12.5
- Dream Vivane -



<----- Meryk is all dressed up to go to the Ball.

   Well it all turns out that were still in 
the dream realm, but I digress.
We arrived in Vivane, found a great inn.  
Relina was happy to be here.  The key was the weather.
It was beautiful all the time, something unusual this
time of year.  Meryk says that is because she dreams of a place
called the Summerlands where people go when they die.  It is a nice
dream.
I was invited to a ball by a pretty troubador 
and her friends that
arrived to help identify some items and learn 
about them.
We are, ummmm, I guess warned by a shadowy figure 
to be careful of Relina.
Not that I take the advice of shadowy figures at 
face value.
I trust Relina because she helped us free some slaves 
on the way here.

She didn't have to, but she scouted
 out their positions 
for us and didn't 
warn them about us.  The rest of the group was wary of trusting her up to that 
point because she hadn't wanted to investigate old Kaer and fight horrors with us. 
(The rest of the group looked down on her because living was high on her 
list of priorities I guess.  They think I'm influenced by her charm and good 
looks and think too highly of her.  I guess they don't know me real well.)
 We go to the ball, but find Relina's old friends there (the ones that tried to 
off her and her group).  I dance with the one who spied on us and warn her
that Relina is under my protection and I'll hold her responsible if
anything happens to her.  I also try to charm out the information on who
her employeer is, but she won't reveal it.
We dance the night away and I have a good time.
Turns out Meryk is a pretty good dancer.

 Even though I told Relina to be on her best behavior, she
kills one of our enemies on the lawn behind the ball.  She can't pass up a good 
opportunity for revenge.  Not that I can either.  However the ease with which she
 dispaches this competent person worries me a bit.  
She is either very lucky or much higher circle than she let on. 
 Luckily nobody saw her but me.  Then things get complicated.
   Turns out the group of enemies
 is persuing Relina because she knows what one of the pattern items of Barsaive 
is and is going to sell this information to the Therans. 
(Much Later we discover that she knows the location and how to get the
 Counsil Compact, a patter item for Barsaive.)
They want to kill 
her, not accepting her word that she won't turn 
the information to the highest bidder.  Turns out the shadowy figure is 
the Dream Master or some other such person.  
 They let us vote on her fate and the rest of the group outvotes 
me to imprison her in the Dragon Valley.
She hasn't even done anything wrong.   Mybrunje must be pissed.  Even Dai
votes to lock her up even though he prides himself on being a follower of 
Mybrunje.   I am mad at the group...   I will find a way to help her out if
I can, presumably by finding some way to nullify her dangerous knowledge. 
She is touched by my faith in her and my support.  I find myself more attracted
to her because of the dignity with which she accepts her fate.   I am sure 
we will meet again.



E'lan's Journal - Journal Entry 13
- Real Vivane -
 
Notes:
Kabon the Inkeeper of The Brown Otter
Barthial - Elven elder can help with my Bramble robe likes wine
Koriandrum - Identifies our Thread items
Cirrock might be in Vrontoc
Cure for Horror mark in Vashnear also Daryln's dad.

We are unable to locate Cirrock, but do get in touch with the Barsavian
resistance here in Vivane.  During our search, I am able to get my Bramble
robe identified and learn some of the key knowledges for it by plying an old
elf with wine.  It is said Barthial even has contacts in the Bloodwood.
From the resistance we learn that a 
Rescue resistance member is slated for execution from Therans.
We must also rescue Dai's old girlfriend Almandra from her family because they are forcing 
her to marry some pompus jerk who is quite brutal.  
 We intially hired on as guards
at the wedding hoping to grab her before the ceremony, but Dai couldn't bring 
himself to do it.  I was going to burn the place down and we could grab her in the confusion.
(On later introspection, this is where my pyromanical tendicies I later
 displayed first surfaced.)  However the odds were too great and the potential for 
innocent lives lost too great for Dai.  She later contacts us to kidnap her later.






<--- Almendra, Dai's old girlfriend
       in the tunnels beneath the the bakery

We have an ambitious plan. We have combined our
rescue plan for the resistance member and Almendra.
  We have found a bakery along the route the slave
procession will take.  In the morning we
will meet Almendra at a bakery in the Theran
Quarter.  The bakery has an entrance to the
tunnels under the city.  We will take the
bakery, hopefully keeping the bakers alive.
(Which we did.)  We will disable 
Almendra's guards and rescue her.
Then the prison convoy will move our guy
through here.  We will hit them hard.  Get
our guy out and all escape through the tunnels.
That was the plan.


    Turns out the resistance member is Cirrock, the guy
we are looking for.  Nobody knew it because he was such
 a good spy/agent.
We also rescue Kor and Jerris.  They were also prisoners
in Cirrocks procession sentenced to death.  I name my sword
 Chainbreaker after it cuts the chains of the 
prisoners allowing us to make an escape
before we get killed.   
We retreat down through the tunnels beneath  
the city after a long and grueling fight with the 
guards.  One especially takes a licking and keeps on
ticking.  He persues us till we enter the tunnel.
We nickname him Darth, and hope we never meet him 
again.  His ability to suck up spell and sword damage
and skill with a sword almost ruined our plan.


E'lan's Journal - Journal Entry 14
 - Jezulein Kaer -

   
 Boy we really pissed em off.  They are flooding the tunnels with
magic gas that's slowly killing us.  Luckily we have stumbled
across an old lab/hideout/Kaer beneath Vivane.
 
The runes on the door keep the magic gas at bay, but
the door only stays open so long, so we have positioned Labael
outside to keep opening it when it starts to close.  We haven't
figured out how to open it from the inside.
That worked for a while, but now Labael hasn't opened the door
in a while.  We worry about her, but soon get on to the practical
task of finding another way out.
We find a way out of the first two rooms, but trip a trap
causing them to flood.  Looks like we won't be going back that way.

 E'lan's Journal -   Jezulein Kaer Pt. 2

 This place is full of traps and guardian creatures.  We have fought
statues that came to life.  
 We fight through old undead elementalist and nethermancers
who are really tough.  One of them
has cursed us when he died.
I don't know what will happen, but I can
bet it's not going to be good.
And while we rest we are attacked and
spell sniped by some large snake that nearly kills
Daerlin with a suffocating paste.  Kor fights bravely against it
in hand to hand, but it gets away.  As I am the only one in the group
not heavily wounded I persue it for hours through
 tunnels back the way we came waiting for it to appear,
finally managing to trap it (or it trap me) in the statue room.
After exchanging spells and blows with fang and sword I finally
manage to defeat it in single combat with a might blow from
Chainbreaker.  The snake sealed the entrance by turning
 a statue, and I'm not strong enough to turn it back to open the door.
   Luckily, there is another door that leads to a earthen grave.  
I pile up the earth and summon a porter to help me out.
 I cut off the snake's head and head back with my prize.





<--- I fight a big spell-casting snake. *grin*

E'lan's Journal -  Kaer Pt. 3

  We have finally figured out all these undead 
nethermancer/elementalists are the Jezulein.   Our
passage through here is waking them from some kind
of statis spell they had, although it didn't seem to 
work real well.   We have also found the one person who's
spell seemed to work correctly.  Her name is Tzila.
Dai goes to talk to her since he's the only one who knows
Theran other than Almendra.   Knowing Dai's negotiation
skill I get ready for a fight.  Sure enough, that's what it
comes down to.  I can understand some of the conversation
(because Theran is a variant of Spetherial) and I can
tell that Dai is pretty much pissing her off.  Sure enough
swords are drawn, and she starts weaving.   She's pretty
good because she got her darkness spell off pretty quick
and makes her escape.  We chase her but she knows the place
better than us and gets away by locking a magic secret door
behind her.  Gotta go..
  The earth elemental guardian is coming back this way...

Well now that the last thread is tied I have a place to keep this journal. Safe and sound in my robe. Ha, I'd like to see the little cutpurse that stole my money in the Broken quarter get his grubby little fingers in there.

Anyway...... Drat, drat, and double drat. We should of left this place when we had the chance. Now we are stuck down here in this kaer full of undead elementalist/nethermancers with a civilian for heaven's sake. I owe the group an apology, Almendra, the elven civilian, especially. I've treated her poorly, calling her powder puff and spoiled little rich girl. I got greedy. A rare trait for me but the lure of knowledge.... a dream of a whole library full of the knowledge of the Iron Circle, what a prize that would be. Heck, there might even be a pattern item for Thera down here somewhere. If only Almendra wasn't here I could explore this place with a fairly clear conscience. The rest of us are adventurers, even ole Cirrock knows the game of risking life and limb for a scrap of information but Almendra is another case altogether. Perhaps we should of never rescued her from a wedding to some boring lout. Is she safer with Dai then with him? Probably not. I am worried about Dai. Would he make another deal with IT if she was in danger of dying? Maybe, I just don't know.. and that worries me. And that isn't good either. I'm just as worried as some pre-scourge undead nethermancer killing me as I am about Dai and a divided attention is a terrible thing. Problem is he's more powerful then I am. Heck, he could probably take on the rest of the group and it would be a fairly even fight. I shouldn't have let him learn that steel thought thing from the weaponsmith. His lack of mystic armor was a weakness that we could have exploited if we had to take him down, and now that weakness isn't as weak. Here in this enchanted kaer where my spells are more powerful I might have a chance, but once we get out of here there is no way until I learn that earth cage or suffocating paste spell. And to top it all off we've been cursed.

"Callistus will get you all!"

Great.

Perhaps we can get Meryk to weave to one of his pattern items. That might give her an edge against him in a physical confrontation if she can use it to disrupt his concentration in some area, like defense. Geez, I'm such a pessimist. Hopefully it won't come to that because if it does, I'm next on the list for Mr. BV to take down. Tasty little ole me. We are so much more powerful now, but I still think not ready to face him. Better to find the answer to my question and try that first. The weaponsmith and the warrior we rescued are coming along fast. The weaponsmith trusts me and Dai though. I need to put a stop to that if I can. Probably whipping out the Tome of Banishment and reading a few choice selections will make them a little more wary of me. Something like, ' Gee, did you guys now K'tresesncidec the horror prefers to have his victims eat a few meals of sweets before he devours them. He likes to fatten them up a bit before he sucks the flesh from their bones. ' Ha! I'm starting to sound like an undead Jezulein myself down here. Maybe I should see about getting an Iron Circle membership card. This place is starting to get to me. So much like Kaer Fisten where I grew up, and yet so different. Built with only one way to go just like my Kaer. But this place is more like a tomb than a village underground. No homes, just coffins, guardians and dead and almost dead bodies, and not even a horror to have to worry about thank the passions.

E'lan's Journal -  Kaer Pt. 4

 We have found a ship!  It's parked inside a cave so I still 
don't know how we will get out of here, but one of the snakes
we talked to here told us the way out of here was to sail out
so we are encouraged.  Unfortunately the ship is guarded 
by an undead warrior.  He gliding strides up into the air
and I blast him with an icy mace and chain.  Unfortunately,
he then comes down on me with some eagle cry almost killing me.
I don't remember much of the rest of the battle being 
unconscious for most of it.  It turns out we won though.
We then rest and heal up some more before going through a 
passage at the other side.  There we meet another statue
guardian, an elephant with a sword.   He spews acid out
of his trunk at us when we try to fight him at range with
bows and spells, so we go in close.  He is a whirling 
dervish of death with his sword.  He is also immune to 
most of my spells so I wade in with Chainbreaker and wound
him with a few mighty blows.   Daerlin finishes him off
with her bow.  We then pick all the warriors off the ground.

Intentionally grinding an elephant bit beneath her heel, Maryk grabs the lid of the coffin and heaves it to the floor. Yet another in a seemingly endless procession of corpses stares at the ceiling through platinum-covered lids. This one, at least, doesn't seem to be moving... yet. It also doesn't appear to be Tzolo, unless she was significantly less feminine than her sister. Grey locks of hair that should be brittle are surprisingly intact; they fill the coffin in 6 long braids. Unlike the other corpses, this one has no apparent weapons to hand.

After a brief... discussion, Dai is elected to be the one to search the body. A few experimental prods determine that no combat is likely, allowing Derlenn to release a bowstring that has been drawn for longer than was strictly good for it, and causing E'lan to stop frantically and dramatically waving his arms... 'though he is careful to keep shifting his feet and to avoid drooling, lest his companions try to snap him out of some sinister spell.

After shearing off the locks (just a precaution), Dai examines the body before throwing it on the ground. With a hesitation that is only barely noticable, he produces the two platinum coins. Another brief discussion breaks out when Dai claims that there was no other loot, but no amount of prodding, skepticism, or cavity-searching reveals any further wealth. Grumbling commences that the best-guarded of the Jezulein would have the least treasure, and a thorough search of the tomb begins.

When Jerris finds the small dents in the coffin bottom, near where the corpse's head had lain, everyone immediately begins looking at Dai, who quickly produces the elephant, and after a bit of scuffling while everyone assumes their positions, places it in the elephant tracks.

The stone bottom of the coffin disintegrates, a sheet of dust falling downward, only to be blown back into the party's faces in a blinding cloud. As the eysight of the four blinded warriors cleares, and the others crane their necks to see what was happening, they see a good 5 yard drop into yet another room. All they can see of the area is immediately under the coffin, and even that is obscured by a familiar, hazy wall.

Light floods out of the coffin, painting a rectangle on the ceiling overhead. Unlike any other room thus far, this one appeared to be well-lit, by what could only be light crystals, 'though the crystals themselves are yet out of sight.

Surrounded by a coffin picture-frame, a tall, feminine body lays in state. To the horrified eyes of the adepts, she starts, as if being jerked awake from a long, deep sleep. Round, clear disks drop away from her eyes with an elongated ringing, and even through the haze those eyes are obviously open and staring at her "rescuers".

Yet even as the curses fly and weapons are readied, she sinks back onto the cold slab where she has lain for so long. Even minutes later, as the shimmering wall fades away, she remains still... the stillness of death.

One by one the adepts drop into the tomb, determined that _they_ would not be the one caught by whetever traps await. After a quick glance around, they spread out, so that E'lan and Dai can examine the corpse while the others warily watch the statues lining the room. They were not moving, even after Tzolo's corpse was disturbed, but noone is taking any chances.

The are "statues", and not "corpses", only by virtue of their rigidness and lack of decay. They might well breath, so lifelike are they. From the wounds that each bears, pours blood that you would not have bet against being real, 'though it sizzles into nothingness as it hits the floor.

Nearest Kore, whether by coincidence or predilection, an Ork warrior hunches over, clawing with his right hand at his face. What you can see of it through the layer of blood covering his entire face is half dissolved by some unseen substance. His left arm hangs limp a his side, a withered husk. On his chest, a red badge that seems out of place on his tan clothing proclaims his commitment to an ancient oath, 'though only Kore is familiar enough with it to remember what it means.

Counter-clockwise from the Ork, a troll sky raider stands proudly, one foot in the air as if resting on some long forgotten ship. His living crystal armor gleams against the light crystals, and a lattice of crystals forms an irregular-shaped shield on his left arm. His right arm rests on his knee, his hand open. An empty sword sheathe hangs at his waist. He gazes out ahead of him, his eyes glassy, but not the glassiness that one would find in a trophy. Instead, the eyes hold a panic that is muted by a sort of blankness, a lack of expression. The beginnings of a drop of spittle hang in the corner of his mouth.

To the left, a second, larger troll hangs in mid-air, dangling from whatever has impaled him; a head-sized hole gapes from his chest to his back. His gaudy orange and yellow robes are singed and burned in places, 'though no wounds are visible beneath the burns, and he wears a pair of leather gloves tinted slightly red.

An obsidiman stands erect, arms outstretched. Frost lines his body, and blood globs accent the edges of fissures running across his rock-hard skin. Though he is hardly well-dressed, the sash an loincloth he wears are well-decorated with embroidered designs. Still hanging at his hip, a sword that looks to have been chiselled from a single solid piece of stone dangles.

A diminuative human woman bleeds from many tiny abrasions, as she appears to be lifted from her knees by the collar. A finely crafted amulet hovers in mid-air where it appears as it might were it balled into someone's fist. The woman wears finely-wrought soft leathers, and a bow lies by her feet. The design of the bow is immediately familiar: a hardwood bow with a heart-shaped arrow groove.

A human man holds a slender broadsword before him in a classical duelling pose, his left hand on his hip. His posture is only slightly marred by the arch of his back, where a single wound leaves a trail down his tunic. A look of surprise and indignation masks his face, and doomed realization has been reproduced all too well in his eyes. On his wrists, a pair of bracers bear intricate designs.

A t'skrang crouches, appearing to grasp above his headfor something unseen. A look of resignation wars with panic in his eyes, and his tail and leg muscles are clenched tightly, as though attempting to propel him through the ceiling overhead. Unlike the other statues, no blood flows; instead, water drains from his upward-facing snout. No clothing or other equipment is visible on him, except for a quintet of used death cheat charms on his chest.

The final statue is another ork, kneeling, every muscle in his body tensed. His right hand clutches in front of him at something unseen, possibly the clothing of his killer. Coins spill from his open right hand, hovering in mid-air as thought caught in before they fell to the ground. Tears form tracks down his face. A single, deep stab wound impales his left shoulder and exits his body near his kidneys. Minor burn marks line the cut, having partially cauterized the flowing blood.

The bier itself is carved with runes that, while more complex, are by now familiar to E'Lan... save that this time, he notices something that, while it seems familiar, he had not specifically noticed before. It is an elementary error, one that even an two-year apprentice would know better than to make. He does not need to understand nethermancy to understand that this flaw, while simple, is so great as to ruin awhole spell. It is hard to say what exactly that spell was, as there are many diffent patterns woven between the bier and it's occupant, but from her current state, you would guess that it is an important one.

A cautious search yields a handful of spell crystals underneath Tzolo. Of more interest, in her left hand are clenched seven rings, their curious "puzzle-ring" design identifying them immediately as mud rings. Her right hand contains a thin, near-transparent oil-cloth, wrapped around seven more oil cloths. Each of these, in turn, appears to hold some form of gem. E'Lan cautiously unwraps one, for a better look using his elementalist half-magic... and his face goes blank. He begins drooling.

*****I slip gracefully into the room from the chamber overhead. As Elan and Dai go to check out the body she watches with a wary eye the rest of the "statues" in the room. Their strangeness and lifelike characteristics cause something deep inside her to stir....be careful it says.....watch your back. She circles around the room having a good look at each statue in there *paying particular attention to the human swordsman...nice sword she thinks,* and then pauses to look at the body in the middle of the room. The ring catches her eye, and she reaches out snatches it and places it on a finger of her left hand. Just about this time Elan pulls his stunt with the crystal, stopping her from grabbing one of those....."Elan!? Elan!? What's going on with him Dai?"*******

As thoughts of possession filter around the group, E'Lan does his best to reassure his companions. He snipes at Kore, glares cautiously at the statues, and grumbles about being the group chef. He can successfully answer any question put to him. The stones, he says, gave him a... Flashback that his is hard-pressed to put into words. What he can say, though, is that he saw a victim of the Jezulein. No other items if interest stand out to you. Still, as you take Inventory of your findings, you hardly feel that you have come away empty-handed.

 

E'lan's Journal - Journal Entry 15
 - City on river -

Well it turns out the ship is called the Uzrivoy and it can
sail for short periods through earth and stone.  It also
sails on land as well as it does on water and is magically 
propelled by the power of the Amulet I was able to weave to.
(After many attempts, I've rarely seen an item more resistant 
to thread weaving in my adventures.)  We sail the ship away
to the nearby river so as to not attract attention, and then
set sail to the nearest town to reprovision.

 E'lan's Journal (continued)
It turns out the crystals are some kind of memory crystal.  I decide to try 
another one, willing to risk much for knowledge.  Those who want to take one 
have, and many have found the knowledge the gained useful, if somewhat alien.  
After comparing notes we others jump to the realization that these are the 
memories of Dragons.  A startling revelation indeed.  It seems the Jezulean 
like to capture dragons and drain their memory.   I make a mental note to be 
much more wary of Tzila should we encounter her again.  Daerlin's experience 
has definately left her worse for wear.  In my second experience I got the 
memory of Tzila's boyfriend, the warrior we had encounterd guarding the ship.  
Was he a dragon as well?  I'm not sure, but I don't think to.  His knowledge of 
Theran history is definately useful.

We continue onto the town of Schilf.
In town we meet a friendly scoundrel named Tala who hooks up with us. He
has a pet monkey named Maya.
The newer party members get trained.  Dai has become ill from
some the curse of Callistus or by the spell trap that got him as he was 
releasing the anchoring mechanism
that had the ship morred.  He's becoming blue skinned and weak.
We meet with the city leaders because of the impending
political confict between pro and anti Theran groups.  We also do a little
riot control for the Throal side of government.  Seems Thera is stirring
up a revolt.  In exchange for our help I get him to say that they will send
word and funds to the resistance in Vivane to help Labael if she has been captured.
We also get the Uzrivoy detailed and refitted.  We set sail
for Throal.    Along the way we get attacked by sky raiders for
our ship, but we sucessfully repel the invasion.  My new suffocating
paste spell is a real boon as I was able to nullify the leader of the
attack fairly early.   We also encounter a ruined temple out in the middle
of nowhere that seems to be devoted to Jaspree.  It has some minor damage
with a column collapasing so we undertake a small break from sailing to
repair it.  Me for Jaspree and Jerris for Upandal.  After that little
interlude the Passions must have smiled on us because we reach Throal
with little incident.

E'lan's Journal - Journal Entry 16
 - Throal -
We make it back to Throal.   We are rushed to an audience with the King
and his advisors because Cirrock has more important news than we have been
led to believe.

Journal Page 2

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