A Journey to the Sea (Greyhawk) UPDATED 7 February 2008

[sniffles]

Letter #9

Dearest brother;

We considered attempting to run through the door should the tower inhabitants open it to admit one of the children, but we decided instead to try the roof again so we could perhaps come at them from behind. We were joined for this assault by Tarhan, the village constable, and by Arizhel the witch, who was eager to find her missing daughter.

When the music began to play most of us withstood its mesmerizing effect, but Tarhan and Illtud fell asleep and Thor was obliged to wake them with a spell.

We employed the magic ring and our ropes again to ascend the tower. This time the tower residents seemed to be otherwise occupied and we made the journey safely. The crates had been moved away from the trapdoors. We found the larger trapdoor barred, but we managed to burst it open by our combined strength.

One of the one-eyed creatures stood guard just below. Arizhel snared him with a spell and then Shishir, Illtud and I made short work of him. But we hadn't been able to prevent him ringing an alarm bell.

We rushed down a ramp to find that curiously, though we were so high, the next level was a stable! We noticed that the music was getting louder as we descended.

As we continued to move lower in the tower we came upon a large room containing a glass tank. Inside the tank lay what appeared to be a brain! Horn-like attachments on the side of the tank seemed to be the source of the eerie music. Shishir destroyed one of these horns and was on the verge of smashing the other when he realized that someone was speaking to him - and the speaker appeared to be the brain in the tank!

This brain, which called itself Irvin, explained that it was the owner of the tower, but it was under orders from a person called Krank to play the music that lured the children. Irvin warned that Krank could be found in the next room.

After Irvin promised not to play the music any further, we left the brain alone and turned to the next room. As we entered this room we saw an ugly man wearing a strange headdress of potion vials. In the corner of the room lay a group of sleeping children. We also observed a pair of women wielding a staff, standing oddly close together.

Shishir moved to oppose the two women, and it became apparent that their bodies were somehow joined. They moved in unison, using actions that resembled the way Shishir and his twin attack. I confronted the hideous Krank.

Krank ran to another door and opened it, admitting one of his one-eyed servitors. He then cast a spell at me that caused tiny missiles of energy to strike me. His movements seemed unnaturally quick.

Thor caught sight of a halfling woman coming in from another room and slammed the door in her face. The door became a barrier for the gnome as he kept it between himself and the cleaver-wielding halfling. She fled after being wounded.

Shishir had difficulty combating the conjoined women and eventually fell to their blows. I was also struggling with Krank, who had become hard to see and was able to heal any wounds he took very swiftly. Thor abandoned the doorway and came to threaten Krank with a flaming blade he conjured. More of Krank's one-eyed servants entered the room and very nearly killed Illtud.

Krank grasped at me with his hands wreathed in flames and I was barely able to keep my feet. I had to avail myself of a curative potion. Shishir and Illtud managed to get back on their feet with Arizhel's help, and we all surrounded the ugly man. He took flight and fled into the other room with our whole group in pursuit.

Thor made a brave effort to stop Krank by blocking the stairs when the villain tried to fly away. He was too short to strike the wizard, but I could reach him with my spear. He couldn't escape us and we brought him down.

After he fell Arizhel advised us to cut off his head. She explained that he was some kind of vampire, but one who stole sleep rather than blood from his victims. His peculiar headdress had been full of foul potions that would heal him but would harm any other being. Thor recovered the last remaining potion from the contraption.

We found that all the missing children were present, not permanently harmed but weakened by their ordeal. Somehow Krank had caused Arizhel's daughter to age many years until she more resembled an old woman than a child. Arizhel determined that she would be able to reverse the effect, thankfully.

Despite our wounds we searched the tower until we were sure all the children had been found. Irvin explained to us that he could cause the tower to move from place to place at his will. Thor tried to convince him to take us along when he left Crossford. He told us he'd consider this request, but I doubted he'd agree. I'm not sure I'd want to travel with a disembodied brain in any case.

I'll write more later.

Your sister, Lothiriel

If the story of Irvin and Krank and the children seems familiar, that's because our GM based it on the movie City of Lost Children.

 

[sniffles]

Letter #10

Dearest brother;

I wasn't surprised when Irvin declined to have company, but Thor was very disappointed that we couldn't leave with the magic tower. After it departed, we decided not to return to Highfolk and instead headed for the pass.

We stayed with the caravan until it turned toward the supposedly disease-afflicted town we'd heard of. We continued on to Verbeeg Hill. Unfortunately we found the pass closed, held by Perenlander guards. The Perenlanders had heard of the illness and were afraid of plague.

We spent a few days at an inn in Verbeeg Hill as we tried to decide what to do next. It seemed unlikely the Perenlanders would open the pass again soon. We considered trying to go by boat but we would have been going upriver, and passage over the mountains on foot seemed equally unwise due to the presence of giants. Finally we decided to return to Highfolk and wait for the pass to reopen.

On the way we stopped at the halfling town of Dreenam. You may have heard of their famed crystalberries. We took rooms overnight at the Crock Pot Inn and enjoyed some of the local delicacies, most of them featuring crystalberries. I bought some crystalberry jewelry to take home as gifts.

We seemed to be well clear of any trouble in Dreenam, but I should have known better than to think so. As we were awaiting dinner on our second evening, huge cockroaches abruptly began rushing into the common room, setting all the guests screaming and scrambling up on the tables. We could hear more screams from the kitchen. The horrid vermin were as large as dogs.

The giant insects were hard to kill, but we managed, and then ran to the kitchen to check on the staff. We found a large hole in the floor that had apparently admitted the roaches. Then the innkeeper came rushing in crying that one of his daughters was missing. It appeared the bugs had carried her off!

I'll have to finish this story later.

Your sister, Lothiriel

 

[sniffles]

Letter #11

Dearest brother;

I'm sorry I had to cut my last letter short. I've been occupied with training Rahon.

Some of the roaches in the kitchen were even larger than the ones in the common room. I found them so disgusting I could hardly stand to get near them. Most of my companions felt the same but for Shishir, who was somehow able to resist their foul stench.

We examined the tunnel leading away from the inn, and with encouragement from Thor we descended to search for the missing girl. The tunnel led into the town's sewer system, not surprisingly.

We spent several hours wandering the sewers, following the signs I could find. Strangely, the roaches seemed to be forcing the girl to go along with them rather than dragging or carrying her.

At one point we came upon a rusty iron door and I heard a scratching noise coming from behind it. Something made me suspicious of it, though, and I decided that finding the girl was of greater importance.

As we made our way through the tunnels we were swarmed by dire rats, but Thor cleverly befriended some of them and sent the rest away. We had a large group of rats at our heels during the rest of our time underground. Unfortunately we also found more giant roaches, though we made quick work of them despite them being still larger than any we'd seen before - and even more repellent.

After we eliminated the roaches Shishir claimed he heard a voice calling out behind us and insisted on investigating. It turned out to come from behind the rusty iron door I'd avoided. Ninad went to aid his brother and with much effort they managed to break open the door, even though no one ever responded to their questions.

Once the door was open they saw why there had been no reply. A ghoulish halfling-size creature attacked them immediately. It stabbed Shishir with its oddly glowing dagger. Thor and I stepped in to help and slew the awful creature. For some reason Shishir picked up the strange dagger afterward.

The girl's tracks finally led us to a break in the wall, which opened into a dirt cellar. We had to fight off more roaches to get into the cellar. Then we climbed up into an apparently abandoned house, where we fought yet more roaches, though these didn't seem as concerned by our appearance as the ones we'd encountered earlier.

We heard a female voice screaming, which led us to a bedroom. There we found the missing girl, Dalia, who was in the process of being wrapped in a cocoon by some larva-like creatures. On the bed nearby lay a hideous monstrosity, partly insect and partly humanoid, with a hugely distended abdomen. It was obvious the thing was filled with larvae. I could hardly choke back the bile that rose in my throat when I saw it.

A number of large roaches moved to defend this disgusting thing when we entered the room. I tried to retrieve the halfling girl, but the cocoon that held her was stuck fast to the floor. My companions set to with the roaches.

The monster on the bed let out a horrid screech that summoned more of the bigger horned bugs from below. We were hard-pressed to stand against them. Thank the Keen Eye that Thor's rat friends were still with us.

Thor girded himself with a spell and moved to face the monster on the bed. A scorpion-like stinging tail emerged from her larva sac when she fought back. Thor and Ninad were both stung several times. She also breathed out a nauseating miasma that left Shishir so ill he couldn't fight.

I moved to the bed area and tried to assist my companions against the roaches, hoping to defend Dalia until we could free her. I'd left my spear at the inn and was feeling the lack of it. Our battle was a long hard struggle and we would likely have had to retreat had it not been for the rats Thor had befriended.

Once we'd eliminated the hideous swarm queen, we set Dalia free and saw to Ninad, who'd been seriously wounded. Shishir discovered that the swarm queen had possession of some fine garnet jewelry, though I don't know what such a creature would want with gems. We determined that the original owners of the house had been devoured by the insects. We never learned why Dalia had been taken.

When we reunited Dalia with her grateful family, they assured us that we could always have a free meal at their inn for as long as we live. I'm sure they forgot how much longer I'll live than any of my friends. But they needn't worry. I'm not likely to return to Dreenam often.

As an additional reward, the innkeeper gave us an enchanted ring that had belonged to an adventurous relative of his. He claimed it was blessed. My companions gave it to me to keep.

Shishir showed the dagger he'd found to the local priestess of Yondalla, who proclaimed it tainted by evil. It seemed the dagger had belonged to a murderer who had fled into the sewers. We suspected he was the ghoulish thing we'd found. The young monk then gave the dagger into the keeping of a local wizard.

We tried to turn over the jewelry to the relatives of the slain family, but as they had no other relations in Dreenam the townsfolk insisted that we keep it. We'll probably sell it in Highfolk.

I'll write again when I have more to tell.

Your sister, Lothiriel

 

[sniffles]

Letter #12

Dearest brother;

I'm sorry I haven't written lately. There have been some interesting developments among my adventuring companions.

We made our way safely back to Highfolk and took care of our business there. But Shishir chose to keep his share of the jewelry we'd acquired in Dreenam. During our previous time at the Green Inn he'd developed a friendship with Liselle, one of Yagren's daughters. He gave her a ring from among the items we recovered.

Being a naive young monk from an isolated monastery, he didn't know anything about typical courtship customs. Liselle took the gift of the ring for an offer of marriage. When this was explained to Shishir, rather than trying to clear up the confusion he simply accepted it. Thus Shishir and Liselle are betrothed.

But Shishir had no desire to remain in Highfolk and become an innkeeper. He didn't think it at all odd that he wanted to leave town again immediately. Instead of waiting for him to return, Liselle decided to come along with him! He has an alarming tendency to get badly hurt when we face any enemies. I hope she can cope with this.

We left Highfolk accompanied by Liselle and a pack mule bearing some items her family sent along. We set off to the west with some vague plans of traveling to see the ocean, suggested by Thor. At first I was uncertain of this goal, but I'd like to see the ocean, and I had nothing pressing to occupy my time.

After a few days' travel we came on a caravan that had been set upon by ogres. Naturally we gave them our aid and were able to vanquish the ogres fairly easily. After we left them we met a wandering minstreal by the name of Xymos, who shared our camp one night. I'm not certain why, but he gave us each a token that he told us could be reclaimed at an inn run by a man named Kurosh in the capitol city of Zeif. I suppose if we continue toward the ocean we will come to Zeif eventually.

A few days after parting from the bard, we arrived in the town of Nolp. There were quite a few travelers in town. We approached an inn named the Last Call and found the common room rather crowded. Just as we were trying to squeeze in the door we observed a Halfling man in magical flight tossing a Man into the street.

Thor was terribly impressed with the Halfling's flight and eagerly followed him into the inn. Then Liselle remarked that she recognized the Halfling. She'd met him at her parents' inn, and knew him by the name of Darp Magoon.

Though he was disappointed when he found that Darp's flight was simply due to a spell, Thor sat down to learn a dice game with the Halfling after Liselle introduced us. I found the inn too crowded for my taste, particularly when I noticed some well-armored orcs.

Ninad had purchased a book to learn about the lands we'd be passing through and informed me that they came from the elite guard of the sultan of Zeif. I didn't realize the people there were so friendly to the orcs.

While we were dining we were approached by a young woman of slightly Elven appearance, who introduced herself as Erasyne. She down to chat with us, but the conversation was interrupted when a man entered the common room and announced that a menagerie could be seen in a field outside the town. My companions all jumped up and hurried off to see.

I didn't have any desire to see imprisoned animals, so while my companions were gone I took a stroll through town to get some distance from the orcs. While I was walking I caught a glimpse of a tree abruptly rearing its branches over the rooftops where moments before there had been no tree!

I hurried to investigate this occurrence. On the way I was intercepted by Shishir's familiar, Balamani, who indicated urgently that I should follow her. She flew off in the direction of the mysterious tree.

I arrived at the field occupied by the menagerie to find my companions engaged in a struggle with an unknown man. Our new acquaintance Erasyne had gone with them and was holding another man at swordpoint. As Shishir was facing the first man in a threatening manner, I ran up behind the man and caught hold of his coat. Shishir knocked him out with a blow and quickly explained that they'd discovered all the creatures in the menagerie were really people, transformed by magic.

In the meanwhile Thor was standing under the tree he'd summoned with his fey gift, laughing uncontrollably. It turned out that the menagerie owner had cast a spell on him. Once he recovered from the effect of the spell, we searched the villain and found the wand he'd used to effect the transformations. To my horror I discovered that he'd turned one poor man into a naga, and then cut out his tongue when he realized nagas can speak!

Darp the Halfling was present as well, and was able to use the villain's wand to return the three prisoners to their proper forms. It even restored the missing tongue of the man who'd been turned into a naga, praise the Keen Eye. We took all the money from our prisoner and returned it to the people who'd paid to see the menagerie. What was left we gave to his three victims.

It seems we've acquired another member of our party. When we made ready to leave town, Erasyne approached and asked if she could accompany us. She seems to be very interested in searching for treasure, which isn't something that holds much interest for me. But she's good with a sword and seems to be of a charitable nature. We'll see how she fares.

I'll write again when I have more to tell.

Your sister, Lothiriel

 

[sniffles]

Letter #13

Dearest brother;

Once again I must apologize for being remiss with my letters. So much has happened that it's difficult to recall it all clearly now.

Rescuing kidnapped children seems to have become our task. We discovered that a green hag was taking children from the area we traveled through and set off to recover them. Unfortunately for us the hag had quite a number of helpers, including some evil creatures resembling treants and a child that seems to have been partly turned into a hag itself.

We followed the hag back to her lair in a ramshackle cottage, and to our horror found a corpse staked out in front of the shack!

Thor found an area of disturbed earth that proved to cover some buried coins and gems. I'm surprised Erasyne wasn't the first to notice it. But she'd gone into the cottage. When she emerged a moment later she had hold of the hag-child. She asked if anyone knew a way to return the child to its human state, but neither Thor nor I were aware of any method to do this, nor did Ninad's lorebooks hold the answer.

While we were discussing this Shishir suddenly stepped over to the 'hagling' and snapped its neck. Erasyne was shocked by this, but it seemed the only option. Otherwise the hagling would have grown up to be another green hag and started preying on the local children just as its predecessor had.

Erasyne then began digging a grave to buy both the hagling and the corpse we'd found. While she was at this the remainder of our group decided to investigate the hag's shack. Only Thor wasn't with us, as he'd flown off in bird shape to look out for the evil treants.

Illtud watched the door while the twins and I entered the shack. The first room seemed innocuous enough, but Shishir detected several magical auras. These turned out to be 'magic mouths' that the hag had apparently cast on various objects to keep the child from touching them.

The next room was more grueseome, filled with entrails and skins of animals. The twins discovered a trapdoor in the floor and determined that we should check it for prisoners.

Though the brothers opened the trapdoor with caution, they were immediately set upon by a huge snake. Illtud came inside to help when he heard me struggling with it, but I couldn't stab it in quite the right spot to kill it before it could wrap itself around Shishir and squeezed him until he blacked out.

Ninad grabbed his brother and carried him outside to revive him. I'd acquired a wand of curative spells, and I used it to treat Shishir. Fortunately he'd insisted that Liselle not approach the shack with us, and she didn't see his danger.

Meanwhile Thor had come upon an ettin that was heading toward the shack. He came winging back to warn us, but chose to remain in bird form and we were too busy with Shishir to notice a bird fluttering about. Only Erasyne spotted him. But she didn't understand what he was trying to communicate with his frantic flapping and swooping and thought he wanted her to follow him.

Fortune smiled on her, though, and she managed to observe the ettin before it saw her. She ran back to the shack to warn us while Thor tried to distract the monster. It had a huge bear with it, and Thor managed to persuade the bear to turn in another direction. This didn't deter the ettin, though.

On learning of the ettin's approach, we decided to withdraw rather than face it as none of us were without wounds. Even though he'd only just recovered from the snake's embrace, Shishir wanted to hang back and spy on the ettin. Erasyne stayed by his side for a moment until even she decided this was unwise.

Ninad couldn't bear to leave his brother and went back. When it seemed the ettin might have detected them, Ninad used a spell to draw its attention away. Then his twin stood up and shouted out to the monster that the hag was dead. It began poking about the shack and its surroundings and came upon the shallow grave Erasyne had dug for the hagling child. After that the twins decided it was time to leave.

When they rejoined us Shishir revealed that he'd found a sack in the shack containing far more than seemed possible for a sack that size. He found an assortment of items that might have been spell components, some travel rations, gold and silver coins, a large knife, and an unusual crystal key.

The sack also proved to hold a curative potion that my companions handed to me. Erasyne was fascinated with the crystal key. She was certain it must be the key to a secret location where the hag kept her treasure.

We found a spot near the road to rest and recover out of deference to Illtud, who hates to leave the road. When we felt sufficiently recuperated we made our way to the next guard post. It was a pleasure to camp safely without fear of attack during the night.

Our next several days were equally quiet. But one evening Erasyne had a strange experience. She observed a human-like form shuffling through the forest, seemingly with a stick tied to its ankle and dragging along behind the figure.

The guards at the post had told us that there had been undead seen in the forest of late, and Erasyne suspected the figure she'd seen was a zombie. When she told us of it Thor and Shishir wanted to follow it. I wasn't too concerned by a single zombie, but they convinced me.

We decided to try to find out where it had come from so I followed its tracks back in the direction it had been traveling. It wasn't long before we realized we were heading back toward the hag's shack. We began to suspect our zombie had been the corpse Erasyne had buried.

Our suspicions were confirmed when we reached the cabin. The grave looked as though it had been burst open from beneath. The corpse of the child-hag was also missing, but we suspected it had been carried off by the ettin. The shack made us all uncomfortable and we swiftly returned to the road to retrace our journey.

A few days later we came to another guard post. There we heard news of more undead in the forest. Other travelers who'd come to rest at the guard post were quite impressed by the tale of our struggle with the hag and her minions, as told mostly by Thor and Erasyne.

Liselle thought it was time for a bit of a celebration, though I'm not certain what she intended to celebrate other than our survival. She brought out what she thought was a bottle of wine sent by her parents. But when she uncorked it a puff of smoke issued from the mouth, forming itself into a winged woman with a long tail!

When the woman had become substantial she put her hands together and bowed deeply to us, exclaiming loudly, "Good morning! Salaam!"

I'll tell you the rest of this story in my next letter.

Your sister, Lothiriel

 

[sniffles]

Letter #14

I missed a couple of sessions. The "spirit stones" showed up in one of those.

Dearest brother,

I know it’s been long since I wrote you last. I won’t attempt to tell you of all that has happened since my previous letter.

We've now been saddled with a djinni who calls herself Pheretima. I’ve never heard of djinni with wings and tails. She resembles a demon to my mind, but I admit I’ve never seen either djinn or demon.

When she asked what our wishes were everyone assumed that she could grant wishes and at once began shouting out various outlandish suggestions. Thor was the most vocal, asking for the ability to fly or to have wings, and requesting that Pheretima take him to her unknown homeland.

It soon became clear that Pheretima cannot grant wishes. She claims she was forcibly imprisoned in the bottle and must obey the commands of whoever possesses the bottle, but she was unable to do anything that anyone asked of her.

It’s difficult to determine who is actually her master, since no one knows how the bottle came to be amongst our gear. It doesn’t really seem to matter though, as she seems incapable of doing anything useful. She conjured up a huge meal of eastern delicacies, insulting Liselle in the process, even though no one had asked for any food.

Pheretima’s charms wore off quickly when she couldn’t grant wishes. Thor was especially disappointed that she couldn’t give him the ability to fly. I don’t know why he wants to fly, since he can now transform himself into a bird. I suppose he wants to be able to fly in his natural form. He is a most peculiar individual, even for a gnome.

Erasyne was also disappointed in Pheretima’s lack of ability. She seems to think that magic can do anything. She wandered off into the town after dinner. Some of our group had some of Pheretima’s food, I suppose to be polite. I chose to dine on what Liselle had prepared. The dishes Pheretima conjured were too rich and spicy for my tastes.

Ninad and Illtud also went into town, so only myself, Shishir and Liselle remained at our campsite. I’m not quite sure what Thor was doing; probably busy being a bird again.

After a little while Erasyne returned with a Halfling named Kirp. He seemed a shifty sort. She introduced him as the brother of Darp, the Halfling wizard who had helped us in Nolp when we freed the transformed humans from the menagerie.

Erasyne seems to think that because Darp is her friend his brother is automatically her friend as well, and she also assumes that her friend will be our friend. I distrusted Kirp at once. He was too nervous. But I was somewhat distracted by watching Pheretima to make sure she didn’t get into any trouble. If she could grant wishes I’d wish that her bottle would disappear and her with it.

Later Ninad came back with a story of a local herbalist who’d been missing for some time returning to town in a terrible state. The herbalist had dropped a map on the ground and Ninad had picked it up. He seemed very excited about it. He told us that Thor had gone to help the local healer in caring for the herbalist.

He then began consulting with his twin over the map, which they believed to show the locations of all the spirit stones in the forest. They wanted to follow the map and see all the stones. I fear that by the time I see the ocean I’ll be alone, as all my companions will have died of old age. They are all so easily distracted.

In the morning Thor returned. The herbalist had very nearly died, but the intervention of Thor’s healing magic had saved him. Kirp had evidently been looking for traveling companions, but when he found that we were headed east he left.

Later we were visited by some very rude bounty hunters who were seeking a Halfling thief. I couldn’t lie to them and told them that we had seen a Halfling but he’d gone and I didn’t know where. That was quite true; Kirp had vanished quickly after departing from our camp. Oddly Erasyne and the others seemed determined to pretend that they hadn’t seen Kirp!

Ninad decided to go off to town and seek someone to make a copy of the map. I admire him for wanting to return it to the herbalist, but I don’t think he should have taken it to begin with. I also didn’t feel that seeking out spirit stones was a very useful thing to do, and I told him so, which seemed to make him angry. Humans are odd, and he and his brother have led such sheltered lives in their monastery. There was no way to know if the map truly showed spirit stones. But Ninad was determined that he was right.

Ninad returned to tell us that the herbalist had apparently gone mad and thrown himself from a tower to his death. Poor man. Since he was dead it didn’t seem to matter that Ninad had his map, and in any case he could find no one to copy it for him. He asked Pheretima if she could magically copy it, but all he got for his trouble was a stack of blank papyrus.

We argued for a bit over what to do at this point. Thor agreed with the twins about seeking the spirit stones. Erasyne is convinced that the world is full of buried treasure and thinks the stones might mark the locations of such treasure. She also wanted to help Kirp, and briefly went back to town to look for him without success. Illtud didn’t want to leave the road, as usual.

I wanted to continue toward the ocean, or at least continue investigating the undead problem in the forest; we can look at spirit stones some other time, perhaps when we return from the ocean. But it seemed that if I wanted to follow that course I'd have to do it alone. When we finally started moving I walked out ahead so I wouldn’t have to listen to the continued bickering.

We hadn’t gone far when Kirp reappeared. He had decided that he’d rather have company than try to make his way to Nolp alone. Erasyne was delighted to have him with us. I was not so pleased.

I must concede that Ninad was right: the markings on the map do appear to indicate spirit stones in the forest. We were examining the first stone we came to beyond Midfort when the three bounty hunters reappeared. Kirp had vanished again, so when they demanded that we hand him over we could truthfully say that we had no Halfling with us.

These bounty hunters were not only rude and threatening – one of them appeared to be of orcish blood. I could hardly stand to be in the same forest with them.

The bounty hunters insisted that Kirp was with us. They told us that they wanted either the Halfling or a gem he’d stolen. I didn’t know anything about a gem, but Erasyne appeared to have some knowledge of it. The bounty hunters refused to believe that Kirp wasn’t with us, and they also refused to believe Erasyne when she told them that Kirp had sold the gem to a wizard. It seemed that we might have to fight them.

But at last they appeared to have found something among some shrubs and agreed to let us go on our way. I think Erasyne would have stayed to help Kirp, but the rest of us had lost sympathy for him when it became apparent that he was a thief. When we’d made our way back to the road we heard the sounds of what seemed to be a chase, and a squeal that might have been a Halfling being caught.

At first it seemed our journey would be uneventful, but that was not to be. As we camped that night four zombies approached and attacked us. Fortunately I was alert and they didn't take us by surprise. One of the zombies was a giant lizard rather than a humanoid, but the twins and Thor were able to destroy it. We made short work of the undead horrors and burned their remains.

Now we began to think more of seeking the source of the undead than of finding the spirit stones. In the morning we headed southwest, the direction the zombies had been heading.

As we made our way through the forest we were abruptly attacked by two huge spiders that were somehow able to vanish and reappear at random. They were terrible to fight. We formed a circle back-to-back so they couldn’t appear between us, but that didn’t spare us.

Shishir and I were both bitten and their bites contained poison that left us weak. I could hardly lift my spear. We had great difficulty destroying them. It helped us greatly when the twins were able to stun the spiders with their blows so that the spiders couldn’t perform their vanishing act.

After we had slain them both Thor was able to prevent the poison from spreading. But we were forced to rest for several days while Thor and I both called upon the power of Nature to heal myself and Shishir of our weakness. Thankfully the gods were merciful, else we might have had to spend a month waiting for me to recover my strength!

There were some other markings on the map that didn’t seem to be spirit stones, so Thor transformed and flew overhead to see what the first object was. He found a large isolated building, apparently deserted. A short time after he returned to tell us of this, we met a ranger named Zengar who warned us to leave the forest. We explained to him that we were trying to find out where the undead were coming from, and he told us that he knew the answer to that question.

For unknown reasons the undead were congregating around the isolated structure Thor had seen. It had once been a place where troubled folk were sent to keep others safe from them, but Zengar didn’t know why the undead were going there or what had happened to the former residents. He suspected they had also become undead.

Zengar intended to contact the local druidic circle for help. This pleased Thor and I, and we asked him if he could take us to the druids. He has agreed, so our next step will be to seek the advice of the local druids. We're determined to do what we can to rid the forest of roving undead – at least until everyone else decides to go back to looking for spirit stones, or Thor finds some way for the djinn to transport us to Perrenland.

As always, I'll tell you more when I write again.

Your sister, Lothiriel

 

[sniffles]

Letter #15

Dearest brother;

We continue our quest to fight the undead of the Bramblewood Forest. Zengar the ranger has shown us to the druids’ circle, where we met a senior druid called Aroses. He told us that the other druids have gone to the building Thor found, which is known as the Sanatorum, to prevent any further undead from entering the structure. It seems that now even animals are being turned into zombies, which explains the zombie lizard that attacked us a few days ago.

While we were speaking with Aroses we also met a young druidess named Samira. Samira appears to have the gift of foresight, though it seems that Aroses doesn’t take her very seriously even though the high druidess is convinced that Samira is a seer.

Samira proclaimed that she’d had a vision of strangers coming to help the druids against the undead menace, and she believes we are the people from her vision. She wanted to know if we’d visited the Shrine of Light. We had never heard of such a place, nor had Aroses or Zengar, and Samira’s vision didn’t tell her where it lay. But she did say that in her vision we had visited the shrine before going to fight the undead.

She also told us that in 3 days the zombie king would arise, adding urgency to our mission.

Thor was at once interested in seeking out this shrine – sometimes I find it very hard to follow his thoughts. Before Samira mentioned the shrine he was keen to go to the Sanatorum straight away. Some of our companions didn’t feel that seeking the shrine would be of use since we didn’t know where it lay. But after some discussion it was determined that we would go to visit an abandoned fort about a day and a half distant from the druidic circle. We hoped that perhaps the shrine would be there.

We departed on the morning following our arrival at the druids’ circle. Aroses didn’t have much to give us to aid us in our search for the shrine, although he was able to provide a wand of healing which Thor now carries. Samira introduced us to a pixie named Dew who could show us the way to the old fort. Dew is a strangely silent creature, quite unlike the rather talkative pixies I’ve met in the past.

Our journey to the fort was uneventful. At first it seemed that the fort was merely an overgrown ruin. But Erasyne stumbled upon some dire rats hiding in the shadows, and after Thor befriended them they told him that some dangerous creatures inhabited the ruins. They spoke of creatures with wings.

We began to explore the chambers of the fort, those that were still intact enough to enter. As Erasyne and Thor entered one room a long arm extended out of the shadows of the ceiling and snared them. Erasyne was able to get free on her own but Thor couldn’t escape the unknown creature’s grasp. I struck the monster a sharp stab with my spear, but it was Shishir who slew it, after he observed that there were actually two of the foul monsters. His twin killed the second creature.

While most of us had struggled with the long-armed creatures, Illtud had waited out in the courtyard area near an opening into a sort of tunnel of rubble. The room beyond where the creatures attacked us was full of fallen stones, so we returned to the courtyard to rejoin Illtud and decided to explore the passage he'd been watching. We observed some tracks in the passage – there were many of them and they were large, but not the tracks of any of our kind.

Suddenly a huge insect-like creature appeared and struck Illtud with one of its tentacles. The blow left him immobilized. Erasyne struck a well-aimed blow and slew the creature. Fortunately the paralysis caused by its tentacles didn’t last long.

Nearby we discovered a corpse that had evidently been devoured by the creature. We gathered up most of the unfortunate victim’s belongings. Erasyne was very interested in how much coin the corpse’s purse held, but she agreed to allow Illtud to carry the ring and shield that they found.

We saw light coming down another part of the passageway. This led us into a great hall overgrown with many vines. A second corpse lay barely visible among the foliage. As we approached the body the vines began to move. A huge tendril rose out of the mass. Illtud tried to set it afire with his torch but it wouldn't light.

The vines grabbed everyone who had entered their reach, but Thor managed to leap back out of their grasp and the twins hadn't yet set foot among them. The twins attempted to rescue us by pulling us out with a rope, and Ninad cast a spell to try to make the main vine release its hold. I drew my scimitar to chop at the vine.

While we struggled with the entangling vine – an assassin vine, I think – a huge minotaur bearing a mace entered the great hall. Thor called out to the beast to help us, but the minotaur hadn’t come to our aid. Don’t be worried, dear Tiryon – the minotaur struck me a great blow with its horns but I am well.

To save myself further injury I used my ring of Levitation to rise up and plied my bow against the beast. Illtud and Shishir attacked the beast from the ground, while Ninad tried to rid us of the assassin vine before it could trap us and make us easy targets for the minotaur.

Shishir was struck by the minotaur’s mace but remained on his feet. He and Ninad used their rope to trip the beast, causing it to fall. Sadly it didn’t stay down for long. Our combined efforts overcame the it, and it was Shishir who struck the final blow. After the minotaur had fallen I descended and used my scimitar on the vine again. Once the large vine was severed the lesser vines ceased moving.

The body among the vines was that of a half-human, lightly armored and bearing a rapier and a number of throwing daggers. I think that Erasyne may have claimed these. We found that the mace the minotaur carried had not been made for such a large beast – it had obviously been made for a creature the size of an elf, though it was a large mace. The mace bore a symbol resembling the symbol of the sun god. We also saw some gold scattered among the vines.

While we looked about, Illtud saw a door marked with a sun symbol similar to that on the mace. The door turned out to lead to a shrine. Brackets on the wall might once have held the heavy mace. Ninad recognized the sun symbol as that of Savitri, a Baklunish sun deity.

A strange beam of sunlight fell behind the altar. Through accident – or perhaps divine intervention – Erasyne discovered that if she stood in the beam of light in a posture of supplication, imitating the figures carved on the shrine walls, the light seemed to become something more than a mere sunbeam.

It took several tries by various members of our group – not myself – to find that the sunbeam showed the location of a hidden chest. Within the small chest we found some coins, two potions, a scroll, and a wand marked with Savitri’s symbol. It was determined that the scroll contained a divine spell that would cause silence in a certain area, but as no one in our group is a priest we can’t use the scroll. Ninad took charge of it.

It was also discovered that the wand had some carvings on it that spoke of “hot light”. Again it seems none of us will be able to employ the magic of the wand. The mace, too, was imbued with divine magic. It was given into the care of Illtud as he is the only one of our group likely to be able to wield a mace.

The items we’ve found in the shrine appear to be useful against undead creatures, but I’m not certain how well they will aid us if none of us can use them. We must hurry now to the Sanatorum to arrive before the zombie king appears.

I’ll write to you again when I can.

Lothiriel

 

[sniffles]

Letter #16

Dearest brother;

I haven’t had time to write and there is too much to tell. We at last found a use for the confounded djinn, Pheretima, as she was able to fly us all back to the druids’ circle from the ruined fort. This saved us a great deal of time in our efforts to avert the arising of the zombie king.

The druids had set up a protective circle around the Sanatorum, as many undead animals were rising in the vicinity of the building. The chief druidess intended to destroy the building and would only allow us a short time to attempt our attack on the undead within. The interior of the structure is too gruesome to describe, a grim parody of life by numbers of hideous ghouls and zombies. I shudder to recall it.

As always our group proceeded with little planning. Thor’s behavior can best be described as “flighty”, if you’ll forgive the pun. I am beginning to wonder if poor Shishir is cursed in some manner. He has come near death far too many times for comfort. It is fortunate that his betrothed Liselle wasn't with us.

I wonder a little about Erasyne, too. She is very interested in finding treasure and seems to think that almost everywhere we go must have some opportunity to find gold and other valuables. What a strange way of looking at the world. We did find some items of worth, little though I care for most of them. I wouldn't have expected to find anything of value in a place formerly dedicated to healing sick minds.

The Sanatorum had a maze-like construction. We wandered down many narrow corridors. Thor and Erasyne both engaged in their penchant for heedlessly opening doors. Erasyne reported seeing a gruesome kitchen filled with zombies, but fortunately the zombies appeared to have no interest in coming out to attack us and we were able to disregard them and continue our exploration.

Erasyne, the twins and Illtud easily dispatched a lone ghoul in one room while I stood watch over the door to the kitchen. Unfortunately the ease of destroying this lone creature made Erasyne a bit overconfident of how easily we could defeat the rest of the undead.

We eventually made our way into a chamber that contained an eerie patch of darkness hovering in midair. It swallowed up any light that touched the darkness, even magical light. We still don't know what it was.

Poor Illtud was paralyzed after being struck by an undead ogre we had encountered just before we entered that chamber, so Erasyne borrowed the holy mace he carried and tried striking at the darkness with it. The two items obviously were anathema to one another, but the blow didn't destroy the darkness.

We also heard a strange, disturbing murmuring coming from somewhere nearby. This didn't much trouble me, but Illtud and Shishir seemed mesmerized by it.

After various forays into discovering the nature of the darkness, Thor decided to attempt casting a spell of searing light from the wand he carried. A terrible wail rang out when the light met the darkness and the darkness vanished.

Then a shadowy figure came through the wall, followed by a great mass of ghouls. We were outnumbered. Erasyne and the twins managed to leap back toward the nearest stairway, but the rest of us were cut off. I concentrated on fighting the ghouls, but poor Thor found himself drawing the attention of another terrible being who appeared through a wall.

I am not certain if this one was undead or merely a powerful and insane necromancer, but he seemed drawn to Thor because the gnome bore the wand and amulet we’d found in the fort. Thor ran through a doorway into a corridor and I couldn't see all that occurred as this new foe pursued him.

Things began to look bleak for us when both Ninad and Illtud were paralyzed by ghoul bites. For some reason Thor kept trying to give me the wand of healing that he carried, but I trusted to my spear and later my scimitar when the fighting pressed too close. I think perhaps Thor thought that healing would harm undead creatures, but I don't know why he didn't simply use the wand for that purpose himself.

He plied the wand of searing light against his opponent, and at last was able to destroy the being, which I suppose proves that it was some sort of undead creature. After it was gone the ghouls all seemed to lose their will to fight. Some of them fled and we later learned that they were destroyed when they reached the magical wards the druids had set outside.

We searched a bit more through the building and Ninad read to us from a book he found that the undead lord Thor had destroyed was once a powerful necromancer. He had been a minion of Iuz who had been captured by the Knights of Furyondy. Sadly in their misguided attempt at mercy they had brought him to the Sanatorum to be held rather than slay him.

The Knights had left a cache of items in storage at the Sanatorum to be used if this necromancer caused difficulties, but of course no one had been able to use the items before the undead lord’s plan went too far. We were able to locate the cache, which contained a variety of weapons, some perhaps magical. Most of them hold little interest for me, though I will admit I value the composite longbow we discovered. There are some arrows that may be of use as well.

Ninad is trying to gather up as many books as he can find, as the druids still intend to destroy the building and have no use for books of healing of that sort. Ninad hates to see any writings destroyed. I agree that it would be a waste to lose the knowledge accumulated there, but I'm not sure what use it is to carry a quantity of heavy books around unless he intends to become a healer.

The Sanatorum also doesn't seem so much a place of healing as one of imprisonment. I for one will be glad to see it gone.

I had hoped to spend some time with the druids of the circle here, but my friends already want to return to investigating the spirit stones. One would think these short-lived folk would wish to hurry to the ocean before they grow old, but the rest of our little group is becoming as flighty as Thor! Still, it is entertaining to wait to see what they'll do next.

I will write again soon.

Lothiriel

 

[sniffles]

Letter #17

Dearest Brother;

After a few days with the druids, we set off to investigate the spirit stones once again. Zengar the ranger agreed to come along with us.

It seems that trouble will always find our little party. Before we could seek out the first spirit stone we stumbled upon an injured man. Introducing himself as Arad once he was healed enough to speak, he explained that he and his six companions had been traveling through the forest when they heard a strange music at night and went to investigate the sound. They were attacked by unknown creatures in the dark, and only Arad remained. He had been scored by bird-like claws, though a very large bird it must have been.

We made our way to the site where Arad and his friends had camped, and left him there in the care of Zengar and Liselle while we searched the area. It appeared that the creatures had attacked the camp and scattered the travelers’ belongings, but did not seem interested in taking anything.

We followed the travelers’ trail to the clearing where they were attacked. There was no sign of Arad’s friends. It appeared that the creatures had carried them off.

Thor has recently become able to transform into a bird at will – to his great joy – and he took the form of an eagle to scout the area. When he returned he told us he had found a kind of treehouse inhabited by at least one harpy. We decided to approach the treehouse and attempt to find out if the harpies were holding Arad’s companions.

The tree turned out to be quite tall and it was difficult to determine how we could reach the treehouse. Much to my disgust it was decided to summon Pheretima and ask her to fly us all up to the structure. She of course did not want to cooperate, but was finally persuaded.

When we entered the structure we found no immediate sign of Arad’s friends, nor of the harpies. Then two of the creatures appeared and attacked us. As we were fighting them more harpies swarmed outside the structure and began singing their song. I am sad to say that I succumbed to its mesmerizing effect and found myself trying to get outside. Several of the others were also so affected, leaving only Erasyne able to control herself.

I don’t recall much of what happened then, as I was too preoccupied with attempting to get outside. Fortunately when I was faced with the long drop from the trapdoor exit I came to my senses – but I can't say the same for poor Illtud, who fell through the trapdoor!!

I will write more later.

Lothiriel

 

[sniffles]

Letter #20

This entry is labeled #20 because I've lost my notes for #18 and I missed session #19. I'm going to handle this one as if Lothiriel had been writing her brother all along and the letters got lost in the post.

During the session I missed, the party used one of the 'spirit stones' to enter a fey demiplane. There they had a variety of strange encounters centered around the shards of an evil artifact, a black diamond. Swallowing a shard or inserting it into the body can cause the subject to turn evil. If you're familiar with the anime Inu-Yasha, this artifact was inspired by the Shikon Jewel in that series.


Dearest brother;

We've been in Lopolla for a few days. I had to purchase a new suit of armor, since we gave my original armor over to a troll as I told you in my last letter. Thank Solonor we had no threatening encounters in the Bramblewood during my time without armor.

Here in Lopolla I’ve discovered the fascinating creatures called llamas. I’m considering purchasing one as a pack animal. They have lovely eyes, and I hope I can find someone who can make a cloak of llama wool. Their wool is quite appealing.

Our chief order of business here in the capitol of Ket was to return the diamond we found to the Malik Galivar. You may recall that some time ago we met a halfling named Kirp, whose brother was an old friend of Erasyne’s. We eventually learned that Kirp had stolen a large diamond from the Malik, who is a noble of some repute here. Kirp was captured by bounty hunters in the Malik’s employ, but he claimed he had sold the diamond prior to meeting us. While searching some ruins in the Bramblewood, we stumbled upon the remains of some travelers who fit the description of the people to whom Kirp had sold the stone. We found a large diamond among their effects. Assuming that this gem was the one Kirp had stolen, we decided to return it to its rightful owner.

I had misgivings about approaching the Malik. I feared he might think we were Kirp’s accomplices in the theft. I grew more apprehensive when Erasyne and Ninad took the lead in addressing the Malik during our audience. They told the story of our relationship with Kirp quite honestly, but I worried that they wouldn't be believed. My concerns only increased when the Malik brought out the three bounty hunters we had encountered previously. To my surprise and relief, the bounty hunters confirmed our story.

The Malik accepted their opinion and agreed to pay us the reward he'd offered for the return of the diamond. But Ninad was concerned for Kirp’s fate. The halfling was brought out and we could see that though he had obviously not been treated gently, he was in relatively good condition.

Ninad stated that he believed Kirp had been punished enough, and asked the Malik what he would consider sufficient recompense for the halfling’s misdeed. When the Malik suggested an amount equal to the reward, Ninad calmly handed back the chest of gold coins. The gold doesn't matter much to me, but I half expected Erasyne to argue with Ninad. Evidently her sympathy for Kirp outweighs her desire for treasure.

I must cut this letter short as I have other matters to attend to. I'll write again soon.

Lothiriel