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A Journey to the Sea (Greyhawk) UPDATED 7 February 2008
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<blockquote data-quote="sniffles" data-source="post: 3286191" data-attributes="member: 30035"><p><strong>Letter #14</strong></p><p></p><p><em>I missed a couple of sessions. The "spirit stones" showed up in one of those.</em></p><p></p><p>Dearest brother,</p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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!</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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!</p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>As always, I'll tell you more when I write again.</p><p></p><p>Your sister, Lothiriel</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="sniffles, post: 3286191, member: 30035"] [b]Letter #14[/b] [I]I missed a couple of sessions. The "spirit stones" showed up in one of those.[/I] 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 [/QUOTE]
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