evilash's Shackled City journal

[evilash]

Hi! Inspired by JollyDoc's Shackled City I've decided to post a journal from my Shackled City campaign. It will mainly be told from the perspective of Misha Thundergrove, a female Rashemi cleric of Mystra. My Shackled City is set in Forgotten Realms, just like JollyDoc's, but I've put Cauldron in the mountain range between the Lake of Steam and Calimshan.

I've already started posting this journal on Paizo's message boards, so the first installments will be posted pretty rapidly. When this journal has catched up with the one at Paizo I will post every other week (we're playing every other monday).

At the start of the campaign the party had this lineup:

• Misha Thundergrove, human Rashemi cleric of Mystra
• Heion Lia, sun elf wizard from Evermeet
• Swyth Deribor, human Waterdevian bard
• Vlada Nightrunner, human rogue from Amn
• Erold Lynn, human Calishite barbarian
• Darius Lionheart, human Waterdevian barbarian

Anyway, enjoy

 

[evilash]

(space reserved for table of contents)

 

[evilash]

The Journal of Misha Thundergrove

I have decided to start a new journal as a result of recent events to record my travels, adventures and findings in the city of Cauldron.

Year of Wild Magic, Eleint 20
The Weave is strong today. This will be a good day for a good deed in the name of our Mistress. The sky is overcast and rainy, but the wind is pleasant and warm in these southern lands. Rumors of kidnappings in the city are disturbing, and the disappearance of four children lately is an outrage.

Darius, Erold, Heion, Swyth, Vlada and I have agreed to bond together in an adventuring band. Swyth, always quick to come up with clever words named us The Wild Geese. Nobody had any objections, so The Wild Geese we are. We are all young, I am only junior to the elf in age, and there is no telling how old he actually is.

I spent eight hours in the streets preaching the word of our mistress. The people listen well and a couple of them are even interested beyond that. The incompetence of preacher Isaal isn’t to be removed in a tenday however, so I will have work to do for months to come. After a hot meal of sausage and cabbage I headed with the rest of the Wild Geese to the Tipped Tankard for some late night entertainment.

We where interrupted on our way there by shouts for help from an alley which we promptly investigated. There we interrupted three thugs from the Last Laugh thieves' guild who where giving Rufus Laro from the Temple of Tyr a beating. Apparently they had taken a bad interest in Rufus and the temple's investigation of the kidnapped children. We brought him back to the temple and was approached Jenya Urikas the priestess who explained the situation to us. They offered us each a moderate healing potion in advance and a share of 2500 gold pieces if we investigated the reason for the kidnappings and brought the responsible to justice. We promptly accepted. Jenya had invoked the power of an artifact and had been rewarded with a divination concerning the missing children.

And the resulting answer was:

"The locks are key to finding them,
Look beyond the curtain, below the cauldron,
But beware the doors with teeth,
Descend into the Malachite 'hold,
Where precious life is bought with gold
Half a Dwarf binds them, but not for long"​

We proceeded to investigate the Lantern Street Orphanage. First we had to make it past headmistress Gretchyn Tashykk, a middle aged Halfling with a foul temper. After talking with her for awhile, we made it past the door. Vlada scrutinized the locks of the doors to the rooms of the missing children while I questioned Gretchyn. He recognized the locks as those made by a local master artisan. We also learned that the city guard had questioned the employees and that two half elves where looking into the mystery for the mayor's account. I donated 10 gold pieces to the orphanage, I will make sure to give her more if I can spare.

The hour was getting late so we would have to wait question the locksmith. Instead we went to the city guard's barracks and talked to the night watch. He gave us a list of the kidnapped victims which would be interesting to cross reference with the locksmith's customer log. When we excited the barracks Vlada told us we where being followed by two half elves, something we chose to disregard for the time being.

After an exhausting day I went to bed at the Morkoth, alone.

Year of Wild Magic, Eleint 21
The Weave is ever present around me, a comforting thought in such Evil Times. The sky is cloudy and rain trickles down, the wind is little more than a breeze.

The next day we proceeded with investigating some of the homes to see if more of the locksmith's locks where present there. We found little or no such evidence, and moved along to the locksmith's shop. We questioned the locksmith Keygan Ghelve but learned nothing out of the ordinary. Behind the counter he had a curtain behind which he had his stock and display of locks. We where only allowed one at a time back there, and once I was there with him he seemed to hint with his eye movements that all was not well at the top of the stairs. Using my womanly charms I asked to be brought to his private quarters and was rewarded with an assault on my life by a Skulk. The Wild Geese made short work of the Skulk to the inspired singing of Swyth.

The gnome artisan then proceeded to spill his guts, he told a story of his familiar being kidnapped by the Skulks who had made him create skeleton keys for his locks in the city. They where likely responsible for the kidnappings and lived in an old gnome stronghold of which there was an entrance below his shop. He gave us an old map and wished for the return of his familiar Starbrow and warned us of a magical plague that made people vanish.

We proceeded down the stairs with caution, for the gnomes would surely have trapped the entrance to Jzadirune, their ancient fortress. Heion found a secret door in the stairs and while investigating it Vlada managed to trigger a trap that made our two barbarians slide down into the next room. He then opened a secret door and met the gaze of two hobgoblins. Our two barbarians seemed dazed by falling down the stairs and responded slowly, but in the end both hobgoblins where brought down by our combined efforts. Darius decided he had enough and wanted to go back to the temple of Tyr and tell them of our findings. We all agreed.

We continued down the stairs and searched for traps, but behind the door to the next room two skulks waited for us. They downed Erold in two swift strikes before fleeing into dug tunnels. After patching him up, we continued into the tunnels but decided to retreat. To secure our backs I closed the door, a mistake I would later regret. Behind an illusory wall we found a magic map on the floor, and discovered that nearly all doors in the gnome fortress carry magic traps in one shape or form. We decided to call it a day as we secured a ram to force the door, the rest of the fortress seemed trapped, full of magic traps and impossible locks.

Year of Wild Magic, Eleint 22
The weave swirls around me, as if it is trying to tell me something about the gnomes’ plight. I have no idea what the weather is like today, since we are spending the entire day underground.

We pressed on and found that all doors have a letter in the center with a keyhole that Vlada can't bypass. In the end we acquired a ram and opened the door I closed with force, not the most beautiful of efforts but certainly something that would have made Hathor proud. We pressed on and found a skulk hiding in a room and after stabbing Vlada badly, I shot it through the throat with my crossbow.

Then we met a mimic, a curious creature who was nowhere near as aggressive as I have learned in my studies, he told us a lot of what to expect in the gnome fortress. He traded us the gnome's familiar for six rations of food. The Skulks kidnap people from Cauldron and rob their homes, then trade the people to hobgoblins that live in the fortress. They in turn work for the Dark Ones, who trade with a slaver named Kazmojen in the underdark. To save the children and possibly other victims, we must defeat the Skulks, the hobgoblins, the dark ones and possibly even combat Kazmojen to perhaps save the kidnapped children.

We moved on into the Skulks' tunnels and reappeared in the gnome fortress. The gnomes have more or less trapped their entire fortress. We found a monstrous spider and her two children in a room with an illusory pool. Heion demonstrated expert marksmanship by felling the mother spider with a well aimed shot through one of her myriad eyes, while I followed up with felling one of the smaller creatures with a bolt of my own. Heion then finished up the carnage with a second arrow to skewer the final smaller spider.

I must take this moment to commend Swyth and his trumpet, his expert tunes really fills our hearts with courage and turns even the meekest soldier into an expert marksman or seasoned soldier. His trumpet might give away our presence, but with it sounding we have yet to face defeat.

Vlada found another trap as we passed the room with the spiders, a torch handle made the floor tilt beneath Erold's feet and as he slammed into the room below, two Skulks emerged from the shadows. After downing a potion, his temper got the better of him and he pounded the both of them into a pulp. The torch handle had revealed a secret door where we found the corpse of a carrion crawler, stuffed with treasure.

We made our way back through the great hall and into the theater. A play was on permanent display here, most likely a favorite of the gnomes that once lived here. Beneath the stage we encountered a ferocious creature that could elongate its limbs. It grabbed hold of Vlada and almost dragged him down with him, but our combined efforts killed the creature before it could sink its stinking fangs into his flesh. In its lair we found several items of interest and most notably a key with the gnome letter "J" inscribed in the bottom.

We continued to explore the fortress through the tunnels dug by the Skulks, and found our way into the hall of the Gnome king. There a magic mouth spoke to us in riddles.

"If you wish an audience with the king,
Place your finest coin in my mouth."​

In an attempt to get to talk to the gnome king, Swyth offered him a silver coin. The mouth proceeded to curse him with clumsiness in short order. I wonder what it will cost us to lift it from his poor soul? We tried with gold and platinum too but in the end we had to leave the mountain king without speaking to him, all he would say was,

"Betrayed we are by our own magic,
One by One, we fade away,
Jzadirune's lost! Oh, how tragic!
We curse the vanishing day."​

We then moved into the museum which appeared to have been looted long ago. As the darkness and dust settled around us we explored the last Skulk tunnel in this part of the fortress which took us into the storage area for the theater's gear.

 

[evilash]

We consolidated the treasure we had found back into the room marked with a J close to the exit. Then we had dinner and discussed how to proceed. We felt pretty winded, but decided that we wanted to press on for more excitement. There was a door, close to the north-west part of the dungeon that was marked with a J. Our key once again provided for us and we entered a room full of debris. To the south there was the loveliest garden, and although we where sure it was an illusion, our minds where not strong enough to pierce it. Not that I mind much, for the gnomes had been thorough in their creation of the dweomer.

Moving carefully through a gateway to the north we found nothing, returned through the garden and into a skulk tunnel. The tunnel took us into a room where we got AMBUSHED! Two Dark Ones and three Skulks came at us from all directions. We managed to push them back but Swyth, Heion and I all took grievous wounds. After this we decided it was time to withdraw for the night. Mistress Jenya offered to help us with Swyth’s curse and to heal our wounds for a small donation to the temple. We took Keygan and his familiar to the temple for judgment on his role in the kidnappings; I expect his punishment to be in the balance for how well we perform this mission.

I went to bed early, body aching all over and dreamt of Hathor.

Year of Wild Magic, Eleint 23
The weave is urging us onwards today Mistress. It comforts me to know you stand beside us. The sky is cloudy and wind is picking up, but we will be spending another day below ground so it will not matter to us.

We started with going back to where we finished off our last day. We moved on up some stairs and into a room where someone yelled in gnome:

"Attack the intruders"​

And attacked we got. There was some strange gnome apparatus in there that made a shrieking sound. Both Vlada and Erold got caught in the blast and my ears are still ringing. Then three skulks appeared and the battle looked grim, we fought the skulks with bolt and arrow, sword and axe while the only one able to harm the machine was Vlada with his Morningstar. Then the machine came to a grinding halt and we managed to finish off the skulks. While the machine attempted to restart itself, we discovered an invisibility sphere and a door marked with a J. We quickly made our escape into the room beyond.

On the other side we discovered more doors and cautiously pressed on into a smithy. Once there we found another key in a barrel full of murky water. After moving on we discovered a bedchamber used by the Dark ones and two of them where in the room. Two shots and a charge by Erold later, the remaining Dark one took the better part of valor and covered the room in darkness before escaping into the tunnels. Instead of pursuing him we cautiously explored the tunnels, and accidentally blundered back into the room with the gnomish machine. Instead of evading it this time we decided to smash it once and for all and once done we found that we did not go unrewarded for our efforts! We found a magnificent blue gem and a key inside the apparatus. We proceeded to look through the rest of the tunnels but failed to find any more Dark Ones at the time.

We then started opening the doors to which we had found keys. We found little of interest, a couple of old barracks, a lavatory and some storage rooms. Then Heion’s ears perked and he was sure there was a secret door on one wall. As Vlada approached he was attacked by a nasty vanishing man. Our combined efforts slew the creature and we proceeded to find a huge treasure beyond the door he was guarding. Pounds of silver, gold and jewelry had been stashed in there, and a suit of full plate armor in gnome size. We moved the treasure to our treasure room and proceeded.

We where now faced with a dilemma, we had no doors to open and no tunnels to follow. We stood watching a wooden palisade. However, Vlada felt confident that his skills at lock picking now superseded even the gnomes’ attempts at keeping him out. After first expertly disarming the magic traps on several doors, he was able to provide way into a magnificent hall. The day is drawing to an end and we are considering if we should rest before pressing on. Some hot food would be nice and my bedroll is calling.

 

[evilash]

Our curiosity got the better of us and after a short stop for prayers and a small snack we moved into the huge hall. Vlada, more and more adapt at his role as our scout went up the stairs to a balcony. Soon there after we heard the tell tale sign of Vlada spotting an enemy as his bolt flew from his hand crossbow. An enormous brain with tentacles and a beak had emerged from the shadows and where pulling at him, trying to take him with itself off the balcony. Errol rushed in, swinging wildly at the creature and wounding it severely, but in the end it managed to pull Vlada off the balcony and into the free air. It appeared to have some kind of paralyzing touch, and as Vlada’s body went limp it dropped him to the floor. Our adept leader was quick to respond and eased the fall with a spell of feather falling, and as our beloved Vlada touched the ground I bestowed Mystra’s blessing on him to remove the paralysis.

The creature was clearly frustrated as a result of this and pressed its attack against Swyth, but failed to grab hold of him. A few moments later it was lying dead in a rapidly forming puddle of its own blood, arrows and crossbow bolts. Only now did Heion tell us that we had fought a Grell, but he made quite a lecture of the creature’s abilities and preferred tactics, as if we hadn’t already experienced them first hand.

With most of our resources depleted we decided to consolidate back to our base camp. We retrieved some items from the huge chamber, went through one of the doors in the room and found more tunnels as well as a secret door and then headed back towards the treasury where Heion previously had spotted secret doors. We opened the first door and found a set of armor and a chest. As we moved towards the chest, the banded mail sprung to life and attacked Vlada. By our combined efforts, we pounded the magically animated armor to peaces and proceeded to find the chest empty. However Vlada and Heion worked together with spell and rapier to find that the chest had been magically altered to look empty, and retrieved several previously invisible items from it. The other door revealed three empty chests.

I am going to need Hathor by my side if I am to remain strong in this land. Images of my love race through my mind every night, and if it wasn’t for the comfort of you my Mistress I would be long gone from this cursed place in a heartbeat. But the thought of a magic disease needs to be investigated thoroughly, not to mention a possible connection to missing children.

Year of Wild Magic, Eleint 24
There is corrupt magic in Jzadirune, I can feel it prickle my skin as I wake from another night of feverish dreams, my Mistress calls out to me to find out more. The fortress is dark, silent and forbidding, I long to see the sun.

After eating breakfast and performing morning service the Wild Geese once more broke camp to save the missing children. We opened a few more doors that we had found keys for before heading into the tunnels to explore the part of the fortress that we had yet to see.

As we emerged from a Skulk created tunnel we spotted a strange skulk dressed in rags. As it saw us it ran off into a tunnel at the opposite end of the room. Swyth then came up with the plan to have us silenced, then him producing a magic sound figment to lure the skulks out of their hiding place before we moved on through the door. The plan backfired on us, since we found our way into the tunnels once more in chase of the rag dressed Skulk. When we exited the tunnel, we where in an up turned alchemy lab. The skulk popped out from behind an upturned table and threw a tanglefoot bag at Vlada. As soon as we had charged the creature, the refuse at the floor swept up and enveloped Vlada. Heion who was now silenced by our own magic looked quite upset as he gestured towards Swyth. Vlada managed to escape the grasp of what Heion later told us was a Ragamuffin and with our combined efforts the rags where put low and hacked to pieces. We found quite a lot of loot in the laboratory and felt quite comfortable as we moved on after discovering some more secret doors. Vlada is getting quite good at calculating where they actually are, I am sure that the map is helping him in some way but I do not know how.

A few more secret doors later we found a room which proved to be the gnomes’ library. Mist was obscuring our vision as a group of monstrous centipedes attacked Vlada. I shot one from afar and as the centipedes closed in on Vlada he shredded them all with his rapier. We moved carefully across the floor of the room only to discover another hidden door (I don’t know how he does it) behind which we found an apparition of a female gnome. It spoke to us and said:

"I am Emirystul, librarian of Jzadirune. The scrolls you seek have been destroyed to keep you and others from fading into nothingness. The curse of the Vanishing began here, in these mystic halls, and here it will remain. Be careful what you find, and mind whatever magic was wrought here."​

I interpret this to be quite reassuring. The librarian has contained the magic disease called the Vanishing by destroying the scrolls and the only remaining way to contact the disease is to meddle with the magic remaining in Jzadirune. We must collect all the items and contain them so that others less insightful than us do not spread the disease unwittingly. My Mistress works in Mysterious ways, I am now sure this was one of her intentions with placing me in Cauldron in time to join the Wild Geese and our investigation of the missing children. We will have to do a thorough search through the place once the children are safe.

The last room for us to discover contained an automaton workshop. Swyth played around with the Automaton and had it run through the palisade into the room where the Grell had been before ordering it to power down. We then prepared ourselves to proceed the only way the missing children could have gone, down the elevator.

As we pulled the lever the elevator started down at a strong pace, the noise coupled with a feeling of being very announced led to us using a wand to power up with mystra’s blessing against evil enemies. But this was to little effect as once down we where faced with a solid reinforced wooden door. It took Vlada quite some time to bypass the lock and once he was done the enchantment had long since expired.

The room beyond was a curious one. A statue in the middle and doors at the far end perked our interest and as we closed in on the statue it suddenly sprung into motion and attacked Vlada. It packed quite a punch but our combined efforts where pressing it hard, but just then the door at the far end opened and an ogre stepped out, greeting us with the phrase:

"More carrion for my larder! Very nice."​

Vlada moved carefully towards the giant, forgetting our trouble with the statue for a moment. At that moment, the statue managed to hit me full force on the head and as I was reeling on the verge of unconsciousness I saw Errol charging towards the ogre as well. Now all that was protecting Heion from the onslaught of the statue was I. I fought through the unconsciousness, and summoned the grace of Mystra in a healing spell, preparing to face the statue alone. At the same time Vlada and Errol where taking quite a beating from the ogre. Things looked grim as the statue connected with massive hits on Swyth and he went down. I managed to revive him twice and the second time he helped with a healing potion. Heion wore the statue down with arrows and magic missiles fired from his wand and tried to blind the ogre with a glitterdust spell to no avail.

The ogre refused to follow our fighters as they backed towards our end of the room, but this allowed us to fire arrows at it more effectively. As the ogre went down, it turned back into its natural shape, that of an Otyugh. Heion, now the master of telling us what we are fighting after we have killed it, then told us that the statue was not a construct as such but a type of elemental. Sometimes I do wish that my elven friend was a bit more eager to share his knowledge with us while we are still fighting these strange beasts, they might prove critical to our success from time to time.

 

[evilash]

With the entry way cleared we looted the room beyond the door. The Otyugh’s previous victims had made it quite wealthy, but had done nothing for the room's putrid smell. There where no doors, so Vlada took his time and went through the room, finding a corridor behind a secret door.

At the end of the corridor we found the armory, Errol immediately started donning a suit of full plate and a greataxe, I took on a half plate and then we moved into the next room which we found was the smithy. Four hobgoblins and three goblins where guarding Sondor Ironfold, Jeneer Everdawn and Maple who where slaving away in the smithy. Errol made short work of them with his new axe, but not before one of them could call out. We decided to press on quickly only after some brief questions to the prisoners.

We entered their dining hall next which was empty, then took the first door to the right. The scene behind that door was unsettling to say the least, with a black knight, a howler and a half-fiend bartering the four children we where there to sell. Heion opened up with a spell that covered the trio in webs while Errol and Vlada made short work of the two hobgoblins. The half-fiend used an ability to turn invisible and then withdrew from the room. The web spell divided the black knight from his pet Prickles and the young boy at his side, and as they exited the web in two different directions our party focused on Prickles first. Through a hail of blows and a final shot with a crossbow bolt through the eye, Prickles fell to the floor. Seconds later a beholder appeared in the middle of the room, demanding the release of the young boy Terrem Kharatys.

"I have come for Terrem Kharatys. That boy should not have been taken from Cauldron. I intend to see that he is safely returned to his orphanage. You can keep the others. They are of no consequence. Come Terrem, you will be safe with me."​

At the same time, the web spell disappeared, and as the fighting continued the beholder put Heion to sleep and Errol into a forcefield. Kazmojen and the beholder negotiated for the boy's ransom. I asked the beholder if the boy would be safe and he said yes, so all we had to worry about was the safe return of the other children and hostages. As their deal was closed, a woman appeared and delivered the ransom and then the two teleported away.

With the beholder and woman gone we where faced with Kazmojen. The battle raged back and forward and after a while we noticed that he regenerated any damage we didn't do with fire, suspecting troll blood we put him low with fire and as he was lying down slowly growing back together Errol strangled him.

With the main threat gone we pressed on through the fortress to free as many hostages as possible from the torments of their captors. We rescued Gryffon Malek and Coryston Pike and killed the hobgoblins and goblins guarding them. Then we found a barrack used by four hobgoblins that died quickly too. Then we where faced with two hobgoblins who where armed with two deadly spike traps. I downed one with a bolt before he could use the trap on Errol, while the other managed to pull his trap on Vlada who quickly jumped to the side.

The fortress was pretty much secure now, except for the door in the slave market where the half-fiend had escaped. We opened it with caution and found a bridge spanning a chasm. On the other side of the bridge the fortress continued. Vlada scouted ahead and all of a sudden a metallic arm and hammer swung out of the wall, hitting him square in the face. Reeling from the blow we decided to try and withdraw, but the two Hammer Automatons that came at us where too quick and we had a hard time to get away from them. We backed off towards the spiked pit traps, planning to use them against the constructs. Vlada, in an attempt to lure the creatures towards him was a little slow and as the automaton closed in he was doomed. The hammer crushed his skull and Vlada was brought low. The rest of us fought through the grief and continued with the plan, and managed to lock the two automatons into the room with the pit traps but couldn't get them into them. As things settled down, I realized our error, we could have simply told the automatons to stand down in gnomish! And now I was carrying my friend around in a bucket because I didn’t think of it seconds sooner.

We decided to head back to the surface, to see if there was anything we could do for Vlada by the help of the clerics in the temple of Tyr and if there wasn't any we would pray for his soul. Vlada had given his life for the safety of Cauldron and his deeds would not pass unnoticed.

Year of Wild Magic, Eleint 25
Mother be praised, the weave is all around us. Vlada lives again!

As we reached the temple with the missing children and Vlada’s corpse we where greeted with both joy and grief. We explained the situation to Jenya and she told us she had access to a scroll of Raise Dead and if we so desired we would be allowed to purchase it from her at a discount rate. We bought it and asked her to use it for us, and after a few anxious moments, Vlada's spirit answered the call and re-inhabited his body.

We moved back down into the fortress back to where we had been. The Automaton’s had been hiding behind illusory walls which we moved through. Behind those we found cells where we rescued even more hostages, Kryskal Endercott, Deven Myrzal, Irruth Mercadi and Jasper Drundlesput. The hobgoblins guarding them deserved no mercy, and received none.

Behind one of the Automaton stations we found a secret door where Vlada once more found a trap. Errol, always faithful grabbed him by the neck just as he was about to plunge into the depth below. Heion then saw a secret door on the other side of the trap. We decided to check out our other options first.

As we moved on, we discovered a treasury and Kazmojen's quarters. In the treasury we remembered the mimic's words and I shot first bolts into each of the chests from over by the door, then into the gong. The mimic had been posing as a gong and immediately spung into action. Errol sunk his axe deep into its sticky body. Our combined efforts brought it down and the ancient gnome fortress was silent once more. We returned to the surface to give word of our exploits and collect our reward.

The day ended in a grand party at the Morkoth inn.

Year of Wild Magic, Eleint 26
My head aches and the weave is wavering around me.

Today Heion identified the items we had found. Weary of the vanishing curse that the gnomes had left hints about, I then asked Mystra if the items where safe and we managed to filter out the items that where not. Vlada proceeded to propose a division of what we had found.

I visited the Lantern Street Orphanage as soon as I could. Terrem was there, and Gretchyn was pleased at the 200 gp donation I made. We made arrangements for me to come and help the children with their spiritual guidance once per tenday.

Year of Wild Magic, Eleint 27
The Art is strong in Cauldron.

Vlada used his talents at barter to get us a good profit at various shops in town. We then proceeded to purchase some items and prepare for creating others. The temple had offered us a 20% discount on items purchased from them, and the rest of the town wouldn't let us pay for our own drinks, food and rooms. I could get used to this hero business.

Year of Wild Magic, Eleint 28 to Eleint 30
We bind the Art in artifacts in your glory my Mistress.

Heion and I worked in the laboratory today.

Year of Wild Magic, Higharvesttide
We bind the Art in artifacts in your glory my Mistress.

Heion and I worked in the laboratory today. The partying in the evening was a pleasant break from the smoking pots and cauldrons. Swyth is a darling to lift the chores of time.

I wish so that Hathor was here to share these times with me.

Year of Wild Magic, Marpenoth 1 to Marpenoth 3
We bind the Art in artifacts in your glory my Mistress.

Heion and I worked in the laboratory today.

Year of Wild Magic, Marpenoth 4
We teach the world to live with magic.

I visited the Lantern Street Orphanage today and talked to the children. They are very attentive and learn quickly.

 

[evilash]

Year of Wild Magic, Marpenoth 5 to Marpenoth 13
We bind the Art in artifacts in your glory my Mistress.

Heion and I worked in the laboratory today.

Year of Wild Magic, Marpenoth 14
I teach the young to love the art in your name.

I spent the entire day at the Lantern Street Orphanage talking to the children and teaching them about the love of magic. The teachers at the school provide many things, but not your blessing. I am sure there are several of them with potential to become wizards and sorcerers.

I took it upon me to try and talk to mother Gretchyn about Terrem and his parents, but she seems to evade all my questions this far. Terrem on the other hand is a smart young boy, it would be really interesting if he showed an aptitude for magic when the time comes.

Year of Wild Magic, Marpenoth 15
We celebrate the day of our Mistress ascension to the heavens. My work stands humbled in comparison to your creation.

The mayor of Cauldron has invited us to the Heroes' feast today. With the new garments purchased by Swyth and my lovely new Tiara, I for once feel quite well dressed for the occasion. I wish Hathor was here to stand by my side, I am sure we would make a lovely couple.

Jenya told me in confidence that she was worried that her temple master had not yet returned from Almraiven. She then proceeded to tell me about the true nature of his trip there, to purchase as many wands of Control Water as he possibly could. What was worrying about it all was that the other temples seemed unworried about the plight of the annual flooding, depending on the weather to be mild to save Cauldron once again.

The party was a blast, and together with Heion I made some magic displays in honor of my Mistress against the night sky. I went to bed intoxicated, alone and a deep feeling that I would like to sleep in late in the morning.

Year of Wild Magic, Marpenoth 16
Oh mistress, the weave is weak today. I wish it so that you provided a spell to cure the day after.

I took a long bath today and met up with the others around noon. We talked about the party and what to do next but most where content to sip on water today.

Year of Wild Magic, Marpenoth 16
Mistress, the weave is returning to me now. I can feel your breath of life prickle my skin.

Woe has come to Cauldron. Jenya sent a message this morning to Swyth to gather the Wild Geese and come to the temple immediately. Considering the source and urgency of the message, I grabbed my adventuring gear and ran quickly.

She had received a Sending from Sarcem that very morning. He was in great peril, beset by bandits at the Lucky Monkey inn. He had 8 wands of Control Water with him, but was trapped in the basement and under assault by a monkey. Jenya asked us to come to his aid and on our way out she shouted that we where going to be richly rewarded for our efforts. We headed to the stable and bought horses, with which we set out down the road immediately.

When we arrived at the Lucky Monkey we didn't see anything wrong at first. All the windows where locked and so was the door. I put a silence spell at the door after which Erold proceeded to smash it with the ram. Inside was the scene of a terrible battle and six bandits enjoying the spoils of their raid at the bar. We didn't hesitate for a second, but immediately opened up with a volley of arrows before Erold led the charge through the rubble in the room. The bandits where joined by additional reinforcements but their deaths came swift, as the last stood injured before us Erold growled "Surrender or die" and she decided to surrender. We put manacles on her and then questioned her about where the basement was, and she told us it was below the kitchen at the far side of the house, as well as the name of their leader and that the red haired woman was no longer in the house.

We moved through the banquet hall into a serving corridor and when we opened the next door we had the kitchen before us. A terrible growl greeted our entrance, and the source of the growl Vlada and Heion identified as the Werebaboon Tongueater. Tongueater charged Vlada and wounded him considerably, after which we retreated, fired silver arrows and Heion launched a ray of Enfeeblement. As we retreated, Tongueater slammed the door shut.

We just had enough time to heal the damage done by Tongueater and get our silver weapons ready as he led the charge through the dining hall at our backs. Swyth heroically stopped the charge mid room and he and Vlada retreated towards the rest of us. Then Heion created thick magical webbings in the room, halting the charge. We held Tongueater at the edge of the web, Swyth, Vlada and Erold to the front and me and Heion showering him with spell and bolt.

The silvered weapons made Tongueaters death inevitable, just a few baboons managed to make their way through the web to assist him, and with his strength drained he wasn't strong enough to deal any real damage to our front line fighters. The baboons where easy enough to deal with once Tongueater was gone. In the kitchen we found Sarcems toungless head and a pile of loot.

We pressed on down into the cellar where we found more bandits, their deaths came quick except for one additional prisoner. A frozen door provided a bit of an argument before Erold simply took the battling ram and smashed it. Behind it was a Druid half-drow named Shensen Tesseril who was quite pleased to be rescued. Heion was very suspicious at first but after some questioning we decided she was all right.

With most of the bandits dead we moved quickly from room to room killing what little was left of the bandit force, no more prisoners where taken and no significant clues as to where the wands had gone.

We took the corpse of Sarcem and headed back to Jenya to bring the terrible news. She rewarded us with his gear and what we had found in the inn, but asked us to please help find the wands for the rest of the reward. Since we would have done it without a reward anyway, we set right to it.

I slept uneasy this night, dreaming of a red haired woman wearing the garbs of the Lady of Pain.

 

[evilash]

Year of Wild Magic, Marpenoth 18
Dark magic is at work in Cauldron today, I can feel it in my heart.

With Sarcem dead and the wands missing, we set about trying to find them. We divided ourselves into three groups with Erold leading an expedition of temple guards to the Lucky Monkey to retrieve the corpses and possible missed clues.

Swyth created two pictures of the red haired woman from the description by Shensen, which he and Vlada then used to work the streets with. Their efforts rewarded them with a name but nothing much else. We now knew the name of Sarcem’s nemesis, Triel Eldurast.

Myself and Heion followed a hunch, that the death of Sarcem might be related to the deaths of the Lathander clergy earlier this year. After talking to the remaining Lathander cleric, we concluded that this was simply not the case. It had been a tragic accident and he held no suspicions around their death that foul play might have been involved. He and I seem to get along nicely; it is good to have another friendly face in Cauldron.

As night closed, Erold returned and we placed the corpses in the temple of Tyr, guards where placed for the night as we drifted off into uneasy sleep.

Year of Wild Magic, Marpenoth 19
I feel nauseated over what I am to do today, but it is for the good of the city and I can ask this of no other unless I am prepared to do it myself.

Swyth, Vlada and the now returned Darius continued to work the streets, there was little new to be learned, and they returned to our lunch meeting at the Morkoth empty handed.

I, Heion and Erold entered the crypt where Tongueater's corpse lay on a table waiting for us. Eager to get the dirty work out of the way, I instructed them to be silent no matter what happened and began casting the spell to call Tongueater's spirit from beyond the grave and answer my questions.

My first question was: "If I wanted to meet Triel Eldurast, where should I go?"

The answer from the ghastly corpse was. "The ruins on the shore of the phantom lake"

Both Erold and Heion shook their heads, neither knew of any such place, but I chanced it and asked: "What is Triel Eldurast's plan for the wands?"

The answer was unsatisfying to say the least: "Fear... gold... power...." I will need more practice with asking such questions in the future, even though I hope never to have to disturb a corpse again like this.

After meeting again for lunch and finding out that not even Swyth knew of such a place, we felt quite desperate. We sought out Shensen again, and she didn't know either. She did however promise us to ask around.

Later that same day we got lucky, a child offered Swyth a piece of paper, on which it was written a message for him to come to the stage down by the lake by midnight, alone and with 500 gp. We saw no other choice but to answer the call, and after some arcane preparation Swyth met with the informant at the stage with the rest of us as backup by the lantern street orphanage.

The switch went smoothly, and the price was a map of Cauldron showing an X where just outside the rim, marking an entrance to the empty lava pipes below. We decided to rest up for the night, and press our new lead the next morning.

Year of Wild Magic, Marpenoth 20
You are with me again Mistress, in full force.

Vlada found the tunnel with ease with the aid of the map, I doubt we could have found it without it. Using stealth we moved forward and came to a small cliff overlooking a lake and some ruins. The structures seemed alien in nature, but the guards we found in the winch room where normal enough. One died to Erold's axe while the other quickly surrendered. Manacled and question, he revealed several interesting details about what we might find below.

Swyth then lowered the rest of us in the elevator and then followed suit by transforming himself into a winged elf. I have never seen such a creature, but it was a very useful spell indeed. We proceeded to investigate the winch room at the other end, but all we found was a collapsing wall. I had to save an unconscious Swyth from under the rubble, and both Erold and Vlada where hurt as well.

We where worried that the sound might have roused the attention of the cultists, so we immediately moved to the closest door. The meeting hall beyond was lit and obviously in use, but no cultists where about. Behind a second door we found thin threads tied to doorbells and a collapsing roof. Vlada quickly disarmed it before we moved on. Behind the door we heard voices, prepared accordingly and killed the four cultists in the room beyond before they knew what hit them.

We moved on and found a long corridor with many doors; we started working from one end and heard voices behind one door. We opened it and charged immediately, when only one cultist remained a door opened behind us and another three joined the fray. It took a few seconds before we could regroup, but in the end they had little chance against our superior marksmen and Erold’s martial might.

What woke our ire now was however that a door that we had seen as closed before was now open by just an inch. We moved through it and found a library and a desk. Heion cast a spell of detect magic, and saw that the only other door was covered in magic. Suspecting it to be an arcane lock, we moved on to secure possible other exits from the room.

We then found a door made of stone that was barred from the other side, Darius and Erold where not able to breach it with the portable ram and so we left it for later. We then backtracked and opened the door into the armory. Nothing perked our interest here, so we headed back to the long corridor. Behind the next door was a tunnel full of cobwebs, we decided that it was not the best place to continue our search, so we closed the door and opened another into an empty store room. Something perked Heion's attention in this room, as he stopped in one corner indicating that there was a secret door there. We decided to mark it out and head back to the cobweb full tunnel.

Vlada found some tracks on the floor here, in the shape of small Halfling sized feet. Ever on alert, we moved on through the passage, wondering what creatures might consider living in tunnels such as these.

 

[evilash]

As we headed back towards the blocked stone door we found even more cobwebs. As we rounded the corner, we realized why the door had been blocked. We had found a spider lair. The six small spiders quickly died to a combination of arrows, bolts, axe and sword. We found little of interest in the room and turned back towards the tunnels.

We rounded the corner and more hairy shapes scuttled towards us from a room beyond. The spiders we had encountered before where mere babies in comparison with these. Some spiders as large as humans and two where even larger than that. Our fighters formed a line in the narrow passage leading into the room, and though the spiders' where dripping from their mouths with poison none succumbed to it. Heion was eager to try a new spell and fried the spiders with a fireball. At the same time, three ettercaps emerged from a side tunnel, rooting our fighters to their spots with their webs. Swyth and myself formed a new line as our fighters struggled to break free and with Heion at our backs peppering them with spells and arrows we managed to whittle them down. Errol dealt the final blow with a well aimed arrow from his bow. Once the creatures where gone, it was a lot easier to get them loose.

The room beyond was the Ettercap lair and we wasted no time in moving beyond the stinking chamber. A small opening at the far side of the room opened up into a cave with several angry monsters ready to attack us. Two Ettercaps and a large hideous monster with fangs scuttled towards us, once more rooting Errol and Darius to their spots. Skaven, a Halfling wizard was also in the room. Heion covered the room in webs and I tried to silence the wizard with a spell as well. Neither proved effective. As the combat ensued, the Ettercaps where dealt with first, then the large beast. The wizard proved troublesome, with lots of powerful protection magic as well as stinging spells. As we cornered him he tried to escape with a potion of Gaseous Form, but as he moved towards the exit a constant hail of fire from bolts and blows of our strong attackers knocked him out.

We all felt a bit winded by now and discussed our options. We decided to rest at least a little, but considered how we would go about masking our entry into the alien fortress if we wanted a lengthy period of rest.

 

[evilash]

Heion immediately let Vlada search the wizard's tome for traps. When he found none, Heion proceeded with opening the book and reading the first paragraph. A green snake of pure magic leaped from the pages and bit him in the face, after which Heion froze to the spot. I recognized this as the spell Sepia's Snake Sigil and unless we wanted to leave our friend in the fortress for the better part of a tenday, I would have to dispel the magic holding him. The anticipation rose as I prayed for my goddess to grant me this power.

As the spell leaped from my fingertips, the snake reappeared to do battle with the seven stars. For a few seconds it looked like the magic was too strong but in the end Mystra won the day and vanquished the evil incantation. Heion and Swyth had a small argument over how wise it was to read dangerous magic tomes in the middle of a hostile stronghold when we are only stopping for a short break and already have limited magical resources at hand.

To supplement Heion's arcane might, I used a spell granted by Mystra to copy his web spell. As the magic sunk into my mind, I felt ready to take on what the fortress might bring in terms of adversaries. We moved through the secret door and found another in the small room behind it. As we opened the second one, we found some very surprised guards standing at arrow slits. Erold, Darius and Vlada closed with the enemy as I and Heion peppered them with bolts and arrows. As we looked out through the arrow slits, we saw the hallway behind the double doors. We decided it was not worth it risking the hallway at this time and look for a possible match for what we had found on this side on the opposite.

We circled the fortress to the opposite side and tried the first set of doors. As he started walking across the floor, Vlada's keen reflexes saved him from certain death as he found an illusory floor. As we peeked below it, we saw that 10 feet below was water with a swarm of hostile tiny oozes. We crawled through the room, backs pressed against the walls and into the hall beyond.

Vlada pressed his ear against the doors to the left and right and heard snoring from the one on the left. We opened the door and burst in and the men still in their beds immediately surrendered at weapon point. We tied them up and questioned one of them. Apparently the room across the hall also held soldiers. We burst through the door and killed two of them with their armor still only half on and the two others seconds later. I saw the soldier we had questioned swallow hard and utter a prayer better left unspoken at our effectiveness and the benefit of his surrender.

With four guards' dead and three imprisoned, we felt confident. We moved swiftly from room to room guided by Vlada's expert eyes, ears and hands. At the end of a corridor we found four archers and just as we where finishing off the last of them Triel Eldurast burst through a door at our backs, buffed with magic to her teeth and speaking the famous prayers of a silence spell. As the silence settled I used my wand to ward myself against this obvious evil and stepped up to protect Swyth and Vlada from the fury of this scourge. Heion took a step back out of the silenced area and a dark ray shot from his palm, just catching Triel on the shoulder. Heion did a little dance and song (thank you Mistress for urging me into the silent area) as Triel's strength was sucked out of her.

Vlada, now aware of the threat from Triel activated his magic boots and ran faster than I have seen anyone do ever before. He didn't stop as he rounded the corner and dodged below Triel's whip. He was now standing behind her. Darius was next to act, he used a scroll to enlarge himself to twice his height and pressed himself in front of me, expecting to receive the Red Fury's charge. Erold and Swyth attempted to circle Triel by going outside the fortress, however, Erold wasn't so fast with his full plate armor.

Triel focused her attention on Vlada, hitting him once with her scourge and moved towards Erold to try and get our spell casters into the area of the silence spell. Vlada stabbed her in the back as she did so and the huge Darius hit her with his greatsword. She looked injured, but not beaten. Both I and Heion tried to hit her with arrows to no effect.

Triel seemed disturbed by the development of the battle and focused once more on Vlada, trying to get out of the trap that had been reversed on herself. She managed to hit him once more; then Vlada punctured her left lung and stabbing her in her arm with his dagger, followed by Darius severing her head from her body. Triel lay dead mere seconds after we had seen her for the first time.

We moved on and found a torture chamber, a prison to where we moved our captured guards and a room leading to a pair of lava tubes. Behind the last door in the corridor we found a room with drilled holes in the floor. Uncertain what this might be, we moved back towards the doors we had yet to explore.

The next door we opened was into what must have been Triel's living quarters, as Vlada tried to go through the door a devilish trap was sprung. The door slammed shut and protruded blades that sunk into his flesh. It was horrible to see Vlada having to disable the mechanism while still stuck on the blades, but the door was too string for even Darius and Erold's combined efforts to move.

After this we found an armory and a food store, then moved on and found a room with a floor trap. Luckily for us, it was sprung by the use of the door and we could watch as the spikes receded back down. This gave us a clear idea what might be in the room we had seen before with holes in the floor. We went back to the store room and put some real effort into finding a possible secret door. There should be one considering what we had found on the other side. Sure enough, Vlada found the door and we butchered the guards behind it in short order. I am amazed that our enemies don't surrender when we tell them to.

We now stood with four options to press on; the double doors, the lava tubes and the trapped room. We chose the trapped room. Vlada brought the chair from the torture room and placed it carefully by the door at the far end, making sure that no part of the chair was covering a hole and then opened the door. Behind it was a corridor with a single door. We opened the door and found four more guards, they didn't surrender either. Pity such waste of life. There was another lava tube in the room beyond.

We then decided to go back to the double doors. We had been warned by the guards we had captured that there where traps hidden in the floor. Vlada proceeded carefully with a rope around his waist and Swyth ready to cast his spell of feather fall if so was needed. He found the first pit without trouble, but the second one he managed to step on before he saw it. With his ample reflexes however, he jumped back before it sprung. A few seconds later, the triggering mechanism had been disabled. We opened the door and looked into the enormous chamber beyond.

Tables in the room where littered with arcane gear, but there were no creatures in sight. We moved from alcove to alcove and at the far end of the room we found a small package glowing with magic. We suspected a trap and continued our search of the room but found nothing. As we approached the magic for a second time, a mud Slaad jumped out from behind the table. He bit Vlada nastily, but the poison wasn't strong enough to weaken Vlada, instead the mud Slaad was downed in a hail of blows. Just as Heion spoke the words, "It regenerates", I said, "It's faking death" and the mud Slaad jumped to his feet and bit Vlada again. The second round of combat ended no differently than the first, but this time Erold made sure its head was no longer attached to the rest of its body.

As the echoes of battle subsided and we had a few moments to catch our breaths, we made notes on the vast amounts of treasure we had found. We suspected that we had six of the eight missing wands in our possession, and it felt good that the town was no longer under threat of someone raising the water with wands, now it was a mere matter of principle to reclaim the wands and punish all the criminals responsible for the death of Sarcem and the others at the Lucky Monkey.