Here There Be Monsters 3 (Garnham)
From the Journals of K. Garnham Seeker as translated from the Vallossan
A closer examination of the ruins has shown that they are not Ohlman in origin as I had originally thought.
The zombie proved to be fairly talkative. Under Maggie's questioning he revealed that his name in life was Golnora and that he had been slain (and animated) by the lord of Fogmire to act as a warning for us.
Whether this was a warning for anyone who entered Fogmire or for us in particular was left open for interpretation.
Maggie and Dexter had words over what to do with Golnora. Maggie untied him and tried to teach him the ways of Aster. Dexter was prone to take a more violent route.
After resting and searching the place we decided it best to camp elsewhere that night. Maggie wanted Golnora to come with us; an idea that had some merit even if it wasn't the one Maggie had. In the end we left Golnora behind.
He seemed to think that we would see him very soon.
Elyosha took us through the fog. Keen eyes and finely honed tracking skills should have brought us to a point several hundred yards from the ruins, but Fogmire is warped and we arrived at our starting point.
With little option, we bedded down in the ruins.
During the night we were ambushed by demons.
Barlagura to be exact. Demonic scouts with the semblance of apes.
They came upon us invisibly. The largest one darted from opponent to opponent not focusing on any one of us for too long.
Others went after the smallest of us. One grabbed Urol and teleported away.
The others killed Tavey.
Unable to do anything for Urol that night we returned to our sleep.
I almost wish that I hadn't. Something about the place or the creature's we had just fought seeped into my dreams. I found myself lost in a demon infested jungle surronded by a sea of damned souls. A piece of my sanity has vanished.
The next morning our spellcasters began their work.
Maggie decided to animate Tavey's skeleton. I'm not keen on the idea of travelling with undead, but it was inevitable given Maggie's faith and profession. Besides, if she didn't do it the lord of Fogmire probably would have. On the whole, I think Tavey would have choosen this way.
Elyosha, meanwhile, was scrying on Urol. Her magics revealed that he was held somewhere inside and near large Barlagura statues.
Somewhere, during the spellcasting, Dexter beheaded Golnora without Maggie seeing him.
Maggie used her magics to get a read on where Urol was (more precisely where his hat was) and we were off.
We came to a hill with the heads of two gigantic apes carved into its side. The mouths of the apes lined up with cave mouths. We proceeded in after leaving the non-Beetles in as safe a place as we could find.
Eventually we came to a room with a, to my knowledge, unique magical trap.
It consisted of two mirrors, two thrones and two black tallow candles.
First a candle is lit; one of the thrones fills with blood. Then the throne is sat in; one of the mirrors goes swirly. The mirror is touched and either the magical gate is opened, or the person touching the mirror gets replaced by an evil copy of themselves while they are stuck behind the mirror.
Elyosha was trapped and we had to fight her feral doppleganger.
Then Elyosha and Maggie went about activating the gateway.
We travelled through to a large cavern with a stone bridge over a pool of (presumably) blood.
More Barlagura attacked and were dispatched. A swarm of baboons joined them in their attacks on us and their makeshift funerals.
We climbed upwards to where the apes had advanced from. After some searching we found two chests. Among the coins and magic arms was a true treasure-- a tome of worldly memory.
A truly fascinating work.
We continued on. We encounterd what appeared to be an undead naga and destroyed it.
At that point we were in no condition to continue so we returned to the others to rest and regroup.
As a side note Maggie mentioned something that got me thinking.
Apparently she has this plan to make love to a very diverse group of people to express an aspect of her faith. Only she hasn't started yet.
When we met Elyosha she said she was too young to even start to date.
The only flirting I've ever seen Dexter doing is with Maggie.
I think we're all virgins.
Odd theories start coming to mind at this point. The Barlagura didn't attack Avner (who was hiding behing his horse anyway), Rowyn or Captain Venkalie. Avner and Rowyn are looser than a slipknot and the Captain was married. Not a virgin among those three.
Tavey was too young to know the pleasures of the flesh and Urol isn't much of a ladies man.
Disturbing line of thought. I'm going to consult the tome.
From the Journals of K. Garnham Seeker as translated from the Vallossan
A closer examination of the ruins has shown that they are not Ohlman in origin as I had originally thought.
The zombie proved to be fairly talkative. Under Maggie's questioning he revealed that his name in life was Golnora and that he had been slain (and animated) by the lord of Fogmire to act as a warning for us.
Whether this was a warning for anyone who entered Fogmire or for us in particular was left open for interpretation.
Maggie and Dexter had words over what to do with Golnora. Maggie untied him and tried to teach him the ways of Aster. Dexter was prone to take a more violent route.
After resting and searching the place we decided it best to camp elsewhere that night. Maggie wanted Golnora to come with us; an idea that had some merit even if it wasn't the one Maggie had. In the end we left Golnora behind.
He seemed to think that we would see him very soon.
Elyosha took us through the fog. Keen eyes and finely honed tracking skills should have brought us to a point several hundred yards from the ruins, but Fogmire is warped and we arrived at our starting point.
With little option, we bedded down in the ruins.
During the night we were ambushed by demons.
Barlagura to be exact. Demonic scouts with the semblance of apes.
They came upon us invisibly. The largest one darted from opponent to opponent not focusing on any one of us for too long.
Others went after the smallest of us. One grabbed Urol and teleported away.
The others killed Tavey.
Unable to do anything for Urol that night we returned to our sleep.
I almost wish that I hadn't. Something about the place or the creature's we had just fought seeped into my dreams. I found myself lost in a demon infested jungle surronded by a sea of damned souls. A piece of my sanity has vanished.
The next morning our spellcasters began their work.
Maggie decided to animate Tavey's skeleton. I'm not keen on the idea of travelling with undead, but it was inevitable given Maggie's faith and profession. Besides, if she didn't do it the lord of Fogmire probably would have. On the whole, I think Tavey would have choosen this way.
Elyosha, meanwhile, was scrying on Urol. Her magics revealed that he was held somewhere inside and near large Barlagura statues.
Somewhere, during the spellcasting, Dexter beheaded Golnora without Maggie seeing him.
Maggie used her magics to get a read on where Urol was (more precisely where his hat was) and we were off.
We came to a hill with the heads of two gigantic apes carved into its side. The mouths of the apes lined up with cave mouths. We proceeded in after leaving the non-Beetles in as safe a place as we could find.
Eventually we came to a room with a, to my knowledge, unique magical trap.
It consisted of two mirrors, two thrones and two black tallow candles.
First a candle is lit; one of the thrones fills with blood. Then the throne is sat in; one of the mirrors goes swirly. The mirror is touched and either the magical gate is opened, or the person touching the mirror gets replaced by an evil copy of themselves while they are stuck behind the mirror.
Elyosha was trapped and we had to fight her feral doppleganger.
Then Elyosha and Maggie went about activating the gateway.
We travelled through to a large cavern with a stone bridge over a pool of (presumably) blood.
More Barlagura attacked and were dispatched. A swarm of baboons joined them in their attacks on us and their makeshift funerals.
We climbed upwards to where the apes had advanced from. After some searching we found two chests. Among the coins and magic arms was a true treasure-- a tome of worldly memory.
A truly fascinating work.
We continued on. We encounterd what appeared to be an undead naga and destroyed it.
At that point we were in no condition to continue so we returned to the others to rest and regroup.
As a side note Maggie mentioned something that got me thinking.
Apparently she has this plan to make love to a very diverse group of people to express an aspect of her faith. Only she hasn't started yet.
When we met Elyosha she said she was too young to even start to date.
The only flirting I've ever seen Dexter doing is with Maggie.
I think we're all virgins.
Odd theories start coming to mind at this point. The Barlagura didn't attack Avner (who was hiding behing his horse anyway), Rowyn or Captain Venkalie. Avner and Rowyn are looser than a slipknot and the Captain was married. Not a virgin among those three.
Tavey was too young to know the pleasures of the flesh and Urol isn't much of a ladies man.
Disturbing line of thought. I'm going to consult the tome.