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

[sniffles]

Letter #21

Dearest brother;

To continue my story: once we had concluded our visit with the Malik, we were ushered out somewhat unceremoniously - perhaps due to Kirp's presence among our group.

As soon as we had stepped beyond the gates of the Malik's palace, Ninad set the halfling on the ground, handed him a sack of coin, and commanded him to leave the city at once or risk bodily injury. I must admit I was a bit surprised. I have no affection for Kirp, but I wouldn't have treated him with such contempt as Ninad showed. The halfling wisely accepted Ninad's offer and turned away. But Thor and Erasyne wouldn't let the matter rest there. They followed Kirp while Ninad and I headed back to the Satin Pillow Inn.

Once we arrived at the inn, Ninad took a private room and began the ritual to reestablish his bond with Nimkin, for that bond had been severed while we were in the fey realm. Shishir also began this ritual since he too had lost his connection with Balamani.

After a time the rest of our group returned, fortunately without Kirp. I decided to go out and see what unusual animals were available in the city's markets other than llamas. I am still considering the purchase of a llama, but I was attracted to a group of older puppies offered by one merchant. I have purchased a companion for Rahon. I haven't yet chosen a name for my new friend. She will tell me what her name should be.

During the evening, as most of our party reassembled to dine, we were approached by a young man carrying a harp. Erasyne appeared to know who he was. It seems that in their discussion with Kirp, she and Thor learned that Kirp had taken the diamond to aid the Malik's youngest daughter, Ceceliah, in escaping an arranged marriage. The diamond was to be her dowry, so she evidently hoped that if it were missing she would not be forced to wed her intended mate. She had fallen in love with her music teacher, a young man named Dancenash. It was this music teacher who now approached us.

He wanted to hire us to help him find Ceceliah, who had run away from the palace. Reportedly she planned to enter the temple of the goddess Kumari. If she remained within the temple for two years her marriage would be annulled. But there were rumors of something wrong at the temple. No one had emerged from within its walls for some months, and Dancenash feared something dire would befall Ceceliah there.

I noticed that there was a halfling lurking about in the shadows near the door, and quickly surmised that it must be Kirp. He was still trying to help Dancenash and Ceceliah. Erasyne encouraged Kirp to come forward, reassuring him that Ninad wasn't present.

Erasyne had apparently heard the rumors about the temple and had gone there earlier in the day. She'd been stopped outside by a woman who warned her off. Showing unusual restraint, Erasyne had then returned to the city, but not before learning that the only way to enter the temple was by bathing in a special pool by moonlight.

Kirp claimed to know of a possible second entry into the temple. Erasyne and Thor were quite enthusiastic about going to the temple to aid the young lovers, and Dancenash's offer of money persuaded Illtud to go along with them. I was not so eager. I saw no reason to help these strangers, however much in love they might be. I also felt that there was no real evidence of trouble at the temple. In my opinion the local people were simply letting their imaginations run wild.

When Ninad and Shishir appeared things grew more complicated. Ninad was furious at the presence of Kirp and attempted to attack him, while his brother tried to protect the halfling. Ninad wanted nothing to do with helping Kirp or anyone associated with him. Shishir took the opposite position, which seemed a bit unusual to me, but perhaps this was because he was upset that his effort to re-bond himself with Balamani had failed to produce the desired result.

In any event, an argument ensued as Thor propounded the joys of young love while I tried to present my own arguments against helping Dancenash. Ninad was with me at first, but quickly gave in to the other side. When I saw that I couldn't win and that my friends might leave without me, I too gave in. I knew these impetuous folk would need my help.

The temple stood well outside the city in an isolated location. Liselle had insisted on accompanying us, so I left my new dog with her when we prepared to enter the temple. Erasyne volunteered to bathe in the pool to get inside the walls and then open the gates for the rest of us. She took the term "bathe" quite literally, removing all her clothing before entering the pool. When she had immersed herself she vanished. We later learned that she had reappeared within a pool in the temple courtyard.

As we approached the temple gates we heard Erasyne's scream from within. She was under attack by some gargoyle-like creatures. Erasyne had managed to remove a lower bar from the gate but couldn't reach the upper bar.

With the help of Illtud and Ninad, I used my spear to lift the upper bar and ran into the courtyard. Looking back I realize I could have used my enchanted ring to levitate to the top of the wall, but in the heat of the moment it slipped my mind. Shishir had employed some spell to leap over the wall, and by the time I entered he had already shattered one of the stony gargoyles.

A second gargoyle grabbed Erasyne and flew with her toward the entrance to the temple proper. Illtud and I rushed after the creature, followed by Ninad. Erasyne managed to escape the gargoyle's grasp and I was able to thrust my spear straight through the creature despite its stony appearance.

Erasyne quickly donned her clothing once more and ran up a flight of steps to the main door of the temple. Thor and Ninad ran into one of the corner towers to see what they could find, while Illtud, Dancenash and Kirp examined the tower in the opposite corner. I decided to keep watch in the courtyard.

When Erasyne found that the door was unlocked she opened it and immediately entered the temple. Once the rest of us had joined her, we suddenly found that the woman she had met earlier in the day was also within the temple. This woman, Alki, had apparently discovered that it was possible to enter via the magical pool without undressing, judging by the wetness of her garments. She was very disturbed by our presence, especially the men, as men are customarily forbidden to enter the temple. Erasyne's reassurances that we were there to help did little to comfort her.

I began to think that the concerns about the temple were not unfounded after all. No one had come forward to greet us or object to our intrusion other than Alki, who was apparently not a priestess or supplicant.

Before I could object our party had split into two groups and began exploring the corridors of the temple. My group found a chamber full of statues apparently intended to show the stages of a woman's life. When we turned down another hallway we found ourselves reunited with our companions, who had also encountered none of the temple staff. At the midpoint of the hallway lay a curtained door. As usual, Erasyne approached the door without caution. Before she could draw the curtain aside a group of scimitar-wielding skeletons burst through the doorway.

Illtud rushed forward and began swinging the mace he had received in the sun god's ruined shrine in the forest. It seems to have some special properties when used against the unliving. He destroyed several of the skeletons with a single blow to each. The rest of us quickly dispatched the remaining skeletons.

When they were destroyed we observed that they had all been of relatively small stature and many of them wore the remains of veils, as the women do here in Lopolla. Alki was convinced that these skeletons had once been the temple staff, though there was no way of identifying the individuals. Dancenash grew very concerned for Ceceliah's safety. Some of the others tried to reassure him that since she had only arrived on the previous night she was probably not among the skeletons. We'll know more when we've searched the rest of the temple.

I'll tell you what we found in my next letter.

Your sister, Lothiriel

 

[sniffles]

Letter #22

Lopolla

Dearest brother;

As I told you in my last letter, we'd entered the temple of Kumari in search of the girl Ceceliah and had found it empty but for walking skeletons.

Alki told us that there were two entrances to the main sanctuary. We decided to go there to see if there was any evidence of what was going on in the temple. Shishir moved quietly up to one entrance and listened at the door. I decided to proceed to the second entrance. Ninad and Illtud accompanied me.

Ninad was able to hear voices within the chamber but couldn't make out what they were saying. He carefully opened the door a crack and peeked inside. Once he saw a light entering the previously darkened sanctuary we knew that our other companions had entered and we threw open the door.

We found ourselves facing several snake-women with scaly features and tails. There was another creature behind the altar, and something large that I first mistook for a statue. I immediately attacked the first snake-woman in my path. She cast some spell that caused Illtud to flee the sanctuary in terror, but it had no effect on me.

As we battled the snake-women the large shape behind the altar began to move. Clay bits broke away from it, revealing a huge skeletal form with four arms, each bearing a blade. Fortunately the blades weren't of proportionate size to their wielder, for the skeletal creature struck Shishir and myself several times and did us considerable injury. I had to step back from the fight to avail myself of my wand of healing.

Erasyne had managed to borrow Illtud's mace before he fled the room, though she discovered that it wasn't as effective on the giant skeleton as it had been on the skeletal women. Ninad and Shishir had better luck with their blows. Before I could get back into the fray Ninad struck the thing a tremendous blow with his staff and it collapsed in a heap of mismatched bones.

The huge skeleton was apparently some sort of construct, since the bones didn't all appear to come from the same type of creature. The snake-woman who had been at the altar near the bone construct had vanished. Shishir had seen her descend into an opening in the floor near where the bone golem stood. The opening hadn't closed completely, having been damaged by a lightning spell Thor cast upon the golem. We pried it open and descended beneath the temple.

Alki told us she'd been there before and believed that the eunuchs' quarters lay in the underground area. Curiously, Erasyne had observed earlier that the temple appeared to be much more spacious within than it looked from outside, but we didn't have time to investigate this oddity.

We descended into a small chamber with several corridors leading into it. The snake-woman who'd fled was still within the room. Shishir was the first to enter the room, and for his trouble she turned him into a small viper!

We attempted to surround her but she quickly retreated down one of the corridors. She tried to cast a spell of darkness upon the area to conceal her escape, but Thor was able to dispel the darkness.

She then cast another spell of fear that once again sent Illtud running - and this time me as well. I didn't have an opportunity to see what occurred after that, as I was cowering on the stairs with Rahon. Only the fact that it was a spell keeps me from feeling shame for my cowardice.

When the fear passed I found that my friends had slain the snake-woman. Alki had run down one of the other corridors to seek the aid of a spirit that dwelled there. The spirit couldn't leave its' chamber, but it was able to heal everyone of their wounds. It explained that most of the evil was gone from the temple, and that it sensed only one new presence in one of the cells. We were promised the contents of the temple treasury in return for destroying what evil remained.

Following the spirit's directions, we found a few more skeletons that were easily eliminated, and some demonic creature that fled when we destroyed all its' minions. We also found Ceceliah imprisoned in one of the eunuchs' cells. Dancenash was naturally very pleased to find her unharmed.

After we returned to the spirit it informed us that since there were no priestesses to maintain the temple it had no need to remain there any longer, and it departed. We located the treasury behind a secret door. At first we attempted to persuade Dancenash and Ceceliah to take the gold coins as a dowry so that the Malik would allow them to marry, but Dancenash was determined to face the Malik and win Ceceliah on his own.

We then asked Alki to keep some of the money to donate to the temple if new priestesses came to reopen it. But she was uncomfortable with keeping such a large quantity of gold. Finally we determined that we might as well accept the reward the spirit had offered to us. We divided the coins, gems and other items between us. Thor was naturally attracted to two platinum statues of birds, though they had no significance other than as decorations.

I have decided to spend some of my share on a llama, or perhaps some type of riding animal.

When we returned to the city Dancenash and Ceceliah went off to speak with the Malik. I'm not certain how successful they'll be but I suppose that's not something in which my aid would be useful. Kirp accompanied them, at least to the gates of the Malik's palace. Alki had already parted ways with us before we headed back to the city.

After a bit of rest - our adventure at the temple had kept us busy all night - we parted company for the day to pursue our own interests. Shishir had an opportunity to tell Liselle what it was like to be a snake for a short while.

Thor has achieved his heart's desire: he persuaded a local merchant to sell him an axebeak. I am happy for him. And I must confess that I've been looking unkindly on Erasyne of late for no good reason. I thought her interest in treasure merely greed, but it's more like curiosity and enthusiasm. She is young, after all, and unskilled in the ways of the wider world.

Now I must try to understand why Thor and Erasyne seem so concerned about the twins. They've had some quarrel recently but I'm sure their disagreement will soon be resolved. I suppose it must be difficult for them to adjust to Liselle's presence, as they've spent all their lives as inseparable companions.

I'm not sure yet what our next move will be. I expect in a day or two we'll depart from Lopolla, but I have no doubt that we'll find many more adventures on our slow journey toward the sea. I'll write you again when I have more to tell.

Your sister, Lothiriel

 

[sniffles]

Letter #23

12 Reaping (Sunday June 13, 2004)

Dearest brother;

It's no surprise that adventure has swiftly reentered our lives.

Thor was restless, and wanted an opportunity to allow his new friend Beaker the axebeak to run free. The twins had got over their disagreement as I expected they would.

Just when we had almost made up our minds to leave Lopolla at once – Thor wasn't willing to wait even until the following day – we received an invitation to dine with the Malik. Most of us assumed he meant to thank us for rescuing his daughter, though Erasyne was a bit anxious that he had a less friendly motive.

Our dinner was pleasant and friendly, though Erasyne had to dissuade Thor from bringing Beaker along as an additional guest. The Malik did indeed reward us for rescuing Ceciliah. We were also given some gold coins in exchange for some valuable items of jewelry we recovered from the undead skeletons we destroyed. Assuming that the skeletons were the remains of the temple priestesses, the Malik intends to try to return the jewelry to the families of the victims.

After expressing his gratitude, the Malik asked us to perform a task for him. Now that he has agreed that Ceciliah need not marry the sheik's son she was betrothed to, the Malik wished us to carry a message to the sheik to notify him of the change in plan. We were also given a coffer of valuables to deliver to the sheik, presumably to make up for the loss of Ceciliah's dowry.

The Malik asked us to tell the sheik that Ceciliah had entered the temple of Kumari, and to omit the information that the temple is currently unoccupied. Thor was a bit uncomfortable with that at first, as we'd planned to contact other temples during our travels and notify them of what has happened to the temple in Lopolla. He was persuaded to agree to the Malik's request when the Malik assured us he would send messengers to contact the temple there after we made our visit to the sheik.

Our journey began uneventfully. We decided to follow a main road and avail ourselves of the inns along the way. But after we had been traveling for a few days affairs changed for the worse.

It was about midday when we were suddenly accosted by a group of bandits. I don't know how they managed to surprise us. I can only assume that they had considerable practice in approaching by stealth. One man grabbed Liselle and held a dagger to her throat. We didn't appear to be outnumbered, so his action was the only thing that put our party at a disadvantage.

With great presence of mind, Ninad swiftly struck out with his staff and sent Liselle tumbling to the ground. Once she was free of the bandit I attacked him with my spear. But just as we turned on the bandits a large shadow appeared overhead. We all looked up to see a black creature resembling an enormous centipede flying toward us. This appeared to be as much of a surprise to the bandits as it was to us.

I heard a feminine voice demanding that we turn over the black diamond shards to this creature, but the voice appeared to come from within my own mind rather than through the air to my ears.

The bandits quickly fled as we turned our attention to combating this creature. It was immediately apparent that the creature was evil. It was difficult to harm her with ordinary weapons. Erasyne sent Liselle to retrieve a sword from the pack horse, as we'd found a sword at the Sanatorum that she hoped might be more useful against the demon.

In the meanwhile the creature grabbed Shishir and slashed him almost to ribbons with her claws. Ninad attempted to help his twin but was badly wounded himself and was forced to retreat and swallow a potion. I also suffered some serious injuries from the creature's dagger-like legs.

As I stepped back to catch my breath I saw that Shishir was very near death. Liselle came rushing up and somehow managed to administer a potion to him, although the demon still held him in the grasp of her pincer-like tail. The demon then backed away from us and began cutting into Shishir again. She seemed to be searching for something.

Appalled at this foul behavior, Erasyne and I both rushed the demon and clove into her with our weapons. She dropped Shishir and began writhing about like a dying snake. Ninad was so furious that she had nearly slain his twin that he smashed her head to dust with his staff.

Illtud produced a potion that brought Shishir back from the brink of death, but he was still very badly injured.

When we examined the remains of the demon we found that she clutched two black diamond shards* in one of her claws.

I'll continue this later in another letter.

Lothiriel

*See Letter #20 for more information about the black diamond shards.
_________________________________________


Quote of the day:

Devo: "We're definitely going to have to pick up some healing. Or quit fighting."

 

[sniffles]

Letter #24

15 - 16 Reaping

Dearest brother;

After our terrible battle with the centipede demon we were all in poor condition, especially Shishir, who has now seen the edge of the afterlife more times than I care to imagine.

He was able to revive long enough to tell his brother a little more about what the demon was doing. Apparently he had been overcome by the evil of the shard and had taken it within his own body somehow. While it can't be detected in the magic bag, once he carried it within himself the demon was able to find him. Any creature containing one of the shards can detect another such creature, although I'm not certain why Shishir didn't sense the centipede demon approaching.*

Ninad and some of the others immediately began searching the demon's remains for another shard. Erasyne even employed her gem of seeing to look for it, but although the gem didn't help her she was the one who found it at last. Thor asked Vogelyn* to handle the shard so that none of us would be exposed to its evil.

I had gone to help set up a camp just off the road and didn't see any of what I now describe. While the others were searching the demon corpse, they spotted a group of people approaching on the road. This group turned out to be a knight, a young boy and a couple of servants on horseback, accompanied by 6 guards on foot. The knight introduced herself as Tasra and the boy turned out to be Prince Hamad, youngest son of Sheik Azman. It is Sheik Azman to whom we carried the message from the Malik.

Tasra and the prince had apparently been sent as emissaries to find out why Ceceliah hadn't come to meet her future husband. Ninad and Thor explained to them that Ceceliah had entered the temple of Kumari, but even Thor was circumspect enough not to add that no one now occupies the temple.

Prince Hamad seemed much more interested in our tale of being waylaid by bandits than our fight with the demon. I suppose the mutilated remnants of the demon didn't look very impressive. The prince seemed to think the bandits might be some famous group with "scarlet" in their name, although that sounded doubtful to us. In any case they didn't introduce themselves before they ran off. The prince was determined that in the morning his party should pursue the bandits.

We called upon Pheretima to prepare a fine meal for us and our guests, since that's one of the few things she's useful for. Prince Hamad was very impressed with her. The prince's party decided to camp beside us for the night and even agreed to stand watch so that we could get some much needed rest.

In the morning as we had our repast, Shishir suddenly announced that he would be returning to his order. He felt that his failure to resist the evil of the black shards showed that he needed to "center" himself again.

Ninad took this better than I would have expected. He offered to accompany his twin, but Shishir didn't want him to give up his own plans. Liselle was left to decide whether or not to go with her betrothed and stay with her family in Highfolk while he was at the monastery. To make matters worse, Liselle now announced that she was pregnant!

I was so startled by this revelation that I didn't notice at first that the ground was trembling. Then the earth cracked open near our camp and a huge creature emerged, covered with armor plating and shaped rather like an overturned boat. I think such monsters are called bulettes. The monster at once began devouring the remains of the demon. Illtud ran out to interpose himself between our party and the monster, while Tasra and her men took the prince further into the forest for safety.

Shishir was convinced that the monster was after the shards and ran out to take up a defensive position, despite his injuries. Thor leapt on Beaker and sped off, possibly trying to distract the bulette. He must have called upon divine aid, because Beaker ran even faster than usual.

Shishir remembered the tokens the Lord of the Green had given us and cast a fey walnut shell down at the monster's feet. It held a spell very similar to one Solonor Thelandira sometimes grants me, causing the grass and plants around the monster to wrap themselves about its' legs. I doubted that it would have much effect on such a huge beast, as strong creatures can sometimes break free, but it held the bulette and allowed us to attack it.

I would have waited until it threatened us more openly, but Erasyne and Illtud began showering it with arrows so I turned my weapon on it as well. My first spear thrust bounced off its armor even with my full weight behind it, which worried me.

Then Thor returned and called on the power of his god to strike the bulette with lightning, which worked very nicely. It moved toward Shishir after he flung one of his orbs of cold magic at it, but it was still held by the entangling plants. Ninad aimed an orb of sound at it successfully as well.

After Ninad hit the monster, it managed to rip free of the plants and turned toward him. It pushed him back more than three of his body lengths. While it was moving I landed a blow on it with my spear. Then Ninad, who'd managed to keep his feet, shoved his staff right up through the roof of its' mouth. Evidently that was too much punishment for it, for the monster fell to the ground dead.

Shishir insisted it must have had a shard, which I doubted at first until I remembered that such monsters track their prey by vibrations in the earth, and the demon wasn't moving any longer when the bulette appeared.

We spent a while butchering it in search of the shard but we found nothing. I feared that perhaps some more intelligent creature like the demon might have sent the bulette at us. But before we could reflect on that possibility, Thor, who'd ridden off to check on the prince's party, returned to tell us they'd found a structure nearby.

According to Thor there were people in the structure, so we went to investigate thinking they might have something to do with the bulette. We found a stone building atop a stepped plinth, all of it overgrown by the forest. This appeared to be the bandits' base of operations.

Since Erasyne and Ninad were the stealthiest of our group, they snuck up the steps to eliminate the sentries we saw idly standing outside the building. Once they had reached the top of the steps Shishir ran up to join his twin and they pummeled one of the sentries into submission. I moved up to the bottom of the stairs and put an arrow in the sentry's ribs.

I couldn't see where Erasyne had gone as she was on the opposite side of the structure, but the building was mostly open on the sides and I caught a glimpse of her as another bandit appeared. I shot through the building and was able to hit under his shield. Once the sentries had been eliminated, Ninad found a descending stairway inside the structure. It appears that the ruin was once a temple to the sun god, the same god whose shrine yielded Illtud's mace.

We crept down the stairs with Erasyne and I at the front because we can see better in dim light. Tesra and her party took up the rear. I kept my bow in hand because I feared the space below would be too cramped for my longspear.

I wasn't as stealthy as I would have liked, but not so loud that I alerted the bandits, thank the gods. Erasyne and Ninad listened at a door, then Erasyne opened it and Ninad cast a spell at the man within. He was holding a crossbow at the ready but I shot him before he could fire a bolt, and Ninad and Erasyne struck him down.

We repeated this procedure at the next door we came to, another small room that held a bugbear. Unfortunately we were unable to bring him down as quickly and he shouted an alarm. We heard noises from nearby. Two men came around the corner of the hallway.

From behind us Thor once more called the lightning. If I had begun my druidic training earlier I might be able to call upon Solonor Thelandira to grant me such a useful spell. After he was struck by lightning it took only two of my arrows to eliminate the first man.

A third man appeared down the hall and flung a javelin at us that sizzled with lightning of its own. Both Erasyne and Ninad ducked and the javelin missed them, sticking in a nearby door. Thor then struck that man with a lightning bolt.

The third man tried to flee and then surrendered when Erasyne caught up with him. He told us that there were 10 bandits in the abandoned temple, but I didn't believe him. After I said so, he confessed that there was someone else in the room where the javelin had stuck, but he had never seen or spoken to that person.

Erasyne, Ninad and I went to open the door, with the rest of our group close behind. As Erasyne flung it open we caught a glimpse of some snake-like creatures with human-like heads. Then a ball of flame erupted from the room!

I must pause now, but I'll continue my story in my next letter.

Lothiriel

*Shishir's player was absent the previous session. Although another player was running the character, the GM neglected to allow Shishir a Spot check to detect the approaching demon.
*Vogelyn is a clockwork construct fairy the party found in the fey demiplane where they also found the black shards.

________________________________
Quips & Quotes:

Zora: "Thor can put some goodberries in a bottle. Then he'd have Thyrothoruth' thoothing thyrup."

Devo: "Shishir should give Liselle a shard. Better yet two, because she needs evil for two now."

 

[sniffles]

Letter #25

17 - 18 Reaping

Dearest brother;

Erasyne and Ninad were able to dodge some of the ball of flame that erupted from the snake-creature's room, but I was not so fortunate, though I wasn't severely burned. Fortune smiled on Shishir for a change and he wasn't even within range of the flames. As usual I couldn't see what Thor was up to at that point.

As soon as the flames cleared everyone surged forward to attack the creatures. It now appeared that there were 7 such creatures in the room, though Thor warned us that some of them were merely magical duplicates.

I moved forward only a few steps to get a better aim with my bow. The magical images were only a diversion and once hit they promptly vanished. But the genuine creature was potentially quite deadly. It managed to bite Ninad on the leg and he nearly fell there, but Erasyne administered a potion to the wound and he was able to stagger into a corner of the room out of the way of the fight.

We struck at all of the creatures until the images had been destroyed and only the true creature remained. Ninad pummeled it with his staff until it was dazed. It attempted to flee when it saw that the struggle wasn't going in its favor. Illtud struck it a mighty blow and slew it.

Erasyne found that the chamber contained some treasure, presumably taken by the creature's bandit compatriots. There was a substantial amount of gold coin, several gems, and a necklace of what appeared to be prayer beads. Shishir determined that the necklace was of a magical nature.

In other rooms we found more goods the bandits had taken, including a particularly wicked-looking spear of a design I wouldn't be able to wield as effectively as my longspear. Ninad informed us that such things are not lawful in some neighboring lands.

After we had searched the area thoroughly and taken what goods we found useful, we returned to our campsite. We were all still injured, as magical healing is running in short supply. I was only able to alleviate my own wounds slightly with a spell.

We intended to rest and recover ourselves a bit while deciding whether to go on with Prince Hamad's party. The prince was very excited about witnessing the battle with the bandits. I still wonder at Lady Tarsa's wisdom in letting him go below with the rest of us. We didn't consider it at the time, but the bandits might have had other companions who weren't in the underground structure, and we could have become trapped between two groups of enemies. At least that didn't turn out to be the case, thank the gods.

Shishir was still determined to leave at once for his monastery. Thor tried to persuade him to wait until the following day, but he wouldn't change his plan. Before we could say our farewells, however, a fey creature appeared at the edge of the clearing and informed us that his mistress awaited us. We didn't know who this mistress might be but decided it would be unwise to refuse an invitation from the fey.

Liselle attempted to convince Shishir that they should come with the rest of our group, but she didn't have any more success at changing his mind than Thor had. The fey made to head off into the woods, so we were forced to make our goodbyes to both Shishir and Prince Hamad's party very quickly.

We followed the fey, Sprig, to a grove that very much resembled a druid's grove. There we met Sharareh, a druid who was evidently once human but had been granted the ability to become a creature called a 'woodling' by her patron, the Lord of the Green.

Sharareh told us that the Lord had asked her to help us in our quest to get rid of the black shards. She introduced us to her pixie companion, Lenna, who she explained had been observing us since we entered her territory. Sharareh provided us with some magical healing and summoned a petalswarm, tiny colorful creatures that brought us food and drink - and also examined every item we owned, if they were allowed.

After we had refreshed ourselves we discussed our situation. Sharareh was very concerned about Shishir's safety without our numbers to help him, but I explained to her that short of binding him we couldn't force him to stay with us. Since she had offered us her aid, Thor asked her for any forms of magical healing she could provide to us.

We determined that our plan of action would be to seek a way to dispose of the shards. Then if we could find a method we might begin pursuing other shards that had entered the mortal realm. We still didn't know how the rest of the shards had got out of the fey realm.

We remained in the grove that night, enjoying a good rest. When we awoke the following morning we were met by Lenna, who informed us urgently that Sharareh needed help. We followed the pixie to a clearing occupied by what at first appeared to be a huge tree stump.

A weird animal noise issued from the hollow stump. Thor warned us to avoid its' roots. Sharareh explained that the thing had trapped an elk calf and that once the calf was safe, if that was possible, she wanted to destroy the stump-monster as it had become a serious danger to the area.

Thor immediately charged Beaker at the thing. He cast a spell as he rode. When Beaker lit on the thing's rim, it shot a gout of sap upward that splattered the gnome and glued him to his saddle. Fortunately Beaker wasn't much affected by the sticky substance.

Though I'm always loathe to use fire spells in the forest, I set a sphere of flames on one of the monster's roots. Erasyne and Illtud began attacking a couple of other roots with their weapons, though the thing's bark was quite tough to hew through. Ninad ran right up the trunk and struck the lip of its' maw a fierce blow with his staff.

The thing began to thrash its' roots about dangerously, hitting Erasyne and Illtud and myself as well when I moved in with my spear. Sharareh called out that perhaps we should let it be for now and return later, as Thor had managed to coax the elk calf to come to him and Beaker sprang up out of the creature's maw. I replied to Sharareh that we might as well be rid of the thing now. We continued to chop and stab at it with our weapons, and my fiery sphere burned it until the spell dissipated. Illtud tried to burn it further by tossing a torch on it.

Once Thor had returned the elk calf to its' mother, he called upon the power of lightning to strike the thing. The lightning, combined with another mighty blow from Ninad, seemed to be too much for the creature and it ceased moving.

When we had made fairly certain it was dead, we returned to Sharareh's grove. She told us that she had been granted the ability to give us some gifts. First was a wand containing healing spells, which was very much appreciated after the damage done by the tree-thing.

Second, she presented us with a device that could detect the black shards from a considerable distance. At first we were uncertain if we ought to have such a device, since it required the use of the three shards we possessed. But we decided that it would be potentially useful, and we need not use it if we don't choose to. We must employ it judiciously so as not to attract too much attention from evil creatures seeking the shards.

Sharareh is still very worried about Shishir, but I don't see that there is much we can do about him now. He has made up his mind, and if his betrothed can't change it, I doubt that anyone else can.

I'll write again when I have a moment of quiet. I suspect they'll be few and far between from here on.

Lothiriel

 

[sniffles]

Letter #26

27 Reaping, Sefmir (Sunday December 19, 2004)

Dearest brother;

As you may recall from my last letter, we'd met with the druidess Sharareh and had aided her in destroying the horrible tree-monster she called a keening maw. She presented us with a divining rod made from the black diamond shards, so we could try to detect the presence of other shards without having to touch the shards ourselves.

We decided to continue traveling toward the city of Sefmir, as we didn't see any reason to change our travel plans unless we found some way of disposing of the shards.

Once we were back on the road - much to Illtud's relief, as usual - we quickly caught up with Prince Hamad's party again. He invited us to enjoy his hospitality in Sefmir. His father the sheik isn't ruler of that city, but he is an important personage there.

As we arrived in Sefmir we were greeted with considerable enthusiasm by the city folk. It seems that the young prince is very popular here. He took us to an inn called the Golden Minaret, which is the most luxurious lodging house I've ever visited. Each of us had a private room and the staff provided us with appropriate garments to wear when dining that evening with the prince.

We were uncertain if we should continue on to meet the prince's father, Sheik Azman. There was some concern as to how he would react to the cancellation of his son's betrothal to Princess Ceceliah.

During the afternoon, as we thought over this situation, we each took time to pursue our own concerns. Erasyne went out to purchase a very fine shirt of mithral chain. Later she and Thor reported that they'd met another Halfling of the same family as Kirp, in fact another brother. That must be quite a large family, and all of them have such peculiar names.

This brother is a bard named Werp. He was happy to meet someone who knew his brothers. He reported to Thor that evidently this is not the first time a betrothal has failed for Prince Hamad's brother Javid. Even the ever-optimistic gnome began to get a little concerned that our welcome at the sheik's palace wouldn't be a friendly one.

Nevertheless, we gave in to the Prince's pleadings that we go with him to his father's palace. The next morning we all decided to purchase horses so that we could travel in greater comfort - and perhaps not always be left so far behind when Thor goes racing off on Beaker. I confess I'm not much interested in horses and would have preferred some other type of mount, but my other options were camels and elephants, neither of which seems very practical for our journey.

We arrived a short while later at the palace, where we were greeted by the sheik and his elder son. Prince Javid was rather confused that Ceceliah hadn't accompanied his younger brother, and at first mistook Erasyne for the princess. He was quite obviously disappointed when he learned that Ceceliah wasn't coming and took the news with poor grace. Perhaps this explains why his previous betrothals have all failed to result in marriage.

We had a sumptuous meal with the sheik, who was polite and much more pragmatic about the situation than his elder son. Before we dined, however, Prince Hamad insisted on giving us a tour of the palace and showing us a statue much prized by his father. It was apparently called Sythrael. The statue was found in the shrine of a dark cult, where it had been broken into many pieces. The sheik was in the process of reassembling it.

The statue was quite lifelike and appeared to portray a very tall and handsome being caught in the midst of casting a spell. Oddly, the creature appeared to have had wings but they had been removed - not merely broken off, but removed before the point at which the sculpture was created.

Ninad grew very concerned at this. During dinner he took the sheik's advisor, Jamshir, aside and told him that he feared it wasn't a statue at all. Ninad was convinced that the statue was actually a petrified being, and that being was a fallen angel. He felt that restoring the statue to wholeness was a dangerous plan.

The sheik and Jamshir were rather taken aback by this, both of them being convinced that the statue's wings had merely been broken off in whatever violence damaged the rest of the sculpture. The sheik had become quite devoted to restoring the statue. He informed us that he had discovered the whereabouts of other pieces of the statue in the remains of the shrine where it had originally been found.

He then asked us if we would be willing to go to the shrine and recover the remaining pieces. He offered a reward of 500 of the local gold pieces if we would visit the shrine, and an additional 500 for recovery of the missing pieces of the statue. It seemed that there had been some activity at the shrine of late and he also wished us to investigate this, as his men were very reluctant to go there.

Illtud in particular was not at all excited about this plan. Even Thor remarked that we shouldn't have come to the palace, though we all acknowledged that it was too late now to leave. And we felt that if some new evil was brewing in the shrine, we ought to do what we could to snuff it out.

Illtud didn't want to have anything to do with seeking the bits of the statue, fearing that anyone who touched them would turn toward evil as Shishir had done with the black shards. Illtud's become quite talkative since Shishir departed.

The rest of us decided that if we determined the statue was evil, we simply wouldn't give the pieces to the sheik, but would find some way to dispose of them ourselves. I'm not sure how we came to be such avid foes of evil, but I can't see walking away from a chance to do good.

The sheik is rather superstitious and was disappointed that our group didn't number seven, as he considers that an auspicious number. We assured him that we could number seven if we included the djinni and the clockwork fairy in our number, though personally I'm not certain how useful either of them would be. Pheretima is only good for making overly elaborate meals and Vogelyn has to be wound every day or she becomes inert.

In any case the sheik decided to send seven of his own men with us to keep the party at an auspicious quantity. His men guided us to the cave entrance that leads down to the shrine.

It was once a shrine of the evil goddess Kali, and her worshippers practiced human sacrifice there. We saw evidence of this as soon as the sheik's men removed the rocks that blocked up the entrance. The shrine was surrounded by a pit into which the sacrifices were thrown, and we could see the remains of human skeletons at the bottom of the pit.

I saw no sign of activity at the shrine, much to my relief. Unfortunately I wasn't entirely correct. As Illtud, Ninad and Erasyne made their way toward a central room, an earth elemental suddenly appeared and made to attack them. I ran up behind them to employ my spear.

Although the elemental struck a few good blows it was mostly unable to aim its strikes at us very effectively, and despite its rocky toughness we reduced it to a pile of dust after a few concentrated blows of our own. It helped that Thor called down the lightning several times. Several of the sheik's men were badly hurt, however.

We hoped now that we had only to find the statue shards and decide what to do with them.

I'll tell you how that went in my next letter.

Lothiriel

__________________
Quotes of the day:

patv: "Shishir leveled up last time."
Zora: "Shishir wasn't here. He left."
patv: "Well, okay, but he still leveled."
Zora: "Cool! He leaves again. Does he level?"

Zora: "Sythrael, the god of no success with women."
Jubilee: "No, that's syphilis."

 

[sniffles]

Letter #27

27 Reaping, Sefmir

Dearest brother;

As I told you in my last letter, we'd gone to the ruined temple of Kali at the behest of Sheik Azman. We'd encountered an earth elemental near the entrance and several of the shiek's men were badly hurt.

Thor suggested that they remain at the entrance while we continued to investigate the temple, and they didn't object to this. Thor confessed that he feared we didn't have enough healing for both ourselves and the shiek's men.

We proceeded across the bridge over the horrible sacrificial trench and almost at once entered a small chamber. Thor went ahead. I suppose he's weary of always being last when he goes on foot. He spotted a skeleton in the chamber and exclaimed, “Are you here to guide us?” I'll never quite understand his gnomish sense of humor.

I could hear other things moving about in the chamber so I stepped up behind Thor. There were four skeletons in the room. I found that my spear wasn't much use against them and exchanged it for the large scimitar I acquired at the temple of Kumari. My scimitar still wasn't nearly as effective as Illtud's mace, but we made short work of the skeletons.

Then I heard something metallic up ahead. We entered a room that had evidently been used for dining. I thought perhaps the metal sound had been someone setting down one of the pewter plates, but there was no sign of such recent occupancy.

The next passage doubled back on itself. We came to another chamber, larger than the first, with a many-armed statue of Kali on a plinth opposite the door. The room was dark but Ninad heard a sound like someone moving about in heavy armor. Thor cast a spell that allowed him to climb the walls like a spider before entering the room. Unfortunately that didn't keep the well-armored half-orc from hitting him with a thrown spear.

There were a number of skeletons in this room as well and the half-orc commanded them to attack us. Not being endowed with much wits, they began pursuing Thor, who stood upside-down on the ceiling above them, out of their reach.

The rest of us hurried into the room to attack them. The half-orc cast some spell upon himself, and in return Thor hurled a ball of fire at him. Ninad ran across the room to face him. Illtud was busy smashing skeletons with his mace, though I was having difficulty damaging them and I think Erasyne's sword was nearly useless against them.

When Ninad threatened him the half-orc called the skeletons to his defense and began to back toward the plinth. I tried to block him by climbing up the plinth myself. I felt a malign influence from the statue for a moment but it didn't stop me from casting a flaming sphere at the half-orc.

Ninad blasted him with bursts of sound and Thor flung another ball of fire from his perch on the ceiling. My flame sphere did him little harm, and I came to regret getting so near the half-orc when he struck me two substantial blows with the longsword he carried. I had to back away. The half-orc then moved around behind the statue and opened a hidden door.

As the half-orc ran through the door, Ninad sent another sound burst after him and ran in behind him before the door closed. Fortunately Thor's position had given him a good vantage to see how the mechanism worked on the door. The rest of us filed through the door to find the half-orc had turned to face Ninad. After Thor struck with another ball of fire, the half-orc fell dead. Illtud had stopped a moment in the chamber to smash an arm off the statue, and he now joined us to take up the fallen villain's sword.

Thor sent a glowing figure down the corridor ahead of us. We came to a point where another passage crossed this one, and Erasyne told us she could see a door at the end of that passage. The way grew warmer. We soon found that the source of the warmth was a tar pit, connected to another passage by a bridge.

On the other side of the bridge we found a woman held prisoner. She hung from shackles and had obviously been sorely mistreated. Erasyne freed her and Thor applied his healing magic, but she was still too hurt even to be conscious. Thor summoned Pheretima from her bottle and asked her to take the woman back to the shiek's men.

Erasyne then decided to investigate the door she'd seen. She found that it opened into the dining room we'd passed through earlier. When she opened the hidden door she surprised Pheretima, who was on her way through carrying the woman. After Erasyne satisfied her curiosity, we made our way across the bridge again and down the passage that lay beyond the tar pit.

We entered a triangular room with a stone chair at the end opposite the doorway. There were some bookshelves as well, but they held few books, much to Ninad's disappointment. Illtud went to examine a silver chest he saw to the right of the door.

Suddenly a blurred figure appeared and stabbed Illtud in the back with a scimitar that flickered with black flames. The assassin also struck Ninad with a poisoned dagger. As Illtud collapsed to the floor, the rest of us attacked our foe with all our might.

Ninad stunned our enemy with a blow, causing him to drop his weapons. Erasyne kicked the poisoned dagger away. Thor grabbed the assassin's scimitar and ran out of the room. The man shook off his daze and ran toward the stone chair. Erasyne and I tried and failed to stop him. He opened a small jar, and several swirling forms began to emerge, accompanied by a fearful moaning. The assassin then turned and walked through the wall before we could stop him.

I tried to smash the jar, hoping to destroy what it held as well, but succeeded only in breaking the jar itself. The swirling shapes began to take on humanoid forms. Everyone decided to flee the room, dragging fallen Illtud with them. Thor ran back in and announced that he could deal with the wraith-like things. While the others fled, I remained behind to aid him.

The three wraiths came through the wall and my spear couldn't touch them. Only magic weapons had any effect on them and I had none. Ninad ran up with Illtud's mace, but none of us could wield it. Thor was able to destroy one wraith with his magic spear. Ninad handed me his magical staff and struck another wraith with his bare fists, connecting quite solidly. I struck at the third with the staff, and in a moment all three of the spirits were gone.

Poor long-suffering Illtud was dead. His murderer had fled, evidently by magic, and there was nothing we could do for him. Despondent, we looked about the room briefly.

Ninad found a few books about Kali, and opened the silver chest, which turned out to actually be of platinum. It contained some 3,000 gold pieces and two packages wrapped in velvet. The first held a bit of stone that we determined to be a missing piece of the Sythrael figure. The second packet contained a pair of platinum and ruby earrings. Ninad and Erasyne proclaimed that these earrings matched a necklace that Prince Javid had been prepared to present to his bride.

Ninad became convinced that this was evidence of some plot against the sheik. Thor suggested that perhaps Prince Javid was in league with the cultists of Kali. I saw no reason to support either assumption, and Erasyne only wanted to get our reward from the sheik and be on our way. In fact she sounded more like Illtud than her usual self. Perhaps his death affected her more than one might have expected.

We decided that we couldn't simply return to the sheik and tell him we hadn't found the missing piece of his statue. A diviner had told him it could be found in the temple. So Ninad broke the piece in two, Thor encased part of it in stone, and I floated out over the tar pit to push it under the tar with a long pole provided by Pheretima. It should be quite difficult to find there.

Ninad is particularly indignant that someone may be plotting against the sheik and his family. I think he's quite willing to remain here until he finds out how the earrings came to be in the temple. But the rest of us aren't so eager to become involved in local political intrigues. We also must decide what to do with Illtud. Thor has a scroll that will raise the dead, but none of us have the proper knowledge to use it.

I'll tell you more in my next letter.

Lothiriel
________________________

Quips & Quotes:

Zora: "Patrick won't let me bring Biff (a halfling PC in another game) over to this game."
Devo: "'Annoying short person's' already taken in this group."

patv (to Illtud): "The blade seems to burn after it hits you."
Devo: "Just like your last date!"

Zora: "Possession is 9/10 of gnome law."

Devo (as Thor): "What are you looking at me for?"
Zora: "We were so amazed that you stopped talking!"

Jubilee was absent, so Zora took over running Erasyne after Illtud died. Erasyne ended up being in charge of Illtud's body, and Zora kept trying to have her shove poor Illtud into the tar.

 

[sniffles]

Letter #28

9 Goodmonth 601 CY, Sefmir

To Tiryon Aldarin, Flameflower, Vesve

Dearest brother;

A great deal has happened since I wrote you last. I'll have to condense my story a bit else this letter will be too unwieldy to read.

As I told you in my last letter, our friend Illtud had been slain in the temple of the banned cult of Kali, in a cavern near the estate of Sheikh Azman. Once we had disposed of part of the statue fragment we found, we carried Illtud's body back to the surface and returned to the sheikh's palace. We took with us the woman we had rescued, Dinaz.

We noticed that two of the sheikh's men had already left, ostensibly to report back to their master. But they left before we returned to the surface and didn't take Dinaz along with them, which we thought odd.

The sheikh was of course delighted that we had brought him another bit of the statue. In fact, his interest seemed to border on obsession. He had little time for Illtud's demise or Dinaz's imprisonment. He did arrange for Illtud to be laid in a shrine and for Dinaz to be cared for. It turned out that Dinaz was a former suitor of Prince Javid. But neither her plight nor the earrings we'd found much interested the sheikh.

He had arranged a large meal for us despite the late hour, and while we dined we told him what had occurred in the caves. After a time he grew annoyed that Prince Javid hadn't joined us, and was informed by the servants that the prince couldn't be found. He then excused himself and Prince Hamad tried to take over as host. I'll be glad to leave that
boy behind. He is as selfish as his father, though more charming.

After a time I had enough of this and went to the garden to commune with nature. Ninad left with me and went to his room. Later I learned that Thor had insisted on the rest of the group going to check on Dinaz. I'm sure they frightened the poor lady.

I forgot to mention that the sheikh had two other visitors: a Halfling musician named Werp (I think I mentioned him before) and a Halfling priestess called Rose Weisselpuff.

The next day was rather dull. The sheikh had sent for a priest to attend to Illtud - Rose not being experienced enough - and the priest wouldn't arrive for several days. The house was in turmoil about the prince's absence and we didn't see the sheikh until evening.

Prince Hamad tried to play host again, insisting on horseback riding before lunch and then a coach trip to the city. We discussed seeking other lodgings to avoid trespassing on family troubles, but the young prince would hear nothing of it.

At dinner we learned that Prince Javid had apparently been involved with the cultists of Kali. He'd fled with the two missing guards. Then dinner was interrupted by the arrival of three more visitors, two priests and a fat merchant.

The priests were Ali-Dad, priest of the sun goddess Surya, and Bijan, priest of Kartikeya, god of war. The merchant's name was Gwarunga. I think we all disliked him immediately.

Ali-Dad and Gwarunga told us a story of something amazing that had happened when the merchant visited the Ivory Temple, a famed but abandoned temple of the dawn goddess Ushas.

Long ago there had been a famous priestess there, Yaleah, who had a gift of prophecy. She had turned to stone or somehow become a statue, but would supposedly speak in times of need.

Gwarunga claimed he'd gone to leave an offering and the statue had spoken to him. She told him to take the temple's greatest relic, the Teeth of Yabgu. Yabgu was a giant who apparently had gems for teeth. We'd seen a painting of him in the sheikh's art gallery.

Ali-Dad offered to look after Illtud if we would accompany Bijan and Gwarunga back to the temple to investigate further. Being curious and bored, we agreed. After two days' preparation we went off with a caravan of Gwarunga's coach and Bijan's underlings toward the Ivory Temple.

Gwarunga didn't seem pleased about our presence and mostly stayed away from us. We were all suspicious of him. He didn't seem like a very devout person, and I think we all doubted that he'd go out of his way to visit an abandoned temple without good reason. His coach was also very slow and it took us longer to reach the temple than we would have liked.

One evening while Erasyne was on watch, my dogs began barking, as well as Rose's riding dog (she'd offered to come with us). We heard battle cries and everyone woke as a number of orcs and an ogre appeared.

Before I could get Rahon and Morwen to safety an orc attacked Rahon. Then Thor ummoned up a storm of sleet to attack the ogre, and poor Morwen was caught in it. I had to drag her out of the ice and set her near the fire. I sent a sphere of flames at one foe, then took up my spear to meet the orcs.

Strangely, Gwarunga's guards didn't move to help us, and Rose told us afterward that the orcs seemed to be deliberately avoiding the merchant's camp, which lay a short distance away from ours. Praise the Keen Eye, Thor's sleet storm kept the ogre blind and off his feet much of the fight.

The orcs had an archer who kept targeting me, and once the ogre recovered his footing and moved out of the sleet he was a difficult opponent for me to face. Thor called lightning down on the archer and removed him from the fray. Rose was calling on her deity's power as well, Ninad cast some of his fine sound spells, and Erasyne was whirling everywhere with her blade. Soon the orcs and ogre were all down but for the orcs' leader.

We questioned the captive orc and he offered us his party's equipment as ransom for his life, to which we agreed. He took us to their camp after dawn the next day, when we had all recovered a bit and Bijan had given us some divine healing. Rose very helpfully used her ability to increase the power of his spells.

At the orc's camp we found several horses, which we donated to Bijan's temple. There was also an elephant. Thor and Erasyne were particularly excited by the elephant, although I can't see how such a large creature could be useful to us in our travels. Rose wanted to ride it but was too small to persuade it to cooperate with her and I had to lead it along.

At noon we came to the Ivory Temple. It was indeed abandoned, the entry chamber full of rubble. Down a wide hallway we found a sanctuary containing the statue or petrified figure of Yelaya.

Gwarunga had gone in to make another offering and seemed annoyed when we came along. He kept talking in an unusually loud voice. When we examined the 'statue', Thor insisted that he saw her breathing. He cast a spell to light the chamber. Ninad also indicated that he thought there was something suspicious about the woman.

We determined to search the temple. While Ninad searched one side passage, I took another. The rest of our companions remained in the statue room. I found nothing in the rooms I peered into. Ninad found a staircase ascending to another level.

Meanwhile, Thor challenged the woman in the chamber to give up her pretense. Erasyne even used her Gem of Seeing to seek the truth of the matter, though it showed nothing unusual.

The woman made some announcement regarding the Teeth of Yabgu that resembled what Gwarunga had recounted. Gwarunga made a great fuss over her. Thor challenged her with the holy symbol of Surya he carried and she appeared to panic. She tossed something, and then Gwarunga's bodyguards began threatening Erasyne. Gwarunga shouted out that there
should be no witnesses.

Then a gong sounded. I rushed back to the main entry chamber but saw no one. My friends were fighting with the merchant's guards in the altar chamber, so I ran to their aid, as did Ninad. Gwarunga had surprisingly drawn a weapon, though oddly his blade looked very old and in poor condition. I couldn't see Rose anywhere - I learned later that she knows how to become invisible. She had apparently seen someone else do the same and followed them.

Gwarunga attempted to flee from us. We pursued him into a side chamber, and abruptly found ourselves confronted by a strange bird-like being that caught hold of me with a grasp that sparked with lightning. Then it cast some other spell that made me feel oddly disinterested in fighting it. I stood there gaping at it as it tried to run away.

Thor transformed himself into an axebeak - a new talent - and attacked the bird-thing, but it surrounded itself with images of itself so that it was difficult to fight.

The merchant had taken a potion of invisibility, we later learned, and fled up the stairs. Rose followed him, though I didn't know that at the time. Unfortunately for Rose I tried to catch Gwarunga by sending a sphere of flame up the stairs after him but only succeeded in scorching Rose instead, and the Halfling woman was too small to stop the hefty merchant
from passing through the doorway.

As it happens, Erasyne was able to see both of them through her gem, and when I came out into the main chamber again she began shouting directions to me. But despite his girth Gwarunga was somehow able to avoid my flaming sphere.

The merchant was quite determined to flee and we had to chase him outside. But first we had to gain the surrender of the two bird-men. A second bird-man had appeared and begun battling with Ninad in the hallway. These two creatures claimed to be working with Gwarunga only for money and were willing to surrender and go their own way if we would
allow it. Ninad made them show him what they had done with the offering items we'd left at the altar.

Erasyne and I had to chase Gwarunga all the way to his coach before he could be caught. Thor had outlined him in faerie fire so that all could see him.

There are certainly many greedy folk in this world, for when the merchant offered one of his guards an expensive ring, the guard was willing to try to hold us off, though it did him little good. Gwarunga then tried to bribe Erasyne and I with another ring. But we took him prisoner and made him confess to Bijan that the whole speaking statue story had been his plot to steal the Teeth of Yabgu. Praise the gods he didn't succeed.

Bijan ordered Gwarunga to give up all his worldly possessions and leave the area. He then took us to an inner sanctum beneath the temple where the relics were stored in safety and could only be reached by a priest with the proper tokens. After assuring himself that the Teeth of Yabgu were safe, he let us look at the true statue of Yaleah, which did indeed
appear to be a genuine statue.

On the following day, Bijan wanted to go to the Caves of Dagon, where Gwarunga had been set to meet his orcish confederates. We agreed to go along with him, leaving Gwarunga's remaining men and Bijan's acolytes behind.

Thor transformed himself into a bat and flew into the cave to explore after we arrived. He saw a number or orcs in the cave, along with a human priest and some sort of undead thing. The orcs were in the process of hoisting a statue of Yaleah up on ropes, and appeared to have some special fires set up to illuminate it, presumably to continue Gwarunga's ruse.

We slipped into the cave and took a side passage to explore. There we found the woman who had been masquerading as Yaleah, chained to some hideous idol. Erasyne released her. She claimed to simply have been paid to impersonate the priestess and that she knew little else of the merchant's plans, but she did tell us that he had another wagon hidden
somewhere nearby containing his true wealth.

After sending the woman outside, we prepared to attack the orcs. They seemed to be in a well-defended area, behind a ridge with a pit before it to block easy approach. Thor blinded them with a burst of sleet so we could get near. I used my ring of levitation to rise up over the ridge. Unfortunately this made me an obvious target, and my intended foes simply moved out of my reach. The evil human priest began targeting me with some entropic spell that did me a great deal of harm.

Thor was astride Beaker and had cast a spell that allowed the axebeak to climb up the wall, where the gnome could hurl lightning at the human priest. Erasyne was whirling about like a dervish with a scimitar she had taken from one of Gwarunga's guards, I believe. I couldn't see Ninad or Rose, for they had gone to the opposite end of the ridge.

A skeletal form emerged at the priest's command, but before it could do anything Bijan destroyed it with divine magic. I landed, as the levitation was giving me no advantage, and Bijan healed some of my wounds. The area behind the ridge was so cramped that I was obliged to set aside my spear and use my large scimitar. Eventually I made my way past all of the orcs and could see that the rest of my friends were facing the human priest in a narrow passage.

Rose had somehow managed to snatch away the priest's holy symbol, and he was left fighting with only his ugly, spiked sword. He was a difficult opponent. I took out my bow and began firing at him from a distance. All of my companions were furiously attacking him. Then I placed another arrow in him and he collapsed.

We determined that the statue of Yaleah had been enchanted to speak with the voice of the woman who impersonated her; another step in Gwarunga's plan. After we had checked all the bodies for anything of value, Thor flew off in eagle form to seek the cave where Gwarunga's other wagon would be hidden. He reported that he had seen the merchant hurry
into a cave not far away.

We made our way to the second cave, leaving Bijan behind. There we found the merchant and the orc we had released a few days earlier, involved in a heated argument. There was an ornate wagon in the cave, along with a pair of horses, but one of the horses appeared to be dead. We blocked the cave entrance and demanded that Gwarunga and his companion
surrender.

It is strange to me that few people are willing to surrender even when the odds are obviously against them. The orc charged me and I set my spear against him. Gwarunga drew his rusty blade and tried to hide in his wagon, but Erasyne crept round behind it and forestalled him. She very nearly killed him, but we had decided that he must be punished, and
Rose healed him just enough to prevent his death.

Just when we had eliminated the orc and thought all was well, the remaining horse panicked and fled down a side tunnel. We heard its scream of terror abruptly cut off, and then a horrible monster emerged from the tunnel. It looked like a huge brain with the beak of a bird and a great quantity of very long tentacles. I believe this creature is called a grell, though this one was much larger than what I had heard of previously. It caught hold of Erasyne and paralyzed her, then grabbed Ninad and began to drag him away.

Thor had Beaker grab hold of Erasyne and eventually the axebeak was able to pull her free of the grell's grasp, but Ninad couldn't get free no matter how hard he tried. I shot at the thing while Rose and Thor used the last of their spells against it. Ninad kept determinedly pummeling the tentacle that gripped him. At last we were able to slay the monstrosity, and Erasyne recovered her mobility a short while later.

I don't recall much of what we found in Gwarunga's wagon, other than a chest full of coins that weren't coins. They were some sort of creature that bit and used poison, but could be soothed with music. Rose was able to calm them with a golden harp she suddenly produced from her unusually capacious belt pouch.. There was actual coin in the chest as well, but I paid no attention to the amount.

Now I presume we'll determine what to do about Illtud. Rose was very offended when she thought we might bring him back to life without his leave. She insisted on casting a spell to speak with his spirit and ask if he would like to come back. I believe he's chosen to remain in the
afterlife.

I'm not certain where we will go from this point, but I expect that Rose will be coming with us.

Your sister, Lothiriel

_______________________________________
Quips & quotes:

Devo: "Thor turns into a hummingbird. He'll be a hummingbird with
80-odd hit points."

Zora: "Rose is tired - it takes a lot to carry these limbs." (Rose has a
4 Str)

Devo: "Forty more rounds and you're toast."

Zora: "If you want a game with no surprises, don't have any players."

Jubilee (to Thor, who can't speak in bird form): "Bob once for yes, twice
for no. Where do you keep all those Bobs?"
Devo: "Pinned on with a Bobby pin."

Sniffles: "I have Handle Animal."
Hedrin: "Good thing the animal has a handle."

Jubilee: "We've got this nice shiny elephant!"
patv: "When did the elephant become shiny?"
Hedrin: "We buffed it."
Zora: "Erasyne's been 'buffing' her elephant."

patv: "You can go to the Caves of Dagon."
Jubilee: "I want to go the to the Caves of Degas and see pretty
ballerinas."

Devo: "I'm Bat-gnome!"

Devo: "Thor poops on them."

patv: "Don't you want to touch the idol?"
Jubilee: "No! It's icky!"
patv: "Don't you want to take the golden nipple rings?"
Jubilee: (more enthusastically) "It has golden nipple rings?!"

patv: (Making hooting noises while looking something up.)
Hedrin: "This has been a test of the emergency DM system. If this had
been a real DM..."

Zora: "What's this thing right here?"
Devo: "That's his 'package'. Kick it."

Jubilee: "I want a bag of many axebeaks!"
sniffles: "Is that a bag of many axebeaks or mini axebeaks?"

 

[sniffles]

Letter #29

The Palace of Sheikh Azman, Sefmir, Tusmit

10 Goodmonth, 601 CY

Dearest brother;

As I told you in my last letter, we'd managed to capture the greedy merchant Gwarunga and had escaped the horrid creature in the cave. We handed the merchant over to the priest Bijan for punishment, claimed of all of Gwarunga's material possessions as our reward, and returned to the sheikh's palace in Sefmir to recover.

Prince Javid is still missing, and it seems that the appropriate response is to avoid any mention of his name. The sheikh has arranged yet another banquet in our honor - I feel guilty at the sight of so much extravagant food, but I suppose it's better to dine and enjoy than to let it go to waste.

We've come into possession of a not-inconsiderable quantity of wealth as a result of our recent adventures. I'll give a substantial tithe to the temple in Highfolk when I return, and to the next temple of a nature deity I find, and perhaps I'll have some trees planted here as thanks to the Keen Eye.

We decided to go into Sefmir and rid ourselves of some of the less portable items we'd acquired, especially the weapons we took from Gwarunga's accomplices and some jewelry and other items we have no use for. We went first to a jeweler the sheikh recommended, where we tried to sell the jewelry that had been worn by the false Yaleah.

Unfortunately the jeweler didn't heed Thor and Erasyne's argument that the items would be more valuable due to this association. He seemed to think they would be unlucky. Evidently news of our escapade has preceded us, and we got more than a few wide-eyed looks when we rolled into the city in Gwarunga's wagon - which we've now thankfully sold.

Rose had given a silver piece to a street urchin in return for guiding us around this city, and the boy next led us to a merchant named Mansoor who trafficked in exotic items. Mansoor doesn't maintain a shop, however; he acquires items at need. He had little to offer other than a magical feedbag, which Ninad ultimately decided to purchase as we'll soon be passing through less hospitable territory.

After seeing Mansoor we visited the wizards' guild and sought magical objects. Erasyne and I asked for packs that can hold exceptional quantities of items, but they had no such packs available. We finally decided to order such packs made for us - or at least Erasyne did; I ordered a magical purse and saddlebag. This means we'll have to remain in Sefmir a bit longer than we planned, though, as the items must be assembled.

We moved on to one of the temples to seek magical healing items. Ordinarily they wouldn't have sold anything to us as we're not followers of their deities, but because we fought the cult of Kali and foiled Gwarunga's plot, we were greeted courteously and allowed to purchase 5 wands containing curative spells. Rose also bought a wand that can cure more extensive wounds, so that she doesn't need to expend as many of her spells for that purpose.

As we were roaming through a small artisans' district admiring various objects, Thor and I noticed that there were several suspicious-looking fellows lurking in the area. (I neglected to mention before that Thor was riding about on Beaker, frightening the citizens.) I didn't see this, but suddenly a stranger stepped up to Erasyne, grabbed her, and kissed her on the mouth!

This was apparently a diversion. It failed, as some of the ruffians approached and one of them stabbed the man - fatally, it turned out. Thor jumped down from his saddle and ran over to heal the man, but it wasn't enough to save him. In the meantime Erasyne had drawn her blade and demanded to know what the ruffians were doing. On seeing a bared blade, they attacked.

One of the thugs ran at me so I called a flame to my hand and slapped him with it twice when he came in reach. I also ordered Rahon to guard Rose, who was behind me; she's frail even for a Halfling. Another bandit came at her and Rahon bit him sharply, but not before he wounded Rose. My foe also hit me, but it was a light blow.

Rose prayed for a spell that made me feel superior in my fighting skills. I kept slapping my flames onto my opponent until he finally fell, then turned toward the alley down which Erasyne and Thor had disappeared. Ninad had meanwhile come up to aid Rose, and I'd had Rahon attack my opponent once before he went down.

From the alley someone shouted "Someone get the book!". I told Rahon to help Ninad and Rose first, and threw the last of my flames at a fellow in the alley. Erasyne was whirling around so fast I could hardly see her. Thor had Beaker stabbing his sharp beak at the thugs. In little time we had dispensed with all of the ruffians.

At that point we found that the man who had kissed Erasyne was dead. Erasyne searched his body and discovered a book titled The Tiger Prince, which appeared to be a childrens' tale. Why his foes would want such a book was a mystery until a medallion fell out of the book.

We don't yet know what import this medallion has. Erasyne seemed to think that one of the bandits might have escaped. I wonder if someone else will be seeking this medallion.

I will write more soon.

Your sister, Lothiriel
__________________________________________________

Quotes & quips :

patv: "You're back in the city proper."
sniffles: "It's too proper here. Let's take off."

Jubilee: "I roll a 1 on my Bluff check to pretend I'm interested in the Prince's story."

patv: "The conversation becomes more serious."
Jubilee: "Not while Thor's still here!"

Devo: "You guys will miss Thor when he's dead."
Jubilee: "Is he dying soon?"

Hedrin: "It had a magical discharge."
sniffles: "I think there's a cream for that."

patv: "Make Spot checks while Thor's talking."
sniffles: "What, to see everyone's eyes glazing over?"

 

[sniffles]

Letter #30

11 Goodmonth, 601 CY
Palace of Sheikh Azman, Sefmir, Tusmit

Dearest brother;

As I told you in my last letter, we'd spent a day in the city disposing of certain items and purchasing others, and had ended up in possession of a book and an amulet that had belonged to a man now dead.

We returned to the sheikh's palace in the evening for yet another feast - though I suppose that these dinners are only feasts to us. They're probably ordinary dinners to the shiekh's household. But this one was more of a celebration, for when we arrived we found that Illtud had been restored to life!

He's decided he's had enough of adventuring and plans to return to the east. We've given him traveling money and messages to carry back with him. Rose has also decided that she won't continue on with us after all, as she has other business here in Sefmir.

We informed the sheikh of our encounter with ruffians and the man they had slain, but we chose not to tell him about the amulet and book. He would likely either have discounted the story or taken an unhealthy interest in the items.

Werp, the Halfling troubadour, told us of a plague in a village near our route toward Zeif, but it doesn't seem likely we'll have any difficulties on the way. After a time I grew weary of the crowd and noise at the feast and retired to the garden.

Later Ninad came looking for me. He told me he had attempted to identify the magic of the amulet, and had had an unpleasant experience. First he had been injured by a burst of electricity, and then he sensed a presence in the room with him. Some unseen being had escaped through the window. He was so concerned that we decided to notify the shiekh's vizier, Jamshir, of the matter.

Jamshir wasn't pleased with Ninad for having cast his spell within the palace without having any idea of what it might do. After we'd spoken with him we went to inform Erasyne, but we decided not to tell Thor until morning, in order to avoid any further unpleasantness. Knowing Thor, he'd want to go search the gardens in the dark or wake everyone in the place to question them or some such thing. I'm sure Jamshir would have been delighted by that.

When the sun rose I looked about under Ninad's window, but neither Rahon nor I could find anything of note. At breakfast Prince Hamad wanted to go riding again but we deterred him by going instead to search the library for information about the Tiger Prince or the amulet. The Tiger Prince turned out to be the prince's favorite story, unfortunately, so he insisted on joining us. He's taken quite a fancy to Erasyne and I think she was hard pressed to continue feigning interest in his childish chatter.

We found a much more elaborate version of the book in the library, with one odd illustration in which a witch appeared to be wearing an amulet very similar to the one we'd found. My friends were also quite interested in the way the Tiger Prince was shown in the book's final illustration, as his paws appeared to be malformed. I don't know if this has any significance to our circumstances, but Ninad and Erasyne wanted to investigate every possible clue to the use of the amulet and the identity of the mysterious being that escaped from it.

The prince was convinced to show us to his father's private library as well, though this turned out to contain little of interest for us. We then determined to go into the city again and seek a library there, or perhaps ask the aid of the mages' guild. The prince didn't insist on joining us, fortunately.

After we arrived in the city, Thor and Erasyne went looking for Werp. They hoped the Halfling might know some stories of the Tiger Prince that would contain useful information.

I accompanied Ninad to the temple of Surya. There we were directed to seek a sage called Khudaram. He was younger than I expected, but very courteous, though there was little he could tell us. The Tiger Prince is a childrens' story and no one gave it much credence. The sage had never heard of an amulet like the one we found, which resembles a huge cat's eye. He was intrigued by our story, however, and told us he would do further research and notify us of any discoveries.

As Ninad and I were on our way to the mages' guild, Ninad noticed that we were being followed by several men clad in furs and hides. They stopped outside when we entered the guild hall.

The wizard who assisted us determined that no other amulet of this type could be found within Sefmir, and that whatever had been held within it was of an evil nature, much to our disappointment.

When we left the guild we saw that our followers were still waiting for us. But Ninad and I suddenly noticed an unnatural storm hovering over a nearby part of the city. Thinking that not only was it strange but also very like one of Thor's favorite spells, we decided to investigate and rushed toward it, disregarding our pursuers.

When we neared the building over which the storm hung we saw an eagle circling. As an eagle in the city was unusual and a bird flying in a storm was also unlikely we determined this must be Thor.

We had also noticed that a large number of other people seemed to be converging on the storm-wracked structure. Aside from our pursuers, who had been joined by companions, we saw a troop of city guards approaching. We also spotted a group of men who resembled the ruffians we'd fought the previous day, and a small party of dark-clad folk dressed somewhat like priests.

As Ninad and I hurried into the building, which turned out to be a low tavern, we were confronted by a startling scene: at the opposite side of the common room a second door had been burst asunder and in the doorway loomed a large creature I could only see in silhouette in the lightning from Thor's storm. A huge tiger with eerie blue eyes was perched on the bar, accompanied by a dark woman. The thing in the doorway was standing very close to Erasyne.

Then Ninad exclaimed that the dowsing rod the druidess had made for us to detect black shards was vibrating - and it pointed at the large creature by Erasyne.

I'm sorry to cut my letter short here, but I'll tell you the rest of the story in my next message.

Your sister, Lothiriel