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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ancalagon" data-source="post: 7218089" data-attributes="member: 23">(I was on the road for a bit, sorry for the delay in posting!  Let us resume the logs shall we?) SESSION 9I am truly exhausted, but I will finish today's journal entry, while tonight's events are still fresh in my mind. Once again, we have come close to death, but snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Blades returned a few hours after lunch, and told us that his helmet had won first place in the armor contest. In fact, everyone had a hard time believing that Blades did not use magic to enhance the armor. Oomash insisted that he did not, and so Blades made arrangements to collect his half of the prize money. Oomash is apparently very depressed over Blades' success; his motto has become "Cogito sumere potum alterum". He feels that he will never match Blades' talent, so there is no point in continuing. What a silly perspective; he seems to think that doing something is only worthwhile if you can be the absolute best at it. If that were the case, there would only be one person of each profession in the world! Being the best is not important; being successful, and enjoying your work is important. I am not the best priest of Prometheus, but I am trying to be the best priest that I can be. I may never reach the ability of High Priestess Octavia; so what? Blades received several offers to become an armor-smith, and was even offered 100 gold a month by one baron! Blades turned that offer down, as well as one by the King's steward, Angus MacDunmor. More importantly, a smith named Urich said he saw a dwarf named Jarvos Ironforge wearing armor with the Trueblood family crest: A crescent moon and upright sword. Apparently, Blades' had created the set of armor as part of a coming-of-age ritual, and it was stolen. Blades began his adventuring career to recover the armor. Urich said he saw Jarvos in the town of Antrim, six years ago. He guessed that Jarvos was a "Pelgrom", whatever that means, and he was certain that Jarvos was a member of an adventuring company called the "Snow Dogs". We will have to follow up on this lead, once we restore Blades to his full mental ability. Now that we are all together again, we have decided to meet with Rinver of Findabar, and accept his offer to investigate the temple of Oghma. We soon located his inn, and he let us into his room. We were delighted to find out that Rinver will go with us; we are in great need of a wizard! Also, he will be providing us with transportation, and some basic equipment. Perhaps Suleiman can receive some wizardly training from him. We asked Rinver about the history of this temple. He said that the church of Oghma, which has been in decline for many years, was rocked by an internal conflict several years ago. A heretical priest at this temple turned several other priests of Oghma against the orthodox members. The orthodoxy finally won out, but the temple was abandoned. Speaking of the conflict is taboo among followers of Oghma (how silly--priests of a god of knowledge making a conscious effort to forget historical facts!), as is the temple itself. The morning of the 15th is to be our departure date. We have some supplies to buy, as this trip should take at least a month--probably more. Our journey will lead us up a river and out of Ailech, into the Orinbar Mountains, and possibly beyond. There are reports of significant goblin activity in the area, so we will have to be very careful. Our next destination was the Slippery Eel, as I wanted to talk to Balstead. Suleiman and Torin noticed that three men, probably thieves, were following us. They must have known we were aware of them, because they stopped following so closely. We made it to the inn without incident, and I pulled Balstead aside to talk to him. I tried to explain to him why stealing is wrong, and just as importantly, the role of rules and the law. Some laws are good, and some are bad. In general, laws that keep people from hurting each other, or hurting/stealing their property, are good. Laws that allow or encourage people to hurt each other are bad. I was quick to tell him that the line is sometimes hard to draw--but we must try to draw it. Finally, I told him that we must sometimes break the rules--but not out of simple selfishness or desire to avoid inconvenience or hard work. We must break rules that are wrong. It was then that I told them the story of Prometheus, who broke the rules because it was the right thing to do. I told him of the price He paid--doing right is not easy. At first, he was his normal cocky self, and I think he was ignoring me. But something I said seemed to strike a chord. I wished him good luck, and he wished me the same. I promised to stop by the next time we were in Duma Faifni, and he encouraged me to do so. We then took our leave of the Slippery Eel. Returning to the White School Haven, we found Matrim cooking dinner, and Xavier waiting for us. Dinner was excellent--pork and kid. Matrim tried to cook it in the Ionian style, and it was very good, if not perfect. It was certainly one of the best meals I have had in Ailech. Xavier says he talked to the priests of Dagda and Goibhniu in an attempt to calm them. He does not think that they were persuaded. He did have more information about what happened last night. The Priests of Oghma went to investigate the lightning, and the last priest (the one who had let us into the temple) had been summoned to the King while out looking around. Xavier still did not know who was behind all of this, but he did have a brilliant suggestion: Whoever sent the Hordling after us probably wanted to silence us, fearing that I may have cast Speak with Dead on the corpse we found behind Blaise's burning house. I had forgotten to mention earlier that we have come up with a name for our adventuring company: Pentachromata, the five colors. Of course, we chose "Penta" because there are five of us, and we thought that, due to our incredibly diverse makeup, five colors was a good way to describe us. Finis does not like the name, but the rest of us do, and we could find no other name that got as much approval. We informed Xavier that we had chosen our name, so that people could stop referring to us as "those guys who killed the thieves", and "those guys that ran into the burning house", et cetera. There was a knock at the door, and Xavier told us that he had a plan for solving the mystery and finding the person behind all of the violence. He opened the door, and several Red Branch Knights came in. Xavier told us that these were the men who helped defeat the earth elementals last night. A short time later, there was another knock. This time, there was an older wizard, followed by six men, dressed in dark clothing with short swords. Recognizing them as thieves, we drew our weapons and shouted a warning. The Red Branch Knights also drew their weapons and jumped to our side, but Xavier calmed everyone, saying the thieves also had a stake in the stability of the city. The older wizard was introduced as Irpolre, the man who tutored Matrim. We went over the events of the past few days, so that we were all familiar with exactly what had been going on. One of the thieves, named Karavekus (who does not look Cimbrian), asked to see the cloth we found near the corpse behind Blaise's house. After smelling it, he told us that it had been in the sewers, and that the material was made locally. Now that we were all assembled, our first stop was to be Blaise's house, then the sewers. Poking around in the ruins of the house revealed nothing, so we once again made our way into the sewers. It rained last night, so the water was higher than it normally is. We found the spot where the man in armor had fallen, and the thief, and where we had fought the flying creatures with flashing tails. Realizing that there may be more of those creatures about, we looked down the tunnel for flashing lights. Sure enough, there were four coming toward us. We prepared for a fight, but one of the thieves (named Fin) placed a metal screen in the tunnel, and the creatures could not get past it (although their shocking tails made a dreadful racket on the metal). A thief searching the passageway said that he had found something, but before we could stop him, he reached out toward the wall, triggering a trap. A huge explosion shook the tunnel, and the thief was blasted to the ground, instantly killed. The unfortunate thief had opened a hidden door. I decided that we could use some divine aid, so I prayed that Prometheus might reveal traps in our path. We entered the new passage, which lead toward the middle of the city. The ground was dryer, and sloped downward. We left one thief to stand guard. The passage eventually made a ninety-degree turn to the left, with a pipe spewing sewage on the right (Torin and one of the thieves broke into an argument about whether this was a "T" intersection or an "L" intersection). A short distance down this passage we were attacked by ten zombies, who rose out of the sludge. Raising my holy symbol, I turned five of them away. The fighters made quick work of them--even the ones who tried to flee the light of Prometheus. A short time later my spell revealed a trap in the ceiling--a small rung was set into the stone. We tied a rope around it, backed up, and pulled mightily. There was a large explosion (a fire trap spell), and the stone ceiling came down, revealing a staircase. A cold breeze wafted down the stairs, and Torin charged up them. We followed, entering a new passage. After a short discussion about whether or not this was the true path, or an attempt to mislead us, we decide to follow the secret passage. It led into a much larger tunnel, which is apparently one of the main sewage pipes. The detect traps spell wore off, but I decided not to cast another in order to save my few remaining spells. Our next encounter took place in a circular room with a pool in the middle. Pipes overhead dumped sewage into the pool. Torin saw something move in the water. I sunk my staff sling as deeply into the water as I could, but I could not reach the bottom. Suddenly, a large, round creature with two paddle-like appendages attacked Torin, biting down on him and pulling him under. We killed the creature, and it floated on the water. Torin, miraculously, had survived, and climbed up the monster and out of the water. Xavier tells me that the creature was an Otyugh, and that they carry terrible diseases. Torin, due the severity of his wounds, was probably infected. His disease will probably not affect him immediately, however, so we decided to continue on. Up ahead was another circular chamber, but this one had no water in it. A staircase led down to another passage below, and the passage we had been traveling continued straight. We split our large group up, agreeing to meet back at this chamber when an hour's worth of oil had burned. Xavier, two thieves (Karavekus and Fin), and a Red Branch Knight named Donad (who we inadvertently called Donut and Gonad before we got it straight) went with us down the main passage, while Irpolre led the others down the lower passage. The passage began to descend, and we came upon another large room. Ten zombies attacked, but I turned them all away (Much to Torin's dismay, as he wanted a fight. He still managed to take one down as it fled). Continuing, we came to a dead end and searched for a secret entrance. We soon found a glyph upon the wall, and I dispelled it with a scroll we had been carrying around for quite some time. Realizing that our hour was up, we decided to return to the meeting place before opening the door. No one awaited us, so we walked down the stairs to the lower passage. It was lit by phosphorescent mold, giving the passage an eerie green glow. We heard footsteps in the darkness, and a thief came up to us, telling us that their group had found some interesting secret passages. We agreed to meet again in two hours. We returned to the secret door (Torin "killed" another zombie when we passed them again). The door opened onto a long, dry passage. We saw a door at the end, and Suleiman said he heard a scratching sound. There was absolutely nothing in the passage, so we could not imagine what was making the sound. Suleiman shot an arrow at the door, and a bell started ringing loudly; we had lost any element of surprise. Even worse, the door closed behind us. We cautiously proceeded down the passage, until Torin heard scratching noises coming from the wall next to him. He swung a battle ax at the wall tentatively, and it went right through the wall! A claw reached out the wall towards him--it was an illusionary wall. We were attacked by several foul-smelling creatures that resembled a cross between a man and a wolf. They had a paralyzing touch, and Finis was frozen in place. We quickly struck down the creatures, and waited for Finis to recover. Moving to examine the door, we found it protected by a glyph similar to the ones we had seen previously. Xavier told us that this one is probably only activated by someone actually passing through the doorway. Finis called upon nature to warp the door (it was made of wood), and I pried the door open with my staff sling. Looking inside, we saw a large, poorly lit room. In fact, we could not see the back of the room. A ditch, perhaps six feet deep and six feet across, ran across the room, and a statue of a man straddled the small bridge that crossed the middle of the ditch. On the other side of the bridge two bronze-skinned (and I do not mean to imply that they were well-tanned--they actually looked as though they were made of metal) dwarves with hair of fire stood with pikes at the ready, beckoning us to come in. Chains hung from the ceiling, with skulls of various beings--many human--at the bottom. Light spells had been cast upon them, and they lit the front of the room. We backed away from the door to debate possible courses of action. Eventually, I granted Donad a holy shield of fire resistance and he charged into the room. The glyph exploded, but Donad barely felt it. We all charged in, and a terrible melee ensued. Finis, Suleiman, and Donad leaped over the ditch, while Blades, Torin, and I dealt with the statue over the bridge (it moved to attack us as soon as we entered). The defeat was humiliating. A spell caster was lurking in the back of the room, and he or she cast many terrible spells on us. Suleiman searched the darkness for the caster, and saw a man in plate armor, walking on a pool of water in the back of the room. I tried to use a watery fist spell to interrupt his casting, but I could not hit him. A heat metal spell was cast upon Torin, Blades and I--they were forced to remove their armor as they fled. My elven chain was unaffected by the heat metal, so I held off the statue for as long as I could. Donad killed both the dwarf-creatures, but then was struck first by a flamestrike, and then by some kind of spell that broke his leg. Finis tried to help him, but was caught by a hold person spell. Fin appeared to help Finis and Donad escape. Xavier was struck by the same spell as Donad, leaving him with a broken arm, unable to cast spells, so he pounded the statue with the magical force emitted from his ring. Around this time, I shouted for Suleiman to run for help--perhaps Irpolre and his party were nearby. Blades was actually struck down as he fled, but Torin picked him up. Fin surprised us by striking the statue from behind, and it finally crumbled. Karavekus simply stood off to the side through the whole fight. Eventually, we all made it outside. Once outside, we took stock of the situation. I was the only one not wounded in the fight. Suleiman was off getting help, bravely running through the corridors alone. We used up what spells we had left healing some of our injuries. I used the cure serious wounds scroll to mend Donad's leg. Xavier had a dwarven healing balm, and we used it to repair his arm. We had a few tricks left to use--Torin had the oil of sharpness, and Xavier had a lightning bolt left to cast. We had one rock with continual light cast on it, which we could use to light the back of the room. The first statue had been destroyed, but another one lurked in the darkness towards the back of the room. We used the last of our magic, and charged back in. I threw the glowing rock to the back of the room, and we could see the man in plate once again. He was standing on the edge of the pool of water, and seemed completely surprised--surely he did not expect us back again so soon after the beating we took. Some of us squared off against the statue, while others charged the priest. Xavier's lightning bolt hit the evil priest, bounced off the wall, and hit him again! Once the dwarves got to him, he didn't last long. After one last hit from Xavier's ring, he went down, and sank into the water. We finished off the statue, and Finis pulled the dead man from the pool, as well as some other items (including some of our own weapons--the dwarves and Donad are constantly dropping their weapons). What happened next is all a blur, and I'm really starting to get tired, so I'll be brief. Suleiman returned and said that he had found no trace of the other half of our force. We found a laboratory and desk in one corner of the room, and Fin determined that the Priest was making a poison. Part of the poison was in a set of special candles, and the rest was in several casks of honey mead, which lay in this room, awaiting delivery. The poison would be harmless and undetectable until someone both drank the mead and breathed the air from the candle. Xavier told us that the man was Mogrin, a priest of Goibnhiu, thought to be a good man. Piecing together the clues, we found out that Mogrin had been seduced by a Book of Vile Darkness, and had hatched this plot to promote chaos and disorder in the city. He was the man that cast the flame strike by Blaise's house (a note suggests several possibilities there--perhaps he was killing the man who demanded payment for the candles, or perhaps killing the man was payment for the candles). Also in the room were two statues of orc gods, one of which portrayed the same god whose temple we defiled that first day together. Klegoth Imperium symbols are everywhere around here; this must have been part of a stronghold. After searching the area and picking up whatever interesting items we could find, we left for the White School Haven, dragging Mogrin's body with us. Mogrin's plate mail had a symbol on it: an anvil and a flaming sword, which is similar to that of Goibhniu, except for the flame around the sword. Blades mentioned that he could remove the symbol and replace it with whatever I wanted, but I like the elven chain too much; it has served me well so far. Besides, plate mail is so heavy! On the way out of the sewer, Karavekus tried to lead us astray, saying he knew a shortcut. We didn't fall for it, and returned to the path. Karavekus turned invisible, and tried to sneak up on me, to knock me unconscious. However, I was suspicious, and turned just before he struck me. Karavekus tried to run, but Fin ran him through (and happily took his potion of invisibility). We did not meet Irpolre and his half of the force on our way back to the White Tower. Once there, we dropped Mogrin's body, and set out for the temple district. We visited the priests of Dagda and Goibhniu, and asked that they all come out to hear our announcement. A few listened, but most scoffed at us, staying inside their temples. Xavier sent a runner to the King, and he came back with an order for all the priests, of all the priesthoods to assemble and listen to Xavier. That got them running! Priests came out the woodwork, and Xavier announced that at least one temple had purchased poisoned candles, and possibly poisoned honey mead. It turned out that the priests of Dagda had the poisoned goods, and they quickly destroyed them. The other priests walked away quickly, grumbling about foreigners--why do their gods tolerate such arrogance? Only the priests of Dian c'echt left quietly. With the mystery finally solved, and the peace restored in the city, we returned to the White Tower for rest (it was well past midnight!). Fin, his job done, said that he must leave. We thanked him, and offered him a pick of the treasure. He picked a flask that was on Mogrin. I offered him my arm (another interesting fact for travelers: Cimbrians greet each other, show respect, and say good bye by clasping forearms). He took it, and mumbled something about us "not being so bad after all". At least one thief doesn't hate us! He warned us that we ought not to come back to town for a while, as the thieves' guild is still thirsty for revenge. We thanked him for his warning, and he went on his way. Donad also left, after we thanked him for his aid (he declined a share of the treasure, as did Xavier). We did make out rather well tonight; a magic shield, a potion, several scrolls, a stone, a gem, and some coin! Xavier tied up some of the loose ends, explaining the nature of the Book of Vile Darkness, as well as another book we found, entitled Book of Animate Thyngs. Apparently the second book can be used to create all sorts of magical golems, including unusual ones, like rope golems! Tomorrow we will find out more information about the rest of the items we found, but for now, we are exhausted! Tomorrow is the last day of the festival, and I must be fully alert, to better observe the closing ceremonies. My birthday is in two days, on the 15th. I shall be twenty-two years old. I must say, getting out of this town alive is probably one of the best birthday presents I have ever received! I very much like the people of Duma Faifni, but it is a dangerous place. I suppose the countryside will be no safer, but it will be a change. After all, we are going to a library! That, to me, is worth a dangerous journey. Thank Prometheus for bringing the light of knowledge to this city, averting a terrible disaster! I knew that he would give us the tools and knowledge necessary to do what was needed. May his flame light the rest of our journey as well!</blockquote>

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