010 - Frozen Castle

We followed the path of the beam, fyrther northeast. We were set in the trek a good 10 hours, and exhaustion was setting in. Fortunately, we spotted a town a little ways up the foothills, not too far off, so we climbed up the hill.

Just as we entered the main gate, it was apparent something was out of the ordinary. For being late afternoon, the city was quiet. There were a couple miniature beholders floateling around in a nearby courtyard, across the stream. We would have to get around them stealthily, or take them out, to resupply and rest. We were in a very straightforward sort of mood then, and we just charged them. No messing around. It was a tense fight; the two beasties hit hard. Their ranged mental attacks were a strike of fear. I saw Sap and his spider fall of the bridge, onto the iced-over river. Polaris tried out one of the Bursting Corpse arrows I made for her, and it worked very well. She aimed well and pierced the creature with her corrupted arrow, and it succumbed to the poison, decomposing rapidly, then, with a shudder, exploded in a shower of acidic, decomposted flesh. It was revolting, but effective. Once they were dispatched, we explored around town for a bit, finding nothing but abandoned homes and empty shops. We settled in to a few buildings around the courtyard for the night.

Late in the evening, I heard a cry of help from the other building. It was Sapling. I went over there, to find that he had fed his spider some spoiled food from a long-abandoned dining hall. I healed the spider and left. As I left, he closed the door behind me, and I heard a sound as if he was barricading it. A strange one, to be sure.

Polaris found a bird carrying a bell, and she gave it a coin in return the bell.

In the morning, we arose, and after conversing with our bard, who knew much of this area, learned that there was a castle in the center of this village, one whose baron was long dead. So we decided to see if we could resupply there, since all the shops seemed to be empty.

We entered the castle with caution, but it seemed warm enough. The main hall had a short row of gargoyles, with a statue of the baron centered on a low dais. Vol and Nadarr discovered that the statue was built over a deep well of holy water; secrets do not stay hidden long with us. We phialed a few ounces, and looked around. There was a trap door hidden in one corner that led to a cellar, but it was locked with arcane fire, so we left it alone for the time being. We headed up the stairs in the back of the hall, and found ourselves in a large combined library and study. There was a large round table, with notes in a strange script. We later learned that those were notes on how to summon demons. 

I scoured the bookshelves for alchemical guides, and I found a few that I thought I can learn from.  I put them in my pack. There was a stairwell going up to another floor. There was a heavy door at the top. We heard laughter from there, laughter all too familiar. It had taunted us before. Somehow, from even beyond death, Vecna seemed to be mocking us. Vol ran up the stairs and barged through the trapped door, almost completely ignoring it. Ahead of us was a short hall, laden with traps. We moved carefully, and marked each trap with rice so we knew where not to step on our way back downstairs.

 

At the end of the hall was a large iron door. We tried to open it, but it was locked strongly. I poured a vial of Aqua Regia, my strongest acid, on it; combined with brute strength, we forced it open.  We entered into a large open room with many windows along the walls (that’s generally where windows are found, to be truthful). Immediately noticeable was the elven girl fighting a skeleton near the wall. We tried to approach to help her, but there was a magic barrier dividing the room, keeping us on our side. There was a row of beds along one wall. Vol pushed a bed across the barrier. Seeing an inanimate object go across just fine, he tried putting ‘Darr in a bed and pushing him across, but Darr crashed against the barrier while the bed went through. I noticed alchemical goodies on a nearby table, but they were enchanted with a protective spell, so I didn’t touch them. There was a ritual circle across the room, with a decaying body in the center. There were candles around and scripted boards and such in front of the circle. Looked awful crude, through and through. Suddenly, the brawl intensified, and the skeleton pushed the elf out the window. Vol figured out the skeleton was Vecna. It was the crushed skull and the same voice.  I was both surprised and frustrated and angry he was back. I just want him dead for good. Vol mocked and challenged Vecna from across the barrier, it was great hearing him talking down to a dead god.

Sapling teleported across the barrier using his cloak. He presented Vecna’s old red cloak to him, that he took off his dead body, earlier, and asked if he could join forces to take out Lolth. This was bad news; it could only end bad. I started a ritual to create an unseen servant, and it was prepared in time. Vecna aggressed toward Sap, and violently took his cloak back, and put it on. I sent my servant across the barrier, and had it drag the dead body out of the circle, toward the window, and heave it outside, while Vecna was distracted. Then I had it go toward Vecna and start humping him from behind. I was laughing well at this point. Vecna slashed behind him with his sword and the spirit dissipated.

Sap leaped out of the window that the elf girl fell from, and the spider followed. Nadarr went downstairs, to fill some vials with holy water. Vol then tossed one of the beds toward the candles and boiling brews, disturbing the ritual further, and Vecna became enraged. He took down the barrier and engaged us in combat.

Vol rushed him, and hit hard. I threw a firebomb at the candles and pots, and they all exploded, opening a hole in the looking out to the ground maybe 60 feet below. Polaris reminded Vecna of the body he was using that fell from the window, and that enraged him. The elf flew back into the other window, but Vecna had her grabbed with phantom claws. Vol attack with radiant glory, Polaris sang a song that encouraged Vol in strength. I broke out my darts for the first time, and they stung hard. Sap and his spider returned up the window, and 'Dar returned up the stairs, splashing holy water on Vecna as he entered. Vecna clouded the area with a large choking fog, made me dizzy and feel very sick. Sap attacked the elf, and knocked her out. 

The spider started carrying her toward the ritual circle, but Vol and Polaris pulled them back, into a trap on the ground. Vol healed her, too. I attacked the Wilden and the spider, and knocked Sapling out. Vol ran over and cut off his head.

I was a little shocked, I kind of saw it coming though. He was helping Vecna, and harming us. There was no time to grieve, though I doubt there would have been much of that, to be frank.

Vecna ran toward the circle, and entered a trap door, sealing it behind him.

We healed the elf, made sure she was breathing and conscious, and I introduced myself. She told me her name was Naivara. I tried to talk, but she seemed preoccupied. She ran over to the circle, where one of the beds landed, that Vol threw. She rummaged through the sheets and pieces of wood, frantically. She asked where the body was. I felt a bit awkward. Had I thrown a relation of hers out the window? I hesitated to answer. but 'Dar spoke up, that he was dropped from the window. She ran toward the window, and flew down. Polaris looked out, she told what she saw. Naivara pulled a red orb from his clothes, put it on her staff, and ran off.

I looked at one of the tables, and picked up some bottled smoke.

We took Sapling’s remains outside, to where we were camping earlier. We buried him off the path a bit, in a yard. Even the ground was frozen, but Polaris assumed her feral form and helped out with the digging. She sang over his body for a moment, then we dispersed. 

We settled around in the camp site, and Darr brought something out of his pack, that he found in the castle library. Darr and Vol started looking at it, and wasn’t sure what it was. So I came over and looked at the deck, drawing a card. The first card I picked up was The Sun. As I looked at the rest of the cards, I shivered cold as the river ice. This was the Deck Of Many Things. It was a gamble to draw from, bringing either fortune and glory, or death and hatred. It was too much of a worry for me, and I was thankful that I drew a positive card, to be sure. (Later I noticed I had two new items in my pack: a set of pigments for painting, and an elixir of protection.) I warned my friends of the severity of consequences of drawing from the deck, but Polaris felt a curious compulsion, and drew a card anyway. A wraith of death appeared and floated toward her, but she broke her lucky charm to undo  the effects. They decided to put the deck away.

Then we slept.

009 - Litany of Liars

We found rest at the inn, but let me describe it's majestic interior, for it was the most welcoming environment I have seen yet on this continent. It was a humongous tent, dull and weather-beaten on the outside, yet beautiful and ornate on the inside. Warmth emanated from the many fire pits on the floor, the smoke rising to vents in the roof peaks. Lanterns and ornaments displaying fancy knots hung from poles holding the roof, and from posts in the ground. Decorative as they are, I should ask somebody to teach me to tie them; I definitely need to improve my skills with rope. The tent, however, was incredibly spacious, with plenty of room overhead for even the tallest of people. A bar took up some of one wall, with stools and its own dedicated fire pit. Along the other walls were rooms set apart with curtains of thick fabric. There was plenty of floor space dedicated to those with their own bedrolls, who did not need private rooms, for free of charge. These people take care of their own. There was no kitchen. but several people were roasting meats over some of the fires, and selling or trading bits of food.

We went up to the bar to rent private rooms, where I unpacked my alchemy kit. I got to work mixing and grinding materials for the new skills and mixtures the shaman alchemist taught me. I blended and filled plenty of vials; I think I may need to stop by the alchemist before I leave town to pick up some more. I passed most of the day in my room; eventually, I had to open the curtains so I could breathe clean air (the room air had gotten clouded by the powders I was stirring). Soon I noticed Sapling sneaking up to the elf who we had followed here. She lay asleep on her bedroll, in the open, with her arms around her staff with the crystal. He was indubeddedly going for the crystal. He must have seen me stare up at him from his eye's blind side, and he motioned for me to keep quite. I flipped him off, why should he steal from someone who has only but helped us along. I kept working, though; the mixture required a constant stir until the palmitate completely dissolves, else the naphtha boil and become unstable. But Sapling successfully filched the staff, and walked out of the tent, trying awkwardly to hide the huge thing.

Later I decided to stop for the night, and have a few drinks with Vol, who was at the bar. We turned as we heard Sapling again, and share a few laughs as he sheepishly returned the staff to the demanding elf. I'm not sure how he had been caught, but I remind myself to thank her for her help and to stay on her good side. Despite the power in her abilities, I think she has a good heart and a patient sense of humor.

I have not seen Nadarr, Polaris, nor Discharge all day. I wondered where they had gone to. I wasn't too concerned for the dragon-born and Polaris, though, I saw them together all the time, they likely left the same way. She knows the land very well, and can talk her way out of anything, and Nadarr has the brawn to protect her should need arise. I was more concerned about Discharge. He knows the land here about as much as I do, which is hardly nothing at all, and could probably fend for himself, but may get overpowered easy if put in a bag. So we went to look for him, which shouldn't have been too hard, given the small size of town. We looked finally in the shaman alchemist's tent, which bore emptiness. I saw a bottle of alcohol on the table and two glasses, one of which had been drugged with a clear powder, now some of it left looked damp from the juice. A classic poisoning technique. When you want their trust, dirty the cup, don't poison the drink; especially if you're drinking from the same canteen. I thought I could trust that teacher, but from what my friends say, he followed the gods, and sold land up here, it was holy ground. But he told me I had no use for the gods, they are mortal just as us. A great liar abducted our friend, for sure, so I raided his cabinet for roots and teeths and lichen, other things of alchemical use that I had little of. And things I had too much of. This bastard was paying. Around the room, of note, the large bedside chest was gone, and Sap noted some wagon tracks leading northwest, along the path of the beam. We followed.

We caught up with the wagon, parked outside another temple, built of the same material as them all. Vol pulled off one of the wheels and threw it far off into the snow, out of sight, so the shaman alchemist could not retreat. We pulled open the double doors, and saw dark, and when we entered... We were in a volcano, flat blank wall behind us with no doors. The mountain was active, and we were in its crater, the lava seethed and flowed its way just feet beneath the stone platforms and walkways we traversed. One such walkway wound and bend the pool, not giving us a straight path to the other side. But we started to cross, and drew the attention of five or so large fiery bats. Sap wasn't having this, and immediately bound two javelins with a length of rope between, stuck one end in the ground here, and hefted one fast into the same path, just farther down where it bends around next to us. He nimbly and daintily bound across the rope and darted further down the path, away from danger. Sure he ran like an agile coward, but I don't blame him so much as the ground here was sturdy as a fish walk, and I suppose trees don't much care for fire (I'll keep that in mind). His trusty spider companion followed suit. Vol saw that our numbers had dwindled in half, and with the odds not favoring us to begin with, we agreed to bolt. I knew Vol was fast, but I didn't think he could keep his pace in that heavy armor, but he did just the same. I lept with such stride that my knee felt it had its cartilege back already and I landed on the other path next to where the javelin struck, easy as saltin' meat. We ran to the end of the path, where there was a long rope bridge. It was under some arcane spell to keep it from burning, for sure. We crossed to the stone island nestled in the lake of lava, where five chests stood. There was another bridge, just as long, but going up to a ledge in the wall of the crater, far off. Sap checked the area of traps, notably the chests, but found even one on the bridge ahead. I noted for later. Sap decided to open a chest, one I vaguely recognized from the shaman alchemist's tent, and the little raccoon jumped out enraged with his sword and burst it aroun with lightning, all of us had dodged, but the poor spider who was watching embers floating up out of the lake on hot wind. He also destroyed three of the other chests, that groaned a shudder of malice as they presumed their true Mimic form and died. The little raccoon confirmed that he had been looking for information on the location of the temple from the alchemist, who had drugged him and bound him in the chest, the bastard. In the last chest, we found a few items, of note, a bandolier for potions that I let Vol have, so he could have quick access to quick health in a pinch. We began to cross the bridge, and came up to the trap. I could see it clear, now that I was looking for it, but before we reached it, we must have engaged it early; it was triggered by proxemmity, not trip. Vol and Sap lept over it, before it had time to burn much, but I looked to the little raccoon, and asked if we could keep this in his bag of holding. It so happens that it would be kept, "in stasis", as he says it, which means it would be stuck in a useless place that wouldn't burn anything or use up any fuel, anyway. So I picked it up (the fire not bothering me, as my candle protected me) and put it in his bag of holding, and we continued on toward the cliff.

There was a neat set of doors at the ledge on the cliff, which led into the throne room of the goddess Avandra, goddess of travel and luck. She was on the throne, though, as a skeleton, and Lolth by her side just absorbed away her power. She recognized us, one and the same, and Sap demanded his explanation again, as to why she would enslave spiders, when Vol and I recognized the need again to interrupt before our lie as revealed. So we started an attack on Lolth, who scoffed, tisked, and caitiffed her way up the wall, and out the skylight above. As we were on edge, the door opened. I turned to look who it was, but just as my eyes layed on him, he had one of Sapling's javelins stuck dead center in his forehead. I looked back to Sapling, must have had leftover rage from Lolth's "treachory" seeping from his heart. He killed the alchemist quicker than lightning (I mean to say, lightning as it strikes. I mean no ill word to Shock Rat's nature). It was justified though, it seems like Lolth had summoned him to kill us. He even had, on his person, a potion of transformation. And though I can't tell what it transforms one to, exactly, I can tell from its smell of diluted sulfur and ash, that at least it reeks of necrosis and death, which would not have bade well for us. Sap climbed out the skylight with his spider, but did not see Lolth, nor could tell of any direction she took, except that the beam again pointed far to the distance. That we should travel that direction, I'd bet my balls we'd find her.

With immediate danger immediately out of the way, we opened camp and rested. Thinking back, it is bad news that the goddess of luck and travel should fall to Lolth. Travellers as we are, we depend on her nature, and now that it's corrupted, we have to depend on our own. I fear for Vol, if Lolth should ever find Kord. Sure, he'd put up a fight, true, but if he lost, what would happen to Vol... Anyway, best not to think of that. We'll catch her well before that should happen. In other thoughts, we found Shock Rat, but not 'Darr or Fox (I'm still trying to think of nicknames for them). We've talked with them before, and let them know how to find us again, should we split. That if they continue following the path of the beam, they'll either find us, or pass us. Hopefully we'll meet again soon. They add a spark of happiness to our group, what of song and story, and a sort of naive wonder at everything. And the interesting and precise contraptions, too. But if they don't come back, at least I have this intricate pen to remember them by.

007 - New Friends and Allies

I must have left my pen and ink at the last place I wrote a page in this journal, because I can't find them in any of my packs. A recent ally named Nadarr was kind enough to lend me his pen. Before I start my recollection, I must describe his pen! It is very simple, like my porcupine quill was; yet instead of having to dip it into a pool of ink every occasionally to continue to write, this pen has a reservoir containing a sludgy ink that doesn't run across the page if you tilt the surface before it dries! The end of the pen, the end that doesn't write, has a button that retracts the tip of the pen when not in use, to keep it from inking on anything while stowed. When retracted, pressing the button will push out the writing tip, and lock it out until it's pushed again. What a marvelous mechanism in such a simple item! But I have digressed too far.

---
(Forgive my poor recollection; it has been a number of days since I lost my pen.)
After Vecna was destroyed, and Lolth vanished, we decided we needed to follow the beam to wherever it led next, prismably another temple. So we did leave, and just outside this temple we ran into a Hengeyokai fox girl who was blazing through the brush like so chased by brutes, but we promised her protection as long as we were travelling together. It so turns out she is travelling and wandering for the sake of adventure and wanderlust, so we may have the pleasure of her company and wit a while longer. A very charming young lady, and enjoying song, she sings with a voice as pure as the northern snows. Polaris is her name.

We walked back to the stupid town, whose name I never wrote down, and I forgot.  (Somewhat fitting, I should think.) Vol bought some maps. I had it in my mind to give the physician a taste of his own medicine, as they say, and with the idea of murder squelched, I readied some coin and a vial of fog infused with those berries, hidden in my hand. I knocked on his door with a fake yet pleasant smile. He opened his eye slot, and asked what I wanted. I bluffed gratitude at healing Vol and keeping the town healthy, all the while grating my teeth at the arrogance he bled from behind the door. After agreeing to accept a few platinum coin as thanks, he closed the slot and opened the door, when I threw in the vial which broke open and fumed up fast. Vol and I slammed the door shut until we felt no more resistance, then ran out of town.

We met with our friends outside of town, and decided to head back to the ship. We had a map, and we decided to head north along the coast. Just before we got to the ship, though, a dragon and some massive tree-beasts cut us off. We sank the dragon into the water under the cliff, and lept down the cliff onto our ship.

We set sail for near a day, biding our time with stories and singing, fishing and concocting. Polaris caught a large clam with a great pearl inside, which she carries at her side as a garnish. I caught a puffer fish, and used its poison to make a powerful battle poison, to smear on a blade. Vol stumbled upon a school of sea cucumbers, and caught many in a net. We docked far to the north, and saught a cave for shelter. At some point the Wilden wandered off again. He can just easily care for himself and his spider, so we didn't worry. We reached the cave as a blizzard blew in, obscuring visibility and biting through our armor and clothes. It was very dark under the ground, but we saw a light further in, with sounds of struggle, so we investigated. A Dragon-born was fending off two giant gelatinous cubes. We advanced, making clear that we were there to help, lest he strike us as offenders. We struck hard and true, and by the end of it all, we had miniature gelatinous cubes following us as pets. Vol fed his a sea cucumber, and they both exploded. Those sea beasts are quite volatile. He gave me a few to use as triggers for alchemical traps. As for the fight with the large cubes, I did not enjoy it. I was engulfed twice inside, and I could feel their acids beginning to digest me, before I managed to wriggle out of them.

Afterwards, we introduced ourselves to the Dragon-born. His name is Nadarr, and is dressed in strange clothes. They looked masterfully crafted, with impeccable stitchwork, and of strange material. They looked almost otherworldly. But he fights with skill with his longsword, and intimidating as he is in battle, he seems to hold a kindly manner. Of note. He says he was once a human, before coming to this plane.

We opened camp, and talked for a bit. Polaris found an owl, and started barking at it for a spell. She started digging holes around Vol as he slept, and I smiled in amusement, looking up from my alchemy kit. At a few points, she seemed to dig up a bell (it looked like a bell, but sounded more like a whistle), and then a chess board. Some other explorers must have set up camp here long before us coming. Soon into our rest, we found an elf chasing a golem into our camp, before killing it with an arcing bolt of energy, which struck a few of us, too. We eventually followed the elf lady deeper into the cave, keeping our distance, as she kept her speed. We noticed the Wilden secretly sneaking very successfully behind us, but we ignored him. She led us into a temple under the earth, guarded by false walls and puzzling locks of arcane design. At the end, on a dais, she found what she was looking for - a green crystal ball, which she attached to her staff. Upon removing the ball, a panel in the wall slid open, revealing a door, which she left through in haste. Through the door was a rocky tunnel, which opened into a field. We followed, and noticed that she left no tracks in the snow at the end of the hall. But we saw a small village off in the distance, and made our way there.

The village was small, the smallest we've seen yet in our travels. All the buildings were tents; although most were small, there looked some mighty spacious ones. I went to look for an alchemist, from whom to buy reagents or learn some new concoctions. The experiences I had... I'll write on a separate page. But afterwards, I met up with my friends at the pub, and we played a few games, as well. Polaris had set up the chess board she dug up earlier, and after a mentally strenuous game with the ghosted chess master in the board, I felt strangely mentally rejuvenated, but left in a trance-like state. I'm not sure if that was from the game, or from the peculiar potion I drank earlier.. But I slept easy that night.

006 - Temple Grounds

Well Vol woke up hearty and healthy, it turns out his god Kord was showing him a vision. I seed to it he was  alright, but while we were distracted, the Sapling must have sneaked back into the city, I turned and saw his spider crawling over the wall. We let him do his own thing, but the rest of us went to where the beam ended, at another temple not far out from town. Vol spoke that it may be best that the Sapling had left; his vision had shown us confronting Lolth, the Drow goddess of spiders. It would be best that the spider affishenado not be around for her death and divine judgement.

Oh, to mention, the little raccoon, Discharge, he found an arcane book in the library that makes him speak the common tongue as long as he holds onto it. So we can understand him now, but he still chitters an awful lot anyway. Critters will be critters.

Outside the temple grew bushes upon bushes of those berries that the physician was using for creating the fog of disintelligence. I set to it to collect just enough berries for my own concoctions, and my companions were bored enough that I had to tell stories from my childhood to keep them entertained. As the stories ended, so did my picking, and we entered the temple together, and there was a tunnel. The tunnel was long, much longer than the width of the building. I am sincerely getting annoyed with all this religious cabara-shat in every religiously affiliated place. Nothing is straight-forward, there is always trickery at play, from my experience. Nottheless, we continued onward a ways, growing impatient, then suddenly we reached a room. In the room was three doors with a slot on each, and three ornate pedestals with a metallic tile on each. On one tile was engraved a skull, on another, a spider, and on the last, a bleeding goat head. We concluded to find Vecna, we should use the skull key, but on which door was just a guess. We chose the door in the front of the room, and entered cautiously into a prison. Skeletons sulked about the room, and we took them out without much of an exertion of effort. Discharge disintegrated three of them with a most powerful explosion of electricity. We all stood in awe of the magnificent display of purple and white tendrils of shock bursting around us. Even the single skeleton that remained seemed to gaze with impression at the display of raw power flowing out of Discharge. Vol took down that skeleton while the opportunity was present.

We did look around the room, much of the walls in the cells were lined with chains and shackles, meant for holding multiple prisoners. There was a rack in one cell, and in another was a decaying corpse of a legendary  Beholder. Acid was seeping from it putrified body and had eaten a shallow pool into the floor. We kept our distance, but the little raccoon seemed eager to retrieve some acid for me for fighting; I had no vial strong enough to contain it, though, so I declined the... generous offer. We rested for a bit in the center of the room, surrounded by cells, on a blood-stained floor. This wasn't my most restful reprieve, but I was able to keep my mind free of what must have happened here in days past. The liquor helped much to take my mind off things. We drank and laughed and made merry, until we were ready to go, but I was still a bit caroused.

As we readied ourselves to leave, a few stones at the top of the stairs pushed out of the wall, and a hideous figure with a mask of half-goat and half-bull, in a dark cloak walked out of the wall. I knew it was the Sapling; I was with him when he bought the masks, but Vol didn't know. He saw the masks as symbols of the dark gods, and charged up the stairs with his ax raised. Fortunately for the Sapling, he had sense enough to lift his mask off and reveal his face. I'm sure Vol wasn't too ready to put hold on his weapon, but he did the better of his actions and stopped half way up the stairs. So there was another underground passage from the town into the temple. I wonder if this one leads to near the physician. I will have to ask of this when we have time to leisure about.

We continued as a whole group through the doors at the top of the stairs, into a dim room. The first thing of note was blood pooled in the floor, a massive statue in the center of the room, with live bodies around it, writhing from chains hanging from the ceiling, suffering from spikes through their bodies. Eerie as this was, and used to death as I was from my past in wars together with Vol, I'm not fond of suffering and pain. Death is one thing, but adding cruel, prolonged torture is evil, repulsive, and the slightest bit upsetting to the stomach, especially when you're watching it from standing in a pool of blood. The Sapling approached the alter beneath the statue, when a figure stood from the altar. Sapling has a tendency to announce our presence, doesn't he. The figure declared himself an acolyte of Torog, the god of imprisonment and torture. Torog then vanished into the pool of blood and arose in front of us in a rising orb of blood. It was a terrible battle; with every attack he leeched some of our life away, but we stood victorious at the end of it. That cabaran blood blister was better off dead; and so were the tortured bodies hung around the statue. Vol climber upon the statue, and after praying for their peace, mercifully killed each victim. I consulted my god Balinor, and after learning they willingly subjected themselves to this, as devotees to Torog, I decided to scavenge their corpses for humours, organs, marrow and the like for alchemical pursuits, to spite Torog. Upon realizing that I had harvested too many organs to carry, and in the wisdom bestowed of alcohol, I began to stuffing them in my platinum pouch in return for gold, as it was less burdensome to handle.

A door behind the statue was slightly ajar. We went through, and were returned to the room with pedestals and keys. In Vol's vision, Vecna was with Lolth, the spider goddess, so we exchanged the skull key for the spider key, and used it in the same door we first went through. We could see inside the room, there was a giant spider, too big to fit in the door, and it was carrying a human head in its jaws. The door shut quickly by our own decision. We tried it on the hidden door in the back, and entered into a room, just in time to see Lolth crush Vecna's skull in.

In my haste to pen this all down, I forgot to mention that Vol convinced Sapling that we were going after Vecna, and we might have to confront Lolth because she imprisoned spiders against their will and forced them to do her bidding. As far from truth as stars and water, but we needed him to despise her, else he may join forces with her against us. And as much accuracy with a halberd as a blindey at a dartboard, but when he hits, he hits fierce, and his spider (with a more fair eye to fighting) shares his mind too, it would be better to have him on our side if things went awry.

And Vecna's skull was crushed, and we were asked straightforward what were we doing in her chambers. Sapling spoke up immediately - as he tends to drag us with him into precariously undiplomatic rallies, such as Vecna, the first time, and his arson run in Ixeer. He commanded her (by what authority he thinks he has or has not, I claim him bold, if not stupid) to free her spider prisoners. She just laughed and asked what he was talking about. I looked at Vol in a semi drunken haze. I pulled out my fire bomb, and he drew his ax, to prevent her from revealing herself as Sapling's ally. We tried to start a brawl, but she easily dodged our attacks, and left us, not before calling two large spiders to attack and maim Sapling's pet. We dispatched them after a time, and settled into a watchful rest.

005 - The Village Idiots

Vol wouldn't wake up this afterdawn. Something was terribly wrong with him. My guess was that bullywogs gas cloud must have coated his lungs bad. He was going into small fits of shock and I managed to stabilize him; but whenever I would try to rouse him to consciousness, he would quickly slip back to darkness. Some medic I am, can't but pull my brother out of his mindsleep.

I had to get him to a proper doctor, one with better resources than I could manage. The little raccoon climbed a tree for to see for a town. He came back down, pointing in a roughly east direction, chittering about smoke on his little note pad. I asked the Wilden if his spider would carry Vol, gods know I can't, and he took to it, thankfully.  This is something I asked him not to mention to Vol later. Since as kids, we spent a day of adventuring in the forest. We found a cave, and us being the intrepit explorores we were, entered to the wind. It so happened that we wandered into a spider's nest. These spiders were large, much like the Wilden's. We wouldn't have made it out were it not for father come looking for us. Since, we've always been on edge around spiders. We'd have even more trouble with the spider of the Wilden, were it not hairy like it is, for the ones in the caves were as sleek and hairless as a river stone. But we went east, toward the smoke. The farther we traveled, the darker the forest got It became incredibly dark, to the point I had to light a sunrod for my companions.

We noticed in the dim light, large-bodied plants, with long vines lithing from them, with knotted clubs at the ends. The vines shuddered with each of our footsteps, and when we got too close to one, it started swinging the club around, so we kept our distance. Avoided the bulbous things best we could, but there were other creatures there we didn't see until their viney arms were wrapping up our legs. I poured acid on the one crawling up mine, and pulled my leg out as hard I could. We stumbled into a pack of long-armed, bipedal plant creatures. I looked back to the spider, and he was already climbing Vol up a tree, keeping him out of danger, of his own volition, which was nice of him. I doubt the Wilden cares much for Vol, apart from having his strength on his side, and that we aim to start wars, but I could be wrong. As long as he's helping, though, I should not complain.

With Vol out of the picture, I had to switch up my tactics. I had to heal, of course, but I also had to take the offensive. I did well. I was a little surprised; I never considered myself a fighter. We continued to follow the smoke, and it wasn't long before we found the edge of the forest, with a large walled town just beyond that.  We knocked on the heavy door to the town, and we were let in without much of a thought.

Once inside, we split up. Spider and I look for the clinic. We found it after some time; it was a small, run-down shack. I approached hesitantly. Didn't seem much like a good clinic, given the building was in shambles. I knocked on the door, and a slot in the door opened, someone looked out, and let us in. I saw the same dark veil in the doorway, as the ones in the temple, and I entered into a very large, round room, with something near 20 beds lining the curved wall.

I asked the physician to take care of Vol, and he asked for money. I had to take some from Vol's coin pouch, I swear to repay it though. I carried his pouch for safe keeping, too. The physician was extremely arrogant. I wanted to poison him, but it would have to wait the 3 days or so until Vol was awake and to good health. The spider and I left, and I followed it to a shop, where the Wilden was shopping for a mask and a robe. I entered, but the spider stayed outside and wandered off. The Wilden was explaining to the shopkeep that he wanted to buy a hooded cloak. The keep was inconseevably stupid; he kept presenting things like bathing robes and such and red curtain fabric. Here I entertained myself. I told him I would show him curtain folding techniques practiced by the most noble dukes themselves from beyond the sea, for a small charge. He watched in awe as I cabara-shat my way through the fold, giving up, and just rolling it up at the end. He gave me his bagel and an acorn. I told the dumb fellow that nobody would take this currency where I was from, and I asked for something shinier. He gave me a Healing Brooch and asked me if I could come in and fold clothes for him during my stay in town, I agreed and hurriedly left, as the little raccoon and the Wilden had stolen things and left while I had the shop keep distracted.

They were outside, with the crowd, watching as the spider danced on the rooftop. People were throwing gold at it.

My mind had been growing a bit thick and hazy up to now, and I remember having a hard time thinking clear. I was telling the Wilden about the physician, trying to enlist his aid in offing the prat, when... we forgot who we were talking about. Were we talking about... Vecna? We might have been! Oh, and the Wilden pulled out the red curtain he stole from the shop. This looks like it might be his cape. But it's not on fire. I can fix that. He set it on the ground, and I pulled out a vial of alchemist fire. We took a few steps back, and as the vial crashed at the ground at the base of the curtain, we were engulfed in flames. All this time, the little raccoon was pointing toward the town gate, but we were busy talking, so we just let him go out on his own. But as the fire swelled around us, I realized there was something about this town that was getting in our heads, and making us act stupid and think foggy. So I dropped to the ground and rolled out my fire, and raced out of the city walls with the Wilden close behind.

After sitting outside for a few hours in the shade of the forest, we were thinking like scholars again. The physician was the only person in town we met, ourselves aside, who was not limited of the mind. Had he done this to the town? He had Vol in his care, too! I was scared for him. If he had made the whole town stupid, what could he be doing to Vol, maybe making him stupid, too. He could be running unknown alchemy through on him out of his own driven madness, I don't know. The Wilden and I plotted out a great plan to rescue him, but after all that, we just knocked on his door and walked in. The Wilden talked with the doctor while I unhooked Vol from his IV, and belted him into the spider's saddle. The doctor grew very angry with the Wilden, and forcefully told us to leave, while drawing a fireball upon his palm. We left in quite a hurry. As we were running out of town, the townsfolk were cheering us on, as if we were in a race.

Outside the town, back in the forest, we set up camp. The Wilden told me that the doctor had created a mind fog that kept everybody in peak physical condition, not being able to be sick any more, but at the expense of their thinking. This fog was derived from a berry the grew near a local temple, along the path of the beam. But a lot of the berry was put into the fog. The Wilden thinks that only a few berries could cure Vol, at keep his intelligence clear at the same. I want to test the berry first, before we try them on him. Anyway, I will be off to bed now. Hopefully we make progress toward either another town, or those berries, tomorrow afterdawn.

004 - Sailing

It was a trek of three days across the burning hot sands. The sky was hotter than last time, and many a sight I mistook for shade and water. It was just as cold in the nights, though, but we made progress, even as a pack of hyenas stood to have us for their meals. But not too soon we found the coastal port town we had been looking for, called Ixeer. The desert town was small, and sitting by the water, like a child pretending it could fend for itself. Sure had its charm though. And by that, I mean it was a tasteless and boring town. Upon entering the main of the town, we noticed a bustling crowd cheering and crying and parading about a tiny creature. It was the little raccoon! We met with him and followed him and the crowd into the pub where we had drink and sup and did rest and learn of the little raccoon's separate journey.

He had gone to explore the night in the temple, and fallen into a pit, and found a long tunnel that connected to a shop in this very town! He then had a brawl with the weakened Vecna, and pulled him into a well, which doused his red fiery cape.

To be honest, I'm not much sure why I'm writing this down, I ain't believing a scrit of it. As seabound as this town was, it was too dry. Vol bought a boat that was just to be used for scraps, and I spent some money in the market to learn the Make Whole ritual, to fix it. The Wilden had his fixins on stealing a boat, but even after dark there was still crew under deck. The sun had set, and, while we were on the docks correctin' the ships shortcomings, the Wilden was abiding by a plan long dismissed by Vol and I. We found him missing and heard a commotion coming from the market in town. Smoke and fire, yelling. We were almost done with the boat, and we didn't want the Wilden to come running to us with the guard on his tail, associating us fine, upright, reasonably civil minds to his chaotic tendencies. Thankfully, he got caught up quick, and penned like a hog.

Afterdawn, we asked around town, and found him in the local prison. He was to be hanged, but we bought him as a slave, boarded the boat (we named her The Huntress) and set off to sail an 8 day voyage east along The Path Of The Beam. The days passed slowly, time was passed in talking. Vol and I came up with some keen nicknames for our travelling companions. I attempted to build an alchemy lab under deck, but even with the crates we brought aboard, I only had enough for an alchemy bench. Six days in, we were attacked by a flock of psuedo-drakes. Not like we had much of a choice, but to fight, and Vol was prized with a drake egg at the end of it. Not soon after that, the little raccoon alerted us to land off in the distance. We sailed a little until we found a neat inlet. We had a little trouble getting in around the reef, but we were able to anchor safely alongside a cliff.

Setting foot on a strange, new continent was exciting. New flora and fauna to explore and alchemize with. The forest right along the cliffs was strange, too. It was alive, moreso than usual. The trees made quiet grunts when brushed against, and moaned loudly when struck. There were large flowers with buds that opened into a mouth that would swallow whole anything that wandered near. They were a new curiosity; I wanted to find if their digestive juices would be useful, but even to approach one dangerous. It could sense you coming, likely through vibration through its roots, and it would snap at you with its jagged thorny mouth. We were ambushed by a group of bullywogs in a clearing, surrounded by many of these flowers. The bullywog chieftain let out a foul air that poisoned or choked us.  These creatures are entirely disgusting! The little raccoon has an eye for strategical body placement, I think. He can maneuver them around with tendrils of electricity. He pulls them around him, then lets loose a shockwave of energy that emanates from him to those around him. He did though line up the chieftain just key, that Vol charged at him and shoved him into the maw of one of those fierce buds. We disposed of them just fine, but I'm still feeling sick from that gas cloud the bullywog belched up. We set up camp in this clearing for the night.

003 - Waking the Dead

Well, the past two days have put me on edge some, but it has been great in some ways. Vol and I now have a definite direction to go in, rather than wandering aimlessly to spread war (and some panic). I mean, there will still be fighting and panic, but basically, we accidentally resurrected a god whose divergence from nature spits at the feet of our gods. So we aim to put a stop to that.

That night in the fog room, the little raccoon must have wandered off, as we didn't see him or his traces in the morning. But we prepared ourselves to alert, anyway, and we walked down a long hall. At the end of the hall it opened into large room with a dais in the back with a large table and two thrones on top of it. There were pillars and coffins lining the side of the room. The Wilden, with his keen eye for starting trouble (the unnecessary kind) hurried up to a skeleton in one of the thronechairs, and tried to take the crown on its skull. The skeleton grabbed his arm before he could take it. Then Vol and I hid mostly behind a pillar, still looking out. We saw the skeleton growing organs and flesh tissue as he spoke to the Wilden. Asked why we weren't wearing our ceremonial garbs. It struck me that this was Vecna, damned and true before my own eyes. And I shivered of dread. Vecna launched the Wilden and his spider against the wall near the hall, struggled to walk forward to the center of the room. But once there, he folded his red fiery cloak over himself, and uncovered himself a large white dragon of ice.

Vol understood who this was as well, and ran out of hiding at the dragon shouting war cries for his god Kord, and unabashedly sharing the finest edge of his ax with our most modest of hosts. The Wilden disappeared for a while in battle. (I later learned this was because he was skilled in teleportation.) Vol at some point had received a blessing from Kord (I surmise it was as he leapt from the pillar at the start), and he was dealing intensely damaging strikes, until the Vecna collapsed and returned to human form. He stood, appearing to take much difficulty in this, folded his cloak around himself, once again, and said, "I will see you again". With that, his cloak burst into flames, a fireball rising to and through the high, brightly-glowing ceiling.

(M'lord Balinor and Kord are very similar. I like to think Vol had Balinor's blessing, as well as Kord's, with each of my healing words.)

With that, we checked up with each other, but we were all in good condition, despite the battle.  We opened a few of the coffins, now that the god of necromancy was gone. There were bodies of his priests in there. I am not rightly sure why he hadn't summoned them from death to aide him, but I wasn't complaining. I took a few things from some of them. Of note: I found a pouch of platinum and a set of aerial hovering sandals among them. Those would have been useful yesterday, no doubt. The Wilden took the crown from the ground where it had fallen in battle, and pulled a large, diamond-shaped gem out of it. We turned back to see if this would fit in the setting in the wall in the first room. Once in the hall, we were teleported there, coming out of the room to the right, where the sunrod and the raven had gone.

As the gem was placed into the wall, everything around us rumbled, and a loud hissing sound drowned out our talking. It was the hissing of sand. The big pile of sand and rubble had shifted out of the way and revealed a door. We opened it, and... sunlight. Beautiful, eye-searing sunlight. We were above ground, and, how-but the temple had risen from the sand when we put the gem in the socket. We determined to not leave this temple of the damned remain here, so we had the Wilden ride back in the temple on his speedy spider, take the gem and race back out as it sank. And Vol and I stood outside, expecting the Wilden to come back out as the temple was slowly eaten back by the sand. But, no, the temple just collapsed as quick as that, with the Wilden still under it. The spider was able to crawl out of the rubble, but it looked real hurt. Vol and I started digging for the Wilden, and we pulled him out, looking just about as dead as death. But he wasn't, just knocked out. I fixed him up good, though, just like I did my family back home, when they needed it. Funny how you treat some folks like close, when all you got is three days of past behind you, and you're still a little unraveled by them.

We surveyed the pile of rubble, what was left of the temple. Everything was demolished, but the one spire. It glowed bright at the tip, and shone a straight light consistent to the east. The beacon was lit. It was calling to somebody, or letting something know the temple had been lifted, its god had been reborn. After a bout of trying to turn it off or cover the beacon, we lit many a thing afire, Vol fell from the tower, and I dislocated my shoulder; so we went back to Tal'Nir to rest and resupply before heading back east.

We arrived back at the Desert Pearl, and booked a few rooms at the inn. I rested up a bit, then went out on the town to find an alchemist who could teach me about the jar of fog water I collected. One was able to reverse-engineer the substance, and showed me how it was done. I learned a few other things from him, and stocked up on reagents for brewing in the field. Once at the inn, I holed myself up in the room for the next 16 hours, on an alchemy binge. Vol was in once at the beginning, then left a bit later. At the end, smelling rank of chemicals and humours, I bathed and decided to relax in the hotel lounge. I ordered a lightly bubbled, sweet wine, and found the Wilden there, enjoying his own drink. And we talked for a while, until Vol came in beaten and bruised, and we talked some more.

The Wilden... For one whose face I've known all this time, but not a name to link it, I wonder what his trouble is. I get that he's not the most trusting of people; fact of the matter is though, when it comes to trust, I'm not waiting to hear a name before I can poison him. If I wanted to poison him he'd be dead already. It's been, what, five days travelling and fighting together. I've been thinking of giving him a nickname.

002 - Under the Desert

The sand dumped us way into a large room, with pillars and pews and other such religious necessities. None of us were severely hurt.  We tried to get our bearings, and found ourselves to be in a buried temple to Vecna, the god of secrets and necromancy. Of note for later: an indentation in the wall looking to be set in by something diamond-shaped. Two doors, one off to the left and one to the right from where we fell. The sand had stopped pouring from the ceiling, but still that exit was way too high. We have to find another way out.

We opened both doors, but nothing was seen through to the other rooms. Not sunrods, not familiars. The Wildens raven didn’t come back to us from the room to the right. So we went left. When we passed into the darkness, we found ourselves in another room, lit and full seeable by the sunrod I tied to my side. Seemed quiet and empty, but drakes hung from the pillars and swooped at us. The little raccoon climbed one pillar and pulled one down to the ground, that sure was something to see. It was so much bigger than him. The Wilden doesn’t seem all that great a fighter, maybe his nerves, maybe he’s just scared of drakes or the darkness, but his spider mount can kill something fierce. As much as it terrifies me, I’m just glad I’m on the good side of its temperament for now. Of note for later: Also stay on the Wilden’s good side; he and the spider seem quite shared-minded.

The Wilden even stabbed himself with his own halberd. That made me laugh. I opened the drake bodies for supplies, and found some rings, too! The little raccoon raided the nests high on the pillars and found things. He brought down a mace, which he held up to me. I gratefully accepted and paid him a nice reward in coin for sharing his loot.

We took the left exit at the far end of the room, and we somehow wound up back in the room we fell in, but through the right door. We determined this to be teleportation magic, and re-entered into the left room to try the exit at the far right. This took us into a room with small pits all over the floor, walls, and ceiling. The little raccoon alerted this to us all, just in time for the Wilden to dodge a spear that shot up from one of the floor-pits. The whole room was trapped with floor-spears, flame jets in the walls, and boulders falling from above. The latter ones tore chunks out of the floor when they fell, leaving an opening into a deep pit. It was at the end of this room, we had to jump over one of the holes. It was small, 5-feet across. My gimped leg decided to act up just as I leapt, which tripped me up, and I fell into the pit.  As I fell though I was grabbed by most everyone. Not sure rightly how they all grabbed hold of me at the time, but they did, and I’m thankful. The little raccoon clawed into my face, though. Not my most dignified of pratfalls, but surely not my worst either.

When we came to leave the room, we found ourselves at the end of a long and narrow bridge over the same unlightable darkness between all the rooms. Carefully we tried to cross, but at times we all grew dizzy over the pitch nothing and fell (except the Wilden riding the spider). Fortunately, we were teleported from the abyss back to our end of the bridge, rather than just left falling. (What damned religion needs this in their temple I am left clueless as empty testes, but who am I to ridicule a god in his own house.) Vol had a great idea; he handed me one end of a rope from his pack, and took the other end with him as he bound across the bridge, natural as hunting. We each tied our ends to the door handles, and held tight to the rope as we crossed.

The next room we entered was steaming with a sight-deadening fog that lifted from a liquid that was pooled over the entire floor. I scooped some into a small jar for later. I figure I could learn to make something good from this, if not recreate it entiredly. Before I could stand I even saw figures making their way through the fog to us. We had to fight a small crowd of skeletons, and of what they used to be I could not tell you, because I am no bone scholar. The Wilden and his spider darted out of sight early, but I ended up sticking where I work best, with Vol my brother. We are a team, I suppose as much as he and his spider are. And to be truthful, I just don’t care much about them.  I forgot to write this earlier, but I put aside my callous remarks and introduced myself with a handshake. He shook mine, but refused to give his name! And he had the rocks to even ask my brother’s name, after that! So, secretly, I was wishing harm to him. (An old friend told me he believes I became a cleric to heal the people I wish harm upon, to atone for my ill prospect. I think he was full of horse shit.)

This was about the time the little raccoon swung his sword around again. Usually he centers himself between a few creatures and spins himself with an outreached blade, striking several of them. This time, though, the ratty bugger cut into me fierce. Probably not meaning to, but I never did get to know a typical behavior set of the raccoon. He cut into my leg, and I was terribly worried he damaged it even worse than usual, so I kicked him. It wasn’t a hard kick, but he did hit one of the bonemen pretty hard. I looked behind me to see Vol holding off a giant scorpion, with the help of the Wilden’s spider mount.  Vol was seized by its claws and rescued by the Wilden and his spider, and killed the nasty bugger. I looked through the scorpion (shudder) for humours and alchemical portions, as usual.

The far side of the room had a raised platform, in clear air, where there was no fog water puddled on the floor, so there we went, and it was there we found the door. And it was there I stopped writing because it was there I needed to rest for a bit.

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Vol and Reid
Death and Life

- Diamond dent in wall.

- What's in the room to the right?

- Rabies shots.

001 - Into the Desert

I've been through the desert on a mount with no name.
It felt good to be out of the rain.

It's been a while since I've been in the desert; the heat is somewhat irritating, but the dry air is somewhat pleasant. When Tal'Nir rose above a dune on the horizon, I looked to my brother, Vol, with a smile on my face. The city was surrounded with shiny white walls, with a giant white tower rising from its center. As we entered, we saw that every building was built with the same white stone. It was a bright city, somewhat sore on the eyes.

There was something Vol didn't like about the town, so I kept my guard up with his. It might have been the crowds. Or it might have been that the white buildings reflected light so well, that there wasn't not a spot of shade anywhere. It could just as well been the Wilden we kept on passing by, who was riding on a giant spider. I could tell he wasn't following us, but he still distressed us, because of the Giant Damn Spider.

We initially sought food, but found ourselves in a scuffle not a half hour in the walls. While trying to sell some of my specialized ale to a drunkard by a diner,  I caught a lifter diggin through my pocket, and threw him to the ground. Vol and I roughed up the rest of his gang and and the drunkard (what a ruse); afterward, we let them pay us for the privilege. The pickpocket I first threw on the ground was the only one we left conscious, but I force-fed him some of my ale. It smells like ale, and tastes like ale, but it has a much different effect (it scares the shit out of ya). We picked him up and sent him running back into the crowd, clutching his ass, while I called out "Running makes it worse!" and laughed.

We decided to use their donation to eat in a nicer part of town. The Heated Brew. A gnome served us at the bar; Vol muttered that gnomes are angry because they're short and they have no souls. I laughed, and Vol got magically nutritious gnome spit in his stew. We caught wind of a desert temple, word between the Gnome and a Wilden patron, the same one riding that spider.

We went to the library, the bookhaven; we found a small book about this desert temple, the Temple Ka'Zil, and found a map inside. We rearranged a few of the books (Abysmal Orgies belongs in the children's section!), but the Drow librarian, with some arcane witchery, locked us in. We had to go all the way back up to the third floor to put the books back in place. By the time we left, the sun had gone down, so we found the most affordable inn -- The Heated Brew. When we got there, well after dark, to find the spider hitched out front. Shit. Luckily the Gnome had left for the day, though.

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Today, Vol and I rose early to head for the temple in the desert. We made good time out of the city and got a decent head start, but very quickly learned we weren't the only ones headed to the temple. The Wilden was ahead of us, and a raccoon was trotting behind at an astonishing pace. The slow wheel of time put us traveling together, and so we passed the hours in talking. The raccoon had the most absurd story of them all. He was an elemental construct turned to animal by a vengeant wizard, or something like that. He can't speak the common tongue, so whereas we all talk, the little beasty writes on a pad of paper. His scribblin isn't the most literate, even. Once we put him on the back of the spider, his eyes got wide and he froze in place for the rest of the journey. That shut up his chattering mouth real quick.

Then out of nowhere, four whirlwinds of sand burst from the ground and surrounded us. Damn elementals. All they are is ill will hiding danger in plain sight. Not even sure what we were in for, I turned to see what Vol had in mind. But they went down easy enough. The raccoon could fight fierce, I was surely surprised.  But now he was staring at the ground, maybe seeing something we can't see, or hearing something we can't hear. And at that point the ground caved in under us.