# Heritage of Dragonsreach (UPDATED September 4, 2007)



## sniffles (Aug 27, 2005)

This campaign began in April 2005. It's set in the Forgotten Realms, as you can see, but we've made a few alterations. The city of Dragonsreach is located in Thesk. It is the seat of worship of a draconic deity, known only as the Lady. She is a patroness of knowledge among other things. Heritage is the university in Dragonsreach, which draws scholars from all over Faerun. 

Our characters have a big destiny, but they're just beginning to find their way toward it. To aid them on their way, we each randomly chose a Heroic Path from the Midnight setting. These paths are the blessings referred to in Thilme's journal.

The players are now all ENworld forum members, so I've included their user names below.
Cast of characters (all are currently 4th level):
Hedrin K'Von - human male warlock/ranger, Beast path (Player: Hedrin)
Latan - female Killoren druid/sorcerer, Elemental path (Player: Jubilee)
Percy - (NPC) human male rogue, Pureblood path (Player/GM: Zora)
Roland Cassius St. Emerus - human male bard/marshal, Guardian path (Player: Devo)
Thilme' Gilgalen - female moon elf bard, Quickened path (Player: Sniffles)

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*Begin at the Beginning*

Naneth asked me to keep a journal of our activities on behalf of the Lady. I expect she hopes someday to have it in the archives. Unfortunately I was remiss in making any notes about our recent mission to the mountain in search of goblins. But I should begin with who we are, as perhaps someday someone who doesn't know me will read this story.

We are the proud servants of the Lady who bear the name of the Silver Claws. I am Thilme' Gilgalen, daughter of Ithriel and Taurendil of Dragonsreach. My mother is an archivist in the library of Heritage. My father is a guardian of Dragonsreach, patrolling the mountain slopes beyond the city. We are of the Tel'Quessir, those the other folk of Faerun call moon elves.

My four companions are Roland Cassius St. Emerus, a young man (even by human standards) but endowed with great charm and wit; Hedrin K'Von, another young man gifted with special powers that some find disturbing; Latan, one of the Killoren folk, left on the doorstep of the temple in infancy; and the ever faithful and soft-spoken Percy, who presents himself as a mere manservant but is so much more.

I won't say that I knew any of my new friends well before we were assigned to the same company, though I was best aware of Roland, as we've had some of the same masters at Heritage. But I also knew of Latan, having seen her often in the forest outside the city walls, and Hedrin also could often be found there. We make an odd group, none of us being truly strong fighters (except possibly Hedrin), but I think we balance each other well.

We had been sent out into the Lady's territory to seek out goblins and hill giants that were reportedly troubling the area. The giants don't live within the Lady's territory, but Dragonsreach has no feud with them. The goblins were not much trouble for us, though we did discover a flaw in the makeup of our small company: all of us but Percy need plenty of rest in order to ply our spells during the day. We could hardly ask Percy to stay awake every night to guard us - and as clever and useful as Percy is in a pinch, he's no warrior. We've worked out an awkward watch schedule to manage our difficulty, and I've purchased a guard dog named Gylf to give us an extra set of eyes and ears.

To return to our mission: we eliminated the goblins easily enough, as they were not very bright and were equipped with only the crudest of weapons. But we had discovered that they were following a hill giant about and treating him as though he was a god. The hill giant, Garn, was only a youth, but already much bigger than most of his kindred. That may account for the way the goblins were behaving. Garn didn't want anything to do with the goblins. He'd been injured somehow, his leg badly wounded, and the goblins had evidently been trying to look after him, though not very effectively.

Latan gave him what healing she could offer, and we helped him make a crutch from a tree trunk so he could get home to his village. Latan worried that his leg wouldn't heal well, but there was little we could do at the time. We were relieved that there was no real trouble with the hill giants. And that this mission was more successful than our first mission as the Silver Claws. We didn't lose anyone this time. 

Quips & Quotes for this session:

Hedrin: "I cast tickling blow. Make a Reflex save or pee yourself."

Jubilee: "I prestidigitate the log."
Devo: "Wow, that's the cleanest log I've ever seen."
sniffles: "I mend the log and it turns back into a tree."

Jubilee: "Wouldn't that be a Will save?"
Devo: "Most likely be a won't save."

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*The Wards of Dragonsreach*

It's been too long since I last wrote here. But recent events are worth telling. Though I've lived all my life thus far in Dragonsreach, I've seldom seen a dragon. The Lady doesn't present herself in her true form often. I hope I never see another dragon in the same manner that I saw one that day. I was merely walking across the square when a red dragon swooped down and issued a challenge to our Lady - what a fool to think even the greatest of his kind could challenge a goddess! Still, he was awe-inspiring and terrifying to behold. Most of the people in the square, myself included, fell to the ground in abject terror. I barely caught a glimpse of Roland and saw that somehow he'd not succumbed to the wave of fearfulness that preceeded the dragon.

The dragon breathed a cloud of flames at us as we cowered there, but the flames struck some invisible force and never reached the ground. Then the archmage Alvin strode out through the main gate into the Lady's mountain. Some folk whisper that Alvin is really the Lady in disguise. Whatever the case, Alvin had his apprentice blow a horn, and then hundreds of crossbow bolts rained on the dragon. Many of them had streamers attached to them, which wound themselves around the dragon until he could no longer move. He went crashing to the ground, safely beyond the city. 

Once the dragon was trussed up, he was carried off and deposited well beyond Dragonsreach, or so I heard. I also heard that one of his fangs was taken as a trophy - surely a shameful moment for such a magnificent (yet terrible) creature. 

The arrival of the dragon made any later events seem minor, even the arrival of the famous performer Telemachus Steel. Roland and I both were given the opportunity to perform in his presence. I'm afraid my recitation was not as stirring as I should have liked. I hadn't enough time to write a really good poem about the dragon's appearance, and in all honesty it wasn't quite exciting enough for a good poem anyway. The Lady protects her city well.

We've heard recently that the giants are troubled: they report an eye tyrant is harrassing them. They've sought the Lady's aid. We'd heard of an eye tyrant a year ago when we met the young giant Garn, and it seems those reports were true. The Silver Claws have been asked to visit the giants to seek more information. We will be taking some trade goods along to gain their favor; Roland is seeing to that. I'm going to see Naneth to find out more about beholders and their kin.

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*The Challenge of the Giants*

After I'd said farewell to Naneth and Ada, I joined my friends and we made our way up the mountain toward the hill giants' villages. Roland warned us that the giants might challenge us in some way before we could treat with them. After we passed beyond the dwarven boundary stones that mark the end of the Lady's official territory, Hedrin and Roland spotted some large tracks, though not large enough to be those of a giant. Hedrin caught a scent and used his keen nose to follow it. He was so intent on following the scent that he almost ran right into the ogre. 

The ogre didn't seem threatening, and when Hedrin and Roland explained what we were doing there he gestured for us to follow him. We came to an enclosure containing 3 huts and some animal pens. There were a number of ogres at the largest hut. Our guide went in and talked with someone for a little while. We waited nervously, surrounded by other ogres. Hedrin told us he heard a female voice. Then our guide came out and said, "She will see you shortly". We had no idea who he referred to, but Roland and Latan began looking in our trade goods for something to give 'her' as a gift. 

We noticed while we were waiting that there was a banner flying over the enclosure with a symbol resembling a Z emblazoned on it, and the ogres had the same symbol tattooed on their left arms. But that didn't prepare us for meeting their leader: it was a human woman! 
She introduced herself as Zeela. She was a rugged-looking individual, but well-spoken. After Roland introduced us all and explained our purpose for coming, Zeela told us that before we could proceed further we would have to pass a challenge, just as Roland had advised. 

The challenge turned out to be combat with several of the ogre warriors. We were all allowed to fight them at once, thank the Lady. I know I haven't the ability to fight an ogre on my own, although I am strong for my size. The combat would be decided by whomever surrendered or fell unconscious first. They didn't prohibit use of magic, so Latan opened with a spell. It missed, but so did the ogre who swung at her. A second ogre struck Hedrin, who began clawing and biting them, all surrounded by the strange black energy he can summon. I drew my longsword and began wielding it the way Ada and Captain K'Von taught me.

Percy bravely stepped in with us and got himself backhanded for his trouble. Latan stepped back and saved most of her spellcasting for healing us. Hedrin brought one ogre down himself, but the second one went into a rage and knocked Roland to the ground. Hedrin clawed him, and I managed a good cut with my sword. Percy even hit the ogre with his handy stool. Hedrin was staggering at this point, but he managed with a great effort of will to claw the ogre one more time, and the second one joined his companion in the dirt. Hedrin practically fell on top of the downed ogre.

I quickly retrieved a wand of healing that I knew Roland carried and used it for Roland, Percy and myself, while Latan helped Hedrin. I must admit, I could hardly believe we'd won. As I've said before, fighting is not our strongest talent, or at least not the one in which most of us have trained. But you can't defeat an enraged ogre with a speech or a story.

After we succeeded at the challenge, Zeela took a great interest in Roland and asked him to join her privately in her hut that evening. I took out my candle of healthful rest to burn while the rest of us took our ease. Hedrin went off to meditate in a tree - he always feels a bit ashamed after he shows his more animalistic side. Latan went foraging in the forest, her favorite thing to do when she isn't chatting with Isaura, her air elemental companion, or Cabor, her frog.

Later on we saw the ogre who had guided us to their camp leaving for a bit, though not by the same direction from which we'd come. Then we were invited to dine with the ogres, and shared out our food with them. Most of the ogres left after the meal, but our guide remained. Roland asked Zeela how she'd come to be living among the ogres. She told us she'd defeated the ogre leader 5 years earlier, but didn't elaborate on why she would have desired such a position. 

We were briefly visited by an ogre shamaness, although I didn't see her for myself. She mentioned to the others that she knew of Garn, the young giant we'd met previously. He was the son of Grishnak, a chief of the hill giants. We hoped that our efforts to help Garn would help us make a good impression on Grishnak when we met him.

Later Roland went off with Zeela. He's too tactful ever to say what occurred in private. The next morning Zeela gave us a token to show to other ogres. She warned us also of 'wild' giants roaming the area, as well as goblins, and to take care not to anger the shamans. After we took our leave of her we saw goblin sign, but no goblins.

The first giant village we came upon was very quiet. We approached it slowly, with caution. Hedrin and Latan crept up to peer inside the rude walls. Later they told us they'd seen a lone giant, very ragged and crazed-looking, wandering about. The village was otherwise empty, and looked to them as though it had been so before the ragged giant arrived. We worried whether we should try to sneak by and avoid the giant's notice, or wait to see if he'd leave. Then Hedrin came running back and told us that he'd seen a beholder!

Bizarrely, the giant had been "playing" with the beholder. He struck it with a tree limb and sent it flying. It landed in the tree where Hedrin was hiding, giving Hedrin a very good look at it. He was sure the beholder had seen him, but it was apparently too concerned with the giant to care about a lone human hiding in a tree. The giant had gone off in pursuit of the beholder.

After sending one of our carrier pigeons back to Dragonsreach with this news, we hurried through the abandoned village. Roland stumbled upon a gobbet of flesh that looked to Hedrin like it had come from the beholder. Latan decided to preserve it in the event it might be useful later for tracking the creature. That night we had a cold camp, not wanting to draw the attention of either the crazed giant or his playmate.

The next day we ran into a band of 6 goblins. I didn't use my sword, instead firing my bow at them. These were a little better armed than the goblins we'd last seen. But not much brighter. One of them hit his own companion with his weapon! We managed to be rid of them without much harm to ourselves, other than the arrow I hit poor Gylf with when I missed my aim. 

Next morning we came upon another village, populated by folk that appeared to by a hybrid of giant and ogre kind. They were in the process of packing up all their belongings to move on. Roland displayed the token Zeela had given us and told them, "We've earned the right to be here." The giants were goint to Grishnak's village and agreed that we could travel with them. We befriended a crippled old giant woman who couldn't keep up with the others, as the giants naturally outdistanced us quickly. The old woman spoke with us, and warned us of Grishnak's advisor, a fellow called Lawpik - she said that Lawpik claimed there was no beholder threat, and some of the giants thought he was in league with it. But despite this he had Grishnak's ear. 

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*Trouble on the Mountain*

By the following morning the giants had left us far behind. Even our elderly companion outpaced us. It took us two more days to reach Grishnak's village, which was full of refugees. This was a much larger and better defended village than the other giant enclosures we'd seen, surrounded by a log palisade, with four giants on guard and the entrance. They barred our way with poles as big as tree trunks - they probably were tree trunks. We sensed a little hostility from them.

Percy, who somehow has managed to learn the giant tongue, translated for us and explained that there were other humans in the village. We were startled by this, wondering who they could be. Then the old woman we'd walked with came out to meet us, and we were surprised again by how deferential the guards were to her. She was evidently someone of importance, though we never heard anyone call her anything other than Granny. We'd been able to converse with her in the dragon's tongue, and now she told us that the other human visitors were from Thay, and were favored by Lawpik.

While we were wondering how and why the Thayans had come here, young Garn appeared. I'd forgotten how much bigger he was than his kinfolk. He must have titan blood. We saw then that our best efforts to treat his wounded leg had been in vain - it had been amputated. He hopped along with an enormous tree trunk as a crutch. But Garn seemed happy enough to see us and didn't hold it against us that we hadn't been able to save his leg. 

Garn took us off to the longhouse to meet his parents. Alongside his father, Grishnak, we saw his mother, M'rolia, who's a handsome woman for a giantess. There was a long line of giants waiting to see their chieftain, and we had to wait several hours to be introduced. We caught sight of the Thayans watching us. 

It was early evening by the time we were presented to Garn's parents. When Grishnak asked, "What do you have to offer?", Roland told him that Dragonsreach had a great deal of help to offer the giants. The Thayans had apparently brought a large quantity of forged steel, but Grishnak was much more pleased with the finished weapons we'd brought along. The Thayans didn't look happy about that. 

After our audience with the chief we were taken to Garn's hut to rest. Suddenly, as we were talking with Garn, Latan noticed that Percy had a token in the form of a feather, which she told him would allow him to send a message to Dragonsreach without having to use our other pigeon. It was a family heirloom and Percy had no idea it was magical. We sent off a message at once to warn Dragonsreach about the Thayan presence among the giants. Then we told Garn of our encounter - or should I say Hedrin's encounter - with the beholder. Garn went immediately to impart this information to his father.

In the morning we met with Grishnak again. We discovered that M'rolia spoke the draconic language and had more experience of humans than her husband. She's a wise advisor. But Grishnak is no fool. Hedrin was moved to confess to M'rolia that he's of the folk who are known as warlocks, and she admitted that she has such powers also! 

In addition to speaking with M'rolia, this time we met Lawpik. He was an odious, sinister fellow - I couldn't see how Grishnak could let him near. He turned out to be a shaman, so Latan gave him the bit of beholder flesh, which caused him to look concerned. While we explained that we'd come only to gather information, Hedrin noticed one of the guards seemed anxious when Dragonsreach was mentioned. Grishnak was nervous too, obviously feeling uncomfortable with the Thayans and trapped by his responsibility to his people, who were looking to the well-armed Thayans to eliminate the beholder.

Roland suggested that the Thayans be sent to Dragonsreach to seek permission to hunt the beholder. The beholder wasn't seen within the bounds of the Lady's territory, but if it passed that boundary the Thayans could follow it without incurring her displeasure.  The Thayans were brought in for this discussion, and I observed with amusement that their leader, a man by the name of Rex, appeared to be wearing false hair!

____________________________________________________
*Red Wizards*

Hedrin sensed magic surrounding Rex, although he claimed to be a warrior not a wizard. Roland sensed evil intent in him. Rex began attempting to make us look bad in the giants' eyes, while trying to convince them that the Thayans were the only ones who could help them. I tried to help Roland by speaking out on our behalf, but I chose my words poorly. Grishnak shouted "Enough!" He commanded both groups to pursue the beholder. He told us he would send someone from his tribe with both of our parties, Garn with us and Lawpik with the Thayans. Roland then suggested that we should all work together, in his most charming manner, but the Thayans refused. 

Then Grishnak made our hearts sink when he announced that the party that successfully rid him of the beholder would gain the loyalty of the Three Rivers tribe. I know he would have preferred to send the Thayans away, but many of his people would have protested had he done so. I thought Rex looked very smug at the chieftain's proclamation.

We left the longhouse with Garn and a guard, preparing to send two messages back to Dragonsreach. Then we went in search of Granny. Roland asked her to take the trade goods we'd brought and see to trading them with her people. They agreed that she would retain a portion of the profits. It seemed that she was definitely on our side, and she appeared to be quite amused but willing to help us.

We left the giants' village after noon. As we traveled we discussed everything we knew about Thayans with Garn. Roland has a fair amount of knowledge of them. We had decided to follow them to keep an eye on their activities. We fortunately had an uneventful night; I suppose few creatures would threaten us in Garn's presence. But the following day Hedrin lost the Thayans' tracks. He suspected some magic might be responsible. Latan sent Isaura ahead to search for them and warn us, and the air elemental returned to tell us that there were people ahead, although it wasn't certain they were the Thayans. Air elementals of Isaura's kind are not terribly clever.

Then Hedrin stumbled upon something that at first looked like a dead animal, but which he recognized quickly was Rex's hair. The Thayans turned up moments later, Rex accusing us of stealing his hairpiece. Hedrin hadn't been able to resist remarking, "Lose something?" when they arrived, which only further incensed Rex. Rex attacked Hedrin. Soon we were in combat with the whole Thayan group. We discovered that the true wizard was at the back of the group, flinging spells at Garn. To our amazement Garn was unharmed. We were even more impressed when the young giant hurled an enormous boulder at Lawpik, who was also behind the Thayan party.

Lawpik began chanting and yelling. He cast a spell of his own at Garn, but again Garn seemed immune to its effects. Garn shouted in fury and blue-white energy shot startlingly from his fingers! He felled the Thayan wizard at once. Lawpik tossed an orb of acid and then fled. Garn pursued him while the rest of us continued to struggle with the Thayan warriors. 

Percy hit someone with his ever-present stool, then cried out in pain. Latan ran to help him and was wounded herself as she passed one of our foes. Garn threw another rock at Lawpik before he ran out of sight. Gylf kept attacking the guard with whom I was fighting, doing far more injury than I could with my sword. He managed to knock the fellow down so I could stab him easily. It was all over quickly but for one Thayan who refused to surrender and attacked Roland before he fell.

I took out my wand to treat our wounds. Even Latan availed herself of it, having used up her own spells on Percy and Roland. Hedrin set about searching the Thayans' corpses, looking for any information about what they'd been up to among the giants.

_______________________________________________
*"The Friendship of the Three Rivers Tribe"*

We found that the Thayans had carried quite a lot of magical gear on their persons, including several magic swords, potions, and a belt for carrying potions. The wizard had a ring, a wand, and two scrolls in addition to his spellbook, which we took. Hedrin fortunately has a pack that holds far more than would appear possible. We also took their 8 horses. We put their swords on our pack mules, and their bodies on their own horses for transport back to the giants' town.

On the journey back to town we spoke with Garn about his unusual abilities. It seems he is a weilder of spellfire. Roland encouraged him to go to Dragonsreach and seek entry into Heritage. He seemed doubtful, but it's obvious that there is more to him than his unusual size.

Once we arrived at the town we found some of the giants angry and muttering when they saw the dead Thayans. When we reached the longhouse, Hedrin noticed a magical aura indicating divination, but we never found out what that meant. Roland explained to Grishnak and M'rolia what had happened to the Thayans. Garn also told his story of what had occurred, including Lawpik's involvement. We learned that Lawpik had returned and claimed that the Thayans had left him, but by the time we arrived he was gone again.

Granny turned up then, and it was odd to see someone so large as Garn get nervous in her presence. But before we had a chance to speak with her, all of the Silver Claws suddenly felt a terrible sensation, as though something indescribably awful had happened. All of us but Hedrin were doubled over and retching. Strangely, this affected Garn as well, and we were fortunate that when he fell he didn't land on one of us. He fell so hard he broke his nose. Somehow I knew that someone had died, but I had no idea who it might be. It couldn't be my parents, else why would my friends also feel it? And I'd felt this sensation once before, though less intensely.

When we'd recovered a bit we realized that Garn's mother had also been affected by the strange sensation. Roland immediately asked Grishnak's permission for us to return to Dragonsreach the following day. Grishnak was shocked by what had happened and readily agreed. After Latan gave Garn some healing, we took ourselves back to his house to recover. Percy was the most shaken of all. He kept weeping as he cleaned our gear. Latan went outside to commune with nature. Hedrin meditated in the way Master Keye taught him. Roland drew in his sketchbook. I wrote in my journal.

Later Garn, who had gone out, returned to tell us that his father had given permission for him to go with us to Dragonsreach. M'rolia had tried to convince her husband to let their son go to Heritage before, but the chief had resisted. The events of the previous day had evidently convinced him to change his mind.

In the morning we learned that the Thayans' bodies had been burned. Five of their horses were given to us. Latan gave the Quaal's feather token to M'rolia so that they could contact us easily. Before we left, M'rolia asked us to watch over her son, and gave us the traditional greetin of Dragonsreach - she's a most unusual giantess. As we were on our way out of the town we met Granny, who joked that she intended to come with us - I think she did it just to see Garn go pale.

At about the halfway point of our return journey we met Sir Falco Steelcross coming to the giants from Dragonsreach. Our messages had been received. We turned the spell scrolls we'd found on the Thayans over to his party. Sir Falco told us he'd had the same experience we'd had with the terrible sensation. I think it was then we began to recognize that we are not quite like the other people of Dragonsreach.

Sir Falco confirmed that someone must have died, though he did not know who. He told us to seek out High Priest Merrick at the Lady's temple. So we continued our journey, saddened by the unknown death yet heartened by our successful dealings among the giants. Grishnak had given us a parchment describing favors owed to Dragonsreach by the Three Rivers tribe - the next step to a treaty, we hoped.

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*Among the Blessed*

When we arrived back in Dragonsreach we were immediately told to see one of the high priests, Father Merrick, while Garn was sent off elsewhere (I still don't know where he's being housed!). Father Merrick spoke with us, not giving us much opportunity to speak ourselves. He told us about the terrible sensation we'd felt, how it heralded the death of someone, and how it meant we are specially blessed by the Lady. Of course, it didn't seem much like a blessing at the time. We can sense when others like ourselves die violently. One of our kind is slaying others of our kind. But no one knows why.

After our meeting, Roland remarked that he thought it was an act of sorts, that Father Merrick was reciting a prepared speech. The room had been very carefully organized to put us in a receptive frame of mind. I remembered then that Father Merrick is also a master of dramatics at Heritage. Roland seemed rather unhappy about the show on our behalf. But I felt both confused and flattered. It was hard to absorb what we were being told about ourselves, even though Sir Falco had hinted at some of it.

We were ordered by Commander K'Von to return to our barracks and remain there. Sometimes I forget that Commander K'Von is Hedrin's father. He's so distant toward his son, so unlike my Ada. I suppose it must be hard for him having his own son under his command. 

Since he hadn't told us to stay confined to our own room, nor said that we couldn't have visitors, Roland sent a message to ask some of his family to come and talk. We didn't know how much of what was happening to us had affected people outside the militia and temple. It turned out that no one else knew much about it. We did learn that Heritage was closed for a day after the event, but that was all the information we could gather on our own.

The next morning we were ordered to see Cmdr. K'Von again, and he told us we would be receiving three days of "counseling", during which we were still confined to barracks and the temple area. Hedrin then had a long visit with his father, though not I think a very pleasant one. The rest of us went off to occupy ourselves with other activities. I found a quiet corner of the practice yard where I could rehearse some dance steps. I think Latan was up in a tree. Roland went back to our room to think. Then we felt another of those episodes. I fell down, Latan fell out of the tree, and Cmdr. K'Von was very startled I guess to see what happened to his son, although Hedrin was apparently able to withstand it better than the rest of us. I'm envious of Roland, since he was lying on a bunk at the time.

We were all sent off to see Father Merrick again once we'd recovered. He admitted that they still didn't know quite what had occurred, except that another of the Blessed had been killed. But they didn't know who it was. Even if every one of the Blessed could feel such a death, no one knew who all the Blessed were or where. No one in Dragonsreach had been killed.

We went off to mull this over, but Percy didn't join us back in our room. Later we learned that he wouldn't be coming back right away. Our reserved, helpful Percy had got into trouble. He's always been the butt of jokes and insults because he isn't a warrior. Some young militia members had been harrassing him and he'd felt forced to defend himself. Unfortunately he'd managed to do a serious injury to his foe. 

Hedrin ran into the companions of the injured person and had a little altercation. They were members of a company called the Wyverns. He tried to defend Percy against their insults, and ended up issuing a challenge. The winner would take the name Silver Claws and have the right to rename the other company. A clever prize, though looking back it makes me cringe to think what might have happened. Roland wasn't too pleased with Hedrin's challenge. The Silver Claws have a proud history, and he didn't want that sullied by a silly disagreement.

Cmdr. K'Von got behind this challenge quickly; later we learned he'd posted announcements everywhere. Instead of being angry he seemed proud of his son for defending a teammate. The next morning we arrived in the practice yard to find that every company in the militia seemed to be waiting there. We were reunited with Percy. The previous evening it had seemed that Hedrin would have to fight the Wyverns on his own, as Percy was terribly ashamed about hurting someone and didn't want to fight. But he'd changed his mind by morning. He couldn't let his team down.

Cmdr. K'Von chose the weapons, practice weapons thankfully, and explained that no magic would be allowed - which didn't prohibit Hedrin from using his warlock powers since that isn't ordinary magic but an innate ability. Then Hedrin and Percy faced off against two of the Wyverns. 

My heart leapt into my throat and down to my stomach during the combat. Hedrin took a couple of serious blows, but he dealt some serious ones as well. Percy was so agile with his stool, trapping the Wyverns' blades between its legs so Hedrin could get a clear shot. Then one Wyvern went down, and Percy went down, and it was hard to say if Hedrin could win. But Percy turned out to be playing a trick: he tripped the Wyvern fellow, and Hedrin knocked him over. Percy passed out after that - he's not a hardy person. 

Hedrin then had a moment of wisdom as he was asked what name he'd give to the losers. We'd joked before the fight about naming them all sorts of insulting things. But Hedrin realized that if we did that we'd only create further hard feelings. He left them with their own name, a name that has a history nearly as prestigious as the Silver Claws. I'll bet they'll be called the Mudfaces behind their backs for a long while, though.

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*Prophecy*

After that we felt a bit better about everything, and Percy wasn't punished any further. Then we got another surprise: Father Merrick told us that as part of our "counseling" we would be seeing the Seeress Shandaria! Over the next two days we met with Father Merrick one at a time to discuss our experiences of the two deaths, and what it meant to be among the Blessed. Perhaps someday I'll include that in this journal, but not now. It's still too fresh in my mind. 

On the third day we were each sent to the Seeress. She seldom comes down from her mountain, so it was both an honor and rather frightening. We were told not to ask any questions, and not to touch her. It seems that those who see her are only allowed one question ever within their lives.

The Seeress is a lovely woman of my own people, but wears a veil over her eyes. She told me only a single sentence, more of a warning than a prophecy. "Some books are not meant to be read." That was all. Of course, that's a great deal to me, as I love to read and believe information should be shared with all.

I was next to last of our company to see her. As I was on my way out of the temple I heard a commotion and an alarm was sounded. I couldn't restrain my curiosity and stepped back inside to see what was happening. To my shock I saw two priests hurrying out of the inner chambers carrying a stretcher - and on the stretcher lay Percy!

I ran back to our room to tell my friends, and we all set off at once for the infirmary. There were guards at the entrance, but Roland was able to quickly persuade them to let us pass. Then we met Father Merrick. We've seen more of him in the past week than I've seen in my whole life, I think. Or perhaps I should say his whole life, although it seems he's unusually long-lived for a human.

Father Merrick wasn't entirely certain what had happened, but it seemed that Percy had done both of the things we'd been told not to do in the presence of the Seeress: he'd asked her a question and touched her person. It wasn't out of foolishness or malice, though. Apparently when he came into the room the Seeress had suddenly cried out in pain and clutched at her head, and Percy had asked if he could help, then moved to catch hold of her before she fell.

The Seeress told Father Merrick that she had foreseen this would happen. It was meant to occur. Percy had "helped" her by taking on her power of prophecy for a short while, allowing her to spend a day as an ordinary person. Unfortunately her power was too much for an ordinary mind to bear, even one of the Blessed. As we stood outside the private room where Percy was being cared for, we could hear him babbling in a hundred different tongues, talking so fast that he could scarcely be understood.

The priests feared that this power might leave Percy permanently mad, as such a thing had evidently occurred before with just that result. But the Seeress seemed to think Percy would be all right. We were relieved that the priests didn't make us leave. We were allowed to stay in the room with him. No one knew whether touching him would have the same result as touching the Seeress, but Latan took a chance and laid a hand on him. He sat bolt upright in the big bed and suddenly cried out quite clearly something about "going for the heart", in Latan's native tongue, which I know as well.

Hedrin caught hold of Percy's shoulders when he sat up so suddenly, and now Percy began making strange snarling and growling sounds like a beast. Hedrin looked quite startled at this. When we came into the room we'd seen that there were five scribes present, all frantically writing down everything they could make out of Percy's ravings, but I don't know if any of them could understand the noises he made then. I found myself trying not to look at what the scribes wrote, wondering if this was what was meant by the Seeress's warning to me.

Quite a lot of other people came to see Percy, though I don't know if it was out of concern for him or only out of morbid curiosity. Not all of them were allowed in the room. Father Merrick stayed quite a lot of the time, listening to Percy's babbling. Once he snatched a piece of parchment from a scribe and stared at it intently. He was about to leave when Roland spoke. 

Roland wondered if touching Percy would give him more clarity about his prophecy. Latan wasn't very happy with this idea, accusing him of taking advantage of his friend for his own personal gain. Father Merrick stepped in and suggested that it would be wise to learn as much as we could since the Seeress had said this would last only a day. So against Latan's wishes Roland tried touching Percy. Percy spoke in a tongue I don't know, the native tongue of Roland's homeland, but it seemed to be quite significant to Roland. He looked very grave afterward.

Father Merrick then told us to leave for a bit and return after dark. He wanted to speak with Roland privately. I went to the library for bit and found one of my favorite books of poetry and a quiet corner to read, thinking that surely it couldn't do any harm to read a book I'd already read. But I found I couldn't concentrate.

When we returned Roland met us with a female companion: Shandaria! She looked quite ordinary now, her eyes unveiled. I forgot to mention that Percy's eyes had turned an opalescent white. This must be why the Seeress normally wears a veil. She'd been to the theatre with Roland. I felt great pity for her then. I don't want to know my own future, let alone those of hundreds of other people.

The Seeress seemed to know to the exact moment when Percy would recover. She predicted he might suffer from bad dreams, but otherwise would have no ill effects from this experience. After she departed we decided to stay the night in Percy's room. The priests, especially Hedrin's mother, who's a healer, had been casting restorative spells on him so that he was in good condition, although losing his voice a bit. 

I didn't touch Percy. I don't want to know anything else about my prophecy. I would think and worry on it too much. I didn't quite know what to do as we hovered over Percy's bedside. During the night I took a turn at dabbing his brow with a damp cloth and dribbling water between his parched lips, but it wasn't comfortable for me. Latan is a healer and took to it easily, and the others are so fond of Percy...  I just felt out of place.

Latan could tell the time quite accurately, and was watching Percy intently when on the following day he quite abruptly came back to normal and sat up, his eyes returned to their natural brown shade. He didn't recall much of what had occurred, which is a good thing I believe. He got up quite shakily, surprised to find himself so strong and tidy after such an ordeal (Latan had been keeping him clean with her spells all night). Father Merrick concurred that going home would be the best thing for him. So Hedrin walked him home. I gave him a hug before he left, feeling relieved to see him back as his usual self.

Father Merrick had given Roland a message earlier, scheduling another meeting with all of us together, but Roland had been so distracted he'd forgotten to tell us. He was very apologetic. When we met with the father, he told us more about the person believed to be killing the Blessed. This person is a holy warrior of Dragonsreach, Lerner Provol, who set out some 15 years ago to seek out the Blessed who don't live in Thesk and make a record of their blessings. He was once a member of another Silver Claws company. 

Father Merrick continued by telling us of this man's companions, who were like us all Blessed - a very unusual situation, he confided. Along with Provol had gone Diceros Sondaicus, a human wrestler who could withstand great pain; Creed, a human Shadowwalker of great stealth; Alyssa Dawnstar, an elven woman both warrior and mage; and her husband Palisara Machvalana, known as Chance, an elven archer who could tamper with the powers of magic. 

As we wondered what it was that had caused Lerner Provol to turn against other Blessed, we made many conjectures as to his motivation. Perhaps he thinks that some of the Blessed are some kind of abomination to the Lady. Perhaps he believes that their power steals power from her and weakens her. Or he may have come to think that by killing others he can absorb their blessings himself. Possibly the unidentified deaths we have sensed may have been those of his companions.

As we spoke of this, Roland decided to share his prophecy with us, feeling it pertinent to our situation. The Seeress had told him: "Ware the lion in black, for it seeks answers to the wrong questions; its silver claws are tarnished, its search gone awry". 
But when he touched Percy, he had heard words to this effect: "Grief and pain lie in your path. May sweet music and brave songs bring you ease until you find joy again". And also these words: "The lion knows you and the lion hunts you". 

Roland is convinced that Provol will seek him out and try to kill him. Latan argues that we should not place so much faith in prophecy. Father Merrick has told us that he was written a book, kept in the temple's private archives, which catalogs the blessings. He and the other high priest, Father Borabyl, will confer over whether to let us see this book. It made Latan angry that we might not be allowed to see it. I wondered if this was what my prophecy referred to, and told my friends. But on reflection, it occured to me that some books are not meant to be read because they are meant to be written.


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## Hairy Minotaur (Aug 30, 2005)

Wonderful beginning! Reads very much like a bardic account of events. I like it.


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## Devo (Aug 31, 2005)

VERY well done! More! More!

I especially want to hear more about this "Roland" fellow. Sounds like a real charmer!



D.


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## sniffles (Sep 1, 2005)

Devo said:
			
		

> VERY well done! More! More!
> 
> I especially want to hear more about this "Roland" fellow. Sounds like a real charmer!
> 
> ...




 

Now could you post a constructive comment, please?


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## sniffles (Sep 15, 2005)

*Dragon Days*

After the events and revelations of the past few weeks, it's a relief to have a mission. Though I must confess it's rather an unusual mission. We are not warriors in the traditional sense, as I've said before, but we are members of the city's militia. Thus is seems odd to me that we've been sent on what is essentially a trade mission.

We sailed to Milvarune to attend the Dragon Days festival there, and to seek out a Waterdavian merchant by the name of Steward Whitetree. This merchant is responsible for transporting trade goods all over the Realms, and the merchants' council of Dragonsreach wish to persuade him to bring his influence and transport network to our fair city. 

Upon reflection, I suppose this mission is ideally suited to Roland's knowledge and talent. He gathered a good deal of information about Master Whitetree from his contacts in the Raeburn household. Latan and I meanwhile did a bit of research in the Archives regarding the people of Waterdeep and what sort of goods might entice them to trade with us. At Roland's behest, we also purchased fine garments to provide us with a more noble appearance. I think Hedrin was not particularly pleased with having to "dress up", especially with wearing shoes. He complains that they press on his long nails. He was much happier when he was able to make a fishing trip with his father on the day before our departure.

Our journey to Milvarune was uneventful. I found I didn't adapt to shipboard life as quickly as I expected, but I suffered no ill effects. Gylf got along all right, though he spent most of the journey sleeping on my bunk. I'm afraid I smelled rather strongly of dog by the time we reached port. Latan kept trying to have little Isaura blow on the sails, though such a small air elemental could hardly make a handkerchief flutter. 

Once we arrived we proceeded immediately to the Lady's temple and met with a priest who had arranged for our lodgings. We are to stay in a very fine house owned by the temple. Ordinarily it would be let to visitors during the festival. We are very fortunate to have such sumptuous lodgings. We should be able to wine and dine Master Whitetree in style. The house is strategically located on the terraces overlooking the mountain pass. One can see the lower city quite clearly from the balconies, and there are lovely gardens to keep Latan comfortable. We have even been provided with a host of cooks, over whom Percy has taken immediate and surprisingly assertive command.

After being escorted to Silver Cottage by a young acolyte named Troy, Hedrin and I set off to see the captain of the city guard. We paid him a courtesy call to let him know of our presence, and advise him that we were not in Milvarune on militia business. He seemed pleasant enough in welcoming us, although he may have indicated some hard feelings toward Captain K'Von when he learned who Hedrin was. 

I've visited Milvarune before, but don't know my way about with any certainty. The city is larger than Dragonsreach, and its population is hugely swollen by visitors attending the festival. I hope I'll be able to give some recitations while we're here, though I must be circumspect about my choice of performance - I doubt Master Whitetree would be impressed if he thought one of his hosts was a common street performer.

After we saw the guard captain Hedrin wanted to look around the city. I don't believe his definition of looking around and mine quite agree. He actually wanted to look at just the city itself, while I wanted to look at all the things in the city. We should have a wonderful view of the wizard-works from Silver Cottage when the festival actually begins.

Latan seems a bit uncomfortable here. It is much more crowded than Dragonsreach. As a creature of nature she must find it distressing. I suspect she'll spend most of her time at our lodgings, enjoying the gardens. We haven't yet located Master Whitetree; there is someone of that name dwelling in Milvarune, but we don't yet know if this person is the relative the merchant is said to be visiting. I hope we won't have too much difficulty contacting him. But at least we will be able to enjoy the festival!


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## sniffles (Sep 26, 2005)

*Curiouser and Curiouser*

It seems that our visit to Milvarune will be interesting, but perhaps not in the way that we would prefer. While we were roaming the city, Hedrin suddenly began sniffing the air and exclaimed that he'd caught the scent of Laupik! In surprise, I rather foolishly responded, "But he's a giant!". Hedrin pointed out quite reasonably that he's also a shaman and probably has knowledge of spells to disguise or even alter his form. Hedrin tried to find from what direction the scent came, but the town was simply too busy.

Hedrin then decided that we should return to Silver Cottage at once to warn our companions. I resisted for a moment, and then gave in. I suppose it's just as well to be cautious. But once we returned to the house we found that Roland and Latan had gone out, and Percy had no idea where they were. Hedrin was very worried that they might run into Laupik, so we went out again to look for them. But we had no success. Again, there are simply too many visitors in the town at present. We went back to the house again, and this time found that Latan had returned on her own. She told us Roland was out and about. Hedrin wasn't happy about this, but there was no practical way to locate Roland, so we awaited his return. 

Hedrin and I had left immediately after being shown to the house, and had yet to choose our bedchambers. Silver Cottage is a bit pretentious as a name; while it isn't the largest house in Milvirune, it might better be called a mansion. The bedchambers are each as large as our barracks room. I selected one at the back of the house that opens into the charming garden. Hedrin chose one of the front rooms overlooking the town. Percy is really in his element here, ordering the servants about with aplomb. I've never seen him quite so assertive. 

Once Roland returned we told him about Hedrin's experience, and he in turn told us that he'd left a message for Master Whitetree with the captain of the Whitetree ship. There was little else for us to do then, other than enjoy our accomodations and the fine meal the cooks prepared for us. In the course of our explorations, we'd learned of a few persons of note who were in the town for the festival, including the bard Telemachus Steel, a famed Amazon jouster called Ruby, and several infamous chefs. We've all decided to participate in some of the activities and competitions that will take place during the festival. Hedrin will compete in swordsmanship, wrestling and running. I plan to try some poetry recitation and storytelling, and even entered the limerick contest, although I have no hope of winning against all the gnomes who dwell in the area. I think Roland will do some oration. Latan is not interested in giving any public performance, but she did offer to come with me and use her magic to enhance my storytelling.

Roland received a response to his invitation: Master Whitetree and his nephew will come to join us for viewing the fireworks that open the festival. A little presumptious, it seems, but Roland did invite him to come at his convenience. Hedrin's first sword bout is today at noon, and we plan to attend the opening parade this evening, so it will be a busy day.

Hedrin won all four of his sword bouts. He did himself proud. The parade was very enjoyable, with jugglers, tumblers, wild beasts, and even a hippogriff. Afterward we hurried back to the house to meet Master Whitetree. We found that he'd already arrived, along with his nephew Josef the cobbler. Master Whitetree is an older man of rather reserved demeanor. His nephew lives here in Milvarune, where he is a shoemaker as I said, and he seemed to feel a bit out of place at our somewhat formal gathering. I wonder why his uncle made him feel obliged to come. 

Master Whitetree declined most of our refreshments other than wine, and he and Roland spent much of the evening verbally fencing over why Whitetree should consider extending his transportation routes to Dragonsreach. He did seem a bit interested in Heritage, but I think it will be a hard job convincing him to come to the city. I found the whole conversation rather dull and tried to keep my own contributions lighter and more entertaining. The fireworks were spectacular. I tried to engage Josef Whitetree in conversation about the display, but had little success.

Latan was behaving a bit oddly the whole evening. At first I thought it due to her discomfort with the crowds, as it had been quite a press during the parade. But after Master Whitetree departed, she revealed that she'd somehow sensed he was an undead creature! I don't know how she could sense this, but I suppose it must be either one of the Lady's blessings or a talent of her people.

We all went off at once to the Lady's temple to send a message back to Dragonsreach. Roland spoke with Father Borabyl via a scrying bowl and told him of Latan's suspicion. It seems that the priests have suspected something similar, but had no proof. Oddly, when Roland attempted to determine if Master Whitetree was an evil being, he sensed no evil. We are on our guard now, but we have an appointment to go riding tomorrow with Master Whitetree. I wonder what revelations that occasion may bring.


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## sniffles (Oct 10, 2005)

*A Troubling Day*

Master Whitetree arrived before dawn to meet us for our ride, but prior to that we discussed whether we ought to reveal our knowledge of his 'condition'. We came to the conclusion that we would defer to Roland's judgement, but most of us - especially Hedrin - felt it would be unwise to broach that subject. Master Whitetree might see such a revelation as an insult or even a threat. 

He'd brought his nephew Josef with him again, although the cobbler didn't look at all pleased to be there. I wonder why the merchant persists in bringing his nephew along. I'm beginning to suspect it's simply because Josef is his only living relative. I have reason to believe the merchant is quite a lot older than he looks, at least for a human.

It turned out that Master Whitetree had a specific destination in mind for our ride together: he wanted to visit a family plot at a cemetery outside of the town. Latan had to ride alongside Hedrin to aid him with his horse, as he isn't an experienced rider, and animals always seem to react poorly to his presence. Percy was torn over whether to remain at Silver Cottage, but decided that his place was with the rest of the Silver Claws on our mission. I tried again to engage Josef in conversation, with no more success than the previous evening. Roland chatted with Master Whitetree about his travels, learning that the merchant has been all over Toril, even to far-off Maztica!

When we arrived at the cemetery we tethered our horses outside the gates, next to two huge statues of gargoyle-like creatures. Latan and Percy remained with our mounts for the moment. Master Whitetree led us toward a larger monument displaying a statue of a woman. Before I could read the insciption, I realized we weren't the only visitors in the burial ground. Several fierce-looking men resembling Tuigan barbarians rushed out of hiding from behind other monuments and mausoleums, brandishing weapons.

Hedrin raced over to aid Master Whitetree, as the barbarians seemed to be focusing their attention on him. I began to recite the most inspiring poem I could think of, from one of the sagas of the fall of Myth Drannor. We were obviously outnumbered. Latan came running through the gate and hurled a ball of flame at one of the attackers, but her flames flew wide. I wrapped my new duelling cloak around my arm and prepared to draw my blade. Poor Josef, being a shoemaker not a warrior, made for the horses as fast as his legs would carry him.

I was concentrating on my recitation, and on the two barbarians who were running toward me, so I didn't see all of what happened to Hedrin, but he evidently fell to a grievous wound. Latan rushed over to administer a healing spell, but she said later that at the time she wasn't certain it would be enough to save him. Then suddenly he sprang back to his feet and began stabbing and slashing at his opponents with amazing precision. At the same time, Master Whitetree seemed to stop moving and merely stood there as if unconcerned with the battle.

Percy came running in and stood beside me with his ever-present stool in hand; that is what made some of the other militia members in Dragonsreach fail to take him seriously as a fighter, but Percy is very clever with it. Unfortunately one of the barbarians struck him a heavy blow and he fell to the ground. I drew my wand of curing and gave him what aid I could. I had tried to cast a spell upon myself to make myself harder to hit, but one of the barbarians was too threatening and I lost my concentration. I took a fairly serious wound, but in the heat of the moment I hardly noticed. I suddenly felt that I could move with greater alacrity than usual, a blessing of the Lady. I decided to change my position on the field of battle and one of the barbarians struck me again, leaving me in very poor condition. The Lady's blessing gave me the swiftness to heal myself and then strike my opponent.

Roland began giving an inspiring oratory of his own. Latan hurled bolts of cold energy at the barbarians. Hedrin was still slashing and stabbing, augmenting his rapier with the mysterious energy he wields - Latan told me it was silver this time, the Lady's color, rather than its usual black! I kept slashing the barbarians with my thinblade, surprising myself with both my ability to attack succesfully and to injure them. Thanks to the Lady for all her mercy!

Roland shouted, "Press the attack whle they're still going for Whitetree's illusion!" I don't believe Master Whitetree had any illusion in effect; Roland was merely trying to mislead the barbarians. I made my way toward the monument where the merchant and Hedrin stood surrounded and disabled one foe, then used my greater speed to rush to the other side of the monument and attack once again - though sadly I failed to strike my target. 

Master Whitetree began moving again as abruptly as he had ceased, spinning and attacking my foe. I realized then that only one barbarian remained on his feet. We all attacked him as one, having seen that many of these barbarians were very hardy, and were further strengthened by their fury. Percy ran up behind me and administered a wand of curing, and Hedrin sent the last enemy to the afterlife with another blast of his silvery energy.

I sagged wearily against the monument, which turned out to be dedicated to Master Whitetree's wife. She had passed on some 60 years earlier - hence my claim that he is far older than he appears, as he looks like a man in early mid-life. He was covered with slashes, but there was no blood visible. Roland lent him his cloak to cover all the damage, as there was nothing we could do to help him other than a few mending orisons. Hedrin was even more exhausted than I, barely able to sit up. He thanked Master Whitetree very earnestly for helping him, though I didn't find out why until later. 

Latan searched the bodies of the fallen barbarians for any clue to their reason for setting upon Master Whitetree, but found little beyond a few gold pieces. Once we had recovered our strength a bit we gathered up the bodies in one place. It's amusing to me to realize that even then, when I was so weary, I was still stronger than any of my friends. Ada has always said I'm far stronger than I look.

The battle had happened so quickly that Josef hadn't even been unable to untie the horses properly, and was trying to ride off with the whole string of mounts in tow. Hedrin could barely get back in the saddle without assistance. We rode back to town and Master Whitetree took his leave of us after expressing gratitude for our aid. Then we returned to Silver Cottage to refresh ourselves. We'd all realized that though it was scarcely mid-morning, we had various competitions to participate in later in the day. Hedrin reluctantly drank a potion to restore some of his lost strength. He explained that when he'd fallen, he had seen a silvery plain that he could recall little of now. But somehow Master Whitetree had aided him. It was rather disturbing, but does not seem evil.

Hedrin managed to reach 23rd place out of 158 contestants in the swordsmanship contests, despite his diminished condition. Roland performed admirably in his recitation of "The Mirror of Her Eyes". And I was very pleased with my own performance of the "Lay of Release From Bondage", although I owe a great deal to Latan for her magical accompaniment. Tomorrow is the limerick contest, which should be entertaining though I have no illusions of my own success against gnomes and dragons. Hedrin will also be competing in a marathon run around the town. We can only hope that with the Lady's blessing, Master Whitetree will be grateful enough to come to Dragonsreach.


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## Zora (Oct 10, 2005)

Very nice!  Accurate, too!

The GM approves...


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## Devo (Oct 11, 2005)

Very excellent, Sniffles! What would we do without you? 


D.


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## sniffles (Oct 25, 2005)

*Popularity*

This visit to Milvarune is becoming more and more interesting, though it remains to be seen whether that is for good or ill. 

After my performance of "The Lay of Release from Bondage" concluded, Roland, Latan and I went out to enjoy ourselves a bit among the other festival-goers. I found I'd acquired some followers who seemed to be quite impressed by my recitation. I'm not certain whether to be flattered or embarrassed by their attentions, but I didn't deny them the opportunity to buy our dinners and purchase us rounds of drinks. I think their presence troubled Latan, though, as she soon retired to the cottage. 

Roland went off to seek companionship and entertainment elsewhere, and I found myself roaming about the town in the company of my new 'friends' for a time. When I returned much later to Silver Cottage I found that my friends were concerned over Percy's absence. He'd been gone many candlemarks and the other servants did not know where he was. Roland at last woke young Troy to ask him what he knew. Percy had evidently gone off to the Lady's temple. Roland was rather worried by the note he left, and he and Latan went off to the temple to seek Percy while Hedrin remained at the cottage to tell me what had occurred when I returned. 

When they came back later they told us that Percy was doing penance. He evidently felt very disturbed by having taken the life of one of the Tuigan barbarians who attacked us in the cemetery. I don't believe that the Lady holds him in any reproach for this, nor do any of the rest of us feel as mortified as Percy. But I suppose that if his all-night prayers gave him any relief from his pain then all is well. I feel oddly distanced from the deaths we caused. I suppose the festival and the affairs with Master Whitetree have kept morbid thoughts from my mind. 

On the following day Hedrin was scheduled to participate in the marathon. He woke rather later than he wanted but he needed the rest. Roland and I went to cheer him on at the start of the race. It winds all around through the hills about the town, so that it isn't possible for anyone to watch the marathon in its entirety. Hedrin had no illusions of winning, but he was very pleased that he was able to finish the race without collapsing from exhaustion as so many of the competitors did. 

In the evening I participated in the first round of the limerick contest. I did rather well, if I do say so myself. Better than I expected. Before that I cast a spell of healthful rest for my friends, who were all still a bit worse for wear after the fight at the cemetery and other exertions. Thank the Lady it's a very long-lasting spell. 

Roland has found a lady friend, a young lady named Mirrian who has evidently become very enamored of him - although I'm not certain how pleased Roland is by this development. He's too charming to show any dislike, however. While we were visiting a fine tavern Roland began encouraging all of my followers (they'd found me again) to chant my name until I was called on for an impromptu performance. I decided on a more humorous piece than my poetry recitation and told the story of "The Knight and the Chessmen", which seemed to entertain them all well enough. 

When we all got back to the cottage we found that Master Whitetree had contacted Latan and invited us to join him for the riddle competition on the last night of the festival. Latan had accepted and in return asked him to dine with us before the contest. It should be a most interesting evening. Roland had heard a few comments made about town when Master Whitetree retreated to his ship to recuperate after the cemetery experience. It's very odd to think that this man, who has a great wealth of knowledge and experience according to Hedrin, is also an undead thing. Perhaps not all such undead are evil as I'd always read. 

Hedrin had signed up for the wrestling challenge on the next day, and we all went to watch - by we I mean not only all our friends, even Percy, but also Mirrian and all of my hangers-on. I must admit I'll be glad to return to Dragonsreach and escape their attentions, although I'll also be sorry to lose their enthusiasm - no one at home will give me such flattery. Hedrin was first to be called to the ring, much to our surprise. But we were even more amazed when we heard the name of his opponent: Diceros Sondaicus, last year's winner of the contest - and one of Lerner Provol's companions! We didn't see any sign of his compatriots, though. 

He's an enormous man, nearly oblivious to pain that would crumple the rest of us. He grabbed hold of Hedrin the moment the match began, and Hedrin was obliged to use his claws to try to get free. I thought I heard bones pop when Sondaicus squeezed him. Then the huge man sent Hedrin flying across the circle like a child flinging a rag doll. Hedrin flipped over the instant he touched the ground and righted himself very cleverly. Then Sondaicus grabbed him again and squeezed even harder, and Hedrin went limp. Once Sondaicus had tossed him away again the healers rushed out and so did Latan. They wouldn't let her administer any of her healing magic to Hedrin. The healers had to minister to the claw wounds that Hedrin had given Sondaicus as well. Hedrin's silver and black energies seemed to have hurt the man a bit more than one might expect. 

Roland went over to congratulate Sondaicus, and in the course of the conversation remarked on the presence of a giant in town, which seemed to pique the huge man's interest. Hedrin had once again sensed the giant Laupik, and I think Sondaicus would have liked to pit himself against a giant. Roland didn't bother to tell him the giant is a shaman. 

Once he'd recovered, Hedrin told us that before the match began he'd said to Sondaicus that the Lady's priests would like to see him, and Sondaicus had responded by saying, "See you later" in a manner that didn't seem altogether friendly. I hope that the rest of his friends aren't waiting somewhere in town. I've no desire to meet them now.


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## sniffles (Nov 11, 2005)

*By the Lady's Command*

Roland mentioned to us later that he'd detected a definite sense of hostility from Sondaicus' hangers-on, but he was uncertain if it was toward him, or Hedrin, or just anyone who opposed Sondaicus' mastery in wrestling. Hedrin had recovered enough under the healers' ministrations to stay and watch the rest of the matches. Latan and Percy decided to return to Silver Cottage. In between matches, I overheard a rumor that other dragons than the local copper ones might make an appearance during the festival. When I told Roland, he speculated that they might be the Lady's children, which I'm ashamed to say I hadn't even thought of.

One of the leading contenders in the wrestling arena - other than Sondaicus - was a local gnome called Tybo. Everyone was looking forward to seeing him meet the champion. We watched Tybo meet with a monkish fellow who seemed very calm and imperturbable at the beginning of the match, but by the time the match was over he was getting quite irritated with the gnome's taunting and agile dodging. The monk spent more time chasing Tybo around the ring than wrestling with him, I think. But I couldn't help wondering how the gnome would fare against Sondaicus, who seemed so fierce and is so large. As we were told, Sondaicus' Blessing seems to be that he is better able to withstand pain than an ordinary person. When he wrestled any hurt done to him seemed just to fuel his energy rather than drain him as pain would do to most folk. I don't know if that would include the pain of embarrassment, however, which is what Tybo seemed best at inflicting.

In the evening after the matches Hedrin and Roland decided to go looking for Sondaicus, while I chose to let my new companions take me to dine at a very nice eating establishment. I quite enjoyed it. As I said before, I had decided I might as well enjoy being treated as a celebrity while I could - and on reflection that was probably the best choice. 

Roland and Hedrin found Sondaicus in a rough tavern. He didn't show much interest in discussing Dragonsreach or his other companions with them. It sounded to me like their conversation was not very productive. I was out very late, and when I returned to the cottage I found Hedrin had fallen asleep in the garden, so I heard nothing about his evening until the following morning.

The wrestling matches continued the next day, and Hedrin, Roland and I went once again to see Sondaicus perform. I think that Roland's new friend Mirriam was not really very pleased to be watching anything as crude as wrestling, but she didn't complain. Roland was rather distracted by her presence. She's a very attractive young human lady.

Eventually the much-anticipated match between Sondaicus and Tybo began, and Tybo was managing to keep out of Sondaicus' graps quite handily at first. Suddenly Hedrin exclaimed that he'd caught sight of Percy in the crowd. As I was wondering why Percy hadn't come to sit with us, Hedrin got up and went to him. I couldn't see what happened with them, for at that point Sondaicus managed to grab Tybo and began crushing the poor gnome in his tremendous grip. Then he let go, and Tybo fell to the ground as limp as a lock of hair. I think I forgot to breathe for a few heartbeats. 

Tybo was dead. Sondaicus had crushed him. He seemed not at all upset by this, Roland told us later. I was too shocked to notice. Roland commented that he thought the big man was only disappointed to have lost a worthy opponent. While we were all still staring in horror, I began to feel an odd but familiar sensation. Then Roland dropped and tumbled headfirst down the tiered wooden seats right to the ground. 

I managed to climb down on wobbly legs just as the healers ran to Roland. Mirriam was holding his head in her lap. He was alright; he's simply been so overcome that he lost his balance. Hedrin rushed off to assure himself that Percy was alright. Once I saw that Roland wasn't seriously hurt I hurried back to the cottage to check on Latan, who had chosen not to come with us to the wrestling contest.

I arrived back at the cottage just in time to see Percy going in, and Hedrin came rushing up just a moment later. Percy was upset but unharmed. We found Latan in the garden as usual, but she was lying on the ground looking up at the sky and weeping, so I knew she'd felt it too. She already knew that it was Tybo who had passed. She managed to gash her head when she fell, though she didn't notice until she got up. 

Latan told us that she'd had a strange vision when Tybo died. She'd felt as if his spirit tried to enter into her, and then had sensed some other force pulling him away. This appears to confirm our worst fears about Lerner Provol. It seems that he may have learned a way to steal the Lady's Blessings from others when they die, and is intentionally causing the deaths of some of the Blessed for this purpose. Strangely, when she touched Tybo's spirit, Latan learned a great deal about him. She discovered that he was apparently being trained to track Provol and the others, even though the gnome didn't come from Dragonsreach. We don't yet understand what is behind this revelation. I suppose it will be some time before we learn.

Hedrin was furious and wanted to have the militia out after Sondaicus, but we dissuaded him. After all, it could easily be claimed that Tybo's death was an unfortunate accident. We decided we'd better get in contact with the temple in Dragonsreach at once and tell them what had happened, so we hurried to the local temple and asked the priests to use their enchanted bowl again. 

Communication with the temple was rather odd this time. Father Borabyl answered the summons, but not right away, and he seemed rather harried, shouting at something we couldn't see. There were little voices tittering and bright lights in the background of the view the bowl's waters presented. Father Borabyl explained that the Seelie Court was visiting Heritage! I was immediately sorry I wasn't home to see, as I think Latan was as well, since she has little contact with her fey kin. 

Father Borabyl finally had to cast a spell of _silence_ around himself to quiet the fey folk so he could talk with us. Latan described in more detail how she'd heard a strange chanting when Tybo's spirit was drawn away. Hedrin explained that when he'd seen Percy just before Tybo died, Percy had looked very sad and seemed to know what was going to happen, but Percy didn't recall having been at the match at all! Unfortunately some of this information I think got lost, as the fairies were harrassing Father Borabyl again until he invoked the Lady's name to subdue them. 

Once we'd shared our knowledge with Father Borabyl and had been advised to stay away from Sondaicus - not a warning I needed, I must say - we began arguing over what we should do next. Hedrin still thought Sondaicus ought to be accused of murder. He's right, but I doubt the Milvarune militia would see it our way. It doesn't matter now, for as we were discussing this we all felt abruptly overwhelmed by the presence of the Lady. 

She appeared to us in her usual guise, as a beautiful silvery elven woman. She had a mission for us of much greater import than arranging for Master Whitetree to come to Dragonsreach, or even discovering what Lerner Provol is up to. Someone desperately needs our help. This person carries a book called the _Cyrinishad_, supposedly the true story of Cyric. Cyric wants this book at all cost. It is such a powerful artifact that even the gods cannot destroy it. It has been disguised with spells so that no one may scry its location, and its bearer -  who is also its author - is accompanied by a protector, but this protector must be away or unable to serve, because we are needed to get the bearer to a new hiding place. If Cyric could lay hands on this book, he could cause even the other gods to be swayed by his will.

I think I know now that there are indeed books that are not meant to be read.


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## sniffles (Dec 12, 2005)

Our visitation with the Silver Lady took only a few moments, but when I became aware of the ordinary world again I realized that it had taken no time at all! The priest who was with us was rather confused when Roland grasped him by the elbow and began urgently requesting all the curatives the temple could spare. Roland hustled him toward the temple stores while I persuaded him that he needn't seek the chief priest's approval in advance. Latan, Hedrin and Percy raced off to get horses for us, while young Troy hurried back to Silver Cottage to gather our personal possessions on our behalf. 

Once mounted, we set out rapidly for the docks and Master Whitetree's ship. It was late afternoon and the streets of Milvarune were full of revelers. Our horses did not so much increase our speed as make it easier for us to push through the crowd. As I've mentioned before, Hedrin does not get on well with animals of any kind, and he soon became frustrated with trying to control his mount and ran off on foot. 

We all managed to arrive at Master Whitetree's vessel at once despite having gotten separated in the crowd. It was a relief to find that he was expecting us and was prepared for immediate departure. Troy turned up only a few moments later with a carriage full of our belongings and two servants to unload them. Not that we had brought so much with us, but it did make boarding the ship much quicker. Troy had forgotten Latan's courtier's attire, which did not disappoint her in the least. I think she's taken to wearing more clothing only because it gives the rest of us comfort. Roland gave the boy a substantial reward for his faithful service and told the servants to enjoy the run of the cottage for another day.

As the ship drew away from the docks, I caught site of some of my new admirers waving farewell. I suspect it will be a long while before I can enjoy that kind of appreciation again. I doubt there will soon be many opportunities to give a recitation or tell stories to anyone other than my friends and the sailors. Roland's lady friend had also turned up to say goodbye, but he sadly had no time to spend with her. 

Our great hurry to depart at first seemed all for naught, as we had no idea how to find the woman Rinda. We only knew that she was somewhere outside of Milvarune and near water. 
I suppose someone must have been watching her in order to gather this much information, as we were told that even the gods cannot scry her location. We weren't told who had been spying on her. Or perhaps it was Cyric's followers who spied on her and followers of some other deity spied on them. No matter; we would proceed with what few clues we had been given. We didn't even know what she looked like.

We hadn't gone far from Milvarune when Hedrin, who had climbed up in the rigging, caught sight of a small boat on the shore. Hedrin, Roland and myself joined some of the sailors in a longboat and rowed to the spot to investigate. There was no one in the boat, which had been drawn up on a tiny bit of rock. Hedrin could find no tracks on the stones and the odor of the sea confused his sense of smell. Then we realized that the tide was coming in. We began shouting urgently for the boat's passenger to come out. 

Hedrin sensed her first; she'd hidden among the rocks. She came out warily, which I suppose I can understand, as no one could warn her that we were coming to her aid. She clutched a parcel tightly, just as I imagine I would clutch such an object were I to be given charge of it. We were able to convince her to go with us, though she was reluctant since her companion was still missing. I think only the encroaching tide really made up her mind.

Once Rinda was settled aboard the ship with every amenity Master Whitetree could provide, we set watches outside her cabin door. Near dawn, another vessel was spotted, and Latan, who had spent much of her time in the crow's nest, noted that it appeared to be on a course to intercept us. Master Whitetree ordered his ship to turn away, but the second vessel moved with amazing speed and in no time it had drawn alongside. Its deck was swarming with men, whose insignia I recognized as representing an organization called the Whisper Knives. I'll never comprehend why such groups choose to identify themselves to others. 

The Whisper Knives began boarding our vessel as fast as they could. I had taken out my bow and fired on them as soon as they were within range, but in the pre-dawn gloom it was difficult to aim. When they began to board I drew my blade and whispered a quick prayer to the Lady, feeling myself filled with her grace. I had an alacrity that is not ordinarily mine, but it did not make me a better swordswoman, only a quicker one. I was sorely wounded, as I had only my leathers and my dueling cloak to protect me.

I was on the forecastle and had my back to the rest of the ship, so I didn't see much of what my friends did in the struggle. Roland was in the stern with Captain Whitetree, shouting exhortations to inspire our courage. Latan fired spells from the crow's nest, and Hedrin attacked with claws, blade and eldritch energy amidships. Even Percy appeared and began pummeling Whisper Knives with his stool. But we were sorely outnumbered.

The affair went from bad to worse when a second ship appeared to port! Even more distressing, Latan shouted out that Diceros was aboard that vessel. My blood ran as chill as a mountain stream. I had a brief respite and managed to turn to look - just to see that Diceros was not alone. Lerner Provol stood on the deck of that other ship, preparing to leap across onto the deck of our vessel while jovially remarking, "Well, you've got yourselves in a bit of a pickle!".

Even that shock was eclipsed a moment later. Rinda had come up onto the sterncastle when the first approaching ship was spotted. Now she decided to retreat below decks, but she stumbled on the steps and dropped the casket that held the Book. It burst open and the Book tumbled out upon the deck.

I have always felt compelled to look at books, but never has the compulsion been so irresistible as when I saw that foul Book lying on the boards. I think I would have gone for it even had it been surrounded by demons. Then in my mind I heard the words Percy had spoken when he was possessed with the gift of prophecy: _"Some books are not meant to be read"_. The desire to look at the Book was snuffed out like a candle flame. 

Unfortunately my friends did not have benefit of that thought. Hedrin sprang across the deck like a cat Then the Book lifted up off the deck and began to float out over the waves like a leaf in a breeze. I realized that Latan must have sent Isaura to fetch it. As the air elemental flew away with the Book in her grasp, I saw a woman lift off the deck of Lerner Provol's vessel. She had been standing behind him, a dark woman with two black wolves at her side. She did not suit the description of any of his companions from Dragonsreach. As she flew out toward the hovering tome, Hedrin leapt across onto Provol's ship and then vaulted out toward the Book.

Lerner Provol shouted "Get back!" at the flying woman. The woman fired a blast of dark energy that resembled what Hedrin can produce, and the Book began to tumble toward the water. Latan screamed in anguish as Isaura fell, her form so insubstantial that she could not penetrate the water. Hedrin caught hold of the falling Book and began to plunge toward the sea with it clutched to his breast.

The dark woman swooped down and caught him like a huge raven swooping for its prey. Latan began trying to attack her with spells, then turned her fury toward the woman's wolf companions in revenge for her attack on Isaura. The woman deposited Hedrin on the deck of our vessel without relieving him of the Book. It had been my greatest fear that Lerner would get his hands on that terrible volume. Roland shouted out to him that the Lady had tasked us with protecting it, and demanded to know if Lerner still claimed to serve her. He did, though I'm not sure I believe him. But he seemed to know what the Book was and to have no interest in it. 

In the meantime the Whisper Knives had evidently decided that this was too much for them, as Lerner's companions were much more formidable than we were. They retreated to their ship and departed. Lerner announced quite casually that he meant to slay us, but that he would let us be while we protected the Book. He called the wolf woman back to his side and his vessel drew away. Hedrin was staring at her with a foolish expression on his face and they waved to one another in just the way that Roland's lady friend waved goodbye to him when we left Milvarune.

Now I suppose that we truly must stay with Rinda and the Book as long as we can, until we find some way of protecting ourselves against Lerner and his friends. Lady be with us. We will need your aid.


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## Hedrin (Dec 12, 2005)

*Hedrin goes in the Drink*

Our GM (Zora) had plans to tease my character (Hedrin) with a warlock woman nemesis. We weren't supposed to come anywhere near each other, but to hit each other with Edritch Blasts. We both have enhanced range on our Scent ability and we were to maybe scent the beastieness of the other. The other way would be to fail a will save after being hit with a EB, then we'd "taste" the beasty flavor of the blast. Eventually in the game we'd come togeter and realize that we were made for each other. Never did our GM think that we'd race headlong together to get the book and that after making will save after will save when she blasted me, she would finally came into physical contact with me and I rolled a natural 1 on the will save. Automatic catistrophic failure. I was totally smitten, and she was too. Then he had to watch the love of his life sail away with a boatload of homical maniacs. Roleplaying will be interesting next game.....


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## Devo (Dec 13, 2005)

I finally had a chance to ask Lerner what he was up to and who he served, but he never answered any of my questions. The bastage! Grrrr.


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## sniffles (May 10, 2006)

*placeholder*

Oh, criminy! That database failure really hit this thread hard. I'm not even sure how many episodes are missing. I'm going to leave a couple of placeholders for future updates, as soon as I can locate my notes for the missing sessions.

sniffles
_____________________

Well, I finally stumbled across some of my notes - nearly a year later. Oh well. At least I can fill in the gaps a little. 

Previously, our intrepid Silver Claws were en route to Candlekeep to deliver Rinda and the Book into the care of the monks there. As they approached the entrance, they were accosted by more Whisper Knives, who were evidently attempting to seize the Book. A struggle ensued and at the last moment the Silver Claws managed to get to the head of the line and beg aid from the monks. Recognizing Rinda and her burden, the monks sent the Whisper Knives packing and welcomed the Silver Claws to Candlekeep.

*The Wonders of Candlekeep*

We were welcomed by a monk called Halvor, who obviously knew who Rinda was already. I'd been worried that we hadn't anything to offer in exchange for admission, but evidently our presence as Rinda's temporary protectors was sufficient to gain us entry. 

Halvor placed us in the care of a monk named Daria, who remained our guide. Rinda was quickly hustled away to some private accomodations, while Daria conducted us to the guest dormitory. Roland was ready for a rest, but I couldn't wait to consult the stacks. I'm afraid Hedrin and Latan weren't terribly excited about visiting the archives. Neither of them have any great interest in books. 

As it happens, there's far more to Candlekeep than books and scrolls. It's a city of impressive towers, full of exotic visitors, and a seat of learning of many kinds. While I immersed myself in tomes on the draconic dieties and researching what the rest of the world knows about Dragonsreach, Roland joined a local debating society and impressed them with his rhetoric, and Latan was introduced to a group of druids who were doing some kind of research of their own. Hedrin discovered that there are other folk like him here as well, and soon had an opportunity to enjoy some physical training. 

After I'd satisfied my curiosity about the public image of Dragonsreach, I turned my attention to learning more of the Blessed in the world. There's not much to learn, at least not from any books in Candlekeep's library. I found only three volumes that mentioned people such as ourselves, and of those only two had any actual information other than a reference. The third book was of most interest: it contained a small amount of material written by none other than Merrick Ne'Tranel! It seems our Father Merrick may once have been a monk here himself. I'm surprised that I never heard rumor of this.

My studies led me on beyond the Blessed to the language of the ancient dragons, and I was soon so engrossed that I scarcely saw my friends. Archaic draconic is a subtle and powerful tongue, full of nuances that I can't yet fully comprehend. But I feel that I'm on the edge of a great discovery, if only I continue to apply myself diligently.

While I busied myself with ancient draconic, I didn't notice that we hadn't seen Rinda since our arrival. But I did prick up my ears when reunited with my friends one evening and Roland mentioned someone he'd met. He'd come across an older monk by the name of Breonne Ne'Tranel - the brother of Father Merrick. Evidently he has some knowledge of the Blessed, and Roland has been able to arrange for us to meet with him - no mean feat by Roland's description.


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## sniffles (May 10, 2006)

*placeholder*

*Waterdeep*

I'm afraid that when we arrived outside of Waterdeep I was completely insensible. Roland had suffered the same response to a view of the fey realm, as had our poor unfortunate coach driver. Once Roland revived he set to work trying to awaken and pacify the driver, who was naturally rather distressed at finding himself no longer near Candlekeep. 

The road into the city was quite well traveled, but as we continued our journey with our flustered driver we observed that this didn't prevent a group of orcs attempting to ambush a group of merchants. Their efforts didn't get them far. There were too many people on the road to let an ambush pass without providing assistance to the victims in driving off the brigands. 

We entered Waterdeep through the south gate. Waterdeep is an amazing place, so full of life and so cosmopolitan. As we traveled to the inn I put my head out and stared all around at the colorful people I saw passing by, identifying the costumes of many distant lands, even visitors from as far away as Chult. The sky overhead was full of flying people, some flying by magic on their persons and others being transported by magical devices or flying creatures. Roland caught sight of a rider on a griffon and conceived a desire to try this himself. I would have joined him in that endeavor, but we quickly learned that it was far too costly for our purses.

After we made our way to the Tree of Life, an inn Latan had found in a guidebook she'd read at Candlekeep, Roland and I were eager to explore the city. But Latan and Hedrin weren't so enthusiastic. We wandered out of the inn for a while, roaming the streets and eating far too much at various vendors, until we were so tired we had to return to the Tree of Life and collapse in our comfortable beds.

On the following morning Latan and Hedrin decided to go to the wharfside district to seek the offices of Master Whitetree and look for a way to gain our coachman return passage to Candlekeep. Roland wrote a courteous note to Khelben Blackstaff asking when we might meet with him. Then he and I set off to see more of the city.

There were performers everywhere, of every type and race and quality. Eventually we happened upon an area where posters were hung with information about performances being held at the New Ollam College, which we were both naturally eager to see. According to one poster, an avatar of Jaedrig Pol himself was scheduled to appear in the following evening! 

Excited by this, Roland and I headed for the college. We heard the most excellent muscial performances while passing through the tunnel that leads to the promontory where the college is situated. Along the way Roland kept me amused by expertly imitating the accents and speech patterns of the locals. 

While we were standing in the courtyard of the college admiring everything, Roland overheard a man bemoaning the fact that he had tickets to Jaedrig's performance but wasn't able to attend. With his usual charm, Roland was able to persuade the man to part with them for 20 gold pieces each. Our only difficulty now is that we have only 4 tickets and there are 5 of us!

*Quips & Quotes for this session:*

Jubilee: "Did we get XP for seeing that?"

Devo: "We're going up to C7 and C4 on the map. We're blowing up C4."


_____________________________________________________________________________
*The Performance of a Lifetime*

Roland and I had the immediate mission of seeking more tickets to the performance. We also overheard that the Lord of Waterdeep would be attending! 

I searched for books in several shops as we made our way back to the inn. When we arrived we learned that there had been a message from the Blackstaff seeking to meet with us on the evening of the performance. Hedrin would have been glad to get home right away, I think, but Roland and I were so crestfallen by the idea of missing Jaedrig's appearance that he gave in. Roland composed another note to the wizard to ask that he allow us another day. 

Percy turned out to have been busy in our absence; he'd acquired a chest. It turned out to be a magical chest, capable of holding far more than its exterior would allow. He'd packed it full of all sorts of spices and ingredients. There was even a cooking fire tucked in the bottom! When the chest is shut the fire is put into a kind of stasis. Percy was so eager to get this chest and its contents that I think he gave up some of his own personal possessions in exchange for it. He seemed inordinately proud of his acquisition.

The next morning we received another reply from Khelben. As it turned out, he would be attending the performance too, and quite understood our desire to remain in Waterdeep a bit longer. Roland sent him a note to thank him for his kindness and went off to the wharfside to negotiate passage home for our coachman, who'd been spending far too much time enjoying the Tree of Life's selection of beverages.

Latan guided us all to the palace of Waterdeep for a tour of the grounds once Roland's mission was accomplished. As evening neared we all put on our best attire and hired a carriage to take us to the college - the coachman was rather worse for his indulgence and didn't know his way around the city in any case. 

Our seats turned out to be excellent. We couldn't have asked for better. When the audience had settled on the cushions, the curtains drew open and without any fanfare Jaedrig Pol walked onto the stage and began to tell a story. He told the story of the Time of Troubles and how he came to be a god. I'd never heard the story from his perspective before. I could visualize every scene as he described it as though I'd seen it myself. 

Somehow, despite being thoroughly engrossed in his tale, I still managed to look around at the rest of the audience and realized that seated in a box to my left were several people who bore a striking resemblance to his companions in the story. I was left wondering if these people were really his companions, or if he had merely based his description on the people in the box. I suspect it was the former. I wish I could have met them.

Once he'd finished his moving story, Jaedrig abruptly disappeared. We had all been sitting still and quiet as cats, and now we realized we'd done so for an entire night! But I'm not at all tired. I'll have to transcribe his story as soon as I can. That saga will be something to keep the historians occupied for months on end!

*Quips & Quotes:*

Zora: "A chapbook - is that like a chaproom?"

Jubilee: "Could I put food in my familiar pocket and keep it fresh?"
Devo: "You'd have to ask your familiar."
Hedrin: "And then if you ate it you couldn't have any more for a year and a day."


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## sniffles (May 10, 2006)

*For Service to Faerun*

(Note: This summary is for the session that took place on May 5, 2006.)

I was so busy chatting with Darbin Merryweather about New Olamn that I didn't even know my friends had caught sight of Father Merrick in the audience leaving the theatre. Apparently they went to great lengths in an attempt to catch his attention, all without success. Latan even took a short side trip to the Lady's shrine, hoping he would repair there after the performance. 

When she returned to the theatre I was still in conversation with Merryweather, a charming older human gentleman. I indicated to him that I could make no immediate decision about joining the college and he seemed to find that a satisfactory response. I must admit it was very difficult not to simply cry, "Yes! Yes!".  But I am in service to the Lady, and that is a responsibility I cannot lightly put off.

As it was nearly dawn by this point we returned to the Tree of Life. We had to hurry to see off the carriage driver to the dock where his ship departed. He wouldn't let us ride in the carriage; I believe he thinks we're cursed somehow. Roland jokingly promised that should we ever return to Candlekeep we would make it a point not to hire him again. After we said our brief farewell to him we went back to the inn for a few hours of rest.

Once we had rested Latan and I went to view a menagerie of strange creatures, while the boys went to the market with Percy, who's determined to stuff everything he possibly can into his enchanted chest. The menagerie was fascinating but rather sad. Surely all those lovely creatures would be better off in their natural state. I think Latan would have set them all free if she could. She became quite determined to find a tressym to purchase, although such animals are far too dear for her budget. On reflection, it's odd that she would want to buy a tressym when she was so eager to release the animals from the menagerie. Ah, well, there's no explaining the ways of the fey folk.

Percy discovered that his chest has even more wonderful features than he first thought. He'd been so excited buy his purchase that he didn't read the instructions. The chest can not only hold far more than it should be able to, and hold its contents in magical stasis so they don't decay - it can also be made to reduce in size (which would have been convenient for Percy when he brought it back to the inn), to lock or unlock at a command, and even to vanish into an interdimensional pocket! What an amazing object. 

At last our appointment with the Blackstaff arrived, and we took a carriage with all of our belongings to his windowless, doorless black tower. An apprentice named Maresta emerged from within the tower to meet us by merely stepping through the solid stone wall. I'm certain that must have been more than a mere illusion. Once inside we were conducted to a waiting area. After a short time a woman with silvery hair stepped through another wall and introduced herself as the famed Laeral, Khelben's paramour (perhaps even his wife, or so I've heard). 

Laeral was in no great hurry to open the portal, and listened with interest when we told her the tale of our experiences in Candlekeep and Waterdeep. When we had told her all we felt comfortable sharing, she made a few arcane gestures and a dark opening appeared in the air before us. Laeral told us it would take us directly to the temple in Dragonsreach, should the Lady will it so. 

Hedrin stepped through first. As I followed, I found myself emerging into a chamber that I recognized as being part of the Lady's temple, though I didn't know precisely where in the temple it lay. We were met by a priest, someone I didn't recognize, though Latan knew him. She also knew the way out of the temple from that chamber. We went at once to report to Commander K'Von.

Commander K'Von greeted us with an unexpected warmth - he shook our hands, and even met his son with enthusiasm! He told us that in two days a ceremony would be conducted in our honor, to reward us for the service we had performed for the people of Faerun. We could bring members of our families, but otherwise the ceremony would of necessity be small. Naturally only a few people could be allowed to know what we had done in Candlekeep.

I went straight home to tell _Naneth _ all about my adventure in Candlekeep - although I didn't mention Brionne getting angry with me, or nearly being evicted. I don't think Naneth would appreciate that. She's been to Candlekeep herself, of course. We hardly stopped talking long enough to rest and eat. _Ada _ came in and sat quietly listening, as he always does. I love my dear _Adarinya_.

The ceremony was held at dawn deep inside the Lady's mountain, in a chamber I've not seen since I was first presented to the Lady, and will likely not see again for a long while. We passed through a massive pair of silvery doors. Despite being in the heart of the mountain the room felt warm and welcoming. We prayed with Father Merrick, and I felt as if the Lady stood beside me listening to my every word.

Which in fact she did. The Lady herself appeared to thank us. That is an experience so wonderful I have no words to describe it. How can one define a goddess with mere words? Perhaps if I knew how to write properly in the ancient Draconic script I might come near to being able to write of it. I must seek out that tome I was told of by the archivists of Candlekeep. I still dream of someday seeing the Lady in her natural form, as a dragon, and now I also dream of being able to converse with her in the ancient tongue of her people. But all of that went out of my mind during the ceremony, replaced by a joy and sense of well-being that I wish I could cling to all the days of my life. It is such an honor to serve her.

The Lady presented each of us with a gift of appreciation for our service to her and to the people of Faerun. Percy received a silver torc. Roland's baton was given an enchantment. Latan received a ring. Some magic was added both to Hedrin's rapier and to my thinblade. Through my blade I now have access to spells I could not have known before. The Lady placed a rune upon the blade to contain the spells. And through her power, only we can access the special magics she imbued these items with. Should my blade ever fall into the hands of another, it will be only a finely crafted thinblade. 

As a final reward, we've been permitted to take three months free of militia duties. 
I believe Roland plans to visit his family in Sembia, and Latan may go with him. Hedrin intends to continue working with the militia even though he's not required to do so. I think he may be trying to get closer to his father. It makes me feel glad that I am so near to my own _Ada_, though he's so often away from home.

I intend to spend my time writing. I have Jaedrig's tale to transcribe, and Rinda's story as well. If I can make the story of the Time of Troubles what I truly wish to make of it, perhaps I can submit a copy to Candlekeep in token of appreciation for their hospitality. And of course there is the book on the Draconic tongue to read... 



Quips & Quotes for this session:

Devo: "They audit a prestige class."

Zora: "He likes dice."
Devo: "They're good with rolls."

Devo: "I got a +1 club. I'm going clubbing!"


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## sniffles (May 30, 2006)

*Three Short Months*

I neglected to mention that we had one last 'mission' prior to our three months of leave. Commander K'Von asked us to test some potential new recruits to the Heritage militia. On the morning following the award ceremony we met in the practice yard to find ourselves facing six people who appeared to be from one of the less civilized parts of Faerun.          By their attire I gathered they were from Narfell. 

I expected to be providing them with a demonstration of tactics, or perhaps sparring with practice weapons, but Commander K'Von had a harsher demonstration in mind.    The newcomers were to face us with real weapons. I noted that there were several priests from the Lady's temple on hand to prevent any fatal wounds. 

The newcomers didn't demonstrate much in the way of tactics of their own. Their fighting style appeared to be focused on personal prowess, which I suppose I should have anticipated. Not surprisingly, they misjudged us; we don't look like seasoned warriors. They assumed Latan would be weak because they saw her casting a protective spell on Gylf, and they completely disregarded Percy -  more fools they were. 

Roland began an inspiring oration and the newcomers charged.  We made a good demonstration of our flanking techniques. I have to admit that despite their lack of teamwork the new arrivals are strong fighters. The combat could easily have gone against us with one well-placed blow. 

Hedrin was hurt rather badly. He was focusing more on use of his rapier than his eldritch powers, I think due to his father's encouragement. Before the fight began, Commander K'Von had to give the new people a brief lesson in the effectiveness of a rapier in the hands of a master swordsman. 

Percy demonstrated once again how effective he can be when he took one of the new people out with a blow to the head from his stool. Poor Gylf could never set his teeth on the fellow I directed him to attack, but at least his presence distracted that opponent a bit and gave me a slight advantage. I waited a short time before calling on the Lady's Blessing, but since we were outnumbered and they were showing such strength I decided to use every advantage I had at my disposal.

The new arrivals all chose to remain in Dragonsreach when given the opportunity. Their squad has been dubbed the "Newts", which is of course an insult, but they seem to bear it well.

We've been given sad news. After the combat demonstration, we dined with Hedrin's family and his mother told us that assassins had managed to infiltrate Candlekeep and slay both Rinda and her protector. The current whereabouts of the Book are of course unknown. I will have to make time during my leave to flesh out what I've written of Rinda's story. It seems even more important now to remember her. 


I've certainly left this journal untouched lately! I've been far too occupied with transcribing the saga Jaedrig told during his performance in Waterdeep. _Naneth _ has been a great help during this effort. She's a bit dubious of the veracity of some of Jaedrig's claims - just because he's a god doesn't mean he's honest, I suppose - but she finds the story just as fascinating as I do. Thanks to the Lady's gift to me, I can make as many copies of my manuscript as I like using the second rune she inscribed on my sword. I'll be sending a copy of the finished manuscript to Candlekeep shortly. 

Now I must turn my attention to Rinda's biography. I wish I knew more about Gwideon - I'd gladly write his biography as well if I could.

While I was busy writing my friends have all been occupied as well. Hedrin has been made a captain and has been responsible for training the Newts. Roland returned to Sembia to visit his family - sometimes I forget that the Raeburns aren't his true blood relations. Latan went along with him, as did Percy, but after their initial visit she and Percy went to Cormyr so she could seek out a tressym. Roland remained in Sembia and worked for his father. 

Latan and Percy returned to Dragonsreach with not one but four tressym. Latan found three orphaned kittens and was able to recruit an adult female tressym to serve as a sort of nursemaid for them. I believe she plans to adopt one of the kittens as her companion or familiar when they are old enough. 

Now that our leave period is up, we've been assigned a patrol in company with the Newts. There are reports of drow in the mountains.

*Quips & Quotes this session:*

Zora: "Who put four-and-twenty fiendish blackbirds in this pie?"

Hedrin: "I've fallen and my Charisma can't get up!"

Zora: "The barbarian rages some more!"
Jubilee & sniffles: "Double rage."
Devo: "Double secret rage."
Zora: "I double-dog rage you!"

Devo (to Jubilee): "You should take that feat next level, and then take the feat that lets you run the game."
Zora (he's the GM): "I wish _I _ had that feat."


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## Hedrin (May 30, 2006)

sniffles said:
			
		

> Hedrin has been made a captain and has been responsible for training the Newts.




We determined that captain was too high a rank for what we wanted to do. He ended up a  Sgt. Major.

Hedrin


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## Zora (May 30, 2006)

*GM Intervention!*

I'll rarely -if ever- correct someone's writeup, as it's coming from their character and allows for mistakes, things being misheard, etc.

The "captain" thing was definitely my error.  I am notoriously bad with military-esque ranks, and have said so on many occasion.

I think Hedrin was EXTREMELY shocked to find he made captain, until with some help I looked them up and realized my error.

My sincerest apologies to Hedrin for that mistake.


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## Hedrin (May 30, 2006)

Zora said:
			
		

> I think Hedrin was EXTREMELY shocked to find he made captain, until with some help I looked them up and realized my error.
> 
> My sincerest apologies to Hedrin for that mistake.




Don't worry about it. Sgt. Major makes much more sense for the character anyway!

Hedrin


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## sniffles (Jun 26, 2006)

*The Saga of the Ice Fangs*

After our months of other activity it was strange yet comfortable to return to militia duties. The Silver Claws were not given any immediate orders, but we were told that we should shortly be sent on a mission of some importance. Drow had been observed on the surface in the mountains near Milvarune.. There is an unspoken agreement that so long as they remain in the Underdark, the Lady has no quarrel with them.

On this journey it wouldn't be only the Silver Claws, however. The Ice Fangs, as the newcomers from Narfell have been dubbed, would be joining us. As Hedrin had been training them during our leave, this seemed like a wise choice. They had benefited from their training for those few months. There are six members of the Ice Fangs; Grond is nominally the leader by virtue of his great strength, but it's Helga who does the decision-making. Left to his own devices Grond would just try to overpower everything with brute force. Grond's brother, Gorm, also helps to keep him in line. And Tarsus the priest adds some much-needed wisdom to their unit.I can't say much about Hilda and Jarl beyond that they're strong warriors and not quite as reckless as Grond.

We were making our way toward the mountains near Milvarune when Hedrin and Gorm stumbled on some unusual tracks. They were so surprised by the size that they didn't recognize what type of tracks they were seeing until Roland exclaimed that they were dragon tracks! We made a thorough search of the area for any other evidence, and all of us nearly banged heads when we spotted the scale embedded in a tree. It was a black scale. 

We hadn't any messenger birds to send back to Dragonsreach, nor any spells that would do the trick. We considered sending someone from our party back, and Hedrin offered to go, but Roland decided we ought to get more information first. He concluded that the best way to do that would be for our two units to split up and search separately. The Ice Fangs were ordered to follow the dragon tracks and see if they could find out what it was up to - but they were strictly told not to engage it or attract its attention. Easier said than done, as it transpired.

What follows is what I learned when they returned. *(Player's note - this adventure hasn't concluded yet - hopefully at least one Ice Fang will live to tell the tale!)* Gorm led his companions after the dragon, being the best at tracking in their group. But even he couldn't follow tracks onto rocky ground. Then Helga and Hilda noticed something among the rocks and climbed up to investigate. 

It was the remains of a deer or elk, but so little was left that it was hard to identify. They were about to move on when Helga noticed something large causing some nearby trees to thrash about. Deciding that caution is the better part of valor, she shouted for her companions to run for the shelter of another copse of trees. As they ran they heard a mighty roar.

Within the trees they discovered a crevice in the rocks. Needing cover from their pursuer, they all scrambled into the crevice. There was no doubt it was the dragon chasing them when it began roaring and clawing at the entrance of their bolthole. Luckily Gorm had learned a little of the draconic tongue during his time in Dragonsreach and understood it to be bellowing something about how no one could know of its presence. He also managed to catch its name: Bramahthranaxian. Evidently it's not a very intelligent dragon, though by its size it is fully grown.

The Ice Fangs kept moving through the crack in the rock, trying to get as far away from the dragon as they could in case it breathed on them. Helga is a druidess and summoned a light to guide them. It was as dark as the Underdark in that crevice. They kept moving, hoping the narrow passage would eventually emerge somewhere on the slopes away from the dragon. 

After a good while they came upon a sheer drop, rimmed by a narrow ledge. Gorm thought the ledge had been made by intelligent creatures rather than the forces of nature. Since their only other choice was to go back the way they had come, they decided to risk the ledge. Hilda and Tarsus had to remove their armor for fear of overbalancing, and everyone strapped their shields to their backs. 

To their disappointment the ledge led down rather than up as they'd hoped. They heard some odd scrabbling noises as they began to shuffle along the ledge. Then a huge limbless creature emerged from a tunnel overhead and snatched up Hilda! 

Helga cast a spell on herself to enable her to climb the wall like a spider and ran up to engage the monster. Grond ran at it and struck it a might blow with his sword. Then a second monster emerged! Fortunately Hilda managed to wrench herself free of the first creature's jaws. It snapped at Grond then but he dodged it and lopped of its head. His companions got rather short shrift in the telling of the story, I'm afraid. 

The second creature grabbed Jarl. Grond then made a mighty leap right over the monster and again struck such a mighty blow that it died at once - but it began to fall into the abyss with Jarl still in its jaws! Only a joint effort by Hilda, Helga and Gorm snatched Jarl back from the brink of the cliff. He on the other hand, was rather put out that he lost his sword.

As the Ice Fangs were meant to meet us in a few hours' time and the ledge continued downward, they decided to risk going back to the entrance of the cave, hoping that Bramahthranaxian would have given up and departed by the time they reached the outside.

The rest of their tale will have to wait until I have time to transcribe it.



*Quips & Quotes:*

Hedrin: "Grond had to go on the special bus."  _(Grond has a 6 Int)_
sniffles: "He missed the special bus."
Hedrin: "No he didn't - it hit him every day."

Jubilee: "I have to eat a live spider to cast _spider climb_?!"   
Zora: "It's Eschew Materials, not Chew Materials."


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## sniffles (Jul 24, 2006)

*Face to Face With a Black Dragon*

As the Ice Fangs were making their way back to the cave entrance, we of the Silver Claws had returned to the appointed meeting place to find that the Ice Fangs hadn't arrived. We waited a short while, then began searching for them. 

Hedrin was soon able to determine that the dragon had definitely gone in the same direction that the Ice Fangs had taken. Of course that worried us. It worried us even more when Hedrin and Latan noticed animals apparently fleeing something that lay ahead of us. Hedrin went ahead to scout. He soon reappeared to warn us that the dragon was attacking something, probably the Ice Fangs by the sound of it - though he couldn't actually see what was happening as the dragon had surrounded himself with a globe of darkness. 

We rushed out to help our companions, though I wasn't certain how as we couldn't see well in the dim lighting. There was a good deal of shouting coming from within the shadowy illumination. Poor Roland and Percy were left behind - they just aren't as quick as the rest of us, particularly when Latan lifted off into the air, raised by a pair of insubstantial silvery wings! But Roland began chanting an inspiring story of the Lady's deeds to encourage us. When I drew nearer to the dragon I had a thought and started reciting the same story in time with him so the Ice Fangs could better hear it.

Hedrin fired off a blast of his eldritch energy, which turned silver as it spread from him to strike the dragon - a sign of the Lady's favor, no doubt. He bellowed at the dragon to leave or face the Lady's wrath. I drew my bow and began firing at it, but it's armor was too tough and I couldn't aim well when I couldn't properly see it. Latan drew out a wand and sent several arcane missiles hurtling at it, which seemed to strike their target surely.

From within the darkness near the dragon's head - we could see its' tail protruding from the shadow so we knew which way it faced - the dragon spat a stream of acid at Hedrin. Then we heard Helga shout out its' name. Roland called out to it by name and warned it that other dragons were on the way to enforce the Lady's will. 

Bramathranaxian didn't appear inclined to listen at first, but Roland's words must have given him pause, as he ceased attacking the Ice Fangs. Latan was able to help them get out of immediate reach of his fangs. Gorm and Hilda were badly hurt and Grond was in a red-faced fury. Latan did what she could to heal their wounds. I would have gone to help but I was on the opposite side of the dragon and didn't want to cross him.

Roland kept talking in a reasonable, measured manner, and this convinced Bramathranaxian to stand down. His shadowy 'cloak' vanished. Roland correctly surmised that the only cause for a young black dragon to be in the Lady's territory was that he had no home and had somehow been coerced. Roland's honeyed words convinced him that it would be wiser to depart and seek some other dwelling place, and that the Lady would deal with whomever had threatened him. It didn't hurt that he was obviously aware of the embarrassing fate of the red dragon who tried to directly threaten Dragonsreach a year ago. 

He might have been a rather rash young dragon, but he was not a stupid one. He made a few threatening swoops at us, particularly at Latan as her missiles had hurt him, and then flew off, leaving us to attend to the Ice Fangs. 

I learned later that Bramathranaxian had rather cleverly positioned himself at the mouth of the cave and encircled himself in darkness so the Ice Fangs would be unable to tell when they reached the egress. Gorm had all but walked into the dragon's mouth. He would have had Bramathranaxian been older and larger. 

At least we've dealt with that threat, thank the Lady. But now we still must seek the drow and try to at the least confirm their presence. I hope we'll have less trouble with that task.



*Quips & Quotes:*

Zora: "Do a Perform (Nature)."
Hedrin: "Okay." (pretends to unzip his fly)

Zora: "You sense that there is a disturbance..."
Jubilee: "... in the Forest."

Hedrin: "I broke my Hide."
Devo: "I tanned mine."

Zora: "Bite the tongue that eats you."

Zora (to the tune of 'Hooked on a Feeling'): "Hooked on a molar..."
Devo (to the tune of 'Thanks for the Memories'): "Fangs for the memories..."

Zora: "It's pitch black."
Devo: "Is Riddick in there?"

Devo: "So are you using your magic missiles to attack the darkness?"

Zora: "Jarl heals 11 points to Gorm."
Devo: "So you can stand up and provoke an attack of opportunity!"


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## Devo (Jul 24, 2006)

Roland has an embarassingly high Diplomacy skill. Sometimes I'm afraid I'm dominating the game with it. 


D.


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## sniffles (Aug 7, 2006)

*Sorrows and Blessings*

Finding the drow now seems the least of my concerns. These past three days have been bitter ones for we of the Silver Claws.

We had to expend much healing magic on behalf of the Ice Fangs, who were all badly hurt. Gorm had very nearly died and was too weak to travel on his own, though he kept insisting he was well enough. I cast a spell of _healthful rest_ during the first night to aid everyone's recovery. 

The following morning Latan and Helga summoned birds to carry messages back to Dragonsreach. We continued recovering our strength under their care and with the aid of Tarsus of the Ice Fangs, who will become a priest of the Lady soon I anticipate. Percy helped by preparing all sorts of dishes, far more exotic than one would ordinarily expect to dine on in the wilderness. 

But before that interlude began we had decided to move our camp a bit for safety. We had only just completed that relocation when I and the other Silver Claws felt a familiar sinking sensation in our abdomens and realized that another of the Blessed must have been slain! I felt all my strength drain away like water from a leaky cup. Poor Percy fell on his face and gave himself a bloody nose. 

We took the remainder of the day to recover from this event. And we were not spared further trouble. As evening neared we felt the same sensation yet again! Once more I was weakened and Percy toppled to the ground. But Latan and Hedrin were affected worse than ever before - both of them seemed for a short while to forget entirely who they were! 

I had to attend to calming Latan, as she no longer recalled how to speak any tongue other than her native sylvan language. Isaura was beside herself with confusion and I had to pacify the little elemental as well. She kept playing with Latan's hair, which Latan found bewildering as she didn't recall having an elemental companion. In the meanwhile Roland had to prevent Hedrin from panicking when he noticed his own claws and fangs. 

After a short while their memories came back to them, but it was a distressing time for all of us and left the Ice Fangs quite lost, I'm sure. They loyally watched over us as best they could, for which I am very grateful. 

Hedrin complained that something seemed odd to him during the night, but he could find nothing to account for his disturbance. The following day began quietly enough, but was interrupted by yet another Blessed's demise! Oh, my Lady, I wish I knew what could be done to stop Lerner's depredations. He must be mad. How else could he think this is right?

Once again I fell to the ground, all my strength drained away. But this time I found myself in another place, a broad plain filled with silvery shapes. I knew somehow that they were all Blessed like myself, though I could not determine if they were living or dead or merely potential Blessings waiting to be bestowed. 

As I stood staring toward the Lady's mountain, one of these silvery forms entered into me. I knew at once that it was a woman from Calimshan, a healer, who had been slain by Lerner's foul ritual. I felt such sorrow for her death, yet somehow it seemed right to me that I should receive her Blessing rather than Lerner or one of his companions. 

When I found myself back in my body again I could not speak for a long while. I wept long for the poor woman who had died. Latan understands. She has already experienced this on one occasion, and very nearly a second time when Tybo died in Milvarune.

After I had recovered my composure I told my friends what happened to me and we contemplated that Lerner must be in Calimshan, finding every Blessed he can lay hands on. The thought of all those poor people dying at his hands horrifies me. I can't help wondering why the Lady cannot intervene personally. But I must not doubt her. Perhaps she has plans too vast for me to comprehend.

Our torture wasn't over yet. During the night it happened again. This time it was Roland who visited the Lady's divine realm. When he recovered he told us that he, too, had absorbed another Blessing - this time that of a man who was wed to the woman I had encountered! Worse yet, Roland knew that the man's wife had been with child, and that child had also been Blessed. It horrifies me to think that the Blessing of an unborn child has now been stolen by Lerner Provol.

_(Several small round stains spot the page here, blurring the ink)_

We could hardly continue our journey after these experiences, so we remained another day, letting Hedrin and the Ice Fangs watch over us. In the evening the same doom befell us once more. Percy was the victim on this occasion. He would say little afterward, as is his way, but disturbingly it appears that the person whose Blessing came to him had the same ability to disregard pain as Lerner's companion Diceros, the murderous wrestler. 



*Player notes:
For anyone who might be reading along, I'll give a slightly more detailed explanation of what's going on. Each of the PCs has, in addition to a larger number of feats than allowed by the RAW, a Heroic Path selected from the Midnight setting. We each randomly chose a Heroic Path at character creation. Periodically, the GM (Zora) rolls randomly to see if another Blessed dies and if their Blessing passes to one of the PCs. The percentage chance for this to happen is low, but we all kept rolling extremely low last session. We then rolled randomly to determine which Heroic Path a character received. There are a couple of paths Zora has chosen not to use, leaving 32 of them to choose from. We rolled 1d30 + (1d3 -1) to determine which one to use. * 

*Quips & Quotes*: _(not many this session, as you can see it was fairly serious)_

Hedrin: "Does my size make my butt look Large?"

Devo: "Roland's all touchy-feely."
Jubilee: "Roland watches chick flicks."
Devo: "No, he writes them."


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## sniffles (Sep 5, 2006)

*A Long Voyage Ahead?*

I should have trusted that the Lady wouldn't let us suffer. 

The morning following Percy's horrible experience, I woke to a feeling of such joy that I can scarecely describe it. Colors seemed brighter, scents more intense, sound clearer. It was as though a veil had been drawn away from my senses that I hadn't known I wore. I realized at once that I was feeling some small measure of the divine pleasure the Lady must be experiencing at that moment, though I didn't then know why.

The Ice Fangs didn't feel what we Silver Claws experienced, but even they were more cheerful and boisterous that morning. Suffused with good feeling, we packed up our sad little camp and set off for Milvarune to make our report to Dragonsreach. Our steps were light as we strolled along the path. Even learning of Hedrin's strange experience in the forest with a halfling woman named Rose couldn't dampen our elevated mood. 

This Rose, it seems, is some associate of Lerner's, though she may be cooperating with him under duress. She offered Hedrin some information regarding Lerner's activities, and gave him a token to find and meet her in Milvarune. We hoped whatever she told us would aid us in opposing his activities.

As we made our way along the path to the town, we came upon a caravan. Not wanting to startle them by coming upon them from behind, I went forward to warn them and assure them of our friendly intentions. Roland endowed me with the _longstrider_ ability so that I could catch them up quickly.

The caravan turned out to made up of halflings. Though their wagons were gaily colored, the halflings themselves seemed rather too regimented to be simply a wandering troup of entertainers or traders. As soon as I spoke with them they halted. They insisted that we must meet with someone they referred to as Mother. When the rest of our party caught up, the Silver Claws were invited into the largest wagon.

It was the largest wagon, but by that token it shouldn't have been as large as it was within. By some enchantment the interior was larger than the exterior! It was one of the most colorful and exotic places I've ever seen. Hedrin kept looking around him and sniffing the air like a dog who's scented hidden squirrels. 

We were guided to an impressively large chamber and introduced to a wizened old halfling woman. She demanded a token, but none of us knew what she meant. At last Hedrin searched his pockets and discovered that apparently Rose had secreted the token on his person, much to Mother's mingled amusement and annoyance.

Mother invited us to continue our journey in company with the caravan. Rose is her daughter and she was concerned about Rose's activities with Lerner, though she didn't know any more than we did at that time. But Mother did seem to fear that some danger threatened on the road, and she believed that we would be safer in company with her family. 

I spent the remainder of our journey chatting with the halflings, learning as many stories and as much of their lore as I could, as well as picking up a few words and phrases of their native tongue. I can't think why I haven't learned Halfling before now. Oddly, I discovered that they refer to their patron goddess as the Lady, although by that they don't mean the Lady I revere. They give their allegiance to a halfling goddess of good fortune. 

We arrived in Milvarune at mid-evening, far sooner than we'd expected. As we parted ways with Mother's caravan she asked one of her sons, Windsor, to accompany us so that he could make contact with Rose and report back to Mother on her condition. Windsor seems to have the same sort of arcane power as Hedrin, although his ability is of course not influenced by the Lady. 

We made our way first to the Lady's temple to notify the priests of our arrival and arrange to use the scrying bowl to contact Dragonsreach. The priests hadn't expected us so soon, and the spell could not be cast until the following morning. So we turned our attention to contacting the mysterious Rose.

Rose was found at the Green Spoon, a quality inn and gambling house. After taking rooms we sought her out in the gambling rooms at the back of the establishment. Roland and Hedrin spent most of the night at cards with her. I chose not to get involved in that activity; games of chance have never seemed very appealing to me. I'm afraid that I missed out on most of their discussion. It was all carried out in a very roundabout manner, with many innuendoes and implications that I couldn't catch when distracted by all the other activity in the room. I had to wait until the following morning at the temple to learn what they'd uncovered.

When we contacted Father Merrick and Father Borabyl at home, I learned that the Blessing Percy had absorbed from the child had left him. That was the source of the good feeling we'd experienced all during the previous day - the infant's spirit had returned to the Lady. Poor Percy now knew just a little of what Father Merrick's brother had experienced with the loss of the Lady's Blessing*, but he was also relieved not to have a Blessing with such unpleasant associations.

We explained to the fathers all that we had learned - or should I say, all that Roland had learned - of Lerner's activities in Calimshan. Rose had also advised him that Lerner's people meant to travel next to Chult, as they'd learned of an entire village of Blessed there. They are sadly getting much more efficient at stealing Blessings - it was quite unlikely that three of us would have absorbed the Blessings they intended for themselves. The Lady must have had some hand in that.

Now the priests must decide if we should continue our mission to seek the drow, or prepare to travel to distant Chult. While I must confess it would be exciting to visit that far-away land, my fear of Lerner outweighs any pleasure I have from the thought of the journey.
I doubt that we have sufficient skills to stand up to that horrid man and his misguided companions at present. I can only hope that we have an ally in Rose. And I trust to the Lady to aid us in our time of need.

_*Father Merrick's brother is a sage at Candlekeep. He was once one of the Blessed but somehow lost his Blessing during an experiment to find a way to transfer such abilities. He was responsible for creating the ritual that Lerner Provol is using to steal Blessings, though it wasn't his intention to use his ritual that way. 

Sadly that portion of our adventures is one of the missing areas that I haven't yet been able to restore._  

*Quips & Quotes:*

sniffles: "Who uses a stool?"
Devo: "Depends."

Zora: "They're magebred. Mage raisin bread."

Zora: "The halfling wagon is made for halflings, but it's strong enough for a human."


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## Zora (Sep 5, 2006)

*As the GM...*

I don't normally correct someone's journal entry/diary/letter home, but I wanted to clarify one thing:  Father Merrick did not say exactly how he lost his blessing.  Just that up 'til this point he's been the only one to lose one.  He created the ritual to try to figure out how to transfer one upon the death of one of the blessed.


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## sniffles (Sep 8, 2006)

Zora said:
			
		

> I don't normally correct someone's journal entry/diary/letter home, but I wanted to clarify one thing:  Father Merrick did not say exactly how he lost his blessing.  Just that up 'til this point he's been the only one to lose one.  He created the ritual to try to figure out how to transfer one upon the death of one of the blessed.




I'm not usually one to correct the GM (ha ha!), but it was Father Merrick's brother who lost his Blessing. I just can't remember his name!

(edit) His name was Brother Breonne.


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## sniffles (Oct 2, 2006)

*Trouble in Milvarune*

I neglected to mention that in our conversation with Fathers Merrick and Borabyl, we learned that Percy has somehow been able to voluntarily reject the Blessing he had received from the slain child. Such an occurrence has never happened before to their knowledge - just as no one else has ever been known to 'lose' a Blessing the way Brother Breonne did, even though we still don't know quite how he lost it.

We still continue to feel that sense of elation that came from the Lady when Percy's Blessing returned to her. Having been told that it would take three days to assemble the Council and determine our next course of action, we were given the run of Silver Cottage again and left to our own devices until called for. 

I was in the garden practicing swordsmanship with Latan when she noticed that Percy was behaving oddly. He'd gone out without telling us. She decided to follow him to make certain he was all right. She'd seen that peculiar green flash in his eyes that he gets when he seems to be channelling the Seeress. I decided to follow along too.

He wended his way very purposefully through a market to a shop quaintly called the Artifactory. I would have liked to look around had the opportunity presented itself. But Percy strode right up to the counter and seized the proprietor by the collar of his robe!  He was muttering something under his breath that I couldn't catch, nor could Latan make out the words. Whatever it was it terrified the wizard.

Latan managed to calm Percy and persuade him to let go of the wizard, while I tried to soothe the man's ire. I'm afraid I wasn't as succesful as I would have liked. We had to hustle a bewildered Percy out of the shop and back to the cottage. He didn't recall leaving for the wizard's shop, nor why he'd wanted to go there to begin with.

On the way back to the cottage Latan said she thought she saw someone familiar following us, a man she recognized as one of my admirers from the Dragon Days festival. She seemed to think he had less than honorable intentions by his behavior, as he apparently fled when she turned to face him. How odd.

After Roland and Hedrin rejoined us at the cottage we told them what had happened with Percy and the wizard. Roland was able to aid Percy in recovering his memory of what had provoked him. It transpired that Hedrin had taken a ring there to have it enchanted, and Percy had received a vision that the wizard meant to do something untoward with it. 

We were all immediately on high alert, fearing that somehow Lerner Provol or one of his associates had got to the wizard. And the others insisted on putting the Ice Fangs on guard to watch the cottage in the event that my 'admirer' returned. I don't know why they are so concerned about him. Much more concerning is Roland's discovery that the Whisper Knives have a presence here in Milvarune.

In the evening we all accompanied Hedrin to the shop again to retrieve his ring. The ring wasn't for himself; he meant if as a gift for Semi, the wolf-woman who travels with Lerner. He is truly in love with her. This would make a fine story of star-crossed love, but I must wait to see how it plays out - and it would be inappropriate to tell such a story now when Hedrin is so near and dear a friend. 

Rose the halfling had brought Hedrin a gift from Semi in secret, and Hedrin meant to respond in kind. He'd asked the wizard to enchant the ring so that it would resize itself to suit the wearer, nothing more. But the wizard had been offended when Hedrin tried to dicker over the price, and had intended to add an enchantment that would make a loud announcement impugning the buyer when the ring was first worn. He had no way to know that such a thing might have endangered the intended recipient's life. Thank the Lady all our fears about Lerner's involvement with the wizard proved false.

With that affair settled, our second plan for the evening was to return to the Green Spoon to visit Rose again at the gambling tables. She had contrived to get Semi's gift to Hedrin by 'losing' it at cards, and now Hedrin meant to use the same ruse to get the ring to her, aided by her brother Windsor. 

I had no interest in watching their gambling this evening, having had my fill of it the previous night. I decided to see if the proprietor of the inn would let me perform in the common room. Having made arrangements to do so, I settled down to give my audience a taste of my version of 'Jaedrig's Tale'. I'll need to find a better title for it in future.

______________________________________________________________
*Quips & Quotes:*

Jubilee: "He's probably afraid of my _ray of enfeeblement_. It unmanned him."

Hedrin: "So now Hedrin can see invisible things. Can he see Percy's _unseen servant_? Teach the servant sign language so it can give him messages."
Devo: "It could give him the unseen finger."

Hedrin: "Hedrin's fine with sleeping in the woods."
Devo: "I'm fine with Hedrin sleeping in the woods."

sniffles: "Oh, great, I've got a stalker."
Hedrin: "At least it's not an invisible stalker."
sniffles: "With my Spot rolls it might as well be."

Jubilee  (to Devo): "Didn't you have some Shadow Knives in your game?"
Devo: "Whisper Knives, Shadow Knives..."
Zora: (singing to the tune of 'Silent Night') "_Silent knives, holy knives_..."
Hedrin: (also singing): "_All is calm, as per the spell_..."

Zora  (to Jubilee): "So you're going as Aspect of the Blond?"


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## sniffles (Nov 27, 2006)

*A Very Unusual Book*

_Dearest Naneth;

I have some exciting news. There have been developments in my studies. I must thank you again for the spellbook you prepared for me. I hope you'll be pleased that I can now actually use some of the lesser spells it contains. And I'm eager to try out the remainder once my facility with wizardry improves. 

But the most exciting news is that I now have a familiar! A most unusual one, too. I'm certain I've never heard of a familiar such as this previously, nor have Roland or Latan. I had gone out to a library to seek information about Chult when Latan came looking for me. She brought me a book I hadn't seen before, though she told me Isaura had found it in my room at Silver Cottage. When she delivered the tome to me, a pair of tiny feet suddenly extruded from its spine and it opened itself and script began to appear on the pages! To my amazement the words were all in the ancient draconic vocabulary I've been studying of late. I was so delighted with this wonderful book I scarcely noticed when Latan took her leave. Very quickly I had an audience of librarians and other researchers, all of them gazing in awe at my charming book. Latan keeps insisting that it was rather rude and sarcastic to her when she discovered it, but I've seen no such behavior. I have given the book the name Istanil, which I think you'll agree is appropriate. 

Istanil has been providing me with great quantities of information about Chult, far more than I could discover without returning to Heritage or traveling to Candlekeep. This book will be invaluable. I sense your hand in it somehow, although Istanil claims not to know where she comes from. I cannot express enough gratitude to you and Ada.

In the meantime we are waiting for the Council to decide where we should go next. That is why I'm researching Chult, as I'm sure you are aware. Evidently I've also acquired an overly friendly admirer since my last visit to Milvarune. Both Latan and Hedrin caught some fellow hanging about outside the cottage, whom they recognized as one of my admirers from our last visit. He fled when they approached him. 

Percy has also managed to increase his spellcasting ability, although that got him into trouble when he saw my admirer outside and wanted to let Hedrin know. Hedrin was busy drilling with the Ice Fangs when he suddenly found himself outside the front of the cottage, while Percy replaced him in the garden. Unfortunately Hedrin had been trading blows with Grond, who is much too strong for poor Percy. Percy is fortunate he wasn't more badly hurt, as this all occurred while I was away from the house. It's strange how natural it feels to have this ability to heal others, when I've only had such ability for a few days. 

For days now we've all felt a sense of great comfort and pleasure. All the colors seem brighter and the scents sweeter. This sensation came with our knowledge that though several of the Blessed have been slain, at least one has returned to the Lady's embrace. I'm sure Father Merrick has told you about this. But today I realized that the sensation has passed. I suppose I couldn't expect it to last indefinitely. 

I'll close now with love and the hope that it won't be long before I see you again. Give Ada my love also. I intend to take Istanil out to do some further study. Her abilities will be invaluable to me. And of course her little feet are so amusing! 

With love, your daughter, Thilme'._
_____________________________________

*Quips & Quotes:*

Zora: "The book slams shut."
Devo: "'My spine!'"

Jubilee: "Are you a boy book or a girl book?"
Devo: "Look under the cover."

Zora: "He's a stalker. Maybe I should give him Improved Grab."
Jubilee: "Shouldn't he have Skill Focus (Spot)?"

Zora: "The captain's just a good old boy."
Devo: "Never meanin' no harm..."


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## sniffles (Dec 11, 2006)

*An Enthusiastic Admirer*

I shan't put the following in a letter to my _Naneth_. I don't want to distress her when we may not see one another for some while.

I'd gone out to seek more booksellers while we awaited the verdict of the council. Happening upon a small out-of-the-way shop, I soon found myself engrossed in a copy of Verilian's _An Account of the History of Eaerlann_. I've read it previously and it isn't terribly accurate or exciting, but nonetheless I became so absorbed in it I lost all awareness of my surroundings. 

I didn't realize anything was amiss until I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and everything went dark.

When I recovered my senses I found myself in a well-appointed room with a large fireplace. Through bleary eyes I observed a large portrait before me, still in the process of being completed by the artist. Behind me someone stood applying a salve to the knot on the back of my skull. His motions were more like caresses than healing ministrations, which I would have found unpleasant had my wits been clearer. 

My hands and feet were bound, and my mouth had been stopped with a silk handkerchief. I don't think I shall look at silk handkerchiefs quite as favorably ever again.

Despite my confused state I felt a sense of relief in the realization that I could still sense Istanil, though I couldn't determine precisely where she was in relation to my own location. But I knew that she had summoned my friends and they were searching for me.

My friends had already discovered the identity of my abductor: that same admirer from the Dragon Days festival who had been causing Hedrin and Latan some concern over the past two days. His name is Wedswin Fordsworth, a name I won't soon forget. 

The Silver Claws and Ice Fangs were on their way to Fordsworth's manor, accompanied by some city guardsmen. Roland was able to talk his way past the guard at the gate with his usual aplomb. But once they reached the house the guards within were more suspicious of the arrival of so many armed folk. A struggle ensued.

I could sense Istanil searching anxiously for me, but was unaware that while I was being held on the ground floor my familiar had mistakenly elected to search the second floor of the manor. Latan had dispatched Isaura to seek me as well.

When my abductor became aware that my friends were making short work of his hired swords, he ordered a particularly large specimen of that variety to pick me up and carry me out of the room. By then my head had cleared, and I called on the Lady's Blessing to aid me as I attempted to get free of my bonds. I had been bound with lengths of drapery cord that were inexpertly knotted, but despite this my first attempt at escape failed, perhaps because I was slung over the warrior's shoulder like a roll of carpet.

The swordsman and my captor hurried down a back passageway to the rear of the house and out into the garden. There the warrior laid me on a carpet. He and my abductor then both mounted the carpet and it began to rise into the air. 

I should like to ride a flying carpet someday, preferrably of my own free choice. I gave another wriggle and managed this time to slip free of my bindings, eagerly tearing the silk handkerchief from my mouth. Isaura came wafting up to me then and began trying to pull me off the carpet.

At the same moment Latan swooped down on the rising carpet, buoyed by a pair of insubstantial silvery dragon wings. As I freed myself and rolled off the carpet, she shouted to me that the rest of my friends were still in danger inside the manor house.

I hesitated for a moment, not wanting to leave her alone with the massive warrior on the carpet. I considered giving a herald's call, but it occurred to me that the swordsman was likely too strong to be affected by it. Instead I began to recite the most stirring stanza of _Thandalar's Fury_ as I ran toward the house.

I met Istanil there, to my great pleasure. As we raced into the passage, I found Roland, Hedrin and Percy engaged with several of the sell-swords, who were well-armored but not as well trained as our Dragonsreach militia. Just as we entered, Roland collapsed. But at the same moment Hedrin had dispatched the last but one of the guards. The remaining fellow surrendered. Roland managed to heal himself enough to get back on his feet a moment later.

When Latan joined us she reported that she'd been obliged to let Fordsworth and his henchman escape, as she was too wounded to battle the bulky mercenary. I suppose that Fordsworth would have received little punishment in any case. His family is obviously wealthy and influential here in Milvarune.

I'm afraid this experience will make me more cautious in enjoying the exercise of my art in future. I must remember that not all of my admirers are likely to be as disturbed in mind as Master Fordsworth. Bless the Lady and my friends for rescuing me from his clutches.

I pray the council will make their decision quickly. I should like to get away from this town as soon as possible.
_____________________________________________
*Quips & Quotes*:

Zora: "What's Istanil (the walking book) doing?"
sniffles: "Running back to Silver Cottage."
Devo: "You should get a page to do that."

Jubilee: (to Istanil) "Did Thilme' fall down a well?"
Devo: "An inkwell."

Zora: "His name's Wedswin T. Fordsworth. Go ahead and say it - his initials are WTF."

Zora: "You think you plan for everything. Then the players show up."

Hedrin: "Join us! We'll rule Milvarune as Hedrin and guard!"

Hedrin: "I know who he is - he's Foppio."

Zora: "Percy knocks the guard out with his stool."
Devo: (to guard) "'You have a little stool in your helmet.'"


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## sniffles (Dec 27, 2006)

*A Dragon Reborn*

Suddenly the prospect of visiting Chult seems less exciting to me than it did yesterday. We may be obliged to leave without Percy. 

This part of my tale begins with some items my friends had relieved from Master Fordsworth's hired swordsmen. In the pouch taken from the leader of that group were found three peculiar stones. They seemed both metallic and stony, and were not a mineral any of us recognized immediately. 

When Roland attempted to determine if these odd stones were magical in nature, the arcane aura they produced proved to be so powerful that he was rendered senseless. We couldn't rouse him. We had already summoned a healer from the Lady's temple, and Roland was quickly put under the priest's care, as were we all. Having recovered from whatever potion my captor had given me, I was the only member of our small company suffering no wounds. When my friends settled down to rest I recited the lullaby from _The Tale of the Seven Daughters_ to aid them in their recovery.

The following morning - this morning, though it seems much longer - Latan attempted to use her alchemical skill to identify the strange stones, taking them to the temple to use their facilities. The sellsword's pouch also proved to contain an _ioun_ stone, of which Hedrin took possession. 

Latan was unable to determine the nature of the three mysterious stones, despite her best efforts. But as we discussed them I began to feel a nagging familiarity about them. I recalled a tale of the blood of a god being transformed into stones resembling these in description. We all felt oddly drawn to them, Latan most of all. We began to wonder: could these stones perhaps be the Lady's blood?

We hadn't had an opportunity to speak with the captured mercenaries, and now we wondered how the sellsword had come to possess the stones. Could he possibly be among the Blessed? Had he been drawn to the stones as we were?

Before we could pursue this further we received a summons from the temple. The council of Dragonsreach were ready to speak to us. Determining to ask Father Merrick about the stones, we set off at once for the Lady's temple.

As we viewed the council members through the scrying pool, I saw that not only were Father Merrick and Father Borabyl present but also Commander K'Von and numerous other dignitaries of Dragonsreach. It seemed that the council members were divided in their opinion of what our next step should be. Many of them felt that we Silver Claws are not sufficiently strong to face Lerner Provol and his compatriots. I can't say that I disagree with that opinion. 

Father Merrick then asked us what our opinion was on the matter. As one we all expressed a desire to travel to Chult, to do whatever we can to save the Blessed there. We know we can't face Lerner head-on, but we are the best choice to oppose his terrible quest. 

Unfortunately we do not know precisely where this village he seeks is located. The elders of Heritage cannot scry where it lies. We also cannot guarantee that we will arrive before Lerner does. He has a head start, and Master Whitetree's enchanted vessel isn't available to us at present. The council is in negotiation with the gnomes of Milvarune for use of a _portal_ located near here, but there is no assurance that the gnomes will agree.

Having imparted this information to us, Father Merrick then went on to give Latan some suprising news: her parents may have been found! An odd message has been sent by the Seelie Court, but no one has examined its contents for fear of capricious fey magic. Latan will have to wait until she can examine it for herself. I don't envy her the frustration of wanting to receive that message. I can't imagine what it must be like to have never known one's own family.

I may also have an opportunity to see my dear _Ada_ again before we leave. He is coming to take the Ice Fangs back to Dragonsreach. I hope he arrives before we depart, though that seems unlikely. We'll need to leave as soon as possible to have any hope of reaching the village before Lerner, and though my father is swift it will still take days for him to reach Milvarune, even if he's already left Dragonsreach.  

When that discussion concluded, the three stones were produced. As they were drawn out of their pouch all of us noticed that the scryed image in the pool grew much sharper. Hedrin sniffed the air and remarked that he could now actually smell the room in Dragonsreach from which the image came! 

Father Merrick leaned in closer to the pool as if he too were drawn to the stones. He didn't recognize them as anything familiar, but out of sight of the pool I could hear two of the senior bards from Heritage begin chatting excitedly about the same tale I had recalled. I strained to hear their words.

As I was trying to overhear my former teachers and identify their voices, Hedrin noticed that Percy was now looking very intently at the stones. Thinking that perhaps his prophetic gift might give him some special insight, Hedrin suggested that Latan hand the stones to Percy. 

The moment the stones touched Percy's hands they seemed to melt into his flesh. There was a burst of blinding silver-white light and I felt something large strike me hard, sending me tumbling against a wall and over the edge into unconsciousness. 

Praise the Lady that a priest was there with us in the scrying chamber, and he wasn't as badly injured as I. He called on the Lady's healing power to save me. When I opened my eyes I caught a brief glimpse of a fully-grown silver dragon standing within the chamber. Then the dragon spread its wings and burst through the roof, showering the room with debris as it took flight.

I rose shakily to my feet and looked around me. Hedrin and Roland both rushed outside to follow the flight of the dragon. Latan hurried out to help anyone injured by the destruction of the roof. Percy was nowhere to be seen, though some of his possessions lay upon the floor. The scrying pool had been tumbled off its stand and the waters spilled, cutting off our communication with Dragonsreach.

I went out into the corridor to aid any injured. Fortunately there were few injuries and none of them serious. When my companions didn't immediately reappear, I returned to Silver Cottage to find that Latan had run back to check on her tressym kittens. One of them, Tamber, has become quite attached to Percy. 

I say this last because the dragon was Percy. Yes, the stones were of the Lady's blood, drawn from her before she ascended to godhood. They became divine when she did. And it seems that Percy is one of her children, though he himself was unaware of it. Contact with his mother's sacred blood transformed him and caused him to mature in an instant. 

Our best guess is that in his confusion he has flown back to familiar territory, to Dragonsreach. Whether he will return to us in time for our journey to Chult, or at all, is still unknown. We have only what little information Father Merrick could express to Roland via a _sending_. 

Whatever Percy does from this day forward, I wish him well. 
_A round wet stain appears on the page._
__________________________________________

*Quips & Quotes*:

Zora: "It's a suppository - I mean, a supposistory."

Jubilee (later): "I didn't say that. It was a suppository."

Zora: "Could you get your eye-Ow!-n stone out of my eye?"

Hedrin: "Aw, it was a denial of service spell."

Zora: "The dragon appears and the room explodes!"
Jubilee: "I'll have what he had for breakfast!"


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## Zora (Dec 27, 2006)

*GM's input...*

Excellent writeup, Sniffles!

I have to say, that when I introduced the "stones", I had many, many, MANY scenarios in mind for what might happen with them.

FWIW, this group is the most intelligent bunch of PCs I've ever met, and it's difficult to do anything without them being able to figure it out in-game.  However, the DC for the knowledge of the stones was set pretty high.  No one really had any skills commensurate with the stones.  Even with Bardic Knowledge, it was pretty high.  

What are the odds?

Out of the MANY scenarios, giving all three to Percy was the most outside possibility of them all.  One, I could see.  But not all three.

Well, there starts the conundrum.  Can't exactly have an adult or mature adult dragon running around in the party, can I?  <EG>


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## Devo (Dec 27, 2006)

*Joat*

Hey! I had "Jack of All Trades" going that day. I did *so* have the knowledge I needed. You just wouldn't let me roll it!  


D.


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## sniffles (Jan 11, 2007)

*A Fey Wind to Chult*

We're on our way to Chult. The _Fey Wind_ will carry us from Milvarune to Calimport, and from there we will probably arrange travel across the Lake of Steam or down one of the rivers to the south. I should ask Istanil to tell me about the lands that lie between Thesk and Chult.

My _Ada_ arrived aboard the _Fey Wind_ - I had misunderstood and assumed he would come overland from Dragonsreach. I was so pleased we were able to meet the ship when it arrived. _Ada_ is of course not particularly interested in Milvarune. He is never comfortable in towns or cities. He proceeded immediately to Silver Cottage to settle his small contingent of the Dragonsreach guard there. 

After my father and the guardsmen arrived, Latan arranged for young Troy to travel to Dragonsreach via another vessel, to transport Tamber the tressym to Percy. Roland had received a message from Father Borabyl that Percy had arrived safely in Dragonsreach. We'll miss him. 

Latan has observed that Tamber seems to be developing some peculiar traits, such as a forked tongue and a silvery sheen to his coat. Most curious.

_Ada_ brought us a message directly from Percy: he bequeathed most of his belongings to us, including his prized enchanted chest, his magical glove, and a potion bandolier of high quality. I've taken charge of the bandolier as all of my friends already have such items. Roland and I have filled it with curative potions and a vial of antitoxin in preparation for our journey to the jungles of Chult.

The information Istanil provided tells me that not a great deal of detail is known about Chult. For many years it was impossible to _scry_ the chief city, Mezro, and there was no outside trade permitted. Only in recent years has the city been opened to the outside world. We must be prepared to suffer from insects, disease and extreme heat. I shall have to leave off carrying my duelling cloak, as it will be too heavy for the sweltering jungle.

While we voyage to Chult, _Ada_ will be taking the Ice Fangs into the mountains to deal with the drow. He told us that the council had expected us to be able to negotiate an agreement with them, but as we will not be available for that purpose it has been decided to use a more aggressive approach. I pray to the Lady that she keep my _Adarinya_ safe. 

During the night he and I sat quietly in the cottage garden, enjoying one another's company while exchanging few words. He lent me the earring _Naneth_ enchanted for him so that I could speak briefly with her. I'm so accustomed to seeing both of them wearing those baubles that I sometimes forget what their purpose is. I wish that _Naneth_ had time to create one for me.

It will be exciting to visit such a far-away and little-known place as Chult, but I shall miss being able to return to Heritage to tell my mother of my adventures. I promised her I would write often and send the letters on whenever possible. The letter I just completed for her has yet to reach her, thus I gave her a brief summary of our activities in Milvarune, _sans_ my unwilling encounter with Master Fordsworth. I thanked her for sending Istanil to me as well. As soon as I introduced _Ada_ to my new companion he admitted that the animated tome was _Naneth's_ doing, as I had suspected.

Our farewells were perforce quick the following morning, as _Ada_ wished to set out at dawn with the Ice Fangs. Afterward my friends and I began to prepare for our voyage, since the _Fey Wind_ would set sail within a few hours. I've purchased as many spell scrolls as I can afford without depleting all my funds, while my companions sought out potions of useful substances. Though I've never been as interested in the natural world as my father is, I'm glad I listened to his words in my childhood. That knowledge will be useful now. And fortunately Hedrin has spent more time in the wilderness learning from _Ada_ than I have.

I regret that the council was unable to reach an agreement with the gnomes for us to take advantage of the _portal_ in Milvarune, as it would greatly speed our journey. But with the Lady's blessing we'll make a swift voyage to Chult and be able to reach the village we seek before Lerner's company finds it. 
__________________________________
*Quips & Quotes:*

Zora: "So what happened last time?"
sniffles: "We were making a long-distance pool call."
Jubilee: "Our call got dropped."
Devo: "Somebody peed in our pool."
Hedrin: "Somebody Percy'd in our pool."
Devo: "There's a stool in our pool?" _(Percy's favorite weapon was a 3-legged stool he kept in his glove of storing.)_

Jubilee: "Why does it matter how the portal is activated?"
Hedrin: "Well, if it requires a blood sacrifice of three gnomes..."
Jubilee: "Can't we just find three gnomes they don't like?"

Devo: "There's a Coleman stove in Percy's chest."
Zora: "And there's Coleman at his stove."


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## sniffles (Feb 3, 2007)

*From Milvarune to Candlekeep - Again*

The _Fey Wind_ is the fastest ship on the Sea of Fallen Stars. As a result she's small and rather cramped by comparison to Master Whitetree's vessel.

Latan and her tressyms immediately made themselves at home in the crow's nest - although I doubt the tressyms are truly at home aboard a ship. I found a quiet corner where I could continue my reading on our destination out of the way of the crew as they prepared to cast off.

I was startled by a scream. I glanced up from my book but saw only that the sailors were pointing up at the main mast. Then I was engulfed by a strange sensation that seemed familiar to me, though at first I couldn't recall why. I rose to get a better look around and realized that we weren't in port in Milvarune any longer!

The coastline in the distance looked familiar too, but I didn't recognize it for a moment because I hadn't expected to see it again so soon. It was the Sword Coast near Candlekeep.

I turned my gaze toward the crow's next again as the sailors were still staring in that direction, at least those who weren't pointing and exclaiming at the coastline.

Two tiny figures hovered near Latan in the crow's nest, their wings blurring like the wings of hummingbirds. One figure was blue in color and the other purple. Latan appeared to be conversing animatedly with them.

I realized with a start that the hovering figures were the two construct fairies from Candlekeep. They chatted with Latan a short while longer, fluttered about the ship briefly, and then were gone.

When Latan descended from the crow's next, she explained that the two artificial fairies had come at her summons from Dragonsreach, where they had been avidly observing Percy's transformation. Latan had asked them if they could take us to Chult as they had carried us from Candlekeep to Waterdeep.

Unfortunately the fairies had taken "us" to mean the _Fey Wind_ and her crew as well. They were unable to bear us directly to Chult, perhaps because of the residue of the magical barrier which once surrounded that land. Instead they had used their fey magic to carry us to the nearest place they knew.

Our lady captain took this unexpected turn of events in stride. She was familiar with the Sword Coast and immediately informed us that we would be able to reach Mezro in ten or twelve days with good winds.

I must confess I was a bit disappointed that we would lose our opportunity to see Chondath or Sespech and the Lake of Steam. Roland was disappointed too. But reaching Chult ahead of Lerner and his confederates is far more important than our desire to see more of the world.

As the _Fey Wind_ set her sails for the south, Latan told us more of what she'd discovered from the fairies. They've developed since we saw them last. Roland and Hedrin described them as looking even more like miniature duplicates of Latan than they did when they were first made. They've also chosen individual names for themselves. The purple fairy is Antla and her blue twin is called Nalta. There are only so many combinations one can make of the sounds in "Latan".

After the excitement with the fairies our voyage began uneventfully enough. Roland is a natural sailor and blends in as if he's been at it all his life. Latan enjoys the crow's nest and doesn't mind the spray the ship kicks up as she cuts through the waves. Hedrin isn't happy to be aboard a ship again, but he occupied himself with learning how sailors fight and keeping himself fit. 

I spent my time studying the navigational charts, learning seaman's tales from the crew, and employing my spells where I could to make myself useful.

On the third day as we passed through Asavir's Channel near the Nelanther Isles, a storm rose up to assail us. The entire crew was on deck so we went below to keep out of their way. I told the captain to send anyone to me who was injured. Sadly I don't know any spells or have any ability to treat seasickness. The little ship tossed and rolled on the waves like a leaf on a fast-flowing brook, and my stomach tossed and rolled along with it. But despite my sickness I was able to heal a sailor who broke his leg when a wave slammed him against the gunwales. I also found good use for the ancient draconic word I've newly learned to say. Spoken properly it can relieve fatigue and reduce exhaustion.

The storm abated the next day. Latan and I took turns casting _healthful rest_ so the sailors could recuperate as they slept. The captain was very grateful for our aid, which made me glad that my studies of draconic lore can be of practical use.

On the sixth day of our voyage we came to the port of Memnon on the Calimshan coast, where we paused to resupply. While the sailors loaded fresh water and fruit, my friends and I took the chance to explore the marketplace, sampling the local cuisine and purchasing some native attire to make us more comfortable in the heat.

Refreshed and restocked, we set off once more toward Mezro. On our ninth day at sea a second storm threatened. The crew grew anxious, for they warned that storms often drive huge sea creatures before them. 

I'd hardly had a chance to absorb this information when it was upon us. The _Fey Wind_ lurched, nearly knocking me from my feet. I turned toward the waves and recoiled in horror as a huge spade-tipped tentacle loomed overhead!

*To be continued...*
_______________________________________________

*Quips & Quotes:*

Hedrin: (to Zora) "Are you lying?"
Jubilee: "Are his lips moving? Is he the GM?"

Zora: "Hedrin can do that all day."
Devo: "Unless he's taken underwears."
sniffles: "Boxers or briefs?"
Devo: "Depends."

Jubilee: "Did we get attacked on the second day and you forgot to tell us?"
Devo: "No, no, the eighth day."
Zora: "As in it ate you."

Devo: "I pick up some Calimclothes."
Hedrin: "Calimglam."
Zora: "Calimbling."

Jubilee: "Can we buy a slave here to take back to Chult and set free?"
Zora: "'But I'm from Waterdeep!'"


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## sniffles (Feb 20, 2007)

*Storms and krakens and dragonturtles, oh my!*

As the vast tentacles wrapped themselves around the hull of the _Fey Wind_, Roland began to give a heartening oratory. Hedrin blasted the tentacle nearest him with his eldritch energy, and was promptly snatched up by it in a nearly unbreakable grip.

I attempted a spell to make my thinblade more efficacious against the kraken's limbs, but having such a limb waving so close to me made me lose my concentration and the spell dissipated without effect. Unable to think of anything better to do, I stabbed the tentacle and called on the Lady's Blessing for speed. A heartbeat later I was breathing a prayer of gratitude as the tentacles snatched up several sailors and carried them overboard but left me standing on the deck. Istanil wisely secreted herself underneath the stair to the stern.

I kept jabbing at the kraken's arms as rapidly as I could, but my slashes seldom hit the mark. _Ada _ would have been disappointed in me. Two tentacles wrapped themselves about the main mast and began to reach for Latan in the crow's nest. I looked away when I caught a glimpse of Hedrin. He had been struggling to free himself of his prison but couldn't overpower the strength of the muscular appendage. He became so infuriated that he began to foam at the mouth like a mad dog!

Roland's inspiration was losing its efficacy so I began to recite the most inspiring passage from _The Children of Hurin_ to encourage my companions. I must have inspired myself as well, because my attacks became more effective. The tentacle I had been focusing my attention on fell limp and dropped into the water. 

I had scarcely been able to see what my companions and the crew had been doing during the struggle, my view being blocked by the forest of kraken limbs. But now I saw that they had successfully driven off the rest of the tentacles, which were now all withdrawing beneath the waves. Sadly they took three of the crew with them when they went. Hedrin tumbled into the water but didn't sink! He stood atop the waves as if there was some hidden stone beneath them and marched right back to the ship.

Once the kraken had departed, I offered the Lady's healing power to everyone who needed it until my daily allotment ran out, then used my wand. I had to use it sparingly as we don't know how difficult it will be to purchase curatives in Chult. When everyone had recovered and rested Captain Taurendil held a memorial service for the sailors who'd been carried off by the kraken. Naturally after that the mood aboard ship was rather subdued. 

It's only just occurred to me how odd it is that the captain of our ship has the same name as my _Ada_. She isn't of elvenkind. I wonder how she came by such a name. If I have an opportunity I'll ask. 

Latan has been visited again by her fey 'sisters', Antla and Nalta. They brought her a rose made of crystal, which apparently held the message from her long-lost parents. I don't know what message it contained. That is no doubt private. Latan asked the fairies to carry the _Fey Wind_ back to the north if need be. But I believe it is the captain's plan to remain in the region and trade along the coast for a time. We can't rely on the _Fey Wind_ to get us back to Dragonsreach, though. I suppose we'll worry about that when the time comes.

On our tenth day at sea we neared the harbor of Mezro. Captain Taurendil warned that a dragonturtle guards the port, and our vessel approached with caution. In no time the fabled guardian came out to meet us. I wish I could have seen Aramag free of the water to admire him in his entirety, but I doubt he often goes ashore, if ever. 

Aramag demanded some tribute to allow us to pass safely. This proved rather difficult as we hadn't brought much of value beyond the trade goods the captain purchased in Memnon. I could think of nothing of mine to offer, and instead tried to play to his vanity. Unfortunately I had no success. His greed far outweighs his pride. My friends gave up several items of minor worth, including a wand of shielding that Latan presented him. Hedrin gave over every gold piece he carried. We'll have to make that up to him somehow. Satisfied, Aramag let the ship pass, though he indicated that our sacrifice would only allow the _Fey Wind_ passage into his harbor once. 

As we prepared to dock in port, Captain Taurendil gave us a token sent by my _Ada _  - it will permit us to summon the ship once in dire need. I've taken charge of the token. Next we'll need to seek any information regarding the village of the Blessed and whether Lerner may have preceded us. And we'll need to find a guide to show us around the country. 

Roland and I are both excited to see as much as we can of Mezro and the people of Chult. Everything here is quite different from anything I've ever experienced before. The architecture of the buildings is quite unusual, and the people are much darker-complected than the people of more northerly lands. I hope I'll have an opportunity to learn some Chultan tales and lore. But our first priority is to find the village of Blessed before Lerner does, the Lady willing. 
_____________________________________________
*Quips & Quotes:*

*Zora*: "Okay, kraken..."
*Hedrin*: "That'd be the ship."
*Jubilee*: "No, that's creakin'."
*sniffles*: "It'll be crackin' the next round."

*Zora*: "Aw, crap."
*Jubilee*: "No rules for that!"

*Zora*: "She grimaces... and then Hamburglars."

*Zora*: "Yes, (the kraken) is a weapon of mast destruction."

*Devo*: "Don't cast _swim_ while you're in the water."
*Zora*: "No, you've got to wait an hour before you cast _swim_."


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## sniffles (Mar 19, 2007)

*Finding Our Way*

Praise the Lady! It seems we won't have as much difficulty locating the village of the Blessed as I'd feared. I should trust in her more. I wish I could convince Latan to do the same. She's so doubtful sometimes that it worries me. I suppose that's just part of her fey nature.

After our brief farewell to the crew of the _Fey Wind_, Roland suggested we make our way to the temple of Ubtao and pay our respects to the deity who once ruled this land in person. Latan didn't understand why we should need to do that, but she didn't refuse to come along. 

The temple is certainly an impressive structure, especially in a country like Chult that is less civilized than the lands further to the north. It's the tallest building I've ever seen, made of crystal and colored glass and broader at the bottom than at the pinnacle. Curiously it has only one entrance. I'd have expected more in such a large structure. When we made our way through this single portal we found ourselves in the Hall of Champions, a tall chamber filled with huge black stone statues of the _barae_, the protectors of Chult. There were a few other visitors in the Hall, most of them looking as out of place as we did. 

Roland and Hedrin became attracted to some disturbance near an empty plinth. Hedrin claimed that a man who'd been standing there a few moments earlier had simply vanished. There's a rumor that one of the _barae_ was exiled for his involvement in wiping out the Eshowe people, and supposedly if you say his name you'll be whisked away to his current location. Evidently the empty plinth must have been meant for a statue of this exiled barae. I don't know if the rumor is true, but just out of caution I won't inscribe his name here.

At the end of the Hall of Champions there was an archway that seemed unnaturally dark. We couldn't see any light coming from it, nor hear any sounds from beyond. But we didn't think it would hurt us, as Ubtao isn't an evil god. So we took a chance and stepped through together. 

We didn't arrive together on the other side. I found myself in a cupboard. When I stuck my head out into the corridor I saw no one. I stepped out and called for my friends, but heard no reply. Catching a scent of something cooking, I proceeded in that direction. This led me into a kitchen, where numerous servants were busy preparing food. They didn't seem disturbed by my presence and pleasantly offered me something to eat. When I explained that I'd gotten lost they didn't seem surprised. I mentioned that I'd become separated from my companions and that led to the discovery that Hedrin had already been to the kitchen. The cooks directed me down another corridor. 

I quickly stumbled upon Hedrin in the temple apothecary. The healer greeted us very kindly and again didn't seem surprised or perturbed by visitors wandering around the temple. While we were chatting with him Roland found us. He told us he'd arrived in what appeared to be a throne room. Apparently if one doesn't have a set destination in mind, the magical portal in the archway will send the visitor to a random location. 

Latan didn't turn up, so we set off in search of her. On the way Roland explained that the throne room had contained a map of the city on which he could see all the populace moving about as tiny motes of light, and by their colors could determine who was a native and who was a traveler! I should like to see that device myself should I get the opportunity. 

We found Latan back at the entrance. She told us that was where the archway portal had deposited her, so she'd simply waited for us to return. Roland had left a donation to the temple with the healer, so we concluded that our business at the temple was done and set off to seek a guide for our search. There is no official guild of guides here, but we'd learned through the information Istanil provided that guides into the interior can be found in certain parts of the city. 

Unfortunately we had little success in procurring a guide. The man we spoke to didn't seem disposed to help us, even when Roland explained that the village we seek is in grave danger and we only want to help. Hedrin had the impression that the man was afraid of something. He insisted that he couldn't help us and that all the other guides were away from Mezro at present. At an impasse, we decided to go and find an inn before trying again to find a guide.

After we'd found rooms and had a meal, Roland, Hedrin and I set off for the scholar's quarter, while Latan decided to visit the agricultural market. Roland and I were a bit concerned that she should go off on her own, and Hedrin offered to accompany her, but she insisted she'd be fine and wouldn't approach Lerner or his cronies if she saw them. She was so determined that we gave in. Before we left Roland performed an _augury_ to determine if there was danger, and received a response that nothing immediate threatened us.

Mezro is laid out in a circle, divided into four equal quarters, though what lies within those quarters isn't an equal distribution of the populace. The wizard's college lies within the scholar's quarter, and we hoped there to find a sage who would know of the village of the Blessed. While Roland and I went to seek a sage, Hedrin acquainted himself with some warriors who were practicing in a nearby courtyard.

We had to wait for a time at the library until the sages returned. We took the opportunity to do some research. We didn't find a great deal, although Roland didn locate a tome containing some vague information about a kind of forbidden magic and hunters who would bring outcasts back to their villages. Apparently those who could perform this strange magic would often leave their homes and these hunters would return them, but Roland couldn't determine from the meager information if the practitioners of the magic were brought back under duress. The book had been transcribed some 70 years ago, which wasn't promising. My own researches were even less successful.

Hedrin then rejoined us and told us that one of the warriors he'd, met Bantu by name, had been friendly enough to tell him a little about the village we seek. Bantu had given Hedrin the names of several guides who might be willing to take us there. After a short time we were introduced to a sage called Shasu who seemed more receptive to our inquiries than the would-be guide had been. When we told him what we sought he immediately remarked, "You seek the village of the Blessed."  It was such a relief to find someone who knew what we were talking about! 

Shasu was very secretive, but he explained that the village is treated with great respect here and the reason the guide wouldn't speak with us is due to the desire of the citizens to protect the Blessed. The Blessed of this village helped the people of Chult in their last war. The village can't be located by any scrying magic. The people of Mezro had once given the villagers a protection of some sort, but it seemed that they didn't really need it. Shasu also told us we might be able to find guides who would be better than the ones Bantu had mentioned to Hedrin. But we may need to speak with the king and gain his permission first. 

Hedrin also reminded me of an event I'd not thought of for a long while. Some 90 years ago a monk named Xiao Lu left Dragonsreach suddenly and never returned. I was only a child then and didn't pay much mind to that, but I'd heard of it through my _Naneth_. According to Bantu, the village of the Blessed here had been established by a woman whose voice had the power to do amazing things - and this woman fit the description of Xiao Lu! 
___________________________
*Quips & Quotes:*

Zora: "One of the two explorers over there is dumbfounded..."
Devo: "... and one is dumb and not found."

Zora: "You get the feeling the chair can turn."
Hedrin: "Roll a turn check."


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## Hedrin (Mar 19, 2007)

sniffles said:
			
		

> After a short time we were introduced to a sage called Bantu who seemed more receptive to our inquiries than the would-be guide had been.




Actually, I think Bantu was the name of the warrior I talked to.

Hedrin


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## sniffles (Mar 19, 2007)

Yes, I made a mistake. Bantu was the warrior, the sage was Shasu. My bad.  
I fixed the entry.


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## sniffles (Apr 3, 2007)

*Welcome to the Jungle*

Thank the Lady, we're on our way to the village of the Blessed. It won't be a quick trip nor an easy one, but the Lady willing we'll find it before Lerner does.

We left our meeting with Shasu feeling much more confident about the success of our mission here in Chult. The sage gave us a letter of introduction to the guides that we hoped would make them friendlier toward us. We planned to return to where we'd met the one guide on the following morning to try our recruitment effort again.

After we left the sage, Hedrin decided to go and find his new warrior friend, Bantu, and offer an apology to a younger warrior whom he'd bested in mock combat on the training field. Hedrin was worried he'd been too hard on the young warrior. 

We still hadn't seen Latan since we separated from her earlier, but we trusted that we'd find her safely back at the inn when we returned. Roland and I then decided to look for some of the local entertainments to get an opportunity to learn some new stories or dance steps. 

We found an amphitheatre where a play called "The Rise of the Barae" was to be performed that evening. Beforehand there was music and dancing, so we did have a chance to learn some of the local dance steps, which are quite unlike anything I've seen before in more northerly climes. 

"The Rise of the Barae" was quite interesting, offering a chance to learn more of the history of Chult as it is known by every citizen here. The play is evidently performed quite often and is more like a spiritual ritual for the citizens than a form of entertainment.

As I'd expected, we found Latan waiting at the inn when we left the theatre. Hedrin joined us later, somewhat in his cups after spending the evening at a tavern with a crowd of soldiers. Humans just don't know how to hold their ale.

The following morning we made our way back to the tavern where we'd previously attempted to hire a guide. We found ourselves in the presence of the same man we'd met there the previous day. Once again he tried to misdirect us, until Roland showed him our letter of introduction. After that his demeanor changed notably. He went off to have a discussion with a couple of other men and then two of them left.

The third man approached us and introduced himself as Pimani. I liked him at once. He's very forthright and thoughtful. He's been to the Village several times in the past and knows where it was last located, but he tells us it occasionally changes location for the safety of the residents and to avoid overtaxing the resources of the area.

We spent the morning with him purchasing supplies and equipment for our journey. According to Pimani it will take 3 or 4 weeks to reach the Village. Travel is very slow through the dense jungle, and we'll have to go on foot. But by noon we were ready to depart. Percy's enchanted chest made the task of supplying ourselves much simpler. 

We've now been traveling for several days. Pimani is very strict about making certain we drink plenty of water. He stops us several times a day for rest breaks and checks our water supply. Hedrin is following Pimani's every move closely, learning all he can of jungle survival. Fortunately though Pimani is not too talkative while we walk, he's willing to share his knowledge. 

I neglected to mention that Latan has purchased a small dinosaur as a companion. This caused her a bit of difficulty when she'd intended to cast a spell on us each day to disguise us from the huge dinosaurs Pimani tells us can be found in the jungle. The magic wouldn't differentiate what type of dinosaur it protected us from and would have made us undetectable to Latan's new pet as well. We'll just have to rely on Pimani's guidance and our own skills to avoid running afoul of one of the big creatures. I hope we see at least one, though. I'd like to be able to tell the tale of meeting one - from a safe distance.

Pimani has told us some most interesting facts about the Village. It's more populous than I'd expected, some 500 people strong, and the large majority of them are apparently Blessed! This is why it can't be magically scryed - such a concentration of divine energy in one place blocks the magic. 

Of course we're all amazed to hear that so many Blessed live here. Sometimes Blessed from other locales are drawn to this Village, according to Pimani. I wonder if we'll learn why once we meet the villagers. Strangely I don't feel any sense of being drawn to this place. 
_______________________
*Quips & Quotes:*

sniffles: "What's the god's name?"
Devo: "I don't know him *that* well."
Zora: "We're not on a first-god-name basis."


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## sniffles (Apr 16, 2007)

*Danger Under Every Leaf*

Our trip through the jungle is proving even more dangerous than Pimani led us to expect. As he warned us before we left Mezro, there is danger under every leaf here. But some of the danger is due to forces our guide couldn't possibly have anticipated. 

As usual, Latan and Roland are adapting to our surroundings so quickly that I envy them. Hedrin is picking up jungle survival quickly as well. I suppose my nature is to do things at a bit more leisurely pace than my shorter-lived companions, though of course that description doesn't really fit Latan. Sometimes I forget that she's not human. 

We've been taking the route Pimani deems the least dangerous, but not necessarily the fastest way to reach the village. In addition to learning all the things to avoid or look out for, he's encouraged us to plan how we would react should we become separated. That hadn't really seemed a concern to me until he mentioned it, but now I realize that we could take only a few steps away from one another among the dense trees and be lost. Or perhaps I should only apply that to myself. 

One danger Pimani particularly described to us was the goblin tribes who live here. They ride on enormous spiders. We've not yet seen any goblins, but we have seen evidence of their curious mounts. The jungle is full of huge webs hanging from the trees, the strands of silk as large as the cords of fishing nets I've seen at the harbor in Milvarune. Strangely the sticky webbing won't cling to Hedrin. Another of the Lady's Blessings.

At one point the others heard some sound that I sadly failed to detect - _Ada_ would be disappointed in my lack of alertness. We found ourselves surrounded by some large creatures, as big as we are, which Pimani identified as a type of dinosaur known as raptors. They're very clever according to our guide. Even when my friends pointed the dinosaurs out to me I could see only one large eye peering between the foliage. 

Latan drew out one of her wands and fired off a missile in the general direction of one creature. This caused several of the beasts to move away, and their fellows followed suit when she pointed the wand threateningly at them. They departed quite rapidly. Pimani advised us to keep moving to get clear of their territory.

That night we experienced evidence of the real danger to us here. Roland and I were on watch when we were suddenly struck by that horribly familiar sensation we've come to associate with Lerner's abominable activities. I fell unconscious at once, as did Roland. When I opened my eyes I found Latan tending me. Neither Roland nor I were hurt by the awful experience, only shaken. But Hedrin had experienced something far worse.

When he had recovered himself a little he told us that Lerner and his companions are getting more effective at using their foul ritual to steal Blessings, and Hedrin doubts we will have another opportunity to divert those stolen Blessings away from our enemies. Hedrin only received his new Blessing as the result of Percy's intervention. When Hedrin found himself in the Lady's realm, he saw Percy there in dragon form and our dear friend was somehow able to redirect the stolen Blessing toward Hedrin.

Hedrin did observe that the Blessed spirits in the Lady's realm, which had previously seemed indifferent, now appeared quite attentive to Percy's presence. Hedrin also confided that he felt almost as though he'd been *pulled* into the Lady's realm. Perhaps this was also Percy's doing. At least Percy was able to prevent Lerner from stealing another Blessing. His new Blessing seems to have come from someone who lived in the village we seek, though this man was at the coast at the time of his sad demise.

Our attention was diverted from discussion of this traumatic event by Latan's recognition that both Roland and Hedrin looked a bit pale. She realized they'd both managed to contract some jungle disease.  She estimated that the disease would reach its worst by the following day. Roland was able to use his magic to remove his illness, but we would have to wait until the following day to do the same for Hedrin. I'm sorry my extra Blessing hasn't given me such an ability. 

By midday the next day Hedrin was obviously feeling worse, his skin pale and clammy. Roland cast a spell of restoration on him to alleviate some of his discomfort. When we made camp that night I was able to summon up my own charm of _healthful rest_ to help him sleep, I'm glad to say. Unfortunately I don't know any enchantments to protect us from ambush by giant vermin. 

I was on watch, with Hedrin this time, when the spiders attacked us. They weren't goblin mounts, merely jungle denizens looking for food, we presume. I never sensed any threat. They descended from the trees and began biting at us with their poisoned mandibles. 

I shouted an alarm to wake my companions and uttered a quick prayer to the Lady to invoke her Blessing of alacrity. Then I drew my thinblade and leaped to the attack. One of the spiders clamped its mandibles on my arm and I felt my strength waning. I'm fortunate that I'm unusually strong for my size, else I might have been too weak to go on.

Hedrin blasted spiders with eldritch energy, while Latan attacked them with magic. I began shouting encouraging exhortations to my friends. Roland called out that we should protect Pimani. I moved nearer to the guide, slaying a spider on my way.

Pimani drew a dagger and made to assure that the fallen spiders were truly dead. In short order all the spiders on one side of our camp had been slain. I made my way over to Latan's side to aid her with our remaining foes. She was anxiously staring off into the trees where her new pet dinosaur, Sapphire, had fled when the spiders appeared. She'd taken more than a few bites and was suffering the effects of the poison.

Hedrin had let off blasting the spiders and had turned to tooth and claw. I often forget how bestial he can become when he's angry. I decided to attempt a spell and coated one spider's hairy form with a rime of frost. Then the battle was done and the spiders had all been destroyed.

I took a vial of antitoxin from my bandolier and swallowed it quickly. Of our party only Roland had managed to avoid the spiders' venom. Despite my own weakness I felt strangely empowered*. I suddenly realized that my Blessing could permit me to remove the disease afflicting Hedrin. I was able to offer much healing to myself and my friends without resorting to the wand I carry. As much as I regret the death of that poor soul whose Blessing I now carry, I thank the Lady for giving it to me rather than to Lerner or one of his cronies. 

**Player's note: Our characters achieved 9th level during this adventure. Since Thilme' has both the Healer and Quickened heroic paths, she now has Healer abilities at 9th level, meaning she can cast remove disease 1/day.
sniffles*
___________________________
*Quips & Quotes:*

Zora: "As you bed down for the night, you have watches, right?"
Jubilee: "I don't think we're that high-tech."

Hedrin: "The spiders swing both ways."
Devo (singing the Spider-Man animated theme): "Spider-Man/Woman, Spider-Man/Woman..."


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## sniffles (Apr 30, 2007)

*A Surfeit of Trouble*

Thanks to the Lady's mercy we managed to survive the encounter with the spiders, though it was a close thing. We settled back down to complete our rest, Pimani watching over us so that Roland, Latan and I could all refresh our spells for the day. 

I was resting quietly when I had a strange sensation, as if I were no longer in control of my own body but merely a passenger within it. I rose and walked into the center of camp. My mind seemed to be full of the Ancient Draconic tongue I've been studying. I felt as if I knew far more of it than I actually know. I spoke one word, and suddenly all my companions awoke at once. A kind of energy seemed to flow out from me, touching only the Silver Claws. It didn't affect Pimani. 

Once my friends had got over their startlement, we all realized that we felt as refreshed as if we'd had an uninterrupted night's rest. Latan immediately went to comfort her new pet Sapphire, which had been frightened by the noise - and as Latan went to the small dinosaur she took the form of a dinosaur herself! Then Hedrin announced that he knew how to grant us all the ability to endure the heat of the jungle for a full day and night. The Lady has blessed us with yet more of her grace. Latan still wonders why the Lady doesn't take a direct hand in the affairs with Lerner and the murders of the Blessed, but I believe she's given us many tools with which to handle this ourselves. 

Since we were all wide awake and thinking of our mission, Hedrin began to tell us what he'd learned of the man whose Blessing he'd absorbed. The man had been a seasoned soldier who had traveled the world serving in various conflicts. He'd been working for Lerner, spying on the Village. But most disturbingly, Hedrin knew that this man hadn't been born one of the Blessed - he'd been granted a Blessing by Lerner's horrible ritual! And somehow he'd failed Lerner and been slain as punishment. 

Disheartened by this news, we all focused on our prayers as we prepared to set off again. We let Pimani know that it was important that we pick up the pace. He seemed relieved that we wanted to move faster. We made sure to restore our health and stamina as much as possible before we left camp. Latan warded us all with a protective spell to make up for our lack of armor. 

We'd been under way for a few hours when it happened again. That horrid sensation that heralded the death of another Blessed. I am so weary of feeling it. Lady grant that soon we'll be able to stop Lerner's awful depredations. 

Latan and I both collapsed like empty sacks when it happened. Roland and Hedrin managed to keep their feet. But this time no one was able to intercept the Blessing and prevent it being stolen by Lerner's group. Roland and Hedrin both saw a glimpse of the Lady's realm and witnessed Percy in dragon form attempting to prevent the Blessing from being taken, but it was torn from his grasp this time. Frighteningly, this vision also allowed Roland and Hedrin to overhear Lerner's voice remarking, "It's almost complete", and they perceived that Lerner has assembled an army!

When we'd recovered we told our guide that we would have to get to the Village as fast as possible. He warned us that we'd be taking the most dangerous route, but didn't try to dissuade us. Thanks to the Lady the rest of the day was uneventful, though we did catch another glimpse of the raptors. That night I cast a spell of _healthful rest_ to help us all regain our strength and we rested safely. 

The following morning Roland cast a spell that allowed us to pass almost unhindered through the jungle foliage. But that was the only ease we had. Once again, a few hours into our journey we met trouble - though at least this time it wasn't the death of another Blessed, praise the Lady. 

We saw movement ahead, and as the beast came out into sight we observed a pair of goblins astride a huge dinosaur with a horned skull. They rode on a sort of platform mounted on the beast's humped back. Pimani stepped forward to treat with them. While I've learned many languages, most of my knowledge is of the tongues of creatures of magic. I've never learned to speak the goblin tongue. I considered casting a spell to allow me to understand the conversation, but the goblins seemed agitated and I feared that my gestures might be misread.

I asked Istanil if she'd translate for me, but she declined, complaining that the goblin language was too base. In the meanwhile Pimani's converse with the goblins didn't appear to be making any headway. They were become more aggressive. Latan then sent Isaura to sweep them off their riding platform, hoping to frighten them away, but Isaura was unable to pick them up. Hedrin then tried to use his fearsome nature to drive the horned dinosaur away, but had no effect.

I cast a spell to allow us all to communicate without speaking aloud just as more goblins emerged from the foliage. They were obviously ready to do us harm.  Then the dinosaur rushed forward, bowling me over. I called upon a second enchantment to make me harder to hit and scrambled back to my feet.

The horned dinosaur turned cumbrously to face us again. Hedrin swiped his eldritch energy at the strap holding the platform on its back and severed it. I began to recite a stanza of Jaedrig's Tale, remembering the courage with which his companions had faced the minions of Bane at Shadowdale. Roland meanwhile sent an effect at the fallen goblin riders that caused them to become confused and begin tussling with each other.

The dinosaur continued its movement and knocked Hedrin down. Three goblins surrounded Latan. For a brief moment I was at a loss as to whether I should attack the dinosaur or go to Latan's aid. But she responded via my spell that three goblins were no threat to her. I summoned up a small orb of icy cold and sent it hurtling at the dinosaur.

 Hedrin leaped up and bounded up onto the dinosaur's head, landing awkwardly but catching hold of its horns. Latan then fired a burst of flames at it. It charged straight toward a tree, carrying Hedrin with it! For a moment it seemed he would be pinned between the beast's horns and the tree bole, but he jumped free and moved away. I then turned my attention to the goblins menacing Latan, drawing my blade. Latan sent two orbs, one of ice and the other of fire, flying toward the dinosaur, which fled into the jungle.

Pimani, who had been fighting alongside Roland on the opposite side of our battlefield, then shouted to us to gather together. We heard thrashing sounds from among the trees, followed by high-pitched goblin screams. The raptors were taking advantage of an opportunity. 
_____________________________
*Quips & Quotes:*

Jubilee: "I could summon a mephit."
Hedrin: "There's a mephit to my madness."

Devo: "Pimani, how are you?"
Zora (the GM): "I'm fine. I'm not optimized for fighting, though. Stupid GM didn't optimize me for fighting."

Devo (when Hedrin jumps on the dino's horns): "So now you're riding the hood of the car!"

Zora: "The goblin's wobbly. He's a wobblin'."


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## sniffles (May 29, 2007)

*Heart of Darkness*

Evidently a few goblins weren't a sufficient meal for the raptors. They rushed out of the trees to surround us.

We each found ourselves facing two of the nasty beasts. Roland called for the Silver Claws to encircle our guide, but we found ourselves unable to comply quickly as we were too occupied with fighting off the snapping and slashing of the raptors. I uttered a quick prayer to the Lady that her blessing of quickness would last longer than our foes. 

I could see Hedrin was in dire danger, bleeding from numerous wounds. Thankfully he managed to dodge and weave between the beasts and get near enough that I could extend some of the Lady's healing power to him. I had to let my guard down to do so and suffered a bad bite and a slash from one raptor's dagger-like claws. Hedrin went darting away from me to slay a creature that threatened Pimani. 

I turned on my attacker with a will and dealt it two solid blows. In return it tried to clamp my head in its jaws! That was the last thing it did before my blade brought it down. Another raptor fell to flames issuing from Latan's hands. Behind me I heard Roland calling out a prayer to the Lady. 

Suddenly a large creature, about the size of a horse, came swooping down from above! I would have been concerned, but something about the creature's silvery coloring told me it was not an enemy. It landed almost on top of one raptor and crushed the vile dinosaur's spine with its own claws. 

Looking about us we realized that all of the raptors had been slain. Pimani urged us to move away from the area lest more raptors arrive, drawn by the scent of blood. We hurried off in the direction that Latan's pet Sapphire had fled, for she had sent Isaura that way to find the small dinosaur. The silver creature that had come to our aid, which I now recognized as a draconic beast commonly called a drakkensteed, followed us amiably, staying close to Roland. 

When we had recovered Isaura and Sapphire and got far enough from the killing zone to satisfy Pimani, we set to work healing as many of our wounds as we could before proceeding further. Pimani recommended that we not continue until we were as hale as we could make ourselves. Once I'd expended all of the curative power the Lady grants me each day I took a longer look at the drakkensteed. I recall that they are not ordinarily that silver shade, which leads me to believe that Roland's prayer summoned it from the Lady's realm in much the same way paladins are able to summon steeds from the celestial plane. 

As we resumed our journey we were concerned to hear something very large roaring in the distance, but it did not come nearer. Pimani identified the sound as a type of dinosaur called a tyrannosaur. I shall be quite satisfied if we never meet such a creature in person.

As we set up camp for the night, Roland's new friend returned to the Lady's realm. Roland has yet to tell me what the drakkensteed's name is; he says it hasn't yet told him. 

While Hedrin and I were on third watch we heard something very large moving toward us. Pimani left us to gather more information. As he hadn't indicated any immediate danger we elected not to wake the others. Our guide was gone for a long while. When he returned he told us that a tyrannosaur had been moving in our direction. Pimani had led it away. Feeling a bit guilty for having chosen not to wake Roland and Latan, I remarked to Hedrin that we shouldn't mention the tyrannosaur to them. 

By the time we resumed our travel we all felt much healthier than on the previous day, thanks to the magic the Lady grants me. Eventually we came to a broad plain, on which we could actually see one of the dreaded tyrannosaus moving in the distance. Roland joked that it was a tiny creature because it was so far away. 

The next four days passed without any event of note. Under ordinary circumstances I would find this dull, but I'll not complain of it now. 

On the fifth day after the raptor attack we came upon a goblin village, which we elected to skirt round. As we made our way past it Pimani questioned us about what we intend to do when we reach the village of the Blessed. We suspect that they must be aware of something dire occurring, for with so many Blessed in one place they can hardly be ignorant of the deaths Lerner and his companions have caused. We hope that they will at least listen to our information and take precautions to protect themselves, if not evacuate their village. 

Pimani suddenly alerted us to something approaching, and I heard crashing sounds as of something large moving in our direction. I caught a glimpse of a tyrannosaur running toward us - and it was under attack by a pack of raptors. What brazen creatures to take on such mighty prey!  We broke into a run, wisely fleeing for our lives. 

The huge dinosaur soon veered off on another path, but now Pimani hesitated, a look of consternation on his face. Latan asked what troubled him, then remarked that she sensed unnatural decay and evil in the vicinity. Roland also detected evil all around us. A darkness was growing in the area. Latan's tressyms reported shapes approaching us, surrounding us. Roland began to pray for his new companion to join us.

The jungle itself appeared to be moving toward us, encircling us with trees and vines. They seemed unwholesome and unnatural to my eyes. Roland sprang onto the drakkensteed's back, for it was fully equipped with saddle and bridle, and they flew up above the threatening flora. Vines shot out and attempted to ensnare them. I summoned an orb of icy cold to my hands and hurled it at one ominously approaching tree-creature. Hedrin blasted another with his eldritch energy. 

Within a few heartbeats two of the tree-things had fallen, but they rose again, to our despair. One extremely gnarled old tree-creature appeared to be directing it all, though my back was to this and I was aware of it only by the remarks of my companions. Hedrin began making his way through the other plant-creatures to confront this leader, clambering with fantastic agility over the tops of the trees. We were assailed on all sides by tree-creatures, vine-creatures, and female forms with woody flesh who fired thorns from their hand-like appendages. 

I drew my sword and called on the Lady's Blessing once again. My blade fairly hewed two trees into kindling. A huge treant that loomed over us fell with a great commotion to Latan's spells. Then a mass of vines wrapped me and I could no longer move!
_____________________

*Quips & Quotes:*

sniffles: "Goblins are like Chinese food. They don't stick around long."
Devo: "And four hours later you want to level."

Zora: "You hear a t-rex roar."
Hedrin: "Can I get any impression of what it's saying?"
Zora: "'Curse my tiny little arms!'"

Zora: "You see a t-rex in the distance."
Devo: "They're so tiny!"

sniffles: "I hope Pimani isn't leading us around in circles."
Zora: "Well, he is paid by the day."
Devo: "We're paying him?"

sniffles: "The t-rex has got a withered arm."
Hedrin: "No, that's a wizard's arm."

Hedrin: "Items in scrying mirror are closer than they appear."

sniffles: "Your GM shield isn't high enough."
Zora: "It's set to medium."
Hedrin: "Yeah, well, we've got Fight Guard."
Devo: "I'm Sure." (raises hand)

Devo: "So, is it too late to make like a tree and leave?"
Jubilee: "Maybe the trees are thirsty. I create some water."
Devo: "I create some water too. " (Looks down at pants)

Zora: "The vines don't feel especially strong."
Devo: "Neither do I."


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## sniffles (Jun 11, 2007)

*At the Heart of the Matter*

As I stood pinioned by the vines, Latan called out to me that were I willing she could help.  I agreed immediately, realizing that she probably meant to use a spell I now knew - though I had neglected to prepare it that morning. A moment later I felt the familiar tingling sensation, and between closing my eyes to blink and opening them again I'd moved out of reach of the vine-women to another, less threatening part of the battlefield.

 Looking back to where I'd stood a breath earlier, I saw the vine-maidens surrounding Latan. I turned my attention then to Hedrin, who had taken cover nearby due to his many wounds. I moved to his side and called on the Lady's healing power for his benefit. 

I said that my new position was less dangerous than among the vine-maidens, but that isn't quite true. It was only that fewer foes threatened Hedrin and I. We faced the gnarled tree-creature that seemed to lead our enemies. This creature hurled a splinter of its own substance at us that transformed into a javelin as it flew, but thankfully failed to find a target. 

In return I summoned up one of the spells I had thought to prepare that morning, firing a small bolt of lightning at the tree-thing, but my spell found no more success than our attacker's javelin had. 

I glanced toward Latan again and saw that the vine-women had ensnared her and were apparently attempting to drag her away. Roland's draconic steed caught hold of her and resisted them. When Latan was free of their grasp, the drakkensteed crushed one of them beneath its claws and took flight.

A twig-creature approached my location and I hewed it to tinder with my thinblade. Then the gnarled tree sent one of its roots tunneling through the ground to emerge and strike me a blow that left my head spinning. 

In the meantime two of the other variety of maiden-like creatures shot some of their thorns into Hedrin. I could see that the thorns must be poisoned and sapping his strength. for he sagged after the thorns struck his flesh. Despite this, Hedrin sent a blast of his eldritch fire at the gnarled tree. Unfortunately it appeared to be under the effect of the same spell I was employing to protect myself, for it was surrounded by a nimbus of whirling loose leaves that made it difficult to see clearly.

I murmured my draconic word to relieve Hedrin of his weariness and turned to slay one of the thorn-maids who'd come within reach. Hedrin fired another blast and this time was able to penetrate the gnarled one's defenses. 

In response, the tree waved its limbs about purposefully and a mass of spiky growths shot out of the earth all around us. We couldn't take a step without impaling ourselves. I drew a scroll from my case and read it out, feeling satisfaction as the dagger-shaped chunk of ice struck the tree and shattered into sharp shards. 

The tree waved his limbs again and I recognized that he was casting a healing charm. I exclaimed this to Hedrin, feeling my heart sink a little. How could we hope to defeat this enemy if it could heal its own wounds and summon its fallen comrades back to life?

Hedrin bent his knees and then with a mighty bound shot out of the area of spiky growth to land nearer the evil tree. He didn't quite escape the area of spikes when he landed, but he kept his feet and summoned another blast against the tree. He missed his aim - but his energy struck a wood golem that had come up behind the command tree.

Withdrawing another scroll from its case, I tried again to affect the leader with a spell, with no more success than my previous attempt. I was beginning to despair, I must confess. I couldn't hope to leap out of the spikes the way Hedrin had. I'm not nearly as nimble as he is. My Blessed quickness was of no use in that circumstance.

Beyond the gnarled tree I spotted three more plant-creatures appearing, of a different variety than those we'd been struggling with. The newcomers had an air of decay about them that was disturbing.

As these new foes appeared, the gnarled one lashed Hedrin with one of his roots as he'd done me, and then another thorn-maid managed to strike me with her thorns. I felt my knees weaken as the poison coursed through my veins. Off to my left I caught a glimpse of Roland's drakkensteed suddenly collapsing to the earth. 

I knew the drakkensteed wasn't slain, only returned to the Lady's realm, but I still felt a pang of fear when it fell, depriving us of a valuable ally. And now the three new arrivals were advancing menacingly on Latan, who had taken the form of a brown bear to continue her fight. One of them, the most foul-looking of the trio, grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up. As it did so she transformed back to her natural appearance in its grasp.

Behind the foul creatures a fire mephit suddenly appeared, summoned by Latan before she was caught. It flew up and began trying to burn the evil things, though with little success. It was at that moment that Hedrin managed to strike the gnarled tree-lord a telling blast and it fell in splinters. 

Looking around anxiously to track my friends, I saw Roland, his form overshadowed by the shape of a silver dragon, rushing the hideous plant-creatures. As he did so a second silvery dragon appeared behind his target - a shape I somehow recognized as a ghostly Percy in his true form! Roland cried out in the Draconic tongue, and suddenly Latan was free.

I was so absorbed in this amazing sight that I didn't notice the thorn-maiden attacking me until it was too late - though there was little I could have done to avoid her attack. When her thorns struck me I felt so weary I could hardly keep my feet. 

I had drawn my bow earlier to try to offer some aid to my friends, but now I was too weak to pull it! And my Blessing of quickness had faded a few moments before, leaving me weary enough then that I had already employed the Draconic word to relieve my fatigue. I knew I wouldn't be able to use the word again to aid myself that day.

While I stood there trembling and helpless, Latan called out in Silver Cant that she meant to go with the hideous plant-things! She begged the rest of us to let her go. Roland exclaimed, "No!" in a fierce tone. I summoned up a restorative from the Lady's healing Blessing and recovered some of my strength, though I was still trapped amid the spikes and weakened by the poison.

Latan cried, "Let me go! I have to go to the heart. It's my prophecy." I wasn't certain quite what she meant, but in any case there was nothing I could do to aid her or stop the plant-creature from carrying her off. They began to move toward a dark opening amid the dead vegetation filling the area.

I couldn't see or hear what happened next, but Latan told me later. The plant-monster, some blighted evil thing that despised the very natural forces of which it was made, growled to her that she would replace this - and opened its torso to reveal its blackened, rotted heart.

Latan, realizing that perhaps going to the heart might not mean quite what she had previously thought, thrust her hand into the creature's inner cavity and attempted to wrest out its heart! She still held a flame in her hand from a spell she had been using against the other plant-creatures. When her burning hand contacted the evil thing's heart the flames turned to silver and flared out through its plant-flesh. Its woody skin snapped shut on her hand. 

Latan told me that she could feel the Lady's energy filling the creature as she continued to grip his heart. As the silver flame expanded, his body turned to dust. Latan was left standing by the dark hole through which the creature had come, holding in her hands a purified crystal that resembled a mandrake root.

The creature's two companions slumped to the ground in heaps of decomposing leaves when their leader fell. The rest of the plant-creatures had all fallen but for one of the thorn-maidens, who fled into the jungle. 

Once we had assured ourselves of Pimani's safety, we assembled around Latan to see what she held. She told us that the creature had come from another plane, a place of absolute evil, but the portal had closed once the creature died. 

Latan then knelt and dug a hole in the ground where she stood, burying the strange crystal. As soon as she had covered it with soil, the dead vegetation around us began to turn green once more. We felt the oppressive sense of decay in the area vanish as leaves unfurled and blossoms opened. 

Moments later a sapling emerged from the soil over the buried crystal and began to enlarge rapidly until I saw that it was no ordinary tree but a treant! Within its woody flesh I caught a glimpse of the crystal, set just where a heart would be in other creatures. The treant grew to full size in little time, but Latan determined that it was not quite fully conscious yet.

As we were all weary and badly wounded, we decided that we would be safe resting in this newly cleansed clearing. Once we had administered what healing we could to ourselves, I settled down amid the new treant's roots and began to tell him a story. It's an old story that has long been told among the Tel'Quessir of the origins of the treants. I thought he might enjoy it.

The next morning the treant had fully awakened. Latan gave it the name Ladyheart in honor of its divinely-inspired birth. Ladyheart thanked us for destroying the monsters and cleansing the jungle. In gratitude he gave us an acorn that can be used to summon one of his kindred to our aid in time of need. 

I feel a sense of peace and optimism in the wake of this amazing event. We still must find the village and warn the other Blessed, but what happened here makes me more confident of our success. The Lady is truly with us. 
_____________________

*Quips & Quotes:*

Zora: "The creatures are made of tinder, twigs, dry wood... If you apply _produce flame_ often enough they'll catch fire."
sniffles: "They're made of tindertwigs? They should catch fire really easily!"

Jubilee: "I look through my familiar's eyes."
Devo: "You see a paw, a tree, the sky, a paw, a tree, the sky..."

Jubilee: "I grab his heart and yank it out. Is that a disarm?"
Zora: "It's a dishearten."


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## sniffles (Jul 9, 2007)

*Arrival at Last*

We rested for a day in Ladyheart's newly-formed grove, enjoying the tranquility of the area now that the corruption had been cleansed. I could see new growth erupting all around us. I wonder what the grove will look like in a hundred years time. I'll have to make a point to return and visit Ladyheart again.

The following day we set off again, for Roland had rather begrudged our previous day's rest, I think. I admit he has a point that we should try to reach the village of the Blessed as soon as possible, but I trust to the Lady that Lerner's army won't be able to get there faster than we can. 

After we'd been traveling for a time, under the protection of a spell Latan summoned to make our steps untraceable, Hedrin indicated that he thought something was following us. This was naturally a bit disturbing as Latan's spell was intended to prevent such an occurrence. We paused while Latan sent her tressyms and Isaura back to see who or what our follower was. They returned to report that it was one of the thornmaidens we'd fought in the grove, presumably the one that had fled after the corrupted creature was destroyed. 

Hedrin then suggested that he approach the thornmaiden to invite her to tell us why she was following us. As he'd tried to pursue the fleeing thornmaiden earlier, Latan remarked that perhaps he wasn't the right person to take on this task. Hedrin then asked Latan to speak with the thornmaiden. Latan wondered if the thornmaiden might be fearful of us or even of Ladyheart, because we had destroyed the creature she served. 

After some thought, I decided to step forward and address the thornmaiden, who was nearly invisible against the jungle foliage. I called out to her in the Sylvan tongue, hoping she would understand, as I don't know the language of plant creatures and Latan wouldn't be able to speak that tongue until the following day, if she so chose. Thank the Lady the thornmaiden did know a little Sylvan. I was able to coax her out of hiding and ask her a few questions, aided by Latan, who of course speaks Sylvan as one of the Fey.

The thornmaiden had no name of her own, she told us, being accustomed to simply being called "number one" by her former master. She knew no life other than the plane of corruption from whence her master had come. Latan immediately suggested naming her "friend" in the Elven tongue, if she would accept it. She raised no objection. We have been calling her Mellon since. 

But before we could speak much further, Hedrin detected some other creature rapidly approaching us. This frightened Mellon and she fired some of her poisoned thorns at the newcomer as soon as it was within range. The new arrival turned out to be a wolf - not native to Chult, I think. Fortunately Mellon was so startled by the wolf rushing out of the jungle that her thorns failed to hit their mark. 

Latan spoke to the wolf in its own tongue, which made for a rather curious conversation as she yipped and growled to the wolf, then translated in Sylvan for Mellon and in the common tongue for Hedrin and Roland's benefit. But before she could explain to Mellon, the thornmaiden shot another cluster of thorns at the wolf. I had to ask her to cease her attacks. 

Then wolf then began sniffing eagerly at each of us, particularly at Hedrin. He then growled and seemed confused. Latan suddenly realized that her spell masked our scents, and she dismissed the magic to permit the wolf to smell us. The wolf appeared to be most interested in Hedrin. Hedrin then held out to the animal a locket he wears, and at the same time discovered that the wolf had a thong tied about its neck with some small item attached to it. When he removed the object, it was revealed to be the ring he had sent with Rose Weisselpuff for her to give to Semiyama, the wolf-woman who travels with Lerner.

Latan remarked to me that the wolf was already weary when it arrived and Mellon's thorns had weakened it further, so I murmured the Draconic word I know to remove some of the animal's distress. I then moved cautiously nearer and laid my hand on his flank to extend to him some of the Lady's healing grace. He was somewhat confused by having all of us standing so near, but did not react with aggression. Latan told us he was much brighter than an ordinary wolf. 

Latan questioned the wolf, who told her his name is Fangrim, and learned that Semi had sent him as a messenger to warn us. He couldn't quite explain what he was meant to warn of, but further questioning led us to believe that Semi had wished to advise us of the approach of Lerner's army. Fangrim told us she was in danger, but not injured or held against her will. 

Though it was only mid-morning by this point, we set up camp so that Latan could administer a healing salve to Fangrim's sore paws. He had been traveling almost non-stop for weeks to reach us. While Latan administered to the wolf, Roland spent time getting acquainted with Mellon, who did speak a smattering of the common tongue. She seemed quite attracted to him. In order to allay both her fears and Fangrim's, he summoned his new mount to him to introduce them to the drakkensteed. I brought forth Istanil and introduced her as well, though she actually snapped at Fangrim when he sniffed her. Cheeky creature. She wasn't much interested in Mellon either, having little use for a plant creature who doesn't read books. 

As we waited for Fangrim to recuperate, I noticed that Mellon's foliage was beginning to look greener than it had when we first met her. I felt sorry for her that she had never known the life she should have, among healthy green and growing things. In the normal course of matters a thornmaiden is meant to be a protector of nature, not a corrupter or destroyer. I hope no other corrupt plant-creatures exist such as the one who had enslaved her.

Hedrin had revealed that the locket he carried bore a lock of Semi's hair when he showed it to the wolf. While we rested, he explained to us just why he had become so enamored of her on such short acquaintance, for they had only met the one time when Lerner's ship waylaid Master Whitetree's vessel. He told us he had felt whole when he was with her, as though he had been missing a part of himself and had found it in her. It was then that I realized that Fangrim seemed unaffected by the aura Hedrin projects that most animals find disturbing.

The following day we continued our journey. Pimani told us we should reach the village in two weeks - assuming, of course, that it had not relocated since last he visited. The next three days were uneventful aside from a slight detour to avoid a great mass of spiderwebs. I spent my resting hours reading up on plant creatures with Istanil's assistance. I'd already discovered through observation that Mellon has the ability to meld into trees and pass from one to another without covering the intervening space. I wish that we could all do the same. 

On the third day we came to a river crossing. Pimani advised that we should begin seeing evidence of patrols from the village soon. The area seemed less dangerous than previously, as though the presence of the village had driven off some of the more threatening creatures. But at one point we came to what was obviously the site of a battle between two goblin tribes, which Pimani identified as the Trihorn and Megaraptor tribes. Latan detected a residue of divine magic in the area. Roland wanted to leave some sign there to let the village patrols know of our presence, but was persuaded that this might not be the wisest course. 

Three further days had passed without event when, as we continued forward at Pimani's direction, a well-armed woman abruptly appeared in our path. Roland stepped forward and introduced us as ambassadors of Dragonsreach, to which the woman responded by demanding that we "show the sign". This left us somewhat confused until it occurred to Roland to recite part of the temple litany that resembles a greeting. This appeared to satisfy the woman, for she told us we could pass. I suppose we should be thankful that she demanded nothing else. We make quite a peculiar group with all of our curious companions: a wolf, a drakkensteed, a thornmaiden, two tressyms and Latan's pet dinosaur, and Istanil of course... 

But I digress. When the woman had recognized the "sign", she reached up and grasped hold of something that appeared to be a kind of fabric, which I had not detected before, and drew it aside. Beyond it I could see what was undoubtedly the village of the Blessed, surrounded by a curious distortion that I suspected was due to a magic portal between dimensions. The woman told us we were expected and indicated that we should pass through the portal. We had at last arrived at our destination, Lady be praised.
_______________________________
*Quips & Quotes:*

Jubilee: "I empathically call my familiars back to me... somehow."
Hedrin: "Send a feeling of longing for their company."
Devo: "Send a feeling of kibbles."

Jubilee: "Do I know if thornmaidens are evil?"
Zora: "Like all of nature, thornmaidens are inherently evil."  _(He meant to say neutral.)_

Devo: "The thornmaiden likes the sound of my voice."
Zora: "Doesn't everyone?"


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## sniffles (Jul 29, 2007)

*A Darkness on the Doorstep*

As we began to draw nearer the portal to the Village, Roland asked our guide's name. She declined to reply. I had turned to look at Roland when he spoke and did not see what happened next. When I turned my gaze back to our guide I found that she had burst into flames! She raised her paired swords and slashed at the air, though I saw nothing for her to attack. 

I called upon the Lady's Blessing to increase my swiftness and ran toward the portal, intending to lend her some of the Lady's healing aid. Then Latan shouted that goblins mounted on dinosaurs were nearing our position. Our guide turned suddenly and thrust her twin blades into the portal ahead and it dwindled rapidly to nothing. 

Roland called for the guide to take cover and we would face the goblin attackers. He then summoned his drakkensteed Beloved to his side and sprang upon her back. I held my place, waiting to see our foes. Hedrin hung back to allow Pimani to get ahead of us, and Latan sent Sapphire to hide among the trees and asked Isaura to fly above the canopy and apprise us of what she could see.

When Pimani had moved ahead of everyone but me, Roland dismounted and drew out a length of rope. He tied one end to a tree nearby and threw the other to Hedrin to do the same. Latan then scattered a mass of magically-summoned caltrops on the ground beyond the trip line. Once the rope had been secured, Hedrin and Fangrim the wolf hid from view.

Latan warned that more foes were coming through the canopy, presumably goblins astride spiders. But a pack of raptors were also headed in our direction, though it seemed they were fleeing the goblins and their trihorns rather than pursuing us. Hedrin ran out of his hiding place to emit a bestial roar at the raptors, causing most of them to turn aside and flee into the jungle.

Roland called on me to cover the canopy, asking Pimani and Mellon to do the same. I drew out my bow and nocked an arrow, watching the tree branches overhead anxiously. 

It has always been my sorrow that I am not as sharp-eyed as my _Ada_. Perhaps I should learn some magic to aid me in this, though _Ada_ would say it is best to rely on one's own skills rather than arcane trickery.

There were indeed spiders above us, as Latan confirmed when she spotted them clearly. Two trihorns bearing goblins had also emerged into the area and were rapidly approaching us. 

Suddenly I caught sight of a small lizard rushing toward me. At first I thought it merely frightened by the raptors. But it ran right up to me and abruptly I found myself engulfed in flames! The flames were swiftly extinguished, but not before they had burned me badly.

I retreated behind a nearby tree to employ the Lady's healing Blessing. As I did so I saw Beloved snatch the lizard up in her jaws. Roland chanted the words of a spell at the approaching goblin infantry. Several of them ran away, others began to babble incoherently, and two goblins attacked one another. Then one of the raptors that had not been driven off attacked Hedrin viciously.

Having recovered somewhat from my burns, I fired on the raptor but my arrow failed to penetrate its hide. Hedrin struck it a fierce blow. Then Fangrim, who has become quite attached to Hedrin despite their short acquaintance, rushed the raptor's legs and knocked it to the ground. 

Just as the raptor fell, a burst of fire landed in our midst, catching Roland, Latan, Beloved and Mellon in its flames. Mellon slumped to the jungle floor, her woody flesh smoldering. I caught a glimpse of Beloved dropping something from her jaws - not the small lizard, but a startled goblin! 

Pimani thankfully rushed to Mellon's side and used his enchanted belt to save her life, though I could see with the Lady's aid that she was still badly hurt. In the meantime Hedrin slew the raptor Fangrim had felled. I darted past him to extend the Lady's Blessing to Mellon and get her back on her feet as one of the trihorns moved nearer. 

Using the swiftness the Lady grants me, I also fired on one of the spiders that had come down from the trees to threaten us. The spider then turned its mandibles on Fangrim. Hedrin moved to defend his new friend. 

I dropped my bow and drew my thinblade, then brought down one of the goblins with my blade. Something I couldn't identify flew past my head. At least one of the goblins astride the two trihorns was a mage of some sort, as was the lone spider-rider, I believe. Sadly though only one goblin rode a spider, it was not the only spider menacing us.

One of the trihorns charged toward Hedrin, crushing two spiders in its wake before slamming into him and bearing him to the ground. Hedrin bounded to his feet and sprang at the huge dinosaur. 

I felt the Lady's swiftness fade from me and my limbs were suddenly weak and weary. I hissed my draconic word to myself and was filled with renewed vigor. But my fresh energy didn't give me the accuracy to prevent my _orb of cold_ from going wide when I aimed it at one of the goblin spellcasters. 

I dodged aside to avoid being run down and glimpsed Latan striking the goblin squarely with a beam of icy cold. A quick look around at my companions showed me that Mellon had melded herself with a neighboring tree only to reemerge higher among the tree's limbs, suspended head-down with her feet still embedded in the wood! From this clever vantage she attacked the spider-rider with her poisonous thorns. 

Pimani aided the thornmaiden by hurling his peculiar weapon, which he calls a bola, at the goblin astride the spider, entangling it in the weighted cord. I saw a globe of flame shoot past Hedrin uselessly from one of the other goblin mages. Then Roland called for help. 

I turned to see that the second trihorn was threatening to impale him against a tree bole. Beloved had vanished, evidently returned to the Lady's realm to heal her wounds. Hedrin dodged past the trihorn's sweeping spiked tail. I was prepared to join him, but Latan was now threatened by a spider that stood between me and the trihorn.

Fangrim sprang out to attack the spider, and I stabbed it twice with my blade. Latan then turned her attention to the trihorn looming over Roland, scattering another mass of caltrops on the ground at its feet. One would think that such a creature's horny feet would be too tough to be affected by such small objects, but this is not the case. The trihorn attempted to avoid moving into the area occupied by the caltrops.

At Latan's behest, Isaura came flying down in the form of a small whirlwind and swept the goblin from his trihorn mount, dropping him from a crushing height among the trees. The second trihorn, which had earlier threatened Hedrin, abruptly vanished, called away by some thaumaturgy. 

Latan struck the other mounted goblin with a blast of chill energy and he slumped to the ground, dead. His huge mount wandered off aimlessly in the absence of any rider to control it. 

As we stood panting and dripping our blood upon the jungle floor, our guide reappeared. She introduced herself as Kyril as we quickly searched the corpses of the fallen goblins. Then drawing her twin blades once more, she again cut away the fabric of ordinary reality to reveal the portal to the Blessed Village. We stepped through into a sunlit valley.
___________________

*Quips & Quotes:*

Zora: "There he was on the trihorns of a dilemma."

Zora: "Beloved drops the goblin from her mouth."
sniffles: "The goblin says, 'Why am I wet?'"
Jubilee: "'Was I doing something fun?'"

Devo: "You can't control all of the spiders all of the time..."
Jubilee: "...but you can control some of the spiders some of the time."

Devo: "When I say, 'I take a look around', I mean 'I roll another 4 on my Spot check.'"


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## sniffles (Sep 4, 2007)

*Preparing for War*

Praise the Lady, we've finally reached our destination. 

At first I thought the buildings were unfinished, as though the village had only recently arrived at its current site. But after a moment I realized that the entire village was cloaked in an illusion to make the casual observer see it as a cluster of abandoned ruins.

As we approached, Latan and Roland tried to draw Kyril into a discussion of the village. She was rather taciturn. Then I ventured a question - I don't recall what it was now - and scarcely had I spoken when a figure in flowing robes came swooping out of the sky and grabbed my wrist! I barely had time to register that it was Xiao Lu before she said, "Come with me" and we lifted off into the air, leaving my friends behind.

A few heartbeats later we had landed by what appeared to be a small chapel. The yard outside was occupied by monks practicing their martial arts. Xiao Lu led me inside, pressed me onto a bench, and demanded that I speak. 

We had already been told that her Blessing lies in the power of her voice, and that one word was proof enough for me. She was somehow able to convey to me exactly what she wished me to speak of, and that she sought brevity and clarity. I also recognized that she has far greater knowledge of the draconic words of power than I. I quickly explained our mission to her village and our fears about Lerner Provol. 

When I had finished my rapid summary, Xiao Lu turned to look at something behind me and uttered a word in the ancient draconic tongue that I hadn't heard before. I was pleased that I've learned enough to recognize its intent - it was meant to send something or someone away, to banish them to another dimension. A few moments later Latan came flying into the chapel, out of breath and obviously upset. She demanded to know what Xiao Lu had done with Isaura. When Xiao Lu calmly responded that she'd banished the elemental to her native plane, Latan then ordered Xiao Lu to bring her back. I tried to intervene to explain that Latan must have sent Isaura to look after me and that my friends were simply concerned for my safety, but Xiao Lu brushed aside my explanation. When Latan remained obstinate and refused to leave the chapel at Xiao Lu's request, Xiao Lu uttered her word of banishment again and Latan vanished!

Fortunately Roland and Hedrin arrived then and Xiao Lu was persuaded to bring Latan back to us. She reappeared in bird form and alit upon Roland's shoulder. I think she refused to resume her natural shape out of pique at Xiao Lu's imperious treatment of her. 

Roland then gave Xiao Lu greater detail about Lerner and our concerns. During the conversation, Xiao Lu remarked that she, too, has been touched by prophecy. She recognized that we have all met the Oracle. She also told us that she was responsible for the death of the man from the village whose Blessing came to Hedrin! Evidently she somehow slew him from a distance once he was retaken and tortured by Lerner. I'm not sure whether to be appalled by this or relieved that she ended his suffering.

But I forgot to be concerned by that at the time, as she made another amazing pronouncement a moment later. She spoke a word that caused a door to open at the rear of the chapel, revealing a pair of entwined trees. She then proclaimed to Latan that these were her parents!

Latan was of course overwhelmed and quickly resumed her normal form. She didn't question that the trees represented her long-lost parents, but she did want to know how she came to be and how she was taken to Dragonsreach. Xiao Lu told her that she had been given the infant Latan by the trees, and that she herself had conveyed the baby to Dragonsreach to be taken under their care. Part of the lure that draws the Blessed to the village is those trees, though no one understands how or why, and most of the villagers are unaware of their existence.

We decided to leave Latan alone with her parents and went out to see the rest of the village. Like Dragonsreach, the occupants are of every kind and creed, and not all are Blessed, though many have unusual gifts. Among those we saw were one person obviously of draconic blood, a man who can create structures merely by willing them into existence, and a bugbear who has chosen to follow the path of wizardry. 

Xiao Lu continued to make remarks that left us awed as she showed us around. One offhand comment led me to realize that though she scarcely looks any older than Roland, she is the grandmother of Hedrin's mentor, Master Keye, the elderly leader of the monks who dwell near Dragonsreach!

After our brief introduction to the villagers, Xiao Lu left us to conduct other business. She has long been aware that a threat such as Lerner's army would descend on her village, and her whole purpose has been to prepare them to face that threat. But though she is extremely skilled in the martial arts of the East, she is no military commander and she realizes that our militia training, as well as Roland's knowledge of tactics and my knowledge of history, will be an advantage to the villagers in the coming struggle.

A feast was prepared that evening to welcome us. There we were introduced to almost everyone in the village, including Artie the builder and Armetis the bugbear wizard. Armetis demonstrates an amazing ability to recognize the properties of magical objects, though he seemed somewhat confounded by my Lady-blessed sword, as well as by a twisted amulet we recovered from the body of one of the goblin mages. With Artie's help he's managed to build a workshop for himself that appears to be only a tiny outbuilding from the outside, but is a roomy workspace within. I think he and I will have a great deal to talk about in the coming days.

On the following morning we bade farewell to Pimani, who returns to his family in Mezro. He goes with our gratitude. After our goodbyes, we met again with Xiao Lu. She has asked each of us to use our skills to aid the villagers in protecting themselves against Lerner's forces. Hedrin and Roland will help with the defenses and training the villagers in group tactics and strategies.  Hedrin will also go as emissary to a village of wolf-men nearby to seek their aid. He intends to bond himself with Fangrim before he leaves, using an enchanted ring we found among the goblins.

Latan will work with the powers of nature to make further defenses, such as walls of thorns or persuading dinosaurs to attack our foes. She is also spending much of her time with the trees, attempting to communicate with them and to understand their purpose.

I know my own part in this is just as serious, but I can't help but be excited. Xiao Lu has told me she'll teach me more of the draconic words! 
__________________________________
*Quips & Quotes:*

Jubilee: "Is there a ring of Charisma in our loot?"
Zora: "No."
Jubilee: "The GM doesn't like me."
sniffles: "Because your Charisma is too low!"

Jubilee: "Did Latan come out of a pod? She's like 5 Latans in a pod!"

Devo: "It might be a safe haven for our guerillas."
Jubilee: "We have monkeys?!"

Zora: "For the feast, Artie creates tables that run through the center of town."
Devo: "How fast do they run?"
Hedrin: "Expeditious Eat!"


----------



## sniffles (Oct 28, 2007)

*Getting to Know Them*

Xiao Lu has told me we’ll begin my lessons in Ancient Draconic tomorrow. Today I’m getting acquainted with the residents of the village. I feel it’s important to gather as many of their stories as I can. I fear not all of them will survive an attack by Lerner’s forces.

Not all of them have what I would call Blessings – at least, not Blessings like my own or those my friends have. But I suppose they’re blessings of the Lady all the same. Some of them are as simple as being unusually strong or especially good at a particular craft or skill. Others are as impressive as Arty’s ability to seemingly conjure structures out of air. 

All of them felt drawn here by some unexplained sensation. It’s really quite awe-inspiring, that so many people from so many far-flung places would make their way to the remote jungles of Chult based on what must have seemed mere whim to their acquaintances. 

I met one elder lady, Mitzi, whose blessing is the ability to transform herself into an insubstantial mist. She flew across the ocean on her own in her gaseous form, fleeing from Lerner. Incredible.  And another resident of the village looks like a mixture of dragon and man, with a strong resemblance to the Lady’s silvery coloring.  There are even some people from distant Maztica here!
[sblock]
Hedrin: “What you don’t know is that bums get _message_ for free. They’re not really muttering to themselves – they’re talking to some other bum somewhere across town.”
[/sblock]
While I occupied myself with gathering the stories of the villagers, ably aided by Istanil making notes and drawing portraits for me, my friends were busy with other affairs. Hedrin must spend a full day and night bonding with Fangrim, using the enchanted ring he acquired. He hopes that having the wolf as his bonded companion will aid him in befriending the lupines he’ll be contacting at Xiao Lu’s request. 

Latan has left the village with some of the local hunters to find some of the area dinosaurs and make their acquaintance. And Roland has been interviewing the villagers, but for a different purpose than I have. He’s looking for those who have certain skills that will be useful in the coming struggle.  

I can’t help feeling sorrow that these kind, open-minded people are threatened by one so heartless and cruel as Lerner. It’s wondrous to see how accepting everyone is of their differences. No one thinks twice that Armetis is a bugbear, or that the lad they call Beast Boy has the same type of Blessing as Hedrin. 

Although everyone knows of the Lady here, not all of them know her as a goddess. Armetis for one questioned her existence. He seemed dubious despite my assurances that I’ve met her myself. I wish they all could feel the honor of being in her service as I am.

I managed to speak with 35 people today. There are ten times as many folk dwelling here. I worry that I’ll never have the opportunity to chronicle all their stories.

I met with Roland again in the evening, though neither Latan nor Hedrin have yet returned. During dinner, after we’d shared the fruits of our day’s labor with one another, Roland proposed to Xiao Lu that perhaps it might be possible to create a scrying pool here such as the one in Dragonsreach that can be used to communicate with the council. 
[sblock]
Jubilee: “I like talking to raptors. They make neat noises.”
Devo: _Makes a noise._
Jubilee: “That was more like a dying goose.”
[/sblock]
Somewhat to my surprise, Xiao Lu wasn’t comfortable with this idea. She doesn’t entirely trust the council, particularly Father Merrick. Latan would probably agree with her. For myself, I don’t believe that Father Merrick means anyone any harm. He only believes that what people don’t know can’t hurt them. I’m not sure I agree with that. But all the same I trust him. 

But Xiao Lu’s ability to get to the heart of the matter through words means that she’s most uncomfortable with people who dissemble. She never speaks with anything but the utmost honesty herself, and she finds Father Merrick’s obfuscation very trying. From her words, I suspect he finds her honesty equally objectionable. 
[sblock]
Zora: “Make a Diplomacy check.”
Devo: “I rolled a 4.”
Zora: “So what’s that make your Diplomacy?”
Devo: “29.”
[/sblock]
Tomorrow I’ll be on my own here. Latan is still in the jungle. Hedrin will leave to seek the wolf-people. And Roland will be on his way to try to make friends with the local goblin tribes. 

I’m so eager to learn more of the draconic tongue, but my eagerness is tempered by the feeling that I’m doing so little to help prepare the village for war. Draconic is powerful, but how can it help in this troubled time? 

I must have faith that the Lady has a plan for my skills.


----------



## sniffles (Nov 21, 2007)

*Friends and Allies*

It’s such a pleasure to study with someone who knows the ancient draconic tongue! I knew that my individual studies weren’t providing me with all of the details necessary to truly comprehend the language, but I never realized how limiting it was to study on my own. With Xiao Lu I can practice saying the words aloud and discover how far off base my attempts often are. 

I’m afraid my studies are rather dull for Istanil. Naturally she isn’t as fascinated by the spoken word as I am.

It was a long, difficult day of study, however. I haven’t spent that much time at practice of something since my training in oratory back at Heritage. But the work inspired me. In the evening, finding myself without the company of my friends, I decided to occupy myself by giving a performance. The villagers have all taken to communal dinners since our arrival. Once dinner had concluded I recited a portion of Jaedrig’s Tale for them, since they have little opportunity to experience wandering minstrels or bards. 

Following our second day of lessons, we received word that Roland had returned. Xiao Lu immediately called a halt to our work to go and greet him. He arrived with new guests, representatives of the Trihorn tribe of goblins. One of the new arrivals was an aged shaman, one we had perhaps encountered before our arrival at the village. He was borne on a litter by several other goblins. 
[sblock]
Zora: “Litter-bearers…”
Hedrin: “Litter…” (_throws some wadded-up paper on the table_). “You, litter-bearer, put some there!”
[/sblock]
“How goes it?” Xiao Lu asked as we approached. Roland gestured to the diminutive and wizened elder. “I’d like to introduce you to Elder Olidant, and his companions Narg and Begrew,” he replied. Olidant mumbled something unintelligible that nevertheless appeared to be perfectly understood by Xiao Lu. She nodded politely. “Good to see you,” she responded to the elder’s incomprehensible comment. 

“I have a commitment from Oogra, their leader, to give us their assistance when the time is right,” Roland then explained. “Olidant and his company will camp just outside the village’s protective shield to maintain communications with the rest of their tribe.” 

“Very well, said Xiao Lu approvingly. “I’ll arrange for some trolls to patrol the area to protect them.”

“There is a longer version of the tale, if you’d like to hear it now,” said Roland. “Wherever you prefer is fine,” Xiao Lu answered. Then she added, “But perhaps it should wait until she’s finished her training for today,” glancing at me as she spoke. I nodded obediently. Roland also nodded in agreement. “Very well. I’ll introduce these three to the village and speak with you later.”

“I hope dear Hedrin is all right,” Xiao Lu remarked as they parted. “I heard some sounds from the mountain last night.” 

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Roland said. “He’s a strong soul.”

“He was chosen wisely,” Xiao Lu concurred. Roland then turned and said to the goblins, “Come this way, please. I’ll introduce you to everyone.”
[sblock]
Zora: “Goblin leaders don’t have to walk anywhere.”
Devo: “Age penalties have taken their speed down to zero.”
Zora: “But their wisdom has increased to an amazing… nine!”
[/sblock]
Late that afternoon both Latan and Hedrin returned to the village. Hedrin also arrived with a guest, one of the wolfen from the mountain. Until then I hadn’t realized that the wolfen are so large. I didn’t see what followed, but Roland told me of it later.

Hedrin came to the center of the village followed by a creature that appeared like a huge wolf walking on two legs, standing a good two heads taller than Hedrin himself. Both of them carried haunches of venison with them, which only added to the creature’s intimidating appearance.

When Roland’s charges caught sight of the wolfen they reacted with consternation. The wolfen also began to emit a low rumbling growl. Roland turned to the goblins and told them, “You will meet no enemies in the village.”
[sblock]
Zora: “The goblins take you at your word. After all, you’re their chieftain’s favorite. There’s a reason there’s an extra ‘oo’ in Oogra.”
[/sblock]
Hedrin said to the wolfen, “Grizzen, behave,” which did not please the wolfen. Hedrin realized this and added, “Grizzen, they are our allies.” Then he turned to Roland and said, “Roland, this is Grizzen, representative of Killyox’s village.”

“I’m honored to meet you, a fine warrior like yourself. I look forward to seeing what you can do,” Roland greeted Grizzen with his usual diplomacy. The wolfen grunted in response. 

“The rest of his village will be here in about two weeks,” Hedrin explained. Hedrin looked a mess. His clothes were torn and bloodstained. The wolfen value strength and warrior prowess, it seems. Praise the Lady that they are our allies and not our enemies.

Latan then arrived. At Roland’s questioning she described how she’d made an impression on a family of raptors, ridden upon a megaraptor, and even made the acquaintance of a tyrannosaurus after nearly being swallowed! I must persuade her to repeat the tale to me at length so I can record all the details. The hunters who accompanied her certainly seem impressed by her deeds.

Grizzen was apparently quite respectful of Latan when introduced to her. But Latan, as is her way, was most concerned with reuniting herself with her small dinosaur Sapphire, who had been in the care of Beast Boy in her absence.

When Latan arrived at the chapel, Xiao Lu called her inside and conducted her into the secret chamber where Latan’s parents are planted. That’s such a curious thing to say, but no less than the truth. Mellon has been staying with them almost continuously since our arrival in the village. It is the only place the thornmaiden seems comfortable. 

Once Latan was ensconced in privacy with her parents, Xiao Lu and I resumed my lessons. Istanil began pacing around us as one might expect to see a teacher pacing around a student. I had difficulty restraining myself from laughing at her, but I don’t think Xiao Lu would have appreciated such a distraction.

Later Hedrin came to the chapel and introduced Grizzen to Xiao Lu. When the wolfen was presented, he seemed very deferential to Xiao Lu, though she greeted him courteously. 

“Grizzen has expressed the wish to stay outside the dome, but Roland has told me that the goblins will be staying outside the dome as well,” Hedrin said. “Who can tell me where the wolfen can stay to keep out of the way of the goblins?”

“Biddenwald the quartermaster can tell you where they can stay,” Xiao Lu replied. “But it would be best if everyone can get along.” I felt then the power of her words, directed at Grizzen, and I could see that the wolfen felt their power too. 

“Find him a place, and then return and tell me of what concessions you’ve agreed to,” Xiao Lu told Hedrin. “Not as good as I’d hoped, but not as bad as I’d feared,” he answered. She smiled. “You’ve done well.” I think her praise heartened him. Hedrin is no diplomat, but he took on the mission she assigned him with admirable determination.

While Hedrin was in the chapel, Roland had a curious experience with his guests. They came upon one of the local goblins and reacted very oddly. He said the bearers nearly dropped Olidant’s litter when they caught sight of the village goblin known as Pox. Roland quickly stepped forward and reminded the goblins, “There are no enemies in this village.” 

The goblins began gabbling excitedly, “That’s the Chosen One! We must get it! It would make a great trophy.” Roland told me they spoke so rapidly he could scarcely understand them. 

Pox reacted just as dramatically to Olidant’s people as they had to him: he emitted a high-pitched whistling sound, assumed the form of a raptor and fled! Roland called for someone to follow and help him.  According to Roland, his raptor form had a silvery sheen, as if each scale was outlined in silver. No doubt that is his Blessing. 

“You had no right to draw your weapons. What you have done is wrong and will never be done again,” Roland admonished the goblins. His words appeared to affect them. Olidant even mumbled something that might have been an apology, and his bearers offered to hand over their bows. Roland refused them, but asked them to retire to their shelter outside the village until the feast in the evening. 

The feast that evening was an interesting affair. Beast Boy sat next to Grizzen and chattered incessantly at the wolfen warrior, which the wolfen didn’t quite know how to react to. The goblins had a little difficulty adapting to local table manners, but managed to acquit themselves well enough. Pox didn’t put in an appearance, and the other village goblins only watched from a distance.

While conversing with the villagers, I overheard several folk discussing what had happened to Pox. They seem to think his fright had something to do with his upbringing. Roland later told me that he’d heard Pox might have come from the Raptor tribe. He suspects that perhaps Pox’s ability to change his form might have led to some difficulties with his tribe.

It was a fascinating evening. I listened eagerly to my friend’s stories of their adventures. Latan isn’t an ideal storyteller, but she certainly described her adventures with enthusiasm. It was made even more entertaining by the behavior of the hunters who’d gone with her, who gave their own perspective on her actions. Latan downplayed her danger when dealing with the tyrannosaurus, but according to the hunters she was very nearly devoured by the creature!
[sblock]
Jubilee: “Next time I’m going to _benign transposition_ with one of them. It’ll be fine. That’s why it’s called benign.”
[/sblock]
Grizzen then offered his own contribution to the storytelling, describing how the wolfen champion had been defeated by Hedrin. Hedrin seemed to find this a bit embarrassing – not the storytelling, but the tale itself. 

I had the impression that the wolfen champion, whom Grizzen called Ravage, had behaved less than honorably in defeat, which caused Grizzen some embarrassment. He described Ravage as using some type of long daggers strapped to his arms in addition to his own natural weaponry of claws and fangs. Hedrin was able to defeat Ravage by use of his own weapon, the silver energy the Lady has blessed him with. 

Grizzen was obviously quite impressed by the presence of Fangrim, for his people had never seen a true wolf before, though they evidently are aware of the existence of wolves and think of them as their ancestors. 

Roland then described his experience among the Trihorn tribe. “It went very well,” he said. “We met their patrols and were taken to their village. Their leader is Oogra, the shamaness we saw in the jungle riding a trihorn.” 

“Did she hold that against you?” Hedrin asked. “No, not at all,” Roland replied. “I convinced the guards to let us talk to her, and found that some of the spider-riders had joined the Trihorn clan. I later found the Spiders had been defeated by the Trihorns and had become part of their tribe. Which shows that we went to the right place to seek goblin allies.”

“We held our negotiations inside a zone of truth,” he continued. “It turned out that a bit of fortune turned the talk, for Oogra had an amulet that had been stolen by one of the Spider-riders and she very much wanted it back. If you recall, we found an amulet of twisted silver among the fallen goblins. She asked for return of the amulet, a gift of goodwill among friends.”

“In the spirit of friendship it would only seem right to return it to her,” I agreed. I didn’t bother to add that we had been unable to determine the purpose of the amulet.

Roland nodded in agreement and continued his story. “She then stepped outside the tent and used the amulet to transform herself into what is apparently the totem of their tribe, a creature that resembles both a trihorn and a tyrannosaurs.” 

Latan then became very interested in this, and for a moment the conversation turned toward how a trihorn and a tyrannosaurus could interbreed. Roland brought the discussion back to his negotiations quickly. “Once we resumed our discussion, she was very open to working together against our common enemy.”

“What did she want?” asked Latan.

“Nothing,” he answered. “Let me remand that. She wanted peace. She wanted an end to hostilities. She’s very open to a new era of cooperation between our two peoples.”

Latan frowned. “Then why did they attack us when we first got here?”

“Perhaps merely because we were strangers in their territory,” I suggested.

“It will take them a couple of weeks to meet us here,” Roland continued. Then Latan exclaimed, “Do you think we can trust them not to turn on us?” 

Roland looked slightly perturbed by this remark, for the goblins were still at the table with us, but he said confidently, “Yes, we can.” 

He went on, “They are 112 goblins fighting strong, and they have trained five trihorns, eight spiders, and three rather unique dinosaurs that are crossbred between trihorns and some type of small raptor. The goblins are good people, fierce. Their chief dinosaur trainer let me ride one their trihorns, riding behind the horns.” He winked at Hedrin, for his comment referred to Hedrin’s unintentional ride on the brow of a trihorn during our previous encounter with their tribe. Hedrin flushed slightly in embarrassment.

“It’s very impressive that you had such success at these negotiations in such a short time,” I told my friends, looking at them admiringly. 

“Well, I didn’t get eaten, anyway,” Latan said off-handedly. “But I only made half a circuit of the village. Tomorrow I should go out and work my way around the other half.”

Hedrin then went on to describe the stone ruins amongst which the wolfen live, and Roland remarked that the goblins, too, are surrounded by ancient ruins. He feels that the ruins didn’t appear to be of goblin craft, though the goblins claimed some statuary as those of “ancestor spirits”. 

I wonder what ancient civilization once occupied this land. When I have an opportunity I must talk to Grizzen to learn more of the lore of his people. 

After that our conversation wandered off to other topics. It occurred to me that I haven’t yet spent much time with Mellon. I should really speak more with her and learn of the place she came from. Latan remarked that Mellon seems uncomfortable in the jungle, to which Hedrin commented that he also finds the jungles of Chult strange. Latan likes it here. Roland says he hardly notices the jungle – he is more interested in the people.
[sblock]
sniffles: “So he can’t see the trees for the people?”
[/sblock]
Praise the Lady, we have allies now. The goblins are 112 strong, and there are some 60 or 70 wolfen pledged to our cause. If only I could complete my studies more quickly. I know there are words in the draconic tongue that are of tremendous power, but whether I can learn any of them in the time I have available to me is another matter.


----------



## sniffles (Jan 20, 2008)

*Risen Bones*

Xiao Lu is going to have a surprise when she returns from Mezro - although I have no doubt she already knows what has transpired here. But knowing about the new arrivals and meeting them are quite different matters.

The decision was made to use the token Rose's mother gave us to seek the aid of her family. It quite literally summoned them to us. I hope we didn't disrupt their plans too badly. Judging by their colorful costumes they were in the midst of some sort of performance.

The villagers were naturally a bit startled when a caravan of wagons suddenly appeared in their midst, but they've welcomed the halflings graciously. There was a bit of a party atmosphere developing, in fact, once the halflings got over the shock of finding themselves so far from their starting point.

My friends and I didn't have long to enjoy the mood, however. Kyril suddenly stepped through one of her portals and announced, "There's danger on the border." A little further questioning from Roland revealed that she'd seen walking skeletons nearby. 

Latan had already returned to the jungle to continue looking for allies and weapons, but the three of us followed Kyril back through the portal to investigate. 

Two steps later we emerged into a cluster of ruins. Kyril didn't remain with us, but stepped back through her portal. As my gaze followed her I realized that wherever she was going, it wasn't back to the center of the village where she'd met us. The brief glimpse I got of her destination was somewhere altogether different. 

What a fascinating ability. If I had such a Blessing I'm sure I'd be tempted to visit Candlekeep far too often.

I scarcely had time to note that the ruins resembled Arty's architectural creations before I took cover with Roland behind a tumbledown wall. We could see several fleshless skeletons emerging from the undergrowth. I murmured a quick incantation and surrounded myself with an aura of arcane energy to make myself more difficult for my foes to strike. I followed that with a second spell to transform my blade into a heavy mace for smashing bones.

Loud crackling sounds heralded the arrival of something much larger than a man-sized skeleton. I peered over the wall and observed what had once been a dragon, its bones now as void of flesh as the others. Judging by its shape, I suspect in life it was a green dragon.

"Direct your attacks against the large one!" Roland shouted for Hedrin's benefit. I frowned, thinking quickly of a new strategy. I'd been about to use my Blessed quickness to approach the man-size skeletons and employ my magic, but I realized this would be useless against the undead dragon.

Roland began an inspiring speech. Though the skeletons had no eyes nor ears, I could see them all turn their attention toward him. They were much quicker than I expected. They marched right up to us without hesitation.  
[sblock]
sniffles: “Are the skeletons moving unusually fast or slow?”
Zora: “They’re moving very Harryhausen.”
[/sblock]
But the skeletons weren’t our only foes – from the jungle canopy emerged three unusually large spiders. I was disturbed when I realized that at the fronts of their thoraxes these spiders seemed to have man-like skulls! Some necromancer has a very twisted sense of aesthetics. How disgusting.

In the meantime the skeletal dragon was still approaching us. I could hear it snapping off branches that caught between its naked bones. “This is looking a bit challenging,” I remarked to Roland. 

Hedrin disappeared into one of the half-ruined structures and several of the skeletons attempted to climb up after him. The others moved in on Roland and myself. So did the horrible skull-spiders. The spiders opened their skull-mouths and spat a sticky web-like substance. Luckily for me the broken wall caught the first web. 

Then the dragon roared. It seems ridiculous that a creature without lungs could emit a roar, but it did. Fangrim yelped and fled into the jungle. Poor Hedrin. At least Istanil was safely ensconced in my scribe’s pouch. But if she had run away I could catch up to her much faster than Hedrin could catch Fangrim. 

Feline yowls heralded the arrival of Latan’s tressyms, swooping into the ruins. By some quirk of fortune Latan had been not far away and had been pursuing the skeletal dragon. Heartened, I turned my attention to the spiders. 
[sblock]
Jubilee (_talking about Zora's cat_): “Maybe it’s those manly love handles.”
Zora (_coming back into the room_): “Hey! The GM comes into the room to be appalled.”
sniffles: “The GM comes into the room to be insulted.”
[/sblock]
Roland emitted a piercing whistle that I had come to recognize as his call for Beloved. As I glanced toward him for a moment, one of the skull-spiders spat some of its webbing on me. I was still threatened by two skeletons and struggled to fend them off while covered in the sticky stuff.

Then another spider spat webbing on me and I was immobilized. “Ah!” I shouted, “Help me!” I looked about desperately for my friends, hoping perhaps I could use my magic to exchange places with one of them. But Hedrin had clambered down from the ruined building and gone to face the dragon with Latan, and I couldn’t see Roland from my present vantage.

I felt myself being lifted from the ground and realized that Isaura was picking me up. The skeletons clawed at me as she flew up with me in her grasp. Roland called for a retreat, then shouted my name. “Help me get free! I have a spell to help against the dragon,” I shouted back. “Regroup!” he replied.

I felt despair for a moment then, thinking that I was helpless to aid my friends. But the Lady is always with us. “Please, take me to Roland and Hedrin,” I asked Isaura. I began struggling to tear myself free of the webbing. Within a few heartbeats I had succeeded. “Let me go,” I said to the air elemental.

Hovering over the battleground, I could see when the dragon snatched up Hedrin in its jaws. Isaura set me on the ground nearby as I’d asked, though when I made my request the dragon hadn’t been quite so near. Latan called out, “Begone!” at the dragon and I saw shards of bone splinter off the skeleton. 

Hedrin began to snarl and pummeled the dragon with his fists in a frenzy of rage. I could see his eldritch energy discharging from his hands. I darted past the dragon and summoned the healing Blessing I received to channel healing energy at the dragon, recalling that such energy harms undead creatures. To my disappointment, nothing happened. Frustrated, I swung my mace with both hands and was rewarded with a resounding crack. 

Roland had been attempting to lead our retreat, but he now came racing back toward the dragon, shouting with great volume a word in the ancient draconic tongue. For a moment his image was overlain by a ghostly image of a silver dragon as he slammed into the skeleton. The skeleton fell back and dropped Hedrin, apparently stunned by the force of Roland’s attack. Roland’s draconic image then clawed and snapped at the skeleton, even slapping it with an ethereal silver tail. When he was done, he had reduced the skeletal dragon to a heap of shattered bone.

“Oh, praise the Lady,” I breathed. I ran to Roland, who had reverted to his ordinary appearance and was panting with exhaustion. I channeled my healing power into him to relieve his fatigue, then trotted to Hedrin to look after his wounds. 

It was disturbing to realize that the undead creatures must have been sent as an advance force by Lerner’s army. Whose burials had been desecrated to provide the skeletons – or had Lerner’s necromancer ally slain some poor villagers to acquire his unliving foot soldiers? And Latan believed that the dragon had been controlling the other skeletons, had perhaps even created them. It is terrifying to think that we could be facing enemies who can raise the corpses of our dead and turn them against us.

When we had recovered ourselves, Latan sent Isaura to scout the area for any remaining undead creatures. In the process she discovered that some creature was running away from us at speed, heading in the direction the skeletal dragon had come from. It was not Fangrim but was apparently a skeletal dog. There was no way for Latan to direct Isaura to attack it, and the elemental chose not to follow it further. We could do nothing to halt the skeletal dog’s journey or catch up to it. Our only consolation was that the dog would not be likely to be able to communicate intelligently with its master, unless its creator had made it much more clever than such things usually are. 

We decided to return to the village and ask Kyril if she could intercept the skeleton dog. As we walked, I remarked on how impressive Roland’s display had been and discovered that he wasn’t entirely aware of what he had done. “For a moment I thought Percy had returned to us,” said Latan. 

“I don’t think it was me,” Roland responded. I reflected that this wasn’t the first time Roland had manifested this facet of the Lady’s power.

We made our way back to the village to find that Latan’s tressyms, terrified by the skeletal dragon, had taken refuge in a loft – and Fangrim had managed to join them there! And Grizzen the wolfen had set himself as guard outside, perhaps more for Fangrim than the tressyms, I think.
[sblock]
Devo: “It’s the familiar clubhouse.”
[/sblock]


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## sniffles (Feb 20, 2008)

*New Arrivals*

Perhaps an hour after our return to the village, Kyril returned and we reported to her what had befallen us. She was appalled to hear of the dragon skeleton, which she hadn’t seen before going to fetch us. When she asked how we defeated it, I replied, “It was a blessing of the Lady that she extended to Roland.” Roland attempted to downplay this, I noticed.

We determined that we should return to the area and dispose of the fallen skeletons with respect, for the persons whose remains had been used thus had never asked to be treated so. And a dragon is a creature deserving of respect in any form. 

As I remarked to my companions, it is at times like this that I wish I had chosen to follow my Naneth’s example and learn the ways of wizardcraft earlier in life. Then I might have had a more useful arsenal of arcane lore at my disposal. 

But as I’ve said before, the Lady is with us in our time of need. Latan has received word that Ladyheart is on her way to the village. 

And the fairies have brought Percy to join us!

I was simply crossing the center of the village when I caught a glimpse of the most startling sight: Latan’s two little doubles were fluttering along with Percy between them! Percy, in his ordinary human guise.

Hedrin went racing across the intervening space, shouting “Percy!” and enveloped our retiring young friend in a hug. A moment later the rest of us had surrounded him with equal enthusiasm. 

“How did you get here?” exclaimed Hedrin with wonder. “These two brought me,” Percy replied, sounding a little bewildered. Then Antla and Nalta began to babble out an explanation of how they had helped Percy escape from Dragonsreach, speaking so rapidly I could hardly understand their words.

“So where is this place?” Percy asked, looking around at the village. Latan quickly gave him a brief explanation of what the village is, and I added, “It’s a bit like Dragonsreach, but without Heritage.”

Latan was questioning the fairies as to how they had managed to get Percy out of Dragonsreach, and at last was able to determine that they had achieved this feat by somehow making him not a dragon. Whether this is a permanent state is still uncertain.

Percy said little himself, but Antla and Nalta explained that he had been effectively held prisoner by Father Merrick, who seemed to be trying to learn something from him or about him. I detected a trace of anger in Percy’s few comments as he elaborated on the fairies’ tale. I’ve never had cause to doubt Father Merrick’s faith or his honor until now. I can see no reasonable explanation for him to hold a scion of the Lady against his will.

When we had discussed that a little, Percy then asked about what he’d heard of an army, and Roland explained to him how we expect Lerner’s army to attack the village within a few weeks’ time. Percy, loyal as ever, immediately offered to do whatever he can to help.

I crooked my arm around Percy’s elbow and we escorted him around the village and introduced him to everyone then, taking care not to introduce him as any special personage since it was clear he didn’t want to be set apart. During the tour of the village Roland made it a point to tell him how many unique people live here, so that he would know he need have no fear of being outcast among these people. If anything the folk of the village are even more accepting and tolerant than the residents of Dragonsreach.

Not surprisingly, the two fairies attracted a good deal of excitement, which clearly relieved Percy somewhat since he didn’t want to be the center of everyone’s attention. 

I noted that while Percy seemed essentially unchanged since we last saw him in human form, he appeared somehow more regal than before – and the bicep in my grasp was more muscular than I recalled.  The fairies had of course brought Tamber the tressym along as well, and though Percy showed no sign of his true nature, Tamber still demonstrated draconic features. 

Later, Hedrin remarked to us that Percy’s scent had changed – it continually fluctuated between the scent Hedrin had been accustomed to before Percy’s transformation and another aroma. He suggested that perhaps this was because Percy’s true nature was contesting with whatever magic the fairy twins had used to disguise his draconic quality.

Hedrin also suggested the possibility of taking Percy to see Armetis, to see if the mage could divine anything about what magic the fairies had used to suppress Percy’s nature.

While we went on showing Percy around the village, Latan took the fairies to meet her parents. That, too, had a most interesting result, as she confided to us later. 

According to her tale, the two mechanical fairies began to hum and seemed entranced by the entwined trees. As this happened, the trees separated, leaving a space between them perfectly sized for Latan to fit inside. 
[sblock]
Zora: “If you were wooden right now you’d make one big tree. Family tree, so to speak.”
[/sblock]
Then she heard the sound of something metallic striking the stone floor and realized that the fairies had fallen insensible to the ground. They seemed to be asleep as best Latan could determine, though that is quite curious when one considers that they are arcane constructs. 

The two fairies were then transported to Armetis. It was no surprise that he found them fascinating. Latan had of course told him of them previously, but he’d found the tale almost too outlandish to believe. 

Because of their partly fey nature and that they are both constructs and living creatures, he found it difficult to read them with his peculiar mage-sight Blessing. But what he was able to sense was that their magic essence had been somehow depleted.

When Latan told him how the trees had reacted to the fairies’ presence, Armetis nearly panicked. He ran outside and looked up at the dome of energy that cloaks the village, as if to reassure himself that it was still there. He’s one of the few people in the village who know about the trees and how they support the village.

The fairies hadn’t awakened by this point, so Latan decided to bring them back to him again the following day for further examination.

While we were absent from the village, Artie had been busy exercising his Blessing. He’d made some new structures of a different design than his previous creations. He’d also made a fountain out of the village well – he can cause the earth to keep moving continuously to push the water up through the fountain!

After we admired his latest work, Roland asked him if he’d construct a home for us so that we can have both a residence of our own and a headquarters for our activities here. He seemed quite excited by the prospect of creating something to Roland’s specifications.

With that thought in mind, I decided to ask Istanil to obtain some information for me regarding fortifications that would be usable here in the jungles of Chult. I hope I can provide some information for Artie to use in creating defenses for the village.

When I opened her pages to ask her this favor, I found that there was a sketch of Percy there, along with some detailed notes about him. I thought it odd but didn’t remark on it until later, when I discovered that the drawing and notes were gone. At the same moment, I noticed that one of her pages had been bent over, as if to mark a place! As I hadn’t done any such thing myself, I peered between the pages with curiosity. 

I recognized _Ada’s_ handwriting at once and spread the pages further apart to read. It said, _Daughter, I hope all is well. If you have your friend with you now, do not put anything in this book regarding him_. I realized that she must mean Percy. At that instant I recognized that there must be more of a connection between Istanil and my mother than I had first thought. I’d only assumed that _Ada_ had created her, but now I think that perhaps some of the information I’ve acquired through her has been sent to me by my mother.

I wrote quickly on the page below her message, _All are well. I miss you_. Then I set Istanil down to let her finish her work, feeling both pleased by my discovery and wistful for my mother’s presence.

When Istanil had done transcribing the information I requested, I remarked to her, “Thank you for removing the information you had earlier.” In response she wrote back in a very small, tight script, _I was told to remove it_.  I gave her covers an affectionate squeeze and told her, “It’s alright. You didn’t know. From now on it will be our secret.”

I told my friends as soon as I could of Istanil’s special advantage, but Ada’s secrecy made me realize that she must fear she is being watched. 
[sblock]
Jubilee: “I think it’s time for Lerner to be sent to the Lady for judgment. Possibly punishment.”
Zora: “Possibly with barbecue sauce.”
[/sblock]
Percy has confided to us more of what he experienced while being held captive in Dragonsreach. I find it hard to accept that Father Merrick would do such a thing, but Percy’s tale is compelling evidence. Percy tells us that he thinks the Lady is unaware of Father Merrick’s actions. He sensed that some of the other priests were uncomfortable with Merrick’s directions. He also overheard a portion of a heated discussion that he suspects was between Merrick and his brother Breonne, who must have traveled all the way from Candlekeep to remonstrate with Father Merrick. 

I wonder if Brother Breonne knew when we visited him that Percy was a child of the Lady? And why did his abilities appear to everyone else as Blessings rather than as his inheritance?

I’m afraid our welcome of Percy was perforce rather brief. We have so much to do in preparation for the army’s arrival. But at least with Percy’s arrival we’ll be very well fed!

In between practicing my Ancient Draconic, I’ve been busy scribing spells into my spellbook from the spellbook and scrolls we obtained from the goblins prior to our arrival here. Some of them were damaged in the fight, but I’m preserving what I can. I’ve also been teaching my friends how to meditate elven-fashion, and training any of the villagers who have spellcasting ability in the use of their magics against our approaching enemies.

My friends are all occupied with their own group of villagers for whom they’re responsible. Hedrin is training with both the villagers and the wolfen. Roland is coordinating with the goblins. And Latan is busy finding more allies in nature. 

I never imagined that we would be responsible for forming an army of our own. But we have so much that Lerner and his followers can never have. May the Lady smile on our efforts.


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