Category Archives: Journal Entries

Journal entries for the Jade Regent campaign

Character: Olmas

Annals of the Order of the Dragon

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Moonday, 13 Arodus

Knowing now that we were going to assault Ravenscrag, and knowing, too, that it was supposed to be difficult to approach, we discussed strategy. We dismissed Fly as being straightforward but impractical; being able to Fly is not the same as being able to Fly well, and, not knowing the precise geography of the region, it was possible the duration of a spell like that might not be long enough for us to reach our goal.

Clearly we would not be doing this in broad daylight either, and while I have better than average eyesight at twilight, I’m as blind as anyone in utter darkness.

We came to the conclusion that we needed a) Dark Vision; b) some form of protection against falling: Feather Fall, Levitate, or Fly; c) Spider Climb – as we’d decided to assault the position by simply climbing up, as it would likely be unexpected and the spell lasted a fairly long time; and d) good, old fashioned silk rope for when the spells ran out, failed, or simply weren’t what we needed.

Spreading out a bit around town, we purchased 7 Dark vision potions (@ 150gp each), 8 Spider Climb potions (@ 150gp each), 300′ of silk rope (@ 10gp per 50′), an additional 150′ with knots in it to make it easier to hold on to [really, 135′ with the knots) (@ the same rate) and lastly, two grappling hooks (@ 1gp each). We spent a total of 2342gp, which would have left us broke if the RimeRunners Guild had not financed our trip 🙂

I myself picked up 4 travel rations @ 5sp each. I already had 3, and that would give me a week’s worth of sustenance. Just in case, we’re gone that long. Eventually, this ring on my finger will make that unnecessary but it takes a while for the magic to work.

Having returned to the caravan for the evening, we set a guard, per usual, and planned to start our journey in the morning. The watches were set up to be:

1st) Qatana and Etayne
2nd) myself and Sparna
3rd) Radella and Anavaru
4th) Ivan and Kali

But it was as the watch was changing that there was a loud thunk from Ameiko’s wagon. A quick inspection showed an arrow sticking out of the side of it. The arrow tip was coated with what Etayne identified as death blade – a deadly poison. And of course, there was a note attached.

“It was fulish of you to attak a sleping dragun.
Return whut wuz stolin.
Abandun your hopless quest now or those u luv will be distroyed!”

So, really, it wasn’t that misspelled. But at the same time, it was SO cliché it might as well have been. Really? We are protectors of the Regent princess and having read that, we’ll say, “Oh my! I had no idea it was so dangerous! My word, I guess we’ll have to go home now?” What I wouldn’t give for just a wee bit of light so that I could send the arrow back to its sender with a new note attached: “Surrender now and you may yet have a fair trial.”

For some definitions of “fair”.

I believe Ivan retrieved the arrow for later reuse.

Toilday, 14 Arodus

We left for Ravenscrag. As expected, it was just the eight of us: Ameiko, Sandru, Shalelu, Koya and the rest of the crew would wait for our return. We made no secret of our leaving, so if eyes were watching, it would become apparent where we were heading. But we saw no eyes, even though we were looking for them – including eyes from the skies.

We were arranged with myself and Anavaru in the lead, riding our … mounts …, then Etayne and Kali, Ivan and Qatana, and guarding the rear were Sparna and Radella. We travelled without incident into the foothills, although we noticed that in the valleys between hills it was not uncommon for the ground to be moist almost to the point of boggy.

As the path took us through a particularly wet area, the areas on both side of the path almost looked like very shallow pools with an obvious water surface. And even as I was wondering if anything other than floating plants enjoyed this humid, wet environment, my question was answered for me. A smooth .. arm, or maybe extension, rose out of the water and tried to grab Etayne. Another tried to snag Ivan. Neither one was able to latch on, but we all immediately came alert and drew our weapons.

Radella attacked the creature slowly rising from the water before it could attack, and struck it smartly with her arrow.

And it split. There were now two. Oh drowbreath. I’d heard of these creatures but never met one. They could not be killed with edged weapons; they simply divided in two and provided a new foe with all the same danger as the original one. I glanced at my armament. Dagger. Great sword. Bow and arrow. Longsword. What I wouldn’t give for a quarterstaff about now. I was going to be useless in this battle.

Kasimir snorted below me. Had he read my thoughts? Perhaps I did have a weapon after all. “Do not bite, Kasimir,” I said softly. “They will not taste good and may even do you harm. But kick with your hooves as hard as you can.” I moved us closer to Etayne and attempted to help her avoid the clumsy goo-arm that emerged from the glistening jelly.

For her part, Etayne scorched the creature with a Burning Hands spell. It seemed to almost recoil from that, but that would still not be enough to dissuade it from considering us a form of dinner. Qatana used her “sound bomb” to injure the three jellies (yes, in addition to the one that had split there was another.) The one closest to Radella seemed to grab her, and its grip appeared to be burning. Acid?

Radella was able to break its grasp and step back. But she two was realizing she needed a special weapon to attack this creature. Fortunately for us, the jellies were clumsy. But as Radella could attest, if they ever did get a grab, they were painful and strong. And with that, one tried to grab Etayne and succeeded.

Radella pulled out a wand and used it to send a scorching ray at the one that had attacked her. Sparna had a heavy blunt morningstar at ready, and was able to further damage the one by Radella. I looked at the one holding Etayne, and did a quick calculation. It had been burnt twice and hurt by the sonic blast. It was clearly injured by these things and was oozing a liquid in a manner that suggested bleeding. If I could strike it hard enough, even with an edged weapon, could I kill it before it divided? I didn’t like the thought of Etayne being pulled into the water, so I took the chance and did indeed land a hefty blow to it with my great sword, whereupon it lost its shape and basically sloshed flat to the ground. I heaved a sigh; I had been right, and Etayne was free.

With this new knowledge, we began to use our edged weapons, which could deliver substantially more damage than hitting it with our fists, intelligently; that is to say, only when the creature looked close to death already. And in a short time, the three – no, make that four – jellies were puddles. (It turns out that the spikes on Sparna’s morningstar were enough to, sometimes, cause the jellies to split. But fortunately, they were so weak that it did not prove a danger.)

Qatana healed all – I realized I wasn’t even injured! – and we were able to continue. However, we’d now used up some of our spells when we’d been hoping to have our full complement when we arrived. Well, couldn’t be helped.

We in the lead were asked to keep an eye out for tracks that left the trail .. perhaps avoiding obstacles like jelly-filled ponds. There are some other tracks on this trail, so we are not the only ones to use it.

By the end of the day, we reached Ravenscrag. It appeared to be a building – maybe a house – nestled in the valley between two peaks against the skyline. A long, wooden construct led to, I presume, the front door of the building .. and a volley of arrows or worse, I imagine. The front door was not to be our mode of entry.

Nihali did a little discreet reconnaissance for us, and we decided to use the spider climb to quietly climb up the crag but about 100 feet west of the building. As we came over the crest, we would find a dell, or maybe a courtyard, with a small river running through it and a small pond, that we hoped might afford us a quieter and more secretive way into the building. Nihali reported there were many ravens roosting on top of a small tower that appeared to overlook this courtyard; that might eventually be a problem but we’d deal with it if it came up.

The mission, we decided so as to maintain focus, was to rescue Ulf and kill Silverscore. If other opportunities arose, we were to make sure we stayed focused on those two objectives before going off on other interesting endeavors.

The Spider Climb worked wonderfully, and we were able to not only climb up, but enter the glade and get close to the house without being noticed. From behind the single door that we could see, we heard the sounds of food being prepared – it would seem this door led to the kitchen.

Qatana suggested we hastily use what was left of our spider climb to enter from the second floor, not the first. Qatana, Radella, and Ivan climbed up to what appeared to be giant arrow slits with shutters over them. They were braced from the inside, but not very well, and they were able to unshutter one of them and climb inside. There seeemed to be nobody around. The rest of us quietly followed their lead.

It appeared that not too far from us was a dining area, perhaps of an important figure because it looked down upon a much larger dining area.

The ceiling here was very high; probably close to 40′. It was relatively well lit by light from below and the occasional torch.

Quietly, we searched this floor. We found one room which seemed to be an armory; Ivan found a magic arrow [270] in among all the ordinary ones. I guess, to him, it just glows and it’s obvious, ut it looked like any of the other dozens stored here to me.

Another room contained cloaks and cold-weather clothing. Beneath some furs and bales of raw wool, Kali found rolls of scrolls. Not magical ones, but just written words – a diary, or journal. Reading further, she announced excitedly that it seems to have been written by Snorri Stoneye!

She scanned it. It was rambling, half mad. He referenced how his Eye had shown him the future and the past, and how a great beast would be unleashed. A special cache he had made upstairs in the fireplace flue would be of great help in defeating this beast. He wrote he was going on a long sea voyage to retrieve an artifact that would let him survive the coming catastrophe.

Kali kept this [271] to read it further, later.

Looking down a stairwell we could see what looked like maybe a lab at the base. In fact, it appeared there was a baby in a glass tank or case.

A door near the stairway demanded to be inspected, so Radella and Qatana checked it carefully and opened it. Unfortunately, inside was a large, hairy almost bearish man, who had been sleeping moments before but awoke and yelled “Intruders!”

Kali got a chance to glitterdust him before Qatana, to our amazement, cast Hold Person on him, and he was held like in a web? Radella took that opportunity to see how much blood was in his body (when she was done, the correct answer was “none”.)

But the noise was enough; there were sounds of alarm from above.

Kali was expecting the flock of birds at any moment. They were already making noises. Looking at the ceiling, it appeared there might be sufficient openings to allow them access from the outside. Kali called up 3 air elementals with the idea that they could probably keep the birds busy and out of our hair. (Literally).

And indeed, “a large number” of bird quickly entered the room, and we began to attack the group with arrows and, when they moved close enough, with swords. Kali told the air elementals, “go up and kill any birds you may find.” The birds quickly dispersed, with the remaining ones flying up the stairs (presumably there was no door up there.)

The elementals blew past us, pursuing the birds. We went up the stairs more slowly and carefully, and carefully looked over the edge of the landing.

There were no ravens here. But instead, there appeared to be a number (eventually we found six) ninja tengus, which, coincidentally, had a bird like appearance. The elementals had chased off or killed the ravens, and then turned their attention to these black-dressed creatures, and were already wearing them down. It was difficult, apparently, to injure a strong gust of wind.

The rest of us came up the stairs and deployed. I pulled out my great sword; now this was a battle I knew how to win! From across the room, a ninja pulled out a blowgun and fired a dart at me. The inconsequential barb stuck in my shoulder as, between parries, I reached over, pulled it out, and threw it to the ground. Ninjas and their little toys!

But then my body shuddered involuntarily, and I stumbled a bit. I felt a bit weaker. Glancing at the dart on the ground, the tip looked a little discolored. Had it been poisoned?

I shook again, and started to sweat a little. The ninja I was battling sensed a weakness and lunged at me. But I got a second solid hit with my great sword, and this opponent did not split into two ninjas. Although, with that second blow, I did come close to splitting him in two 🙂

And my vision got a little blurry, and my feet got a little heavy. There was still battle going on around me but it was harder and harder to focus. “I think,” I said a little unsteadily, “I think the dart was poisoned.” As I dropped to one knee, Etayne glanced at the dart and at me and shook her head worriedly. Somebody put their magic cloak on me, and Etayne mumbled a bit and urged me to “resist the poison”.

I felt very weak and was now kneeling on the floor. Everybody’s voice sounded like it was at the far end of the tunnel. Is this what it was like to die? One voice said “scroll!” and another said “not yet! might still be ok!” but as even my vision started to cloud over, I heard a voice chanting something, and suddenly I felt fine again! I looked up in time to see a scroll turn to dust before I suddenly felt nauseous again. Still?

The cloak was placed on me again and Etayne was doing something …

And several seconds passed. I felt .. no worse. I didn’t feel 100%, but at least I didn’t feel any worse. I looked up at my friends. Etayne heaved a sigh of relief. “It either is done, or he has overcome it,” she pronounced. “How do you feel?”

“A little sick,” I replied, “but I’ll get by.”

“You’ll feel better after a couple of days,” she said. “The worst is past. You should feel lucky; you’re one of the few to survive death blade.”

I felt proud. And angry. And lethal. And grateful. And ANGRY. But, looking around me, all the tengus were dead. Kali actually gave a slight chuckle.

“I did SUCH a good job on that!” she exclaimed. “I told the elementals to go after the birds … and these tengus look like big birds! They’d already engaged half of them when we came up the stairs! I did not expect that, but it worked out great!!”

Nevertheless, I was still angry. I supposed it’s hard to be brought to the brink of death and NOT feel angry about it. It’s not a pleasant journey.

We took inventory. From the ninjas themselves:

[272] 6 potions (blur)
[273] 6 potions (disguise self)
[274] whinnes poison
[275] death blade poison – I did not hear how much of
both poisons were left
[276] leather armor (6) – I’ve decided to take one of these,
if it fits, because I dislike being attacked in the night
and having to fight with no armor
[277] blowgun (6) specially constructed for corvids. I’m not sure
if I could operate it properly.
[278] masterwork wakizashi (6)
[279] dagger (18)
[280] climber’s kit (6)
[281] 50′ silk rope (6)
[282] masterwork ninja outfit – dark, tight fitting, +2 to stealth

From the footlockers in this room:
[283] ornate jade raven set with precious stones
[284] garments of fine workmanship (~200 gp)

Off to one side, near an opening in the wall to the outside, was what appeared to be a nest. Within the nest we found several disgusting things like teeth, but also

[285] onyx and ivory necklaces
[286] kit for creating bird messages

Remembering Snorri’s journal, we searched two fireplaces and in the flue of one we found his great treasure that would help him survive the end of the world: [287] boots of winterland.

Feeling a bit annoyed at the ninjas yet, I pulled one tooth from each of them and left them in the nest. But Kali managed to one-up me. She wanted to put a poisoned dart in the nest so that if the bird came back – we figured it was Silverscore’s familiar – it would impale itself on it and die.

So it was arranged. Using one in this manner left Sparna and Radella with the only two remaining death blade darts.

There was a trapdoor to the roof, but all we found up there were some cages and evidence that yes, there probably HAD been a messaging system here, but the elementals had taken care of the bird portion of that system. It needed no further destruction 🙂

Now of course, below us, somewhere, there is still Ulf and maybe Silverscore. So as we reminded ourselves, our mission is not yet complete …

 

Character: Ivan

Ivan’s Journal Arodus 14, 4712

Arodus 13, 4712

Watching Usahkka I realize that not everyone has signed up to ensure that Ameiko takes her rightful place on the throne. I can tell that this burden has already taken a toll on me as I find myself always looking for someone to jump out of the shadows. For some reason I just believed from the beginning that Usahkka was not working with those that would stop us. Thus far that does seem to be the case and I would hate to harm an attractive woman but if she is working with these bastards then I will have her head on a pike.

Usahkka provided us with a description of Ulf so now we will at least know how to recognize him. Tomorrow we head out for Ravenscraeg.

Arodus 14, 4712

Overnight we had a situation where someone shot a poison arrow with a note attached at Ameiko’s wagon. Sparna put some fat on the arrow to make it safer and then Ana put the arrow into her backpack. I just hope she is careful when pulling things out of her pack.

The rest of the night went just fine and we headed out in the morning after getting some scrolls of darkvision and spider climb. Around noon we encountered ochre jellies and it turns out the blunt weapons are what one should use. By the time I could have gotten out the blunt arrows the creatures were dead. Once again picking the ring over the quiver is causing me problems.

We finally made it to Ravenscraeg near dusk. The plan to wait and climb the cliff at night worked out better than we had expected. We reached the fortress when Sparna suggested that we climb the wall and enter through one of the ballista slits that are the size of a window. I was looking over the window when I spotted Qatana using her dagger to lift the small bar locking the window. I quickly cast mage hand to grab and set the bar on the floor to prevent the bar from hitting the floor. I moved in and made sure the area was secure and then waved the others to enter. For my memoirs in the future this “I” is actually working with the talented Radella. Maybe I should make my journal sound more heroic.

“Once the talented Redella opened the armory door we made a profound discovery finding one lone magic arrow mixed in with all of the other arrows. I was of course honored to be offered the use of this splendid arrow. My prowess with the longbow clearly made me the obvious choice. Later we discovered that this was none other than an arrow greater magical beast slaying. This arrow could be the key to defeating some great beast, pulling victory from the jaws of defeat with a single twang from my longbow.“

I may have to burn this page. Oh god I hope that my new clothes do not make me look like a bard. Regardless of how they make me look I still have to wear them during shopping trips in towns and cities as to not offend Koya. If someone is reading my journal you should note that the combat abilities of these people that I travel with are amazing. Yes I have some talents with a bow that the other do not possess but up close these people are dangerous. While I can use the same weapons but my lower strength as compared to the others really means that I would not do as much damage. The front line can get crowded anyway so for this group it just seems like it is best to use ranged weapons and allow the others to get up close and personal. That being said I still need to find a good melee weapon for those times with I just don’t have a choice.

We started out with stealth but that all ended with the search of just one more door before heading up to try to find the head of the guild or the red-feathered raven. With the beast calling out the alarm went up. Dispatching the swarms of ravens expended the last fireball bead. The beads were handy but I just have too many other items to spend my money on.

Giving the assassins time to prepare is a bad idea. Deathblade poison on blowgun darts turns out to be very effective. Olmas and Radella were both hit with blowgun darts coated in Deathblade poison. Radella seemed to not have any issues with the poison, maybe the poison did not make it into her system. Olmas on the other hand almost died again.

Back to the battle I was able to use my tricky spell to run pass the assassins without being attacked. I just figured it would be best to move out of the way. Luckily for me normal arrows work just find on these bird like creatures.

After the battle Kali wanted to use the big scroll of restoration on Olmas while the poison with still running its course and he was only half dead. I suggested that we wait until he on the verge of dead then use the scroll. Kali and Olmas both looked at me as if I was crazy. When I explained that the restoration spell will restore all of the lost constitution I could see the light go on for Kali.

There was a little confusion as Kali thought that I was going to use the scroll, I am not the healer so it never occurred to even use read magic on the scroll. Luckily Qatana had used read magic on the scroll. I could have just cast read magic and been ok with using the scroll but that would have delayed casting restoration on Olmas. Maybe I should always cast read magic on scrolls that we find just in case.

So the use of poison should not have been a surprise. The arrow shot at the caravan should have been a clue that we should watch out for poison. Our lack of the obvious almost cost Olmas his life and it resulted in us using a valuable scroll to do the job of a simple delay poison spell. Etayne was going on about how she should have learn delay poison but she still has to memorize the spell for the day. If the powers to be are going to keep sending assassins with poison after us this could become a big issue.

I am trying to figure out if there is something wrong with me. Kali had another one of her crazy ideas, this time it was to use one of the poison blowgun darts to poison the red-feather ravens nest. The issue is that this makes since, so my thought is that maybe I am going crazy or being controlled in some way. I suddenly realized that the difference is that she was doing these other tricky things during combat and this time we were not in combat. These extra spells given to me by the gods have come in handy as I was able to use mage hand to position the blowgun dart in place so that it will poke the creature the next time it gets into the nest.

I don’t get to carry either of the two blowgun with Deathblade, Radella and Sparna currently each have one. I am thinking that maybe we should start using poison against the assassins to give them a taste of their own poison. That also means that if I am going to start handling poison more often then I should make sure I am not effected by poison. Note to self, check into arrow enchantments that work like poison. Also check into what it takes to make arrows of slay and arrows of greater slaying.

For the record Olmas is still alive.

Character: Kali

Kali’s Journal, Arodus 14, 4712

Arodus 14, 4712 (dawn, Kalsgard)

We camped last night at the caravan. This just seemed like a wise idea given what had happened at the inn. Of course I did not expect this to fool anyone, but the point was not to hide: it was to keep together as a group for our collective safety. Ameiko has, wisely, been sleeping in the covered wagon in order to stay out of sight. While not exactly spacious, there is room in there for as many as three to lay down comfortably so she and I have been sharing the space.

Given how much closer we’ve grown over the past couple of weeks—it almost feels like it did when we were growing up—you’d think we’d be awake until some ridiculous hour talking, but nothing could be farther from the truth. In all honesty, I am a lousy roommate and have been for some weeks. I am exhausted most evenings, and what time I do have before falling sleep is spent on research, study, or (like last night) copying spells from scrolls. Fortunately, she’s also been buried in books and maps on Tian-Xia and Minkai, and she knows we’re extending ourselves—overextending, really—for her, but it still feels like I am ignoring her.

In case we needed a reminder of what we have gotten into, one arrived last night around two o’clock in the morning, just as our watch was changing. Both Ameiko and I would have slept through it had Sparna not awoken us. Someone sent an arrow laced with poison into the side of the wagon where we were sleeping. We were lucky that it hit the frame instead of piercing the canvas. Or perhaps they were intending to send a message rather than trying to hit one of us (though that would not make a lot of sense). Whatever the reason, they spent a small fortune on the delivery. Etayne said it was coated with deathblade, a poison which is notorious for both it’s lethality and it’s expense. This admonition cost them nearly two thousand gold.

Admonition? Attached to it was a note, written in Tien.

It was foolish of you to wake a sleeping dragon. Return what was stolen. Abandon your hopeless quest now or you and your friends will be destroyed.

Ameiko looked lost in thought, staring blankly into the darkness after reading the note for herself. This was her life, her family, and her heritage so it seemed appropriate, if not prudent, to ask her opinion.

“I didn’t expect this journey to go unopposed. This is…grim, but not unexpected.”

These Frozen Shadows? We have rattled them. Yes, they started big that night at the Skalsbridge, but now they’ve been reduced to paying blind beggars to deliver spooky messages in alleyways, and sending warnings attached to arrows coated with exotic poison, all to convince us how scary and powerful they are. Because we have gotten close to them; hit them somewhere very personal. They are trying to bully us because they don’t know what else to do.

I dealt with bullies for much of my life, and they are all the same. They talk a lot, they intimidate and posture, they threaten, and occasionally they bloody your nose. But mostly? They posture and threaten. It’s how they make themselves feel better, and how they build their power base, convincing those around them how terrible and frightening they are. But really, they are just insecure and scared.

The people you really have to worry about? They don’t send messages. They don’t warn you in the middle of the night. They don’t play the game of appearances. They simply act, and that’s precisely how we’ll respond to this affront.

I spent some time this morning drafting a short letter to mom and dad. I promised them I would write, and that I would not hide the truth from them when I did. This has been far more difficult than I imagined. Over a decade of experience-turned-instinct screams at me to not say anything about what has happened in the past week, or what we are about to do, because no good ever came of it when I was a child. Things were better when they didn’t know.

Mom and grandma fought a lot back in those days (dad’s relationship with dadi and dada has never been strained to my knowledge, for whatever that is worth). They’d probably fight even more now if they saw each other as often as they did when I was growing up. It was years before I finally understood why, but now I know that, deep down, grandma does not approve of how mom chose to live her life. She wanted mom to be the scholar, the noble, the aristocrat, the what-have-you in the gilded city of her birth. Mom threw away a life that had been carefully crafted for her along with her savings to, of all things, work. And touch the world with her own hands. The horror.

Maybe part of my fear about sending this letter is that mom (and dad) won’t approve of my life. That I, too, am throwing away everything that was carefully laid out for me, only I am upping the ante by making the risk to my life a literal one. I am worried I am destined to quarrel with my mom the way she does with hers. I’ve seen my parents twice since this all began, and the first of those led to an ugly fight over concerns about the exact sort of thing that is happening right now. It does not bode well. But I promised I would tell them, and for better or for worse I will see it through.

(noon, Thanelands, south of Kalsgard)

The road we are following isn’t so much of a road at this point as it is a lightly-traveled dirt path. Wagon tracks and hoof prints are our guides.

It was here, about half way to Ravenscraeg where the path ran through a bog, that we apparently missed a turn. As we passed one of the stagnant ponds, a pair of slimy pseudopods shot out at us from the water’s edge and struck at Etayne and Ivan on their horses.

This skirmish would have been unremarkable except for what it was that we were fighting: giant, amorphous blobs, yellow-brown in color, that oozed and flowed as they advanced, and burned flesh like acid. Attempts to harm them with edged and pointed weapons merely split them in two, each half functioning as an independent, albeit smaller, blob.

According to Etayne they are called ochre jellies, a name that is as literal and descriptive as it is unoriginal.

The bog seems an appropriate home for them. Bogs are stagnant wetlands, with pools filled by rainfall over peat-layered soil. Very little grows in them save for the trees, moss, and fungus. Like a swamp, only without a source of running water. And in contrast to a marsh, which is a swamp only with grass instead of trees.

Bogs, marshes, swamps. We’ve spent far too much time in wetlands.

We have another five or six hours ahead of us.

(evening, Thanelands, Near the Grungir Forest)

The crags from which Ravenscraeg gets its name are a line of cliffs among the rocky hills that form the border between the southern edge of the Thanelands and the Grungir Forest beyond. The hills, and the sheared northern faces of the crags, rise and fall along their length. We can see the small fortress nestled in a fissure where two neighboring cliffs meet, sitting slightly lower than the surrounding rock but still a good hundred-plus feet straight up. A series of wooden stairs form switchbacks with landings, climbing to meet what we assume is the main entrance.

We are not going that way because we are not idiots. Half of our cache of scrolls, purchased yesterday evening in Kalsgard, will allow us to literally walk up the vertical rocks as easily as spiders climbs walls and walk on ceilings. We’ll have thirty minutes to make the ascent to one of the neighboring cliffs and then drop down into the dell which Nihali tells us lays just behind the structure. This is more than enough time, even with delays. We’ll go after dark, when the quarter moon has disappeared behind the ridge to the south west, because we also don’t want to be seen. This is where the second half of our cache of scrolls comes into play: the spells on them will allow us to see in the dark.

Bloodfeather raven

The bloodfeather raven

One more thing. Nihali also said the hills and trees behind them are filled with ravens and crows. Hundreds upon hundreds of them. Dozens of them are roosting on the fortress’s tower.

If there was any question before about this being the right place, there isn’t any longer.

(night, Ravenscraeg)

We made it inside an upper-level window of sorts without being detected. This late at night the great hall we found ourselves in was unoccupied, and we were able to slowly and quietly work our way around. Right now, I am sitting in one of the store rooms, hurriedly taking notes as the others explore.

This store room contains an enormous quantity of raw wool, furs, cloaks, and other cold weather clothing. Tucked away in a chest among them was a stack of scrolls written in Skald. Sparna looked them over briefly and said they appeared to be diaries. He was about to put them away when I stopped him.

“Can I see those?”

“Why? They’re diaries.”

“This place was once owned by Snorri Stone-Eye. They may be important.”

“We don’t have time for this right now.”

I hate these arguments. I understand that there is a time and a place for research, and that the middle of a break-in is generally neither, but they may have information we need about where we are at this moment. Thankfully, Sparna relented on the condition that they continue to explore while I stay here and read.

Fine. Whatever. Just go.

It turns out I was right. Snorri stashed something of value—something that would help protect him “against the coming winter” (had he lived)—in one of the upstairs flues. Now we know to look for it.

This is the abridged version of Snorri Stone-Eye’s final years: He believed his stone eye gave him the sight to see the past and future (it’s a magical stone, all right, but all it really does is protect the possessor from the physical effects of aging, though it doesn’t protect them from aging itself). He became obsessed with prophecies of the end of the world, and he believed that “in the winter of the world, the gods will come down to fight, and the rough beast will be released”. These prophecies of the end times and Rovagug were enough to push him over the edge from sanity, and he was already close to the edge as it was. The diaries end with his last voyage across the sea to find an artifact that would help him survive the end of the world. What he found instead, as we learned from personal experience, was an affliction that would slowly turn him into a draugr.

(midnight, Ravenscraeg)

I don’t have much time because we’ve been discovered. We fought with and killed a lycanthrope in his quarters, but not before he shouted an alarm that has alerted everyone here to our presence.

Two raven swarms descended on us as we headed back to the great hall but we quickly dispersed them. I summoned three, small air elementals and sent them up to the roof to scatter the rest of the birds but I was not specific about how to get there, and they (logically, I suppose) chose the stairs to the tower. That’s when we heard a huge ruckus on the floor above us. It turned out that the air elementals were not terribly discriminating about what constituted a “raven”: they were harassing six tengu guards when we came up the stairs.

The tengu were tough and well-trained. Olmas nearly died from a poison dart; deathblade again. Each of them carried it. One nearly struck me.

We found what we believe to be the nest for the bloodfeather raven. I don’t know if it will come back here, but just in case it does we left a nasty surprise for it: one of the deathblade-coated darts, hidden in the nest with the point sticking out. It’s a long shot, but it would be poetic justice.

Character: Kali

Communique

Arodus 14, 4712

To:
Danea
c/o Nassim Goods
Dockway District
Magnimar, Varisia

From:
Ingvina Gjertsen
Kalsgard, Thanelands

Danea,

We can’t figure this one out. Then I remembered your research on Torandey and thought you could help? Let me know if you get anywhere with it.

WP DataTables

Best wishes,
Ingvina