Category Archives: Journal Entries

Journal entries for the Jade Regent campaign

September 17th, 2016

Character: Ivan

Ivan’s Journal for Arodus 15, 4712

Arodus 15, 4712

Today I have learned firsthand about troll regeneration. We failed to hit one of the trolls with acid or fire and it came back to life. >From what I understand Kali finished the troll off with an acid spell. Oracles really should get a spell like this. A spell that did fire damage instead of acid would be really cool. While we are trying to take down the trolls several of the others are opening doors looking for more trouble. I am really surprise someone hasn’t been kill running off from the rest of the party. Anyway it looked as if Olmas, Sparna, Ana, Etyane, and Kali had the trolls under control so I moved to the back of the room to watch their backs when I suddenly heard Radella call out telling us that someone was attacking her. I stepped over and began to support her from range. She did some type of strange magic that caused duplicates of herself. It appears that these were just illusions. With the Trolls finished off the little room Radella was fighting in started to fill up and I wondered if I should just let the fighters finish her off. When she disappeared and then reappeared after poisoning Olmas I decided to take the shot. The release of the arrow was as near to perfect as I think I am able to achieve. It was one of those shots that you know if good as soon as you release it. The woman dropped.

There was some cool stuff here. The Deadly kiss dagger was fascinating.  Sparna has been talking about how it seemed like metal was somehow talking to him. Looking at the dagger I started to see how they infused the magic into this dagger, this is still beyond my abilities. The magic they weaved into the earthfire shuriken’s was equally complex.  I still don’t know how I did not see the intertwining of magic and metal before now. With the Ninja outfit’s it appears that the process must be different as I could not really identify how the magic was infused into the cloth. I guess this is more of Kali specialty.

There is a part of me that really wanted the deadly kiss dagger but even I have to admit that this could be a dangerous weapon in Radella’s hands. At times when pulling arrows I have the brief thought of grabbing a melee weapon and jumping into the middle of the fray, then I remember that I only have a short sword.  With a weapon like deadly kiss it would be hard to not jump into the fray.

And now it comes down to what to do with Lute. I just don’t know which side he is on. Lead by Kali we have outfitted/loaned Lute with one of these Ninja outfits, vanish potion, and two Fugitive’s Grenades. Kali seems a little obsessive about keeping Lute safe. It did not make a lot of since until I realized that Lute is a business man in Kalsgard. I only hope that she is really helping him because she truly believes that his is innocent and not being of a possible business contact. I really hope Kali is right about Lute, after all the time and equipment invested to keep him alive it would be a shame if we have to cut his throat open and leave his body for the vultures. For now we walked him all the way back to the coat room, Kali was actually talking about taking Lute down to the horses but what is going on here is bigger than Lute.

We got Lute settled and were heading back down stairs when lightning hit most of the group. I heard someone say red feathered raven and I just said “kali is this it?” and she responded “yes”.    I pulled the arrow of greater magic beast slaying and fired it towards the red-feathered raven. It seemed like minutes before the raven fell from the rafters. I really liked that arrow and maybe someday I might be able to create them but for now they are way too complex for me. The raven has been hounding us for a long time and I am sure we all feel relieved to finally get rid of this fowl beast. Qatana took the body with her and burned the body in the furnace just to make sure it was not brought back from the dead. Clearly I am not the only one that has been frustrated by the red-feathered raven.

Behind the secret door we found very strangest creatures. They were just big animated hands. Well maybe they were a little more than just animated hands. They had an interesting effect of engulfing the attacker in some kind of pus when hit with a non- bludgeoning weapon. It turns out that a lot of the group doesn’t have just plane bludgeoning weapons. I really need to get the magic quiver as I had to stop and search my backpack for some bludgeoning arrows. I was able to hit one of the hands with the blunt arrow but it was clear that they really didn’t need my help. Why would a wizard/mage need to have hands under her bed? I am not sure what she uses the hands for.

After some debate we headed back to the water room. I thought that we could go there on the way out but the others insisted. Again it is a good thing that I am not doing the planning for the group. In the well that was guarded by some type of aberration we found the family sword.

The sword is an amazing intelligent sword.  The sword is call Suishen and it expects a commitment to it. At that moment I knew this had to be one of many tests by the gods. Without question I said that I will commit to Suishen.  Olmas finally agreed to commit but he had to think about it for a few moments, I get the feeling that the sword might have preferred Olmas anyway.  For my part I feel as this is one test that I passed.

Character: Olmas

Annals of the Order of the Dragon

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Wealday, 15 Arodus

Downstairs we did not find bright colors and spacious rooms. Is it any surprise that it got darker, and mustier, and .. well, what would you expect from rough hewn rock? We were descending into the mountain, and our level of caution went up correspondingly.

Qatana seemed to have a high energy level. She aggressively made her way to the front, and, glancing at Sparna, I acknowledged it was my turn to look after Qatana, and moved to the front as well. The stairway down, and the passage we found at the bottom were both narrow, allowing no more than one person to pass comfortably.

As I mentioned, the walls here were carved from rock, and were apt to be moist. Occasionally there would be active drips, and in the distance we could actually hear running water. The passage opened into a chamber with a door leading off to the north, and another door to the west. Opening the former, we found a corridor with a stream running through it, and a plank that might be big enough to cross it on the far shore. Opening the other, we observed pool of water plus a small waterfall from the southern wall. Intriguingly, a small dry shelf of land was on the far side of the pool, maybe 25 or 30 feet away, and there was a door there, along with a small cask or barrel.

Etayne surprised us by simply flying over to the other side, but when she tried to retrieve the plank, she found it was too heavy for her, even with her fly spell. Before we could come up with a plan B, we were inspired by the appearance of a troll on the opposite side. “What going on here?” said the troll in Giant. There was a pause, before Sparna loudly replied, “Prisoner transfer!” And he waved one of the raven figures we’d lifted from the ninjas. “Orders from Runecaster.”

The troll thought hard – really hard, because he was a troll and that didn’t come naturally to him – and finally concluded there was nothing going on here worth getting in trouble over. “No want trouble” he said, in fact, and easily picked up the plank and laid it across the stream.

Looking to the right we saw a room with a huge furnace on one side, and a huge pile of coal on the other. There were four trolls there altogether. Sparna got that dwarven-joker look on his face, and with as innocent a look as he could muster, called into the room, “Do you need more coal?” The troll replied quickly, loudly, and just a mite angrily, “NO MORE COAL!” I saw Sparna quietly smirk.

To the left, the door was locked. With the still suspicious trolls looking on, we pulled out the keys we got from upstairs, but none of them opened this lock. Radella sighed, bent over it for a bit, and suddenly the door slowly swung open.

The room was large, and nicely decorated in wood paneling and art. The ceiling here had to be 20′ high. We entered the dimly lit room, peering at the tapestries, before Ana called out, “it’s a trap!” Clinging to almost unnoticeable handholds on the walls, were six darkclad figures. A couple of them made a throwing motion, and there was a small flash and a big noise as each hit the floor. It appeared from their gestures that perhaps both Kali and Etayne had been close enough to be deafened by the blasts, hopefully temporarily.

With the attackers all being above us initially, arrows were the answer of choice. Ivan, as always, was firing arrows faster than anybody I’ve seen and making them stick too. One of those who’d dropped a thunderegg was among the first to die, at the end of Etayne’s spear. Once on the ground, these ninjas were neither well armored nor particularly hardy, and swords became the weapon of choice. Radella, Anavaru, Ivan and myself all racked up a kill in dispatching them.

However, not before they yelled for help from the trolls. And just when we thought we’d removed them as a problem … But trolls are large creatures. It turns out that the double doors leading into this room made a very nice bottleneck so that we didn’t have to deal with more than one at a time. Don’t get me wrong – the first troll totally destroyed the doors, but had less luck on the door frame. Still, for that strategy to work, we needed at least two of our party to engage them right at the door. That fell to myself first, and eventually Anavaru and Qatana (!).

Kali helped with another aqueous orb like she’d used on the earth elementals a few days ago. That made the troll a little helpless and at risk of drowning, but with others waiting behind it, it wouldn’t be particularly helpful to move the disabled troll around as she had with the earth elementals.

After a short time, Qatana quietly moved away from the trolls, and strategically went searching for other potential enemies in the room, just in case we killed all the trolls, I guess. Being the guy in front had drawn a fair amount of blood from me, but glancing over my shoulder at one point, I was a bit surprised to see Qatana listening at and trying other doors in the room. “Noooo” I roared, and Sparna, now helping me with the trolls, looked at me, surprised. I nodded to my back, and as he saw Qatana opening a door, he grimaced and nodded at me.

But we were both engaged with the trolls at this point, and couldn’t step back without letting them in the room.

I think it was Kali who reminded us that it was not legend: trolls needed to be burned to prevent them from regenerating. Etayne obliged by bestowing alchemist fire upon our first kill, and Kali was able to throw some acid splashes too.

Qatana had cleverly uncovered a secret door, but then left Radella to find the ninja hidden behind it. How does she do that? Anyway, at that particular point, I happened to be troll-free so I rushed over to help. I managed to get a good blow in … only to have her disappear. Crap. Invisibility. She reappeared quickly, though, and surprised me as she cut me up – and apparently poisoned me (again). This time, though, Qatana quickly cast delay poison on me so the damage was minimal.

For the first time in several minutes, the dungeon was quiet.

We took inventory. The female ninja carried several useful items.

[300] vial (poison – stronger than the deathblade poison from before)
[301] masterwork dagger (Tien style, blue metal blade) poison residue
[302-304] shuriken, engraved with image of erupting volcano
earthfire, +1, flaming burst – DC15 reflex or catch on fire
[305] blowgun
[306] 10 darts
[307] 5 plain shuriken
[308] black body suit – MW, +2 AC, +5 stealth
[309] MW Thieves tools

Searching in the room with the coal bin, Ivan and Sparna found

[310] 42 gold armbands
[311] 100 amethyst in a bag

(How the trolls came into the possession of 42 armbands with no evidence of 42 arms is left as an exercise for the reader.)

Lastly, the monks that attacked us left

[312] 10 thunderstones
[313] 6 MW spears
[314] 6 amulets of finely polished bones, found to be +1 natural armor
[315] 4 nice jade raven statuettes

In the room where the ninja had been hidden, there was an ornamental screen [316] and a small leather trunk [317]. Inside the trunk we found

[318] ornate blowgun (jade and lapus lazuli)
[319] 300gp of Tien coins
[320] a scroll- decree to commandeer resources within 2 mi of Kjelsgaard
[321] disguise kit

While we’d been battling monks, ninjas, and trolls, Kali had shoved Lute into a safe room. Now that there was no immediate danger, Lute told us more of his story.

Lute was elected to the RimeRunners Guild council fairly recently, but Silverscore is a daunting political opponent. A young woman joined and was friends with Silverscore, but she died on an excursion (trading voyage to the south .. storm at sea, apparently). Kimindatsu was her name, and this happened within the last year.

Although grateful for our assistance, Lute decided, after having seen the type of people we were dealing with, that he might be better off on his own. I can’t say he might not be right. We escorted him to the cloakroom we’d originally hidden in, and left him with two fugitive bombs and one vanish potion.

Returning to the basement, we again saw ravens congregating on the roof. Left me with a bit of a creepy feeling. I really want to put an end to the aerial surveillance.

And perhaps that distraction left me a little less vigilant than normal, as the air crackled with electricity just before a bolt of electricity ran through our group, hitting most of us. I noticed a flash of red among black feathers again, overhead, and hit it quickly with an arrow.

But Ivan had been waiting for just such a moment, and in a flash he’d pulled out his arrow of Greater Magical Beast slaying, nocked it, and shot at the figure. He hit it square, and it paused for a moment before falling ungracefully from the roof to the ground before us. The ravens on the roof scattered haphazardly.

There was a magic band around its leg, which we later identified as a bird-sized ring of protection +1 [322]. It was bestowed, of course, upon Nihali. Nihali, for her part, remarked that the dead bird was “raven, but it’s wrong.”

Returning to the basement, we continued our exploration – this time as a supportive group rather than simply as a couple of individuals unlocking and opening doors. I had the lead, trying to stay ahead of Qatana. We entered one room where we found what appeared to be a circle of protection drawn on the floor in chalk. I heard a noise from under the bed, and the strangest sight emerged.

Two giant (not giant-sized, but mpnstrously bigger than that) hands crawled out from under the bed. The nearest figure to them was Radella, so they moved to attack her. A bizarre engagement proceeded as a giant hand attempted to attack Radella. It was surprisingly strong and quick, and did draw blood, even without a weapon. The other hand behaved similarly, and had similar success, but it was when Anavaru struck one that it displayed a deplorable capability: upon successfully being cut by Ana’s sword, it emitted a viscous fluid like pus, and Anavaru fell away, wretching.

This added a new element to the battle. Each cut could render the attacker helpless. But they certainly weren’t going to fall over and die on their own, so I pressed on the attack. Unfortunately, during this encounter, the most I was able to do was be grabbed by a giant hand briefly before breaking free. The hands were eventually dealt with, but not without a surprising amount of damage to ourselves. Qatana was able to channel a fair amount of healing back to us.

We suspected this might be Silverscore’s room, but other than finding a surprising amount of research papers and notes, the room seemed a disappointment … until Radella fiddled with a decorative piece of the bed and found a compartment holding [324] 3 scrolls of magic circle against evil, and [325] a vial of powdered silver, roughly sufficient for 3 circles.

Etayne, for her part, took the opportunity to collect a sample of pus from what was left of the now motionless giant hands.

Looking at Qatana’s map, we had hoped this room might have an entrance, secret or otherwise, to the room behind the door in the room with the waterfall. Kali had summoned an earth elemental, and in its waning moments, it examined beyond the walls of this room. That revealed there was no entrance from this room, so we returned to the waterfall room.

There seeming to be no other way about it, Qatana tied a rope to her and waded through the pool. The water did not crest her head, and she came out near the door, where there was also a small barrel. There was room for one more before the door, so Radella made a similar journey.

The barrel, it seems, was a cask. And the cask held … apparently some fairly decent sake! And in discovering that, they found, of all things, a key hidden beneath the cask. A key which unlocked the door before them.

Qatana opened the door. Inside there was a chamber with a tiny well in the floor and a bunch of fungi growing on the ceiling and walls. When Etayne heard there was fungi, she literally flew across to inspect them. She said they were death hoods, known for dropping onto the heads of those underneath, and then killing them.

However, Etayne also revealed that this fungi was repelled by alcohol, so Qatana took some of the sake and spread it liberally around the room. The fungus reacted noticeably to that. Qatana also said her detect magic said there was something magic at the bottom of the small well.

We were stymied for a bit until Kali (by this time, most had come over) suggested an unseen servant might be able to retrieve it. At that same time, there was a burst of flame from the bottom of the well. When the unseen servant came to the top of the well, it brought with it … a sword. A sword that said, “I sense Amatatsu scions”.

Yes. It said that. We had, at last, found Suishen [328].

“The orc threw me away.”

As we all looked at it – it looked quite impressive! – Ivan picked up the sword and hefted it. “Who shall carry it?” he asked, looking at me. “It’s a commitment,” he warned. But I needed a better sword, there was no doubt, and there was also no doubt that a better sword was there before me.

As I took the sword from Ivan, I felt … a surge, I guess. The sword just seemed to thrum. And I heard a voice that I later learned nobody else heard: “So you, then, are the Amatatsu champion.” It was not a question, but had it been I can’t imagine any answer other than yes.

Whereas before I had struggled with how much I should concern myself with Qatana’s welfare, and what Shalelu would think if harm should befall her, I realized now my concerns were much larger. As the Amatatsu champion, I was responsible for the heir – for Ameiko, currently and hopefully only – first and foremost. But because of the line of succession, I was also responsible for each and every one of the scions, too. My responsibility had transformed from a concern and a duty, to an obligation. Despite Ameiko’s position as heir apparent, because of their positions as scions, my concern for Qatana and all of the others suddenly had increased tenfold.

Well, ok, maybe with Qatana it only doubled, because I have been convinced for some time now that she was poised to die about every 15 steps.

I am not a religious person, but I have to believe this is almost what a revelation must feel like. I have new responsibilities. While I don’t disagree with that conclusion, I could also feel that strongly pushed from the sword. It was like being in the room with a very persuasive person. Suishen had been hidden, and disconnected, for a very long time, and the full force of its perceived destiny was now manifest.

As I held Suishen, I came to understand some of its capabilities.

neutral good
+2 defending, flaming katana (1d8+2)
confers endure elements by possessing it
3/day: airwalk, daylight, resist energy (cold), see invisible
darkvision

Character: Qatana

Qatana’s journal entry for Arodus 15, 4712 (continued)

Wealday, Arodus 15, 4712 mid day
Ravenscraeg

We descended the stone steps into a claustrophobic narrow hallway. The mortared stone walls were wet from condensation and fuzzy from green-black mold, and the air was damp and smelled unpleasantly of soggy shoes.

“It smells like Badger’s butt!” quipped Pookie. This set of such a round of snickering from the others that I had a hard time concentrating on anything else for the next few moments.

A pair of iron bound wooden doors, one to our right and one dead ahead, lay before us.

The right door opened onto a short corridor that led to a large cavern — an underground stream crossed the corridor from left to right, effectively blocking access to the chamber beyond. On the far side was a large plank that would span the water, but we had no way to reach it.

Through the door ahead was a smaller chamber with a waterfall erupting from high up on the left wall, and then collecting itself in a pool that covered most of the floor the water flowed out to the right. Across the water was another door, next to which were a small cask and what looked like a hand bell.

We decided to check out the door to the right first, and so Etayne flew across to try and move the plank. It was too heavy for her to lift on her own, but before we could decide what to do next, a troll plodded over.

“What going on here?” it grunted in giant, which Sparna later translated for the rest of us.

“Prisoner transfer,” Sparna replied.

“Uh,” the troll grunted, clearly taxing its vocabulary as its heavy brows knit together in deep thought. “Maybe you leave for trolls to have fun?”, it asked in an almost whimsical tone.

“Orders from Runecaster,” Sparna cleverly replied. He then showed him one of the carved ravens the ninjas had been carrying.

“Uh,” again the troll replied before adding a few moments later, “Trolls not want any trouble. Carry on.”

Indeed, the troll was so confounded by the mention of Runecaster that he placed the plank over the water for us to cross. To the right was a large cavern with a massive furnace set against one wall, and a mountainous pile of coal against another. Three other trolls stood there in the gloom, looking suspiciously at us as we approached a door to our left.

Kali whispered something to Sparna, who turned to the trolls and asked, “Do you need more coal?” To which the troll, thoroughly vexed by now, bellowed, “NO MORE COAL!”

This door was locked, and none of the keys we got from upstairs worked. Fortunately Radella did not need a key, and soon the door was opened. We quickly scuttled into the room beyond and closed the door behind us.

This room was large and paneled from floor to ceiling in rich, dark hardwood. Tien style tapestries draped down over the walls from a twenty foot high ceiling. Seven straw mats lay arranged on the floor, which squeaked beneath our feet as we spread out.

But before we had a chance to discover more there was a loud blast, like a clap of thunder, and ninjas began to drop to the floor or throw spears at us from perches high upon the walls.

Ana called out, “It’s a trap!” as we engaged the enemy. Another thunderclap deafened Kali, Olmas and Lute, although the rest of us did not realize it at the time.

As we discovered before, while the ninjas were deathly quiet and deft with their actions, they were fragile and most of them quickly succumbed to the combined might of our onslaught. One of the survivors called out, “Invaders, help!” and the sound of heavy feet thudding up from behind warned us that the trolls were about to join the fray.

Fortunately the last ninja dropped just as the first troll smashed open the door. A quick Touch of Idiocy spell rendered the lead troll inert, and Kali trapped the second in an Aqueous Orb. One of the trolls in the back banged against the coal shoot and yelled, “Intruders!” but we suspected little help would come from upstairs.

Eventually the combat narrowed down in scope to a handful of fighters up front at the door bashing against the trolls who stupidly approached the narrow passageway one by one. This left the rest of us with nothing to do.

Earlier Kali had checked out the nearest northern door and found it was a simple sleeping cell, and had shoved Lute in and closed the door after him. Radella continued investigating the northern doors, and so I turned my attention to the two doors on the far side of the room.

Listening at the first door revealed nothing, and because Radella was coming this way anyway, I moved to the southern door. Again, no noise from beyond, and so I opened it.

It was an empty cell. “Empty?” I thought. “That’s just what they want you to think,” volunteered Timber.

Closer inspection proved Timber right: there was a secret door hidden in the southwest corner.

But before I had a chance to further explore our discovery, someone called out, “We need a little healing help in here! and I rushed out to see what was afoot.

It turned out that there was a ninja hiding in the cell I left for Radella to explore, but she had Olmas rushing over to help, and Ivan lobbing arrows in support. Over by the trolls I could see that one was left standing, with Sparna looking a little worse for wear.

A few channels later and Sparna had perked up and felled the troll just as one of the trolls we had “killed” earlier stood up. Kali used an acid arrow to put it down and keep it down.

Meanwhile over at the cell Ivan had put an arrow through the ninja’s eye, but not before she had stabbed Olmas with a (can you guess?) poisoned dagger. I used Delay Poison to block the effects, and by the time the spell expired the poison had too. Maybe we need to make this permanent on Olmas.

Anyway, it was time to do the usual and loot the bodies and rooms for anything valuable or useful.

[300] vial of black lotus (the deadliest of poisons)
[301] “The Deadly Kiss”, a +1 dagger forged centuries ago in Tien that allows the wielder holding poison to automatically coat the blade (as a free action), consuming the poison in the process
[302-304] +1 earth-fire shuriken: flaming burst on any creature hit, reflex save (DC12) or target catches fire
[305] blowgun
[306] 10 darts
[307] 5 regular shuriken
[308] black ninja outfit: grants +2 AC and +5 stealth
[309] masterwork thieves tools
[310] 33 gold arm bands
[311] 100 amethysts in a bag
[312] 10 thunderstones
[313] 6 masterwork spears
[314] 6 bone amulets of +1 natural armor
[315] 4 “nice” raven statuettes
[316] lacquered screen
[317] small Tien leather trunk
[318] jade and lapis lazuli blow gun
[319] Tien coins (300 gp)
[320] scroll granting the authority from the king for the bearer to commandeer troops, servants and so forth within 2 miles of Kalsgard
[321] disguise kit
[322] set of washer woman clothes (?)

By now Lute was rethinking his decision to stay with us for safety, and decided to take us up on our offer to place him in the cloak room upstairs until either we returned to him, or he decided to leave on his own. We accompanied him upstairs, and gave him two of the rope-trick grenades plus a vanish potion.

We had just shut the door to the cloak room and I was leading us back to the stairs (anxious to see what lay beyond the secret door) when an arc of lightening zapped between Sparna and I, catching must of the group in between.

“Bastard!” growled Star, “Someone is going to die for that!”

But at that moment there was the twang of a bow string, and a large raven with a red feather fell down from the rafters with a soft thud onto the flagstone floor. Ivan was holding a bow with a very satisfied look on his face. Star cooed an appreciative, “Ooh!” while Beorn cackled.

It was dead. Just like that. Ivan had been carrying the arrow of Greater Magic Beast Slaying since we found it, keeping it in an easy to reach pouch. He had quickly spotted the giant raven hovering near the ceiling above and immediately shot the damned bird, which was now laying dead at our feet.

The raven was wearing a ring of protection around its leg, which we gave to Nihali, Kali’s raven.

[323] +1 ring of protection (bird band)

I grabbed the raven corpse and tossed it into the furnace as we returned to the secret door. This led to a long hallway that stretched off into the darkness. Near at hand a door opened on our left. It looked like it might lead to the other side of the waterfall room, and so I was anxious to see what lay beyond.

It was a bedchamber with lots of odd things inside. There was a bed, the headboard for which was in the shape of a daemon’s mouth, a brazier burning in a corner (and giving off the aroma of burnt flesh), and bits of torn paper and debris collected in the corners.

Radella and I had entered the room when Helgerval announced, “There is something evil beneath the bed.”

A pair of giant hands crawled out, spider-like, and launched themselves at Radella. When I say “giant hands”, I do not mean the hands from a giant, but really gigantic hands!

Radella, Olmas, Anna and I bashed the things to death, leaving the earth elemental that Kali had summoned without a job, and so she asked it to pass through the wall to the south and look for the room beyond the waterfall.

The elemental returned and described a room with a well, but no entrance other than through the door we had already seen.

Radella discovered that the daemon’s mouth head board was a secret storage area holding some scrolls and supplies.

Sparna and Ivan had gone down the hallway a little further and discovered that it bent to the left and plunged down a flight of stairs. We decided to check out the remaining unexplored room on this level before heading down.

[324] 3 scrolls of Magic Circle Against Evil
[325] vial of powdered silver (enough for the three [324] scrolls)
[326] Stuffed sturge (giant mosquito)

With a rope tied around my middle (just in case) I jumped into the water and waded to the far side. I tied my end of the rope fast to the doorknob in case someone else wanted to use the rope to cross.

The item we thought had been a bell from across the water was in actuality an aspergillum — I hadn’t seen one since I left Pharasma’s temple in Magnimar. The door was locked and so I called Radella to join me. Picking up the cask I found that a key had been hidden beneath it, which unlocked the door. Radella had come across and opened the cask to find it full of a quality saki.

I opened the door. It was a circular chamber with a tiny well in the floor and a lot of fungi growing on the ceiling and walls. Upon hearing the latter Etayne flew across and pronounced they were “death hoods,” which dropped onto the heads of the unwary, suffocating them.

I filled the aspergillum with saki and entered the room, swinging it around in broad arcs, causing the death hoods to retract and melt. Then using Detect Magic I found something very magical in the wall far below.

But the well was only about a foot in diameter, and whatever was in it was fifteen feet below. Kali sent an Unseen Servant into the water to retrieve whatever it was.

The well instantly began to glow with a fierce light as a shining katana emerged from beneath the surface.

“I SENSE AMATATSU SCIONS AT LAST,” a voice boomed in our heads.

It was Suishen! Apparently Runecaster had stolen it, but could not figure out what to do with it (because Suishen refused to serve her), and so she tossed it in the well as a “safe” place to dispose of it.

Olmas reluctantly agreed to wield the sword (clearly one of us needed to), and as he grabbed it there was a moment’s pause before I heard a voice say, “You’ll do.” To be honest I wasn’t sure if this was from Suishen or Badger.

Suishen has confirmed that Runecaster is an oni in the form of a purple ogre, and I suspect that her careless discarding of Suishen will prove to be a costly mistake.

The stairs down await us, but we might need to recover spells before descending to face what might prove to be our greatest challenge yet.

[327] key to well room
[328] cask of saki (the good stuff)
[329] Suishen

 

Character: Kali

Kali’s Journal, Arodus 15, 4712 (Part 2)

(Ravenscraeg, noon)

Hard day, indeed. My hearing is returning, albeit very slowly. Everything is muffled and it feels like my ears have been filled with cotton. I can barely hear the others’ voices through it, and even when I do I can’t recognize who is speaking unless I am looking directly at them. Still, this is an improvement from half an hour ago when I couldn’t hear anything at all.

We learned about these stupid thunderstones during my studies but of course I never gave them much thought. The idea of exploring the remote corners of the world as part of some grand gest, facing off against man and monster, alike, seemed so ridiculous back when I thought the worst I would contend with in life would be the vagrants and vagabonds of the city, and yet here we are. Eudonius had said that arcane power is as much practice and experience as it is study, and that those who break from the solitude of the library, and the security and stability of civilization, will find themselves rewarded with power that flows faster and freer than they could imagine. He was certainly not wrong about that. But he was also quick to point out that the price of this path could be severe; that “countless numbers have paid it with their bodies, their lives, or their souls” and he does not appear to be wrong about that, either. I am making good progress on the first.

The others are not wasting the time it is taking for Etayne and I to recover. The pile of items to be analyzed and identified continues to grow as they search the numerous living quarters attached to the dojo. Between what they are turning up now and what we have found since last night, she and I will be busy for some time. I have taken a cue from their efficiency and given Lute parchment and quill, and he is busy scribbling down some history of the Rimerunners Guild. This isn’t strictly necessary but the distraction and focus seems to be calming his nerves. He said he wanted to stay with us, but it’s obvious we can’t keep him completely out of harm’s way, formidable though we are. As soon as I can engage in conversation again, I’m going to suggest that we use the eggs to hide him somewhere secluded until we are finished here.

I’m also going to suggest that we distribute the remaining stones among us, and turn them against our adversaries. As we weaken them, we strengthen ourselves. Why shouldn’t we put our gains to use?

When we are out of this place I think I am going to learn to speak some Giant. Not that Sparna didn’t do well bluffing our way past the trolls with some prompting (I thought suggesting he ask “Do you need more coal?” was a delightful touch), it’s just that I hate almost being able to do something. As much as I complain about mom’s insistence that I learn Thassilonian, it is either an ancestor to or component of Giant, Varisian, and Shoanti. Speak it and any one of its descendants and you can more or less follow what someone is saying in the others, though of course there are gaps. It’s those gaps that are frustrating, and they are the largest with Giant. That, and it just keeps coming up. As we head north towards the mountains, I suspect it will continue to come up, and perhaps at a faster pace.

It’s a shame the bluff didn’t hold. Well, I suppose it did hold, it was just spoiled when the monks in here called out for help. When the first troll burst into the room—literally bursting in by destroying the door—I thought we might be in trouble, but I was able to use a water orb to keep the others from following suit. Only fighting one at a time was still dangerous, but it was more of a battle of attrition than anything else and we had more resources at our disposal. I also learned that my little acid darts stops them from regenerating, which meant that I could contribute more directly to the effort.

I am not sure what to make of the Tian woman. She apparently stayed in her quarters, despite the loud and obvious skirmish happening on the other side of her door. If she had joined in we would have had a far more difficult time, but instead she bode her time, waiting for an opportunity to escape. It was obviously a miscalculation, but more importantly I think it is a sign of these peoples’ true loyalties, which are first and foremost to themselves. I am hardly surprised.

(Ravenscraeg, mid-afternoon)

We have found Suishen! And the raven with the red feathers is dead! For the first time I feel as though we have regained the upper hand here, and I am growing more optimistic that we will finish this before nightfall. We are closing in.

Lute is hidden away with a small stash of eggshells and a potion to render him invisible. When the former are expended, he will use the latter to escape out the front door. It is risky, but on the other hand there is no one left here to challenge him. That we know of.  I am not entirely comfortable with the situation, but it was the best we could do under the circumstances. But if our momentum holds, it won’t come to that.

His history of the Guild has been invaluable and it has fueled the speculation about Silverskorr. Though he was elected to the board fairly recently, he had known or at least been familiar with her for as long as she has been the head of the guild. About a year ago, she and one of her close friends and advisers, a Tian woman by the name of Kimandatsu, were on a trading voyage somewhere to the south. Their ship ran into a series of powerful storms and Kimandatsu perished at sea. Silverskorr was very shaken up by the experience, and after a long period of mourning she slowly became, in Lute’s words, more focused and driven. He describes her as a formidable opponent.

This is too many coincidences for me. On its own this story sounds perfectly reasonable, but when added to purple ogres or ogre magi, shape-shifting oni, Tian strangers, and everything else that has happened to us, we can make a good case that it was not Kimandatsu that died on that voyage, but rather the real Silverskorr. There is no way to prove this (not yet, anyway), but what other explanation makes sense?

You would think that we would have learned by now not to walk into the same ambush twice, but that is exactly what we did. This time, as we emerged from the cloak room we noticed a large number of ravens and crows gathering among the rafters in the main hall. I felt my hair standing up along the back of my neck and before we could react we were struck by a brilliant arc of electricity. Olmas spotted the bloodfeather raven among the flock and called it out. Ivan pulled out the slaying arrow we had found in the armory here, the one keyed to magical beasts, and nocked it while asking me, “Is that it?”

“Yes,” I replied. And he let it fly. Seconds later, the raven was lying dead on the floor below. The ravens and crows scattered through the smoke holes in the roof. And that was that.

It seemed so anticlimactic. After all that creature had done to us, after all the grief and misery it had caused, it died before the fight had even begun. Don’t get me wrong: I am not complaining. If anything, I see that arrow as a gift that was given to us to use. To use here. We’ll never know what circumstances brought it into the armory, but this sort of luck goes beyond coincidence. Desna’s hand, perhaps?

What especially caught my attention afterwards was that the raven was still a raven even after it had died. My (albeit limited) understanding of shape-shifting spells and abilities is that they expire when you do. Our prevailing theory had been that the raven was really a druid in animal form, but now we had proof, more or less, that this was not the case. I was troubled, enough that Nihali could feel it and she came to me in the hall.

“What do you make of this bird?” I asked her after she settled on my shoulder.

She looked it over and replied, “There is something not right about it. It’s a raven, but it’s wrong.”

“‘Wrong’ how? Other than its size?”

“It just feels inherently wrong.”

I don’t know what this means. Yet another mystery we’ll probably never solve.

Back when Uksahkka was kidnapped, Helgarval had floated the theory that the raven was Runecaster’s familiar. I am not convinced of it, though. Wouldn’t Nihali have been able to tell? I think so, but I don’t know for sure.

I am more confident in my belief that Runecaster is a sorcerer and not a wizard, and I mean that in the literal sense (to the common person, the terms are colloquial and interchangeable). We found his living quarters, and neither they nor his research lab said “wizard” to me. There are just certain items you need when you have to research and memorize spells, and such things were conspicuous in their absence: no spell books, no research tomes, no library at all in fact. It just had that feel of someone who has an innate connection to magic, and is working out spells through trial and error.

And this brings me back to the “raven is his familiar” theory: most sorcerers do not have familiars. It’s not unheard of but it’s rare, and those that do usually come from families with a legacy of traditional, arcane magic. It’s not impossible that Runecaster had a giant, innately wrong raven as a familiar, but it just doesn’t seem likely.

What Runecaster does have is hands. Giant, disembodied hands. As pets, or something. Gods, these people. They were apparently hiding under his bed, and scampered out to attack when the first of us entered the room. The smell was disgusting and it made several people ill. At one point someone said “blunt weapons only” so I brought in a small earth elemental to help. Blunt is more or less their whole thing.

When the skirmish was over I used the elemental to settle a disagreement I had with Qatana earlier. I wanted to return to the water room, but she insisted on looking for a back way in. In the end I relented. In part it was because her reasoning made more sense even if it meant putting an unopened door at our backs, but I also didn’t want to cause a problem. I feel like the others sometimes get irritated with me. When even Qatana is getting frustrated maybe that says I need to do a better job of picking my battles.

In the end, the elemental reported there was only one way in and that was the one we already knew. Behind that door was a narrow well, and lodged deep down in that well was an item that radiated powerful, powerful magic: Suishen. Silverskorr had apparently found herself at a loss for what to do with a sword she could neither use nor destroy, and settled on “toss it in a hole and hope no one finds it” as the answer. Her impatience may end up being a costly error.

As soon as it had cleared the top of the well, carried up by the force summoned by my spell, a booming voice echoed in our heads: “I SENSE AMATATSU SCIONS AT LAST.”

Just as our visions had implied, Suishen is an intelligent sword. Ecstatic to learn that an Amatatsu still lives, it announced that it considers us Ameiko’s protectors and will allow us to wield it (I remember Fynn saying that the sword “never felt right” to him, and according to the others Helva had said something similar). Assuming Ameiko doesn’t wish to carry it herself, Olmas has stepped forward.

One more thing. We asked who threw it down in the well. The answer? “The oni.”

I just had to know. “A purple ogre?” I asked.

“Yes.”

Too many coincidences.