W<\/span><\/p>\n e\u2019ve added both a traveler and a wagon to the caravan. It\u2019s like there\u2019s some conspiracy out there to keep me locked in a perpetual cycle of travel planning.<\/span><\/p>\n I haven\u2019t seen very many armored wagons in my life. You would think mom and dad would have used them a lot, but that\u2019s not the case at all. As dad explained to me once, an armored wagon really draws attention to the fact that you\u2019re transporting something valuable. And while they are certainly harder to break into (and steal from), they are just as easy to disable as any other wagon: you only have to kill the horses. That means they\u2019re best for transporting dangerous cargo, where the armor helps keep something in rather than others out, or important passengers or items that everyone already knows are inside but might need an extra deterrent to keep them honest.<\/span><\/p>\n This wagon falls into that first category. Our new addition is a gnome named Zosimus, and he is traveling with an alchemy lab the likes of which I have never seen.<\/span><\/p>\n Zosi is one of those rare gnomes with blue skin. I have to wonder if it\u2019s natural or a result of experimentation with his lab equipment? No, I am not going to ask him.<\/span><\/p>\n He was traveling with a small group of people who apparently hadn\u2019t gotten the memo that they shouldn\u2019t be in here, and they were attacked by hobgoblins that the giants hadn\u2019t already killed and eaten. We came along just in time to be too late to help them; Zosi was the only survivor.<\/span><\/p>\n He seems eager to join us. Apparently, he was just hired help and had no real connection to his companions except as a source of income (indeed, his primary concern was not that they had died, but rather that he\u2019s now unemployed). He seems <\/span>particularly<\/span><\/i> eager to be going southeast. Obviously there\u2019s a story there, but it\u2019s not our business. As long as no one comes calling for him, anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n Tomorrow morning I\u2019ll use a spell to create the parts we\u2019ll need to strengthen the wagon\u2019s undercarriage so that it doesn\u2019t slow us down. We\u2019ve pooled the weapons and armor from the hobgoblins and the dead men for use as materials.<\/span><\/p>\n That sounds rather cold, doesn\u2019t it?<\/span><\/p>\n Z<\/span><\/p>\n osi asked me about my family tonight. I told him that I grew up in Sandpoint, that we currently live in Magnimar, and that they run a merchant business there and have for most of my life. That got us talking about all the traveling we did when I was younger.<\/span><\/p>\n Then, out of the blue, he asked, \u201cDo they know what you are doing out here? What do they think about it?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I didn\u2019t answer for a while. What <\/span>do<\/span><\/i> they think about it? For sure, it\u2019s complicated. They\u2019re proud, but obviously scared and worried. And of course it didn\u2019t get off to a great start. How to explain that?<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThey know. When this all began, we had a\u2026big argument. Actually, I should just call it a fight. There was a lot of yelling. I\u2026It doesn\u2019t matter. Things are better now. They are\u2026supportive. But they worry. A lot.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I spoke with them a few nights ago. I conveniently left out the whole mess with Prince Batsiakhar, and I feel guilty about it because I promised them I would\u2026that I wouldn\u2019t hide anything from them. But that\u2019s exactly what I did, right? I don\u2019t know why. Habits are hard to break, I guess.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDid you work in your family\u2019s business at all?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYes, sort of. I did some of the passage planning for a while. I can tell you don\u2019t know what that is. It\u2019s all about the logistics of how a ship goes from one place to another: the stops en route, customs forms at the destination, and similar logistics.\u201d I smiled. \u201cI was pretty good at it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSo why did you leave it?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI wanted a change.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n There was an uncomfortable pause as he just sort of <\/span>looked<\/span><\/i> at me. I knew what he was thinking, but I wasn\u2019t up for a conversation about it. \u201cYes, I am aware of the irony.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He let it drop.<\/span><\/p>\n W<\/span><\/p>\n e’ve encountered three spirits so far. The latest one was last night, and he felt significantly more malevolent than the first and, from what Qatana described, the one they encountered while tracking the tiger as well. Fortunately, our plan to use positive energy seems to work, and as long as you can hold them at bay, they don’t seem to be a significant threat.<\/span><\/p>\n But maybe the deeper in we go, the worse it gets.<\/span><\/p>\n W<\/span><\/p>\n e\u2019re sitting in a small clearing in some of the densest forest I have ever seen. The trees are so close together that the canopy blots out the sky. Who would have thought that we\u2019d be needing the caravan lights during the day again?<\/span><\/p>\n This clearing is a sacred place for the kami and I guess I can understand that. It must be beautiful here in the summer when the sun climbs higher in the sky, but even now we can see the light on the tops of the trees above and it\u2019s a lovely sight. Or maybe I just miss the sky that much.<\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019re waiting now for\u2026something. I don\u2019t know what. The other kami, I think. I get the feeling that Miyaro is not really sure herself.<\/span><\/p>\n I guess it wasn\u2019t obvious why we\u2019re here or what we\u2019re doing in spite Miyaro\u2019s claim to be working as their agent. We were challenged by what I assume is the guardian spirit of this clearing before being allowed to enter. He asked us why we were traveling through the forest, and pointed out that we aren\u2019t supposed to be here. \u201cThere\u2019s a better road,\u201d he kept saying. Yeah, there is, but it will get us all killed.<\/span><\/p>\n Finally, Qatana just came out and said what we were doing and those seemed to be the magic words.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou specifically seek to undo the oni of the Five Storms?\u201d he asked, somewhat incredulously.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYes, we do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThen you may enter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I guess we should have opened with that.<\/span><\/p>\n K<\/span><\/p>\n ami and small forest animals began arriving around twilight. It was just a few at first, peeking at us from around the trees but as the night settled in their numbers swelled until we were quite literally surrounded. Mostly they were, and I suppose still are, both cautious and curious. A few have risked coming close to us, but for the most part they have stayed back at what they probably feel is a safe distance.<\/span><\/p>\n Then one of them approached Miyaro. She translated as he spoke to us.<\/span><\/p>\n As usual, the price of admission is doing a favor for someone. I have this feeling that this is what the future holds for us and for Ameiko. Want to earn my trust? Great. Prove your intentions by doing this one thing. Said thing is never easy. If it was, it would already be done.<\/span><\/p>\n We are headed to a place called The House of Withered Blossoms. The kami of the Forest had sworn an oath to keep the oni of the Five Storms imprisoned there, but because these are divine bargains the rules of it were needlessly complicated and ultimately self-defeating.<\/span><\/p>\n The kami weren\u2019t allowed to enter this prison while the oni were within, which meant they couldn\u2019t keep an eye on what was happening. That seems like a pretty significant flaw when you\u2019re imprisoning someone for eternity. Given infinite time and no supervision, eventually someone is going to find a way out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Since the kami can\u2019t enter to investigate, that means at least one oni remains inside. I know how this sort of thing goes. It only takes one oni to keep the kami out, and it doesn\u2019t matter who that oni is or what their capabilities are so essentially they just needed a warm body to stay behind. If I were in the Five Storms\u2019 position, I would choose the oni they are least likely to miss or need. So that is good news for us. The bad news is, these aren\u2019t just random oni: they are what passes as leadership of the Five Storms. So even the loser is probably going to be a hard fight.<\/span><\/p>\n While the kami can\u2019t <\/span>enter<\/span><\/i> the House, they can get close enough to <\/span>look <\/span><\/i>at it, and so we asked them what we should expect to find there. Other than an oni.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHobgoblins,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd spiders.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n Why did it have to be spiders?<\/span><\/p>\n T<\/span><\/p>\n he House sits in the center of a depression, and we\u2019ve made our camp on the slope leading up to the rim. It\u2019s basically a big pagoda, which would be unremarkable if it wasn\u2019t encased in vines and wrapped with spider webs.<\/span><\/p>\n I used a spell to scout the towers from the comfort of our campsite, and I learned there\u2019s a hole in the roof that we can use to gain entry without having to walk in the front door because why would we be so stupid as to walk in the front door?<\/span><\/p>\n Inside the tower are more spider webs and, in case there was any question about that, a bunch of spiders, though some of them appear to be spider-human hybrids of some sort. Because of course they are. A couple of levels down there is this filthy, grotesque and very large man. As the eye passed I saw him eat a spider that was scurrying across his face, so, point in his favor, but I am betting that\u2019s all he\u2019s got going for him.<\/span><\/p>\n Unfortunately, I couldn\u2019t get the eye into every part of the building, but we have learned enough to know that we shouldn\u2019t try to go in through the front door. Which we knew already, but it\u2019s always nice to be validated. The plan tomorrow is to drop in through the roof.<\/span><\/p>\n The vines around the building have been treating us to a show. At sunset, these giant purple blossoms opened up, and as the night wore on they fell away into a snowfall of petals. That was followed by fruit that are growing at an impossible pace. It is eerie, beautiful, fascinating, and alien. And also filled with spiders.<\/span><\/p>\n Some people think the man I saw was the oni, but I am not convinced. The kami said there were both spiders <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> hobgoblins here, and I didn\u2019t see any trace of the latter. Granted, there are parts of the tower I couldn\u2019t get into, but I get this feeling there is more to this place than what we can see. A lot more.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pharast 12 (Forest of Spirits, Evening) W e\u2019ve added both a traveler and a wagon to the caravan. It\u2019s like there\u2019s some conspiracy out there to keep me locked in a perpetual cycle of travel planning. I haven\u2019t seen very many armored wagons in my life. You would think mom and dad would have used […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_import_markdown_pro_load_document_selector":0,"_import_markdown_pro_submit_text_textarea":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32],"class_list":["post-3452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal","tag-kali"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3452"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5705,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3452\/revisions\/5705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Pharast 16 (Forest of Spirits, Night)<\/h3>\n
Pharast 21, 4713 (morning, Forest of Spirits)<\/h3>\n
Pharast 25 (Forest of Spirits, Early Afternoon)<\/h3>\n
Pharast 25 (Forest of Spirits, Evening)<\/h3>\n
Pharast 26 (House of Withered Blossoms, Late Night)<\/h3>\n