{"id":4528,"date":"2020-01-25T11:30:17","date_gmt":"2020-01-25T19:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/?p=4528"},"modified":"2020-02-08T10:18:05","modified_gmt":"2020-02-08T18:18:05","slug":"thassilonian-leftovers-jigus-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/thassilonian-leftovers-jigus-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"Thassilonian Leftovers – Jigu’s stories"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As interesting as I found the whole Thassilonian saga that unfolded in the last decade or so, as fascinated as I was by the history and the language itself, and as much as I might imagine the adventures the Sandpoint heroes had .. I never thought I’d be even remotely involved in anything Thassilonian. And yet … here I am. We apparently have found ourselves looking for some sort of Thassilonian artifact which has been described, but never actually found.<\/p>\n

Moonday, 4 Sarenith<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n

We returned from Roderic’s Wreck with a some vivid memories, a few valuable items, and a healthy respect for how many things out here could kill us. I found my interest in the Runelords strangely sharpened, but also dimmed when confronted by real effects in present day.<\/p>\n

While making my usual Moonday delivery rounds, I chanced to pass through the doors of the weapon vendor Lindwin, while he was in fairly subdued discussion with a pair of dwarves. It started to rise in volume and, being me, I stepped up and asked if there wasn’t something I could do to help? They both looked briefly embarrassed but then Lindwin explained that the dwarves were having trouble delivering product to him. A dwarf quickly interrupted and proclaimed the REAL problem was, literally, highway robbery.<\/p>\n

Their wagon apparently has to pass through the Churlwood. This has never proven particularly hazardous before, but just two days ago their driver and an assistant had been taken. They’s managed to keep the wagon, but their companions had been kidnapped. By goblns, no less! They said it was the Bramble-something .. I didn’t catch the name … some tribe of goblins which have been mostly harmless until now. I considered all that was going on and carefully said, “I am familiar with some people who may be able to help. Let me get back to you.” The dwarves looked at me – a halfling – like I was insane but Lindwin held up his hand before they could say anything. “We would be pleased if you know of people who can help. Churlwood being outside the city, the guard is less than interested in this.” I nodded and went to find the rest of the group.<\/p>\n

I returned to the group and together we chatted with the leader of the guard. Turns out, this wasn’t the first the guard had heard of these Churlwood issues, and while the kidnapping was new news, he’d already sent two members of the guard off to investigate.<\/p>\n

Two members that never returned.<\/p>\n

It would not be understating the case to say he was interested in having us look into the situation. But before we could get very far into that discussion, we were interrupted by a partially coherent resident.<\/p>\n

“The … things .. they, the mouths! They’re melted! They … they …”<\/p>\n

When we calmed him down, we were able to learn that some sort of figures, or monsters, or .. creatures had come out of the woods not too far away and attacked him. He was shaken enough that that was about all we got out of him, but we offered to the leader of the guard to go deal with this new and pressing issue.\u00a0 He was happy to accept the help, since, well, he was already short two deputies …<\/p>\n

Two misshapen creatures were quickly discovered, and almost as quickly dispatched. My participation was minimal, because I’d pretty much used up all my magic missiles and force missiles and, try as i might, my skills with my quarterstaff yield as much damage as a harsh look would. \u00a0 I was, however, an excellent<\/i> lookout.<\/p>\n

But since nobody had seen them before now,, and nobody knew how they’d come into existence … it would be hard to say this area was now “safe”. Shura was able to read their tracks, however, and learned they did not come from the woods.\u00a0 The last place they’d been, before here, was town.\u00a0\u00a0 If we’d been looking to reassure residents, this was not the way to do it.<\/p>\n

We theorized, perhaps, this was a result of some goings-on at the Peacock House.\u00a0 They were strange, and pompous, and full of themselves – exactly the sort of people who might create misshapen creatures with sharp teeth.\u00a0 Well, okay, it made more sense at the time.\u00a0 We decided upon the ‘ruse’ of taking a body to them and asking for their opinion on its origins, then carefully gauging their reaction.\u00a0 Our plan yielded nothing but a quick glance of the inside of their house, as they asked Vlad to place the body in a small outbuilding.\u00a0 Quickly, they said.\u00a0 Don’t leave the door open too long, they said.\u00a0 And Vlad did as asked, but swore he saw some largish, bony, spiderish, skitterish creature dash out from under a bed just as he was closing the door.\u00a0 They’d do some analysis and get back to us later, they said.<\/p>\n

i doubt it, though.<\/p>\n

Several in the group felt an inexplicable urgency to follow up on the dwarven kidnapping, so even though I warned them I needed to rest and study my spells, the group headed to the ferry.\u00a0 I rolled my eyes and went along; even without magic,\u00a0 I was still one of the better armored members.\u00a0\u00a0 (The delivery business can be tough \ud83d\ude42 )\u00a0 Perhaps I could serve as a distraction if I couldn’t be a wizard or a warrior!<\/p>\n

Well, we’d no more than crossed the ferry and there were five Roadkeepers there demanding a toll for safe passage.\u00a0 To be honest, they were there waiting even before we boarded the ferry.\u00a0 We tried discussing the situation rationally with them, but rationally is not a word they know how to spell.\u00a0 “Lullaby” was their leader,\u00a0 but she learned when all of us concentrate on one target, we can make that target bleed pretty fast.\u00a0 I feared we were in for a full battle, but the sight of their companion getting beat up took all the fight out of them.\u00a0 “Must have been some mistake,” said Lullaby before she and the others picked up their companion and ran off.<\/p>\n

We continued on the path, and – well, okay, when I say “the path” I’m pushing things a bit.\u00a0 The path from the ferry was neither clear nor well maintained, but Shura again was able to track the most-travelled path to take us in the direction we felt the kidnapping might have occurred.<\/p>\n

It didn’t take too long before we reached an unusual clearing.\u00a0 It was unusual in the sense that while the path had been rough and unmaintained, this clearing seemed much more orderly.\u00a0 There was a dead oak tree in the middle, with a clear path all the way around it.\u00a0 And another thing that made it unusual was the three apparently dead bodies near the tree, in guard uniforms.<\/p>\n

There was also a shiny amulet hanging from a limb of the tree.\u00a0 I could see it was radiating magic.<\/p>\n

The more we looked at it, the more it looked like a trap, and the shiny thing a lure.\u00a0 But a lure for what?<\/p>\n

Then as we cautiously circled the clearing, a shambling figure emerged from behind the tree.\u00a0 After a moment, somebody yelled it was a “trailgaunt” and not to cross the path.\u00a0 I needed no more warning than that – again, I was largely without magic at this point.\u00a0 But while the trailgaunt may have been forbidden to cross the trail, it apparently was not restricted from digging under<\/i> the trail.\u00a0 We yelled to each other when it tried that<\/b> trick, and we were able to keep awat from it.\u00a0 In the end we were finally able to kill it, but it took a while.<\/p>\n

The shiny thing, we found was a holy symbol of Desna which afforded its wearer greater protection against mind control spells.\u00a0 We resolved to come back and recover the bodies, but for now we continued to press on in search of the goblins and kidnapped dwarves.<\/p>\n

Proceeding cautiously, we finally came upon an entrrance to a cave, outside of which were three goblins attempting to guard it.\u00a0 We dispatched them fairly quickly, but then were left facing a tunnel.\u00a0 With goblins inside.\u00a0 Who knew we were there.<\/p>\n

And the bad luck for everyone but me, was that the tunnel was goblin-sized … or halfling-sized.\u00a0 Everyone but me would be restricted in their movements.\u00a0 And I .. I would be restricted in my sight because I’m no dwarf and can’t see in the dark.<\/p>\n

Despite those impediments, we came up with a plan that took out the 5 goblins waiting under cover in the first chamber, and when most of those were down or preoccupied, I was able to use a rock with light cast upon it to advance quickly past them and make sure there were no reinforcements coming.\u00a0 However, our next challenge would be that beyond this point, the tunnel got even narrower, such that it would be tight for me and the big people would probably have to crawl.<\/p>\n

And as if that weren’t enough, a quick scout through that tunnel revealed another chamber, with even more goblins in it.\u00a0 Maybe now people will want to rest and regain strength and spells.\u00a0 Maybe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As interesting as I found the whole Thassilonian saga that unfolded in the last decade or so, as fascinated as I was by the history and the language itself, and as much as I might imagine the adventures the Sandpoint heroes had .. I never thought I’d be even remotely involved in anything Thassilonian. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[60],"class_list":["post-4528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ret-journal","tag-jigu"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4528","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4529,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4528\/revisions\/4529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dungeonetics.com\/gamediary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}