Journey to the Dead Falls Report

General Summary

As told by Hyllis the Bard.   After dusting ourselves off after the fight with the blemishes, we examined the scene of the fight. Some poor bloke was a squished mess, beyond recognition. As we were looking at the scene of the battle, Surge suddenly looks into a tree and asks "Friend or foe?" Out of the tree jumps Claus! How in the abyss did he get here! We quickly acquainted ourselves with our old companion and brought him up to date on our quest as we travel and rest. We continue our journey to the Dead Falls. I knew we were getting close and we approached a bridge crossing the swiftly flowing rapids. The bridge is old and looks like it could fall apart any minute, we decide to cross one at a time. Yorgos volunteers to scout the other side of the bridge and I turn him invisible before he crosses. We can see the bridge shudder and shake as we mark his invisible progress across the trembling bridge. He calls the all clear and T'Challa starts across. As he almost makes it across, his foot falls through! As we all ponder our predicament, Z suddenly yells out "Behind us!" There are four bandits trying to sneak up behind us! I quickly cast dissonant whispers at one of the larger runs and he is momentarily frightened. and the ones of us still on the near side of the bridge attack the bandits. As Yorgus is helping T'Challa free himself from the bridge, 4 more bandits appear on the far side. Apparently, they were watching and saw me turn Yorgos invisible as the blindly struck out at where they thought he was. Yorgos was apparently distracted as he was helping T'Challa and was struck. The battle quickly ensued, Yorgos and T'Challa kept the four on the far bank occupied. I quickly baned what appeared to be the stronger foes on my side of the river and Z and Cu closed with the bandits to fight them hand to hand, well Z's thunder gauntlets and Cu's magical stick. Cu also quickly summoned his bear spirit to help with our health and strength. Surge and Claus struck from the shadows, Surge from close at hand and Claus from a distance. The fight raged on, I used my cutting words and inspiration from a distance, although one of the bigger ones ran up on me. I sent him running with some dissonant whispers. A couple of arrows did hit me, but I was able to maintain concentration on the bane. Cu. Cu was dodging and deflecting blows like crazy! I do not know if it was the bane or pure luck on his part. Either way, we finally fell all of our foes. Once the fight was over, we continued our effort to get across the bridge. Thinking that Cu would have some problems, we attached a couple of ropes. Good thing as he almost fell of the bridge. Problem is, he damaged the bridge as he fell, making it more difficult for the rest of us. Z was first to cross and he fell as he crossed. I quickly followed him. Unfortunately, I was unable to stop myself and ended up riding his back like a board on the ocean for a few feet. We searched some of the bodies. We found some gold and a jar full of pickled eyes. Kinda, well really weird. Then we found the pictures. The bandits had pictures of all of us! This was no random attack. But who? Sydon has yet to use mortals to attack us, I do not think it was him. What about the King Acostas? Does he know that I am destined to bring back the dragonlords? I do not think what he is doing is right. The dragonlords should be of all peoples of this land. What about the slavers? They may have found out what we were doing and angry that we did not kill the Lady of Coins. My money is on King Acostas, he knew exactly where we were going. And, that guy is an ass hat. Well, we continued our journey, nothing we can do about someone trying to kill us, nothing new. As we got closer to the falls, we started traveling through a narrow canyon. There are faces carved into the wall, how strange! As I am examining the faces (do I know one of the women?), an inhuman scream echoes up and down the cavern. Surge yells out "Run!", the walls are closing in. T'Challa, Cu, and Yorgos sprint out ahead of us and Surge practically just walks up the wall! Z, Claus, and I are not quite out of the canyon. I give myself a burst of inspiration and make it out but Z and Claus don't make and and the walls press in on them. I yell at Z "Come on bird man, move your tail feathers!" trying to inspire him. Claus bursts out just in time, but Z literally bursts out of the smashing walls. We all look on in horror as our companion is crushed and bits of him spray out. As the horror starts to set in, my mind is racing. Can we save him, but how? Then Z walks out! We all gather around Z and press him (bad choice of words) for how he made it out alive after we just saw him compressed into a flat bird! He then told us he saw Damon the Lich who told him "This will only happen once." I do not know how Damon did it, but I do not care, we have our friend back.  We gather our wits (some of us brush Z guts and feathers off first) and examine where we are. The river falls into a large dark pit, even those of us with darkvision cannot see. Then it hits us, there is no sound. No roaring waterfall. It is like the pit swallows light and sound. Shaking off this phenomena, we set out to see if we can find something to point us where the Ultros is located. Most of us quickly find a side passage, hidden if you do not look at the correct angle. After going through the passage, we come upon a lake and there she is, Ultros! What a beautiful ship, the tales and songs do not do it justice. With a dragon head for a prow, this ancient ship is still in pristine shape. Magic or has someone cared for it? We carefully approach with Surge and Z inspecting for traps, none are found. We walk up the gangway to the top deck. All is clean, how has the ship managed to remain like this, there is no sign of life. As most of us examine our immediate surroundings, Surge runs up to the helm, stating he cannot help himself. He is a sailor after all. Yorgos chases after the young lad, someone needs to keep an eye on him to keep him out of trouble. I feel a chill, hear whispers, and I swear I see someone moving at the corners of my vision. Yorgos yells out for us to come see what they see, some sort of shadowy figure signing bawdy sailor songs? As we get closer, I hear a voice yell out "Intruders! Attack!". I see shadowy figures emerge around us. As I ready myself, I wonder if they just want to talk?