The Long Road Ahead: Part I

Midsummer
Whilst the last half of a tenday felt as though an entire season should have passed with everything that transpired for our bizarre little band, the following tendays have been largely the opposite. Leosin had been kind enough to purchase horses for us in Greenest to make our journey to Elturel a much quicker, and safer, affair. The journey was delightfully uneventful after the madness we’ve seen since first arriving here.
In Elturel Conrad was able to sell off the gems we’d procured from the cave, which was easily the largest payday we have had. Not that it has made us rich by any means. One of the shops had a splendid cloak of deep purple that when I spin or turn just so seems to confuse onlookers, while somehow making my movements easier still. The wizard Morgan was… well, suffice it to say I hope I needn’t see him again. He did finally relent to share some information about the rune rubbings, including the fact that the central runes themselves are words of power related to Fire Giants and Cloud Giants, but that both tablets would have originated from a Cloud Giant. This last tidbit was of particular interest to Morgan. He also told me to seek out another wizard who resides in Baldur’s Gate – one Isaac Burrows. Morgan’s price for this information was steep - the dragon eggs we’d dragged all this way. Though, I suspect Grok is happy to no longer be lugging them around, I imagine the rest of team to be disappointed we did not secure more gold for them. If that is the case though, they have been gracious enough not to say so.
Leosin’s contact here, Onthar Frume, was not at all what I was expecting. A paladin of Torm, and a strangely boisterous one at that. He belongs to an organization called The Order of the Gauntlet, and even asked us to join. Having watched him and his men, and hearing about their ideals and dispositions I could not see myself being part of something so rigid, controlling, and well, religious. Our actual meeting with Frume and Leosin was relatively short. The general consensus was that it is now feared that the cultists are planning to somehow free the evil dragon goddess Tiamat from the Nine Hells. Well, I managed to escape clutches of one evil queen, I damn sure am not about sit by and watch a far more powerful one be brought here to my new home. Leosin, who is apparently part of the Harpers organization, also offered us membership. The Harpers ideals do fall more in line with mine. I am all for maintaining balance, and freedom for individual choice. I decided it could be beneficial to have the Harpers’ help with future endeavors and agreed to join. Onthar and Leosin certainly make strange bedfellows, but with the potential dangers this cult presents, I suppose it makes sense. Together they tasked us with racing up to Baldur’s Gate so we could join the same travel caravan that the stolen treasure hoard would be in as they continued heading north.
We made Baldur’s Gate with just enough time to secure work as guards for some random merchants that were leaving at the same time as the cultists and then for Conrad and I to rush off to find the Library Arcanum and Isaac Burrows. The young pratt that was at the door to library refused us entry, so I simply transported myself in and promptly made myself invisible. After the pratt walked off I went to check to see if Conrad was outside still. I couldn’t see him, but as I was looking a rat came up and through the little sliding window.
After invisibly walking around a bit in search of someone that met Isaac’s description, I found him. Fortunately, Isaac was far more accommodating and friendly than Morgan. He identified several of ‘names’ that were part of the text in the rubbings. I am grateful and excited to have learned so much detail about them, but now I wonder if I will ever be able to discover more. Isaac talked about a castle that belonged to the Cloud Giants. He was also able to tell me that it was supposed to be located in the Sword Mountains, which are quite close to Waterdeep. But, when might I have a chance to go there? And even if I did, the Sword Mountains cover a tremendous area – how on earth do I find one forgotten castle in them? Cloud Giants are renowned for their powerful magics, which makes these runes even more intriguing, but I expect the castle might be enchanted to be hidden, if it still exists at all. Moreover, Giants and Dragons are sworn enemies, it is unlikely I would end up anywhere near them whilst chasing a dragon worshipping cult. Sadly, there is a good chance it will be a long time before I have an opportunity to explore this further. Perhaps once we’ve finished tracking the cultists our part will be done, and I can head into the Sword Mountains.
Conrad and I hired on as bodyguards for a gnomish fellow who hasn’t said a dozen words since he hired us. Not that it matters overmuch, we have plenty to worry about already, but I do hope his constant looking back from the back end of the wagon is not an indicator that we should be too. It is either very sad, or very very unnerving. Still… I suppose we are being paid fairly well, I think, and we do have considerable freedom to move about, which is good. It has allowed us ample opportunity to identify all of the cultists wagons. Between Conrad being able to read lips (he never ceases to surprise me!), and my new flock of familiars that have allowed me to watch and listen as though I were right there, we are confident we identified all of them. A good thing too, as the cultist lieutenant that shackled Conrad back in their camp is among them. Conrad and I gave Rhumor some magical boosts and Rhumor dispatched him while he was in the woods on the second morning out from the City. Rhumor was concerned about the inquiries about his death that would inevitably follow, and so I suggested to Conrad that a bear should ravage the body after. The plan worked flawlessly, and no one was the wiser.
Grok and Nuri had secured similar gigs working for a very wet behind the ears human girl. Based on what Nuri has said, I just hope the poor lass survives the trip. Rhumor had managed to secure work as a hunter for the caravan’s food wagon. All in all I think we did well. Each of us has a place in the caravan, and we get paid a little as well.
One of the benefits of this long journey is that it has provided me ample opportunity to work on my martial skills. When the caravan stops for any real length of time I have chances to spar with Grok, and occasionally even with some of the guards from other wagons. I do of course have lots of time on my hands for making more necklaces with the drake teeth and claws, but given our close proximity to Cultist wagons, I believe the risk too great. I may instead spend some time creating additional potions of healing, though we have not had need of any thus far. The journey to Waterdeep is very long though, and I’ve no doubt that the need will arise eventually.
About a tenday into the slow trek one of the merchants, who had been beating his horses mercilessly, asked each of us in turn if he could buy ours to replace his ‘worthless nags’. Perhaps an obscene amount of gold could have convinced me to do so, but nothing this fellow was going to spend. Conrad sought to find a different way of solving the problem by healing the boorish fellow’s poor horses. The merchant scoffed and continued to beat them regularly. Conrad had indicated that he did not expect the animals to live much longer. Not too long after telling me I should offer to buy the merchant’s mistreated animals, Conrad set the fool’s wagon on fire. I still haven’t sorted out in my head how that was supposed to work out. Whatever the original plan, it turned into quite a fiasco. The merchant began beating the wagon driver, Nuri put the idiot to sleep for beating his servant, and then the merchant’s guards attacked us. Taking out the martial guard, who appeared to be a knight of some sort, was easy enough, but the mage went invisible right after taking a nasty arrow from Rhumor. In the end the mage acquiesced when Nuri pointed out that everyone was still alive and merely asleep – including the foolish knight that had drawn his sword on us in the first place. The net result for the boorish merchant was the caravan’s leader telling him he would be left behind the next town we came to. Nuri went off to convince her employer to give a ride to the beleaguered wagon driver that had been whipped. All in all it was a most bizarre evening. I wonder if all large caravan trips are like this? We are probably less than a quarter of way into this long journey...