An Unexpected Journey

I met Dram at the Sarcastic Goat Inn which I thought would be a day like any other. Harfur and a Dwarf came in (later I found his name to be Durbin) and Harfur was talking loudly about something but I heard something of a Succubus with a large snake. That reminded me of a long song-tale I was working on so I got out my notes and began writing some notes. As the ideas flowed I had a few ideas for some melodies to use so I brought out my lute to play them and write them down. Once I did that Harfur came over and wanted to hear what I was doing so I went over my melodies I was playing.
 
At some time Dram’s cousin came in, a follower of Zirchev no less (his name is Sorin) and was looking for Harfur. Apparently he had posted some notice on the board looking for discreet adventurers. I was trying to focus on my song but Dram thought it might be a good idea to tag along with them. Harford was looking for some book held by this “succubus” outside of Edgewater. This piqued my curiosity a bit…until I learned he meant Rhiannon. She spent time on Mage Island so I suppose the snake would be her companion. So what is so great about this book that Rhiannon would steal it? I agreed we should look into this. Apparently it is of some haste as well as the book was due back to the library the next day.
 
Harford took us to his small home in Edgewater and offered us tea. Of course I couldn’t refuse tea though I don’t think the others wanted to wait? He told us where we could find Rhiannon’s home outside Edgewater but he would not go for fear of the snake. He said we should watch out for magical traps but I don’t think she is the sort to do such things. We approached her home and found something amiss. Her instrument left outside, a glass of wine tipped and a disheveled blanket. I figured something was horribly wrong so I went to her entryway and she was inside crying. She had “borrowed” the book from Harfur she admitted but something had stolen it. She said there were great stories inside, a lot of silliness but still some good stories. I told her if we got the book back we could see about extending the loan or something. Apparently the library is a stickler about such things which is why Harfur is so afraid of not being able to return it.
 
Dram came in and said Sorin found some tracks outside that we should look at. Not my area but sounds like a good place to start. The creatures did not even try to hide their tracks he said, it was pretty easy to follow the trail. They went straight into the swamp and likely through to the Horned Hills. As we walked through the swamp all of us started developing a headache that seemed to be getting worse. Perhaps just the air in the swamp? The creatures ran fast too…unfortunately it was not the case. It got so bad I changed to my mage’s eyes and saw immediately what was going on. Some creatures in the trees were sucking our life via some spell. My pain got so great I couldn’t do much besides point the others to the issue. Once we did some damage to the creatures they stopped their spell. In order to press on quickly we decided to deal with those things later.
 
We made our way out of the swamp and into the Horned Hills. At least the swamp had trees, the trees here were very sad. Sorin spotted their camp up ahead and thought we should check it out. I thought this odd, why would we all go up there? He should check it out from a distance and gather some information so we can plan an attack? That’s how my Father did it but perhaps Humans do this differently? He agreed and ran off, coming back a bit later. The creatures were Kobolds and they were engrossed in some ceremony worshiping the book. This book must have some enchantment on it, perhaps it’s dangerous? I wouldn’t think the Monks at the library would lend out a book like that though.
 
There were not many Kobolds so we agreed to sneak in as far as we could and surprise them and take out the leader who held the book. While we all agreed that all Durbin must have heard was “let’s go get them” as he just walked right into the camp. After that Dram rushed in knocking Kobolds all over and Sorin fired his bow from the trees. Well it seemed as though they had this handled so I hurled a few balls of ice. Once I saw the battle was winding down I walked into the camp and the leader and Dram were facing off. The Kobold was holding the book up as a shield so Dram seemed afraid to do anything. I wrapped the Kobold in mana and lifted him off the ground to ensure he didn’t escape. Dram said he had trouble hitting him but Sorin was able to put the beast out of his misery. Afterwards we found a magic ring on the Leader's finger, I'm guessing that could be why he couldn’t be hit. I’ll need to have that checked out as I cannot quite decipher the enchantments yet.
 
With that done I was most excited to see what this book was that enchanted so many. I cast a simple detection spell on it but nothing. I used my mage’s eyes and nothing. I opened the book to see if perhaps the ink used was magical. Nothing. Dram was babbling about some curse or something but the book wasn’t magical. This was very confusing and disappointing. This book that caused so much mischief was…a book. I found some notes in Thyatian and asked Dram to read it. Harfur’s poetry. No thank you. Rhiannon was very interested in the book and her talent is well renowned so I had an idea. I asked the group if I could hold the book overnight so Rhiannon and I could collaborate since it wasn’t due until tomorrow, I even gave half my pay to the dwarf. They reluctantly agreed, still believing that she was some type of evil sorceress maybe? Oh and Dram thought he was cursed for touching the book so I had to tell him this book is just a book.
 
The way back was uneventful. The bloodsucking tree creatures were back. Dram would actually go to the Monks and find that they were called Vampyric Moss and needed to be burned with fire to kill it. We knew now what to do to take care of them so it was fairly easy this go around. We stopped at Rhiannon’s and the rest went into town to stay with Harfur. We stayed up deep into the night going over the book and the poetry therein. Unfortunately she needs her sleep so we had to call it a night. There is a very peaceful serenity surrounding her home. I think there is more to her than meets the eye.
 
The others came and got me in the morning. I had hoped for my time, but again, humans need sleep. We escorted Harfur to the monastery to return the book. They make quite the event out of it. Harfur told our tale so I suppose the others told him what we did. Oh well, it is quite a boring episode anyways. At the end they were satisfied with the condition of the book and Harfur was free to go. They even gave us a library card!
 
After that we took care of the moss that was along the route we took. I suspect there is more throughout the swamp but I don’t want to spend days or weeks getting rid of it. I stopped by Rhiannon’s again and showed her the card. I explained I could check the book back out and we could spend more time. She was very excited and wanted to spend a few days together and put together a duet. We agreed to meet in a few days for a lengthy collaboration. Thinking back on the last night and this I had to tell Dram some of what happened and see if he thought she was interested in me. He seemed to think so but perhaps it’s just the joy of music and arts?
 
Dram now thinks we should check the message board more often. I’m not one for such immediate adventures but this one has turned out to be very good in the end. I will need to get some good wine. I also have some ideas for a duet I hope to speak to her on I think it can be quite the grand tale.