Session notes 21-3-2020

12th of Istrith
 
This morning, our breakfast was more talking than eating. Thalmiir has had yet another strange dream. This time, he felt like he was being drowned, with all kinds of faces looking at him that were just watching, and always just out of reach. Scary stuff really. We still have no idea what could be causing these strange dreams. And the fact that Thalmiir looks weaker with each night that passes as if he doesn't rest at all, is quite concerning. With this information and our breakfast still in our hands, we make our way to the temple of Moradin to find some guidance. On our way there we discuss what might be causing these dreams. Is it the undead king, angry about the prank calls? Or perhaps Moradin is trying to tell Thalmiir something? Is it the death of Kulragh that is mocking him?
 
By horse, travel is much faster through the city! But walking is nice, there is so much to see in the city, it is however somewhat hard on your calves.
 
At the temple, which is large, and honestly quite imposing, we meet a priest of Moradin called Arnav. Anrav is wearing a type of sturdy priests robes and has a metal pin of some sort in the shape of an anvil with a flame on it pinned over his heart. We explain our situation to him. He can help, if we arrange some compensation of course. For 50 GP he casts the spell Remove Curse on Thalmiir, it sadly does not seem to help. If we want, he can cast Greater Restoration on Thalmiir tomorrow, for the cheap price of 600 GP. We decide to first try and find out ourselves what it is, and thus we thank Anrav for his time and get on to the other tasks of the day.
 
Liya and I join Ferrum on his appointment with Sharon the estate agent. Together, we are going house hunting for a new place for Lieutenant Stuard Dunn!
 
Some quick notes on the houses:
House 1: 20-minute walk from the park.
Just the ground floor. Neighbours on the second floor. Neighbours tend to be noisy, but kind and are willing to share their drinks.
No garden.
1200-1300 GP
 
House 2: 500m (or approximately 1600 ft) from the park
Single floor house, with garden. Bit older, and therefore, needs some work. Bit larger than where he lives now.
Reparations will take a week or three.
With reparations: +-1500 GP
 
House 3: 20-minute walk
An apartment in a larger building. Second floor. Narrow stairway.
No garden. Smaller than what he has now.
700 GP
 
We all agreed that the second house seemed most ideal, it was, however, a bit more expensive than we had expected. But we promised Sharon we would get back to her in the late afternoon and discuss it with our group, and the Lieutenant. Sharon was more than happy to wait for us and would stick around till the end of the afternoon. Walking back, we had a really nice talk, she has such an energetic personality!
 
Overall, an interesting morning.
 
Liya, Ferrum and I make our way back. It was quite fun, as we were, for the first time, travelling by horse through the city- Which is great actually, as it is really nice to give my legs a rest for a while-. We talked about the fact that it is nice to not have to walk (sorry Ferrum) but also about how Liya has really short legs and has to put two steps for every single step Ferrum sets. Perhaps we could both take one of her hands and swing her, like you sometimes see children being swung between their parents. We entertained the thought for a bit, and talked about how small halfling children must be, and more silly jokes on length. It was a fun bit of horseplay while riding home.
 
During yet another long and talkative lunch, we, first of all, miss William. He just went out early this morning, and we are uncertain of what he is doing, but we suppose he is busy, and hope we will see him this evening. Ferrum tells us not to be worried, William can take care of himself.
 
Erky tells us that he and Thalmiir went to a fortune teller in the south of town. "Elody" was her name? The encounter must have stirred up something in Thalmiir, as he was in deep thought for nearly the entire time we sat down to eat. He did mention something about the smell inside, him burying the sending stone (?) and how the house was very unpleasant. (she had no chairs!) With some questions, we learn that the lady had said something along the lines of "There is someone who you (or we) have not defeated. It is they who do this to you" -the strange dreams that is-. A very cryptic statement. What is concerning is the fact that, next to feeling worse and feeling less healthy, Thalmiir also seems to not regain his ability to cast spells. If I understand correctly, Thalmiir has gotten/gets his strength and powers from his servitude to Moradin. Him not getting these powers back might be a sign of something being off about that? Or perhaps it is just the lack of sleep that is causing that effect. I am not sure how it works. My magic just seems to become more powerful the more I try and learn, but Thalmiir seems to be much more in control of the amount of power he uses when he casts a spell. Still, I know little about it, I can only hope we can help Thalmiir get rid of this as soon as possible.
 
Our theories on the person who is haunting Thalmiir still vary a lot. The Undead King has not been defeated, and we have one of his sending stones. It could be him?
Perhaps Kulragh is not really dead, and we have thus not defeated him, and we have his sending stone. It could be him? Gertrude, the hag from the strange manor we visited, we have not defeated her and we took the strange green gem from her. It could be her?
 
It is not a nice feeling to think about people who want to harm you.
 
Thalmiir wants to get a move on, to stop discussing his issue for the time being and continue our days. As we relay the information on the houses we saw this morning, we decide to also give this info to Lieutenant Olden.
 
Lieutenant Olden was, short and direct as ever. He is going to Lieutenant Dunn, and arrange something for the houses. He thanks us, then kindly shooed us out of his office. -funnily we were standing outside discussing our next steps and he had to come back to ask for the address of Stuard--- Lieutenant Dunn-.
 
Still, our minds were still grinding at the issue at hand with Thalmiir. We needed a second opinion. Perhaps another temple might be an option to learning more about this? After getting pushed to a guard by Ferrum - usually, this is done to William. It was a bit unexpected, but I do not mind- to ask about a nearby temple, we are pointed towards the temple of Lathander, the Morning Lord. I thank the guard and we make our way.
 
In the outer castle ward, there is an amazingly large temple. It is made from smooth white stone and embellished with gold and carvings and all. Lathander surely has a strong place of worship here in Apelés. As we enter, a young lady in beautiful robes approaches. The robe has an elegant decoration of a red flag with a golden sun embroidered in the middle. I introduce us shortly and then give the word to Thalmiir, who, once again, explains his situation. How he went to Moradins temple, and a fortuneteller and how they could not provide any answers. The lady, with her friendly and caring demeanour, did show a bit of a smug smile when Thalmiir mentioned that the temple of Moradin had not been able to help. I suppose she just takes a lot of pride in her faith, and a bit of (friendly!) competition between the gods and their followers is not unheard of.
 
She is not able to help us directly, as she is uncertain of what this unknown force would be. The does, however, recommend that if the dreams do not disappear from the Remove Curse spell cast on him earlier, we could come back to get someone to cast a Magic Circle to find out what is causing all this havoc. We thank her for her time and make our way back.
 
Ferrum and I, we had almost forgotten, take a different route and make a quick stop at Sharon's place. She was quite surprised to hear that we had linked her through to the army and that they would arrange the rest of the sale and such. Luckily it was not an issue. We thank her for her time and the nice trip we had in the morning and once again return to the tavern.
 
It was a chilly walk. Fun fact, I think that if it starts freezing in a month or so, that it might be the case that we can get frostbite from touching Ferrum. The metal is quite cold! We had a fun conversation about this and how in Volheim, when it is winter, there was this kind of trend for a while where people would try to lick the metal parts of the lanterns on the streets and get their tongue stuck to them. Naturally, the medics and guards advised people not to do this, which made it even more fun. But anyways we discussed the former during our walk through the streets of Apelés as the sun started to set.
 
Dinner was, weird? Burga started a conversation with us. She was curious about the fact that we were gone so early this morning and just wanted to know a little more about who we are and what we are doing here and such. We realised that we say that we are from the north but only two people actually are? Thalmiir from Volheim and I from Mercia/Jordberg. The others are all from south of Apelés: Sarton, Eekhoorntown, Hethea. Never thought about that. We tend, to have those kinds of revelations quite late. Much like the fact that we call ourselves The Swords of Eluïn, but most of us fight with weapons other than swords. Now we do have them! We just use other things, axes, hammers, spiritual weapons, halberts, bows, pistols or magic.
Anyway, off-topic. The rest of the evening is calm as we prepare to keep watch over Thalmiir as he sleeps. Hoping to spot the thing or person that is bothering him.
 
Okay, it was nearly my time to wake up, when we all woke up from a shot from Pipa - Erky's gun- Liya and I looked at each other and ran to the room next door to find out what was going on. Here we found almost the whole gang together, along with Burga. Somehow, she is always dressed in her regular clothing, no matter the time. But that was not the point, the point was the gunshot hole in the wall, she was nearly steaming! and wanted 60GP for the repairs. Tired as I was, after the initial rush from waking up had passed, I was already walking towards my room to get some money when I heard Thalmiir say he would fix it and he started casting Mending on the wall. This seemed to calm her a bit. She urged us to never do that again and exited the room.
Immediately, we ask what the reason for the shot was, and why it was in the wall and not in the body of the thing it was aimed at. Erky explained that he had seen Gertrude, the creepy hag. One of our theories was right all along. The annoying thing, however... the bullet went right through her, so she might return. She almost certainly will, now that we have angered her once again. At the moment I am writing this, we are just trying to sleep once again. But I do not really feel that tired anymore.
 
About half an hour ago, after we had slept for 20-25 minutes, there was again noise from Erky and Thalmiirs room. We heard Ferrum bashing about and after sprinting there, we arrive just in time to see him try to bear hug the air. He nearly fell atop of Thalmiir, who is still sleeping. It is at this point that someone says 'magic does not work!'. Erky is the only one who can see her, using his spell to see the invisible. Suddenly, Ferrum just picks up Thalmiir and runs out. As soon as he wakes up, Erky points at the floor and his look told me that Gertrude is either following or fleeing. Liya, William and I are a bit helpless as we cannot see her. So William and I make our way after Ferrum. We find them outside. A few deep breaths of fresh air later, we decide to try a different tactic.
I will cast the new spell I bought when we just arrived here, Leomunds Tiny Hut. I was a bit uncertain about it at first, as this one looked a lot more complex than the other spells I have learned to cast as a ritual. The circle was a lot more intricate but it worked out just fine! It was just strange that everyone had to sit so closeby.
And now, we are once again trying to sleep. Mina and Ferrum are staying awake to keep watch.
 
13th of Istrith.
 
It is late in the morning when writing this, the night could not have been interrupted more than it did, I really needed the sleep.
But about last night: An hour or two after we had all drifted away for the third time, I felt a presence entering the Tiny Hut I had created. It was the strangest feeling ever. Anyways, I quickly notified Ferrum and we woke everyone up. Erky once again used his spell to see the invisible hag. However, this time Thalmiir manages to cast 'Dispel Magic' on her, and she appears for all of us to see!
It is in the next 5-10 seconds or so that this strange lady is simply obliterated. It went so fast that I could barely make out what everyone did, I heard an arrow go, and saw the flashing of Williams smiting hits and I had a moment where I felt she was casting something but I could not counter her magic. She disappeared for a second only to then appear again and fall dead to the ground. There was a large sigh of relieve, and suddenly, we all felt how tired we actually were. It was that Burga that swung open the door once again. - only to be met with the strange dark blue outside of the Tiny Hut.- and demanded to know what was going on.
Thalmiir simply held the head of the hag outside the circle marking the hut, and we saw her give a small nod. The only response is 'more on this tomorrow' and she is gone once again. It was at this point we finally got a good nights rest. Now it is nearly noon, and I think that I have only heard Liya wake up.
 
Breakfast was, well breakfast was lunch. Burga wanted to know the story behind the corpse in her tavern, completely understandable. We tell her the 5-minute version of how we found a strange house, with a stranger gem and even stranger lady. That this lady nearly killed us, and that we in return had tried to kill her, which had not worked out, and that she was then angry at us for taking the gem and thus given Thalmiir bad dreams and was slowly killing him, and that we now had killed her to stop her from doing that. She nods. Takes it all in, and kindly asks if we will: 1. pay for the following nights, and 2. dispose of the body properly. We immediately do the first (somewhat surprised that we are not being kicked out) when she says that for an extra gold she will get rid of it. We looked at each other, I hand her two extra gold and thank her. Burga seems content as long as we pay.
 
We also found some things on Gertrude:
A strange black gem that emanates a dull light. After focussing on its properties we learn that it is called a heartstone and it can cure any disease. It was also the thing that caused hag to become invisible or actually ethereal. A curious item!
Another item was a bag of worn black leather which is a soul bag. This bag can be used to carry an evil soul but is currently empty.
 
After a groggy breakfast/lunch, we decide to make our way to Lieutenant Olden, and on our way there we are approached by a soldier who tells us we should go and see Olden. Such good timing. At his office, we are told that we should keep the following three weeks free, and make sure we are around in the city, as someone will need help moving. The army has bought house #2 from our list and is planning on renovating it in the following weeks. We are appointed to help Lieutenant Dunn move his stuff sometime during that final week -probably the 6th of Vilrand-. The Lieutenant seemed fairly pleased with the fact that Lieutenant Dunn is returning to the army. That meant our first task was completed!
 
Before we were dismissed, we asked Lieutenant Olden a few questions concerning our position and tasks in the army. Would there be another task in the following days before the move of Lieutenant Dunn? Could it be possible to get access to the library as a member of the army? The answers to these questions were 'possibly' and a 'no'. If an interesting task comes up, we will be notified. To get access to the library, we will simply have to pay. There are however a few who do have access: Soldier Ian Rost and Sergeant Jennifer Arcten. They have access for army research purposes. But also for them, the 2000GP entry fee was paid. We thank the Lieutenant for his time once again and walk out. We still have almost the entire afternoon to spend.
 
While Thalmiir makes his way back to the Crossed Candles, William continues working on his amulets and Liya decides to spend her afternoon in the park, Ferrum and I decide to take Erky shopping for a bit. Ferrum and he browse the shelves for some interesting items, but eventually just buy a very nice set of health potions. After this, Erky makes his way back to the tavern as well, to also continue working on his drawings. I as Ferrum if he cares to join me on my way to the university to find Chef, the tiefling boy with all the tattoos. I really want to start expanding the small mark I have on my arm!
He agrees and together we stretch our legs during the walk there.
 
Chef was not hard to find. He kind of stands out. We chat a bit, Ferrum introduces himself and we make our way to his studio. The place was quite nice and clean, and the walls were full of amazing drawings! I clean his workspace with a bit of magic, which to my surprise surprises him a lot. His reactions are a bit strange sometimes, I am not sure he is just that chill or he is getting some herbal help with that. However, he kindly explains the procedure to me and takes out the drawing we made -well he made it, I just gave some feedback- a few days ago to discuss what part to do first. As I have never done this before, I ask him to just start with a simple band around the three points I have now, just to see how it feels. Overall, the procedure took about 20 minutes. Which is good cause if it had taken much longer my arm would have 'had some issues' as Chef says it. The band around it was really tight, that is why. Still, the whole thing did not hurt a lot, until that band came off. It was when the blood started flowing again that I started to feel the pain. It was not that bad, but it was just, yeah very annoying. My arm felt al stingy and swole up a lot. But as Ferrum wisely said, that is something William or Thalmiir can help with at home. I got a piece of cloth with alcohol on it to cool the spot for a while, after which I thanked Chef and paid him (only like 2 silver he wanted) for his work. (which was very neat, I can see he has gotten a lot of practice on his own skin, also apparently it was easier to tattoo me than himself. To quote him: "wooooohhoo this is so much easier on someone else.") Anyhow, we thank him, say goodbye and return to the Crossed Candles.
 
At the crossed candles, we tell each other about our days. William showed us the pretty amulets he had made. They are representations of all the outer planes, and he explains a bit about them and the symbols that they have. It is quite interesting. I also explain what happened to my arm. - and at this point, William heals it for a bit (half-elf buddies haha)-. I think I will return to Chef once this has healed up a bit more. He said that there is often a week between the sessions, but with Williams magic, the place already feels a lot better. So perhaps in a day or 2? Anyways, the mood this evening was really good. The only strange thing was that Burga was a bit mad about someone having peed (?!) on the body of the hag? I had no knowledge of this, but it is was not discussed any more as we were informed that it had been dealt with. The rest of the evening was calm and cosy. We talked a bit and felt very relieved that the hag was now gone, that we had completed our first task and just all had a really relaxed afternoon. The evening ended with a nice sleepover party in Williams and Ferrums room inside a tiny hut.