Flamerule 16: Amputated elves, and zombies, and basilisks ...OH MY

General Summary

“Bottom line is, even if you see ’em coming, you’re not ready for the big moments. No one asks for their life to change, not really, but it does. So, what are we, helpless? Puppets? Nah. The big moments are gonna come, you can’t help that. It’s what you do afterwards that counts. That’s when you find out who you are.”
Word arrived at the settlement that a local merchant was looking for adventurers to escort his daughter to Thedon safely. Since I had been there before I donned my new chainmail and volunteered. I came early to the meeting spot just outside the Faint Branch.
While waiting for the others I took some time to talk with Toni. This time in the form of a small mouse.It wasn’t long before the others arrived and I bid Toni farewell.
Blaze arrived first. He was tall, and covered in fiery Bronzes. Like Prime, he is a Warforged. The warforged I must admit fascinate me. They appear like machines on the surface but they behave as any creature of flesh. Next came Taniel, tinkering as always. He noticed my new armor and complimented it! I am finally feeling like I am prepared for the dangers of this area.
Gilna was the last to arrive and worth the wait. Her map skills are the best around. We should be there in minimal time!
We quickly met Berda and his daughter, Mirabelle. Berda was a half elf with Blue eyes . Mirabelle, a half elf with golden hair and one foot. Her foot was lost in a scrape with some bandits and an unfortunate encounter with a bear trap.
Berda wanted us to bring Mirabelle to Elyn of Thedon. It seemed like an easy enough task, but of course easy doesn’t exist in Philoral Vet. We had not traveled far by the time Gilna and Taniel got a feeling we were being watched. We came to the bridge where Joe is often reading, but Joe wanted very much to talk to Gilna and Taniel alone. They disappeared from sight and promised to return quickly. I attempted cordial conversation with Blaze but I ran out of topics after a short while and Mirabelle became a bit impatient. It seemed like Gilna and Taniel were gone for quite a while but just as we decided to look for them they reappeared and promised to explain while we traveled. Taniel explained that he previously met a Druid named Seraphine who had been attacked shortly after seeing ravens and has been badly hurt. He said that Gilna and himself have spotten ravens that seem to be following us and that is when a dense fog rolled in.
As the fog surrounded us Mirabelle told us that a mysterious fog has recently been appearing at a picturesque cliff in Thedon, and with its appearance townsfolk have gone missing. Taniel detected that this fog was not of nature but magic and humanoid shapes started coming into view.
We called to the shapes and in response the air filled with the shrieking of bats and loud hissing of snakes. Someone yelled out not to look in their eyes and Mirabelle fled. Gilna and myself were able to catch up to her and she promised not to stray from the road. It was then I kneeled before Gilna and pulled out two simple rings.
I took her hand…. and cast an enchantment upon the rings to tie us together…. in battle. With this ring she could then gain some small tactical advantage through this bond.
Mirabelle confirmed our fears. We were dealing with Basilisks. She told us that an antidote could be made from their carcasses to reverse their poison. Since the creatures were slain and the fog vanished we collected the bodies carefully so we could sell them to Thedon to help those who had been petrified.
The rest of the way to Thedon went smoothly. We were able to deliver Mirabelle to Elyn and sell the Basilisk corpses. Elyn quickly focused on Gilna, and Gilna seemed very happy with that. Gilna asked Elyn about the Basilisk fog and Elyn said it wasn’t anything new. According to her they are a common problem in the area and they often use magical fog to hide.
It was then that Elyn noticed the ring on Gilna’s hand. I had forgotten to take it back so I apologized and rectified my mistake. It was then she stated asking me some very…. Personal questions and invited Gilna and I to have some alone time with her.
That is about the time that I realized Elyn was looking for…. A more intimate relationship than what I was comfortable with. My face burned from embarrassment. I apologized for the confusion and explained it was simply from a warding spell. After that Gilna went with her back to her quarters and I tried to make myself disappear into my books I brought with me.
After a short rest we started the journey back, but were quickly met with a group of zombies. After they were slain Taniel and Gilna noticed a lighthouse they felt compelled towards. We studied the cliff in its view and found a teleportation circle there.
We brought our discovery to Elyn and she told us of a doctor who came by offering to heal people. She thinks it could be some sort of cult and perhaps the circle and the lighthouse could hold their secrets.
After taking a long rest we ventured back to the cliff and entered the circle together. It took us to a decent sized island with a small town with a church and of course the lighthouse. Something about the church and the lighthouse urged us towards them, but then some zombies tried to kill us and we decided we wanted to live so we ran away via the teleportation circle.
Unfortunately the zombies followed us and nearly killed half of us. They were not normal zombies. Those of us who managed to reach the trees before collapsing scrambled up them for safety and fought the fuckers from there. Once the zombies were neutralized we healed the fallen and examined the now un-undead.
The bodies looked as if they had been altered. There were strange objects implanted into them and jutting out. We made or way back to New Gambit and spotted more ravens following us and a trail of copper coins but we were FUCKING DONE WITH THEIR SHIT and we were pretty sure that was a trap so we covered the coins with dirt and noped the fuck out of there. When we made it back to Joe’s bridge we asked Joe about the zombies we saw and Joe told us there were both magical and physical means to create a zombie.I could tell then I would be having nightmares about that later…
We finally made it back safe and informed Berda his daughter was safe at her destination. No amount of gold will help me rest but perhaps Eldath can lead me on a path to stop this awful business.

Report Date

10 Feb 2021