7th of Ches
Well, it only took a few days in town, but we found our first lead. Realized I’d been neglecting writing recently. Len’s... disappearance has been tough.
I realize I haven’t even mentioned the new folks I’ve found while traveling. Robyn, of course, won’t leave me alone, but we ran into Ravs Cullger on the road, a dwarven cleric the Shepherds worked with on a job in the past. Seems he’s looking for his sister, Bouba. It was nice to catch up, and to have some help in Clearhallow, but he keeps putting a buzzer in my armor that shocks me when I’m loud. Says it helps me stay stealthy. I think he and Robyn are going to be the death of me.
We also found a young girl. Well she’s actually 17, as she pointedly informed me. I swear I looked older at 17. But this girl, Lemmikki, apparently can’t leave Clearhallow and she’s stuck in about a 3 mile radius around the town. Sadly, she didn’t seem to remember Len or Rav’s sister, but she asked to tag along and we aren’t really in a position to say no.
Anyway, a couple days into our stay, we received a package from the trading company addressed to us with no sender. It was a wrapped journal, written about 20-25 years ago by Caja Wisterly, an adventurer who tried to solve the town’s curse. And the last note in her journal says she was going to investigate an abandoned dwarven ruin. The whole situation was sketchy, but without a better lead we set off after buying supplies. We also asked around about the fort, and the townsfolk and Lemmikki don’t know anything, since people still go missing there.
The fortress was about a mile northeast of town and not nearly as abandoned as we were led to believe, though our information was out of date. Instead, a band of orcs had set up in the ruins. I’m glad mom and dad weren’t there to see me completely flub my orcish welcoming rite. Embarrassing. But we got in with a small bribe and a strange ask to kill their ogre leader, who the orcs there clearly didn’t respect.
Of course, Robyn did what Robyn does and flew right inside, leading to an ambush. Managed to avoid killing one but another was shot in the heart with an arrow, so at least he died in battle. We also found two captives, strangely kept alive for over a month, but neither of them had seen Bouba or Len. We unlocked their cage but told them to stay put.
Then, well… then Ravs pushed me in a well. I figured I might as well check it out, though it was freezing, but it just seemed to be normal. And then after surfacing, everyone denied I had been pushed, and I had to practically beg at Robyn to dry me magically. It’s been a quarter of a dungeon, and I miss my old crew so badly. Of course, Robyn was also part of the old crew so maybe it wasn’t all better.
Ravs then proceeded to completely ignore my requests to open another door, so I threw it open only to find the ogre leader of this band of orcs. Great.
I’ll give the crew this much, though. We fought off that ogre and his dire wolves like experts. (Note: Lemmikki should never be around dogs). Managed to take the ogre alive too, though he’s unconscious. Once he wakes up, hopefully we can get some answers.
…
Thankfully, the ogre chief was sitting on quite a good payday, 440 gold and 160 silver split four ways, and a potion of climbing for Ravs. We then checked out a nearby locked room that appeared to be bunks for the orcs. I let the orcs know their ogre chief was dead and claimed the two prisoners as right of conquest, which they seemed happy to give up. Sadly, they didn’t know anything about Bouba or Len, but they did point out that most of the adventurers in these parts actually explore the caverns under the fort, not the fort itself. One orc drew us a map to show us how to get in and said their tribe normally raids those caverns, but their ogre chief, Ulfe, was weak and decided to raid surface villages instead. A shameful display for an orc chief.
Well, since we had what we needed, I cut off Ulfe’s head to make sure no one bothered us on the way out. We wanted to keep exploring, so Rav’s lied about a fifth party member that was off somewhere else, but the lie became impossible to uphold when the helpful orc decided to follow us around to “find them”, so we left, and I disposed of the head.
Back in town we filled up on supplies and bought healing potions. We also heard the temple in town makes healing potions, but that they’re cursed and don’t have a good reputation.
Well, I decided to go to sleep at this point, but Ravs and Robyn (who excitedly relayed all of this to me the next day), decided to break into the temple. So they did. Without figuring out what god it was dedicated to before doing so. And then Robyn drank a cursed healing potion, which appeared to barely function at all. The pair learned it was a temple of Tymora, Ravs drew dicks on the robes and took the three remaining potions.
The sacrifices I make for Len.
8th of Ches
Started off the day with dire wolf stew, using the meat from Ulfe’s pets. Very hearty! Needed some better spices though.
We traced our way back to the mountaintop fort and followed a path inside the mountain proper (which was named the Stone Teeth). Robyn went down one path and found sleeping stirges, so we let them lie and went a different way and then woke up four of them with our lantern. Fighting was quick work, but one latched on to me and drained way more blood than I’m comfortable losing.
Robyn also scouted ahead and found a large room with two troglodytes. We left them alone and came to a cavern with plenty of dwarven coffins that warned against intruders. The fact that dwarven coffins under an orc stronghold appeared undistributed was a bad sign, so we left them alone too.
South of that room was a barricade into the room the troglodytes were in. Ravs and I started making noise taking apart the barricade while Robyn flew around the shoot the two distracted troglodytes in the back with arrows, killing them expertly. On the other side of the barricade was a deep pool that Ravs fell in (serves him right), and then another barricade. And behind that one was an entire troglodyte nest.
Thanks to clever tactics and positioning, we managed to kill about 7 troglodytes (including a spellcaster) and a giant lizard without getting hurt! We looted their treasure (a couple silver and copper and a 300 gp ruby) and left their eggs alone. Robyn was feeling weird about killing them, which iI understand, and later tried to convince us not to fight a giant chained up lizard (maybe a troglodyte pet?) But we did, and it broke free and ate Ravs (he’s fine, but apparently hates lizards. Whoops), and we found 1100 silver pieces and a few more potions we split up.
We determined we could go on a little longer before resting, but the stream we were following grew treacherous and Ravs and I started sliding down it. I rolled away, but Ravs couldn’t and fell down a ravine with our lantern…
….
In all my excitement, I totally forgot Lemmikki was with us. Felt like she didn’t have much of a presence for the first part of this dungeon. Weird.
Anyway, we find Rav’s by heading down some stairs. Looks like he fell into a big pond. We all joke a bit about death, and I even poke a bit of fun at Lenore’s situation. I guess in times like this, humor really keeps you going.
The room we were in had two doors, but we opted to keep following the river, which was pretty fast moving. The river from the pond Ravs fell in merged with another one and went under a stone wall. I asked Robyn if they wanted to do “guppy on a fishing pole” again. No surprise, they said no. Worth a shot, though. In dungeons like this, you have to explore everywhere.
Following the other river upstream passed us by a stone bridge and a flooded crypt, or something like that. Robyn scouted it out by flying above the water. No bodies appeared to be so recent as to be Lenore or Bouba, so we kept going. Probably zombies down there or something. No thank you.
Past that we saw clear signs of a Roper. And then we decided to send Robyn to scout ahead, who was instantly caught by that Roper (they’re really off their game today. Maybe too much sugar with breakfast?). Thank Gruumsh no one else reads this journal, because what followed was one of the most painful combat experiences of my life. For the next minute and a half, Lemmikki and Robyn took turns being caught, Ravs tried to blind the Roper from a distance, I had to give up my lizard meat to distract it so it wouldn’t eat Mikki, I then freed Mikki and then fell into the river and almost drowned. By the One-Eyed Tribe, if we had gotten less lucky, or Robyn didn’t cast Faerie Fire, or if Ravs didn’t blind it with his duplicate, I’m sure Lemmikki would've been eaten. But kill it they did (I was stumbling around in the dark, cold and wet a couple hundred feet downstream). Thankfully, the Roper had swallowed some poor soul with a Ring of Spell Storing, which I gave to Robyn, and 580 gp worth of gems, which I’ll hang on to until we can sell them. Unfortunately, I got… over enthusiastic about that and ruined the meat. Gruumsh giveth and taketh away.
Just past the Roper were some long abandoned jail cells. It was a dead end, and seemed safe, so we decided to take an hour-long breather there. After, we went back to the stairs and checked out those doors. Appeared to be old storerooms, one totally picked clean, save for a key, and another filled with rotting food and a gray ooze that ruined Len’s armor, which was horribly upsetting. Robyn keeps saying we can fix it in town, but that’s not really the point. I can’t risk losing any more of her. Sometimes, they’re a little too flippant.
Back upstairs, there was a gorgeous room filled with mushrooms and crystals. Robyn was right at home, and I’ll admit it helped cheer me up after ruining my armor. But Ravs got a little too excited to climb a ledge and was attacked by two gricks, which hurt him pretty badly. There’s another that needs to learn some caution, or at least buy better armor. No loot in the gricks’ den save for bones, so I tossed a hip bone at Robyn. They seemed annoyed by it more than anything. I could’ve sworn they would’ve found it funny. I have no idea how they think.
Past the mushroom room was a door with dwarven runes that Ravs just had to open without letting someone stronger take the lead, but it wasn’t trapped. Instead, it led to a room with two doors and three dwarven statues. Took us a good while to figure out, but the two doors were dead ends and traps. The real door was behind one of the statues. And somewhere in this level, we can hear the clanging of anvils…
…
Behind the real door was an old throne room, lit with a campfire at the far end and six empty sleeping bags. An invisible voice told us to “go back the way we came,” but obviously we weren’t stopping. I used Lenore to sort of leapfrog ahead, spotting an invisible creature. Ravs was able to mimic the voice of the person that called out to us, confusing him and clueing us into two others that were hiding somewhere. Ravs then sends out his magical duplicate to draw fire while we swarm into the room, finding three invisible duergar, two of which grow huge to fight us. Robyn and Lemmikki knocked two out, while Ravs killed the third. Only found about 10 gold in their stuff and a note in Undercommon, I think. Ravs says it’s a pizza recipe (I doubt it)
I had the party roll the duergar into their sleeping bags just in case someone else came in, and then we moved to a northern room, away from the anvil’s noise. Robyn wanted to show off and pried open a stone door by themself and puked from exhaustion, which was… yeah.
Otherside of the door was a dwarven ghost. Thank the One-Eyed Lord I’d seen one before and knew to brace myself, but Lemmikki wasn’t so lucky. When I turned back, she looked even older than me. Probably was aged 30 years. And I hate to say this, but man being aged by a ghost does not lead to graceful aging. Gods, poor Mikki. Hopefully someone back in town can help her. Additionally, when the ghost died, thankfully relatively easily, it didn’t leave any essence behind.
This section of the fort appeared to be a prison. We fought some skeletons in one room that appeared bound to where they died. In another room was a defiled dwarven temple, clearly from the orcs from above. A warning in Orcish told us that some revenant guarded the altar. Wanting to fix what was wrong, I suggested to Ravs that he try and consecrate the temple, but it didn’t take, and I had to carry him out of the room before an angry ghost spirit and some skeleton ogres tore him apart. Ravs said Abathor’s blessing was with us, because he allowed us to escape unharmed. Can’t argue with that.
We saw another hallway filled with the dead and decided to go check out the banging. Ravs was able to call out in the duergar’s voice to catch them unaware and then we busted into the room. Two more duergar tried to stop us while a third, their leader (?) was hammering away. Ravs killed another duergar (racial rivalries run deep), while another was incapacitated and me, Lenore and Lemikki worked together to shove the leader into a river, which apparently ran into a massive waterfall. All we could figure out is that the duergar were making a ton of weapons, but for who? Well we dumped the bodies into the river and resolved to keep trekking on, though with Mikki aged and Ravs running out of magic, the others seem to want to head back to town first.
…
Rav’s woke up the duergar we know spoke Common, Gharad, so we could interrogate them. We learned that they make and sell weapons to whoever wants them (traders, orcs, etc.), that there were a few more of their people about, and that a black dragon named Nightscale lived on the floor below. Rav’s advocated for killing at the duergar, but we were able to convince them to simply leave, since their forging operation was clearly over.
While exploring around before heading to the lowest level, Robyn supposedly was attacked by a table in the kitchen and then we moved through the now abandoned royal chambers to find a secret passageway. At one end was the ladder down Robyn and I spotted from before. The other path led to a fountain covered in bodies of dead dwarves and orcs. In a room nearby was an old library, haunted by invisible Shadowfell creatures, which did not do Robyn any good. I searched a nearby bedroom with Lemmikki, while Ravs found a spooky summoning circle. Robyn did their best to stop them from doing anything with it, but Ravs will be Ravs and he enchanted one of his daggers. At least it didn’t summon anything.
After all that, we definitely needed a break, so we left back for town. I dragged one of the gricks with me to harvest, while Ravs and Lemmikki went to the temple. According to the Father, Sid Berenger, Ravs was actually blessed for his vandalism and was gifted some Oil of Slipperiness. Ravs was, rightfully, very confused by this and went to the library with Robyn to see if maybe the temple didn’t belong to Tymora at all (maybe Beshaba??) while Lemmikki used some of our pooled gems that I sold to reverse her aging. Let’s hope she doesn’t have any side effects.
9th of Ches
Started the day with a heaping of Grick meat (and a salad for Robyn). Ravs couldn’t find any signs of the temple belonging to Beshaba, so we left it alone and went back to the dungeon.
While Mikki and Ravs went straight to the ladder down, Robyn wanted to explore more. I knew I had to keep an eye on them, so I followed and then had to save them from a giant rug that was going to smother them. Robyn was waiting for me to tell them “I told you so,” so I didn’t give them the satisfaction, which seemed to be even worse than saying anything.
We rejoined the group and climbed down into a large and empty cavern. We had to traverse over one bridge and jump over another, and we came across a massive underground lake, with a path that skirted around the sides. While Ravs and I were hopping from rock to rock on a precarious section, the black dragon emerged, showering us with acid and nearly causing me to pass out. I was too shocked to do anything but watch as it swam up and raked me with its claws. As I lost consciousness, my eyes found Robyn. I feel bad for it now, but I told them to find Lenore if I didn’t make it. I know Robyn’s older than me, but they didn’t need that weighing them down.
The fight itself was chaos. Once Ravs and I were healed, barely, he ran back to the chamber’s entrance, leaving his illusionary duplicate behind. Lemmikki ran the other way, eventually swimming to the dragon’s hoard in the middle of the lake to draw its attention. And Robyn and I were where we always are, back to back. For all the ways Robyn annoys me, I know they’ll always have my back. During one shower of acid, Robyn looked at me and asked if I remembered the shambling mounds. Boy if that wasn’t relevant right then. I probably should apologize for giving them the silent treatment earlier….
Anyway, through grit, skill, and the One-Eyed God’s own luck, the dragon was dropped. It was a hair’s breadth away from killing Lemmikki until I switched places with Lenore to cleave its head from its neck. And then I collapsed. Then we all collapsed. I’m not sure I’m going to have the strength to stand again.
Oh right, the loot. We’re still counting but it looks like 6000 silver pieces, 1430 gold, a magical enchanted greataxe and shield and potion of flying. But no Lenore. And no Bouba. Can’t say I expected them down here anyway. Hopefully Ravs can harvest something useful from that dragon though.
…
While resting after fighting the dragon, we realized we needed a name for ourselves. I guess you can’t kill a dragon without being an official adventuring group, no matter how we came together, so we decided on the Unstompables. Seems fitting, considering how we fight like roaches.
Anyway, Ravs managed to harvest the dragon’s acid sack and some dragon meat for us during our rest. Afterwards, we tried to find a way out and stumbled upon a whole bunch of skeletons, including Caja’s body. However, she was clean of acid and stab wounds, so something else must have killed her.
The notes in her bag gave us the names of her adventuring companions, but one name was consistently scratched out. I’ll write at the end of this section what we learned about them and who they are. After taking what we could, we found a secret exit and went back into town.
Lemmikki went to ask her parents about Caja’s friends and Robyn was about to through a fit not being able to meet Caja’s parents, so I dragged them away to find a butcher to salt the dragon meat. No way was I putting Lemmikki through that. We then went to the library to meet the gnome, Hisven Deernog, who grew up with Caja. We told him about Caja’s death and he mentioned that Caja’s group, the Minor Inconveniences, had an HQ made out of an old farmhouse. We checked that out, finding more notes with one name consistently blacked out, and a few leads Caja had on why the town was cursed:
- The old fort
- A cult in town
- The cursed temple
- A shrine somewhere in the area
Good info for us to start on tomorrow, but we decided to call it the day there.
And finally, the Minor Inconveniences, all humans:
Caja Westerly
Wizard/Sorcerer
From Hisven
Grew up together going to school
Her adventuring party were also her friends
Aldor Plainvigor
Warlock
From Lem’s parents:
Old family in town
Didn’t know Aldor, but know a young man moved in with grandparents after some scandal (maybe Aldor)
No more Plainvigors in town, family died out
Tulvun Firetrap
Fighter
From Lem’s parents:
Only kid to Firetraps
Family moved to town when Tulvun was young. Not part of town’s community
Macken Crystalstream
Rogue
From Lem’s parents:
Crystalstreams left town after Macken went missing
Were an old family in town
10th of Ches
First thing we decided to do was go back into the fort. Afterall, we seemed to be the only group that had ever received Caja’s journal, and we didn’t find any dead adventuring groups in the fort, so clearly the groups were heading somewhere else. Well, I thought that, but exploring the places we hadn’t been to yet revealed the corpses of two adventuring groups we hadn’t seen before. Whoops. We did kill a giant chained-up bear the troglodytes had, though. Managed to take some of its meat.
This stumped us, and I’ll be honest I think that dragon gave me a concussion, because we probably talked in circles for hours trying to come up with a plan and kept getting distracted (Lemmikki’s never seen a basement?? She doesn’t know what her parents do??? And didn’t know the Dragon War ended????).
But we ultimately decided to pursue this cult lead, which is likely connected to the temple anyway. So we went to the City Hall (which they have???), past the courtroom (which they have??????? Though to be fair it’s just the sheriff acting as judge), and Lem and I distracted the mayor Andren Neverstream with the dicks drawn on the priest’s robes while Robyn searched for any cult connections. Sadly, unless the mayor is super sneaky, he appears to be on the up-and-up.
…
We decided then to head to the Snoring Horse trading post, where the owner, Zeeri, told us that Easthorn, a town 3 miles east, had been attacked by a wave of undead coming from the tower of a researcher that studied the curse of Clearhallow: Shaza. Figured we could do some good and get more intel by following this lead. Zeeri also said that stronger than average adventuring parties typically receive some package, so that pokes holes in my theory that we are the only ones to get this notebook.
All along the walk to Easthorn, Ravs kept going on and on about how much he wanted a house. I thought dwarves lived underground? Well, I guess Ravs should never be mistaken to be a typical dwarf. Anyway, a community leader in Easthorn, Dalmus, told us that a handful of zombies attacked last night, and a hunting party tracked them down to Shaza’s tower. Robyn and I had to practically pull Ravs away from instantly demanding money and his stupid house, but we told them we’d handle the undead.
As for the tower itself, it was more of a “provincial” tower. Stone, no windows, only about three stories with stairs spiraling up the outside. Stairs were well within my pull-up range, so I scouted them out, but a magical wind blew and pushed me face first on the ground. First injury of the day. Not the last….
After that, we took the front door, and this tower did not give good vibes. Abyssal writing, blood and tons of dead bodies in one room surrounding a chest, and, of course, an ambush of six minotaur skeletons once we checked out the other room. Despite how embarrassing he was in town, Ravs really pulled through by turning every single one of the minotaurs, allowing us to pick them off one by one. I’m pretty sure we would’ve died otherwise. So when we found 100 gold, Ravs got the extra piece (Mikki was late, catching up from the village).
The door to the stairs required some sort of blood vial to unlock. I don’t know magic, but I don’t trust anything with such an overreliance of blood that it unlocks doors. Probably why I get queasy at the temple with my parents. At the top of the stairs, a group of six mummies were praying around some dagger on a table. We tried to walk around, but they came at us anyway, and oh boy I wish Lemmikki was with us.
In short, we almost died. Ravs instantly went down, and I had to throw him over my shoulder and run out of the room, feeding him one of those bootleg potions to bring him up. Robyn flew around the tower with his bow and illuminating each of the mummies with faerie fire, but as for me and Ravs we had to slowly back down the stairs, praying the magic wind wouldn’t kick in. Ravs took my climbers’ kit to anchor us to the wall, and Lenore and I took the hits. Thankfully managed to shove two of the mummies off the tower, but they hit like trucks. After we scrapped out a win, we ran inside the room, I set up ball bearings, Ravs grabbed the cursed knife (of course) and got telepathy in return (great…) and we finished off the two returning mummies. I’m basically writing this journal to stop myself from passing out. It’s barely working.
…
Well, I got distracted writing and everyone else moved on to start looting the adjoining bedrooms. I returned just in time to give Mikki a crowbar to open a chest instead of her weapon (I must’ve taken more hits than I thought because I didn’t notice her arrival), and Ravs got the spell scroll inside. We also found a Robe of Useful items. Robyn insisted Mikki wear it, because she already “looks like a hick.” Can’t really say more than that.
Anyway, three skulls unlocked the door up. It was a sort of riddle puzzle, placing the right skull on the right pedestal. Mikki did the placing and yeah she got consistently damaged because we didn’t catch that the skulls were lying to us. Wizards.
Top of the tower, a single undead woman stood guard for her “master.” We learned our lesson from the mummies and discussed tactics before rushing in. Mikki gave me an odd look when I mentioned learning tactics in school. Easy to forget how different an orcish education is. Well, we spoke to the undead more, confirmed Shaza was her master, and then attacked after seeing she wouldn’t back down. She summoned wisps from torches to help, but we took her down pretty quickly. Hate to say it, but Ravs’ constant shocking of me to keep me quiet might’ve fried my nerves because one wisp hit me and it didn’t even hurt.
After healing, we found Shaza, or what was left with her. Long story short, she tried to turn herself into a lich “to keep studying Clearhallow.” Sure. But she messed up, and for nine years has been stuck in a glass ball, her magic inadvertently causing undead to rise. We put her out of her misery, at her request, but in return she gave us good info. Regarding the temple in town: “look for the face behind the mask” and that it was no longer controlled by Tymora. The cult is active, but small and reclusive, and members may be magically compelled to join. Sorta like those whispers behind the cause of the Neveren riots this past winter. Finally, the curse is probably coming from a shrine in the woods, specifically an object, guarded by a stone guardian, and we took a map to where that shrine is.
Shaza gone, we returned to Easthorn to get 150 gold each (and a house for Ravs instead of course) and then we spent the night drinking at the tavern. I was helping Ravs negotiate with carpenters for his house, but the night got away from me and here I am writing in the home of those carpenters who let me spend the night. Good guys.
…
11th of Ches
Well, that reward didn’t last very long. All 150 of our gold went towards 2 revivify diamonds for Ravs to hold onto. Probably bad of me, but I hope someone dies to justify that, because I give it 50-50 I won’t see that money back if they aren’t needed. Anyway, after a hearty bear meat breakfast, we all decided to deal with the temple and cult in town before talking the shrine in the forest.
That got off to a very rough start. Ravs tried to make a point about what he learned from his “adventurer” family and tried to steal Len’s glaive. I was so furious I knocked the wind out of him and had to head to the tavern to cool off while everyone else went to the market. Asshole. Manages to be charming one moment and a slimy piece of work the next. Anyway, Robyn told me they put down a deposit on a magic shortbow. Should arrive in the next couple of days.
We all met back up at the temple after Ravs apologized for trying to take my “spear.” Sid, the priest, was in the backroom, so we all started poking around, while Ravs had the (actually) bright idea of throwing a party at the tavern that night to try and lure all the potential cultists into one place. Decided to make it Robyn’s surprise party (not that he told us until the last minute), but Robyn’s “birthday” changes every Spring, so why not today? Just feel bad I didn’t get them a gift…
Anyway, we found a cursed tapestry marked with Cyric’s mark, the god of trickery. Yikes. After some telepathic telephone through Ravs, we decided to split up. Robyn and I cut off the back half of the cursed tapestry, which we hid under Lemmikki’s parent’s floorboards. Lemmikki researched Cyric at the library (real asshole, followers are backstabbing assassins), and Ravs set up the party at the tavern, where I paid 10 gold for drinks.
That night, Robyn was told to fetch Ravs’ wallet, so that they could be surprised when they entered. Honestly, it was great. Robyn started blowing away on their trumpet, lots of drink to go around. We all dance, and Mikki kills it on the dance floor. And Robyn was so touched.
As for the cult, Ravs doesn’t get anywhere talking to folks, but Robyn does a lot better. Seems Sheriff Rudi is in on it. Well, at the end of the night we all head back to the inn. Had the damndest dreams, though I can’t remember what they were about. And Robyn told us they’d commune with some fey about Cyric, hope that goes well.
…
12th of Ches
Morning started pretty busy, since Robyn’s communing with a dryad revealed that the tapestry definitely had the ability to spy on people. So, we took it out into the woods, ripped it apart, and then burned it.
Cult investigation continued after that, so we decided to check out the sheriff’s office in city hall, though that was a dud since the sheriff definitely never uses his city hall office. We did find a job board, though. Someone wanted a big snake killed, another wanted us to clear poisonous gas fumes. And Ravs tried to slip a “suggestion” from me into the town’s suggestion box. Thankfully, I removed that when he wasn’t looking.
We found the sheriff passed out in his room attached to the town jail, so Robyn did some sneaky. Interestingly, the sheriff had a magical sword in his chest, and a map that marked a few places around town and the Minor Inconviences’s HQ building. In addition, we found papers that seemed to indicate a plan to expand the cult beyond Clearhallow, so we’re clearly on to something.
To kill time, and raise cash, we decided to kill that giant snake on the job board that was eating cows apparently. On the way to its lair, we were attacked by giant, moving trees and a few shambling mounds. I can’t believe Mikki’s parents just let her wander around out here.
After killing those, we found the lair of the creature, some giant old temple to a snake god (?). I told Ravs to walk in mooing, and I’ll give the guy credit, he did it. I can respect a man that respects the bit. Anyway, the monster was huge with a big ol’ body and multiple heads. We probably managed to sever about five of those heads, but everytime we did two new ones grew back to replace it. I tried to slow it down with caltrops, but the floor was so covered in rubble it didn’t do anything. Very upsetting. Ultimately, we killed it and got our 600 gold reward. Did manage to use the multiple heads to convince folks we killed more than one monster, but the reward was the same.
That evening, while reviewing the sheriff’s documents, we noticed multiple initials. AP. TF. MC. All initials of the Minor Inconveniences. Does this mean the sheriff was the unknown fifth member? Were the Inconveniences the cult? Is the cult even around anymore, since the would-be-lich’s info was so out of date?? Can’t say. Decided to sleep on it.
…
13th of Ches
Well today went… fine, all things considered. Lemmikki was with her parents and Robyn had fey flu (probably from spending too much time around that cursed tapestry), so it was just me and Ravs today. We didn’t want to get too entangled with the cult business without backup, so we left town to check on that notice board about a missing pet spider.
Said spider belonged to Ir Mildsworn, a real eccentric type. Suppose you’d have to be to own a spider as a pet. Well, Ir said Fluffy, their spider, left the enclosure and probably wandered to an old boarded up mine, so off Ravs and I went with a bag of biscuits to lure Fluffy home.
The mine was boarded up, so I had to break down some wooden beams for Ravs to climb inside. I was repaid by Ravs using his Wand of Smiles on me, and then he somersaulted in. Gods, he gets on my nerves, but it was an impressive somersault.
The mine itself was pitch black, but we were able to escort along a mine cart, picking it up and carrying it between tracks when necessary, while fighting a bulette and later some dirt mephits. Good thing we did too, cause we were able to ride it over a flooded section, where the tracks formed a sort of bridge.
And with relatively little hassle we found fluffy, and by Gruumsh that spider acts like an honest-to-goodness dog. Followed the biscuits back and everything. Got a small reward, Ravs got a Wand of Pyrotechnics he immediately fired at my face, I dunked Ravs in a trough of water, and Ravs had the good sense to heal me when I stormed back to town. So, it went about as well as expected.
Thankfully, Robyn was feeling better when I got back to the inn. I brought them a pretty piece of blue crystal to cheer them up. Think it helped.
…
14th of Ches
Hoooooly shit. LEN IS ALIVE.
Need to calm down. Relay this properly.
Lemmikki was still with her parents, so Ravs, Robyn and myself decided to question the sheriff and see if he had any further connection to the Minor Inconveniences. Ravs had to get into his role as “sassy cop,” and I had to remind him we aren’t going to do anything illegal yet, but Sheriff Rudi was a dud. Said he knew the MI in school, but didn’t know them well. He also mentioned a brother, Habrud Pyrecrag. We stopped by him after, but Ravs weirded him out and we didn’t get much.
Rudi also mentioned that the previous sheriff, Nordur Rockbrew, died 12 years ago when the undead attacked the town. Rudi became sheriff 4 years later. Seemed promising, or at least another line of inquiry, so I got permission from the mayor (said something about making sure that lich tower isn’t going to attack the town again), and then we started digging at Habrud’s grave while Ravs took a bath in the river (?).
We had 5 questions to ask Habrud and they were doozies. Habrud suspected a cult, but didn’t know about them in specific. He identified Hisven as the fifth member of the MI. The undead that attacked the town seemed to come from the cursed temple, the base of the cult. Finally, Rockbrew had no idea who Rudi or his brother was, a major red flag for town “natives.” I flicked a silver coin into the grave for Tymora (actually two since Ravs took the first), and we went back to Rudi’s.
Ravs and I confronted Rudi while Robyn sabotaged the backdoor so Rudi couldn’t escape. We put Rudi under a zone of truth and interrogated him on end. This is what we learned:
Rudi and his brother were from town originally, but left while young and returned under different names, so folks don’t recognize them, but he wouldn’t tell us his original name.
Rudi, his brother, and the mayor are all members of the Cult of Cyric
Cid isn’t. He’s just dumb
The shrine is the woods is their HQ, and there is a holy object of Cyric that, when touched, “enlightens” people and makes them join the cult
LENORE AND BOUBA ARE ALIVE
The cult keeps growing because most of the adventurers that come and try to break the curse end up supporting it.
Rudi seemed to have some regrets about what he’s done, but is still a believer, so I choked him out from behind while Robyn and Ravs held down his limbs. Once subdued, Ravs arranged with some smugglers to ship Rudi down river for a couple of days, so the cult wouldn’t have a heads up that we were coming. Ravs forged a letter from Rudi, saying he’s out of town, and then we left to get Lemmikki to confront Hisven.
…
Our chat with Hisven was enlightening. Through another use of Zone of Truth, Hisven put together some more pieces of the puzzle for us.
He had to pretend to not know about the cult for his own safety, so that he could subtly help adventurers investigating the town. Over the past few decades, he’s given the journal to about 13 or 14 different adventuring parties (not a great success rate there). He also stated that the more willing an indoctrinated cult member is, the more of their personality and free thinking they retain.
A big revelation was that most members of the Minor Inconveniences had joined this cult. Aldor Plainvigor became the mayor, Andren Neverstream, while Tulvun Firetrap became Rudi Pyrecrag, the sheriff. Macken Crystalstream is still MIA.
We’re still not sure how to reverse the mind control. It’s possible that breaking the orb of Cyric might do it, but it could also irrevocably harm those under its sway. A problem for when we find it, I suppose. Hisven also gave us a wand of Detect Magic to aid us.
I stocked up on supplies while Ravs used Sending to contact Bouba, the first time he’s spoken to her since she went missing. She told him not to worry, so we know for sure she’s alive in the cult HQ. We all got some shuteye after that. Long day tomorrow.
15th of Ches
Hard to believe it’s only been a couple of weeks.
Robyn was able to guide us to the old temple fairly easily (something about talking to moss?). The temple itself was a ruin, just a back wall and not enough roof to shelter the altar. Lemmikki was pissed she’d never found this temple before, but that’s probably for the best, since it was guarded by 3 nightmares that appeared when we got too close. Apparently they’re sacred to Cyric and can hang out in the Ethereal Plane. Who knew?
We dispatched the horses pretty easily and I found a secret door in the one remaining wall, so we headed down. First room was pitch black with a lever that drops a (very loud) portcullis. This is Robyn’s bread and butter, so we sent them out to scout from here on out.
Next room had a grate in the floor and a rusty ladder leading to a ceiling and a trap door. Got a bad feeling from the trap door so we left it alone. Next room had an extremely fancy jade wall. Ravs wanted to jade for cash and did reveal a secret door. He also knocked the wall on top of him. It’s the little things.
Behind that door was a withered, preserved centaur mummy thing and a whole bunch of treasure scattered about. Ravs and Lem placed gold coins in the centaur’s eyes and then tied a sheet to its head so when it inevitably woke up, it couldn’t see all that well. Pretty smart.
Following that we found a room with water weirds in some basins. Killed those. Then a room with an amber haze and a bunch of different mirrors in different colors. There was a pot of gold and by dipping one of Lemmikki’s spears in it, it turned into gold. We decided to turn one mirror into gold too, but then left the room, figuring it was a puzzle we could solve later.
Next was an illusory pile of gold and some yellow mold around skeletons. Then a room filled with grass, lava, sand, marshland, and a hill. The top of the hill has some sort of magic force that pushes whoever is there in a random direction, but we went on. Finally, we found a storeroom with a few magic items and a sealed urn. . Nowhere more to go now, so we missed a door or path somewhere. Gonna take a quick rest and get back to it.
…
Okay, that attempt at resting might be my worst ever. We decided to first have Robyn test if the wind hill triggered even when someone flew over it (it did). Ravs then tricked Robyn into heading back up there, saying they forgot their coin purse, and both Robyn and I totally forgot that I carry Robyn’s money until they were flying in the air, bouncing around on a string I had around their waist like a kite.
During the actual rest, I put a bucket of caltrops over the door, in case we were attacked, but the real danger came from inside the room, a two massive hidden spiders emerged from the brush to attack. I told Robyn to hide in the storage closet to get a good shot on one of them, and also forgot that we specifically did NOT enter that room, so a Gibbering Horror emerged from there. We killed the spiders, though one bit me bad, and the Gibbering Horror made me… see things and hear things I didn’t want to hear. Without thinking I tried to attack Lemmikki and then ran into its maw. We rested after that. I needed it. Hate that the rest of the group had to see me cry, but it’s best to just move on.
After our rest, we traveled down a hallway we missed the first time to see a large dragon statue blocking the stairs down. It was pretty clear it was going to come alive, so Robyn had the smart idea to cast a spell around its head to make it look like the hallway and stairs were empty. I also poured ball bearings on the stairs behind us in case it tried to follow, really really hoping it would slip.
The dragon was awoken when we reached the base of the stairs, but Robyn’s spell did the trick. We dashed down a hallway and into a room that was partially collapsed, with light and debris spilling in in clumps. A large, two-headed snake lived in the room, which we killed, and the dragon statue appeared unable or unwilling to follow us in there, so we were safe for the time being.
There were three doors out of that room. The center led to a long hallway with metal rods precariously placed over a pit of thorn bushes that shoot thorns at passersby. The bottom door led to a room of 3-inch thick ash that formed images of people dying and guards blocking the way forward. The final room, that we decided to brave, had a large, ominous willow tree in the center that came alive and then subsequently was killed. It was sitting in a pool of some visguis liquid (tree semen, according to Lemmikki), and Robyn took a bottle full for…. Reasons?
Following that room was a series of winding hallways, one after another, until we emerged into a room that contained LENORE! And the rest of the Golden Boar Company!
….
Unsurprisingly, but disappointingly nonetheless, Lenore gave no indication of recognizing Robyn or myself, but they didn’t attack us so long as we didn’t enter the room. With Lenore was Elara, her elven rogue, Gandrel, her gnome wizard, and Alistair, the half-elf ranger who always tried to eat my lunch.
To try and get through to them, Ravs used Calm Emotions, which only affected Gandrel. We rushed in the room, trying as hard as we could not to hurt anyone too bad, and I had the most distinct realization that I’ve never beaten Len in a one-on-one fight before. Thankfully, we weren’t fighting fair, and with Gandrel stopped by our magic (strangely not reacting to the others getting hurt), we took out the four of them and tied them. I removed Lenore’s weapon, the twin to my glaive, and gave it to Lemmikki for safe keeping. I hope that wasn’t a mistake.
I can’t write more about how uncanny it was fighting Lenore’s body, nearly a mirror image of the blank expression of her spirit/ghost/thing attached to me. But during the fight, I tried to see if I could force her spirit back into her body, and for a second it looked like it was about to take, the light returned to Lenore’s eyes, but just as quickly the spirit faded away.
The hallway after that had an electric pressure plate that zapped me and Lemmikki, so we placed a large branch over it from that dead tree to cross. It led to a holy room perhaps, with a dominating statue of Cyric clad in purple and pieces of bone scattered around it and a brazier. I found some gems around the statue, but nothing of use, so we left down a different hallway.
That hallway had drawings on the walls of people playing some game about passing a ball, and walking down the hallway caused a willy ball to appear that we passed down the hall to get some gold and a feather whistle. We all armed wrestled to see who’d get the whistle (I wrestled for Robyn’s sake), but it went to Ravs who cheated against Lemmikki.
Further on the hallway dropped lower and was covered in an ever-present mist that Ravs recognized as causing poison damage in the long term, but we had no choice but to continue. The hallways here were labyrinthian, and the only monsters we found were some fire bugs we killed pretty quickly. Soon after that, we found a flooded hallway with a hidden door, behind which was a large electric eel we killed, though not before it managed to shock me horribly.
….
Safe to call this next part a disaster.
The next room we visited had a big crawfish and a giant boulder in the center of the room. Avoiding it, we found a hallway with clear eel stains on the ground, but it wasn’t clear if it was a hither nor thither slither until we found a hole in the ceiling it dropped from. A connecting hallway had another slime stain, but clearly not from the eel.
In a room beyond that, there was a small three-sided pyramid which projected a mosaic of the starry sky in the room’s ceiling, but the area beneath the pyramid was warped, displaying unknown constellations. Ravs and I took it with us.
Going past the crawfish room again, the creature didn’t attack us, but I got real nervous about that big bug pushing that boulder after us, especially after I found a pressure plate in the next hallway. Thankfully it didn't happen, especially after Lemmikki mean-mugged it.
Beyond that though was the orb. A 10 ft wide orb of black crystal filled with smoke, and honestly one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. I can tell why people are attracted to touch it.
Around the statue were six statues of Cyric cultists. Figuring they’d come alive, I scattered ball bearings around the room’s entrance, in the hallway, and Robyn went in with a rope around their waist.
At their entrance, two of the statues were possessed with some sort of black smoke and came alive, asking Robyn if they wanted to touch the orb. Robyn was, understandably, hesitant and retreated where all discussed the plan of action for how they could break the orb. Unfortunately, the statues overheard, and my attempt to summon Lenore to flank them was spotted, resulting in a brutal fight.
The statues were vessels for the black smoke, which could move between them at will. Robyn and I focused on attacking the orb from a distance, but it was too tough to break quickly, and the statues through rocks at us from the room, avoiding the ball bearings. Finally, one of the smoke creatures emerged and under its piercing gaze we all withered and ran. Lemmikki nearly got out of the dungeon, while Ravs activated the pressure plate, getting slammed with logs. Robyn and I recovered, but the statues pursued, nearly killing both of us before we ran and barred the hallway’s door with the boulder from earlier.
So now we’re all barely holding on, we can’t leave because of the dragon statue, and we can’t destroy the orb because its guardians are too strong. I see why no adventurers have ever made it out of here…
…
We needed a rest badly, but decided to push for one more room. We went north of the big crawfish, greasing hinges and scouting slowly where we could. There was a hallway with a collapsed stairway around a bend and another closed door. Opening that door broke a glass bottle that instantly knocked Robyn and Ravs asleep. I did what I could to “reset” the trap with a potion bottle with some reagents to look like it was untouched, and Lemmikki and I bunkered ourselves near the collapsed stairwell, hoping no one would come that way.
No one did, but Ravs and Robyn still didn’t wake up after an hour. We carried the two all the way back to Lenore, searching them more carefully this time to find a health potion and some magic arrows, but we were still stumped.
Now I won’t claim to be the most religious man, but we needed a miracle, and I knew how to get Gruumsh’s attention. Heading back into the room with the large Cyric statue, I rolled up my sleeves and started hacking away, cutting off its sword holding fingers, gouging out the stone eye, doing whatever I could to make Gruumsh proud. And I have to say, I felt like a real orc doing it.
That statue was, by the way, super cursed, but thankfully Gruumsh must have been watching over me, since I wasn’t affected. Old One Eye also gave me the push to try magical healing on our friends, and two health potions popped them right up.
With Ravs and Robyn back, we were as healthy as could be expected to be, and we knew we had to end this today or we weren’t ever escaping. We marched back to the room with Cyric’s crystal, shaving aside the boulder we used to block it, and fought the statue-possessing shadows once more. They were ready for us, but that nap gave Ravs the time he needed to be able to Turn Undead them, causing one to flee to the back of the room. With only one to deal with, we were able to kill it after breaking its statue while Lenore and I kept it from retreating into another. With less than a minute before the other statue returned, Lemmikki threw all of her force into shattering the crystal, destroying it spectacularly. Thank god for teenage aggression.
When the orb broke, Lenore’s spirit also vanished, and we raced around the dungeon to find the possessed people we missed. We found one adventuring party behind the sleep gas room (thank Gruumsh we didn’t go further). The Just Us League, as they were called, were confused, but able to heal us as we kept exploring.
Bouba was in a room with a whole mess load of skeletons, appearing nonchalant and apparently had stashed some alcohol there. She and Ravs got on like no time passed at all, and she disturbingly looked way too similar to her brother for my liking. There’s enough Ravs in the world.
As for the Golden Boar, they were awake. I did my best to explain what happened, after introducing Lemmikki and Ravs, but of course Ravs kept tossing in misinformation with Bouba encouraging him. I managed to set the story straight that night.
With all 13 of us, the stone dragon stood no chance, and we made our way back to town. Lenore and I offered our home up to Lemmikki, so she could have a place to stay in the big city. I think she’d like Neverwinter, but that girl definitely needs someone to keep an eye on her there. At least at first.
Back at the library, we told Hisven what had happened, and worked with him to inform the town. The mayor went missing while we were gone, but if he turns back up, he won’t have a very welcoming audience. Now, I am very tired. I’ve been writing for over an hour to fill today’s entry. My wife is sleeping beside me. I think I’m going to go to sleep.
16th of Ches
It worked. Lemmikki is free of Clearhallow.
I’m writing this from our small camp down the river. Ravs was marching with us for a while but peeled north to return to his clan with Bouba. He had his moments, but I can’t say I miss him.
Lenore is training, of course. Lemmikki’s been getting by on pure strength and there’s nothing Lenore hates more than bad form, so she’s walking her through some steps. Lemmikki probably thinks Len’s being a hard ass, but I know my wife well enough to tell when she likes someone. Mikki probably reminds her of herself.
Robyn is telling the rest of the Golden Boar and the Just Us League about our adventure, sound effects included. I’m pretty sure I didn’t have enough time to give that whole heart-felt speech to Robyn during that dragon fight, but there’s no harm in a little exaggeration. Besides, it does make me sound heroic.
In a couple days we should pass by the town where we shipped Sheriff Rudi too. Not sure what we’re going to do with him, but I know Len will want some words. Who knows? Maybe we’ll keep him in the box a bit longer to really make him sweat.
And now Len’s reminding me I’m on kitchen duty, so I better wrap this up.
It’ll be good to be home.
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