The Quest for the Wastes

Guess I should start with the good news, if only because right now I'm not terribly fond of what's to come when we actually arrive.
 
We arrived largely without incident in Nisair. Only lost one party member but he ran off to go on an adventure the Great Mushaya told him about so he's probably fine. His brother isn't doing so hot though after that incident. They had a small fight over which quest Mushaya was watching them over on before he stormed off. Interesting Fellows honestly, and a nice reminder of how my people typically act. We found out what we were to expect in the Wastes thanks to an adventurer who escaped them. He described hordes of undead that poured out of every crack and crevice at them. Wonderful smell I'm sure.
 
Armed with such knowledge I sought out one of my old professors in hopes of acquiring information on how to deal with the undead. Had to watch Cade while doing so though which led to my hasty retreat from the college after he insulted the professor. He was a rather dry one but still not too smart to insult the guy giving us free and very useful intel. Things got a bit better when we went to the market place for supplies. Found an enduring tome at a steal of a price from a cleric. Also found a staff of flowers that might help Conrad in his alchemy brewing, or at least as a nice present to Freya. Pretty sure I over paid though. On the positive side Freya was in town, thought she'd be out exploring on a field trip of some kind. She mentioned one coming up when we last spoke so perhaps she has already returned? Either way it was nice to hear from her again.
 
We returned to the market to pick up some supplies the merchants didn't have on hand when we arrived yesterday. Turns out Conrad bought a bag of holding when I wasn't looking because he stuffed a lot of rations into his bag that they had purchased earlier. We also picked up the weapons that got silvered by the blacksmith Belshazzir helped. He only had enough for Belshazzir's rapier, Conrad's dagger, and 20 of my crossbow bolts. A bit underwhelming but it should help for what we have to face when we get to the Wastes. Speaking of which;
 
(in celestial)
 
Turns out there are rumors of Vampires in the Wastes, would help to explain some of the info we got from that adventurer in the Weary Witch Tavern. Freaking blood sucking vampires. As if things couldn't get much worse. I'm going to have to get creative to be capable of doing any sort of damage to these things. Thankfully we managed to get some holy water which might help, if we plan accordingly. I wish things were still simple so I could just get away with performing for others at this point. First a weird demon frog, which I have to admit was kind of silly, then a cult devoted to exacting their vengeance upon Cybil and Yitoshk and now Vampires?
 
Now I will admit I wasn't the biggest fan of Cybil but good lord things have escalated fast.
 
(in common)
 
Well at least things got a bit more interesting later on. We found a couple of flunkies who thought they could summon an elemental or two. They died, probably burned to death which from what I hear is the worst possible way to die. Left behind two fire elementals and some helpful items. Even their scroll was left intact. That will be nice if I live long enough to learn how to use it. Cade also managed to get their summoning circle to enhance Sparkle Tail's Battleaxe. It's now a fire battleaxe which should help immensely given how we weren't able to silver his axe.
 
After that? Well who knows at this point. We're on route to camp I think so here's hoping things work out. I'd like to see Freya again in the flesh at least once, okay maybe a few dozen times. While we were leaving the city I made sure to send Varex off with another letter for her going over what we had learned. I avoided mentioning specifics about what we'd had learned to prevent her from doing something totally reckless. She probably still will if she manages to catch up with us. Part of me hopes she will but I don't think I'd ever live with myself if anything happened to her. She's our leader and if she-well I doubt I'd be living much longer myself. Likely I'll charge head first at the ones responsible to end them before they end me. I'm no warrior but she's my friend.
 
Things seem to be going better with Cade though. He's impulsive to a fault but at least he's honest. Still getting the hang of Belshazzir. Seems like a nice guy just not sure how to thank him for his efforts to allow refugees into the city. Pretty sure his efforts is one of the reasons I'm even here right now.
 
Here's hoping things work out. If they don't? well I doubt I'll be alive long enough to complain.
 
May Mushaya guide our path...